The Righteous Player(s)

Chapter 323: Annan Had Finally Arrived

Wandering Child was also somewhat of a Bronze Rank Transcended.

Coupled with the Silver Rank Boffis with flying ability, they entered the curse shaft quickly.

But the inner structure of the curse shaft surprised the Child and made him vigilant at the same time.

As a Forest Walker, he could sense the surrounding earth, plants, and water sources. After all, he would need to perceive them before manipulating and using them.

Moreover, he invested some experience points to learn [Aero Strike] taught by Boffis’ mother.

[Aero Strike LV1: Swing the sword into the air to form a wind blade.]

According to Boffis, mastering the air element seemed to be a prerequisite to attaining the [Wind Dancer] profession. As long as he learned [Aero Strike], he would soon be able to advance into a [Wind Dancer.

Here was the problem.

The Child could feel the air and the water.

However, he didn’t sense any traces of “rock” or “earth” in this massive building.

The wall didn’t feel like metal. Instead, it gave off the tactile of an eggshell.

The water in this building did not flow systematically like the drainage system in a factory. Instead, the pipes were disorderly with different lengths.

It gave off a sense of blood vessels rather than an organized plumbing system.

This place named “Curse Shaft” seems to be alive.

Along with the strange pumping movement, Wandering Child sensed that the liquid in this building was surging rhythmically in the inner layer. The pumping sound in his ear became clearer and clearer. He could even feel his heart pumping uncontrollably in synchrony with that thing. There were also the strange metallic sounds imbued into the heartbeat.

As the heartbeat grew louder and louder, the humming metal sound that accompanied the heartbeat gradually grew louder. At the same time, Boffis’ voice became vague and distant.

However, he still followed Boffis, going deeper into the place slowly.

Suddenly, the heartbeat stopped.

In other words, the voices of the whole world disappeared.

The Child, who was gradually getting used to this strange noise, felt a little uncomfortable when the world returned to silence.

This made the Child subconsciously stop moving.

Realizing that he was no longer going forward, Boffis let go of his hand in confusion and glanced back.

She opened her mouth as if to say something.

But the Child heard nothing.

He tried his best to open his mouth to say something, but he couldn’t say anything. This even made him sweat profusely as he went nervous.

The world in front of him suddenly became distorted as if the framerate [1] was too high and the screen was tearing apart.

Every now and then, there would be places that suddenly became pitch black and recovered later. It seemed that the restored timeline wasn’t the same as the nightmare timeline he had entered, causing a stark color difference with the surrounding area.

For some reason, the inexplicable sense of fear that arose in the Child’s heart was greatly diminished when he saw this familiar scene of a game crash.

A large number of words suddenly appeared in front of his eyes:

[Detected “Apprentice” trying to enter specimen storage III-251-11 “the Silverstone Curse Shaft”]

[You don’t have the relevant authority.]

[Detected that the new skill [Aero Strike] has been mastered, and the learning goal has been achieved.]

[The restriction imposed has been withdrawn.]

The Child vaguely heard a strange and faint “click” sound at the next moment. It was like putting a lid on a wooden box.

The world in front of the Child suddenly turned dark after losing the picture and sound.

“Is this the curse shaft?” Citalopram muttered.

Dove, Chocolate, and Suuankou found Citalopram’s spiritual body through her stream.

Like what the “wise men” in the comment section had guessed, Dove and Suuankou could not see Citalopram and Boffis because of the inadequate soul rank.

On the other side, Boffis was deeply shocked by this magical technology that allowed the team to communicate even without auditory and visual cues.

How did you do it.jpg

Still, communicating with Boffis by peeking at Citalopram’s stream was a bit laborious.

So, the team decided to stuff Citalopram’s soul back into her body.

Considering the possibility of someone entering this place after them and being concerned with their safety, Suuankou carried Citalopram’s body on his back.

At first, he had intended to let Chocolate carry Citalopram on its back.

[TN: Chocolate is now possessing Dove’s body.]

After all, he and Citalopram weren’t so close even though they met often.

Moreover, his sister, who lived with Citalopram, was still watching his stream.

But when Suuankou tried to get Chocolate to carry Citalopram on its back, it became unsettled.

Suuankou didn’t expect the cat to have a much more serious temper than Dove. When he tried to put Citalopram on Chocolate, it turned around and plunged directly at him.

Since Chocolate didn’t have paws—or rather, her fingers didn’t have enough force, she was literally hitting Suuankou’s forearm with finger slaps.

Suuankou didn’t feel the pain, but Chocolate was quite hurt for hurling its fingers fanatically.

The angry Chocolate immediately bit Suuankou’s hand.

Dove, who was beside him, was dumbfounded. She hurriedly took over Chocolate to pull it away.

Then, she punched Suuankou again in embarrassment. It was a real punch that struck Suuankou’s back. He could feel the sound of cracking bones.

In the end, Suuankou had no choice. After asking Citalopram for consent, he finally carried the soulless Citalopram’s body on his back.

After her body lost its soul, it was as if she had drunk too much alcohol and was abnormally heavy. Suuankou carried it for a while, and then he had to push her body up again on his back.

But this was a bit too stimulating for Suuankou, who had never been in close contact with the opposite gender.

He didn’t dare to say a single word when he was nervous. Instead, he walked forward with his head down and stiff. It took a long time to send Citalopram’s body over to her soul. He then apologized to Citalopram several times.

On the other hand, Citalopram didn’t mind the intimate contact, “Why do you apologize to me for bringing my body here for me?”

Instead, she felt that Suuankou was quite cute for being so nervous.

Too bad that he is not my type.

Citalopram’s attention was focused on another thing.

It turns out that after my soul leaves my body, it doesn’t activate the passive life steal effect.

Half-dead Enchantress was featured for their ability to suck vigor out of living creatures upon contact. However, it was only now that she realized that this ability was attached to the soul, and it did not activate simultaneously on both the body and the soul.

So, did it mean that she could put on armor and be a human shield at the front ???

Her soul drained life whenever it touched an enemy. When she returned to her body, it would heal her body with this power. Then as long as she sprinted fast enough, she could move back and forth between the enemy and her body, and the shield would continue to recover health.

So, am I a Death Prophet now?

[TN: Reference to Dota’s Death Prophet [2] Spirit Siphon ability.]

This sounds a bit weird too.

While Citalopram’s thoughts ran wildly, the ghost girl led the way. She held a torch, walked at the front of the player team, and walked towards the bottom of the pit in the curse shaft.

“Brother Koutsu, did you ever get a girlfriend in college?” Then, she asked casually, “Didn’t your sister introduce one to you?”

“I don’t have that time…” Suuankou complained with a wry smile, “I had to stream, but now I have to play this game, so I don’t have time to look for one.”

Citalopram clicked, “That’s true.

“But when there are more female players in the future, you can try to find one among the players. With that, you will be dating at this place. But in that case, you will have to compete with others.”

As an older person, she gave valuable advice on Suuankou’s relationship aspect, “If there is a fair competition, you have to consider how handsome you are. You have to find a way to increase your fashion value.

“On an equal level, the more fashionable and handsome one must have a higher attraction from the opposite sex?”

“…Becoming fashionable?” Suuankou murmured and repeated.

The other unmarried male players watching the video also nodded thoughtfully.

What was even scarier was when Jiu Er thoughtfully touched the axe in her hand and nodded slowly.

“Then I have to become more handsome.” Jiu Er muttered to herself.

Next time, I should try the new trick that I have learned in the past few days…

—Jiu Er’s Guillotine!

At this moment, Wandering Child slowly opened his eyes.

He found himself still in the same place.

But the bustling city had disappeared, and he was in a ruin with nobody else. The place was deserted with broken walls everywhere.

“…?” Wandering Child was puzzled.

There was a sudden fluctuation around him, and a strange azure blue brilliance lit up.

He nervously tried to feel the glaive behind him — only to find his rapier.

Just then, he saw a familiar figure.

“Your Highness Annan?” Being surprised, the Child almost forgot to address the honorary title.

Annan, who rushed over at the fastest speed he could, just breathed a sigh of relief and said casually, “It’s better to call me Don Juan in front of outsiders. Just call me Annan when no one is there. After all, we are [friends].”

He liked his attempt in building a stronger rapport with the Child.