BOSS-Filled Room

What should we do now?

"Let's take it one step at a time and climb the mountain first. If there are enemies... they shouldn't be able to outmaneuver me." Bai Xiaowen glanced at the Doom Bracelet on his left wrist; the smiling face on it, indicating no danger, was reassuring.

Perhaps to facilitate pilgrimages for the residents of Northshire, there are sections of man-made stone steps leading to the summit of the Monastery. The path is not too steep, and the physical condition of ordinary people in the Spirit Realm is not a problem for them to climb up.

Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi have even less of a problem.

As we climbed the mountain, the wind and snow grew increasingly fierce.

"Wait a minute."

After climbing for a while, Bai Xiaowen called out to Li Shuyi. He squatted down and carefully examined the stone steps in front of him.

"Um?"

"The stone path here... looks like many people have walked on it."

"How did you figure it out?" Li Shuyi squatted down with great interest. "The snow was so heavy, and we couldn't see any footprints."

"The snow on the steps is uneven; in many places it's a few millimeters or even centimeters thinner." Bai Xiaowen reached out and gently brushed away the loose snow on the stone steps. "Snow that has been stepped on is more compact...removing the loose snow makes it clearer."

"There are so many marks on the first step!" Li Shuyi was somewhat surprised, even more astonished by Bai Xiaowen's abnormal observation skills. She thought for a moment and said, "Xiao Wen, do you think it could be the escaped Grand Lord Glandis, and her guards? Or perhaps a group of commoners who came on pilgrimage?"

"The tracks are messy and there are many places where they were stepped on repeatedly, which means there were a lot of people. Glandis escaped through the secret passage with only a few trusted confidants, not so many. As for the commoners, I don't think there would be so many commoners making pilgrimages to a remote Monastery high in the mountains at this time of year," Bai Xiaowen said, squinting.

Li Shuyi nodded thoughtfully.

"Let's go! Up until now, the Doom Bracelet has been warning that there's no danger... wait?"

Bai Xiaowen glanced at her left wrist and noticed that the pattern on the Doom Bracelet had changed to a Tranquility, expressionless face, indicating that the danger level had changed from no danger to mild danger.

Under the Mental Scan, Bai Xiaowen pointed in a direction. "There."

Li Shuyi ran along the snow-covered slope, her agility ensuring she wouldn't slip and fall easily, if not leave no trace. Bai Xiaowen followed behind.

"They are two Snow Wolf."

Across a precipice, in the snow on the opposite side, two gray-and-white wolves were Bite a carcass.

Upon seeing Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi approach, the two Snow Wolf let out a low, defiant growl.

Bai Xiaowen, with his sharp eyes, spotted the beast carcass. He immediately raised his hand and summoned the Soul-Siphoning Banshee Delifa: "Chase away those two wolves and bring the beast's corpse here."

"Yes, sir."

Delifa flapped her pale wings, and a somewhat ethereal spear appeared in her hand, its tip gleaming with a ghastly white light.

Leaping nimbly across the precipice, Delifa's spear shot out like lightning, faster than Bai Xiaowen had imagined.

One Snow Wolf was caught off guard and was instantly killed when the spear pierced its eye socket. Immediately afterward, Delifa withdrew her spear, Wingbeat and moved several feet to the side, dodging the attack of the second Snow Wolf. With a swift strike of the spear shaft, she knocked the second Snow Wolf deep into the cliff.

Watching Delifa slowly fly back carrying the beast carcass, Bai Xiaowen couldn't help but praise, "Delifa's Polearm Specialty is probably at least level 8 or 9. Looks like I'll have a teacher to teach me Polearm Specialty from now on."

"After your Skeleton Champion is strengthened, can't it also fuse with the souls of powerful beings? If you fuse with one that has advanced Two-Handed Sword Specialty, wouldn't that allow you to quickly increase your Two-Handed Sword Specialty?" Li Shuyi said.

"Hmm, I'm still figuring out which one to pair it with... There are a few knight Boss Tier souls that I'm not really keen on fusing with," Bai Xiaowen said. After all, the opportunity to fuse only comes once.

Delifa has flown back.

"Polearm Weapons are known for their slow attack speed and long attack intervals, and your agility isn't high either, so why are you attacking so fast?" Li Shuyi asked curiously.

Hearing Li Shuyi's question, Delifa smiled and explained, "My lady, this Ectoplasmic Spear of mine is actually an extension of the Soul-Siphoning Banshee's body. It's not a weapon in the true sense, and it has no weight, so it's essentially for hand-to-hand combat. Consequently, when I use the Ectoplasmic Spear, I don't have any weapon-added attack power."

Li Shuyi suddenly realized that the attack speed in hand-to-hand combat is the fastest, even surpassing that of boxing.

"But Delifa is still amazing. She has a passive skill with her Spirit-Matter Weapon, which adds shadow damage to her normal attacks. Her Melee Specialty is so strong, it would be even better if her strength and agility were a bit higher," Li Shuyi said.

Bai Xiaowen smiled and shook his head. After all, Delifa was only using the body of Soul-Siphoning Banshee as a vessel, so there were limitations in terms of attributes.

Bai Xiaowen recalled that Delifa fought the second Snow Wolf, she struck it with the spear shaft. It wasn't exactly a standard attack move; it was just a follow-up attack using the momentum of retracting the spear after the first strike. It had nothing to do with the speed of the attack (the length of the interval between strikes).

This is the power of advanced Battle Specialty: mastering the rhythm of combat, even with low agility, you can still be a melee expert.

[Hmm... Delifa's ball-shaking technique in fights is amazing. This time she was facing Snow Wolf, but next time she'll be facing humanoid creatures, especially males... it seems like she'll have a big advantage?] Bai Xiaowen's Super Brain went off-topic for 0.1 seconds.

With a thud, the beast carcass landed in front of Bai Xiaowen Bai Xiaowen, interrupting his wandering thoughts. He looked down to examine it.

This is a Snowland Sabertooth Tiger.

Bai Xiaowen had a reason for having Delifa drive away the Snow Wolf and bring the Sabertooth Tiger's carcass. Because the Sabertooth Tiger was Boss Tier creature, even if it was juvenile, it was still Elite Tier creature, much stronger than two Standard Template Snow Wolf, and it was impossible for it to have died in the wolf's mouth.

In other words, the Sabertooth Tiger was killed by other creatures.

Bai Xiaowen turned over the Sabertooth Tiger's carcass and found a bloody hole about the size of a bowl in its abdomen, which had been frozen by ice and snow.

"Piercing wound, even the intestines and stomach Rend," Bai Xiaowen stood up and exhaled. "The exact time of death cannot be determined, but judging from the food residue in the stomach, it should have occurred within the last few hours."

"This wound is likely man-made...like some kind of spear-throwing weapon. Judging from the charred appearance, it must have been thrown with some kind of flame energy," Li Shuyi stated her assessment.

Bai Xiaowen nodded slightly, retrieved Delifa, and continued walking with Li Shuyi.

However, when they reached the vicinity of the mountain peak, almost at the Monastery, Bai Xiaowen's expression changed slightly, and he signaled Li Shuyi to stop.

There are people ahead.

Bai Xiaowen whispered a warning to Li Shuyi through the team channel, repeating, "There are many people. I'll send Shadow Assassin to scout ahead first."

The two crouched down, hiding in a secluded spot. Bai Xiaowen manipulated the Shadow Assassin, who was in stealth mode, and stealthily approached.

The Shadow Assassin was Bai Xiaowen's extended eyes. With the shared field of vision, Bai Xiaowen clearly saw the rows of battlefield tents in front of the Monastery, as well as the lion's mark.

"It's the Imperial Army!"

Bai Xiaowen opened his eyes and said in a low voice, "There are probably five or six hundred people... Judging from the fluctuations of Psionic Particles, most of them are Standard Template, but there are also quite a few Elite Tier."

"Why did the Imperial Army suddenly come here?" Li Shuyi asked.

"I don't know. But judging from the actions of these Imperial Army soldiers, they're not protecting it, but rather monitoring the Monastery." Bai Xiaowen whispered to Li Shuyi as he manipulated the Shadow Assassin to spy.

"Aren't the North County Monastery and the Imperial Army allies? Could they be fighting amongst themselves...?" Li Shuyi rubbed her temples, trying to let her imagination run wild.

After a long while, Li Shuyi let out a long sigh of relief.

I tried to think of a solution but failed.

"Xiao Wen, shall we just charge in? This isn't the first time we've raided a camp..."

"Calm down, the situation is unclear right now," Bai Xiaowen shook his head. "Don't forget, this is an S+ Elite Tier side quest, and it only requires you to 'investigate the Monastery '! What does that mean? The secrets hidden in the Monastery are far more dangerous than S+. If you confront them head-on, the difficulty might rise to SS."

"Alright... then could we ask Delifa? The Black Soul Stone originated from North County Monastery, and Delifa is a kind of steward or manager of the Black Soul Stone..."

Bai Xiaowen shook his head. "I already asked her when this S+ Elite Tier side quest started. A large part of Delifa's memories are sealed. Not to mention the Monastery, she can't even remember the origin of the Soul Stone."

"What should I do then?" After saying this, Li Shuyi added with a self-deprecating remark, "I'm becoming increasingly reluctant to use my brain."

"Use the Lesser Invisibility Potion Kevin gave me."

Bai Xiaowen withdrew the Shadow Assassin and said in a deep voice, "Based on my observation, there is no Boss Tier among the Imperial Army at the Monastery gate, let alone Boss Tier with Mental Specialty. Let's be cautious. I'll create a barrier with my Divine Might; we should be able to sneak in."

Li Shuyi nodded, and the two of them busied themselves for a while.

The two had already used the Lesser Invisibility Potion and the Silence Spell Scroll once to infiltrate the heavily guarded Northshire City. This time, sneaking into the Monastery gates didn't take much effort either.

The two remained invisible as they crept into the Monastery's courtyard. On both sides of the road stood armored guards, spears in hand, motionless as snowflakes fell upon them, creating a solemn and imposing atmosphere reminiscent of a great entourage.

Faint voices could be heard coming from inside the church.

Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi exchanged a glance, quietly turned the corner of the corridor, shook off the snowflakes, dried their boots, and followed the sound of voices.

In the hall.

My God! So many Boss Tier!

While invisible, Bai Xiaowen saw the scene in the church hall and couldn't help but exclaim in a low voice in the Team Channel.

There were dozens of people in the hall, and judging from the fluctuations of Psionic Particles... there were nearly ten Leader Tier powerhouses!

Judging from their seating arrangement, these powerful individuals were roughly divided into three groups. Bai Xiaowen used several of his Insight to identify their names and gather basic intelligence.

First were the hosts, two nuns dressed in their habit.

The elderly nun sitting in the main seat, wearing tortoiseshell glasses, Melda; judging from her position, she was likely the abbess of the Monastery.

The middle-aged nun standing behind Dean Melda was unusually robust, with arms thicker than Bai Xiaowen's thighs! Bai Xiaowen didn't bother to Insight this rough-looking old woman.

Next were the guests seated in the VIP section, led by a young, handsome man in fine clothes, Insight name was Richard Tiberon.

"Tiberon?" Bai Xiaowen's heart skipped a beat. Isn't Tiberon the royal surname of the Lionheart Empire? This young man is actually the fourth prince of the Lionheart Empire, but he should be carrying out a purge of nobles in Walteren City.

Bai Xiaowen then received a prompt from the Spirit Realm Rules:

"The target was disguised."

"Unknown factors are interfering. You can pay 1000 Psionic Points to see through the opponent's disguise."

"Warning: Doing so may alert the other party."

Bai Xiaowen pressed his throbbing left eye and chose "no." Regardless of whether the other party was Prince Richard Tiberon, there was no need for him to alert the enemy and expose himself. Facing a room full of Advanced Boss, remaining hidden in the shadows was Bai Xiaowen's greatest advantage.

Let's assume for now that this young man is Richard.

Bai Xiaowen's gaze shifted to a noblewoman sitting next to Richard in the same VIP section.

This was a woman of considerable charm; time had left few marks on her face, instead adding a touch of mature elegance. She was Glandis Oliver, the fugitive Highlord of Northshire.

Although Glandis was seated in the VIP section, she kept a distance from Richard, essentially acting as a third party.

Bai Xiaowen's gaze fell upon the several Boss Tier standing behind the VIP seats. These Leader Tier, like the rough-looking old woman who was so ugly she had no name, were the top-level bodyguards of the leaders.

"Goliya!" Bai Xiaowen was surprised again. Behind Richard, he actually saw this "old acquaintance".

Compared to two years ago, this Royal Knights Order has clearly become stronger.

However, Goliya's position was somewhat delicate; she stood between Richard and Grand Lord Galandis.

To Goliya's left, next to Richard Richard's personal guards, were two other individuals, both possessing Leader Tier Psionic Particles fluctuations. This indicated that Goliya's level of trust within Richard Richard's faction ranked only third.

To Goliya's right, behind Grand Lord Galandis, stood a middle-aged man dressed in coarse cloth, with a thin face. Against the backdrop of the room filled with jewels and gleaming armor, this man appeared remarkably refined and otherworldly.

Bai Xiaowen also paid more attention to the man, casually casting his Insight. He was secretly surprised; this man's Carlisle, and like Goliya, he was an 8th-level Boss Tier, and his class was... Sword Saint! He was clearly no pushover.

Richard tapped on the table.

"Dean Melda, my patience has its limits. What's your decision?"