The Amber Sword

“Don’t hit me, I remember now, it seems that there is indeed something like that ......” Shitah hurriedly clasped his head with his fat and short hands full as he screamed, “I’ll say it! I did in fact rob them, but those guys were just a bunch of poor people, they had no food at all!

The little female Dragon grabbed the back of his neck, yanked him backward, and interrupted, “Nobody is asking you that! Tell us, where is that Surash?”

“Oh no, I really don’t know the guy you’re talking about.” The little fat Dragon was pulled to a stumble; as he stiffened his neck he exclaimed in frustration, “Really, I promise, I swear, I swear on the third scale of Lord Bahamut!”

“The Dragon God wouldn’t want a disgraced fellow like you, stop trying to be slick!”

“Aloz, that’s enough.” Brendel had to stop this farce, “You let go of Shitah, I have questions for him.”

The little female Dragon replied rather nonchalantly, “Why should I take orders from you?” That being said, she still let go of Shitah. The poor thing was so dizzy he took almost a while to recover.

Shitah took a breath as he finally realized that his future employer seemed to have some dignity infront of the female Tyrannosaurus, Aloz. A natural slickness in him made him immediately want to hide behind Brendel, but he was just about to move his short legs when Aloz glared at him with her golden eyes and put him in his place.

Brendel pretended not to see the guy’s small movements, “Shitah, you say you do not know Surash? Then that being with whom you made a contract, who was that?”

“No, that’s not the same thing at all. The one who made a contract with me, but-” The young Frost Dragon stuttered.

“But?” Aloz bared her white and dangerously sharp teeth.

“No, no, no,” Shitah hurriedly wiggled his short, fat hands, “I mean, it’s not that I don’t know about that thing you guys are talking about, actually ......”

“Then say it!” The grumpy little Female Dragon lifted her little leather boots and kicked him.

“Owhhh!” Shitah managed to react quickly and avoid it despite his size, while screaming: “I’m not trynig to hide anything, I’m just- I’m not sure!”

“Shitah, you can say it.” Veronica who was watching Aloz and Shitah fight in front of her frowned. She could not help but speak up, the two Dragons’ sense of time annoyed her a bit, not knowing if it was a result of their long life span or if the Dragons themselves were disdainful of these ‘small’ dangers.

“Because I saw the red pillar of fire stated in the log. I remember it was around the Year of Thunder; whenever night fell, the pillar of fire would appear and shoot straight up into the sky, forming golden vortices on the clouds.”

“How long did it last?” Brendel continued to ask.

“Half a year, such a scene continued for half a year before gradually subsiding!” The little fat Dragon replied, “But I really do not know what that was, I would not want to get a closer look at obviously risky things like this.”

“This is surprisingly consistent with your timid characteristic, come on, let me hit you.” Aloz commented sarcastically.

“This is not timidity, it is being wise. A wise man does not stand under a dangerous wall, owhhh-” The little fat Dragon had not finished his sentence before he was almost scratched in the face by Aloz’s sharp claws.

Veronica looked back. After experiencing a direct encounter with Seibers, the egotistical Kirrluzians behind her seemed to have finally learned to humble themselves. The noble officers had become unusually careful and cautious at the moment, their faces were more or less pale, either from the cold or from being frightened.

But it was Brendel who the female commander was really paying attention to, “How is it, little one?”

“Lord Veronica, I’m not as smart as the Inir’s Pythian who have lots of ideas,” Brendel looked a bit helpless because of the female commander’s blind trust and the memories of his previous life did not always apply in this Holy Cathedral of the Hibernator with scarce information; even if it was him, he could only speculate based on his experience.

But after thinking about it, he replied, “But I probably do have some ideas.”

“Look.” Veronica looked at him with her emerald green eyes, playfully raising her arched eyebrows at him. But only Brendel this subtle action of hers that was inappropriate or at least unsuitable for her age and status.

Around the Year of Thunder, which lasted about six months, was surprisingly consistent with the time described in the journal. Brendel pondered for a moment, and although there was a slight difference in the description, he was at least 80% sure that what Shitah had described was the same thing as what the Master of the Faraway Eagles had seen in his youth days.

He ended his thought and looked up: “Shitah, let me ask you, do you remember the direction of the pillar of fire rising at that time?”

Shitah was dodging Aloz’s attack, and replied stammeringly, “It was northeast, and I still remember the flames I saw that night, appearing in the night sky to the northeast – Dear Lord, keep Aloz away from me, she’s going to bite me! Ah!”

“The night sky to the northeast?” Brendel ignored the little fat Dragon’s cry for help, he subconsciously looked in that direction, and in his vision, all he saw were layers of ice and neverending darkness; during the next moment, he seemed to remember the place, “Surprisingly, it is there.”

“You’ve got something?” Veronica observed the young Lord’s subtle change of expression.

Brendel shook his head, he also did not expect to be in that place, the place described by Shitah was far away from the core area of the Holy Cathedral of the Hibernator, there were spiral-shaped black ice, so it was called the Spiral Hall.

But the Spiral Hall was only a partial hall of the Holy Cathedral of the Hibernator; there was nothing there, only some cold Icy Breath that blocked the way. The Icy Breath was a kind of magic awakened by the Dark Magic from the ancient battlefield, it was one of the many small monsters in the Holy Cathedral of the Hibernator. Brendel remembered that the drop list of this small monster was good, so many players came here in groups to get it.

There was the outer edge of the Cathedral, without having to enter the center of the quest of the Time Seal, the monster difficulty was moderate, had no threshold. To say the least, there were thousands of players who had explored this area, there was no reason for any secrets to not be discovered by the players.

Could it be that there really was some kind of oversight? Brendel could not help but be confused.

“What exactly is going on, little one, what are you thinking about?” Veronica asked.

“Here’s the thing,” Brendel snapped back, “there’s good news and bad news.”

“What good news and bad news? Can you tell us, Count?” Miss Scholar was always curious about riddles and could not help but interrupted.

“The bad news is that Arreck will most likely not have to go through the Time Seal at the center of the Holy Cathedral of the Hibernator at all. My previous prediction was wrong, he might have even bypassed the maze and headed straight for his destination.”

Shido looked a little worried, “So what’s the good news?”

“The good news is that I happen to know where that place is, and I even know of a shortcut that will save us a lot of time.” Brendel said with some hesitation.

“In that case, what are you still hesitating about?” Veronica looked at him in disbelief.

“What I’m hesitating about is that this is all based on my own judgment. If I make a mistake in judgment, then we most likely won’t have time to fix that mistake.” Brendel took a breath.

“That’s what you’re worried about?” Veronica looked at him incredulously.

What do you mean, isn’t this something to worry about? Brendel looked at the others with some confusion, as almost every one of them looked at him with a gaze as if they had heard some funny joke.

“All this time, we have never seen you make a mistake in judgment, Count Trentheim. I don’t understand why you are questioning yourself instead when the matter is at hand. But I prefer to believe in my own eyes and what I have been seeing, and I am sure you must have your own reasons for judging so, Lord Count.” Shido could not help but reply aloud, the scholar lady stared at him with seriousness.

Brendel was dumbfounded as he have been able to judge correctly previously because he still had the memory of his previous life. But the deeper one went inside the Holy Cathedral of the Hibernator, the less information available on the forum, and further on, one would have to rely on oneself’s own judgment.

But he was very clear about the limits of his abilities, the level 130 warrior player in the past Amber Sword was not even considered a top tier player in the game, let alone the top.

His personal combat power was outstanding, but it was only in the upper ranks. Some of the qualities that top professional players had were excellent judgment, the ability to lead a team, a guild in decision making, and that maddening sense of ingenuity, which he did not had, not even one of them.

And this was the Holy Cathedral of the Hibernator, a team quest that represented the pinnacle of an era in the game in the past. Even the first-tier players did not dare to get involved in this team quest; the ones who could conquer it were the best of the best in the field.

They were those who had their ID inscribed on the glorious wall of The Amber Sword, and Brendel could still recall those names and still found them familiar.

It would undoubtedly be too arrogant for him to think that one day his name could be ranked alongside them.

He had such perseverance and caprice, but some things depended on talent.

If Shitah had told him that the place Arreck was headed to was Frost Square, or even the Main Hall of Sekhs, he would not have hesitated to take his team there – for these two places were also recognized as the most likely places to hide the Awakening God.

To take a step back, the Hall of the Ringed Serpent, the console, was also acceptable. But instead it was the Spiral Hall , a place that had been trodden down by thousands of people, with nothing worth mentioning but the Icy Breath.

But now the question was, should he trust his first instinct or his rational judgment?

For the first time since coming to this world, Brendel began to feel some headache. He could not help but look at the others only to find everyone looking at him , waiting for him to make up his mind.

Including the Kirrlutzians, unknowingly, almost everyone was used to listening to this Lord’s orders. As long as someone could lead the everlasting victory, who would care if he was a Kirrlutzian or an Aouine?

Only one voice echoed in the ice cave. “With all due respect, Count Trentheim, although I don’t understand what you are hesitating about, but I would like to ask, do you have a second judgment for us to choose other than that?” The one who asked was the royal eldest son of Kirrlutz, who glanced at Brendel and asked coldly.

Brendel was slightly stunned.

“Lenaretteis right, Brendel, if there is no better choice, then we can only choose the relatively less bad judgment.” Veronica also interrupted, “Besides, I don’t know why you’re suddenly confused, you’ve never made wrong judgments, and I’m sure this time is no exception.”

After saying that, she added, “You wouldn’t specifically trick me, would you, little one?”

Brendel could not help but laugh bitterly, as he was not sure who was tricking whom. In case Arreck really detonated the thing in his hand, no matter the Awakened God or the Twilight species, they would turn to ashes.

When the time would come, they would naturally turn into ashes. But they might not give up just like that because the Kirrlutzians lost their hard-earned first heir.

Besides, if Haruz died here, Princess Gryphine would have hated him to death, right? And little Romaine, Brendel thought of that little merchant girl, and could not help but smile a little.

“Let’s hope so.” He finally nodded, “I can only promise to do my best.”

He looked up and instructed Medissa, who was not far away, “Medissa, check the condition of the siblings, we’ll take them and prepare to leave.”

The Silver Elf Princess smiled faintly and nodded her head in reply, “Yes, Lord.”

Brendel looked back as he gradually lost focus. Even if the Spiral Hall was a partial hall, it was also considered the Holy Cathedral of the Hibernator within this team quest. Even if one took a shortcut, it was inevitable that one will encounter a battle, which was already some deviation from his original plan. He thought Arreck would be stopped in the Holy Cathedral of the Hibernator.

Coming here this time, the only BOSS he intended to challenge was Shitah who was already on his side, but now the situation had obviously far exceeded his expectations.

Do I really want to bring such a group of people to challenge the central quest of the Dead Tundra?

Brendel could not help but look at the others. Far away, those Kirrlutzian nobles were whispering, obviously not discussing what they could do to better carry out his orders. When he saw such a scene, he could not help but sigh as his heart felt heavy.

......