The Amber Sword
chapter-29

TL Edit: Ok. I didn’t want to do this but I’m going to issue a final warning. I have said many times I don’t want spoilers, but someone had repeatedly ignored them and posted information in the comments that I cannot unsee.

I have not read ahead while the people who had asked me for the raws or got it from novelupdates, did so at their own pleasure. That’s fine with me, but don’t expect me to feel pleased when you talk about the future chapters.

People have asked why I don’t post the raw link, and it’s precisely because I’m worried that spoilers might appear. I’m at most half a chapter ahead of the readers to ensure there are no translation issues, so I don’t know exactly what happens in Fortress Riedon or whatever place after that.

The only few chapters that I took a look at are in in the 100s and 200s chapters, to ensure that the amber sword doesn’t suddenly spiral down into a trashy novel or something.

I don’t deliberately stall my translations, and I’m up there with the cliffhangers with you guys who can’t read the raws.

Finally, it’s going to be the weekends pretty soon. I’ll definitely translate the next chapter at the very least.

Romaine and Freya extinguished the campfire and followed Brendel who started running. They guessed that Brendel’s sudden change in his behavior was due to that piercing light, and Freya did not understand how it was created.

Romaine had an idea as to what happened back then as she saw the soul gem in his hands.

[Ah. That’s right, he gave me a ring. I really like the spiderweb design on it.]

It was rare in this world to create a design using spiderwebs, but she liked things that were uncommon.

[I wonder if it has the same magic like the one on Brendel’s hand.] She knew that his ring was special and was able to command the wind to slay his foes.

This was a side of Brendel that she had never seen before, and she looked curiously at his back. She felt that the things he did was full of mysteries and secrets.

“Brendel, what happened?” In contrast to Romaine’s carefree attitude of ‘I just need to follow Brendel.’, Freya was more serious. She thought that her responsibility was to take some of Brendel’s burdens off.

“Nothing much of importance. But we need to leave this area immediately.” Brendel suppressed his uneasiness and replied. He pulled out the Elven sword and it glimmered against the barren boulders. He really did not know how to explain to Romaine and Freya about the ‘Mana Absorbtion’ effect.

To put in words, it was like an osmosis process where a higher rating magical item took energy away from a lower rating magical item. But it was incredibly rare for an artifact below 40 OZ to do something like this. It was impossible to explain these gaming world’s jargon or scientic words to Freya and Romaine.

Freya looked worriedly at him, but did not inquire any further.

Brendel observed the valley. There did not seem to be any movement below but he felt insecure in his heart. He requested Freya to wear the armor, while Romaine was to prepare the rope.

Freya was already wearing normal clothes on her, so she took out the ‘Half Plate of the Wind Empress’ and started to wear it over her body. The only drawback was that she had no prior training in using heavy armor, so there was no hope in her wearing it quickly.

On the other hand, Romaine was anxious and a little excited. She wanted to help her out but was afraid of Freya scolding her. Even though they were friends, Freya’s anger was not something to take lightly and she knew that she might actually create more trouble for her.

Brendel felt he could wait for them a little while. What he was more worried about the creatures being attracted from within the valley from the powerful mana ripple.

He could not help but raise the card in his hand. He was shocked that the Gerald’s most important possession was not the ‘Thorn of Light’, but this card instead. A magical artifact that could possibly above 40 OZ, just exactly how amazing was this thing?

In this long chaotic era, the Human and Elven wizards were unable to solve the problem of adding Grade 2 power into magical equipments. It was only until the ‘Year of the Twilight Moon’ (Chaos Era: Year 471), which was when a genius was able to finally solve it.

This genius was Tumen, the Elementalist Emperor.

He invented the technique of implanting Holy Sigils into items, which solved the problem of imbuing them with Grade 2 power. From then onwards, creating magical items that over 40 OZ and above became a reality.

He did not think the card was some form of sealed Holy Sigil. But he had never seen such a complicated form of Holy Sigil before. It was not the Elven’s Wind Empress Holy Sigil, neither the Kirrlutz’s Fire God Holy Sigil, nor the Irendar’s Water King Holy Sigil.

He stared at the complicated Sigil and felt a headache coming on. Tumen’s techniques that were handed down underwent many evolution. Logically, the current Holy Sigils in this era could never be as complicated as this.

[Ancient artifact?]

As he was trying to figure things out, the card in his suddenly floated without warning. It fired a pillar of light in the gray sky, and a few moments later, another pillar of light shot out from the southeast mountains in response.

[Resonance!?]

Brendel was unable to react at all as he watched the event unfold in a stupor. He immediately wanted to find a table and flip it, because the mana ripple had turned into a mana tidal wave. He figured that even the Madara’s undead army miles away were alarmed. A resonance meant that this was a ‘Combination Item’.

The worst part was how the other item that resonated was within the Zevail’s mountain pathway.

“”Brendel?””

Both Freya and Romaine spoke at the same time. They knew that the card in Brendel’s hand had to be a problem.

“I’ll explain to you in a moment, have you worn the armor?” Brendel took a final look at the valley and used an urgent tone to ask.

She nodded.

The powerful mana reaction had already attracted the servants of the Golden Demonic Tree. He saw the shadows of several Rotten Beast passing by from the dry cavern from below. He did not dare to delay any further and told them to throw any items that would drag them down, and set off by following the narrow path along the steep wall.

Rations and water were supposed to be precious commodities, but they could not carry it right now. Brendel only took some basic equipment and a few bundles of rope. Everyone kept a torch and they strove to fight for every second. As they continued advancing, more and more Rotten Beasts gathered at the valley, as if the entire Zevail mountain had came alive.

Brendel’s heart raced when he looked below. It was a truly a zerg. The first batch of monsters would take at least ten minutes before reaching their campfire. Even though there might be a few Rotten Beasts who managed to see them, the number was ultimately inconsequential to Brendel.

He was more worried about the Demonic Tree Guards that might have changed their patrolling routes from this sudden change. They had to reach the center portion of the Zevail pathway before the guards found them. That was the only area for to be able to defeat the first patrolling team.

He knew these guards had just crossed the river in this place, and even if they turn back now, they needed two hours. He had grinded this dungeon back in the game countless times, and he was only worried about the differences in this world and the game.

Fortunately, they were just ahead by a single step. The three of them saw a batch of creatures wrapped in ivy arriving in the eastern side, and they discovered each other at the same time. When these Demonic Trees stood at their full size, they were approximately twice the size of a human. They were also wrapped with aerial roots and were eyeless, but they had membranous organs on their limbs to detect sound. (TL: Wiki aerial roots to get a description.)

They were also differentiated by young and mature Demonic Trees. The mature Demonic Tree had high agility and ran on the mountains like they was on flat ground. They were also adept at climbing, and was Brendel’s biggest threat. However, there were only one mature Demonic Tree for every ten young Demonic Tree, and it coincided with his memories in the game here.

“We need to reach the peak before them.” Brendel’s palms started sweating when he saw the Demonic Trees getting closer to them. There was a huge boulder at the peak and could be used by detonating an explosive to loosen it. It would roll down and crush the Demonic Trees, then close off the entrance from the valley. Brendel did not have any explosives, but he had the Ring of the Wind Empress.

His agility had fallen by 0.3 because of the paralyzing poison. He would have easily gotten up to the small flat plateau on the peak of the mountain if he was at his peak, but he had to rely on the girls now.

They did not really understand what he was thinking but they nodded. They were currently treading on thin ice, and even though Brendel did not say anything, they knew the monsters were trouble from his anxious demeanor.

Freya and Brendel managed to get to the peak, while Romaine lagged a little behind with a pale face while panting. There was a mature Demonic Tree that appeared on the other side. A level 22 monster, and Brendel knew that if they fought they had zero possibility of winning.

Brendel took off his ring immediately and threw it at Freya. He shouted: “Wear this ring on your index finger. Find the weak link holding the boulder, aim at it and activate this ring with the command ‘oss’. Do you understand?”

She caught it and paused: “Brendel?”

“I’ll distract this monster, hurry up.” Brendel wanted to have Romaine do it instead as he would have another helper to cover him, but Romaine was still behind them when he looked back.

[This is the result for lazing around regularly.] He shook his head.

Brendel took a deep breath. He was so tense that his body felt numb. Even though he presented himself as calm and composed in front of Freya, it did not mean he was not afraid. The enemy had the power of a strong Grade 1 rank. Without the Ring of the Wind Empress, he found it hard to believe that he could reliably match the opponent.

[4.5 OZ strength, 6 OZ physique, 2 OZ agility. Toughness and defense are extremely high. Its skin has corrosive poison, well versed in range attack, and has the ability to bind. It’s weak against fire and slashes.]

He mentally recalled the opponent’s stats. This mature Demonic Tree’s stats were not so different from the Elite Rotten Beast, but he knew there was a great difference in how they battled.

Brendel was still thinking of the opponent’s differences, while the ivy on the Demonic Tree suddenly seemed to come alive. Countless ivy branches suddenly came at him. He evaded to one side and rolled to evade the ivy branches that looked delicate, but they pierced through a boulder like steel pikes a ‘ksssh’ sound. The surface of the boulder started smoking with a hissing sound. Fear ran freely through his veins.

[A corrosive attack. This is the most frightening aspect of the Demonic Tree. Typical weapons would not be able to hurt them, and instead get ruined by their corrosive nature.]

The Demonic Trees knew that it had missed when it heard the sound. It moved its ivy to the side, and whipped at Brendel again. He hurled expletives at it in his mind but continued to evade it. The ‘Iron Whip’ continued to sweep over the surface and hurled stones everywhere.

Rock pieces struck the area above Brendel’s eyebrows, and it immediately bled. But he did not dare to utter any sounds and just grabbed the ‘Thorn of Light’ and advanced when he saw a gap.

He took a few steps forward but immediately paused.

A series of words appeared in his retina.

“Summon the Holy Sword?”

TL: As usual I need to rely on the community’s eyes for these few weeks.