Pillar of Yita

He wasn’t exactly sentimental, just worried that the Artisan Association might cause them trouble. An adventure group has the obligation to protect accompanying alchemists, and although this person was courting death, his actions hadn’t crossed the contractual boundary.

The Alchemist seemed to still be in shock, his face pale as he shouted, ”Who, who just kicked me?”

Unfortunately, no one answered him. Apparently, this person wasn’t well-liked in the team.

Only the person who had kicked him earlier glanced at him casually, without speaking. But the young man wasn’t truly foolish. Seeing that glance, he shivered, finally coming to his senses, and shrank back, keeping silent.

At this time, like Lan Wuxin, others also began to engage in combat with those grey-blue corpses. However, their hearts had no will to fight, retreating as they fought.

Seeing this, Lan Wuxin sighed, knowing that the morale he had painstakingly stabilized had been completely destroyed. He had no choice but to order, ”Fight and retreat, move towards that direction.”

He could only pray in his heart that the others could support them.

...

”Captain, they’re coming over!”

Xiangzi was gripping the net rope, standing outside the ship’s rail, seemingly unafraid of falling off amidst the snowstorm. He was the first to notice the movement of those flickering lights in the darkness and turned back to shout to Fang Hong.

Everyone had already spotted the adventurers besieged by the undead. If it were ordinary people, in this inclement weather, they might hesitate to intervene, but Fang Hong’s nature wouldn’t allow him to ignore their plight.

Moreover, the forest only contained some zombies and a few corpse ghosts, which were not dangerous opponents for their team.

After witnessing the grand scenes beneath Dolifen and Fenris Isle, such a spectacle was trivial in their eyes.

Fang Hong walked to the starboard side, raised his hand, and a copper sphere flew through the snow, retracted its four wings, and landed in his hand. He wore wind goggles, his coat flapping fiercely in the wind, as he turned back to give orders to others, ”Tianlan, notify Miss Atira to have Mr. Greyrock change course sideways—”

”Got it!”

Tianlan went to the fore cabin and tapped on a vertical copper pipe, shouting into it, ”Sister Atira, have Mr. Greyrock change course sideways.”

The sound traveled through the copper pipe all the way to the Guy Platform behind Mr. Greyrock. The ship tilted slightly, and the direction of the night snowstorm seemed to swing around 180 degrees.

Fang Hong brushed off the snowflakes coming towards him, and then ordered, ”Parker, Miss Xiesta, use the searchlights to guide them, illuminate the nearby undead, and help them close in on us.”

The two complied, and two beams of light cut through the darkness, shining into the forest.

”They see us!”

Parker immediately shouted.

Fang Hong nodded. He still had two Clockwork Fairies outside, so he could see the situation in the forest clearly.

Those people retreated a bit inappropriately; there should be a few corpse ghosts flanking them. But if Mr. Greyrock hurries, it shouldn’t be much of a problem.

However, he was somewhat puzzled in his heart. With such little experience, how did these people dare to venture on foot during a snowstorm at such a time?

He then heard footsteps approaching, turned back, and saw the elder of the twins coming up dressed in armor. Elisa found his appearance with the wind goggles somewhat amusing and glanced curiously in the direction of Bakins and Gita before asking, ”I heard gunfire from below, what happened?”

”Something came aboard.” Fang Hong replied.

”What thing?”

”Vampire.”

”Vampire?”

”Indeed, vampire, Captain.” Bakins half-squatted on the deck, inspecting bullet holes there. He dipped his hand in the blood around the bullet hole, lifted it up to look, and replied to the two.

Ordinary undead don’t have blood; even bloated zombies have only putrid fluids. Only vampires, legendary undead creatures of Eteliria, get injured and bleed.

Moreover, the peculiarity of that previous shot wasn’t something ordinary monsters could exhibit.

”Be careful, Bakins, you and Luo Yu go check the hold.” Fang Hong reminded. Like Invokers, vampires have varying levels; low-rank Blood Retainers are just a bit tougher than ordinary people, but high-rank vampires can easily annihilate an adventure group above Level 30.

Of course, Fang Hong didn’t think there’d be high-rank vampires in Tibial Creek, but caution is the parent of safety. Vampires possess the highest intelligence among the undead, and they’re elusive, preferring to mingle among people unseen, even as Blood Retainers.

He didn’t believe that vampire left after being hit by a bullet. If it flew aboard, it surely had other motives. This platform wasn’t large, and Luo Yu, Gita, and Hilveld had checked other compartments earlier, so only the hold with the ballast remained uninspected.

Bakins was one of the top combatants in the team. With him and Luo Yu, they should be able to handle most battles.

Upon hearing his orders, both nodded and left the deck.

But Fang Hong caught a glimpse of a white shadow fleetingly behind them and thought he might have been mistaken until Elisa lightly exclaimed beside him, ”Huh?”

”What is it?”

”That seemed to be Daisy.”

Fang Hong then recalled the cat.

Since it stopped following him, it had been wandering the ship freely. And with an impending fight, no one had the time or energy to manage Lady Cat.