Pillar of Yita

Fang Hong shook his head bluntly: ”… Adding that Troll outside, of course, won’t work. But if we could let him enter this secret passage alone, and we set the battleground in advance, then it’s not certain.”

”But how do we lure him into this passage alone? The BOSS isn’t a fool, you know?”

”He’s not a fool, but we can think of a way.” Fang Hong looked at them: ”This will require your help, but there might be some risks.”

”How can we help?”

”We need someone to go out and report, but I can’t guarantee that the person who goes won’t get killed by the Undead Wizard.”

”Let me do it.” The Archer was the first to step forward. Invokers are not unafraid of death, but at times, they do value Starlight less than the Natives do — especially when dying has value.

After all, even if they really leave Eteliria, it’s just a return to their own world.

But Fang Hong glanced at him and shook his head: ”You won’t do, you’re too calm and would easily reveal flaws. I need someone with more convincing acting skills…” He looked at Miss Priestess, who was startled and somewhat flustered.

Fang Hong shook his head again; although the young lady’s acting was convincing, she might make mistakes due to nervousness. Finally, he looked at Little Fatty, pointed at him, and said: ”Little Fatty, you go.”

Little Fatty put on a wry face. He wasn’t really scared, just a little disheartened: ”… I’m not called Little Fatty.”

”Then what are you called?”

Fang Hong was genuinely curious about this point.

But Little Fatty shook his head: ”Never mind, you can call me that. I’m used to it anyway… So, what should I do?”

So Fang Hong beckoned him to come closer. Little Fatty looked curious, but after listening for a while, he couldn’t help but exclaim: ”… L-Lich?”

In the dark secret passage, his voice suddenly amplified significantly, making the others look over in curiosity.

Only then did Little Fatty quickly shut his mouth.

Fang Hong, however, didn’t mind. He was only cautious to cover his own techniques for later. He didn’t care about revealing the information in the Messenger’s words. He just nodded: ”Anyway, just do as I’ve said. Understood?”

Little Fatty thought for a bit but still had some questions: ”Alright… It’s not that hard, but is it really effective...?”

”There’s nothing guaranteed in this world,” Fang Hong replied: ”But we have to try. If it doesn’t work, you can just turn and run; there won’t be more loss, will there?”

The latter found it reasonable and nodded. Although the others were curious about Fang Hong’s plan, they didn’t ask further seeing the situation.

After Little Fatty left alone, Fang Hong confirmed the terrain ahead with a few people. After learning that there was a spacious area, he decided to set the ambush there, leading everyone to set it up.

It was a somewhat open mine tunnel, originally a crossroads, but due to a collapse, only one path remained. The gray dirt ground was paved with abandoned tracks, almost rusted beyond recognition.

This place was quite spacious, much roomier than the previous underground cave. Fang Hong checked it out and found it met his needs.

He asked the others to tend to some minor tasks, while he set up some small gadgets in various places. After preparing everything, he finally summoned the Mirrorer Construct.

However, he stared at the waist-high Construct in a daze for a while and encountered a small problem — the Mirrorer Construct can store the third Simulacrum in the settings, but the Simulacrum does not come from thin air; it needs to scan the original body.

The scanning process isn’t long, but it’s not instantaneous either. Moreover, Fang Hong had no place to find the Sorcerer-Ghoul now and persuade him to cooperate with the Simulacrum task.

He thought for a moment and decided to take matters into his own hands. So, he found Miss Priestess among the people, roughly the same height as the Sorcerer-Ghoul, and said to her: ”Please take off your clothes—”

”Eh?”

Miss Priestess’ face flushed, glaring at Fang Hong, and didn’t react for quite a while — which is why she didn’t slap him right away.

Fang Hong then realized his request was somewhat abrupt, blushing as well; luckily, no one noticed in the dark, allowing him to maintain his pretended expert image.

He hastily cleared his throat with a fist and corrected himself: ”Sorry, I just need to borrow your robe.”

Only then did Miss Priestess react.

Fortunately, she was understanding, and after clearing up the misunderstanding, she generously took off her robe and handed it to Fang Hong.

Fang Hong picked up the robe and threw it to the ground, smudging it in the dirt and then stomping on it, tearing a few holes; and amidst the murderous glare from Miss Priestess, he returned it along with the Amethyst Undead Staff taken from his back—

Miss Priestess’ height was roughly similar to the Sorcerer-Ghoul, slender enough that the robe fitted similarly, and with the Amethyst Staff too. Although there might be some differences in detail, in the dark, it shouldn’t be so easy to distinguish.

Fang Hong recorded the scene with the Mirrorer’s projection component, meanwhile noticing his Communication Crystal glowing faintly in the dim setting.

The sender was Elisa.

Elisa: ”… My dear Captain, we’re at the back of Aimumu Fortress, where’s that mine?”

Evidently, this question was in response to the information he had previously conveyed.

Fang Hong glanced at it and entered_coordinates casually: ”Be careful.”