Chapter 64: War Armor
Su Xiao obtained a total of 9 [Ancient Undead Essences]. He already knew the rewards from the set chest, and as for [Holy Sanctuary Protection], this item should be some kind of defensive energy. As for the black mist on the third floor of the Shia Temple, what that was, Su Xiao had yet to learn.
Su Xiao’s goal was not to fight his way through the Shia Temple. If he guessed correctly, his current location was the first floor of the temple, which was why the undead stationed here were not strong. His real objective was to find the [Stone of Annihilation].
“Undead Sage.”
Su Xiao attempted to communicate with the stone statue, as the other party had previously spoken in human language.
“I… am.”
The Undead Sage’s speech was extremely slow. These two words took it a full five seconds to utter.
“Do you know where the Stone of Annihilation is?”
Su Xiao got straight to the point. This guy’s speech was too slow; if he engaged in pleasantries, it would waste at least half an hour.
“I… of… course… know.”
The Undead Sage was very amiable. It had lived for an unknown span of time. It was one of the builders of this temple, only to end up like this after being betrayed by its own kind.
“Where?”
Su Xiao found communicating with the Undead Sage somewhat painful. The other party’s speech was simply too slow. The more words it spoke, the slower it became, with the speaking speed decreasing in a progressive manner. If the first word took two seconds, then the next would be four seconds, then eight, sixteen, half a minute…
“You… are… a… Law… Destroyer… aren’t… you? I… and… the… Law… Destroyers…”
Hearing the Undead Sage’s words, Su Xiao inwardly sensed trouble. He wasn’t worried about a conflict with the Undead Sage, but rather didn’t want it to start reminiscing about the past. The other party’s speech was just too slow.
Su Xiao lightly rubbed his forehead. Beside him, Bubu Wang was pacing anxiously on the spot. The feeling it had at that moment could only be described in four words: clawing at its heart and liver.
After going through a half-hour-long negotiation, Su Xiao finally got information about the Stone of Annihilation. According to the Undead Sage’s description, he was already very close to the Stone of Annihilation. After passing through the Heaven-Shaking Hall, Su Xiao would encounter the strongest being on the first floor of the Shia Temple: the War Armor Spirit. The Stone of Annihilation was embedded in the War Armor Spirit’s armor.
According to the Undead Sage’s description, the War Armor Spirit was incredibly powerful. Even if you combined the Long Blade Wielder: Void and the Quake Angel: Roar, along with over a thousand various undead soldiers, they would still be no match for the War Armor Spirit.
In other words, the Long Blade Wielder: Void and the Quake Angel: Roar were just gatekeepers. The one truly responsible for guarding the first floor of the Shia Temple was the War Armor Spirit.
The Undead Sage also warned Su Xiao never to enter the second floor of the Shia Temple, or rather, to descend deeper into it.
The Shia Temple had three floors. The first floor housed the generals and soldiers of the Shia Dynasty. The second floor contained the elite troops directly under the royal family. As for the third floor, that was a living creature’s forbidden zone. Many terrifying beings were imprisoned there, such as ‘Shia Great Emperor: Living Creature Butcher’ or ‘Prisoner: Execution’ and other horrific entities.
The Undead Sage didn’t specifically explain how terrifying the ‘Shia Great Emperor’s’ strength was. It only said one simple thing: if Su Xiao fought the ‘Shia Great Emperor,’ his chances of survival were very low.
Note, it wasn’t about winning, but surviving. That meant, once Su Xiao engaged the ‘Shia Great Emperor,’ even escaping would be extremely difficult.
The good news was that Su Xiao didn’t need to enter the second or third floors of the Shia Temple. The bad news was that the War Armor Spirit was very strong.
The Undead Sage hadn’t spoken this much in a long time. It was in a good mood and seemed to want to tell Su Xiao the story of the ‘Shia Dynasty,’ but its speech was too slow, and it kept getting stuck as it talked.
Su Xiao spent six [Ancient Undead Essences] to exchange for a Gold-quality set chest. This item had to be exchanged. No matter what Gold-quality set it was, it was very strong. Even if he couldn’t complete the set or it wasn’t suitable for him, selling a single piece would net a huge profit.
As for the remaining three [Ancient Undead Essences], Su Xiao decided not to use them for now.
Leaving the safe point, the poisonous mist inside the Heaven-Shaking Hall had completely dissipated. In this battle, although Bubu Wang had been beaten to the point of doubting its existence, it had managed to break the Quake Angel: Roar’s energy layer. Otherwise, it would have taken who knows how long.
From the terrain they had passed through earlier, the first floor of the Shia Temple was L-shaped. The bottom of the L was the entrance. The Long Blade Wielder: Void was at the corner of the L. The Quake Angel: Roar was at the center of the L. As for the War Armor Spirit, it was at the top of the L, simultaneously guarding the entrance to the second floor of the Shia Temple.
Su Xiao only needed to defeat the War Armor Spirit to obtain the [Stone of Annihilation]. As for whether to go deeper into the Shia Temple, that would depend on the situation. If the Demon Hunting Hour didn’t enter its cooldown phase, Su Xiao would very likely go deeper, since the benefits to be gained here were too substantial.
Su Xiao, Bubu Wang, Amu, and Alisha regrouped in the Heaven-Shaking Hall. Inside the hall, there was a stone corridor leading deeper. They only needed to pass through this corridor to reach the War Armor Spirit’s location.
Going deeper into the Heaven-Shaking Hall cost 5,000 Paradise Coins per hour. Time was of the essence, so Su Xiao decided to immediately advance deeper into the Shia Temple to reach the War Armor Spirit’s location.
Goss was dead, so it was naturally Su Xiao’s turn to take the lead. Just as Su Xiao was about to enter the stone corridor, Bubu Wang blocked his path.
“Woof.”
Bubu Wang meant that it would go scout ahead first. With its stealth ability, unless it encountered its nemesis, there wouldn’t be much danger.
Bubu Wang entered the pitch-black stone corridor, gradually blending into the surrounding environment. Su Xiao waited in the Heaven-Shaking Hall.
While he was waiting, the naive and sweet princess Alisha approached.
“Um…”
Alisha seemed to have something difficult to say. Her legs were pressed together, and her expression was awkward.
“Speak your mind.”
Su Xiao leaned against the corner of the wall, needing to conserve his stamina for the upcoming fierce battle.
“I want to… uh… this…”
Alisha clutched her long skirt. Seeing her awkward posture, Su Xiao guessed what she wanted to do. This girl needed to pee.
“The corner is a good choice. We can’t leave the Heaven-Shaking Hall now.”
“Huh?”
Alisha stood frozen like a stone statue. After an internal struggle, too embarrassed to do it, she decided to hold it in and become the pee-holding princess.
About fifteen minutes later, Bubu Wang suddenly appeared right in front of Su Xiao, so close that Su Xiao almost slapped it across the face.
“Gulp~”
Bubu Wang swallowed its saliva, its eyes filled with terror.
“What did you see?”
“Woof.”
Bubu Wang signaled Su Xiao to follow and quickly ran into the stone corridor.
After walking for five minutes inside the stone corridor, Su Xiao saw firelight ahead. He stopped in the darkness and focused his gaze forward.
The end of the stone corridor opened into a large circular open space. Due to the angle, Su Xiao could only see part of the situation inside.
The open space was filled with stone platforms. Undead, each nearly three meters tall, lay on the platforms. They looked very similar to the Long Blade Wielder: Void, but their aura wasn’t as strong. The Long Blade Wielder: Void was an elite unit, while these undead were ordinary Long Blade Wielders. They could also summon undead horses and wield horse-slaying blades, but without the green flame enhancement.
There were 30 Long Blade Wielders in total, lying quietly on the stone platforms. If Su Xiao were surrounded by these Long Blade Wielders, he would likely be overwhelmed and killed.
Behind the neatly arranged stone platforms was a stone throne. An undead about two meters tall sat reclining on the throne. It wore a suit of war armor, the pieces neatly linked together, completely encasing its upper body. Its lower body was covered by a war skirt made of armor plates, hanging down to its knees.
Wearing such a set of war armor, its defense was definitely not weak. Moreover, this wasn’t plate armor; the war armor was stitched together from many armor plates, allowing for greater range of motion at the joints. The technical content of this war armor was clearly several levels higher than that rigid full-body armor.
This should be the War Armor Spirit. No weapon was visible near it. Looking closely, one could see a gem embedded in the armor plate on the back of its right hand. This gem was blue, with what seemed to be electric light flickering inside.