Silent Crown

Chapter 256 Surprise Attack

The youth closed his eyes and sensed in the darkness. From the perception thread, he could feel the figure behind the corner two-hundred feet away. The man was guarding an entrance to the sewage. Aether rippled around his body; he was a musician.

This was the deepest part of Avalon’s Shadow, yet he could still communicate with aether. He should be at the top of third level musicians. According to the perception threads, he had covered his body in different equipment for this situation. From the messy aether waves, there were at least three pieces of equipment. He may be a dark musician.

There was no one around him and the entrance behind him had signs of being opened. He should be the one left behind to guard the entrance, so he must have something to send emergency signals.

The perception threads lay above the dust and extended quietly. Ye Qingxuan could feel the countless traps and alarms around and on the man. It was obvious that the surroundings had been changed into a battleground. He could feel the slightest movement. It would be difficult for a sneak attack. But if Ye Qingxuan tried to fight him directly, the enemy could send an alarm when given the chance and reinforcement would come quickly.

Taking on dark musicians who were all more powerful by himself… Ye Qingxuan could not even bear to think of the end. He could only find another way.

After thinking, Ye Qingxuan smiled. "Let me see," he pulled Jiu Xiao Huan Pei out and looked down, "just how much emotional trauma has Avalon’s Shadow left you?"

-

Herbert sat on the ground in the darkness with a deer-head instrument, deep in thought with his eyes closed. He played the instrument mindlessly but there was no sound. However, the seeds he planted grew quickly. The roots dug into the rock and they sprouted. The thin veins grew across the stone tiles and wall.

The thin vines were mutants he had developed with care. They were not eye-catching but were filled with numbing poison. It could numb a mammoth in an instant and paralyze it.

This was his most infamous tactic. Using the development method and music score from scripts passed down his family, he had killed many musicians and stolen their research material and inheritance. Because of this, he was able to go from a folk musician with no background to such a well-developed state. But when he gathered enough materials to become an official musician, he realized that he was a jack of all trades, not sophisticated in any one topic. It was difficult to continue on the path of becoming a musician.

This was why he accepted the parliament’s invitation and traveled so far for this exploration. He wished to find precious texts and methods from the Royal Musician Division. However, he realized that it was not as perfect as he had imagined when he arrived.

This d*mn place was nothing like Anglo’s capital. Instead, it was even eerier than the legends of the Dark World. What was in King Arthur’s scepter that had created such a group of demons and such a strange place? And he could not help but get goosebumps and cold sweat. There was also that d*mn freak on the horse. Was King Arthur crazy enough to turn his knights into demons too?!

Just one strike, one strike… Six layers of protection had been split apart. A dark musician known for defense and resilience had been pulverized. Herbert had almost been cut in half from the wind. If the leading musician had not used a secret trick to muddle the knight’s mind and won the chance to escape, they would have all died.

The one who had invited Herbert to join had died when they first entered the city. Herbert had not even dared to get close and just watched him get eaten from a distance. Now, he no longer hoped for any texts or rituals. He just wanted to leave this d*mn place safely.

This was why he chose to be the guard—it was safer. He could call for reinforcement if anything was wrong, or escape quickly if there was a problem inside.

It had already been an hour. His original tension and fear had relaxed, but he still did not dare let his guard down. He continuously planted his seeds, ready to fight at a moment’s notice. However, a doubt that he could not face kept appearing in his mind.

Was this really useful against these creatures?

There seemed to be a soft chuckle in the darkness. Herbert shot up, gripping his alarm. "Who’s there?!"

No one replied.

He looked around repeatedly in defense, but after a long while, all he could hear was the chilling wind from the cracks. It sounded like someone chuckling and singing. The voice wrapped around eerily.

It was wind. It was only wind.

He sighed and his trembling finger finally became stable, but he quickly heard a laugh in the wind again. The wind came from the far distance and had the aura of disaster.

The sound…the sound…was it the sound of a war stallion neighing?!

The horse’s hooves sounded from far away. They clattered on Herbert’s heart—those were the hooves, the hooves! They were like thunder and lightning beating against the earth, causing the earth to shake and dust to fly. Even the poisonous vines curled slightly.

The hooves pounded against the tiles. They had instantly become close. The almost-tangible pressure surged in like a tide, rushing into his limbs like solidifying cement until he was immobilized. Herbert was practically suffocating in that instant.

Was it it? It was…that d*mned creature!

Boom! The wall at the end of the tunnel before him crumbled. Broken tiles flew and darkness surged in. The headless stallion neighed in the darkness. On its back, the fallen demon knight unsheathed his sword. The heavy sword vibrated and sliced through the wind with a dragon-like roar.

Percival!

Herbert subconsciously pressed the alarm in his hands but he could not press it down as if it was broken.

Press! Press! Press! Press! Press… But there was no reaction no matter what he did!

Screaming, Herbert threw it away and grasped his deer-head instrument, strumming it harshly. The eyes of the sleeping deer-head flew open. Strange green light shone from its eyes.

It opened its mouth and screamed out a hoarse melody. The poisonous vines between the rocks shot forward to wrap around Percival. But Percival vaporized abruptly and re-solidified after it passed the vines. The dragon-scale sword roared in his hands and it swung down! It was over…

Herbert felt his vision go black.

Thud! As if a siege hammer had been rammed into his chest, he flew up and crashed against the wall. Immense pain spread from his chest to all his bones. He had broken at least four ribs, suffered internal bleeding and a concussion, and lost all sense of aether. But…why was he not dead?

"I’m not dead?" he murmured painfully, opening his eyes wide in confusion.

Before him, the wild dark knight dissipated, disappearing in a puff of black smoke. All that remained was an eerie shadow. He stood before Herbert with a cane, staring coldly. His left hand moved nimbly; the alarm that Herbert could not press had been torn to pieces, falling to the ground.

"Good evening, sir." Ye Qingxuan pressed the cane against Herbert’s throat, forcing his chin up so he could look at Ye Qingxuan. "The weather’s good tonight. It’s a good time for a chat, don’t you think?" Under the black hat, the youth’s lips curled into a cold sneer. "I believe you’ll tell me everything you know."

-

It was Die Nebensonnen in the beginning. Using Herbert’s fear of Percival, Ye Qingxuan had caused him to panic merely by mimicking a horse’s neigh. He then successfully guided Herbert to hallucinate the dark knight.

Then, bearing the burden, Ye Qingxuan took advantage of Herbert’s panic to control his fingers with the perception threads, making him unable to press the alarm. Thankfully Herbert was already frightened. If he had any determination to raise the alarm even if it meant sacrificing himself to forcefully set it off, Ye Qingxuan would not have been able to win so easily. After all, an illusion could not kill.

The final success was the ‘sighing’ arm. He punched through all defense with one fist and smashed him into the wall. In half a minute, Ye Qingxuan used all his tricks to control Herbert. Thankfully the shoes Charles had made had thick rubber soles. The vines could not pierce into the robe either. Otherwise, Ye Qingxuan would be paralyzed on the ground now for anyone to kill.

Unfortunately, other than the deer-head instrument that required special playing techniques, this guy only had a few bags of seeds. However, he also had two rings with shield and attack effects. Ye Qingxuan took them without hesitation.

After asking a few questions, Ye Qingxuan could not help but sneer. "The parliament, as expected. How many people came? What level are you all?"

After the torture from Black Friday, Herbert surrendered easily. "Four—fourteen. Five died already, nine are left. There are eight without counting me. Two are Resonance level and the leader is Disturbance level."

"How did you enter?"

"Avalon’s Shadow will wake soon. One of us is Hyakume’s priest. He opened the path with the god’s power."

"And you came in to die?" Ye Qingxuan laughed coldly. "How do you plan to exit?"

"I don’t know. The leader has all the methods." Herbert shook his head bitterly. "I’d escape long ago if I knew how to get out."

"Why did you come to the Royal Musician Division?"