About an hour and a half passed before they confirmed the shark goblin had left and Wu Shuang had fully recovered his stamina.
The two then took a walk around the manor mansion, stopping several times because Mia kept getting a sense of déjà vu. In the end, though, she still couldn't recall her true identity.
Even so, she was very likely one of the owners of this house, as Wu Shuang had told her that the old knight had stayed here to wait for someone as well.
From the looks of it now, the person he had been waiting for might very well have been Mia.
“Mia Raymont... Is that my name? A baron's daughter, or... the master?”
Mia pondered aloud.
However, judging by that Kingdom Knight's behavior, her identity was likely not as simple as just a baron's daughter. That would have to be explored and investigated later.
“Why is it so empty here, though? So many guardrails and door panels have been torn down. Where's the furniture?” Mia asked, puzzled.
“Well...”
Wu Shuang scratched his head and explained anyway, saying that much of it had been done by senior Heroes—even though he had done some of it himself, too. Still, that alone couldn't fully explain why the manor was so empty.
This looked more like a raid... or a move?
“Senior Heroes... You mean that pile of bones in the attic corner?”
“Pretty much, but there's more than just one senior.”
Wu Shuang nodded, still holding back that there were over forty billion such seniors. Explaining that would be a huge headache, so he would save it for later.
He made his way to the second-floor balcony corridor, the spot where he had previously spotted the old knight. Further ahead was the main gate, its doors long gone, allowing a direct view outside.
Wu Shuang lowered his voice, signaled Mia to stay quiet, and tiptoed over in a half-crouch, as something was going on out there.
Though his line of sight was limited, Wu Shuang could still see two living corpses hunched over on the ground, gnawing on a severely decomposed body that had been dead for who knew how long.
He hadn't expected these living corpses to catch the scent and rush over to enjoy this free feast the moment the old knight left.
Looking at it this way, the fact that the old knight was gone would likely be exposed even sooner. Taking action to eliminate that shark-head early was absolutely necessary.
Furthermore, there was still a third goblin... which Wu Shuang had yet to encounter.
“Keep your voice down. If you spot danger, tell me right away. Don't do what you did before, staying quiet when the silver-armored knight was standing there for so long.”
“Oh.”
Mia responded obediently, which felt a bit unnatural to Wu Shuang. Was she really this well-behaved?
He glanced over at her but said nothing, as it was a good thing, and they were pressed for time anyway.
Wu Shuang had Mia hand over Blood Rose; her hair was surprisingly convenient for carrying weapons.
Next, keeping his footsteps quiet, he descended the stairs with a shield in his left hand and a sword in his right. Observing the situation outside the door, he seized the right moment and charged at the nearest living corpse, sending its head flying into the air with a single strike.
There were seven living corpses in total in the courtyard, mostly busy devouring the body on the ground. This gave Wu Shuang the chance to launch a surprise attack, slaying three in a row before the rest even reacted.
Besides, with a divine sword in hand, Wu Shuang was no longer who he used to be. As long as he wasn't ambushed or swarmed, he wasn't afraid of a few ordinary living corpses at all.
In less than five minutes, not a single living corpse remained standing in the front courtyard. He began cleaning up the battlefield, delivering finishing blows to dispatch the severed living corpses one by one while looting their items.
Furthermore, the remains of other corpses in the front courtyard could also be looted; even if some had decayed into skeletons, their items were most likely still there.
The total number of corpses was around two hundred, including quite a few mutated monstrosities. The most eye-catching among them was a fish head roughly two meters tall that had decayed into bones and been severed in the middle. Its original total length was estimated to be over six meters, with a body structure resembling a fish more than a human, possessing six legs...
Wu Shuang used his Appraisal Spell, and upon seeing the word "goblin," he nearly fainted on the spot.
This is called a goblin, too?
Does anything with a fish head get called a goblin?
Too lazy to give them real names, huh?
This system is stupid as hell!
Wu Shuang complained endlessly in his heart as he looked at several other fish heads, feeling it was quite a pity. After all, these monsters dropped items, including chests—what an absolute waste.
“Huh...”
Wu Shuang seemed to notice something and ran over to another dead fish skeleton over a meter high. Underneath the bones, he found a conspicuous object buried—what looked like a well.
Holy crap!
It really was! Although the winch and bucket used for drawing water seemed to be completely destroyed, the well didn't look blocked. This was fantastic—it might solve his water supply issues in one fell swoop, and he could even sell fresh water to make some money...
“Be careful, something's crawling over.”
Mia warned, causing Wu Shuang's heart to tighten. He immediately looked in the direction Mia pulled him, spotting an insect-man—similar to Paul's insect-man form, but far more insectified. Barely anything besides its head and right side retained human form; the rest was gone, replaced by a centipede-like body nearly three meters long with over a dozen legs.
This thing must have climbed over the iron fence; Wu Shuang had kept his eyes on the main entrance in front of him the entire time.
Right as Wu Shuang turned to look, a dagger flew across and struck the insect-man straight in the eye socket, making Wu Shuang's eyes light up. It wasn't him who threw it, but Mia—and her aim was amazingly accurate.
Hissing in agony, the insect-man let out a strange screech, its sneak attack interrupted.
“Nice shot...”
Wu Shuang was about to praise Mia when he saw her pull out Argus, nearly scaring him to death as he hurriedly shouted to stop her.
“Don't shoot, it's too loud!”
“I know. I was just trying to scare him, but it didn't work. He doesn't seem to recognize guns.”
Mia replied, though whether she was telling the truth or not was hard to say. The insect-man recovered and rushed forward at an even faster speed, raising the mantis-like scythe on its left side—likely mutated from its left hand—and chopping down like an axe.
Wu Shuang was prepared and dodged to the side. At that moment, he heard the clang of metal; Mia had actually used her hatchet to block the blow as well, even though Wu Shuang had already dodged clear.
It was their first time fighting together, so their coordination wasn't seamless, but it was a great start—and it showed Wu Shuang countless possibilities.
Mia was capable of fighting.
Although her strength couldn't compare to monsters—for instance, her weapon had almost been knocked away just now—her technique was surprisingly good. Being able to parry an attack with a hatchet was impressive enough.
“Take the shield! Help me block the attacks I can't reach!”
Wu Shuang circled the insect-man while taking off his shield to hand it to Mia, simultaneously delivering two sword slashes that severed several of the monster's legs.
Although it had a carapace, it wasn't particularly hard—only slightly tougher than a living corpse's bones—so it could still be severed.
With that, the tempo of the battle quickly fell into Wu Shuang's hands. He keenly picked up on the insect-man's weakness on its right side, the side that hadn't fully mutated yet.
The reach of the scythe arm on its left side was limited and couldn't protect its right, while the threat from its other legs was very low since their range of motion was almost fixed. Wu Shuang cut them down in short order.
Before long, Wu Shuang hacked the right side of the insect-man's body completely clean. Meanwhile, Mia did a fine job using the shield to block attacks coming from the left while warning Wu Shuang to evade in time.
Lacking the support of legs on one side, the insect-man fell into a passive position and slowed down. Within moments, Wu Shuang chopped off its head.
Yet its insect body refused to die right away. After losing its head, it went berserk instead, thrashing about wildly until it finally lost its vitality ten-odd seconds later.
Slain!
Wu Shuang hadn't even been hurt; with only a few drops of insect blood splattered on his face, he was flushed with excitement.
“Mia, you're amazing!”
He couldn't help but praise her. Mia's face flushed red in response; she didn't seem to take compliments very well.
“Am I really that good?”
“Of course! I feel like our combo is invincible—or at least has the potential to be!”
Wu Shuang said with exaggeration, though it clearly showed how thrilled he was. After all, he had taken down a mutated insect-man with barely any effort.
Rate on N.U.
