Chapter 42: Chapter 37: We Will Fight for as Long as They Want
Luh Yao looked at the newly revealed map.
Behind the mountains lay a vast forest and plain. At the forest’s edge was an astonishingly large salt flat. A black castle stood in the middle of the flat, shrouded in a persistent gray mist.
The Salt Pool covered a vast area, with numerous houses, watchtowers, and pits constructed nearby. Many little people were scooping brine into small pits and setting up furnaces around them to heat the water and extract the salt.
Additionally, there were Woodcutters in the forest, Stone Workers on the rocky hills, and a pasture on the plain, where a large bird called the [Strutting Bird] was being raised.
Just as its name suggested, the Strutting Bird liked to walk back and forth. It couldn’t fly, had no aggressive tendencies, and was raised for its meat.
The laborers were mostly barefoot Wandering Barbarians, organized to perform mechanical tasks like logging, quarrying, and salt refining... Each of the Wild People was bound by ropes, connecting them to one another and preventing any escape.
However, the ones commanding them were not people from the Salt Pool Tribe, but a type of blue-skinned, humanoid monster: the [Corrupter].
The Corrupters were the ruling class here, supervising and directing the human laborers.
Despite being called Corrupters, this group wasn’t composed of mindless zombies. On the contrary, they had a very clear division of labor and individual missions.
The Corrupters supervised each human’s work, periodically shouting warnings and reminders.
"No slacking! Want to go hungry?! You! Get up, you wretches!"
"Everything is for the great Whistleblower!"
"If you just work hard, you too can become a glorious Corrupter, and you’ll never have to fear death again!"
"Don’t fear injury, don’t fear exhaustion! Only after death will you attain eternal life!"
"The Knight will grant the wretches the reward of becoming Corrupters!"
This brand of Enchantment, mixing threats and promises, made even Luh Yao click his tongue in wonder.
He remembered that the [Evil Bone Whistle] he’d confiscated from Lisa had been created by the Whistleblower. It looked like this entity was a fairly powerful God.
The situation within the Salt Pool Tribe was more complex than he had anticipated.
Luh Yao continued to observe.
He noticed that the little people from the Salt Pool Tribe, who wore linen clothes, were extremely subservient to the Corrupters. They were merely vassals and underlings, handling foreign trade on behalf of the Corrupters in exchange for various goods.
The true rulers of the Salt Pool Tribe were the Corrupters.
Luh Yao counted.
There weren’t many Corrupters, only twenty-five in total.
However, their levels were very high. The lowest was LV12, and the highest reached LV15, which was nearly on par with Isabel’s level.
No wonder Lisa had been forced to cooperate with them. Even the Burrower Monsters had to bow their heads to the Corrupters.
But since he hadn’t entered combat mode, Luh Yao could only see their levels. He couldn’t access the Corrupters’ detailed stats, making it impossible to perform a basic Combat Power assessment.
Isabel, however, offered her assessment, "My lord, they are quite strong. I can gauge their power from their Faith Flame."
"Should I execute them all?"
Luh Yao was taken aback.
’Those two sentences don’t connect at all.’
’First you say they’re strong, then you say you can wipe them all out?’
He typed to confirm.
—Can you handle these Corrupters?
"Yes, my lord."
Isabel replied steadily, "However, this is just the periphery. The real danger—and the one in control—is in the castle. I haven’t entered it yet, so I am unaware of the enemy’s strength."
Luh Yao had a great deal of confidence in Isabel.
Ever since he had awakened her, Isabel had never met a true match. The only question was how long a fight would take.
Still, it never hurt to be careful.
Luh Yao typed again.
—If you encounter a powerful enemy, can you escape?
"My lord, for some reason, the enemy seems to be unable to leave that castle."
Isabel analyzed calmly, "Otherwise, with strength far surpassing that of ordinary Corrupters, they could have left the castle and completely taken control of the surrounding area."
"As it stands, it’s highly likely they are under some kind of restriction."
"Of course, this is just my speculation."
"However, I am confident that even if I am outmatched, I can successfully retreat."
Isabel couldn’t understand the mechanics of it, but Luh Yao did.
’Whether the castle was a dungeon or not, there was definitely a boss inside.’
’In this starter zone, a boss definitely couldn’t just roam free. Otherwise, Apprentice Deities would have no game to play. Their populations would be burned, killed, and pillaged by a horde of high-level monsters before they even got started...’
’If that were the case, the grass on the Garlic Tribe’s graves would be several meters high by now.’
Luh Yao thought for a moment.
—Then go ahead. Deal with these Corrupters as quickly as possible.
"Yes, my lord."
Isabel charged from the mountains toward the Salt Pool, and the nearest Corrupter immediately spotted her.
"Who are you! Halt! Wretch!"
The [In Combat] icon immediately appeared above Isabel’s head.
Luh Yao opened the combat interface.
Two Lv12 Corrupters confronted Isabel.
...
[Corrupter LV12]
Life Value: 240/240
Mana Value: 37/37
Damage: 10
Defense: 8
Speed: 7
[Stubborn LV6]
A chance to be unaffected by Magic.
[Rebirth LV6]
Has a chance to revive after death if the corpse is not completely destroyed.
...
These two abilities immediately put Luh Yao on alert.
’Magic Immunity + Rebirth?’
’Isn’t that a bit overpowered for a common mob?’
He muttered to himself, ’Could this be the simulator’s way of punishing me for not leaving the safe zone?’
However, against Isabel with her summoned Holy Sword, the Corrupters still didn’t stand a chance. The massive gap in their stats turned them into little more than punching bags with slightly thicker skin.
Isabel, Holy Sword in hand, cut down two Corrupters. The others swarmed in to join the fight, beginning a battle of attrition.
Luh Yao wasn’t worried about these mobs; they couldn’t pose any real threat to Isabel.
What concerned him was the castle shrouded in gray mist.
Corrupters kept pouring out of the Pixel Castle to join the battle outside.
Amidst the chaos, some of the roped-up Wild People tried to escape, only to be immediately executed on the spot by other Corrupters. Seeing this, the remaining Wild People froze, not daring to move.
And so, the area by the Salt Pool devolved into a strange, two-track situation: the laborers kept laboring, and the fighters kept fighting, with neither side interfering with the other.
As the battle dragged on, some of the Corrupter corpses on the ground began to piece themselves together, Rebirthing into new Corrupters to continue the marathon battle against Isabel.
The castle was endlessly spawning mobs. Isabel had already cut down over a hundred Corrupters, but the monsters kept coming, wave after suicidal wave.
In the process, Isabel even leveled up, reaching LV16.
Luh Yao was overcome with ecstatic joy.
’Could this be a legendary grinding spot?’
’This is great! Keep spawning! Spawn like crazy!’
Luh Yao ordered some fried potatoes and roasted gluten skewers. Sipping a Coke, he watched with great relish as Isabel mowed down the mobs. It was even more satisfying than playing himself.
The more he looked at the Corrupters, the more he liked what he saw.
’Stubborn? Great! Rebirth? Awesome! Such great skills! You guys are top-tier mobs! Keep respawning! Keep Rebirthing! Keep this fight going!’
As Isabel fought, a dialogue box appeared above her head.
"My lord, something’s not right here."
"The number of Corrupters isn’t decreasing."
"If this continues, more Corrupters will awaken from the castle. There are far more of them than I anticipated."
"Perhaps the key to this lies within the castle. Should I go in and investigate now?"
’This is a prime leveling spot, don’t worry about unimportant things like that.’
Luh Yao quickly typed in the dialogue box while chewing on a roasted gluten skewer.
—Let them fight for as long as they want. You will fight until complete victory!
