Stone Castle of Duke Osiris.
Link wanted to leave the moment he saw that black-haired woman.
The reason was simple. In the game, this woman was not a simple character. She was called Olisa, an Elemental Magician from the Dragon race and Isendilan's most valued commander.
Link was not afraid of her identity as an Elemental Magician. This was because the magic fluctuation around her revealed that she was merely Level-7 in strength. He was afraid of her intellect.
If they were going to engage in a one-on-one battle, Link could easily defeat her using his Demon Slayer whip spell. However, he was now deep within the stone castle where many powerful Warriors dwelled. He could point out any two guards, and they would be Level-7 in strength. Link even felt the presence of two Level-8 Warriors.
This magnificent force coupled with an outstanding commander had turned the stone castle into a tiger's den!
And he was right in the middle of it.
The footsteps were getting closer, and the Warriors on the outer walls seemed to be alerted of an intruder. One could hear shouting, and hasty footsteps sound outside of the window. The dining hall would be surrounded soon.
What should I do?
Link looked around and fixed his gaze on a painting on the wall. This was a painting depicting the scene of the harvest festival of the dragon race.
There were at least 300 dragons celebrating the happy occasion, with a few high-ranking dragons soaring in the skies. Although this painting was partly drawn to depict the strength and power of high-ranking dragons, Link was attracted to the ordinary dragons instead.
He remembered reading a small book that recorded small tricks that one could play with spells. The magic fluctuations from these spells were extremely faint, like that of a Level-0 spell, though they possessed incredible effects.
Link would practice these spells ever so often when he was bored. He suddenly remembered a spell named Painted Humans.
More importantly, in order to protect the integrity of this painting, the Duke had cast a Level-3 protection spell on it. Under the effect of this spell, the magic fluctuation from a Level-0 spell was negligible!
The footsteps on the corridor had grown extremely close, to only around 30 feet away. Link hesitated no more. He immediately leaned against the painting and poof! He had completely integrated into the painting. Link's face appeared amongst one of the 300 ordinary dragons.
Just three seconds after he was done hiding, the guards of the stone castle barged in.
They had a bladed resolve in their eyes and were extremely alert. They glanced around the dining hall, searching for any peculiarities.
That was not all.
Two other guards walked in from the direction of the kitchen, one of whom was clearly more elegantly-dressed and dignified than the other. He glanced across the dining hall and asked, "What is the situation now?"
Another guard reported, "My lord, that female Magician claimed that a mouse had sneaked in. She sent us to the dining hall to take a look."
The man then frowned as he said, "What mouse is she talking about? Spreading rumors is all she knows! There is nothing here!"
The moment he finished speaking, a female voice sounded from the entrance, "Brayer, my intuition is never wrong. Someone has definitely infiltrated the stone castle!"
This was the female Magician Olisa. She had definitely heard Brayer's defamation, though she kept a straight face and a calm tone. There was not a hint of anger in her voice.
Brayer was frustrated. If not for the Duke's instruction to respect and listen to this woman, he would never pay her any attention, even if she had good looks. Alas, even her looks were pretty ordinary!
He took a deep breath and turned to his underlings and said, "If that is so, you, you and you, search the ground floor. This group will take the second floor…"
Olisa then interrupted, "There is no need to search the second floor. I can feel that he is nearby. He must be on the first floor. Just search this place carefully."
Brayer then squinted his eyes as he nodded and said, "Then we will search the first floor!"
The guards could feel the animosity between their commander and the female Magician. They did not dare to utter a single word and quickly searched the dining hall area before scurrying off to other parts of the stone castle.
After the guards left, Brayer snickered at the female Magician and said, "Olisa, I do not know what method you used to bewitch the Duke. However, if you dare to even do anything that harms the Duke, I will execute you on the spot!"
Olisa stared at Brayer for a moment before she left. The expression of condescension and contempt on her face was clear.
Brayer then heaved a long sigh as he clasped his hands tightly on the sheath of the sword. He muttered, "Damned bitch, don't let me find a chance to kill you!"
Brayer was the only one left in the dining hall. He glanced around before he snickered and left.
Link heaved a sigh of relief and waited for another three minutes before he canceled his spell and jumped out from the painting.
The situation was not as grim as he thought. Olisa seemed to be unpopular amongst the guards, and the commander seemed to be unconvinced by her words. This would greatly compromise her ability as a commander.
After exiting the painting, Link did not go out of the dining hall. The entire first floor was filled with guards. It would be suicidal to go out.
He quickly moved to a corner of the dining hall and cast a levitation spell on himself. He then supported himself with his bare hands and climbed to the ceiling of the dining hall. After which, he started casting a transformation spell.
Under the effect of the spell, the ceiling turned into the consistency of water. Link could then dive right into the liquefied ceiling. In that instant, Link felt as though he was swimming through a swamp. It felt extremely disgusting, though he gritted his teeth through it for the mission.
After passing through the swamp, Link turned the ceiling back to normal. He then carefully observed his surroundings.
He had arrived at a room. There was a huge bed in the middle and a dressing table not far away from the bed. A few bottles of cosmetic products could be seen on the table. There was also a magic book, and upon closer inspection, one would notice that the title of the book was Pros and Cons of Dragonification Spells.
Upon seeing this book, Link swallowed his saliva. It was clear that this was a female Magician's bedroom. There was also a faint magic presence in the air that was similar to Olisa's.
This meant that this was Olisa's bedroom! This is indeed a suicidal attempt!
Damn it! I cannot stay here! Time is really tight now!
Olisa was a Level-7 Magician and was extremely intelligent. If Link even made a slight change to her bedroom, she would definitely notice the difference, and Link would be fully exposed!
This little mistake cost Link his time to search the stone castle of Duke Osiris in peace. If he was lucky, he still had half an hour in here. However, if he was not, he would only have 15 minutes left.
He was playing with his life!
After a few moments of thinking, Link felt that he could not afford such a huge risk.
But how could he lower the risks? This was a huge problem.
Link was truly in a pinch. Just when he was almost out of options, he heard faint voices around him. It was the sound of footsteps. They were extremely light.
It was a woman…Wait, the other party did not conceal her magic presence. It was Olisa!
Did she come back so soon? And she was alone? Link suddenly felt his heart thump quickly. He thought of a crazy idea which instantly took form in his mind. It propelled him to walk closer towards the door as he waited patiently with his wand in his hand.
Half a minute later, the door was pushed open. A woman in a black-dress appeared.
Half a second after she entered her room, she felt something was amiss. The wand in her hand then started to glow as magic fluctuations appeared around her. Clearly, she had already noticed the peculiarities in the room and instinctively began to defend.
However, it was too late!
Link was faster than her in both reaction time and spellcasting speed. Taking note of the fact that Olisa was of the dragon race who was known for their durability, he unleashed the full force of his most powerful spell, the Demon Slayer whip.
The Demon Slayer ship was a principle-type spell. Although it was Level-8 in strength, the magic fluctuations that it emanated were extremely faint. Link could also control the scale of the spell freely. It was the perfect spell to use in an ambush attack!
Crack! A blood crystal whip around nine feet in length appeared. The energy within the whip exploded instantly and struck Olisa on the back of her head.
Although the spell was small in scale, it was a Level-8 spell nonetheless. As long as one was strike with the full force of this spell, they would definitely die. At that moment, Olisa displayed her extraordinary talents.
A red glow enveloped her body as dragon scales started covering her vital points. She also capitalized on the dragon's fast reaction time to move forward slightly, making sure that the whip missed her vitals.
Following which, a white light enveloped her body. It was a transportation spell!
Crack! Link managed to hit her back, though a large portion of the impact was absorbed by the dragon scales. The remaining force was still extremely destructive. Olisa's battle armor immediately shattered as she vomited blood. That was the last thing Link saw before she was transported away.
Link then stared at the floor. There was a pool of boiling blood on the ground with a few pieces of damaged organs mixed within. This meant that Link's spell had infiltrated to the core of Olisa's body, dealing extreme damage.
Olisa must be heavily injured. It would be impossible for her to rush back even if she wanted to!
This unexpected ambush attack had won Link some time.
He swiftly exited Olisa's bedroom and ran towards the study room he had set his sights on. He had already memorized the location, and it only took him ten seconds to reach his destination.
At the moment when he entered the study room, footsteps sound could be heard from the corridor. Guards of the stone castle had heard the commotion on the second floor and had come to investigate the situation.
This was fine. They did not know about the details of the fight and would definitely enter Olisa's room first to gather information. He would use this buffer time to act.
He had to act fast!
There was a huge bookshelf in the study room and a study table beside it. There were many letters and scrolls sprawled across it. It was impossible to check all of them one by one.
Link then went for the ultimatum. He ran around the study room and put away everything that had words on them into his dimensional pendant. This included all letters, book, magic scrolls and so on.
That was not all.
Link circled the study table for a closer inspection and finally located the secret compartment. He muttered, "Tsk, the Duke has no creativity."
There were a few more letters within the secret compartment.
Upon collecting those letters, a message appeared in Link's field of vision.
Mission: Investigation Completed
Player Omni Points +200
Activate the Third Step: Expose the Scheme
Content: Return to the Dragon Temple and expose the conspiracy by Duke Osiris to Red Dragon Queen Gretel
Reward: Magic Surge Talisman (Enchanting)
Accept Mission?
Link accepted the mission without hesitation. He then jumped out of the window of the study room immediately. While he was in mid-air, he cast a Traceless spell and a Levitation spell on himself, erasing all his traces.
Just when he was about to land, he heard a roar of astonishment and horror from the second floor, "It's a burglar!"
How could anyone stay calm after seeing that Duke Osiris' study room had been ransacked?