Chapter 289: Seeker, Mourning King Warrior

Chapter 289: Chapter 191: Seeker, Mourning King Warrior

The distortion faded, and all fell silent.

“Fuck, I should’ve just stabbed that bastard to death!”

After consuming his last Recovery Wax Block, Li Miao used a Law Oath to suppress his abnormality progress, his eyes burning with frustration as he looked ahead.

He had a strong feeling he was about to die, as he was in terrible shape.

However, when he looked over to where the Seeker had been, he couldn’t help but look surprised.

The Seeker was no longer a blurry, blood-red form. Instead, it was now a floating human face with only its eyes and mouth fully formed.

It looked at Li Miao and began to murmur.

“Please… help me…”

“Help me… find my sanity…”

“Kill them…”

“Hmm?” Seeing that it didn’t seem to have any intention of attacking, Li Miao frowned slightly and slowly lowered his guard.

After a moment of thought, he stepped forward and tried to communicate with it.

But no matter what he asked, the Seeker before him merely repeated its earlier words. It just kept insisting that Li Miao help it, without specifying who he was supposed to kill.

The next moment, the Seeker’s illusory, floating face twisted in pain before vanishing into thin air.

[You have received the quest: The Seeker’s Request]

[Quest Objective: Kill the target in the Mysterious High Platform]

[Quest Reward: Unknown]

‘Is this… a side quest?’

Li Miao was lost in thought.

‘Does it want me to kill guys like that Mad Biter?’

‘Lu Tan said this thing was the key to this place… So, I have to help it kill bosses like the Mad Biter?’

‘What’s its goal?’

‘To get its body back?’

He had just seen it himself. After the Seeker absorbed something from the Mad Biter’s corpse, it had grown a mouth.

‘Just like with that eyeball on the bridge before?’

‘Thinking about it that way, I think I’m starting to get it…’

Li Miao scratched his head. After a moment’s thought, he decided to press on for now.

…

After leaving the Side Stage Garden and returning to the main path, his surroundings once again fell into an unnervingly deep silence.

Only a few members of the High Platform Audience remained seated, gazing silently up at the sky.

He wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but the Moon in the sky seemed a bit brighter…

Li Miao averted his gaze.

Instead of heading for the high ground right away, he adopted a “loot everything” policy and began a carpet search of the area on the other side of the main path.

However, there didn’t seem to be anything of note in that area, and Li Miao didn’t find any bosses like the Side Stage Soloist.

But just as Li Miao was about to leave, a familiar voice suddenly rang in his ear, stopping him in his tracks.

“Catch… it…”

The Seeker’s ethereal voice faded.

A crimson tide washed over everything once more, and Li Miao was again afflicted by Madness.

But he didn’t have time to worry about that now.

The crimson tide washed over him again, tainting his surroundings.

The ground turned scarlet, the Moon was tainted, and vine-like tendrils crept over the eaves and rafters of the buildings.

“HEE HEE HA HA HA…”

Terrifying laughter and clapping echoed from the frenzied monsters, reverberating throughout the entire Mysterious High Platform.

But Li Miao had no time to look at them.

At that moment, his eyes were fixed on only one thing.

A crimson butterfly with wings that resembled a human rib cage. As it flapped its wings, blood dripped from them.

Clutched to its chest was a gleaming, iridescent orb.

[Treasure-bearing Rib Butterfly]

[Explanation: It seems to be carrying something very precious. Don’t let it escape.]

‘Good stuff!’

Li Miao’s eyes lit up instantly.

The next moment, with eyes like a hungry wolf, he took out the Applicable Curse Formula.

He nocked an Arrow, and the Applicable Curse Formula automatically transformed into a Longbow.

Aim, fire!

SWOOSH—

Li Miao’s form was good, but embarrassingly, the Arrow went wide.

Sensing danger, the Treasure-bearing Rib Butterfly hurriedly flapped its wings and tried to escape.

But how could Li Miao let it get away?

“Don’t you run!”

Li Miao grew anxious and fired three Arrows in quick succession—SWISH SWISH SWISH. Incredibly, not a single one hit.

If Shore were here, he would’ve definitely laughed at his bot-like performance.

Seeing the Treasure-bearing Rib Butterfly about to fly out of range, Li Miao gritted his teeth, pulled out the Fishman Bone Fork, and hurled it with a SWOOSH.

With a SQUELCH, a spray of blood erupted under the scarlet moonlight.

‘Holy shit, my aim is deadly!’

Li Miao’s heart leaped. His earlier anxiety vanished in an instant, replaced by a wave of self-satisfaction.

[You have killed the Treasure-bearing Rib Butterfly]

After the Treasure-bearing Rib Butterfly was killed, another crimson ripple pulsed through the air, and the Mysterious High Platform returned to normal once more.

As the Treasure-bearing Rib Butterfly dissolved into Ashes, the iridescent orb it had been clutching fell, landing in a small corner below.

This was an extremely steep slope. A cliff face obscured much of the view, and it was impossible to see what lay in the darkness.

Without a second thought, Li Miao leaped down and picked up the orb.

[Obtained: Battle Ash·Mourning King’s Ash Annihilation Spear]

[Obtained: Glistening Ribs]

‘Both are great items!’

[Battle Ash·Mourning King’s Ash Annihilation Spear]

[Type: Skill Book]

[Quality: Scorching Charcoal]

[Effect: After accumulating Power, unleash a high Attack Power Spear Array and cause enemies hit to accumulate ‘Severe Injury’ status.]

[Explanation: With this spear, we mourn the old king.]

‘A Scorching Charcoal-Quality spear Combat Skill!’

Li Miao rubbed his hands together excitedly, his grin stretching from ear to ear as an honest, simple smile spread across his face.

As for the Glistening Ribs, although it was a consumable, its effect was incredibly powerful: it could instantly restore a user’s Physical Strength and heal any Severe Injury.

‘Mhm, for hoarders like me, this kind of amazing item usually just sits in the stash gathering dust, too precious to use.’

Just as Li Miao was thinking this…

…a viscous, fleshy squelching sound suddenly came from behind, followed by a nauseating, sticky sensation all over his back.

‘What the fuck, an enemy!’

In his rush to jump down and grab the loot, he’d forgotten to be wary of the darkness below and had gotten ambushed from behind by some faceless monster.

Waves of pain washed over him as his Blood Bar dropped rapidly.

Fortunately, Li Miao was no pushover of a Knight. He had high Blood Volume to begin with and was wearing a suit of High-Resistant Heavy Armor, so his health wasn’t dropping too fast.

But the monster on his back showed no signs of stopping, clearly eager to devour him in one gulp.

Li Miao roared, his knotted muscles tearing and pulling frantically.

With the sound of Tearing flesh, he violently broke free from its grasp.

“Fuck you!”

Infuriated, Li Miao immediately unleashed a high-powered Frost Piercing.

[You have killed the Blood Clot Slime Worm]

“What kind of stupid name is that…”

Li Miao’s mouth twitched. Fighting back his disgust, he finished off the remaining two Blood Clot Slime Worms, finally venting his frustration.

‘Hiding such disgusting monsters next to treasure.’

‘That’s the Spirit Candle devs for you!’

After silently giving the middle finger in his mind, Li Miao prepared to leave. But as the bodies of the Blood Clot Slime Worms completely faded away, he suddenly spotted a skeleton leaning against the rock wall.

The skeleton was missing its rib cage, and next to it lay a long spear, shattered into two pieces.

As Li Miao drew closer, an orb of light enveloped in the Power of the Spirit Candle appeared, and the tattered clothes on the skeleton vanished.

[Obtained: Mourning King’s Headband (Ordinary)]

[Obtained: Mourning King’s Belt Armor (Excellent)]

[Obtained: Mourning King Arm Armor (Ordinary)]

[Obtained: Mourning King Leg Armor (Excellent)]

[Obtained: Unfinished Handwriting of the Mourning King Warrior]

“Whoa, a full armor set?”

Li Miao’s eyes lit up as he gleefully picked up the equipment.

Although its Attributes were rather average, it still looked pretty cool. It was mostly black and gray, classified as Light Armor, and suitable for a Warrior.

It was useless to him, but he could repair it and sell it to other players.

Besides, judging by the name, it was probably closely related to the “Mourning King’s Ash Annihilation Spear” Combat Skill dropped by the Treasure-bearing Rib Butterfly.

‘Could it be that this Mourning King Warrior’s ribs took the Combat Skill with them and transformed into the Treasure-bearing Rib Butterfly?’

‘How did he die here?’

Filled with questions, Li Miao opened the handwriting.

[Unfinished Handwriting of the Mourning King Warrior]

[Type: Letter]

[Content: “…There’s no sign of the Great Death Fire here… That liar…”]

[Explanation: A warrior who mourns his king. From whence did he come, and whither shall he go?]