Book 11: Chapter 69: Intercept (2)

Crow’s impromptu performance was incredibly realistic, but the flaws in his words were very obvious.

Who was he? Why was he attacked? And why didn’t he go to the patrol guards for help, but instead ran to the entrance of the underground level?

Any guard who took a little more time to think would immediately become suspicious of Crow.

This Zhentarim assassin was completely gambling. He was betting that Pakunoda was not intentionally intercepting here, and might not even know about the assassination attempt in the Banquet Hall. This way, he could take advantage of Pakunoda’s moment of doubt to kill her at close range with a surprise attack.

As the distance between Crow and Pakunoda shortened to less than two meters, the look of panic on the assassin’s face lessened slightly, as if he had found a comforting reliance. And just then, he seemed to finally lose his strength, stumbled forward, and instinctively raised his right hand, reaching for the woman’s shoulder.

Pakunoda instinctively stepped forward and reached out to support him.

A trace of mockery appeared in the assassin’s eyes. A black gleam suddenly flashed from the sleeve of his right hand, which was loosely placed on the woman’s arm. A completely black sleeve sword emerged from the Mage robe’s sleeve like a venomous snake, swiftly stabbing into Pakunoda’s left chest.

“Thud!” The black sword plunged into the woman’s heart without any resistance. However, the strange sensation at the tip felt as if it had pierced an empty human body with no flesh or blood. Crow looked up in shock, meeting Pakunoda’s expressionless, cold eyes.

“What is the entire plan for your escape?”

Under the gaze of those cold pupils, the assassin felt as if all the secrets deep within his heart were being laid bare, and he couldn’t help but shiver inwardly.

“Ah!” Crow roared wildly. His free left palm slapped Pakunoda’s abdomen, sending her flying far away. Then, without a moment’s pause, he dashed into the underground passage.

“So heavy! Is this the strength of the powerful in this world?” Pakunoda felt this force pour into every part of her body, crashing and destroying everywhere, almost completely shattering her puppet body.

“Crack!” Several fissures appeared on Pakunoda’s face, like a porcelain doll that had been dropped and broken.

“No wonder that guy gave me the Burial of Light and Darkness but didn’t ask me to stop the assassin. He just wanted me to read their escape plan through physical contact.” Pakunoda felt a little frustrated inside.

Although her current strength was more than a level lower than in the Hunter World, she could tell that even her former self would not be a match for this person.

From the moment their bodies made contact, the only part of her long-planned action that succeeded was asking that question. The follow-up moves she intended for a counterattack were reflexively suppressed by the assassin. That palm strike paralyzed her entire body, taking away even the strength to pull a trigger.

In Pakunoda’s memory, perhaps among her companions in the Phantom Troupe, only a few like Uvogin, Finkes, and Bonolenov, who were skilled in combat techniques and had high strength attributes, could do something like that.

However, what shocked Pakunoda was that the person just now was clearly not a strength-based warrior, but an agility-based assassin.

“Did he escape into the underground level?” Just a few seconds later, as the paralysis in Pakunoda’s body just faded, a whirlwind carrying a blurred figure raced down the corridor. Before the figure even arrived, a majestic and solemn woman’s voice reached the Troupe beauty’s ears.

“Bang!” Pakunoda raised the Angel’s Praise in her right hand and pulled the trigger with difficulty.

“Neigh…!” As a flash of light came from the gun muzzle, a Unicorn radiating holy light let out a long cry, raised its head, and charged towards the Storm Queen.

“I am Elasylin of Aglarond!” The figure enveloped by the whirlwind seemed startled, twisted her body to dodge the Unicorn’s phantom, but did not attack Pakunoda.

She thought Pakunoda, severely injured, might be confused. As Elastor’s sister, the Storm Queen’s features were easily recognizable to all guards of the Palace of the High, so she hadn’t introduced herself earlier.

To the Storm Queen’s surprise, the phantom Unicorn behind her suddenly stomped its front hooves, turned around, and pounced sideways again. This time, the Storm Queen couldn’t avoid it completely. The Unicorn phantom was large and the distance was too close; part of her body was grazed.

The Unicorn phantom shattered into pieces against the magic shield covering the Storm Queen’s body. Magic Element fragments reflected brilliant colors in the air like shards of glass.

Most of the Unicorn’s elemental fragments dissipated, but a trace of light and shadow strangely merged into the Storm Queen’s magic shield. Through the shield, it directly manifested in Elasylin’s consciousness.

The Storm Queen frowned slightly. She could see that the Unicorn phantom formed by this magic bullet was controlled by the severely injured woman before her. This proved her mind was clear, and she should know her true identity.

“You…” Elasylin started to speak, but fragmented memory pieces flashed in her mind—they belonged to Crow.

A bright light surged in the Storm Queen’s eyes. Through these broken memory fragments, she instantly grasped the general content of the Zhentarim’s assassination plan. More importantly, she learned about the two Teleportation Arrays the assassins had set up inside the Palace of the High.

“Rest well!” The Storm Queen took a deep look at Pakunoda, who was sitting against the wall, and without hesitation, flashed into the underground passage.

At the same time, she raised her hand and swiftly drew symbols in front of her chest. A string of mysterious magic light characters condensed in the air. When she finished the last stroke, she waved her hand, and the string of magic characters turned into several rays of light, disappearing into the night sky in different directions.

The Storm Queen had only left for less than ten seconds when a sleek black panther silently appeared at the end of the corridor.

“Child, don’t shoot. We received Elasylin’s magic light message and already understand the situation.” Seeing Pakunoda tremblingly raise the black and white twin guns, a glint of light flashed in the black panther’s eyes. It spoke in human language, stood up on its hind legs, and transformed into an old Druid wearing feathered robes.

“Don’t worry, Thunder Warhammer went to the other Teleportation Array. Those vile rats of the Zhentarim cannot escape the Palace of the High!” Igalanord smiled, crouched down beside Pakunoda, and scanned the wound on the woman’s left chest. His white eyebrows immediately furrowed tightly. “Your injury is severe…”

“Huh, you are…” The Grand Druid’s palm glowed with a soft green light. When he placed his hand on Pakunoda’s chest, his eyes widened in surprise, and a serious expression appeared on his face. “Who is your master?”

“My master is the Elf Prince Firal Moonlight!” Pakunoda struggled to get up expressionlessly. “I have a mind-reading ability. He asked me to guard here and intercept any assassins who might pass through!”

Pakunoda did not have an Apostle mark. Although she could use Qin Lun’s magic power to construct a body, she was essentially just a puppet item, definitely different from a living person.

“The Elf Prince of Seopia?” Galanord frowned deeply. The moment he touched the woman’s body, he immediately realized Pakunoda was not a living person, but something similar to an alchemical puppet.

“Master, my duty is done. I will take my leave now!” Pakunoda pressed her wound, bowed slightly, and hobbled into the corridor.

“A puppet doll with self-awareness… probably given to him by the Anker Elf King!” The Grand Druid’s eyes gleamed thoughtfully as he watched Pakunoda disappear around the corner of the corridor, then lowered his head in deep thought.

Galanord was an Elven Druid, nearly five hundred years old. Compared to his strong combat prowess, his knowledge and experience were even more vast. In his understanding, unless a puppet doll had experienced a very long period, it was difficult for it to develop such high intelligence.

Very few of such things remained in present-day Faerûn. Most were born in the Arcane Age when the Nether Scrolls emerged, and the vast majority were made by Elven Alchemists. Only they had sufficient knowledge and skill to create such exquisite and complex alchemical dolls.

The Grand Druid quickly supplemented a lot of information in his mind regarding Pakunoda’s existence. He believed this item must have been given to Qin Lun by the Anker Elf King. The fact that the Elf King would give away such a precious doll naturally indicated that he valued this Elf heritage prince highly.

Since the Elf King valued Qin Lun so much, perhaps the silver-haired Elf’s every move was instructed by that Elf King.

Although the Great Sage Laini confirmed that Qin Lun decided to support the Silver Marches on a whim during the adventure to rescue Iristin. But it was also possible that the Elf King had previously spoken to him about the Silver Marches and expressed an intention for an alliance. That’s why the Elf Prince willingly took the risk and traveled a great distance to help Elastor.

In fact, the events of this night played a crucial role in the rapid establishment of the future Star-Moon Alliance. And Pakunoda’s appearance inadvertently led the high-ranking members of the Silver Marches to believe that the Anker Elf King had long intended to form an alliance, which was why Qin Lun spared no effort to help.

…

“Stop running, you can’t escape!” Mastashia said coldly.

At this moment, in another garden of the Palace of the High, the Highland Elf, along with Iristin, Idria, and Rand, stood at four corners, surrounding a black-robed Mage and two assassins dressed as attendants. Laini and Linda hovered in the air, one in front and one behind, while Hill stood at the rear of the group.

When Elastor was attacked, they reacted quickly. Although they couldn’t stop the assassin who jumped out the window due to the distance, they managed to catch up with the Necromancer who escaped through the Banquet Hall doors.

The other two attendants were probably followers of this Necromancer. Seeing their master surrounded, they had no choice but to reveal their identities and help him deal with the pursuers.

“Haha, is that so? I don’t think so!” The Necromancer lifted his head, revealing a pale face. His hoarse laugh sounded like the cry of a night owl, giving people an extremely uncomfortable feeling.

He reached into his robe, pulled out two pale golden bones, and threw them into the air. The bones looked like human skeletons shrunk countless times. They grew in the wind after being thrown, and by the time they landed, they had turned into two golden skeletons the size of ordinary people.