Dice In The Darkness: Cthulhu Calls

At this moment, EinsCastle was brightly lit. From a distance, Liu Xing and others could see EinsCastle shining like a ball of light, appearing as if it were hosting a grand party.

However, what was somewhat eerie was that despite the brightly lit EinsCastle, there was no sound emanating from it.

"It seems that the Ritual Ceremony of the Cult of the Cadaver isn’t as grand as expected, not a single sound coming out," Ling Ishikawa quipped.

Liu Xing shrugged, smiling, "How could a Ritual Ceremony of the Cult of the Cadaver be celebrated with fanfare? But now our infiltration seems a bit challenging because it appears we don’t have any dark corners to hide in."

As Liu Xing and the others approached the cliff below EinsCastle, it had already started drizzling.

"Alright, everyone, it’s time to eat, drink, and attend to personal needs. And for those who need to, hurry up. We won’t have a second chance once we start," Ryuzaki, as the only active-duty special forces among them, naturally took charge of this operation.

So, Liu Xing and the others began their final preparations.

At this moment, Miguel’s information arrived as promised.

According to Miguel’s investigation, there were about ten Cult of the Cadaver disciples patrolling on the walls of EinsCastle. However, these Cult of the Cadaver disciples were experiencing a lack of focus as they had been on the castle walls for over six hours.

Currently, these patrolling Cult of the Cadaver disciples were making rounds on the EinsCastle walls roughly every fifteen minutes, with each patrol taking about ten minutes to complete. Most importantly, Miguel could sense that these Cult of the Cadaver disciples had some sort of monitoring device installed on their hands. Miguel suspected it might be a pulse monitoring device, triggering an alarm if any of them were to die.

Apart from the Cult of the Cadaver disciples patrolling the walls, another potential threat to Liu Xing’s group was a hidden lookout perched atop EinsCastle. This lookout was manned by only two Cult of the Cadaver disciples, one equipped with an infrared telescope for investigation, while the other wielded a sniper rifle. The field of view of these two Cult of the Cadaver disciples covered almost the entire EinsCastle. Thus, Miguel planned to eliminate these two Cult of the Cadaver disciples when Liu Xing’s group ascended the walls.

As for the ongoing Ritual Ceremony, it was heavily guarded. Besides the central area where the Ritual Ceremony was taking place, armed Cult of the Cadaver disciples were constantly patrolling nearby, and multiple machine gun emplacements were set up. Direct assault was unrealistic. Therefore, Miguel suggested that Liu Xing’s group rely on the walls to attack the replica of the Corrupted Wooden Carving.

However, what concerned Miguel the most was the presence of two vastly different Ghouls standing beside Bai Hecheng, who was conducting the Ritual Ceremony. One Ghoul was enormous, over three meters tall, with bulging muscles, seeming capable of tearing a tank apart barehanded. The other Ghoul was hunched, wrinkled, and held a seemingly ordinary cane. Yet, to Miguel, this Ghoul appeared far more threatening.

Because this Ghoul instilled fear in Miguel instinctively.

Hence, Miguel believed that the biggest threat to Liu Xing’s group once they initiated their action would be these two Ghouls. He especially advised Liu Xing’s group to eliminate the Ghoul holding the cane at the earliest opportunity.

Finally, Miguel brought some good news. The Cult of the Cadaver disciples in EinsTown had been arranged by Rayna to participate in a demonstration in the Manchester city area. Rayna aimed to create another major incident in Manchester by releasing a batch of blood men during the demonstration!

If this operation succeeded, it would spell trouble for the English authorities, as their negative public image would continue to escalate.

Therefore, the only enemies Liu Xing and his team would have to face now were the Cult of the Cadaver disciples in EinsCastle.

After reading the message, Liu Xing immediately sent the last piece of information to Chris. Although Chris had been dismissed from his position, it was only a superficial gesture. Chris still held considerable influence within the Manchester police department.

After sending the text, Liu Xing turned off his mobile phone to avoid alerting the Cult of the Cadaver members with its ringing or light once the operation began.

Then, Liu Xing briefed Ryuzaki on the current situation.

After pondering for a moment, Ryuzaki said, "When we start climbing later, I’ll go first. The second person will maintain a distance of about five meters from me. Once I confirm the passage of the patrol on the wall, you all follow me up. Once we’re all prepared on the wall, except for Ling Ishikawa, who will disable the armed helicopter, everyone else will focus on shooting at the site of the Ritual Ceremony. Whether it’s the replica of the Corrupted Wooden Carving, Bai Hecheng, or those two Ghouls, we need to find a way to deal with them to prevent any trouble during the pursuit."

Buke nodded, adding, "Right, I remember we still have a batch of hand grenades. Jack, you should be able to set up some traps with those hand grenades. I recall you gained recognition from the captain for your trap skills back then."

"No problem. I’ve been hunting with my father in the mountains since I was a child, so I’ve learned many ways to set traps from him. Today, it’s finally coming in handy to stop the Cult of the Cadaver’s pursuit," Jack said confidently.

So, Ryuzaki decided to entrust most of the hand grenades to Jack.

By now, everyone was ready.

"Let’s go," Ryuzaki took the lead in climbing up.

Of course, Alice and Lu Tianya wouldn’t climb up with Liu Xing’s group this time. They were responsible for providing support from below, and the crossbow given by Bain was now in Ryuzaki’s hands.

At this moment, KP Li Shunchan also stepped forward, saying, "Now, please conduct a climbing judgment, players. However, because you all are equipped with excellent climbing gear, the climbing skill value will temporarily increase by 20 points. And because the climbing routes chosen by you have been artificially modified to be very suitable for climbing, the climbing skill value of each player will increase by another 20 points temporarily. However, since it’s drizzling now, the rock walls have become somewhat slippery, so the climbing skill value of each player will temporarily decrease by 20 points."

Liu Xing breathed a sigh of relief. Despite various factors affecting this climbing, the temporary increase of 20 skill points had left Liu Xing feeling quite satisfied.

Liu Xing, 68/70 (50+20), success

Zhang Jingxu, 36/65 (45+20), success

Ling Ishikawa, 25/50 (30+20), success

Yis People, 12/40 (20+20), success

Upon seeing the judgment results, Liu Xing finally relaxed. In actions involving players and NPCs together, as long as the players didn’t fail, the NPCs usually wouldn’t falter.

Then came the sound of another set of dice rolling. Liu Xing knew it was KP Li Shunchan conducting a judgment on the climbing skills of the NPCs.

And then, Liu Xing lost control of his body again.

It felt like watching a VR movie. Initially, Liu Xing found it somewhat novel, but after a few minutes, it became boring as all he could see was the rock wall. After a few more minutes, Liu Xing started feeling dizzy due to the intense shaking of the "VR movie."

Most importantly, Liu Xing couldn’t shut off this "VR movie."

It was uncomfortable.

After what seemed like an eternity, Liu Xing’s group finally reached the top of the wall.

"Fortunately, those patrolling Cult of the Cadaver disciples arrived just in time. Otherwise, we’d have to hang on the wall for over ten minutes," Zhang Jingxu said, crouching.

Liu Xing nodded, stealthily peeking to observe the situation in the backyard of EinsCastle.

As Miguel had mentioned, there were numerous Cult of the Cadaver disciples gathered in the backyard of EinsCastle at this moment. These disciples were all armed, and at all critical positions, the Cult of the Cadaver had set up machine gun emplacements.

However, one good thing was that most of these Cult of the Cadaver disciples were focused on the ongoing Ritual Ceremony and hadn’t noticed their sneaky intrusion.

Of course, Liu Xing didn’t forget to glance at the hidden lookout Miguel had mentioned. Then he saw a flash of white light—a signal that Miguel had taken care of the lookout.

As for the ongoing Ritual Ceremony, it was similar to the one conducted by the Worshipers of the Yellow Sect that Watanabe Ryuusei remembered. Bai Hecheng, acting as the host, stood in front of the replica of the Corrupted Wooden Carving, holding a book devoutly, continuously reciting its contents.

Liu Xing knew that the book in Bai Hecheng’s hands was the original Cult of the Cadaver Rituals stolen by Shi Zixuan from Bain.

In that case, Liu Xing believed that simply returning the original Cult of the Cadaver Rituals to Bain should be enough to stop this Ritual Ceremony.

So, Liu Xing shared his thoughts with Ryuzaki.

After pondering for a moment, Ryuzaki said, "Alright, when we start, I’ll use the crossbow to shoot the magic book first. Then, you all initiate the attack one second later. After all, the speed of crossbow bolts is slower than bullets, and simultaneous shots might cause Bai Hecheng to lose his grip."

Everyone nodded and hastened to set up the rappelling equipment.

Ten minutes later, the preliminary preparations were complete.

The final battle was about to begin.

While checking his rifle, Liu Xing continued to observe the ongoing Ritual Ceremony below.

But at that moment, a sudden change occurred.

The hunched Ghoul suddenly tapped its cane, and a blue light instantly enveloped the entire area of the Ritual Ceremony, forming a blue semicircular shield that completely enclosed the area.

Seconds later, this blue shield began to turn transparent.

Clearly, it was a defensive shield magic.

"So, this hunched Ghoul is also a Wizard, and it seems much more powerful than the one we encountered in the north corner. No wonder Miguel was afraid of it," Liu Xing frowned.

Ling Ishikawa, standing beside him, nodded with some concern. "This should be a large-scale shield magic with a time limit. But it’s hard to say how much damage this shield can withstand."

"I’m afraid this shield can withstand quite a lot of damage. As far as I know, large-scale shield magic like this can withstand artillery attacks. So, although our rifles are powerful, the chances of destroying this shield after one round of attack aren’t high. Moreover, that Ghoul seems quite confident," Zhang Jingxu said helplessly.

As Zhang Jingxu said, after releasing the shield magic, the Ghoul acted as if nothing had happened, still standing calmly in place.

Seeing this, Liu Xing hesitated. "Shouldn’t we wait a little longer to ascertain the duration of this shield? Then, when the shield is about to expire, we can launch our attack?"

Zhang Jingxu immediately shook his head and said, "I don’t think that’s realistic because under normal circumstances, this kind of shield magic doesn’t become weaker as its duration approaches its end. So, unless that Ghoul forgets to ’renew’ the shield, we still have to break the shield first to threaten Bai Hecheng and the others inside the shield."

"I agree with Zhang Jingxu. And I suggest we start the attack now because as a Wizard, I know that this type of magic that requires a lot of mental energy can’t be used a second time in a short period. So, we shouldn’t give that Ghoul any time to catch its breath!" Ling Ishikawa said earnestly.

So, Ryuzaki decided to launch the attack immediately.

But as Ryuzaki picked up his rifle, Liu Xing spoke up, "Ryuzaki, why don’t you try using the crossbow first? I think Bain should know that the Ghoul will use the shield magic, so the crossbow he gave us should have the property of ignoring the shield."

Upon hearing Liu Xing’s suggestion, Ryuzaki, who thought it made sense, switched back to the crossbow and prepared to shoot.

At this moment, Yis People suddenly spoke up, "By the way, since Bain’s crossbow will teleport any dead object hit by it to Bain’s study room, why don’t you first shoot the replica of the Corrupted Wooden Carving? If you hit it, the replica will be sent to Bain’s place. I believe the Cult of the Cadaver won’t dare to approach Bain to ask for the replica of the Corrupted Wooden Carving, and Bain won’t give it back to the Cult of the Cadaver either."

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