Chapter 378

Based on their previous experience, the Death Knight only needed a little over a day to revive.

But this time was different, for one simple reason: he had died at Anser's hands.

Anser used Divine Sense and quickly checked every room and corner of the castle, but found nothing unusual.

'Strange. Every time he comes back from the dead, he appears inside the castle. The place where he revives should be somewhere in here.'

He made another circuit of the castle before eventually returning to the Ring of Viheral.

"What are you looking for?" Iris asked curiously.

"The place where the Death Knight revives." Anser stepped into the circular magic array and ran a hand over one of the upright, curved stone slabs.

"Here?"

"No. In the underground temple on the other end of the array."

When he had scouted the place earlier, he had observed the castle's structure from the Ethereal Plane. There was no basement here, only three floors above ground.

The castle's foundation itself was part of the Ring of Viheral and was exceptionally solid, clearly intended to prevent deliberate sabotage.

Anser deduced that the Death Knight's revival site was inside that underground temple, and that after reviving, he teleported here through the Ring of Viheral.

That also meant the Death Knight could activate the Ring of Viheral himself—at least from the temple side!

"This is a little troublesome."

It was already the Month of Leaffall—October—and the next full moon was still some time away.

If the Death Knight simply hid inside and refused to come out, dealing with him really would be troublesome.

{Sakkors, take a look at this array and see if there's any other way to activate it.} He immediately called in academic support through telepathy.

Sakkors was a master of the arcane arts, particularly knowledgeable about magic arrays and runes. Something like this shouldn't pose much of a challenge to him.

{Look at the dome.} Sakkors's reply came almost instantly.

Anser raised his head. His gaze settled on the enormous hemispherical dome overhead. Dense silver patterns were embedded in white stone polished smooth as a mirror, reflecting a faint glow and making the whole thing resemble a dim full moon.

{The real secret is up there. This is a modified lunar-phase cycling array. When moonlight is at its strongest, it channels moonlight underground for a variety of purposes—storing energy, simulating the night of a full moon, activating the array...}

Sakkors's tone was flat and utterly disinterested. Compared with the designs aboard a flying city, an array of this level really wasn't enough to pique his interest.

{I see.} Anser spread his dragon wings and shot up toward the dome with a whoosh, reaching out to touch the patterns etched into it.

{Its stored energy is probably running low. You can wait for it to recharge on its own, or find someone to cast a moonlight-based spell and then attune to it...} Sakkors explained carefully.

The Death Knight was dead, so his attunement had already been severed. This was the perfect opportunity for someone else to seize control of the Ring of Viheral.

{No need to find anyone.} Anser could do it himself.

The second-level Druid spell list included Moonbeam, and many clerics of moon-related domains could cast it as well.

He had prepared the spell because it could interrupt a target creature's transformation and force it back into its true form, making it quite useful in the right circumstances.

He dropped back to the ground, raised his Arcanefire Longbow, and cast Moonbeam at 9th level toward the dome.

Upcasting was a basic technique every spellcaster ought to master. It allowed a low-level spell to be cast using higher-level magical power, increasing the spell's effects.

For example, even if a 17th-level Wizard knew nothing but the 3rd-level Fireball, he could still upcast Fireball to 9th level and increase its power accordingly.

There was no awkward situation where the cannon had been upgraded but there were no shells to fire.

How could magic possibly be something so inconvenient!

The bowstring twanged softly, and a beam of cool silver radiance suddenly appeared, shining upward onto the dome and downward across the floor, more than eight meters in diameter.

At first glance, it almost looked as though an enormous hole had opened in the dome and moonlight was pouring straight through it.

The moonlight entered the dome and slowly flowed along the silver patterns. The surface rippled like a lake beneath the moon, reflecting the image of a full moon.

This was Anser's first time casting Moonbeam, and he suddenly realized the spell had quite a lot of potential.

The beam could be moved faster than an ordinary person could run. At 9th level, its base radiant damage reached 9d10 (9–90), and it could continue damaging enemies over time.

Anser used Extended Spell, increasing Moonbeam's duration to five minutes.

'It could be used against targets that stay in one place or move slowly.'

Several minutes passed, and the moonlight gradually faded.

By then, the dome had completely changed. It resembled a full moon hanging high overhead, shedding a faint silver glow that illuminated the hall inside and out, making it feel as though one were walking beneath a full moon at night.

Anser chuckled softly, landed in the center of the Ring of Viheral, and began meditating to attune to it.

He could currently attune to seven magic items. Since some of them couldn't be moved, he had no choice but to end his attunement to the Robe of Stars once again.

An hour passed.

He successfully established a mental connection with the Ring of Viheral. When he closed his eyes, a miniature projection of the castle appeared in his mind.

The Ring of Viheral was the core of the entire castle, integrating power supply, illumination, teleportation, and protection into a single system.

'That's all it took?' The corners of Anser's mouth rose slightly.

Fortunately, the ones who had come here were Thay and the Church of Myrkul. They couldn't cast radiant spells, so even if they had discovered the correct method, all they could have done was stare helplessly.

"Got it working?" Stoll, who had grown somewhat bored, turned to look at him.

"Got it. Let's go inside and take a look. We might even find something unexpected." Anser smiled.

Iris wasn't particularly interested. "I'll wait for you out here."

She was a little curious herself, but just in case, she decided to remain here and stand guard, lest something happen to someone—or someone try something underhanded.

"Then it'll just be the two of us." Stoll couldn't help urging him on, a hint of excitement in his eyes.

"All right."

Anser immediately activated the Ring of Viheral. Wisps of moonlight streamed down from the dome and shone upon the curved stone slabs as magic surged through the array.

At the center of the circular array, a slender crescent moon quietly appeared. It slowly waxed from crescent to full, transforming into a portal that resembled a luminous full moon.

Anser sensed the array's energy reserves. The charge supplied by the 9th-level Moonbeam was enough to activate the Ring of Viheral more than six times in succession. Combined with the small amount of energy it had already stored, that would be enough for quite a while.

'Pretty extravagant.'

Fortunately, the array could absorb moonlight on its own during a full moon, so it wasn't overly dependent on external sources of energy.

He nodded toward Stoll.

Stoll understood immediately. He hefted his greatsword and stepped through.

Anser followed close behind.

Passing through the portal, the first thing he saw was an enormous plaza. The ground was paved entirely with white crystal, reflecting the soft glow of moonlight in a hazy shimmer that made the place seem like a dream.

He swept his gaze around. The spires overhead, the surrounding walls, buildings, decorations, and suspended stairways were all fashioned from crystals of various colors. Flecks of iridescent light danced across their surfaces, making the entire place dazzlingly beautiful and giving it an almost unreal quality.

"We're rich... we're rich..."

Stoll looked around, his eyes gleaming.

Ordinary crystal wasn't worth much, but that only applied to small ornaments. What stood before them was an enormous temple built out of crystal!

And even at a glance, they could see plenty of high-quality magical crystals and all kinds of rare materials inside.

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