The Righteous Player(s)

Chapter 671: The Venerated Skeleton: You’re Right

How would a Wind Dancer differ from a modern Windrunner?

Perhaps the most significant difference was they didn’t need to slow down under any conditions.

Any obstacles were utterly non-existent in front of them—

As Wandering Child rotated the circlet in his hand, the silver bracelet on his right wrist gradually shone brighter and brighter.

The dark green curse mark composed of elven characters flowed from the curse vessel from his right wrist through the shining golden bronze circlet to his left hand, binding it like shackles onto his left wrist.

The earth cracked and melted, receding to both sides, forming a straight downward passage.

Wind and water acted as invisible wings, swirling around everyone. When they got too close to obstacles, they would be gently pushed away by the soft currents.

The overall experience was like squatting in a transparent elastic ball, thrown down from a high altitude and then a hole-in-one.

Amidst the highly elastic gentle vibrations and repeated collisions, they entered the passage carved by the Wandering Child. The underground passage, sloping at an angle, was like the curve left by a stitching needle sliding across the ground as if sewing the skin of the earth.

This caused the three of them and the cat to fall directly into the underground depths without deceleration.

—This was done to allow external air to mix in, preventing the underground space from being sealed for too long and making it hard for them to breathe.

“Okay, here we are…”

After touching the original underground cavity, Wandering Child dispelled the “tunneling”.

This was his first opportunity to use this kind of elven magic—the kind that instantly melted the rock layers around him. If he were to use this magic in a city or even on a mountain, he might be immediately wanted by authorities.

While not inherently lethal, this could still be considered a “highly destructive” spell. The only requirement was to be “accelerating at maximum speed” in the air to use it.

All he needed to do was perform the “Wind Dance” while freely descending from high above, then activate the tunneling technique. He could effortlessly meltdown passing structures and defensive installations in this way, much like a shooting star.

“—[Light].”

After landing smoothly, Longjing Tea chanted casually.

He raised his left hand adorned with red gloves, high-fived the other two, and then patted the cat.

Immediately after, all the places his left hand had touched began to emit a soft, glowing light.

Its brightness was slightly harsh, but at least it brightened the surroundings.

Especially Dove, who used the Chocolate body every day — She roamed the tunnel, leaving streaks of white trails like shooting stars imprinted on her retinas. But she also acted like a miniature searchlight, casting an extremely bright light around her.

“This place…”

Longjing Tea frowned slightly, lost in thought.

At first, he couldn’t see what this place was used for.

It appeared that no one had visited for centuries, to the point that the room was covered in thick layers of dust, and the walls showed signs of erosion.

However, it also seemed to be a sizable space.

“…is kind of like an oversized underground garage,” Delicious Wind Goose quipped. “The kind with ceilings at least ten meters high.”

“But each room is only two or three meters high.”

Longjing Tea looked toward one of the rooms.

As Delicious Wind Goose put it, these “buildings” looked like garages. Square spaces of around 20 to 30 square meters… What else could you call them? Petrified tents?

Such “tents” were linked one after another.

Some in groups of five or six, some in groups of seven or eight. They were stacked horizontally and vertically, resembling a maze.

…But calling it a maze would be a bit embarrassing.

Due to the height, anyone could easily jump up with a light leap.

What was the point of a maze when it could be traversed easily?

“Would you like to open it and have a look?” Dove suggested, “Let Tiange give it a try?”

“Nah.” The Child rejected, “What if there is an explosive in it?

“This thing could be considered a rock… I’ll handle it for now.”

He said, raising the bronze glaive in his hand again.

As the curse in the vessel flowed out, he began to turn the glaive slowly as if holding the steering wheel—

Soon, the floor of the building closest to them was melted.

It didn’t turn into scorching lava but a thick fluid as dark as cement. It was mixed with dust and dirt. It once again hastily solidified into the shape of a slope.

“I originally wanted to make steps, but this is almost the same. We can just make do with it.”

The Child breathed a sigh of relief.

For him, melting all the surrounding rocks in one go wasn’t that difficult… But precisely controlling the melting of a single wall and ensuring it flowed toward his side to avoid contaminating or damaging what was inside required some serious technical finesse.

“You should practice this more at home when we return from this quest.”

Longjing Tea remarked, “After all, your way of entering a room is unique now—no need to open the door, just steal the wall.”

“Next time, see if you can melt a hole right through. Ideally, when we leave, you can patch it up again.”

“You’re making it difficult for me.” The Child frowned in distress.

Only after he advanced to Wind Dancer did he realize why the advancement into “Forest Walker” involved manipulating vines, the ground, air, and flowing water for attacks — all of these played a role in his flying ability.

Wind Dancers weren’t helicopters, nor could they lift off by stomping their feet. They’re more like Tanooki Mario [1], who grabbed the Super Leaf [2]. After a sprint, they could take off into the air.

Their unique combat abilities were tied to their flying state — some required high speed, some demanded staying far above the ground, and others involved flying close to the ground.

So, manipulating objects like earth, flowing water, and vines to create a “sprint zone”… for example, using elevated platforms or frozen surfaces, or even propelling themselves instantly by air or vines to gain high velocity, became quite a convenient and advantageous tactic.

For a legitimate Wind Dancer, they needed to wear metal-reinforced heavy boots. The purpose was to maintain balance—preventing themselves from flying up and accidentally hitting the ground face-first with their weapon.

But the Child was still a relatively inexperienced Wind Dancer… The more powerful the Wind Dancers were, the lighter they weighed, as the storm favored them. However, the Child weighed 50 kilograms.

The storm probably didn’t like him.

“[Cleansing].” Longjing Tea cast another Edict Spell.

A cleansing aura that could dispel all the “impurities” around him burst forth from his raised left hand, adorned with a red glove.

Dust, mud, and dirt were swept away in the blink of an eye.

Immediately afterward, Dove, who was like a searchlight, got in.

Unlike Delicious Wind Goose, Longjing Tea had positioned himself as a support from the beginning.

What would make up a good support?

Heal, control, debuff, speed buff, damage buff…

All in all, making sure your main party was comfortable was the key to good support.

Therefore, he learned a lot of spells like “illumination” and “cleansing”. Because of the limited spell slots, ordinary wizards hardly equipped this kind of spells. Instead, they prefer to form a “set” of spell combos.

The extra spell slots would be used to learn these “extra spells” to improve the quality of life and travel experience.

However, Longjing Tea’s gaze wasn’t constrained by the era—perhaps it was also because the “players” had teammates they could trust, which allowed him, as a wizard, to completely disregard the possibility of adventuring alone.

The Illumination Edict Spell could also be used to stun or blind people in dark places, or it could be attached to invisible individuals to make them visible. As for the spell that dispersed impurities, it might have seemed less useful, but in reality, it could remove many toxic or visibility-obscuring substances… such as smoke, dust, mud, and acid. So, it was actually a useful tool for controlling the battlefield environment.

The spells he carried were all of this kind—things that seemed like they might not have much use but always managed to come in handy.

“…Meow? This is…” Surprised, Dove couldn’t help but utter a few words.

“What’s wrong?” Longjing Tea leaned over.

Then, he saw a skeleton sitting on the seat.

“It’s a corpse.”

Dove leaned in, sniffed, and then made a disgusted face as she licked it with her tongue before using the skill [Hunter Intuition] to confirm more information, “It’s a corpse from at least a century ago…”

“Is this where the Venerated Skeleton buried his subjects?” Wandering Child couldn’t help but ask.

However, a strange chill suddenly swept over their bodies at this moment…

Fear gripped their hearts, rendering them immobile.

And a deep, old voice with a heavy echo sounded behind them.

“I’m listening… You’re right.”

Unlike the Gallery Nightmare, it was an announcement to send them into the nightmare.

Instead, with an increasingly cold sense of fear, making them stiff and their backs soaked in cold sweat—

The crunch of heavy metal boots trampling the dust came clearly from behind them.