Fantasy Game: Infinite City

Chapter 610 The Use of Pollution Halo

Fortunately, these giant bats and flying insects had poor eyesight and couldn't see very far. So, after Han Zu led them out of the third floor of the library, they quickly lost sight of them, even though Han Zu was standing in the corridor not far from them. This gave Han Zu an opportunity.

Han Zu had originally intended to try and mobilize the energy within his body to unleash some area-of-effect ranged attacks, thereby more efficiently eliminating the monsters he had lured out. However, due to the unknown influence within Bastinburg, Han Zu could only absorb energy, not release it. Currently, the only abilities Han Zu could normally use were energy conversion and the pollution aura that didn't require his conscious control.

However, based on Han Zu's current understanding, these two abilities are only effective against enemies that inherently possess energy. Han Zu's understanding of the Pollution Aura is still incomplete, and he doesn't know if it has other uses. Those giant bats and flying insects don't possess much energy themselves, so trying to eliminate them by draining their energy is unrealistic.

"Forget it, let's absorb all the energy they have first, and then knock them down one by one."

To protect the adjacent library from damage as much as possible, Han Zu adopted the safest approach: he would let all the monsters he had attracted attack him, absorb their energy using his energy conversion ability to prevent them from using energy attacks, and then eliminate them one by one with his Morning Star Hammer. Although this was very time-consuming, Han Zu truly had no other choice.

After luring the monsters a considerable distance away, completely avoiding the library, Han Zu walked into their midst. The monsters immediately launched an attack. The giant bats attempted to unleash shockwaves of energy, but before they could gather enough, Han Zu swiftly drained it all. Han Zu's guess was correct; due to their limited energy reserves, the giant bats remained unchanged even after he drained their energy. As for the flying insects, some of them perished. However, since their attacks couldn't harm Han Zu anyway, he took advantage of the monsters' onslaught to raise his Morning Star Hammer and eliminate them one by one.

The flying insects were easy to deal with; one hit was enough to kill them all. If the angle and timing were right, a single hammer blow could kill several. But the giant bats' defenses surprised Han Zu. In terms of defense alone, these creatures were almost as strong as the elemental creature that had knocked him up from outside. It took Han Zu more than half an hour to kill all the giant bats.

"Squeak~!"

"Ping!"

After Han Zu grabbed the last giant bat by the wing, pinned it to the ground, and smashed it seven or eight times with his Morning Star Hammer, all the monsters were finally killed. Once Han Zu confirmed they were all dead, he sat down in the corridor and yawned. This haphazard, repetitive hammer-swinging motion was making Han Zu somewhat drowsy.

"That was a mistake; I should have brought a carton of cigarettes."

Han Zu clicked his tongue and prepared to stand up from the ground, but just as he raised his hand, he noticed something interesting.

Even after he swung the Morning Star Hammer in his hand continuously for half an hour, hitting the giant flying insect's hard shell several times, and striking the nearby walls and ground several times, it remained completely undamaged; even the spikes at the top showed no signs of dulling. Upon closer inspection, Han Zu discovered that this seemingly ordinary Morning Star Hammer was exactly the same as when he first found it, unchanged.

"Won't get damaged? Not necessarily, maybe it just hasn't encountered a strong enough enemy."

The fact that the weapon was unharmed was just a minor incident; Han Zu was still thinking about the documents about Carson in the library. Now that the third floor of the library had been cleared out, it was time to go back.

Han Zu quickly completed his search of the three floors, but unfortunately, he found no further information about Carson's life. However, it wasn't a complete loss; he found some old potion bottles containing a golden liquid. This golden liquid contained considerable energy, but based on his perception, it wasn't energy that could be used for attack or defense. Judging from the energy fluctuations within the potion bottles, Han Zu roughly understood that this golden liquid was perhaps used for healing or enhancement.

"Boom."

Han Zu flicked the cork off the medicine bottle with his thumb and drank one of the vials. A cool sensation went down his throat and into his body, and Han Zu immediately felt much more energetic. This energy wasn't due to the coolness of the medicine itself, but rather the effect of the medicine after it was absorbed. However, Han Zu didn't yet know what the effects of these medicines were; he was only certain that they wouldn't have any negative impact on him.

Han Zu wondered what these medicines might do, so he wanted to take them with him. However, the storage capacity of the contractor's equipment was also limited. So Han Zu took off his shirt, tied it into a makeshift cloth bag, and put the medicines inside.

The third floor had been searched; it was time to move down. Han Zu glanced down from the third-floor railing and noticed there seemed to be no direct entrance to the second floor. The only way to get to the second floor was via the staircases connecting the third and first floors of the library, but these staircases were long broken, with only the outermost metal sections used to hold them in place. The library occupied a large area, with each floor at least four or five meters high. Of course, this height wasn't a problem for Han Zu. The problem was that there were no exits or windows on the second floor, making it difficult for Han Zu to deal with the monsters on the second floor using the same methods he used on the third floor.

This was a very tricky situation for Han Zu, because according to his observation, the monsters on the second floor were five or six skeletons covered in tattered rags. These creatures were quite similar to the skeleton he had encountered in the royal mausoleum, so they were also very likely capable of unleashing large fireballs with a wide blast radius. The books and scrolls on the second floor of the library were relatively well-preserved, and letting those skeletons randomly throw fireballs would not be good for information gathering. Having not yet come up with a good solution, Han Zu decided to temporarily bypass the second floor of the library and clear out the monsters on the first floor first. Alternatively, he could go to the last area that the third team had avoided, investigate that place first, and then return to investigate the library.

The place the third team avoided was also on this floor, so Han Zu decided to go there first to take a look. If there was nothing there, he would come back to deal with the library matter. Anyway, his current goal was to go to the first floor of the library. Because of the monsters on the second and first floors, Han Zu could not jump directly down from the railing on the third floor without disturbing them.

So Han Zu temporarily left the library and went to the location where the third team had avoided. This place was also a staircase, but there was nothing strange about it. After descending half a floor, Han Zu understood why the team had avoided this place. The staircase here had collapsed because a hole had appeared in the wall it connected to. Without its fixation and support, the staircase from here down to about three or four floors had collapsed. At the very bottom of this hole, the remains of the staircase could still be seen.

Looking out through the huge gap in the wall, the sun was gradually disappearing, and night was rapidly enveloping the earth. Han Zu could see that the monsters that had been motionless before the sun set were now slowly awakening. Only then did Han Zu realize just how many monsters were inside the Bastienburg.

"Tsk tsk... Luckily I was knocked up here, otherwise with so many monsters, how long would it take me to fight them?"

There wasn't much to investigate here, so Han Zu decided to continue his previous actions. Han Zu heard quite a few sounds; it was probably because night had fallen that all the sleeping and quiet monsters in the castle had awakened. Since that was the case, Han Zu needed to remain silent. At this moment, his previously seemingly useless mist-forming ability would come in handy.

After entering the mist form, Han Zu stuffed the Morning Star Hammer into a makeshift package made from his upper garment and placed it atop the mist. It acted like a soft cushion, supporting the package. Han Zu then realized that in the mist form, he could withstand a certain amount of weight; at least the makeshift package, the potions inside, and the Morning Star Hammer were practically weightless to him in the mist form.

Using his misty state, Han Zu left the ground and slowly floated down through the broken hole in the stairs. Although his speed was indeed slow, it was surprisingly silent, perhaps due to the same peculiar influence of the Bastinburg. After about a minute or two, Han Zu successfully reached his target floor. He didn't rush to revert to his normal form, but instead remained in his misty state, hugging the shadows in the corridor, and slowly began to move forward. He wasn't in a hurry, as he needed to wait for the contamination aura's range to shift.

Having found a sufficiently large, shady spot, Han Zu returned to his normal form. He put his temporary pack back on, retrieved his Morning Star Hammer, and observed the situation in the corridor. There weren't many monsters on this floor; only a few scattered skeletons wandered along the corridor. Han Zu didn't rush to attack. He observed the skeletons' condition and, sure enough, he noticed something different.

First, there's the movement speed of those skeletons. If all the skeletons seen before sunset were slow-moving creatures, then after sunset, these things made entirely of bone skeletons are no different from normal people. Their movement speed, while not fast, is certainly abnormal for their skeletal bodies. Furthermore, before sunset, these skeletons had very low intelligence, practically none; they knew nothing but attacking and moving. But now, after nightfall, Han Zu can observe that these skeletons are consciously patrolling. Their routes are fixed, and they occasionally stop to look around. Even when they hear sounds in the corridor, they immediately react and go to investigate.

"Squeak!"

Just as Han Zu was pondering whether to take down the skeletons first or save time by going around them, the sound of rodents suddenly appeared at his feet. Han Zu looked down and saw a small mouse with a golden tail standing at his feet, looking up at him curiously. Han Zu immediately frowned; although the mouse's sound wasn't loud, it was undoubtedly jarring in the quiet corridor.

Looking up, Han Zu indeed noticed that the squeaking of the rats had attracted the attention of several skeletons. They quickly rushed towards Han Zu's location. Han Zu gripped the Morning Star Hammer tightly in his right hand, and opened his left hand, extending it slightly forward, ready to strike as soon as the skeletons spotted him. He could then immediately press down or grab their sword-wielding arms and launch an ambush, minimizing the noise he made and avoiding attracting the skeletons at the end of the corridor who were not drawn by the sound.

"Squeak!"

However, just as the skeletons were less than five meters from Han Zu, the little mouse with the golden tail seemed startled and darted out of the shadows, disappearing beneath the skeletons' feet. The golden tail was conspicuous in the darkness, immediately attracting the skeletons' attention. However, upon realizing the sound came from the mouse, the skeletons stopped searching and returned to their patrol route. It seemed the skeletons were quite familiar with that mouse, or a similar creature.

Han Zu became interested in the little mouse. It was the first living, non-hostile creature he had encountered since entering the Bastinburg compound. If he had nothing else to do, he might have followed the mouse to take a look. However, he had other things to do and didn't have the time for that right now.

After waiting a while and confirming the skeletons' patrol route, Han Zu took advantage of a gap in their patrols to bypass all the skeletons and arrive at the main entrance of the library's first floor. The vanished library door saved Han Zu the trouble of figuring out how to open it. Following the shadows beside the door, Han Zu successfully made his way into the library's first floor.

"Thump...thump...thump..."

The living armors he'd seen on the third floor, located in the library's first-floor lobby, were now moving. Their speed and intelligence remained unchanged, but Han Zu noticed a silvery glow emanating from their armor and weapons, within which he sensed a considerable amount of energy. While they still posed no threat, there was no doubt that these living armors in this state would be difficult to deal with. Moreover, there were quite a few of them, and they weren't far apart. It was certain that if one was attacked, the others would immediately come to its aid, and they might even attract the skeletons from the corridor.

To avoid damaging any documents, books, or scrolls that might be in the library, Han Zu made a bold and risky decision: he would refrain from attacking and instead adopt a completely stealthy approach, avoiding all the monsters and quietly beginning his search. Taking advantage of the gaps in the movement of the living armor, Han Zu followed the shadows of the library's first-floor walls, venturing deeper into the library. He placed his makeshift pack and Morning Star Hammer in the shadows and began his search quietly, moving stealthily.