Chapter 226 - Boss Room

"Hmm… I don't think there are any traps on the wall, ceiling, or even the floor. However, I can tell that there is something wrong with the Artifacts displayed including the gold coins you're seeing inside the chest."

Cyril replied quite fast because he already used his Domain and checked the items inside.

"What's wrong with the Artifacts? Are they poisoned?" Grant asked. His team has no Appraisal Artifact and they are relying on the Association's help with the assessment of their items.

It means that there is no way for them to find out what exactly is wrong with the item unless they bring them outside.

"I have an appraisal book with me. I don't mind using a couple of pages to understand what's going on. But, should we really focus on this one or should we head inside the boss room first? After all, we can't bring these items out as well if we can't defeat the Boss here."

Cyril gave his opinion as he looked at Grant.

"Well, unless we decided to turn back and return to the last safe zone we saw." Michael suggested as he teased for a bit…

Everyone here knows that they can't turn back now. After all, their team is the best explorers in the Association right now and they even have two S-Ranks with them. If they decided to go back at this point, it will greatly affect their reputation and waste a lot of their time as well.

"Well, we've been here for several hours now. Let's take a rest here while checking out these items. Is that alright?" Grant asked Laura and Cyril.

"You're right. That sounds good. Let me inspect some of the items then to see what's really wrong about them."

Cyril said as he pulled out his Appraisal Book.

Everyone here is familiar with the book but they had no chance of possessing them since it was said that they can only be found in Wizard Tower or Witch Lab or something similar. They are so rare that the Arcane World that can supply them can only be counted in one hand.

"Appraise…"

Cyril triggered the book's ability while targeting one of the golden swords on the wall.

[ Mystic Fire Sword ]

[ Rank-B Artifact ]

[ Durability: 30/100 ]

[ Skills: Flame Slash, Flame Guard, Sword Burst ]

[ Flame Slash – An ability that covers the sword with fire that could melt its target. ]

[ Flame Guard – An ability that summons flame trails to protect the user. ]

[ Sword Burst – An ability that creates a powerful explosion after being touched by the sword ]

Cyril read the appraisal on the book and there is even a drawn image of the sword where it tells what kind of materials were used to make them. It is so detailed just like the other appraised items within the book.

"This is a great book as expected… Too bad it has limits…" Cyril muttered as he continued reading the book.

[ Status: The sword is cursed. ]

[ Curse: Anyone who holds this sword will experience a mind illusion that can turn the user into an insane person ]

"Well… I guess I have the answer…"

"What's wrong, Cyril? Did you find something?" Grant asked after seeing Cyril nodding his head.

"Well, I found the problem. This is a Cursed Artifact that can turn someone sane into an insane person."

"A curse? Then I guess it's all up to you." Grant said after confirming the details to Cyril.

"Me?" The young man asked in confusion.

"Of course. Don't you have the Divine Chalice? You can just bless it so the curse can go away…"

Grant replied matter of factly.

"Ahh… Now that you said it, I do have that Artifact. Let me try."

Since Cyril had never used the Bless Ability of the Chalice, he had easily forgotten about it.

After being reminded, he decided to pull out the Chalice from his Storage Bag and Blessed the Sword a couple of times to be sure. Anyway, it barely consumes his Aura after all.

"Bless… Bless…"

A bright light suddenly filled in the room as the Chalice activated.

Nothing seems to have changed to the sword itself but Cyril felt that the suspicious energy has disappeared from the item.

Nevertheless, he still decided to use another page of the book to confirm that the Cursed Status has been removed.

"Oh~ It's fine now… We just have to remove the curse with a Blessing Ability."

"That's good to know. Great job, Cyril. We'll continue looting them after the boss fight so save up your Aura for now."

"Got it…"

The rest of them started absorbing the Aura in the surroundings to quickly replenish their Aura Reserves within their bodies…

Well, absorbing might not be the right term since they are just revolving their Aura as it could attract the surrounding energy. This energy will naturally be consumed by their Aura once it returned to their bodies making it a lot easier for them to fill their Aura.

This lasted for half an hour before everyone confirmed that they have replenished their used Aura.

Clank! Clank!

The group finally opened the door of the final boss. They have guessed that they will be fighting against Mummy Lord because they have seen mummies everywhere. If they go by the undead ranking, it's normal to guess as much but nothing is certain until they see it themselves.

After all, it can still be Lich King who is capable of raising the undead or perhaps an Arcane Revenant that he had heard before.

Whoosh~

A fire lit up inside the Boss Room as soon as they opened the door.

"Just a Death Knight?" Michael asked in confusion. Though Death Knight is indeed incredibly strong when dueling against it one on one, they are in a group right now which is very advantageous for them.

Even if the Death Knight could summon Skeleton Knights, it wouldn't cause too much trouble.

"No… Look at those flames on his skull and the horse's blue ember, that's a Doom Knight and just by looking at broadsword, it's definitely a Rank-B or Rank-A Artifact, we have to be careful."

Hannah immediately recognizes the undead based on the flames it is emitting.

Clack! Clack! Clack!

Suddenly, the group heard the sounds of horse hooves getting closer.

Soon, they saw four more Doom Knights within!

"This is bad…"

"Five of them?"

"Those five statues really gave us a hint, huh."

There have been several High-Class Arcane Worlds that would only have a single Doom Knight as its final boss.

So as soon as they saw one, they didn't expect to see another four of them!

Although the Phantom Troupes have experience fighting against Doom Knights, it was seven vs one so although it's difficult, they were still able to destroy it with their incredible coordination.

But now, they will be fighting against five Doom Knights at once!

Even if they have two S-Ranks with them. This will surely be very difficult to win as well!

"Tsk… This sword will be useless then." Cyril muttered as he decided to put his sword away.

The name of his sword is Doom Knight's Incomplete Black Sword. It is an item that he got after killing an extremely powerful Death Knight before.

Since he will be facing the real Doom Knights now, it will not be good to fight them using an inferior version of their weapon.

Instead, he decided to use his Conqueror Staff. Well, it is also a blunt weapon that is good against the undead.

Then, in his right hand is the Divine Chalice that he's so eager to use.

"I think Laura and I can deal with them for now… Even if the two of us can't defeat them, they will surely not be in a good state after our assault." Cyril announced as he stepped forward.

"That's ridiculous… You guys will be in trouble."

"Let us help you, Cyril."

Grant and Jessy immediately replied as they felt that Cyril is underestimating them just because they were taken aback after seeing the five Doom Knights.

"Oh… I'm not doubting your strength… My Divine Chalice will just work better this way… Laura, are you ready?"

"Of course! I'm ready…" Laura said as she looked at the Doom Knights with her Orb ready.

"Fine! We'll move after the two of you are exhausted…"

Grant finally let it go and decided to listen to Cyril.

"Good… Then let's see what these skeletons can do…" Cyril said as he raised the Chalice and activated the Holy Ray…

Suddenly the room became so bright as a ray of light came out of the Chalice and hit two of the Doom Knights!

"Graaahhh!!"

The Doom Knights made a painful cry as their horses even started panicking as they started moving away from the ray of light.

"Laura!" Cyril shouted as he gave the signal for Laura to release her spell

"Yes! Fire Pillar!" Laura then poured a quarter of her Aura to the Orb and released an incredibly powerful pillar of fire targeting the Doom Knights…

"Y-you! You should've warned us!"

Grant shouted to complain while Hannah activated her barrier to cover themselves from the heat coming from the pillar.