"Creak!"
The Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guard up front put some muscle into the Castle of Agony's main door, and a teeth-grinding screech echoed out.
Dust went flying everywhere as dim sunlight pierced into the ancient castle for the first time in forever.
The floor was buried under a thick layer of dust—clearly nobody had been here for ages.
Carlos didn't step inside. Instead, he backed up a few steps.
"#9 and #10, move forward and stab down with your greatswords as you go!"
The two Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards followed orders, stepping into the dust and immediately sinking up to their shin bones—showing just how deep this layer of dust was.
Then they drove their greatswords down hard, hitting the solid floor below with a metallic clang.
"Keep moving!"
The two Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards kept at it like this until they reached the middle section.
"Slash!"
When the greatsword stabbed down this time, there was a wet sound of cutting into flesh, and black, nasty-smelling blood bubbled up from the dust.
[Spiritual Essence +0.8]
"Pull it out."
The Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guard gave a little hop, lifting up a small, flat monster on its greatsword.
About the size of three dinner plates and super flat—couldn't be more than 4 inches thick.
On its back shell was a giant mouth packed with rows and rows of razor-sharp teeth that would give you nightmares.
The greatsword had gone straight through that mouth.
"Just like I figured—a 'Wandering Beetle.'"
Wandering Beetle: Spirituality 8, Strength 2, Constitution 1, Speed 6.
A speed demon—this was the first hurdle of the Agony Bug node.
They could hide in thick dust and move like lightning, specializing in going after their prey's legs.
Once their prey was crippled, they'd swarm and eat it alive.
"Squeak! Squeak!"
The smell of blood woke up all the Wandering Beetles snoozing in the dust.
Dust went flying as movement trails appeared, surrounding the two scouting Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards.
Some of them started booking it toward the main door too.
"#7 and #8, go backup #9 and #10—wipe out these Wandering Beetles!"
"#3, #4, #5, and #6, guard the door—don't let a single Wandering Beetle slip through!"
Carlos gave the orders he'd already mapped out, keeping #1 and #2 as his personal bodyguards.
"Creak! Creak!"
"Squeak! Squeak!"
"Slash!"
...
These Wandering Beetles were seriously fast—way faster than the Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards.
They could dodge the greatswords multiple times, but their offense and defense were garbage.
Even when they managed to land a hit, they couldn't even put a scratch on the Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards' leg bones, and would get sliced in half with one sword strike.
The Wandering Beetles charging toward the castle door were basically signing their own death warrants.
The area near the door was only so big—once they moved in, their wiggle room shrank big time.
The four Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards just had to swing their greatswords downward to take out several Wandering Beetles with each swing.
[Spiritual Essence +0.8]
[Spiritual Essence +0.9]
...
"All the Wandering Beetles are up and at 'em now."
Carlos peered through the doorway at the thick dust inside, covered with countless movement trails.
Each trail meant one Wandering Beetle.
Ballpark estimate—at least 3,000 of them.
"#1 and #2, go tag out #9 and #10."
Inside the castle, #9 and #10 had taken the worst of the swarm attack first. Their health was still solid, but they'd taken more of a beating than the other Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards.
"Creak! Creak!"
After the switch, #9 and #10 fell back to watch Carlos's six.
To play it safe, once #9 and #10 had bounced back enough, Carlos had them swap out #7 and #8, keeping up a steady rotation.
This rhythmic health recovery was to prevent any curveballs.
...
[Spiritual Essence +0.8]
With the last notification of gained Spiritual Essence, all the Wandering Beetles had been completely wiped off the map.
[Spirituality: 6 (Spiritual Essence: 4125/6000)]
"Over 3,000 Wandering Beetles netted me around 1,800 Spiritual Essence."
Carlos crunched the numbers—he figured clearing this node would definitely bump his Spirituality up another notch.
The main hall was now pitch black with terrible visibility.
This was because the Wandering Beetles had been thrashing around and fighting under the dust, kicking up fine particles that filled the entire space and would take forever to settle.
"No rush to push forward—everyone fall back and recharge."
Lucky for Carlos, patience was his strong suit. Perfect time to chill and wait for the air to clear.
...
After getting back to 100%, Carlos and his Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards crossed the dust-covered main hall and reached a roomy corridor.
At the end was an iron door with a rusty old lock.
"I remember the key for this lock is stashed in a secret compartment somewhere in the castle. You'd have to solve several brain teasers to get it—what a royal pain..."
Carlos scowled, then had #10 pick up the rusty lock so he could check it out.
"#10, trash it!"
The light gold quality greatsword came down hard—a rusty lock didn't stand a snowball's chance in hell.
"Clang!"
"Crack!"
The rusty lock split in two—no key needed anymore.
"In the real world, breaking stuff with brute force actually gets the job done!"
This was Carlos testing the waters on something small. Of course, he'd only pull this when he was sure there was no risk or blowback.
Under normal circumstances, he'd definitely stick to the walkthrough methods from his memories.
"In 10 seconds, #10 will crack open the iron door!
#3 through #9, get ready to swing for the fences. The second any monsters come charging out, go to town on them!"
Same as always, #1 and #2 stayed glued to Carlos's side.
"Creak!"
As #10 put his back into it, the iron door slowly opened, and the dim light from outside shone in, apparently ticking off the monsters behind the door.
A bunch of squeaking sounds fired up. When the iron door was halfway open,
"Push harder—blow it wide open!"
The Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guard used both arms at full power, and the iron door swung completely open.
"Squeak! Squeak!"
From the darkness, a grasshopper-type monster suddenly launched itself out.
A full 5 feet tall, with monster legs that gave it insane jumping power—it actually rocketed right up to the corridor ceiling.
"Slash!"
The Purple Thornblade Skeleton Guards, who'd been locked and loaded, swung their greatswords upward in an uppercut that split it wide open!
[Spiritual Essence +1]
"Fierce Bug. Spirituality 10, Strength 4, Constitution 4, Speed 7."
Carlos thought to himself.
Fierce Bugs had crazy jumping power—they could leap 16 feet in one bound and specialized in dive-bombing enemies.
In the wild or open areas, taking them out would be a real nightmare.
This corridor wasn't exactly cramped, but it definitely wasn't spacious either, and the ceiling was only about 8 feet high, which put a serious damper on the Fierce Bug's most deadly jumping ability.
But if they went through the iron door into the area beyond, it definitely wouldn't be this much of a cakewalk to kill them—behind the iron door was a spacious secondary hall.