Chapter 49 | After Rebirth, I Became the Dungeon's Hidden Boss

After Herwin and his group left the monastery under the cover of chaos, the heavy stone in Luo Jiuge's heart had never quite settled.

She looked back in the direction of Grey Dove Monastery and exhaled a puff of white mist.

Although this place was called a monastery, it was actually more sinister than a cultist den.

If a game developer in her original world had dared to write a plot like this, she would have rushed straight to the official forums to post a three-thousand-word essay cursing them for being psychopaths.

“Brother!”

In the distance, a loud voice tore through the wind and snow.

Luo Jiuge looked up.

A group of people dressed similarly to Herwin were holding torches, closing in on them.

One of the young witch hunters ran at the very front, stumbling as he rushed over.

Hearing Colin's voice, Alvin's lips twitched, looking as though he wanted to scold him for being reckless, yet also as though he wanted to smile.

In the end, he simply opened his arms, and Colin nearly knocked him over when he threw himself forward.

Alvin let out a muffled grunt and raised his hand to smack the back of Colin's head.

“Take it easy, you brat. Are you trying to send your brother to meet the God of Silver Frost early?”

Colin sniffled, hugging Alvin tightly with both arms, terrified that his brother would vanish again if he let go.

He buried his face in his brother's shoulder, and only after a long moment did he choke out:

“Brother, you scared me to death.”

Alvin whispered, “I'm sorry.”

Standing a few paces away, Luo Jiuge recalled when she had first entered 《Fallen Realm》, when she had also thought it was just a game.

NPCs were just quests, monsters were just experience points, and dungeons were just rewards.

But this night at Grey Dove Monastery had completely shredded her previous superficial notions.

The people here felt pain and fear, and they would cry like fools when reunited with their loved ones.

Luo Jiuge had a low threshold for tears; she covered her tingling nose and silently wiped away her tears in her mind.

Thank goodness, it's a happy ending. We're saved.

Footsteps sounded from behind. Luo Jiuge turned toward the sound and saw Herwin walking over.

His injuries were much more severe than hers, with bloody whip marks on his shoulders and bruises on his face that had yet to fade.

He was injured this badly yet didn't even use a recovery potion. This guy was way too tough.

Herwin stopped in front of her and bowed his head slightly.

“This time, thank you.”

He spoke with great solemnity.

Luo Jiuge waved her hand awkwardly. “Don't mention it. I just picked up a hidden quest along the way.”

Herwin looked at her. “You saved Alvin, and you saved me.”

“It wasn't my doing alone.”

Luo Jiuge said immediately, “Our compatriot provided the route, Alvin held on by himself, and your people backed us up from the outside. If you really think about it, I was at most a runner who's relatively good at fighting.”

Herwin recalled that cold-faced woman.

She had said they would go their separate ways once inside, yet he had indeed received her help.

“As long as someone has helped the North, we will never forget it.”

As the wind and snow blew past, Herwin looked up toward the north and said to Luo Jiuge:

“If you are willing, you can come with us to Everwinter City.”

“Everwinter City?”

“It is the main city of the North,” Herwin said. “The Holy Court won't easily pursue you there. You are a Descender, and many will be wary of you, but I can vouch for you.”

Luo Jiuge was tempted for a second, but another figure came to her mind.

“I'm sorry.” She looked up. “I have to go back and find our compatriot.”

Herwin: “Going back now will be very dangerous.”

Luo Jiuge: “I know.”

With Grey Dove Monastery in such a state, the surrounding area was likely completely surrounded by now.

Perhaps her compatriot had already fled and vanished, but Luo Jiuge still wanted to try, if only to say "thank you" in person.

And then, she could take the opportunity to team up with her so that the journey ahead wouldn't be so lonely.

Seeing that she had made up her mind, Herwin did not persuade her further.

He unfastened a small bone whistle from his waist.

The bone whistle was barely half a finger long, grayish-white all over, with a few small wolf-tooth patterns carved on its surface and a dark red cord tied around its end.

Herwin handed her the bone whistle. “This is a token of the Northern Witch Hunters.”

The moment the bone whistle fell into her palm, a system prompt appeared in Luo Jiuge's field of vision.

【Obtained Special Item: Hunter's Bone Whistle】

【Quality: Ultra Rare】

【Description: The holder can use this item to prove their identity to the Northern Witch Hunters.】

【Special Effect: Blow the bone whistle within the North to have a chance of obtaining assistance.】

Luo Jiuge's eyes widened slightly. Wasn't this a faction token combined with a call-for-help item?

This was much more practical than ordinary equipment.

As the saying goes, gear gets outdated, but favors don't. Sure enough, the reward for a hidden quest was extraordinary.

“Cough, I really shouldn't...”

Right after saying that, she stored the bone whistle into her inventory.

Herwin's lips twitched. It seemed this was the first time he had seen someone transition so seamlessly from polite refusal to accepting a gift.

In the end, he merely cleared his throat and said:

“I am Herwin Hartmann,” he said. “Captain of the Third Squad of the Northern Witch Hunters.”

Luo Jiuge immediately understood what he meant.

She gripped her hilt and said solemnly, “Luo Jiuge, Descender.”

Herwin placed his right hand on his left shoulder and nodded slightly, his expression solemn:

“May the north wind keep watch for you, and may the snowfields remember your path home.”

The smile on Luo Jiuge's face slowly faded.

She stood up straight and, almost instinctively, raised her right hand, her fingertips stopping near her temple in a very standard salute.

Once she finished the movement, she herself froze for a moment.

Before coming to this world, she had been nothing but a green auxiliary police officer.

She had once worn that uniform of justice, patrolling the night behind an old officer, mediating fights between drunkards, and searching for lost children in the rain.

The wind and snow fell on her fingertips. Snapping out of her daze, she lowered her hand and smiled at them.

“I accept this blessing.”

Herwin delayed no longer. The snow at night would only get heavier, and they had to leave as soon as possible.

Colin, supporting Alvin, also waved at her:

“When you come to the North in the future, remember to say our names!”

Luo Jiuge laughed and replied, “You'd better not pretend you don't know me then!”

The witch hunters' squad quickly vanished into the depths of the wind and snow.

Holding the torch Herwin had given her, Luo Jiuge stood in place and touched the bone whistle, her mood significantly improved.

But all of this was inseparable from her compatriot's goodwill.

Luo Jiuge turned around and looked back at the path she had come from.

The sky over there was already stained with streaks of blackish-red resentment, as if something had crawled out from underground and rushed all the way into the distance.

She frowned. “Oh, compatriot, please don't get your account deleted.”

Just five minutes into her walk back, she suddenly saw several clusters of cold magic light up in the wind and snow.

Luo Jiuge froze in her tracks.

The cold light came around from the outer snowy slope, split into two groups—one in front and one behind—clearly sealing off the monastery's surroundings.

Luo Jiuge immediately extinguished her torch, but even so, several of the soldiers still noticed the anomaly here.

The leader barked, “Who goes there! Halt!”

Luo Jiuge's heart skipped a beat, and she immediately bolted in the opposite direction.

But she had barely run a few steps when three magic arrows pierced through the wind and snow, flying straight toward her back.

Hearing the whistling of the wind, Luo Jiuge's scalp tingled, and she swung her sword back to block.

The army was clearly well-coordinated. One squad suppressed her from range while another flanked her, blocking off every possible direction of escape in advance.

Her modern professional knowledge told her: "Leniency to those who confess, severity to those who resist." Minimizing risk was the optimal choice right now.

She sheathed her sword and immediately raised both hands.

“Brothers, wait! I'm just a Descender passing through here, not a bad guy!”

One of the knights swept his gaze over her and asked suspiciously:

“A Descender.”

Luo Jiuge clicked her tongue in regret, silently cursing herself for her big mouth.

Calling herself a Descender at such a sensitive moment was practically writing "suspicious person" on her forehead.

Sure enough, the leading knight raised his hand and shouted:

“Seize her!”

Luo Jiuge's reaction was faster than his.

She turned and bolted almost the exact instant those words left his mouth.

What a joke.

She had just escaped Grey Dove Monastery by the skin of her teeth; she would have to be brain-dead to stand there and wait to be captured.

Sorry, compatriot. It's not that I don't want to find you, but current circumstances just won't allow it!

“Stop her!”

Several knights raised their spears simultaneously, the tips glowing with a silver-white light.

【Combined Skill: Locking Array】

A circle of silver-white array runes instantly surfaced on the snow, and several chains of holy light shot out from the ground, lunging straight for Luo Jiuge's ankles.

Luo Jiuge's pupils contracted. She narrowly dodged the first chain and swung her sword back to sever the second.

But the third and fourth chains immediately coiled after her like relentless vipers.

Luo Jiuge was forced to a halt. Sweeping her holy sword, she severed the chains and forced back the charging knights.

“I say, everyone, shouldn't there be some basic rules for arresting someone?”

The leading knight said coldly, “During the lockdown of the former Grey Dove Monastery site, no suspicious Descenders are permitted to leave.”

“Tch, what a pain.”

The sword in Luo Jiuge's hand glowed with an even stronger light.

She had no intent to kill, but if these knights continued to block her, she wasn't going to stand there and take a beating.

The knights exchanged glances and formed their array once more.

As chains closed in from all directions, Luo Jiuge exhaled a breath of cold air and plunged her holy sword fiercely into the snow.

【Prismatic Dispersal】

Golden light exploded outward from beneath her feet, shattering the Locking Array.

The faces of the knights changed drastically.

Just as their leader was about to retreat, Luo Jiuge had already rushed in front of him, sword in hand, the blade glinting with fragmented light as it pointed at his throat.

She was barely half an inch away from taking him down and breaking through the encirclement.

At that exact moment, a fierce gust of sword wind slammed in from the side.

The hairs on Luo Jiuge's body stood on end, and she raised her sword to block almost purely on instinct.

Clang!

A massive crash echoed.

Luo Jiuge felt as though her arms had been struck by a sledgehammer. She was sent flying backward, crashing into a nearby tree trunk and shaking down a large flurry of white snow.