My Computer Leads to an Instance Dungeon-Chapter 158 - 133: Spear and Shield, Which is Stronger?

"…in grave danger. The notoriously tyrannical Viscount Montagu is attacking his domain. Meanwhile, strange things have been happening in Baron von Kleist's territory, which borders Redstone Town. Some people claim to have witnessed Baron von Kleist making a deal with a devil, yet no actual witness can be found.

Baron von Kleist has long coveted Redstone Town, so it's no surprise he would scheme amidst the chaos of war. However, few know his true situation. Strange transformations are brewing in Viscount Ashton's Territory, Redstone Town, and Baron von Kleist's territory. An undercurrent is surging. An unknown and mysterious power has made a faint appearance in the Nameless World, and perhaps this is the prelude to a great catastrophe.

"

"Generating key information for this instance:

Evil Descent: A ritual to obtain Extraordinary mystical abilities by sacrificing a part of oneself. Those who complete the Evil Descent Ceremony will gain mysterious and evil powers, which will manifest in bizarre, tyrannical, or other forms.

Evil Descenders initially believe they are merely using evil powers to strengthen themselves, but in the end, they will invariably lose everything.

Tade Church: One of the main religions in the Nameless World. They worship Tade, the God of Light and Order. Their emblem is an equilateral triangle.

The Tade Church abhors all evil and darkness. However, such souls have attracted the attention of many Peepers. In the eyes of some high-level beings, a holy soul is a more delectable delicacy, and the soul of one who has completed an Evil Descent is even sweeter.

Peepers: Beings of unknown origin who watch the material world from a higher dimensional space. Their alignment, motives, and form of existence are all unknown. The only certainty is that all Peepers possess extraordinary power, but for various reasons, they cannot truly enter the material world and can only observe and influence it indirectly."

"Generating threat units for this instance:

Human Soldiers: Trained humans of varying skill. Most can use some weapons. Their combat effectiveness varies greatly, but there is a cap to their maximum potential.

Trait 1: Plunder. Out of sight of Knights and Knight's Squires, most soldiers have a habit of plundering from the common folk, making them little better than bandits. Sometimes, a Knight will turn a blind eye to this behavior, tacitly allowing the soldiers to relieve stress, rob people of their wealth, and even commit rape and murder.

Trait 2: Morale. A major difference between human soldiers and non-human soldiers is that humans receive a strength bonus when morale is high and will break and flee when morale is low.

Knight's Squire: Also known as an Apprentice Knight. They possess relatively exquisite martial skills. Wealthy and generous Knights will sometimes arm their Knight's Squires with full plate armor.

Trait 1: Loyalty. The vast majority of Knight's Squires are loyal to their Knight, even if he is a tyrant. In extreme cases, a Knight's Squire will even sacrifice their life to protect their Knight.

Trait 2: Team Combat. A single Knight's Squire is not formidable. What is formidable is a group of squires and soldiers cooperating with a Knight.

Tamed Non-humans: Non-human creatures tamed by humans, sometimes used as war machines.

Trait 1: Untamed Wildness. Tamed non-humans have not had their wild nature completely eliminated. There are frequent reports of them harming or even eating their tamers.

Trait 2: Berserk. Many non-humans can enter a berserk state. In this state, they become fearless and will fight to the death. Tamers will also add ingredients that induce this state to their feed.

BOSS:

Fallen Knight Von Kleist: A human Lord, age unknown. There is considerable evidence that he has unusual dealings with devils.

Trait 1: Treacherous

Trait 2: Prioritizes self-preservation.

Fallen Knight Montagu: A human Lord, age thirty-seven. He is known to be tyrannical and ferocious, with a record of slaughtering civilian villages.

Trait 1: Tyrannical

Trait 2: Vengeful. Once he identifies an enemy, he will not rest until one of them is dead.

Fallen Knight: ???

Fang Zhen carefully read the instance information for 'Fallen Knight' line by line.

He still had a good amount of merit points left. By spending 20, he wouldn't be going into the instance completely blind like before, when he had to rely solely on exploration for intel.

Now, looking at the information before him, he couldn't help but frown.

'Two Fallen Knights? And there might even be a third?'

'Isn't this just showing me their entire hand?'

The information from the Fallen Knight instance was explicit: Baron von Kleist was a Fallen Knight, as was Viscount Montagu, who was currently attacking Viscount Ashton's domain of Redstone Town.

Furthermore, there seemed to be a third Fallen Knight, but their identity was hidden behind three question marks.

'That's hardly necessary,' Fang Zhen thought.

Based on what he already knew, there were only three proper Knights in this region. Besides Baron von Kleist and Viscount Montagu, that only left one.

Viscount Ashton, the Lord of Redstone Town.

'Well now, that's all three Lords accounted for.'

Fang Zhen wasn't one hundred percent certain that the unknown third Fallen Knight was Viscount Ashton, but from a probabilistic standpoint, it was highly likely him.

'If that's really the case, then…'

'This is a scenario where everyone's a villain.'

What made Fang Zhen frown wasn't just the three bosses.

His deduction was logical enough that anyone could have made it. But if it was true, his situation in the instance would be very tricky.

The known terrain and the areas he was about to explore were all the territories of these three nobles.

Fighting three Lords meant going to war with three armed factions at once.

All three nobles have undergone the Evil Descent. That's practically like having the entire population as enemies. How was he supposed to play this?

"So this is a Hard-difficulty instance? It feels like they're not giving me a chance to survive," Fang Zhen said, rubbing his temples.

But he quickly composed himself.

He suddenly realized that although from his perspective the Fallen Knight instance might be full of villains and enemies, the Fallen Knights themselves were not necessarily a monolithic bloc.

At the very least, Viscounts Ashton and Montagu were currently locked in a fierce battle.

'If I play my cards right, I might not be able to form grand alliances, but I should at least be able to create some breathing room.'

Besides, this was the Nameless World, not an ordinary one like the Curse Seal World. There might be many enemies, but their strength wasn't necessarily that high. And it wasn't like the entire land would be swarming with soldiers. There was still plenty of room to maneuver.

'It's fine. Don't panic when things go wrong. If I analyze the situation carefully, it's not an impossible fight.'

'In fact, as long as I don't fight all three noble Lords at the same time, I won't necessarily lose. In a one-on-one fight, I have the advantage. After all, I'm equipped with the pinnacle of modern-world cold weapons.'

The pinnacle of cold weapons was a real thing, referring to the compound bow and the compound crossbow.

With their compound design, high-quality limbs, and scientific overall construction, it was no exaggeration to call the compound bow and crossbow the pinnacle of cold weapons.

It even solved the unstoppable-force-versus-immovable-object problem. After actual testing, it was proven that plate armor—the pinnacle of cold-weapon armor—could not stop a shot from a high-draw-weight compound crossbow or bow using an Armor-Piercing Arrowhead.

In this case of spear versus shield, the spear won a decisive victory.

Although Fang Zhen was wary of facing the legions of three Lords, when it came to a duel, a Fallen Knight wasn't necessarily his match if the environment and conditions were favorable.

It all depended on whether he could create favorable conditions and orchestrate a scenario where he could duel a Fallen Knight one-on-one.

Another point that he found mysterious and important was the "Peepers" mentioned in the instance information.

The moment he thought of the name 'Peepers,' the first thing that came to mind was the devil that appeared in the black smoke after he burned the sheepskin scroll in the Dogman Mine.

'I wonder if there's any connection between that and the Peepers.'

He felt a mix of nervousness and excitement about this.

It seemed that some higher-dimensional, supernatural beings were beginning to appear in the instance worlds.

'Don't get ahead of yourself.'

Fang Zhen warned himself.

'One step at a time. Even if I can become something truly extraordinary, it won't happen right now.'

He took a deep breath, turned and went to the living room, and began to organize his gear.

This time, Fang Zhen had carefully selected his equipment, streamlining it considerably.

His primary weapons were ranged: a compound bow, along with twenty carbon arrows and ten arrows with special-purpose heads.

Carbon arrows weren't actually the most expensive type; Fang Zhen also had pricier bloodline carbon arrows and 3K carbon-weave arrows. However, after testing, the regular carbon arrows had the best flight stability—not too light, not too heavy—so he chose them as his primary ammunition.

For a melee weapon, he brought a long spear. He also brought a scimitar, but he kept it in his equipment bag instead of on his person.

He wasn't the same novice he used to be. His mastery and use of the spear had improved to the point where an ordinary person couldn't disarm him, making the scimitar feel a bit redundant.

Besides, he predicted that most of the scenarios in the 'Fallen Knight' instance would likely take place in open terrain.

Fang Zhen reduced his carried weight; the scimitar was relegated to his backpack.

The items in his backpack included food, medicine, and daily medications, as well as several shots of adrenaline.

Adrenaline was a prescription drug, and he had managed to get it through He Yilin's channels.

Fang Zhen had mentioned it to Old He, and He Yilin had actually gotten his hands on it within two days. He had no idea what strings he pulled.

Fang Zhen was amazed by He Yilin's extensive network and connections, but he also felt it was a bit of an overkill. In the future, it might be more efficient to have someone else handle such tasks.

With these shots of adrenaline, if something unexpected happened, he could at least hold on for a while longer, long enough to get back to a real-world hospital or receive some other form of treatment.

He had also prepared six Molotov Cocktails, but he didn't bring them, leaving them at home on standby.

A high-intensity flashlight, Night Vision Goggles, and other items were also in his backpack.

After finishing his preparations, Fang Zhen had successfully streamlined his carried gear.

The Explosive-Proof Shield wasn't very effective in group fights, so he didn't bring it.

If he really needed defense, the Gang Zan Seal could hold for a while, and it was more effective anyway.

Once his equipment was ready, Fang Zhen put on his riot gear.

The riot gear had been washed, clearing it of bloodstains and the smell of sweat. It felt much fresher and would still offer some protection in the Nameless World.

Fully armed, Fang Zhen entered his computer room and activated the peripherals.

A flash of light filled the living room, and the Light Gate appeared.

For a moment, Fang Zhen thought of Ande, the Town Mayor of Redstone Town; Father Matthew; and the Combat Servant, Quade.

He took a deep breath, loaded his gear onto his Jue Ying motorcycle, and then pushed the fully fueled Jue Ying through the Light Gate.

A wave of slight dizziness washed over him.

Fang Zhen appeared on a small path.

The sky was still a hazy gray, with no sun in sight. The weather here was always like this; a day without rain was a good day.

Fang Zhen looked around and quickly realized the place was familiar.

This was the road from Redstone Town heading toward Baron von Kleist's territory.

After recognizing his location, he turned back, got on his motorcycle, and rode toward Redstone Town.

A few minutes later, Fang Zhen arrived at the northern entrance of Redstone Town.

As he arrived, he suddenly slammed on the brakes, stopping his Jue Ying motorcycle.

Fang Zhen planted a foot on the ground and frowned at the sight before him.

Before him, at the northern entrance of Redstone Town, stood a makeshift gallows.

Hanging from the gallows were four or five reeking corpses.