novelhk Page 237
Page 237
“Several months ago…” Latis couldn’t help but shout, “Several months ago, your muscles were still there, weren’t they?!”
“That’s not important!” The knight patted his empty breastplate and said, “As a knight, one need not concern oneself with personal gain or loss, but simply to help every gentleman and lady in need with enthusiasm and kindness!”
"Damn, you..."
Latis had only uttered half of his complaint when he suddenly felt himself rise a great height. Startled, he looked down at the swaying knight carrying him and quickly shouted:
"Wait, wait—"
Before he could finish speaking, a tremendous force suddenly came from under his buttocks. The next second, he was sent flying as if he had been hit hard by a truck.
"I'm going to beat them! I'm going to beat them!!"
Latis was forced into a Philippine-style spin in mid-air, and through the dizzying perspective of the wheels, he vaguely saw the smug knight carrying a lance, his hand across his forehead, watching his spinning figure...
Pong!
He plunged headfirst into the white sand on the opposite bank of the river, and it took him a lot of effort to pull himself out, his buttocks sticking out.
"call!"
Latis shook his head, patted the white sand out of his ears, glanced at the river tributary not far from him, remained silent for a moment, and then muttered weakly:
"I have a feeling this isn't the first time someone has acted like a human cannon fodder..."
He shook his head helplessly, turned around, waved to the knight on the other side of the river, and shouted loudly:
"Thanks, bro! I landed safely!"
"I saw!"
The knight's shouts came from the other side of the river. Latis nodded, then suddenly remembered that the knight had said he also wanted to cross the river, and couldn't help but wonder how he would manage to get across alone.
Just as Latis was about to ask a question, the knight suddenly brandished his spear twice on the spot, then held the spear horizontally to his side and took a slight step.
Suddenly, a skeletal horse appeared beneath the knight. Without reins or stirrups, he gripped the horse's neck, braced his legs around its belly, brandished his lance, and shouted:
"go!"
The skeletal horse leaped up instantly and plunged into the river with a splash. In the rushing water, the skeletal horse stumbled, forcibly twisting its upper body. As soon as its hind legs touched the ground, it stomped down again, and the whole horse once again leaped diagonally against the current.
After several difficult leaps, the knight finally reached the riverbank. He nodded to Latis, retrieved his bone horse, and landed on the ground.
"Is that... your soul bone, sir?"
"Latis asked curiously."
"Soul Bone? Oh, I think that's what they call A-Bone. Yes, it usually transforms into a so-called Soul Bone to rest inside my body, but I think that's why it's tired."
The knight beckoned to Latis to proceed along the tributary, saying:
“Agu is my good horse that I raised since I was a child. I rode it when I was doing my chivalrous deeds. Agu, my grandfather’s armor, this spear and a leather shield, oh, I gave my leather shield to a friend before, hehe... These are all I have as a knight.”
"Chivalrous and righteous?"
Latis listened to the somewhat talkative knight chatter on and on, momentarily forgetting that he had originally intended to ask some serious questions. Curious, he pressed on, asking:
"Are you referring to events from your lifetime or events that occurred on this land? Shouldn't a knight be subject to the lord's command?"
“Of course, it refers to things that happened before he died.” The knight, carrying his lance, stroked his beard and said:
"I've met a few friends on this land, but they all scattered after the White Moon... Back to your question, knights should indeed be under the command of their lords, but before I died, there were no knights left in the world, hehe... Don't laugh, it was because I was obsessed with knight novels that I decided to become a knight."
"That's why I loved fighting for justice when I was alive. Whenever I saw injustice, I would jump out and stop it. But maybe because there was too much evil in the world, some people called me crazy. Fortunately, no one called me that after I died, so now I feel that this land is a bit more just, hahaha..."
"……etc."
Latis grew increasingly uneasy as he listened, and he quickly stopped the knight's rambling, asking incredulously:
"Sir, may I ask your name?"
"Of course, I remember that."
The knight burst into laughter, and under Latis's hesitant gaze, he stroked his beard and said:
"My name is Tang..."
“Tang…?” Latis took a deep breath, preparing himself mentally.
The knight raised his head to look at the vast sky and said slowly:
"cocoa."
"?"
Latis froze, then subconsciously repeated:
"Tang Keke?"
“Yes!” The knight nodded very firmly.
"...You're right, my foot!"
Latis could no longer contain himself. He grabbed the knight's shoulders, shaking him and shouting:
"What the hell is Tang Keke?! You must be called Don Quixote! Stop with the abstract stuff!"
"how can that be possible?"
Amidst the clattering of bones, the knight calmly stroked his beard and said:
"My name is Tang Keke."
“…Gaia!!!” Latis collapsed and covered his head.
……
……
Finally, at Latis's strong suggestion, the knight changed his name to Don Keke.
Although the knight didn't really care what his name was when he was alive, seeing Latis's tearful and relieved expression, he couldn't help but feel gratified that he had done another good deed.
After calming down a bit, Latis asked Doncoco curiously where he was going.
"I?"
Tang Keke brandished his rusty spear and said:
"I have spent my life wandering the world, and all I ask for is to help those in need when I encounter injustice. The friends I met before have all disappeared, so I want to look for them."
"I see." Latis scratched his head, thought for a moment, and said:
“My journey is to the source of this tributary. My companion told me about a town there, and she had heard of Mount Lierman near the town. I want to go to that mountain.”
"The town..." Tang Keke hesitated for a moment before asking:
"Mont Lierman"? "
“Oh, ‘Mount Lierman’ is the language of my companions’ race. It is actually the highest mountain in this land. I want to try to climb it and go to the Star Sea,” Latis explained.
"I see, I understand now." Tang Keke slung the spear back over his shoulder and said:
“I have seen traces of that ‘Mount Lehrman,’ but I call it ‘Mount Amadeus.’ I can tell you its location, but I would like to ask you for a favor.”
"Oh? What kind of help?" Latis asked excitedly when he heard that his target had been found.
"Is such that."
Tang Keke hesitated for a moment, sighed, and said:
“I shouldn’t have troubled you like this, but I’m afraid I can’t complete this task on my own… As I just told you, my friends and I were separated during several White Moons, and some of my friends went missing in the town you mentioned. Oh, it’s now just the ruins of that town.”
“I would like to ask you to help me find them—as for me, I need to intercept a bone dragon that is entrenched in the town while you are searching it.”
"Bone Dragon?"
“Yes.” Tang Keke gripped the spear tightly and said in a deep voice:
"A very ferocious bone dragon."
Chapter 244: The battle with the Bone Dragon is about to begin?
[You became curious about the bone dragon that Tang Keke mentioned and immediately asked for more detailed information about it.]
[Tang Keke tells you that the bone dragon existed several white moons ago. He and his companions once tried to defeat it, but they failed. After the white moons, his companions gradually scattered, and the matter was left unresolved.]
You sensed something was off about his words, as if his memory of the events leading up to it was a bit hazy, but considering it happened several months ago, you understood.
However, you don't think it will be so easy to find traces of his companions. According to him, before the town was destroyed, he often went into the town to help the residents complete tasks in exchange for their help in finding his companions. Although he couldn't remember the final outcome, he guessed they didn't find them.
"Even with the residents' help, we couldn't find it, let alone now that the town is occupied by the Bone Dragon... You shook your head, taking a pessimistic view of the situation."
[Don Keke seems to have read your mind. After thinking for a moment, he decided to tell you the location of "Mount Amadeus" first. If you feel that the hope is slim while helping him search for his companions, you may leave on your own.]
……
“Mount Amadeus is the highest mountain I’ve ever seen. I’ve heard that long ago there was a Mount Augusta that reached to the heavens, but I think it might not be as tall as Mount Amadeus.”
Tang Keke, carrying a light, flimsy spear, looked along the direction of a tributary of the river and said:
"Once we reach the town, you'll see a sheer cliff. Try to climb up it, then follow the mountain path until you see Mount Amadeus."
“It doesn’t sound that far,” Latis said, scratching his head.
"My adventure in the Bone Spirit Realm began there, when rocks rolling down from Mount Amadeus destroyed my village..."
Tang Keke pursed his lips, stroked his mustache, and sighed:
"Without realizing it, it's already so far away from me..."
Latis glanced at Don Quixote, who was wearing his ancestral armor. Perhaps because his ancestors were stronger, the armor didn't fit him very well. He wore it crookedly and looked quite comical, almost like Don Quixote.
He looked in the direction of the tributary's source, gazed for a while, and then suddenly pointed with surprise to a blurry shadow in his line of sight, asking:
"Sir, look! Is that the town you spoke of?"
Tang Keke adjusted his helmet, stared into the distance for a while with his two large, empty eye sockets, then clenched his fist and laughed:
“Exactly! Look at those undulating mountain shadows, that’s the cliff I told you about, which is also the source of this tributary. On the edge of the cliff, that irregular shadow is the town I was talking about!”
They exchanged a glance, nodded, and started running together, quickening their pace towards the town.
……
"Mr. Bones, there seem to be some more wanderers ahead..."