Now only the heater shield was missing.
Nidhogg didn't waste any more time and left the room immediately, wanting to try his luck outside. He didn't expect that as soon as he walked out the door, he would face a soldier with no helmet, covered in blood.
The soldier was also taken aback when he saw Nidhogg. Then, fear appeared in his eyes. He actually raised the longsword in his hand, shouted, and slashed at Nidhogg staggeringly.
"Are you crazy?" Nidhogg parried the opponent's longsword with his own, both surprised and angry. "You didn't even ask who I am, and you just start slashing?"
The soldier seemed to have truly gone mad; he slashed and stabbed regardless of everything, clearly intending to kill Nidhogg.
Nidhogg couldn't understand it. They had just met and hadn't even distinguished friend from foe, so why were they fighting to the death?
He was still not completely detached from his modern mindset.
He retreated repeatedly, dodging the soldier's longsword, only to see the opponent suddenly lose strength. The longsword clattered to the ground, and then the whole person fell down with a thud, twitching subconsciously.
It turned out that this soldier was already seriously injured and had been in a chaotic battle inside the castle, blinded by rage, so his first reaction upon seeing Nidhogg, a stranger, was naturally to kill him to protect himself.
Nidhogg didn't dare to show mercy. He raised his longsword and pierced the soldier's throat. Watching the blood spurt out and flow all over the floor, and the soldier stopped moving, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
At this moment, the quest content updated again.
"Short-term quest: Retrieve vagabond knight set (5/6) / Kill those blocking the way in the castle battlefield (2)"
Nidhogg was not a wanton killer. His primary task was to retrieve the heater shield, so for the rest of the journey, he remained in stealth mode until he was discovered by other soldiers blinded by rage, forcing him to fight back.
His swordsmanship was not strong, but fortunately, the soldiers chasing him were basically all injured. He took the opportunity to kill when he could, and ran when he couldn't beat them; the other side couldn't catch up anyway.
Of course, it was best not to fight if possible, at least to save some strength.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—
The archers on the tower shot wildly at the enemy troops who had invaded the castle courtyard, never expecting a vagabond knight to quietly slip past behind them.
However, no matter how carefully Nidhogg hid and sneaked, he would be discovered; after all, this was a battlefield, and there were soldiers everywhere.
When he climbed up a tower, he met a castle guard on the spiral stone stairs. The two looked at each other and were both stunned.
Nidhogg looked down and quickly noticed that the guard was holding a spear and a shield.
That shield was exactly a heater shield, and this heater shield even resonated with his own vagabond knight set.
This is it!
Nidhogg took advantage of the guard's lack of reaction, immediately rushed forward, dodged the spear tip, and closed the distance between them.
The guard was startled, but in this narrow stone staircase surrounded by walls on both sides, he couldn't pull back his spear in time and could only raise the heater shield while retreating.
Nidhogg saw the moment the guard took a step back, reached out with his empty left hand, grabbed the guard's spear, and pulled hard, dragging the guard who didn't want to let go toward himself.
The guard had been retreating, and to deal with Nidhogg, he had no time to look at whether he had stepped on the stairs. Now, being unexpectedly pulled forward by Nidhogg holding the spear, he immediately lost his balance.
Nidhogg didn't even think, slammed into the guard in one breath, smashed him against the wall, raised his longsword again, and slashed at his helmet.
The guard was bumped, dizzy, and subconsciously lowered the heater shield. As a result, the helmet took the brunt of Nidhogg's longsword, immediately dented, and blood flowed out.
Seeing that it was effective, Nidhogg slashed at the guard's helmet a few more times with force, cutting the helmet open, and bright red blood spurted out like a fountain.
The guard slumped to the ground, the spear in his hand slid down the stone stairs, and the heater shield was stepped on by Nidhogg.
"Short-term quest: Retrieve vagabond knight set (Completed, Reward: Level up from LV1 to LV7)"
"Short-term quest: Kill those blocking the way in the castle battlefield (8) / Kill 'The Grey Knight' Bazuso"