The deadly survival battle inside Stoneveil City had no winners.
Both adventurers and soldiers sustained significant ntal and physical trauma.
Adventurers were constantly worried about being caught by monsters, knowing they would be torn apart if they did.
Monsters, on the other hand, were endlessly maneuvered around by the adventurers, sotis getting hit seriously by a sudden backstab. With so many of them and the floor inside Stoneveil City riddled with holes, they sotis fell down and had to start over, enduring more tornt than the adventurers.
Unfortunately, monsters don’t emit spiritual power; otherwise, Sain Dungeon could make a fortune off them.
The designer of this place probably didn’t anticipate so many people roaming around simultaneously. If it were a computer ga, it might have crashed by now.
"Hurry, hurry, up here!"
Fortunately, the initial route in Stoneveil City wasn’t overly convoluted, and people weren’t running around like headless chickens, at least they could see a clear path ahead.
While running, they found a massive lift leading upwards and got on before the pursuers could catch up.
"Boom boom boom..."
The lift made a rumbling sound, which sounded aged and on the verge of collapse. It usually frightened people, but at this mont, it gave them a sense of safety.
At least being on the lift ant they didn’t have to worry about the pursuers for now.
"We’re safe, for now..."
Uffie was panting heavily, leaning on her knees and gasping, while the others were even worse off. Tepi looked as though he might collapse from exhaustion, but Edgar’s tily Group Recovery Technique restored so of their ability to move.
When the lift delivered them to the upper floor, they quickly got off.
The pursuers below also pulled the lift lever, and it slowly descended. Judging by the situation, it wouldn’t be long before the lift that saved the adventurers brought the pursuers up.
Tepi imdiately wanted to cut the lift’s rope, but Uffie stopped him and said, "Wait, wait a bit."
After the pursuers got on the lift and it ascended to a certain height, Uffie finally exerted force and chopped the rope supporting the lift.
Only the chaotic screams and heavy thuds of the pursuers were heard, as the overloaded lift packed with monsters crashed down!
Adventurers imdiately felt many golden Lune pouring into their bodies, bringing considerable delight.
"Is this threat eliminated for now?" Tepi asked, still uneasy.
"Probably alright, probably." Edgar continued bombarding the lower level with various magic. The fall undoubtedly claid the lives of the minions, but couldn’t eliminate the more powerful Lost Land Knight.
Fortunately, even if they didn’t die, they temporarily couldn’t find a way up, especially the plump Son of On.
"Alright, alright, they can’t co up."
Soaked in sweat, Uffie stopped Edgar from wasting magical power and sat down heavily, relieved.
Having visited Sain Dungeon for so long, this was the first ti she felt such an adrenaline rush, truly like dancing on the edge of a knife.
This trip had exhausted all their spiritual powers for the next few days, leaving their bodies and minds utterly fatigued.
"Did any of you hear the dungeon’s bells ringing earlier?" Fanen asked while lying on the ground, resting with his eyes closed.
"I think we heard it, but didn’t really notice." Isha said, looking exhausted.
"According to my timing... it shouldn’t be ti for closing yet." Edgar said confidently.
Uffie took out a pocket watch and looked at it, saying, "No, we’re indeed close to closing ti; we have less than half an hour left."
"....." Edgar fell silent, lanting, "Human strength is indeed limited."
"What kind of realization are you having, hey, how did we get here?" Fanen retorted earnestly.
People lay on the ground, longing to stay there until the dungeon closed. Soone spoke up, "No wonder it’s the demigod’s city; those soldiers seed really powerful."
Thus, everyone started to vent about the pursuers they just encountered.
"That Lost Land Knight was incredibly tough, no matter how hard I hit, he wouldn’t budge." Tepi massaged his sore arm.
"That’s because you haven’t learned truly effective magic. When facing soone in full heavy armor, you should use [Shock Wave] and other magic, don’t rely on outdated Combat Skills." Edgar constantly advocated his love for magic.
"That white-maned lion that couldn’t catch up seed strong too. I have a feeling that whether in open or confined spaces, encountering it would be a fierce battle." Fanen beca more sensitive to beast-like enemies after Beastification.
"My handgun really struggles to penetrate their armor..." Isha seed a bit depressed.
anwhile, Uffie was seizing every mont to rest with her eyes closed. After everyone finished venting, she said, "Alright, let’s go check another place."
"We have to continue exploring?" This ti even Fanen didn’t have energy left.
"The commotion we caused was trendous; there are still many enemies lingering by the lift. Do you know what this ans?" Uffie asked.
Fanen only needed a mont to understand her intent.
"Do you an the enemies in Stoneveil City’s original positions have been disrupted by us, and this could be a great opportunity to push forward quickly?"
"That’s right, opportunities like this don’t co around often."
Uffie snapped her fingers, directly organizing people to get up from the ground, leaving the room where the lift was located and walking outside.
Just as she said, the personnel arrangent in Stoneveil Castle had been thrown into disarray due to the recent turmoil. Many places where enemies should have been hiding were now deserted, making exploration surprisingly easy.
They were now on the walls of the inner city of Stoneveil Castle, from where they could overlook the entire city, including the scorched city gate tunnel and the deserted square—the people in the square had run to chase them.
To so extent, the difficulty of exploration indeed seed to have decreased significantly, but who knew how much uncertainty had been added in the process.
The group advanced along the city walls, once discussing whether to climb on the crisscrossing beams but finally decided to get down properly from the walls, winding around the roads for a while, and slipped into an unattended hall that looked like a restaurant.
It wasn’t entirely unattended; it was just that the patrolling Lost Land Knights had been attracted away by the commotion they caused.
"There’s actually a treasure chest here, what luck."
Tepi found a treasure chest in the corner, and upon opening it, was greeted by a purple light point, which made him quite happy, but when he picked it up and took a closer look, he found it wasn’t the powerful weapon he imagined, but rather a veil-like item.
[Mimic Veil]
[A finely designed bright brown veil, infused with magic power, allows the wearer to mimic various objects]
[This is one of the many treasures Greg carried out of Royal City Roder upon being expelled]
[It is said that during the Broken War, Greg, as a descendant of gold, attempted and failed to take control of Royal City Roder, relying on this item to mimic a woman and mingled among won to escape the royal city. Whether this is true or just a baseless rumor remains unknown]
Looking at this item, Tepi fell silent for a mont, then after a pause, called to the group: "Co over and look at this."
The group looked over and also remained silent.
"Is this sothing a demigod would really do?" Fanen questioned the title for the first ti.
No matter how you look at it, Greg’s actions were sowhat embarrassing.
"Keep calm, keep calm," Uffie said. "Maybe he worked hard to beco strong after that and eventually earned the demigod title?"
Although the group was still suspicious, they had no way to verify it at the mont and had to let it go.
They now had a bit more skepticism about the "demigod" title’s value.
After winding around for a while, the party reached the lowest level and turned into a dimly lit hall.
At the entrance beside them was an untriggered small lift that could take them directly back to the starting point on the city walls.
The group hadn’t had ti to marvel at the intricate design inside the castle before being captivated by the scene in the hall.
A bloody scent rushed up the nose, and wherever they looked, various kinds of at hung from the beams, almost filling the entire ceiling, the stench was nauseating.
At first glance, it seed like a kitchen, but on closer inspection, it turned out to be a slaughterhouse.
Those hung up were clearly all human limbs! No, there were non-human limbs mixed in as well.
So were long, so short, so fat, so thin, draped in cloth or dressed in armor... Various types of arms were suspended!
Edgar’s complexion changed drastically, imdiately covering his mouth, his throat making uncomfortable sounds, surprised by the others’ reactions.
Because Uffie and the others didn’t react at all, at most nodding slightly.
They were already accustod to the Corpse Mountain Blood Sea back in Red, these severed limbs couldn’t elicit a strong reaction.
Under those hellish severed limbs, a giant crab lay quietly in the center of the hall, seemingly asleep.
Looking closer, it was no giant crab, but rather the limb-connecting nobles!
Seeing this familiar creature, everyone present couldn’t help but draw their weapons. Anyone who had been through Sain would feel a different emotion towards the limb-connecting nobles—killing intent.
"No, sothing’s off with its state."
Fanen’s nose twitched, as he looked closer, he realized the limb-connecting nobles had clearly been dead for quite a while.
"This..."
The people regretfully sheathed their weapons. Beating a corpse wasn’t particularly noble behavior, and there was nothing to loot from its body, so they bypassed it.
Their gaze passed through the severed limbs, an object attracted everyone’s attention.
It was a huge portrait hanging on the wall.
The majestic man in the portrait stood mighty with an axe, stepping on waves and storms, seemingly conquering everything with great power, a white lion resting on his shoulder, presumably his close companion.
"Why does it feel like I’ve seen him sowhere before?" Uffie squinted, the man in the portrait looked increasingly familiar.
"’King of the Beginning’ Grefrey, he’s the first Elden King and also the City Lord of this castle, Greg’s ancestor."
A familiar voice ca from the side, and the group turned towards it, spotting Roger.
He was clutching his chest, appearing uncomfortable, yet still smiling politely at everyone:
"We et again, everyone, your numbers have increased."
User Comments
0 comments from readers