Chapter 46 (1/2)

Underground City of the Ancient G.o.ds 5

Relatively powerful undead monsters resided beyond the wall. Poison Ghasts - superior zombie-type monsters - flocked together, releasing poison from their purplish bodies which turned darker and darker as they evolved. Hikaru and Lavia took a detour to avoid them altogether.

Like the book said, Living Heads were basically floating heads. It seemed like they could see light as they closed in on the magic lamp they had on. But they couldn't see Hikaru and Lavia. After spinning their heads around for a bit, they flew away.

There were Dark Slimes as well – black puddles on the road. The roads were dry, so Hikaru knew they were not ordinary puddles right off the bat. He tried sticking a twig into the puddle, and slowly it melted. There was no need to kill it so he simply ignored it.

「Things will be different from here on.」

Ignoring monsters along the way, they made good progress. Beyond the first wall was the first residential district and now they were about to pa.s.s through the second wall, to the n.o.ble District. Unlike the Ponsonia royal capital, there was no second residential district here. The roads were paved with stone. Doors were shut tight, with no signs of buildings being ransacked.

Up until now, there were indications that adventurers had looted the place. Campsite remains and broken doors. Yet there were no corpses around. Did they turn into undead monsters?

But there were no such signs in the n.o.bles District.

A Dead n.o.ble stood still, wearing clothes with a design Hikaru had never seen before. It was nonetheless extravagant, adorned with gold threads.

「… – – – …」

The monster muttered something and mana shot out from its hand. Gently, the ma.s.s of mana floated away to the other side of the building. Hikaru kept his eyes fixed on it and from there a Dead Citizen appeared.

「…What's that?」Lavia asked.

「It looks like it's reusing dead monsters.」

Hikaru inched closer to the Dead n.o.ble and stabbed it from behind. He could kill them in one shot, it seemed.

I ranked up.

His soul rank went up fast, perhaps because Dead n.o.bles were superior versions of Dead Citizens.

They strolled through the streets of the n.o.bles District. Each house - rather, mansion, was huge. Through the open windows, Hikaru could see undead monsters walking down the hallways.

He checked a few of the buildings. Various works of art - vases and paintings - were left untouched. The treasures, however, were inside vaults sealed with magic. Hikaru couldn't open the safes, but he could see where they were with Mana Detection.

It was similar to Lavia's magic prison. The only difference being the mana in the vaults was still flowing, at least for the last six hundred years.

They must have some sort of a system that consistently provides magic.

The poem mentioned something about compiling powerful sorcery spells. It would be an incredibly powerful spell if it lasted six hundred years. Would it last forever? There was no such thing in Hikaru or Roland's memories, at least.

Is Gafrasti looking for this spell?

Coins and jewels not inside vaults were scattered about inside some of the n.o.bles' houses. They picked those up. The design on the coins were peculiar. Hikaru15 wasn't sure if he could use them at all.

Three hours had pa.s.sed since they set out in the morning.

「I can see it, Hikaru. It's the royal castle—」

「This way.」

The castle loomed in the darkness. Surrounded by a ditch, the only way in was a bridge. Hikaru noticed the undead and quickly pulled Lavia behind a building. His Instinct was telling him to run.

Hikaru peered from the shadows. More than a hundred Zombies, with swelling muscles and over two meters tall, stood in a row.

「Draugr!」

Hikaru only saw them in files. Draugrs were undead monsters with extremely high physical abilities and acute senses. One could destroy a whole house on its own. Their commander was a Dead Knight wearing silver plate armor, eyes fixed on the road path to the castle.

「…What now?」

「I'm not sure…」

It wasn't like they were lining up closely. But if they chose to push through, they would come within a one-meter radius of the monsters.

I could throw a rock or something to draw their attention… It would be great to decrease their numbers so I can scout… Then again, that would only make them more cautious.

「How about I eradicate them with magic?」Lavia proposed.

「Magic, huh… Not a bad idea, but there's two problems with that option. First the monsters inside the castle will notice the commotion. Second the bridge might fall.」

「Yes, I might destroy the bridge.」Lavia said.

「I guess we'll just have to go through the front.」

「The front?」

「It's okay.」

I think.

Hikaru pulled up his Soul Board and put one point each on Life, Mana, and Group Obfuscation. He now had zero points left. If this wasn't enough to pa.s.s by unnoticed, he'd just have to kill more Dead n.o.bles to increase his level and max out Obfuscation. Although they wouldn't be able to clear the place within the day.

「Lavia, when I squeeze your hand twice, I want you to turn off the lamp. Then when I do it again, please turn it back on.」

「You want to turn off the light?」