Chapter 24 - Chapter 24: 18. New Enemy (1/2)

the stairway end to the underground level 2 was also blocked by a metal gate.

it was thicker and more solid than the prior gate, requiring four soldiers to pull open together.

“at my command, prepare to open the gate,” corporal mars looked at noland lee:

“jarvis, you will go in and awaken the undead as before. be extra cautious.”

“yes, chief officer,” noland took a deep breath and smelled a faint stench of decay.

as corporal mars commanded the soldiers to open the gate, he cautioned noland:

“remember, you must not retreat without my order. awaken as many undead as possible. if we don’t, our reconnaissance results could be seriously skewed, putting more soldiers at risk.”

“yes, chief officer.”

the metal gate slowly opened, revealing a dim slit to noland.

as soon as he crossed, he felt discomfort.

tightness in his chest, shortness of breath, labored breathing.

ringing in his ears, pressure in his eyes, and weakness in his limbs.

was he poisoned?

noland steadied his mind, shaking his head slightly to concentrate.

the unpleasant sensations receded significantly. the tightness in his chest disappeared, followed by the ringing in his ears, and the other symptoms vanished as well.

it wasn’t poison, but some kind of psychological effect caused by the environment.

noland frowned and maintained a highly focused state.

he took one step at a time, advancing slowly under the dim light of the coal lamp.

the same strategy applied—walking while casting deconstruction, using system messages to judge his surroundings.

[you are attempting to deconstruct “mottled stone brick”…]

[you are attempting to deconstruct “stain left by soft-bodied creatures”…]

[you are attempting to deconstruct “black hair left by the undead”…]

strange, why were there no bones?

in this second underground level, he found only stains and hair—no bones whatsoever.

didn’t corporal mars say that there would be undead constructs like skeleton archers here?

noland was baffled.

trying to make out objects a few meters away, he searched for the purple glow in the skull of the skeleton soldiers.

however, there was no faint purple light.

instead, a dark green light appeared in patches, like a vast starry sky surrounding noland.

these scattered dark green lights flickered.

first, they were bright for three seconds, then suddenly dim for three seconds, followed by another three seconds of brightness, as if breathing regularly.

noland looked back at corporal mars and the others, who wore incredulous expressions.

he realized that the situation had exceeded their expectations.

noland threw a deconstruction at one of the dark green lights and was surprised.

these were not the skeleton soldiers corporal mars had anticipated, nor any other troops he had encountered on the first underground level!

[system message: you are attempting to deconstruct an “unknown type of undead creature”.]

[estimated to consume 5 points of energy, achieving 100% degree of deconstruction.]

[you currently have 10 points of energy. confirm deconstruction?]

noland felt a sinking feeling in his heart.

five points of energy was half the consumption of a big skeleton and 2.5 times that of a skeleton warrior.

the energy consumption was not a simple linear relationship with the strength of the target being deconstructed.

deconstructing a big skeleton required 10 points of energy.

deconstructing a skeleton soldier required 2 points.

the ratio between the two was 5 to 1.

but to say that five skeleton soldiers could take down one big skeleton was utter nonsense.

thus, energy consumption wasn’t calculated solely based on the strength of the target.

however, the extent of energy consumption could, to a certain degree, reflect the strength of an individual.

there were few big skeletons that required 10 points of energy to deconstruct, but there was a large number of unknown undead creatures requiring 5 points of energy to deconstruct right before his eyes.

noland suddenly had the urge to turn and run but quickly controlled himself.

noland shifted his gaze and forced himself to remain calm. he cast deconstruction on the awakening undead creatures one by one to see if there were any elite troops that required a large amount of energy to deconstruct.

after more than a dozen casts, noland let out a soft “huh” sound.

he discovered an unusual presence far in front of him, in the dark zone.

[system message: you are attempting to deconstruct a “magical device engraved with undead runes”.]

[estimated to consume 10 points of energy, achieving 100% degree of deconstruction.]

[you currently have 10 points of energy. confirm deconstruction?]

finally, something requiring 10 points of energy to deconstruct had arrived.

noland had a hunch that this item would certainly affect his life and death.

“confirm 100% degree of deconstruction.”