Chapter 52 Shortcu (1/2)

Pavel Cemetery was situated at the northeastern mountain area outside of Deep Stone City. It was once a prosperous small mining area, but the mining techniques were not entirely developed at that time and landslides occurred from time to time. In the end, Many miners were killed and wounded, and the dead were buried under the earth, never to be found again. As time passed, the area turned into a cemetery. Later, Bishop Pavel raised funds to build a proper cemetery, and as thanks for his charitable activities, the place was thereby named as Pavel Cemetery.

But nothing was ever certain in this world. The once venerable Bishop turned into an infamous necromancer, and the cemetery naturally became his territory. Many people had wondered how did this happen, but Rhode found it uninteresting. Against his enemies — kill or catch them, then loot as fast as possible. As of the perpetrator's motive? It could be investigated slowly after that. It's better to not do something that would waste time though.

Not before long, the well-maintained road they were traveling on disappeared. The only remaining traces of the road was a few pieces of cracked slate. Mountainous trails were difficult to traverse, but for Rhode, the most annoying thing wasn't that, but instead, it was the old man who was nagging from behind.

”I say, kid, what do you mean by taking us to this ghastly place?”

Old Walker complained incessantly as he stared at the surface of the steep mountain.

”Pavel Cemetery is on the other side of the mountain. If you are lost, I don't mind showing you the direction.”

”Thanks for your goodwill.”

As he was walking at the front, Rhode did not bother to turn back and refused Old Walker's 'proposal' sarcastically.

”I think this way is better.”

Better?

Hearing Rhode's answer, Old Walker almost fainted. He looked at the road before him and compared it to the road at the foot of the mountain. Which route is better? Does it even need to be discussed?

Although he felt dissatisfied, he still suppressed his anger and followed behind. Rhode told Old Walker about the same conditions he gave to Marleen. If he did not wholly obey his command, he would immediately leave him here to die. Although he wasn't sure whether Rhode was being serious or not, Old Walker eventually decided not to take the risk.

Rhode wore an ordinary leather armor and walked at the front while Lize and Marlene followed closely behind. The steep mountain trail did not cause too much problem for Rhode and Lize; even Marlene did not seem to be troubled by it. Although she wasn't accustomed to climbing mountains, with additional support from her magic, it wasn't that difficult.

They were almost there.

Around the corner, the mountain path was growing narrower and more dangerous. But Rhode had his own plans. He compared the landscape before him to the ones in his memories, then he nodded.

In fact, since the beginning, he didn't plan to attack the enemy territory directly. Pavel Cemetery was a somewhat unique dungeon as half of the territory was located on the surface and half of it was beneath the earth, to put it more precisely, it was within the mines. If they attacked directly from the front with only four people, they would exhaust themselves to death by fighting the regular undead mobs before facing the boss. As for completing the quest, it would turn into a joke.

That was why he did not attack head-on because he had a better plan.

Players could be described as the most diligent yet laziest people in the world. They were diligent because their passion for adventure was much higher than the people from this world. Whether it was a pit, river, or gully, players would spend their time to explore every nook and cranny of the dungeon in hope to find some precious treasure or artifact to increase their strength. From this point, it could be said that even the most greedy bandits could not be compared to them.

As for their laziness — they would simply seek out for shortcuts when faced with longwinded questlines. Those 'shortcuts' even included exploiting of game bugs. The players would try their best to complete everything within the shortest possible time. Frankly, the players just didn't like to follow the order arranged for them and rather forge their own path.

That was exactly what Rhode was doing now.

The reason why he did not choose the road on the foot of the mountain was that he knew of a hidden entrance in the mountain precipice above. There was a small, deep hole leading into the Pavel Cemetery. This hole used to be a mining tunnel for miners to exit the pit. If Rhode used this hidden path, he could easily enter Pavel Cemetery and shorten his journey by nearly half.

-

Around the edges of the mountain precipice, the cold wind grew gotten stronger.

”It's here.”

A distance away from him was a hole not more than two meters in diameter. Rhode nodded in satisfaction as he walked to the edge of the hole and peered down. However, all he could see was nothing but darkness.

”Wait, kid... what are you trying to do? You want us to jump down this hole?”

”Yes, this is hole connected to a tunnel. From here, we can shorten half of the distance.”

”What a joke!”

Old Walker snorted in dissatisfaction.

”How do you know that this hole leads to a tunnel, kid? If we went down and fell into the middle of those damn monsters then what should we do? Furthermore, even if we killed that accursed necromancer then how do we escape?”

”Stupid.”

Rhode did not answer, but clearly, Marlene did not agree with him.

”Don't you know the relationship between the undead and necromancer? They rely on the necromancer's magic to maintain the existence of their bodies. Once we kill the necromancer, then the undead would turn to a useless pile of corpses. This is basic knowledge... are you really a mercenary?”

”I am a mercenary, not a mage.”

After being ridiculed by Marlene, Old Walker immediately backed down and grumbled to himself.

”Who knows what kind of abnormal thoughts you eccentric mages have?”

”Abnormal?! You ignorant—”

”I'll go first.”

Rhode decisively ended the minor dispute before it turned into something big.

”Next up would be Lize, then Marlene, then you, Walker. Since you are a veteran, I think you don't need my help.” Rhode said, and then he disappeared into the hole.

A chilly breeze swept past. Although the depth was about four to five meters, with the help of Spirit Bird, Rhode landed on the ground smoothly.

”Swoosh!”