“Magical picture, damn, these dwarves really were rich,” a hero couldn’t help but comment.
This technology was also available in present-day Stone Rock Harbor, but the price was astronomical.
A single picture would cost hundreds of gold coins, far beyond what an average person could afford.
They explored the rest of the rooms in the house but found no signs of life. However, everything within looked as if someone had just recently lived there.
They left the apartment and explored the surrounding shops and apartments, reaching a disturbing conclusion.
The entire city’s inhabitants seemed to have vanished within a specific time frame, leaving behind an empty city.
“If such a city truly exists and something this eerie happened, why didn’t the dwarves warn us beforehand?”
“Damn those old bastards, if I get out of here, I’m going to make them pay!”
The heroes couldn’t help but curse.
The Blackstone Dwarf Kingdom offered such a high reward for this quest, and conscripted dozens of teams for the underground exploration, but they didn’t reveal any crucial information.
“We can only move forward. We’ll settle the score once we get out alive.”
The group returned to the main road of the city, continuing towards the distant castle.
The straight avenue was unobstructed, with the buildings on either side becoming increasingly grand and ornate.
They slowly moved forward, with the castle now not far away.
Dong!
Suddenly, a resonant bell rang out, causing everyone to stop in their tracks, thinking they were hallucinating.
Dong!
Another deep bell sound echoed, followed by melodious music coming from the castle ahead, a poignant and stirring tune, like a procession anthem of some ceremony.
“Damn, this is getting weirder and weirder,” Henry muttered, marching toward the castle.
All the heroes drew their weapons.
The experiences along the way had been too torturous, a severe test to their mental strength.
They would rather confront a terrifying boss than wander aimlessly in this dungeon.
They passed through the castle, and the sight before them changed drastically again.
Beyond the high stone walls of the castle was a massive courtyard.
Huge bonfires were lit all around, illuminating the world.
In the center of the bonfires was an enormous altar with a stone platform, atop which lay a coffin.
Surrounding the altar were rows of kneeling dwarves in ceremonial attire, worshipping the coffin on the altar.
Scott approached one of the dwarves, bent down for a closer look, and found that the worshipper had long been dead, but his corpse looked lifelike and even retained a hint of warmth, as if he had just died.
“This damned place is so freaking eerie…” Even the brave Henry couldn’t help but curse.
“What now? It seems like we only have the option to open the coffin.”
“This scene is way too familiar. In those RPG games, whenever you open a coffin, a terrifying boss would spring out and slap us to the ground.”
“Death is better than aimlessly wandering in this underground maze. Let’s do it!”
The heroes swore and grumbled, but they quickly came to an agreement.
They would rather die fighting than wander aimlessly, no matter what had happened in the city.
They demanded a boss, and they demanded a health bar to deplete.
The four strongest heroes walked towards the bush by the altar.
Henry turned around and shouted, “I’m going to spawn the monster. Prepare yourselves when I count to one!”
“Three, two, one, let’s get this over with!”
The four Rank A heroes opened the coffin together, revealing a skeleton holding a scepter, wearing a crown.
After opening the coffin, they all pulled back simultaneously, holding their breath, but nothing happened…
“Damn it, is this another dud?” Henry cursed.
But before his words fell, a gust of black wind suddenly spread from the altar, whistling and sweeping in all directions.
Their spirits instantly revived.
They weren’t afraid of something happening; they were afraid of nothing happening.
The black wind spread out instantly, like a color-fading agent.
The once vibrant city quickly lost its color, becoming dull and gloomy.
The lifelike dwarf corpses turned into withered bodies in the blink of an eye.
The flames of the bonfires around them roared and surged, green flames rising into the sky.
Then, the kneeling dwarves, one by one, started to stagger to their feet.
From the castle in the distance came a flurry of footfalls.
Skeleton soldiers in armor, weapons in hand, emerged from all sides of the castle, encircling the heroes.
Skeleton archers appeared on the city walls, pulling back their bows. Arrows rained down on the heroes like a storm.𝓞𝐯𝗅xt.𝗇𝓔t
“Bring it on, haha!” Henry let out an excited roar, swung his weapon, and smashed a nearby skeleton to pieces.
The endless skeleton army swarmed from all directions, as far as the eye could see.
It was a sight that should have spelled despair, but every hero’s face was filled with excitement.
Compared to the intangible terror and eerie city, these tangible creatures were obviously easier to deal with.
As heroes, killing monsters was their forte.
“Attack!”
“Time to wipe out these goddamn deceptive bastards, you ‘dead’ dwarves are going to become truly dead now!”
The group, yelling battle cries, charged at the army of skeletons.
Dark Core’s mages began chanting large-scale magic spells.
Countless spells whistled through the air in all directions, followed by the terrifying sounds of explosions.
“Focus on those archers from afar first!” Henry, after slashing down a skeleton, took an arrow to his arm.
Blood poured out, and many other heroes also suffered injuries.
“I’ll handle it,” Ethan said, looking at the distant city wall before charging into the sea of skeletons.
“I’m coming too,” Jonathan yelled, following closely behind Ethan.
Both were Rank A heroes with the highest agility among the group. Tasking them with breaking the enemy’s stronghold was most fitting.
“Brothers, let’s clean up these bastards close to us first!” Henry roared, charging like a raging bull towards the altar.
His sword gleamed as he took down several skeletons in an instant.
On the other side, Ethan drew his longsword, darting through the sea of skeletons like a bolt of lightning, and in an instant, he was on the city wall.
With a swift thrust, he pierced the skull of a skeleton archer.
Like a tiger among sheep, the skeleton archers fell one after another at his hand.
Jonathan followed closely, fighting alongside Ethan, dropping skeleton archers one after another.
The two rapidly advancing heroes quickly attracted the attention of some archers.
A rain of arrows fell from the sky, instantly enveloping them.
Ethan moved like a phantom, weaving through the barrage of arrows, calmly reaping life after life.
Jonathan, however, was having a harder time.
His longsword danced swiftly, severing any arrows that came near him before they could do any harm, but occasionally a few would slip through his sword’s radiant barrier.
Jonathan was quickly wounded, but he didn’t say much.
He just let out a roar, and his longsword suddenly erupted in a terrifying light.
Another skeleton was struck down, and he instantly shattered the bodies of several skeleton archers.
Leaving the nearby skeleton archers to Jonathan, Ethan charged towards the distance.
His hand erupted with terrifying lightning, blasting down and turning countless skeleton archers into dust within the flashes.
One after another, the skeleton soldiers fell.
Subtle wisps of black smoke drifted from their bodies and headed towards the altar in the center.
Skeleton soldiers were already among the weakest of monsters.
They didn’t stand a chance against a group of fierce and elite heroes.
Though many heroes were wounded, none had truly fallen.
“Hold on, something’s not right…” Scott’s pupils suddenly contracted as he finally noticed the black mist emanating from the skeletons.
But it was clearly too late.
With the influx of the black mist, the altar before them suddenly erupted in a terrifying light.
A massive six-pointed star array spread out, enveloping the entire castle.
Then, the coffin on the altar, shrouded in countless black energies, began to float.
A pale bone hand shot out from within, and the dwarf corpse, wearing a crown, slowly rose from the coffin.
“Holy crap, this damned old coot really is getting up,” Henry cursed, charging forward ahead of everyone else.
He leaped high, bringing his longsword crashing down.