Somewhere inside the fortress...
A soldier was walking in the hallway. All of a sudden, a hand patted him on his shoulder. It startled him as he quickly jumped away and raised his weapon.
"W-Who's there?!"
He was shaken but when he saw the person in front of him, he lowered his guard a little bit.
"Oh...!! C-Commander Eili!"
"I apologize for surprising you." A man with short brown hair smiled wryly. His body was covered in exquisite armor with a red cape on his back.
This man was Commander Eili. The commander of the soldiers in this fortress and the man that was protecting the border of the kingdom. An accomplished man that stood at the top of the kingdom's most valiant warriors.
"How's the patrol going? Any problems with the undead?" Eili asked.
"No, sir! The mages already cut down the numbers of the undead outside! We can deal with the rest while the mages are recovering their energy!" The soldier stood straight and answered in a clear and loud voice.
"Good. It may be hard but we need to keep this up. We're facing a crisis that we've never experienced before. Just a little bit longer and we'll be able to find a way to exterminate all the undead." Eili said to the soldier.
"Yes, sir! Don't worry! I'll do my best!" The soldier answered.
Eili nodded with a satisfied look on his face. He glanced at the retreating soldier's back before he looked at the window.
It's been two months since the undead started rampaging in Lerna Island. Eili fought left and right trying to save innocent people from the gruesome death caused by those vile undead.
The undead swarmed the villages and towns around the three kingdoms. Countless people have died and everyone could guess that aside from the three kingdoms, there were no living people on Lerna Island.
So the three kingdoms decided to set aside their conflicts. They had to work together to eliminate the undead that threatened people of the Lerna Island.
After two weeks of research, they found that there was something off with the northern region of the island. It seems that the dead mana in that area was highly concentrated. So the three kingdoms formed a special group consisting of elite soldiers. They were the best of the best of Lerna Island.
But until now, the special group hasn't returned yet after venturing into the northern region. No one knew what happened, the people could only pray to the gods that nothing happened to them.
'For the kingdom. I need to continue fighting. God of War, Ares, please give me the strength to defeat our enemies.'
Eili prayed in his heart.
Boom!!
Suddenly the ground shook heavily as violent tremors spread out trying to destroy the whole fortress.
"What was that?!" Eili was shocked as he observed his surrounding.
"Commander Eili!!"
Eili turned around and saw the soldier before.
"It's an emergency! T-The Royal Room... Have collapsed!" The soldier said clearly.
"What?!" Eili widened his eyes.
Although no one was staying in the Royal Room, it was still important. People from the Royal Family stayed in that place every time they visited this border. People were forbidden to enter that place.
Even he, a commander, didn't know what was inside that room.
"Shit!!"
Eili narrowed his eyes as he dashed through the hallway.
...
"Hey, didn't expect that there was a strong barrier protecting this room," Eztein said with a hint of surprise in his voice. He stepped forward and glanced at the space inside the room.
He sensed something when he entered. His senses spread out and it feels like the area had expanded.
"Hmm...? Some sort of space folding... How? The space is stronger than before so it's hard to bend it."
Eztein glanced at his arm. He could feel the flow of mana in the air but something shock him. There was a hint of dead mana in the atmosphere. It means that there was an undead in this place.
"Undead... Didn't expect it in a tightly guarded fortress..."
A smile formed on his face. This only means that there was a secret in this place that was related to the undead outside.
But shattering the barrier probably caused a commotion. Those soldiers were probably on their way here to this place.
"Well, before that happens... I gotta go and finish my job."
Eztein walked forward. Although the space here was larger than what it looked like outside, it was still a little bit small for him. He could easily cover the entire place in just a minute. There were probably twenty to twenty-five rooms. Well, he would know it once he explored this place.
Swoosh!!
He ventured to every room that he saw. His mana swept out every second trying to sense if something went wrong. He bulldozed everything in his way. Souta has given him a time limit to finish this job. So he had to complete it as soon as possible.
Swoosh!
He dashed through and arrived in front of a fist size golden sphere. But his attention wasn't on the golden sphere. Instead, it was at the figure standing in the opposite direction.
"Now, this is what I'm talking about..."
Eztein stepped forward and observed the undead. The undead was a man with rotten flesh. It had sharp nails and sticky liquid flowing out of its mouth. He wasn't a slightest bit afraid of this undead.
After all, the aura that was coming off of this undead was only at the Peak Stage of S-rank. There was nothing to be afraid of against an S-rank if you were a Shackled Realm expert.
"Excuse me, let me take this golden sphere," Eztein said as he stretched out his hand.
Just then, the undead's figure blurred and it arrived beside him. The undead swung its hand at him with unbelievable force. Eztein simply raised his other hand and blocked the undead's attack.
The attack generated a powerful shockwave that swept everything behind but he was unfazed.
"Hey, go out there for a moment." Eztein narrowed his eyes. In an instant, he delivered three punches on the undead's body.
BAM!!
The undead's body bent backward and crashed on the wall causing the entire room to shake.
Eztein grabbed the golden sphere. The moment he grabbed it, the entire place shook and cracks appeared in the space.
"This... A high-quality red grade artifact...?"
He realized that the space inside the Royal Room was caused by this artifact.
"Not good..."
His energy exploded as he burst out flashing into the entire space. In just a few seconds, he exited the Royal Room and the whole space inside it collapsed.
Bang!!
Space cracks appeared outside as dead mana gushed out of it like a tidal wave.
'Wait!' Eztein narrowed his eyes. He was confused about what was happening. He looked down at the golden sphere in his hand and found that there were cracks on its surface.
'Just like I thought... It only had a limited amount of use.'
The dead mana filled the whole area instantly. It was coming from the space cracks caused by the collapse of the space created by the artifact.
But how? There were undead hidden inside those cracks and now they were appearing amid the fortress. They used the space cracks as a passage to cross the border.
Why?
Eztein was confused as he saw a bunch of S-rank undead coming out of the spatial cracks.
"Damn, I never understood the boss's plan but I know that I have to fight all of these undead."
A wry smile formed on his face. He placed the golden sphere inside his pocket and brandished the halberd on his back. His body exuded great battle intent.
Suddenly, Eztein looked at the ceiling before he jumped away. The next moment, the ceiling exploded as a huge energy blade flew out and it even demolished the floor.
Boom!!
'The commander is here...?' Eztein said inwardly.
At this moment, the space cracks turned smaller but more than twenty S-rank and fifty-plus A-rank undead had come out of it.
...
In the underground prison of the fortress...
'Hmm... It seems that Eztein completed his job.' Souta said inwardly as he felt the energy fluctuations on the surface.
Eztein's job was simple. It was to take that red grade artifact to destroy the space inside the Royal Room. Once it was destroyed, it would create spatial cracks and it would bring out the undead from the other side.
"It's time for me to do my job." Souta smiled as he stared at the space crack in front of him.
There was a special thing about that red grade artifact. It was a key. It would open a door that would lead him to the other side to finish his mission as soon as possible.
But how did this space crack appear in front of him? That artifact was a key to this place. A special space crack would open in the underground prison once the former space created by the artifact collapsed.
The only problematic thing about it was that the undead of Lerna Island would attack everyone who had that golden sphere.
So Souta left Eztein to deal with that problem.
