Why is it in this place?
Well, the ancestor of the Veinu Kingdom was a necromancer in the past. He hid his things and the undead he controlled in a special place. So after he died, the undead became powerless for several decades. They grew stronger and right now they reached the limit.
They appeared on Lerna Island causing a rampage everywhere.
Also, the appearance of the special environment made the undead more powerful. If it not for this, the locals of Lerna Island would be enough to exterminate the undead.
Souta glanced at his surrounding. Corpses of prisoners were scattered around.
No one would have thought that the ancestor would choose a place like this as a passage to his secret hideout.
"A good one..."
Souta flicked his fingers and fireballs were launched into the sky. He was in the underground but he set everything up. It's time for Yuko and Yenxa to help Eztein deal with those undead.
He personally experienced the difficulty of this mission in the game. He could leave this to them.
When he turned back his attention to the space crack, Souta realized that it grew smaller. The space was healing at a faster rate.
Even though the key could only be used five times, it was still at the highest level of red grade. It wasn't useful except for opening the passage.
"It's not that bad..."
Souta smiled and he entered the passage.
...
Eztein glanced at Commander Eili. He didn't know how to explain this situation. Souta just told him to take the golden sphere inside the Royal Room so he didn't know that it would open cracks in the space and pour out high-level undead.
Eili also noticed Eztein who was staring at him. He was surprised inwardly. He didn't expect that he would find an unknown human here.
"Who are you?!" He asked warily. He could feel that Eztein was above his level.
A Shackled Realm expert? Why would an expert of this level appear here? He didn't have any idea. If Eztein had ill intentions, he would have no way to stop him.
"No, time to explain. The undead are starting to move." Eztein said as he pointed his finger at the undead.
"Kuhhh!!" Several powerful undead rushed toward Eztein at the same time. The powerful energy of dozens of S-rank shook the entire hallway on the verge of destruction.
The undead swiped its rotten hand. Eztein crouched and thrust his halberd. The spear destroyed half of the undead's face instantly. Then, he lifted his feet and launched a heavy kick.
Bang!!
Eztein's aura grew stronger as the halberd in his hand flashed brightly. It turned into a ray of light nailing several undead to the walls. Looking at this, he put both of his hands together.
[Collapsing Earth Wave]!!
Cracks spread out and covered the entire castle.
'Not good!' Eili's eyes shrank. He took the soldiers with him and jumped through the windows.
The next moment, the whole castle exploded as various heavy boulders were thrown everywhere.
Boom!!
'Shit!'
Eili cursed inwardly while looking at the destroyed castle. Then, he noticed something. He turned to the walls, only to find thousands of undead were rushing in this direction.
Problems occurred one after another. He didn't know what to deal with first.
"Soldiers of Veinu Kingdom!! Protect our border at all costs!! Once the undead passed us they will come to the capital and harm our family! Do it! For our family! For the kingdom! Don't let the undead breach our walls!!"
He said in a loud and clear voice. He wanted them to prioritize the undead outside the wall while his focus was on the undead inside.
Even without him, he trusted his subordinates that they wouldn't let any of those undead pass through.
Boom!! Boom!!
Shockwave swept out and soldiers near the destroyed castle were blown away.
Eili turned his head. The unknown man was fighting several powerful undead at the same time.
"I have to risk my life."
His body glowed in white light before he charged forward.
Swoosh!!
Eztein who was avoiding the attacks of the undead noticed Eili's presence.
'So he is back...'
He moved to the side and swung the halberd in his hand. His weapon easily destroyed the skull of a peak A-rank skeleton.
His strength far surpassed the limit of what an A-rank could handle. Eztein easily demolished them one by one without spending much effort.
Twenty seven S-ranks could give a One Shackle Realm expert a problem but it was different. The opponents were undead and they lacked coordination that could make them dangerous.
Eili who was watching the battle was stupefied. A Shackled Realm expert was really strong. He was a peak S-rank himself so he could only fight one of them.
'Looking at his expression, it seems that he isn't using his full strength. He is reserving his energy.'
He tightly gripped the sword in his hand. That's the strength that he wanted. He wanted to break through the shackles and reached the level above.
At the same time, outside the walls...
Thousands of undead were rushing toward the fortress when suddenly a sea of flames surged at them. The flames spread out and burned hundreds of undead in just a few seconds.
ROAR!!
A roar reverberated throughout the plains as a flaming bear jumped into the sky and crashed to the ground. Meanwhile, Yenxa was dashing through the ground spreading her extreme acid that could melt tough metals.
The two monsters didn't hold back as they used every ounce of their strength to demolish the undead.
The soldiers and mages on top of the walls were stupefied at the appearance of the two powerful monsters. They didn't even know whether they should be happy that the monsters were destroying their opponents or be sad because the monsters could probably target the fortress next.
...
Souta arrived in a vast swamp. At the center of the swamp, there was a huge castle. The castle looks old as no one maintained it for several decades.
This place was a part of the northern region of Lerna Island.
Souta couldn't feel it in the past but now... This place was really a special environment suitable for undead.
He shook his head and observed the old castle in front of him. According to his memories, the ancestor of the Veinu Kingdom was the guardian of this castle. He was the protector of this place and prevented everyone from coming here.
Well, finding this place was hard. The barrier that surrounded this place could even hold a full-power attack from a high level Hero-rank. The barrier weakened and the undead here found a loophole in the barrier. They could get out and enter whenever they could.
As for other people, they would have a hard time finding this place not to mention entering it. There were several illusion layers that would confuse the senses of every expert below Shackled Realm. After they passed through those illusions, they had to break the barrier to arrive at Souta's position.
If a person wanted to shatter the barrier they had to be at least a Seven Shackles Realm. Or maybe a special artifact with the effect of creating a passage through a barrier.
There were a lot of ways to enter but each one was hard.
Souta wouldn't even be able to arrive here if not for the key the ancestor left behind in the Royal Room.
"This is quite good..."
He closed his eyes and let the air brush his face. The thick dead attribute didn't even bother him in the slightest bit. He even felt a sense of calmness in this environment. The emotion became stable and no unclear thoughts lingered in his head.
It was so calming.
After a while, Souta opened his eyes with a faint smile on his face. He felt refreshed and he didn't know the reason why. It was strange but he guessed that it was probably related to the special environment.
His urges which he was trying to suppress for a long time had disappeared.
He felt that he had gotten stronger once again. No, he was stronger.
Souta glanced at the system and found that he level up.
Wait...!!
How?!!
He didn't even do anything.
He narrowed his eyes and realized that when he was in that state of calmness before, his experience points had increased to the point that it reaches level 65.
Souta closed his eyes and did the same thing as before but his experience didn't increase.
There's something wrong with this.
He could understand it if he level up when he was training since it could increase his strength. But he did nothing this time. He just stood here peacefully.
How?
While Souta was in deep thought, a dark light flashed and blasted his body away. He crashed into the barrier causing a ripple in the air.
Boom!!
A skeleton was suspended in the mid-air looking down at the thick smoke. The next moment, the smoke was blown away revealing Souta's face which was filled with rage.
"YOU FUCKING SKELETON!! I'M GONNA SMASH YOUR BONES INTO PIECES AND DEVOUR YOUR SOUL!!"
