Chapter 66: Headless Knight Larenz
Of all strategies, retreat was the best!
Lis, tactically retreating, tried to minimize his presence, and the additional "Breath Concealment" and "Invisibility Technique" were only three-circle spells, not of high tier.
Although undead monsters have poor perception, Lis decided it was still best to be cautious.
Lis made sure to maintain a safe distance from the creature ahead and, after retreating to a fork in the labyrinth, hurriedly turned into another directional passageway.
After reaching a place he deemed safe enough, Lis stopped and tried to observe the unknown creature from a distance to see if he could gather any useful information.
After waiting for quite a while, dull footsteps finally echoed from the distant passageway.
"Thud, thud..."
It sounded like heavy objects striking the ground, reverberating through the passageway, and Lis focused his mind, his eyes tightly fixed on the intersection in front of him.
A dark shadow entered Lis’s line of sight, and fortunately, "Secret Vision" helped him to see the figure of the creature clearly.
It was a tall skeleton, over two meters in height, with bones as white and shiny as jade, strangely powerful even though it was made entirely of white bones.
Pale white soul flames flickered in the eye sockets of the skeleton, which wore a pitch-black full suit of armor, and tightly held a long sword and shield that emitted a cold light in its bony hands.
This skeleton soldier hadn’t noticed Lis not far away and continued to walk forward, wandering aimlessly through the passageway.
Lis raised his eyebrows.
It was a Skeleton Warrior!
Thankfully, it hadn’t noticed him.
It seemed that as long as he was careful, he still had a good chance to move freely within the tomb.
And an even greater discovery was that Lis now knew his location.
The White Bone Evil Temple!
Only here in the tomb could one find Skeleton Warriors.
As the most common and lowest-level existence among undead monsters, skeleton soldiers were not entirely useless.
They were noted for their low cost and high numbers.
As the cannon fodder most favored by Death Mages, skeleton soldiers lacked self-awareness, were hardworking and uncomplaining, and could work until their soul fire was completely extinguished.
However, skeleton soldiers were not all low-level troops; some powerful beings could emerge among them.
Skeleton Warriors were one such example, strengthened continuously over countless years by death spirit energy, their bone hardness was comparable to refined steel, and the armor and weapons they possessed became indestructible over the lengthy years of nourishment.
Unfortunately, the thick death spirit energy emitted by these weapons and armor made them unsuitable for human use, otherwise, they would constitute a luxurious set of magic equipment.
Returning to the White Bone Evil Temple, then his location must be at the bottom of the entire tomb.
The entire "McGwire’s Death Tomb" was mainly composed of labyrinth passages and various undead creature nests.
Witch Demon McAulay’s tower was located at the topmost part of the whole labyrinth, which was also the core of the labyrinth.
Also, the magical array that assisted McAulay with his lich transformation was located inside the Witch Demon Tower.
Additionally, within the labyrinth, there were graveyards inhabited by zombies, the Ghost Mansion where vampires resided, and the Dark Hall where Dark Knights existed.
Among them, Headless Knight Larenz generally roamed around the Dark Hall, whereas Vampire Angela usually stayed within the Ghost Mansion.
If following the normal sequence of conquering the secret realm, there was no need to bother with other monster nests; simply by killing all minor monsters and bosses in the Ghost Mansion and the Dark Hall, Witch Demon McAulay would be awakened and then appear to attack the players.
At that point, killing McAulay would allow one to clear this dungeon realm.
And Lis chose another means to clear this level, aiming for the Ghost Mansion!
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In the graveyard,
Ailina maneuvered swiftly amid rows of deep gray, dilapidated tombstones, surrounded by a stream of greenish airflow, her face slightly pale.
Behind her, a group of continuously snarling zombies followed closely. Their bodies, akin to being cast from iron, exuded a dark luster, with clearly visible muscles, blood vessels, and bones in their damaged wounds.
The zombies staggered, limping as they chased Ailina. Although their movements seemed slow and heavy, they hadn’t fallen far behind.
What was this situation?
The uncontrollable panic in Ailina’s heart grew as she was transported to this graveyard and immediately pursued by this group of zombies, unable to understand what was happening.
She had attempted to counterattack, but upon seeing that the arrows wrapped in Wind Element merely left white marks on the zombies, she knew these were not the monsters she could handle.
Fortunately, zombies are among the slowest of the Extraordinary Creatures, allowing Ailina to buy time with the environment around her, waiting for a chance to escape.
...
Dwarf Warrior Lunbos sat quietly in a dark stone chamber, tightly gripping a hammer and shield.
Having just regained consciousness, he witnessed a tall, black-armored skeleton soldier pass by the entrance of the stone chamber.
A strong sense of danger made Lunbos realize that he was no match for these monsters.
Lunbos knew well that once these creatures caught him, his slow speed meant he couldn’t escape death.
The best option was to stay where he was, as those monsters seemed not to enter the stone chamber.
"Oh, noble and mighty Main God Moradin! Please guide your loyal follower in the right direction!"
Even though Lunbos knew that waiting for his teammates to rescue him was incredibly slim, he did not give up and vigilantly monitored his surroundings while silently praying to the Dwarf Main God Moradin in his heart.
...
Inside the Dark Hall,
This church-like building stood silently in the darkness, devoid of any sacredness. Twisted patterns and blotchy bloodstains testified that this place was not benign.
If one were to look up, they would see a figure crouching on a small platform at the top of the hall.
Arsen dared not breathe heavily. His limbs, stiff from being in the same position for a long time, had started to numb, yet he still dared not make a sound.
Immediately after teleporting here, Arsen had seen, twenty meters below in the great hall, about a dozen Black Knights standing silently.
Arsen recognized them instantly. Clearly, they were Dark Knights riding Undead Giant Horses, unmistakably elite units among Undead Creatures, symbols of death and terror.
Arsen faced the most dangerous situation since becoming a Professional.
Unable to blame anyone, Arsen tried to minimize any noise he made, stalling for time in hopes of finding a slim chance to escape.
Meanwhile, just outside the Dark Hall,
Lis, unaware that his teammates were so close by, was extruding extreme caution against the stone wall while slowly shifting his feet to the side.
The reason for such caution?
Not far from him was a figure, noticeably taller than a regular Dark Knight, slowly pacing, radiating an evil Spirit Light that Lis could feel the discomfort from even at such a distance.
Strangely enough, the body of this Dark Knight was empty at the top, devoid of a head.
Lis, of course, knew who this was.
Headless Knight Larenz!