As the stone door slowly opened, the sight before them caught Raine and his group off guard, despite their readiness for a fierce battle. The Undead they expected to swarm them were nowhere to be seen.
The soft glow from the Copper Deer stretched forward, illuminating a rather spacious area. The entire space was dead silent. The air carried an ancient scent, a mixture of stone dust and dirt. It was so quiet that the group could clearly hear each other’s breaths.
As far as the eye could see, a large number of bones remained scattered across the floor. However, what caught their attention even more were the mountains of shattered stone. Judging by the faint outlines of limbs and heads still discernible on the rubble, these were once the Stone Golem guards of the fortress. There were quite a few of them. Each set of remains was covered in massive claw marks and deep impact craters, silently telling the tale of the Frenzy-fueled Power that had destroyed them in the past.
"Why is it so quiet?" Sodden lowered his voice, looking around warily. "Are these old bones not awake?"
Kaelin and Winnie exchanged a glance, both seeing the same confusion in the other’s eyes. Could it be that the bones in this area hadn’t been awakened by that abnormal Negative Energy?
Filled with doubt, the group carefully stepped into this new area. The moment Raine’s foot touched the ground, the Exploration Chapter in his mind transmitted new information, right on cue:
[You have activated the core landmark of the Crown of Grey Rock: Oath Gate. Core landmarks activated in this region: 6/6.]
[Crown of Grey Rock has been recorded.]
[Current regions recorded: 3.]
[Exploration Chapter next stage reward: 5 regions recorded.]
Finally, the map of the entire fortress unfurled completely in his consciousness, no longer obscured by a single trace of fog. He quickly examined the terrain of this new area. The group was currently located in the front hall of the fortress’s main gate, with passages connecting from both the front and back. The passage ahead clearly led to the fortress gates, while the passage behind connected to the Unyielding Hall, where the Undead were entrenched. However, from the map alone, it was impossible to tell whether the gates still connected to the outside world.
"Something’s not right..." Kaelin half-crouched and used the tip of her sword to gently brush aside some rubble and bone fragments. "They didn’t fail to awaken! Look at these shattered bones!"
Hearing this, Raine quickly noticed that a large number of broken bones were mixed in among the Stone Golem remains. They looked as if they had been forcefully smashed to pieces by some immense force, their fractures still fresh. Judging by their shapes, the vast majority were the skeletons of various Magical Beasts. This scene was strikingly similar to the giant wolf bones they had seen in the warehouse district, which had been destroyed in a fit of rage by the Elite Bear Goblin Skeletons they encountered. It seemed that a powerful entity had also awakened here, specifically clearing out the awakened Skeleton Beasts in the vicinity.
A thought flashed through Raine’s mind like lightning. Could it be that an Elite Undead of the Human Race had awakened? Could it be Kaelin’s ancestor?
Just as this idea surfaced, an unforeseen anomaly occurred. Relying on his recently enhanced Perception Attribute, Raine suddenly detected a faint scratching sound coming from behind. Looking toward the source of the noise, he saw that the stone door of the Frost Fang Tunnel they had just come through slammed shut without warning, completely cutting off their escape route.
Almost simultaneously, accompanied by a rustling sound of grinding bones, figures suddenly leaped out like ghosts from behind the previously silent piles of Stone Golem remains in the front hall. They brought with them a heavy aura of hostility and icy killing intent! They were exclusively skeletons of the Human Race. Their bones were thick and sturdy, and they stood extremely tall—clearly all at the Personal Guard Level. Emotionless, pale blue Flames burned in their hollow eye sockets as they closed in to slaughter Raine’s group from all directions.
The battle erupted in an instant and quickly reached a fever pitch. These sudden Human Race skeletons were far more formidable than any Undead Raine and the others had encountered before. There were about thirty of them in total. Not only were their movements swift, but their teamwork was also exceptionally seamless. Even bare-handed, they used their Bone Claws and Bone Fists to exert immense pressure on the group.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Heavy, powerful punches constantly bombarded Sodden’s Giant Shield. Even though the Dwarf wielded the Shield defensively with airtight precision, he was still forced to retreat step by step. Due to the enemy’s relentless advance, Kaelin’s space to swing her sword grew narrower and narrower. Winnie found it difficult to cast her Colorful Ball and could only use an Arcane Force Field to push away the most imminent threats. Raine’s Arrows also lost their effectiveness at such close range, forcing him to draw his sword to fend them off.
The four-person squad fought while retreating. Soon, they were backed into a corner by this tempestuous onslaught, their room to maneuver compressed to the absolute limit.
"Damn it! There are too many of them!" Sodden had just blocked a heavy punch when even more came swinging toward him, his Shield practically shoved into the skeletons’ faces.
Under the immense pressure of life and death, Raine activated the Rival’s Perspective almost instinctively. He needed to find a weakness—any weakness that could break this stalemate! However, as his gaze swept across the madly attacking skeletons before him, fragments of battlefield memories flooded his mind alongside the revelation of their weaknesses.
His vision first pierced through the skeleton at the very front, revealing what it looked like when it was alive. He was a middle-aged soldier with a full beard, his Armor stained with blood and grime. He was fighting with all his might, burying his War Axe into the neck of a two-headed Warg Mount. But the other wolf head lunged from the side, its sharp fangs piercing the soldier’s throat in an instant. Blood gushed out like a fountain. The soldier’s burly body convulsed as he fell to the ground. He opened his mouth in vain, seemingly wanting to shout something, but only spat out crimson blood froth.
A letter slipped through a gap in his shattered Armor and fell onto the blood-muddied ground. The paper quickly stained red, but Raine clearly saw the words written on it in the common tongue:
"To my dearest Lirian:
"By the time you read this letter, Daddy will have become a star in the sky, watching over you. Please don’t be sad. Daddy fought in this war so that you can grow up in a world without the Black Tide.
"I’m so sorry I missed your fifth birthday. Be a good girl and listen to Mommy.
"Love you forever, until the stars fade.
"—Dad"
The vision shattered. As Raine shifted his gaze, another fragmented memory crashed into his consciousness. A young soldier, his Chest Armor pierced through to reveal his stark white ribs, slowly slid down a wall until he collapsed on the floor. His life was slipping away rapidly, but one of his hands gripped an opened metal pendant tightly against his chest. Inside the pendant was a portrait of a young girl with a bright, sunny smile. Using the last of his strength, he gently stroked the portrait with his thumb until the light in his eyes faded completely.
GASP! GASP!
Raine panted heavily for air and abruptly severed the Rival’s Perspective, his face as pale as a sheet. Completely unlike the visions he had experienced when witnessing the deaths of Demons, he felt an unprecedented torrent of emotion radiating from these Human Race soldiers. An indescribable grief and sheer resolve crashed into his mind like a monstrous tidal wave, threatening to swallow him whole.