Hao Ren instinctively reached for his data terminal, ready to smash it against the ground. It was bad enough that the damned thing was usually useless, but when it did work, it had to be such a smartass. He'd never met such an aggravating PDA in his life!
"What's wrong?" Vivian asked, completely bewildered by Hao Ren's actions. "Taking it out on the terminal won't help."
"Open the stone wall," Hao Ren said, angrily stuffing the data terminal back into his pocket. "The seal on the underground palace is already gone. Whatever's being suppressed inside will escape from somewhere else—we're just unlucky enough to be stuck in the only dead end that still works!"
Vivian glanced at Hao Ren, not caring how he knew all this, and turned to deal with the runestone wall. But she quickly delivered the bad news to Hao Ren: "As expected, it won't open."
"Didn't you say it was thin?"
"The stone wall itself is thin, but the Leyta runes form the phrase 'Citadel of the Earthly Monarch,' so it has the strength of a castle wall, and the Leyta runes suppress my power… Lily, don't bother trying either. Brute force won't work here."
The werewolf girl was already clawing and digging at the bottom of the runestone wall, trying to make a hole: "I'm trying to dig a tunnel!"
Vivian rolled her eyes. "Be my guest. Based on the strength of the runes, you'll have to dig at least half a kilometer down."
Lily looked as if she'd been struck by lightning, her tail and ears drooping dejectedly. She looked at Hao Ren with a woeful expression. "Landlord, what do we do?"
"Why am I so unlucky!" What could Hao Ren do? As the ordinary human with the lowest combat power on the scene, it was already quite incredible that he was maintaining such a carefree calm. He couldn't think of a solution at all. He could only go over and angrily punch the runestone wall. "Why am I so unlucky!"
A distinct cracking sound suddenly came from above the stone wall.
Hao Ren was closest to the stone wall and immediately heard the "crack" amidst the surrounding noise. He looked up in surprise and saw the ancient Leyta runes glowing with an eerie red light, then slowly detaching from the stone wall as if they were being "squeezed out!"
"Vivian, did you do this?" Hao Ren asked in surprise, looking at the vampire girl. The latter looked equally puzzled: "No… It seems like you just punched it and the runes came off."
Hao Ren thought for a moment, then suddenly exclaimed in alarm: "The runes say that only a descendant of the Yoford bloodline is qualified to open the underground palace. Could I be the long-lost heir of an old British noble family? Is this castle and the surrounding two hundred acres of wasteland mine?"
The surprised expression on Vivian's face instantly turned to embarrassment: "Landlord, your thinking is even wilder than Big Dog's… Never mind that, getting out of here is the priority! Big Dog, go!"
Before Vivian could finish speaking, Lily had already taken a running start towards the stone wall. The werewolf girl threw a punch, and with a loud "boom," a large hole appeared in the seemingly indestructible stone slab. Once the power of the runes dissipated, the stone seemed no more sturdy than ordinary rock, making it much easier to deal with than the black, enchanted giant rock behind it.
The stone wall… or rather, the stone door… When it was broken, a wide underground hall appeared before the three of them.
This hall was even more expansive than the intersection of tunnels beneath the small church, with a square layout. Across the hall, they could see another tunnel leading to who knew where. The three of them didn't have time to think. They covered their noses and ran through the swirling dust and gravel into the hall. The moment they entered, they heard a thunderous sound of collapsing rock from the tunnel they'd come from: the entire tunnel had collapsed.
"Whoa… that was a close call," Hao Ren said, turning his head to see that the spot where he'd just been standing was now blocked by rubble. His heart was pounding, and cold sweat poured down his back. "One step later, and we'd be dead."
"It must be part of the underground palace's design. When the Leyta runes are abnormally damaged, the corresponding passage collapses to block the point of intrusion," Vivian said, sensing the flow of magic just now. The underground palace's careful design made her even more uneasy. "Rune-sealed door, enchanted giant rock, and self-destructing underground passages—what exactly is being suppressed down here that's worth such elaborate measures?"
A rustling sound suddenly came from all directions. Hao Ren looked around and his voice changed. "I know what's being suppressed down here… Isn't it what you called the undead?!"
The three of them had been too rushed when they ran in, and didn't have time to see the hall clearly. Now they noticed that the hall wasn't empty at all. The floor of the hall was inlaid with rectangular stone slabs, each raised less than an inch above the ground. If you weren't careful, you might mistake them for the stone bricks of the underground palace. But now, these "large stone bricks" were being pushed open one by one, and from beneath the slabs, pairs of armor-clad arms were reaching out!
This hall was actually a tomb, and the stone slabs on the ground were the lids of coffins!
One stone slab after another was pushed aside, accompanied by the chaotic noise of scraping metal. Countless figures covered in knight's armor crawled out from underground. They were like European knights who had walked out of a museum, their entire bodies, even their hair, tightly wrapped in heavy armor. Most unbelievably, the steel that had been buried underground for hundreds of years showed no signs of rust. The armor on each "knight" was as bright as new. In Hao Ren's enhanced eyes, he could even see the distinct patterns and family crests on the surface of the steel.
These knightly undead gripped weapons tightly in their hands. Some had longswords, some warhammers, and others short swords and thick shields. Their burial positions were clearly carefully arranged, and when these undead rose, they formed a well-organized battle formation with complete troop types.
Presumably the undead knights who had been digging at the wall outside the tunnel were the same as these—except they had been sealed off by the collapsed rubble.
Hao Ren had never seen such a scene before. His mind went blank, but in the end, he didn't lose his composure. His inborn lack of seriousness and thick nerves allowed him to calm down. Seeing the exit at the other end of the hall, he immediately patted Lily on the shoulder: "Run for the exit!"
The heavily armored knights, newly awakened from their slumber, were clearly not fully active yet. They moved clumsily, staggering from side to side, and didn't seem to be paying attention to Hao Ren and his companions for the moment. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Lily quickly kicked away the undead knight blocking her path and took the lead in rushing towards the exit.
But Lily's kick stirred up a hornet's nest. The undead knights, who had been swaying and dazed, instantly "woke up." Countless pairs of blood-red lights shone from behind the heavy helmets, filling the entire underground tomb with a chilling red glow!
"Don't block my way!" Lily was a little shaken by this sight. She reached out and grabbed an undead knight next to her who was wobbling towards her, then swung the undead knight around by the arm like a warhammer. The undead knight, over 1.8 meters tall, was helpless against this brute force and unconventional fighting style. Lily swung him around with a whooshing sound, and with a series of clanging metal impacts, she swept away a large group of heavily armored undead!
"This Big Dog is somewhat useful," Vivian said with satisfaction. She was surrounded by swirling crimson light, and waves of extremely cold air spread out from her, freezing a thick layer of ice on all the approaching undead knights. "Big Dog, don't get bogged down! The underground palace is the undead's territory, head to the surface!"
The closed, gloomy underground palace was the undead's home ground, and this environment wasn't suitable for Vivian, a flying vampire, or Lily, with her sweeping fighting style. Only on the surface, supported by the moonlight, could Vivian and Lily fight without worry.
Lily swung her "warhammer" to clear the way, like a steel whirlwind sweeping away everything in its path. Vivian constantly used freezing air and sharp, blade-like crimson shockwaves to fend off the heavily armored knights rushing in from all directions. Although Hao Ren knew he was just an ordinary person, he went berserk at this critical moment, desperately fighting back even against the undead—whether it was an illusion or his salary actually arriving, or perhaps the legendary adrenaline rush, Hao Ren felt his strength increasing. He was actually able to kick these heavy steel bodies flying nearly five meters!
Fighting and retreating, the trio finally rushed out of the underground tomb.
Greeting them was the sound of more clashing armor—coming from all directions!
(The Sanjiang ranking is trending well, but it's not over yet =.=)