Chapter 291: Ancient Castle and the Undead
Having just exited the eerie path, before everyone could catch their breath, they were startled by the gloomy ancient castle in front of them, enveloped by bats.
Secret Realms are mostly filled with various natural environments, and the monsters encountered are usually Goblins, Ogres, and the like.
However, it’s not that there are no buildings, but encountering one means caution is needed. Whether it’s ruins or something else, they often represent danger, let alone this castle in front of them that almost has “Haunted House Park” written all over it.
“How come there’s such a heavy stench of decay?” There were Rangers among the students, and they very consciously walked at the forefront. At this moment, a breeze blew, bringing the smell from the castle, almost making them vomit on the spot.
However, the stench of decay didn’t just bring disgust, but also unknown danger. Hence, the students’ expressions became solemn, while Silvia, on the contrary, revealed a trace of a smile, making Robert beside her shiver. Yet, he couldn’t do anything, so he became even more conflicted.
“Everyone, get ready for battle.” Some students had astonishing intuition, and they had already sensed something was wrong, starting to remind the students around them. However, their reminders only served to make the atmosphere even tenser.
This was because Silvia didn’t say a word, and Robert just acted as a cold and loyal dog. No one stepped forward to organize the battle, and the other students lacked prestige. They could only pull familiar people to form their own teams, and the effect naturally goes without sayingโbetter than nothing.
Sensing the danger, everyone became alert and held their weapons in hand. Owen was no exception, taking out a puppet.
The triangular eyes filled with malicious amusement and the mouth that stretched to the ears, full of sharp teeth, paired with a high-end tailcoat and an elegant top hat, along with the black umbrella in its hand, gave off a rather bizarre feeling. It was both elegant and evil, making people unable to help but look twice even though it was a bit scary. It was like a villain from a fairy tale, full of evil charm. Most importantly, it matched the gloomy castle before them perfectly.
Many students unconsciously moved a bit further away from Owen, afraid that he was an undercover agent sent by the other side. After all, why would a normal person create such a puppet? On the other hand, Silvia nodded slightly, approving of his aesthetic.
Because it was very dim here, Owen and the others didn’t notice that there were graveyards of all sizes everywhere. At this moment, the graveyard near them was like an alarm clock going off. One by one, restless undead crawled up, stretching their stiff limbs as they surrounded them.
“It’s the undead!” A Ranger with half-elf blood was the first to discover the enemy, and he reacted very quickly, shooting the feathered arrow in his hand, accurately hitting the target. However, the result made his face even uglier.
The undead looked rotten, but in reality, under the influence of the power of death, they were much tougher than ordinary people. Swords were difficult to pierce through them, let alone feathered arrows. Moreover, the undead, who inherently had no vital points, were almost immune to arrows. Even if they were riddled with arrows, it wouldn’t matter unless the power was great enough to shatter their bodies. Otherwise, it was just adding decoration. Therefore, if there was no other way in the upcoming battle, all the archers would be practically useless.
The undead surrounding them from all directions made the students almost despair, as their numbers were simply too great, densely packed, almost a few hundred.
“Damn it, who brought holy water?!” A student of the Swordsman profession, also seeing this scene, looked down at his meticulously maintained fine steel sword and roared in both helplessness and despair.
They were students of the Academy City after all. As long as they weren’t slackers, they could learn about most monsters from the basic courses, including the undead.
Therefore, they knew very well that without specific measures, the only way to deal with the undead was to completely destroy their bodies.
If they were unlucky enough to encounter ghosts, they could only hope that the spellcasters among their teammates were strong enough.
The problem was that although they were called geniuses, they were limited by their age. Currently, they could at most activate their Battle Qi and grasp magic. They could handle ordinary enemies, and even achieve good cooperation, but facing the almost immortal and fearless undead, they couldn’t help but panic.
This wasn’t a test at the academy, where failure just meant retaking it. Any negligence here, and there wouldn’t be a next time for them.
Fortunately, there were actually people who had prepared holy water. These people hurriedly applied the holy water to their weapons, somewhat relieved. Only Silvia frowned in disgust.
The effect of holy water wasn’t permanent. It would be troublesome once it dried up. Moreover, the undead weren’t as slow as imagined. To ensure the formation wasn’t disrupted, the melee students took the initiative to charge forward and engage in battle.
It had to be said that although they lacked experience, their courage was commendable.
The weapons smeared with holy water dispelled the power of death on the undead, making their rotten flesh soft again. One sword strike would send pus splattering, and the stench almost turned into a viscous mist, covering their faces. This instantly turned the faces of the students, who were just brimming with enthusiasm, pale. Many of them vomited on the undead’s faces while fighting, then watched helplessly as what they vomited slowly slid into the wide-open mouths of the undead.
It could be said that there was no lethality, only extreme insult. It was just that the undead were magnanimous and still unhurried. If it were human warriors, they would definitely spit back in your face, believe it or not.
This disgusting scene extinguished Owen’s desire to participate. At the same time, he was still observing, as he hadn’t figured out Silvia’s motives.
Using students as cannon fodder in Secret Realms was tacitly permitted by the Academy City, because these students needed more resources to grow, and relying solely on the Academy City was clearly not enough.
Thus, gaining benefits through those noble students and adventures became the best choice.
As for the dangers encountered in this process, it was a normal price to pay. Everyone was prepared for it.
However, it didn’t mean that someone like Silvia could scheme to kill everyone without paying any price.
The Academy City allowed for a certain number of casualties, but it wouldn’t tolerate this kind of situation. Otherwise, if everyone learned this way, how many students would be left? Therefore, even as the Grand Duke’s daughter, Silvia would have to give a satisfactory explanation to the Academy City afterwards.
Yes, just an explanation. As long as the price was right, the Academy City wouldn’t pursue the matter.
A very cruel truth, but very realistic. All lives had a price tag. Silvia, a “brand name” product, was very expensive, while others were very cheap.
Even so, the Academy City’s asking price wasn’t low. It wasn’t just a matter of lives. The most important thing was that the Academy City’s prestige and face were affected. This was more expensive. Even for the Grand Duke’s daughter, paying a price that satisfied the Academy City would be very painful, even affecting her status within the family. The cost couldn’t be low.
But Silvia still did it. The only reason was that the gains outweighed the costs.
So the question was, what was in this castle that made Silvia choose to gamble?
Moreover, even with Owen’s strength, this castle brought him considerable pressure.
One must know that Owen was no longer the same as before. He had been accumulating Progress Value since the Northland, and currently, he had already completed one 50 Progress Value exchange and multiple targeted exchanges. Besides not reaching the Legendary realm, he was incomparable to ordinary Professionals in any aspect.
Therefore, a place that could make him feel pressure was either Legendary or not far from it.
