Who Designed This Underworld Dungeon?
Chapter 147 - 138 Ash System

Chapter 147: Chapter 138 Ash System

A volley has an interval of three seconds.

For Leon and the others, those three seconds were barely enough to dash a few steps—when they heard the sound of bowstrings being drawn taut, they had to stop in their tracks and defend.

And from the moment the giant appeared, they were hundreds of meters away from the enemy.

This was simply torture, unbearable torture.

Had the gravestones been intact, they might have had some cover to feel a bit more at ease; alas, there was none. Under the dense barrage of arrows, they could only rely on Sword Saint Jia Pael’s all-encompassing protection, with no blind spots in a full 360 degrees.

Without Jia Pael, everyone probably would’ve been dead and stiff from the first volley.

For most people facing this challenge, they would have to rely on gravestones to inch closer to the giant—any mistake meant death. But if one could memorize the strategy, perhaps it would be quite easy.

Numerical monsters have their weaknesses. If Jia Pael hadn’t been with them, by now they would’ve figured out the correct strategy to attempt killing the giant.

The group moved forward at a snail’s pace. As they approached the broken city wall where the giant was, Leon suddenly noticed something.

Because all the gravestones and weeds disappeared when they were still hundreds of meters away from the city wall, leaving the ground bare.

It was as if they were being told: Go ahead and charge through, see if you can survive the rain of arrows.

A distance of hundreds of meters—adventurers of average strength could rush through in a matter of seconds, but that was enough time for the archers to unleash a volley!

Two paths lay before them: one was a staircase leading upwards to the city wall, by which they could directly confront the giant.

The other was a small room below the wall, sporadically lit by torches, seemingly leading to an endless dungeon below.

The small room was undoubtedly closer. As long as they rushed in and shut the door, they would be able to block out all the arrows.

Leon found it strange, because according to the intelligence from other groups, there should be at least three paths here at the city wall. Each path corresponded to an elite monster that could weaken the Death Ritual Bird.

But where was the third path? It was nowhere to be seen.

However, the situation at hand left them no time to think, and unanimously they chose the staircase leading up to the city wall!

In this short span, the giant had successfully drawn all of their wrath. Everyone was eager to disintegrate him into ashes!

The final stretch, with or without gravestones, meant the same to them. Jia Pael’s longsword "whooshed" through the air, and the sky filled with dazzling sword flashes. The group walked two steps, stopped, parried, and then moved another two steps... and so continued the endless cycle.

No matter how spectacular Jia Pael’s special effects were, watching them throughout seemed rather torturous.

His arms were not the least bit sore; his eyes, unblinking, didn’t even dry out. He was simply too strong.

From heart pounding at the outset to numbness now, everyone had only to watch Jia Pael’s flashy moves—he thought the same.

"Ha ha, such grand scenes are rare, I’ve never seen such an impressive dungeon!" Jia Pael laughed heartily.

However, just as they were making smooth progress and about to reach the foot of the wall, a bunch of new monsters suddenly joined the battlefield.

When Jia Pael saw the true nature of these monsters, his face instantly fell.

Because these monsters were Rust Monsters!

"Again?"

This time, Jia Pael would not use his weapon to attack the Rust Monsters—not even the ordinary longsword that he casually bought from the blacksmith shop, as he cherished every weapon.

So... he directly uprooted a broken gravestone and smashed an approaching Rust Monster’s brains out.

Tal also came to help, swinging his huge hands with the force of a storm. In his enthusiasm, however, he got too involved and an errant arrow pierced his shoulder!

A single arrow could penetrate through Tal’s body!?

His face grimaced in pain as Drew scolded and treated him simultaneously.

The moment everyone stepped onto the wall, the shooter spiritual bodies standing on the plain vanished, replaced by a row of about ten archers along the narrow city wall, with the giant glaring at them, his face as gaunt as a demon’s.

"Take care of yourselves,"

This time Jia Pael no longer protected the Strategy Group, but charged straight at the giant, who seemed to have no other attack methods besides summoning archer spiritual bodies.

A flash of sword light passed, and with a mournful cry the giant turned to dust, leaving a light point in its place.

"It’s all yours," Jia Pael said nonchalantly, waving his hand coolly, undisturbed by the prospect of loot.

"As expected of master!" Knowing Jia Pael’s nature well, Leon clapped his hands vigorously.

"What’s this," the Sword Saint said modestly shaking his head while a smile played on his lips. He replayed his actions in his mind, feeling more and more impressed by his own moves.

It seems swordsmanship is quite cool... no, Magic is cooler.

People are always attracted to things they don’t understand but look impressive. To Jia Pael, magic was as such; he couldn’t even release a small firework and studying magic had almost become an obsession.

The reward for killing the giant was unprecedented, called the "Shooter Group’s Ashes."

In the dungeon facing elite monsters and above, it allowed for an unlimited summoning once, while in the outer world, it could be used every twenty-four hours—each usage could summon three archers to attack enemies on the field.

"Ashes...?"

Drew’s expression was odd. Using the remains of the deceased to summon help in battle sounded like something a Necromancer would do.

But thinking about the strength of those bowmen from before...

Delicious, we have decided to use these ashes!

The Ash System didn’t seem to bring much novelty to the people of this world, probably because there were Necromancers in existence.

Gong Qiying’s counterfeit ashes didn’t require the bell Lanni provided, but their power would decrease correspondingly.

If adventurers could obtain the bell later on and use it as a medium to summon the ashes, their strength would return to normal.

As for the summoning time limitation of ashes in the outside world, he originally wanted to allow summoning at any time, but doing so would surge the required spiritual power by more than tenfold. Only after imposing a limitation did it drop back down.

It was as if the world itself was preventing him from concocting something defying the natural order.

Maru pulled out her Hunting Manual, and as a participant in the fight, her manual was also updated with information about the giant.

[Hunting Manual·Monster Category]

[Name: Gravekeeper]

[A nameless giant entrusted to safeguard the graves, tirelessly guarding along with the shooters’ Spiritual Bodies to prevent the innocent from inadvertently entering deep into the grave and to forbid those with ulterior motives from touching the nation corroded by the Abyss within the depths of the grave.]

This was a Monster fashioned by Gong Qiying.

Preventing the innocent from entering the graves...

Maru thought back to that fiercely firing archer, wondering if this was really a way to prevent anyone.

Guarding the graves could also be called guarding the Abyss. Could it be an entrustment from the Fran Undead Team? Damn it, why isn’t the information on the manual complete? There’s too much left out, left to wild guesses.

"The nation corroded by the Abyss in the depths of the graves," she suddenly felt fearful. The Soul-sucking Ghosts from the Abyss were already so strong; what if it were a whole nation eroded by the Abyss?

This grave plain was hiding such a horrifying place deep within, who would dare to venture there!

When she shared the intelligence with everyone, Jia Pael was eager to try; he dared!

The members of the Strategy Group exchanged glances and decided if Jia Pael really intended to go there, they would find excuses to leave first.

One has to be realistic about their strength in life.

After killing the giant, they finally had time to inspect the surrounding area. The Grave Plain came to an end at the city wall. Climbing the city wall, they saw a dilapidated city, which seemed to have been soaked in water for a long time, with buildings all damp. If they were to continue exploring, this would be the way to go.

But where was the third path?

Although other teams kept traps and monsters a secret, they wouldn’t lie about the route, right?

Could it be the intelligence was fake!

Everyone walked to the base of the city wall and searched the area carefully but found nothing.

"To actually provide false information, those guys are real bastards!" Maru grumbled angrily, kicking a stone.

The stone rolled gurgling into the weeds, but then, there came a sound of collision from within, as if the stone had dropped down.

Wait, dropped down?

She ran over to the weeds and suddenly felt the ground give way beneath her, screaming instinctively.

By the time everyone rushed over, Maru shouted in surprise, "There’s actually another path below here!"

The edge of the Grave Plain was a cliff, but concealed by the weeds, underneath a section of the edge was a hidden path.

If they took this path, they could avoid the archers!

And in the middle of the path, there was a ladder that could be climbed up to the city wall. If they climbed up from here, they could launch a surprise attack on the giant!

Clever, too clever. This design left everyone with an indescribable feeling.

Upon first seeing the giant and the city wall, wouldn’t anyone think of charging forward, into the small room?

Yet, it seemed as if the distance had been calculated. Halfway through the rush, arrows would suddenly face one; if not killed, one would be seriously injured.

They wondered what the mood would be like for someone who stubbornly kept charging headfirst to the base of the wall only to repeatedly die, and then, in utter despair, accidentally discover a hidden path to avoid the arrows.

Would they be ecstatic or have a mix of feelings? It seemed like a bit of both.

"Teacher, can we take this path?" Leon asked eagerly, since not only could the path be used to launch a surprise attack on the giant, but it also continued onwards.

This was the third path; it seemed the intelligence was accurate.

"I don’t mind," Jia Pael was always indifferent.

Everyone jumped down to the lower path and moved forward. The road descended continuously, gradually embedding into the rocky layers on the side as they headed underground.

Just then, a hurried tread of footsteps came from ahead, as if a group clad in Armor were running.

Maru squinted ahead, the frontmost face was a pallid skeleton.

Wow, a Soul-sucking Ghost!

And a squad of them, no less!

Instinctively, she took a step back. The Soul-sucking Ghost had previously left a psychological shadow on her... Why did it feel like any slightly scary monster could leave a shadow on her?

As Maru stepped back, the ground suddenly rumbled.

When she turned around, with panic she realized,

The way they came, it had collapsed!

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