The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 156 Underground Exploration
The fireball wasn't aimed at Eric, but at his teammates who were still lying there.

In the firelight, besides the mage, four other people, armed with knives and swords, stealthily approached from the darkness, clearly intending to ambush them.

After a full night's rest, Eric was full of energy and certain that he hadn't heard a sound before. If the mage hadn't used some kind of magic to mute them, then they must have already crept over and been waiting for the right moment to make their move.

But there's no time to investigate further now.

Eric dodged and pounced on the mage. The mage, not expecting him to move so quickly, immediately hurled the giant fireball he had almost finished chanting at the group on the ground.

"Leonard!"

Before he could interrupt, Eric roared and flashed into the path of the fireball, raising his left hand, which was adorned with Agnes's Ring of Protection.

Revenge Protection!

A magical shield rapidly expanded, enveloping him. A massive fireball slammed into him, causing the shield to tremble slightly, while the mage casting the spell instantly widened his eyes in disbelief.

"Impossible! What kind of shield is that?!"

His other companions had already rushed towards Eric and his group as soon as he began chanting the fireball and revealed himself.

The fireball exploded on the shield, already producing considerable light. Combined with Eric's roar, Leonard immediately awoke, as did the tiger-men and wood elves, who immediately realized they were being attacked.

"Hold!"

The sneak attack, which had been planned all night, failed. The lead warrior cursed and raised his sword to strike Eric, but it only hit the still-present shield and was immediately deflected.

Seeing that Leonard and the other two had woken up and joined the battle, Eric breathed a slight sigh of relief and began to fight the warrior at the front.

His sword moved in and out of the shield as if it were nothing, while the opponent's weapon was blocked. The result was a one-sided suppression, and the latter could only retreat while parrying, not daring to fight back.

Eric pushed off with his feet and lunged forward, but at that moment, the shield on his body suddenly disappeared.

The opposing warrior reacted quickly, his face lighting up with delight as he immediately swung his sword to counterattack. However, he was struck directly in the face by a sudden magical shock, momentarily losing his senses.

What brought him back to a brief state of consciousness was the steel sword that seemed to be the easiest opponent, the young swordsman, had plunged into his throat.

"Uh……"

The warrior clutched his throat and fell to the ground. Eric leaped and flashed, appearing before the mage who was holding his staff and had no way to strike. He severed the mage's wrist with a single sword stroke, and blood gushed out.

"what!"

As for the other attackers who rushed towards Leonard and his group, they were all entangled and unable to break free.

Eric looked at the archer who had greeted him earlier. The archer was staring in disbelief at the failed sneak attack. When Eric looked at him, the archer turned and ran.

Eric chased after him immediately.

The darkness before dawn was receding, and the fog concealed their forms, but it could not stop the archer's frantic, erratic steps. Eric quickly caught up, raised his sword to block the archer's last few arrows, and easily subdued him.

"what!"

After kicking the man to the ground and breaking both of his arms, Eric dragged the archer, who had lost consciousness from the excruciating pain, back to the camp. The battle on this side was over.

Apart from the leading warrior and the mage, the other attackers were only of average strength, around the fourth rank. Under Leonard's reckless sweeping of his greatsword, one of the assassins wielding a short sword was cut in two.

Elise and Molly had both woken up, and the latter even hit one of the people who was trying to escape with a small but swift fireball.

"Is it that group?" Leonard asked.

Eric nodded, threw the archer to the ground, and dragged the mage, who was lying on the ground howling, over.

Without any interrogation, the surviving men immediately confessed that they were bandits who had escaped from the Kingdom of Arsha and were on their way to the Empire. They had been passing through the ancient battlefield and wanted to earn some travel expenses, so they set their sights on adventurers.

The identities and origins of the individuals were explained quite clearly, but this did not deter Eric's team from letting them go.

The wood elf glanced at the archer's weapon, and his face immediately darkened with anger. "Where did you get this elven shortbow?"

"We got it from another group of adventurers... They're human! Not wood elves!"

“This bow is engraved with the name of an elf. It couldn’t have been given to anyone else; it could only have been stolen.” The wood elf put the short bow around the man’s neck. “Since you say you didn’t steal it, then it was stolen by the previous person. You can repay him for it.”

"No, no... uh!"

The bandit archer was dragged aside and strangled; there was no need to question the rest.

“You wouldn’t want to become immortals after you die and wander here forever, would you?” Leonard said to the terrified bandits.

The group nodded blankly in terror. Leonard raised his greatsword and sighed softly, "Since that's the case, then I can't leave you with whole corpses."

The greatsword fell, and blood splattered everywhere.

After executing several bandits, Eric and the wood elf returned to their previous resting place and quickly found their belongings, including a bag of gold coins and some supplies.

"Indeed, burning, killing, and looting are the fastest ways to make money," the wood elf murmured.

“But that would also mean losing God’s grace and becoming an unblessed outcast,” Eric said.

The wood elf nodded and murmured, "By the God of Nature."

"Speaking of which, how did you manage to block that mage's fireball just now?"

“I have a few special pieces of equipment that can save my life in an emergency,” Eric replied, glancing at the ring on his hand.

The magical shield of Agnes's Ring of Protection has entered a charging state. It's his first time using it, and he finds the charging time to be surprisingly long. He estimates it won't be fully charged for several days.

Such a long charging time does match the shield's powerful combat effect—in the previous battle, the shield wasn't broken, but rather it shattered on its own when the time was up, triggering the next stage of the revenge effect.

Eric and the wood elf took what they found back with them. There were nearly a hundred gold coins and various kinds of jewelry. They wondered how many adventurers these bandits had robbed along the way.

The group divided the gold coins equally. As for the bandits' weapons and equipment, they were all ordinary quality items with little value.

After receiving the blood-stained gold coin, Molly stared at it in a daze for a while before putting it away.

"Do you need to rest?" Eric asked.

No one nodded, so he continued, "It's almost dawn, let's go down now. Leonard, you and Tiger Man drag that section of broken wall over here and prop it up against the wall. That will provide some cover so that other teams won't see the entrance as soon as they pass by."

"it is good."

Leonard called the tiger-men to help move the broken wall, while Eric pulled on a small section of the lampstand on the wall to open the underground passage.

Before going down, Leonard and the wood elf laid out the bandits' corpses haphazardly nearby, which, to say the least, served as a strong deterrent to adventurers.

After bypassing the broken wall, the group lit torches and entered the underground passage.

"Have you come down?" Leonard asked Eric.

Eric certainly hadn't come down, but in order to convey the necessary information, he said that he had come in and taken a quick look, and then quickly left because he was afraid of encountering danger.

"You dared to go to the core area of ​​the ancient battlefield all by yourself, but you're scared now that you're here?" Leonard said that he couldn't quite understand young people his age.

Eric made up a few casual remarks to brush it off, and then began to explain: "This seems to be the underground part of some ancient noble mansion. The space is quite large, and there are undead wandering inside. Perhaps the family tomb is located deeper underground."

As the group descended the steps, the wood elf muttered, "Is the tomb right below the mansion...? Ancient humans probably didn't have this habit."

“It’s also possible that the basement and the tomb were originally separate, but due to some accident, such as the wall collapsing, they were connected,” Eric revealed the truth.

Soon, they arrived at the ground floor of the underground level.

The torch could only illuminate a small area nearby; ahead lay complete darkness. The tiger-man sniffed the air and looked toward the lamp base on the wall.

"kerosene."

Eric went over, holding out a torch, and sure enough, there was still lamp oil inside, which was quickly lit.

There are such lamp holders at almost every certain distance. Once the first lamp holder lights up, the rest of the lamp holders will also light up automatically, and the underground space will be brightened up instantly.

The dim, yellowish firelight flickered; this was how Eric remembered the entrance to this instance.

Because Eric claimed to have been inside once before, he and Leonard led the way, with the tiger man bringing up the rear and the other three walking in the middle. The entire team maintained this formation as they explored inside.

"I wonder what valuable things are left in here." Leonard cautiously scanned his surroundings.

“It’s probably some of the mansion owner’s collection, weapons, armor, and even some books,” Eric said. “I think I saw a bookshelf when I came down earlier.”

Leonard was more concerned about the former, saying, "Just give us a few magical weapons, don't let us come all this way for nothing."

"Yes, brother," Eric thought to himself.

Soon, they encountered their first enemy in the basement: a mummified corpse wielding a long knife.

Its flesh was all shrunken together, looking shiny and firm, without any signs of decay, and its eyes, which looked at the group of people, were even quite lively.

“Be careful, this is no ordinary undead,” Eric warned.

This is also a characteristic of most dungeons in the ancient battlefield: there are very few ordinary enemies like skeletons; they are mostly elite monsters.

“I can tell.” Leonard didn’t mean to belittle him. He made a gesture and took the lead to meet him.

In close combat, the mummified corpse swung its blade down, and Leonard raised his sword to parry, but his hand suddenly felt heavy. "Whoa..."

Instead, he laughed, "That's quite powerful!"

He exerted his strength, deflecting the mummified corpse's knife back, and then spun around to deliver a heavy slash.

The mummified corpse reacted just as quickly, blocking with its weapon, and a crisp sound rang out upon impact.

Just then, an arrow flew swiftly and struck it squarely in the eye socket. The force of the arrow even caused its head to tilt back, almost causing it to fall over.

Pfft!

Eric had already taken the opportunity to sneak up behind it, his right hand wielding the Aran steel sword that pierced through its body, while the short sword in his other hand plunged into its heart, subduing it.

"hide!"

Leonard roared, Eric ducked, and the greatsword swept across, severing the head of the helpless, desiccated corpse.

It was three against one, and their teamwork was perfect, so the first battle was resolved quickly and decisively.

Leonard crouched down and touched the mummified corpse's body. "It's really tough. If a weaker warrior came, he probably wouldn't even be able to pierce its body with a sword."

“There are quite a few more mummies like this here. One is easy to deal with, but too many will be troublesome. Be careful during the fight,” Eric warned.

Leonard looked at him. "You really just glanced at them and left? I have a feeling you fought them at least once."

Eric chuckled. "I just tried it out, and when I realized I couldn't handle it alone, I quickly ran away."

Leonard didn't know whether to call him brave or reckless.

Picking up the weapon dropped by the mummified corpse, his eyes lit up immediately, "A magical weapon!"

Eric had noticed the blue label that had appeared much earlier.

The monsters in this dungeon do drop blue-quality magic weapons, but the drop rate is very low. In reality, he estimated that he would only get one or two, with the rest being ordinary-quality weapons.

Leonard, however, had more to think about: "Could it be that each of the mummies was equipped with magical weapons?"

Eric didn't say anything; the facts would tell him the answer.

Since they would have to retrace their steps to get out, Leonard didn't bring the weapon with him. He simply placed it against the wall in a conspicuous spot, and the group continued exploring.

The second mummified corpse they encountered was holding an ordinary weapon.

Leonard couldn't hide his regret, but he didn't say much. They seemed to be the first to discover this place, so the gains from this exploration must have been substantial.

Between battles, the group made sure to explore every corner they passed, wanting to see everything.

This underground space is divided into several areas. The first section of the path leads to a corridor connecting to the surface, and then you arrive at the library, but the door is tightly closed, which is somewhat different from what Eric said earlier.

He glanced at his teammates, but none of them paid any attention; they were all focused on figuring out how to open the door.

"Is there a mechanism here?" Leonard groped for the lampstands on the nearby wall, but couldn't budge them.

"I don't know either, let's look for it."

Eric remembered that in the dungeon's cutscene, this door was forcibly opened by an NPC, so after failing to find the mechanism, he had Leonard simply use his greatsword to break open the wooden door.

wow-

With the sound of wooden planks breaking, the sealed library was revealed to the world.

Behind the broken wooden door lay a skeleton, its death clean—it had not been transformed into immortality.

The group filed in, and the room was completely dark. Eric fired an illumination ball upwards, and his three new teammates stared at him in surprise.

"Is this divine magic?"

“Yes.” Eric did not deny it. “I learned some magic from the church in the north. If you have any minor injuries, I can heal you.”

The three of them were still surprised for a while before they could process this unexpected joy.

“You’ve been keeping it a secret for a long time,” Leonard said.

“If we were to be easily exposed in this place, I’m afraid I would be in great trouble.” Eric looked at them. “But you are people I can trust.”

Leonard smiled, patted him on the shoulder, and shifted his gaze to the many bookshelves in the library. "Let's see if there's anything valuable hidden here."

The wood elf, quick as a flash, picked up a book so rotten it was reduced to just a cover, and shook its head at the group, saying, "The book is completely ruined."

“Try looking through it more,” Eric said.

As they walked among the bookshelves, Elise walked up to him and whispered, "Do you know what's going on in here?"

He nodded.

She raised an eyebrow and leaned closer to him. "Then just tell me where I can find something valuable, and I'll go and 'accidentally' discover it."

Eric tilted his head inwards. "Go and look through that desk that's lying horizontally at the very back."

"have what?"

"Skill book".

Elise looked up. "Are you going to keep it to yourself?"

Eric grinned. "No need."

She turned and walked away.

A short while later, Iris's exaggeratedly surprised voice came from inside.

"Hey, there are skill books here!"

Eric wiped his sweat, threw down the empty book cover he was holding, and walked over there, only to find Leonard holding a large candlestick covered in wax.

"Look, this looks like it's made of gold."

Eric scraped the candlestick with his dagger, and a golden light shimmered inside.

"I knew it!" Leonard exclaimed excitedly.

Eric shook his head. "Unfortunately, this is brass. Gold isn't this hard."

"……what?"

The wood elf took the candlestick and confirmed, "It's brass; the color is slightly different from gold."

Leonard finally gave up and reluctantly threw the empty candlestick aside. Eric noticed that Molly also quietly threw away the same candlestick she was holding.

Their eyes met, and she wrinkled her nose at him.

The skill books that Elise discovered calmed the two of them down a bit after their emotions had been fluctuating wildly.

"One, two, three... There are twelve books in total, and none of them are the same."

Eric knew without even looking what the twelve skill books were for. There were three for each class and one dropped randomly each time a dungeon was challenged, so they were all very cheap on the market. But now that they weren't in the game, each skill book could sell for at least a dozen gold coins.

Eric paid for four of the skill books that Elise and Molly could use, and gave the rest to Leonard to take back to Northtown and sell to other adventurers.

The only valuable things in the library were these skill books, and the group headed out.

Just like in the game, skill books in this world are also one-time use; once learned, they become invalid.

Molly glanced at the two skill books shoved into her hand, then deliberately pulled Eric to the back of the group. "Are these free?"

"Ah."

"Can I resell it?"

Eric gave her a look.

"Okay, no..."

Molly sighed and looked at him again. "You're so concerned about my strength, you don't expect me to stay with you forever, do you?"

Eric glanced at her sideways. "Consider these a small gift for Master Rusdy."

Molly stomped her foot, as if to say something, but her foot started to wobble.

She paused for a moment, looked down, and subconsciously stomped her foot again.

"Eric, what's beneath our feet... ah—"

With a loud crash, the floor beneath their feet suddenly broke. Eric was about to jump away when Molly grabbed him, and the two of them fell down together.

The other four turned around, dumbfounded.

(End of this chapter)