Ghost Knight King's Dungeon Project

Chapter 53 [Two Systems, Different Paths]

The two ghost knights stood silently facing each other at a distance on the border of their respective territories, their angular gothic knight helmets and intricately carved heroic winged helmets locked in a staring contest.

The exiles had retreated to the vicinity of the outer wormhole of the underground city in the center of the Highgrass Plains, a considerable distance away, and could not hear the two's conversation. Talia was also dragged away by the exiles—although she seemed quite unwilling.

“Why are we just standing here like idiots? Sit down and let’s talk.” Rahado waved his hand dismissively. The two scythe-wielding corpse demons beside him, who were in charge of the ceremonial procession, lifted the barrier of the dark bronze chainmail on their bodies, stuck together, rotting flesh flowing out, flesh buds connecting with each other, and bones pieced together in a deformed structure.

A few seconds later, the two scythe-wielding corpses transformed into a twisted, fleshy high-backed chair. The dark bronze chainmail was pieced together to form the backrest and seat cushion. Two Collins-style helmets were positioned precisely at the armrests. The massive scythes were held by fleshy arms extending from both sides of the chair, their blades facing outwards like outstretched wings, standing guard on either side of the chair.

The Corpse Demon can stitch things together at will… Samael had a sudden thought. Theoretically, a wide variety of units could be created by piecing together Corpse Demons and fresh corpses.

The opponent's elite units have relatively small armor coverage, so this tactic is possible. However, your own elite units are fully armed knights, so you probably can't replicate the opponent's maneuver.

In any case, we cannot lose in terms of momentum.

He silently waved his hand, and three cadaver knights in bell-shaped helmets held up their massive bronze shields. A dozen or so cadaver knights knelt on one knee, offering their bronze knight swords to their monarch with both hands, embedding them in their shields amidst clanging sounds and sparks of blue light. Samael placed his hand on the massive bronze sword cluster, and the semi-molten cluster rapidly took shape, forming a heavy, skeletal throne.

The two undead lords sat facing each other at a distance, on the Scythe-Winged Flesh Chair and the Sword-Skeleton Bronze Chair.

The scanner is now enabled.

[Working Machine, Space Type III]

[Suitable for extreme and harsh environments and space; requires no oxygen and no insulation.]

[Status: Piloted by a Conscious Entity]

Just in case, Samael activated the scanner and scanned Rahado once—the information displayed was exactly the same as his own machine.

"You've done a full scan, are you relieved now?" Rahado shrugged. "Would I lie to you, my good brother?"

"Please speak." Surrounded by the Corpse Knights, Samael slowly leaned back against the back of the Sword Skeleton Chair.

"Don't be so serious, neighbor, let's chat for a bit." Rahado waved his hand dismissively. "When were you dropped here? Judging from your appearance, you seem to have come from the southwestern outskirts of the Skeleton Heart. Didn't you awaken in the Skeleton Heart Plains?"

“Please state the time and place of your awakening first. In exchange, I will reveal mine after I confirm it,” Samael replied.

“Ha! How cautious…” Rahado leaned back in his chair and shook his barbed arm armor. “Alright, alright, it’s not a big deal. We all woke up in the Plains of the Bones, and for a short time, about… three or four months, I guess? Our sense of time has been eroded by these damned bodies. Three months in the tomb felt like three days.”

Three or four months? Samael was startled. That was almost the same amount of time it took him to awaken in the ancient ruins on the outskirts of the continent.

"I'm the same as you." He spoke vaguely, without specifying whether it was the same time or the same place of awakening.

"Is that so? Hey... Did you come up with the name Samael yourself?" Rahado chatted casually. "It's pretty cool, although it doesn't sound as good as mine, but it's passable."

"That's what the first inhabitant of that other world called me. I've kept using it," Samael replied.

“Ah, of course, a new name—everyone hates their past and can’t wait to come up with a new name to sever ties, right?” Rahado shrugged. “I used to have the surname Lu…whatever. By the way, where did you get a bunch of native followers? A bunch of alien space creatures?”

His bronze body leaned slightly forward on the scythe-winged flesh chair, his empty eyes beneath the winged helmet gazing intently at Samael.

“It has nothing to do with you,” Samael replied. “They are not my followers, they are my partners.”

"Ah, you've developed feelings for them... So, you mentioned before that the system installed on your machine is..." Rahado asked tentatively, "[Alien Underground Colony Construction System]?"

"You've installed the [Extermination System], right?" Samael didn't answer directly, but instead asked another question.

“Exactly, all six of us are [Extermination Systems].” Rahado rubbed his hands together. “I’m very curious about this construction system… Putting aside why your initial settings are different, can we check the accounts and see what’s different?” he asked tentatively.

“…” Samael remained silent. “You can describe the characteristics of the [Extermination System]. If there are differences between them, I will tell you what the differences are between the [Construction System] and it.”

“Oh, cunning.” Rahador leaned back on the armrest of the bronze helmet on the scythe-winged high-backed chair, his arm and gauntlets supporting his chin under the helmet.

"One more thing, I'll be seeking out Ansba for further communication. If your description differs from Ansba's, I'll prioritize allying with Ansba," Samael added.

"Oh, oh, isn't that unnecessary?" Rahado chuckled awkwardly. "Little Sa, take my advice, don't pay any attention to Ansba. That guy is extremely cunning and treacherous, he never tells the truth. What if he lies to you and ends up wronging me!"

"I understand. It seems Ansba is an honest and sincere person who doesn't like to lie," Samael thought.

"Enough with the small talk, get started." He interrupted Rahado's long-winded speech and gestures. "About the extermination system."

“Hmm…” Rahado seemed quite displeased.

Finally, he leaned back in his chair and slowly sat up straight, accepting the reality that he couldn't fool Samael.

"The extermination system comes with a built-in [extinction detector] that locks onto specific life forms. If a target appears in its field of vision, it will start beeping wildly, the UI will flash, and it will force a priority lock." He carefully chose his words.

"If you remain in contact with a target life for an extended period without eliminating it, it will cause you to become mentally exhausted, violently angry, and manic. The extermination system will also release psionic pulses to stimulate you, enhancing your combat abilities while continuously amplifying the hatred, irritability, and anger that you have been provoked, until you have cleared all targets from your field of vision."

“You probably don’t have this, do you?” He looked at Samael. “Otherwise, how could you possibly endure spending so much time with living people?”

“…Indeed, no.” Samael wanted to deny it, but he had been mingling and working with a group of demon exiles for so many days, and Rahador had probably already seen it. There was no point in denying it.

“Oh…so you don’t have a combat enhancement and amplification device that continuously stacks psionic pulses?” Rahado chuckled.

Samael did not answer.

“Alright, let’s compare the next item…” Rahado laughed lightly, “The extermination system’s auxiliary equipment, including scanners, Nether copper printers, Nether copper generators, Nether copper resonators, circuit permeators, and so on.”

“It’s the same,” Samael replied. Although he had only unlocked the Nether Copper Generator and the Circuit Permeator later by elevating his privileges.

It seems that the extermination system comes with unlocking all auxiliary devices from the start.

"Alright... Next item, the Extermination System's resource library contains a large number of undead-specific creature posture and structure resources, such as [Nightmare Tendrils], [Harvest], [Judgment], as well as [Torture] and [Corpse March]."

"Are there any living people?" Samael asked. "Living people, and animals."

"What living person? What animal?" Rahado was taken aback.

“【Battle Dance】, 【Focus on Footwork】, 【Blade Reversal Stance】, 【Luring Stance】, 【Reverse Pump Shell】, etc.,” Samael replied, “materials.”

"What...what are these things?" Rahador's bronze buttocks slowly moved forward.

“Didn’t you use a scanner to record it?” Samael asked.

"The scanner can also record? When scanning human combat skills and monsters, doesn't it only pop up two simple text descriptions..." Rahado asked subconsciously, then suddenly stopped.

The two necromancers stared at each other silently.

“Okay, okay, there are some differences…” Rahado said in a low voice.

They couldn't gather more combat techniques and biological structure materials from living beings and magical beasts! Samael realized his significant advantage. He needed to interact with more skilled warriors, more powerful living beings and magical beasts, and collect more materials. In other words, he needed to travel around, train, and make contact with other parts of the world. This would occupy an important part of his future work schedule.

While people in this world are still unaware that Ghost Knights truly exist, conceal your identity and make frequent contact with living people of different regions and races to scan and collect a large amount of material!

“Furthermore… the materials that the extermination system can manipulate and manufacture include [Nether Copper], [Spirit Bone], [Deteriorated Humus], [Melted Stone], [Dead Flesh], and so on.” Rahado tentatively added, “Perhaps the construction system has even more materials? More special metals? More organic materials, more chemical products?”

“I’m not sure,” Samael replied vaguely. He was still a bit sly, although most of that slyness came from being corrupted by other players he encountered while playing Dark Souls.

"Does the Annihilation System have an inorganic psionic structure-component library?" he added rhetorically, interrupting Rahado's thoughts to prevent the other from getting bogged down in endless questions.

"Yes," Rahado answered instinctively. "The construction system has it too, right?"

“Yes.” Samael nodded. “Can the extermination system perform component construct module programming?”

“No… we can only adjust the structure manually, bit by bit.” Rahado shook his head. “It’s fucking complicated… who knows how to do it? It’s much easier to find corpses and undead to modify and strengthen.”

The two looked at each other and remained silent for a moment.

"Why didn't you fight your way out of the Plains of Bones?" Samael ended the conversation. "Since the Extermination System requires you to kill all living people, why are you just staying in the Plains of Bones?"

“Not enough corpses from the Heart of the Dead, little Sa.” Rahado leaned back lazily in his chair, stretching his thin, barbed arm guards.

“Please change that form of address. We’re not that close, Rahador,” Samael corrected him. “Besides, I thought the number of corpses in the Heart of Bones was enough to destroy a kingdom.”

“Hey, corpses rot, and the undead naturally decay. We only got here three or four months ago, and the undead and corpses are almost completely rotten.” Rahado shrugged.

"Although the remaining undead and materials in the entire Plains of Bones are indeed enough to destroy a kingdom, they have been divided into six equal parts—oh, now it should be seven equal parts."

Samael pondered. Perhaps the reason why the various forces have been jointly sealing off the Skeleton Heart Plains for so many years is to prevent the Skeleton Heart Undead from obtaining corpses to replenish themselves, so that they will gradually rot away naturally until they are completely exhausted?
“Speaking of which, I have another suggestion for you during this visit, which might interest you.” Rahadu shifted his bronze buttocks, sat up straight, and became serious.

“Please speak,” Samael replied.

"Your space alien followers plan to build an underground colony in the Heart of the Skeleton?" Rahador asked.

"It has nothing to do with you."

"Don't be so hostile, little Sa!" Rahado chuckled awkwardly. "I arrived before you, so I'm the boss. I can protect you—maybe you want to protect your space alien colony from those adventurers?"

"What do you want?" Samael leaned back on the throne of the sword skeleton, remaining expressionless.

Tap tap. Rahadu's bronze fingertips gently tapped the Collins-style helmet that served as the armrest of his chair, and his slender body slowly leaned forward amidst the soft rustling of his chainmail.

“I can station my Reaper Necromancers around your territory—around the Bronzewood and the Tallgrass Plains—to help you guard this dungeon,” he whispered.

This unexpected request stunned Samael. He moved his neck back and forth, turning his helmet around, trying to figure out if he had misheard.

"Could you please say it again?" he said. "I might not have heard you clearly."

“I said, I wish to station my undead around your territory, around your dungeon, to help you protect it,” Rahador repeated.

"You want to take this opportunity to surround me?" Samael asked.

“No! Why would you think that? I’m doing this for you, my dear brother Samael! Didn’t I tell you as soon as we met that I could protect you?” Rahado was so excited that it seemed as if Samael had wronged him, and he began to ramble on about how much he cared about Samael. “I arrived at the Skeleton Heart Plains before you, I can be your older brother!”

“No, thank you. I didn’t arrive any later than you,” Samael said instinctively.

“Oh, so you actually arrived three or four months ago?” Rahado asked. “Where were you hiding before you were in the Heart of Bones?”

Samael shook his head.

“I will not agree to your request; it makes no sense to me. I also do not need your assistance in defending the dungeon—in fact, right now, you are the most dangerous potential enemy of my dungeon.”

"How could this be!" Rahado shouted dramatically, clutching the two wing-shaped decorations on his helmet and exaggeratedly pretending to be heartbroken and on the verge of collapse.

“My goodness. If you used those acting talents to amuse people instead of deceiving them, you might be a much easier guy to get along with.” Samael calmly watched Rahadol’s madness. “In terms of this mad acting, you and I do have some things in common—except I prefer to use these methods to liven things up and boost morale rather than to deceive people.”

"So, there's nothing to talk about?" Rahado dropped his act and resumed his hollow, steady tone.

“I know you have ill intentions,” Samael replied in the same hollow, steady tone.

A deathly silence fell, and a soft, buzzing echo reverberated within the helmets of the two monarchs as they gazed at each other across the borders of their territories.

“Alright then, good luck, Samael.” Rahado stood up, and the two rotting corpse demons that formed the scythe-shaped flesh and blood chair separated, transformed back to their original state, and stood beside him.

"We'll meet again soon," he chuckled softly, then turned and left.

The chainmail-armored ghouls, surrounding the lord in his winged helmet, dragged their heavy scythes and spiked Morningstar hammers, raised their bell-ringed staffs, and turned to leave.

The tinkling of bells, along with the serpentine movements and the clicking of limbs, gradually faded away, only to be drowned out by the loud and penetrating beat of the small bronze snare drum.

Samael sat on the throne of the Bronze Sword Skeleton, silently watching Rahador's figure disappear into the hazy mist.

The wind has picked up these past few days, and the fog has thinned considerably. You can vaguely see a huge lake on his territory, with strange shadows moving around in it, and some oddly shaped, unknown figures wandering along its shore.

On the island in the middle of the lake stands a small, dark fortress made of melted stone, its dark windows and doorways resembling the gaping maws of a monster. That is probably Rahador's "tomb".

He thought he should perhaps take some time to visit the other neighbors.

Perhaps I should build a "tomb" myself. After all, the ecosystem of the dungeon relies almost entirely on monsters and mutated plants, and the undead are not very useful as laborers. In the complex insect-path maze, the undead may even leave their territory and cause unexpected damage.

Confining the undead to the area around the "graves" on the surface makes them easier to manage.

After all, everyone has moved into the underground worm tunnels, and the surface is empty. Adding an extra building can serve as a marker of their territory, warning other ghost knights with similar ideas to abandon their dangerous thoughts and not to act rashly against the dungeon.

According to Rahador, the number of corpses in the Plains of Bones is currently insufficient, and everyone is eager to find them. The exiles in the dungeons may be their primary targets—Rahador's desire to station his undead around the dungeons may also stem from his interest in the exiles.

“Samael?” A hand rested on his shoulder armor.

He slowly turned his head on the heavy bronze sword throne, surrounded by the corpse knights, and met Talia's gray eyes.

"Are you alright?" she asked softly.

“Ah, yes,” Samael replied, continuing to ponder. “It’s alright. The other Ghost Knights have only recently arrived, and their power isn’t that great. I can handle them.”

“You’re becoming more and more like a necromancer,” Talia said.

"Hmm? Is there?" Samael lifted his helmet. "I want pancakes today. Is the enchanted flame in the Molten Stone Furnace still burning? Can I borrow a light?"

(End of this chapter)