Swords, magic, and martial arts

Several days have passed since Baron and the others left. Ilya has been very happy lately because she can practice her sword every day, something her father never allowed before. In just a few days, her swordsmanship has surpassed that of the ordinary soldiers in the castle who don't use swords much.

She only wanted to practice swordsmanship, but Sean always made her use both sword and shield. Sean believed that a sword was a warrior's companion, while the shield was his life.

Ilya somewhat regretted choosing Sean as her swordsmanship teacher.

"Watch out, I'm about to attack," Sean shouted to Ilya.

"Come on," Ilya replied.

Sean swung his blunt iron sword at Ilya from the right. Ilya ducked to avoid the blow, but was knocked to the ground by the shield in Sean's hand.

Sean reached out and pulled her up from the ground, saying somewhat angrily, "How many times have I told you not to try to dodge enemy attacks? You might have fallen right into his trap if you had dodged this time. You need to make good use of your shield; it's the only thing you can trust. Your sword might hurt you, but it won't..."

Ilya had heard Sean say this countless times, but for some reason she wanted to dodge. She said somewhat impatiently, "If a troll attacks you, are you going to use your shield to block it too?"

Sean was silent for a moment before replying, "That depends on how big the troll is."

"What about the giants in the far north province who are over ten meters tall? They're throwing trees at you," Ilya asked again.

After a long silence, Sean finally spoke, "Let's continue."

In the following training sessions, Sean stopped scolding her for not using the shield, and eventually she simply threw the shield aside.

Holding only a sword, Ilya felt much more agile, as light as a dancer.

After dodging Sean's continuous attacks, she seized the opportunity to stab Sean with her blunt sword. Sean slammed his shield with his left hand, knocking her blunt sword away. She felt as if she had twisted her wrist as well.

Ilya picked up the blunt sword from the ground and tried to use it, but she felt she couldn't apply any force to it.

Sean noticed this and said, "Let me take you to see Mr. Amore."

Ilya hesitated for a moment, then finally nodded in agreement.

Led by Sean, Elijah entered Amor's room, where she saw a very familiar-looking man lying on the hospital bed.

He was emaciated with his eyes closed, and short black hair had just grown on his head. His body was covered in burn scars, and his body was frighteningly hot. Even from this distance, Ilya could feel the astonishing heat emanating from his body.

Amore was a bald old man. When he saw Sean and Eliza enter, he put down his book, looked up, and asked, "What's the matter?"

After Sean and Amore explained things, Amore gave Ilya a bottle of ointment and told her to apply it to her wrists morning and night, and to stop training for the next few days.

Before leaving the room, Ilya glanced back at the man on the hospital bed. She really felt like she'd seen him before, but then she thought she'd wait until he woke up to ask him…

……

Following clues provided by the Marquis of Forth, Baron, Hammer, and Weber traveled by carriage for several days to reach the desolate city of Winterfell province.

"According to the information your adoptive father asked someone to find for us, to break the curse on us, we need to find a cave in the desolate mountains outside the City of Wasteland. The temple we are looking for is inside that cave," Weber said, looking at the animal skin given to him by Marquis Foss.

He didn't know many characters, but he could still barely recognize all the characters on this animal skin.

"Let's go find it now." Hammer stretched after getting off the carriage.

"Baron?" Weber called out, looking at Baron who was standing there in a daze.

Upon hearing Weber's voice, Baron shuddered as if he had been startled awake from a deep sleep.

"Excuse me, what were you guys talking about? I didn't hear you clearly. I was thinking about something." Baron said apologetically, touching his bald head.

"I mean, let's go outside the city and find that cave now. Don't worry about Rhodes, Doctor Amore said he's out of danger and it's only a matter of time before he wakes up," Weber reassured him.

"That's right, I've known Dr. Amore since I was a child. He's the best doctor I've ever seen in all these years," Hammer chimed in.

"Let's go then," Baron said absentmindedly.

After leaving the desolate stone city, the three of them headed south along the main road outside the city.

"With so many mountains around, how are we going to find that cave?" Hammer said, looking at the mountains beside the road.

To the southwest of Winterfell Province lies a continuous mountain range, a natural barrier for the Kingdom of Nord against attacks from the Roman Empire. Winterfell Fortress was built against the mountains, and everyone believed that it would be far more difficult for an army to cross the mountains to attack the Kingdom of Nord than to directly breach Winterfell Fortress.

Not only were food supplies insufficient, but the Roman Empire also failed to provide enough warm clothing for ordinary soldiers, leaving them vulnerable to the harsh cold of the high mountains.

All the Roman Empire nobles who attempted to cross the mountains to attack the Kingdom of Nord ultimately suffered a crushing defeat.

"The patterns on my body are something I can sense, and they seem to be guiding me in the right direction. I think I can't go wrong by following my instincts," Weber said.

Three or four hours later, the three appeared in front of a huge cave, with two huge stone pillars erected outside the cave.

"Is this the place?" Hammer muttered to himself as he looked into the cave.

"We'll find out once we go in," Baron replied absentmindedly.

"Let's go in tomorrow. It's getting late. Let's spend the night in front of this cave and rest up before going in tomorrow morning." Weber looked up at the sky. The sun had almost completely disappeared from the sky, and the dark night was about to begin.

"I think it's a good idea." Hammer nodded. "I don't want to walk this far again. I should have bought three horses to get around."

"It's no use buying it, I can't ride a horse," Weber replied as he took a pot and food out of his bag.

"I can teach you," Hammer said, finding a spot to help start a fire.

"Shall I teach you how to cook?" Weber asked with a smile.

"Uh... never mind." Hammer successfully built a fire. "Give me the water bottle, I'll go find a stream nearby to fill it up."

"Hurry up, I'm waiting for you to bring back the water so I can cook." Weber handed Hammer three large water jugs.

After watching Hammer walk away with the kettle, Weber gathered some branches and piled them not far from the fire. He glanced at Baron, who was sitting on the ground in a daze, and sighed.

Not long after, Hammer returned with a jug full of water.

"The water in that nearby creek is so sweet," Hammer said, handing the water bottle to Weber.

"By the way, what are we having for dinner?" Hammer asked again.

"Corn broth with bread," Weber replied, cutting the corn broth into small pieces with his sharp dagger.

He obtained the dagger from that priest, and besides its sharpness, he felt that it seemed to possess a soul.

"Eating this again?" Hammer's tone sounded somewhat displeased.

"Why don't you do it yourself?" Weber asked with a smile as he turned around.

"Never mind, let's just eat this." Hammer sighed. Ever since he met Weber, he had been eating this almost every day, and even though it tasted good, he was getting a little tired of it.

"I think this dagger seems a bit strange. I'd like to find a master appraiser to appraise it," Webber said while waiting for the marinated beef soup to cook.

"There's no need to spend this money. You can appraise it yourself. Besides, it's just a broken dagger. You can just not use it. And you said you'd retire after the curse is lifted. You should keep this money. If you're too scared to use it, just give it to me after you retire. I'm not afraid at all," Hammer said, leaning against a tree with his eyes closed.

"Alright, but before I retire, I want to go to Winterfell and see what it's like. After we've dealt with the curse, we'll go back to Ebony City to pick up Rhodes, and then we'll go to Winterfell together. On the way, I can also ask him for some cooking tips. I plan to open a tavern when I get back, and with my cooking skills, I should be able to make a decent living." Webber said, looking forward to his future retirement.

"Why did you suddenly want to retire?" Baron asked, snapping out of his reverie.

"It's because I'm getting old, and the adventurous life is too dangerous. For example, we killed that necromancer, but we were cursed by the things he left behind. I want to live a few more years, maybe I can find a family-oriented woman to marry and have children," Weber said with a smile.

"Why marriage and children? Can't we have daughters?" Baron asked again. His focus was usually different from that of most people.

"Either is fine, either is fine." Weber smiled and sniffed the air. "The soup is ready, you can eat it."

Hammer stood up, took a bowl, scooped a large bowlful from the pot, picked up a loaf of bread, and sat back down in his original spot.

He took a sip of the soup and couldn't help but exclaim, "Although I always lose my appetite when I hear about beef stew, it always tastes so delicious. After you retire, I'll be back to eating plain bread like before. But don't overthink it, I'm just praising your cooking skills, nothing more. You can retire in peace."

Weber smiled, said nothing, and began to eat heartily...

……

The night passed quickly.

Baron woke up early as usual, not because he didn't want to sleep, but because he had too many things on his mind to fall asleep.

He picked up his giant axe and a whetstone and began to sharpen his weapon.

This axe has been with him for many years, and he has no intention of replacing it unless something unexpected happens.

As he sharpened the axe, he began to lose control of his thoughts.

The chief maester predicted when Rhodes was born that he would not live past the age of sixteen. Seeing that winter was almost over, I originally thought that his prediction had failed. I never expected that something like this would happen at the end of winter. Someone actually teleported him to another place right in front of me.

If I ever run into that woman again, I'll definitely snap her neck.

Baron sighed, wondering if Rhodes could really survive as the doctor had said. If the chief scholar's prediction was true, then in a few years the dragon would return from the north of the world, beyond the world barrier.

Although the king has taken many measures to cripple the Roman Empire's fighting force against the Nords before the dragons return, thus forcing the Nords to focus their main forces on the north—and it's said the king even intends to personally lead the expedition next year—even if their strategy succeeds, the dragons' return will be a devastating catastrophe for the Nord Kingdom and indeed for everyone on the continent.

If the Chief Scholar's prophecy truly comes true, then will the one about me also come true? Originally, I didn't believe his prophecy at all, but ever since Rhodes discovered that animal skin scroll in that tomb that recorded an incredibly powerful combat technique...

That combat technique perfectly matched the prophecy about me. Could it really be my destiny?

Baron sighed as he looked at the rising sun.

"You're awake so early?" The sunlight shining on Weber's face also woke him up.

"I think we'd better set off sooner rather than later. Nobody knows how long we'll be in that cave, or if we'll have enough food," Baron said, stopping his thought after hearing Weber's voice.

"We should have enough food, right? I think we should leave soon too." Weber nodded. "I'll go reheat yesterday's soup. Let's go in after breakfast..."

……

After Baron and his two companions had eaten and drunk their fill, they entered the mysterious cave.

Upon entering the cave, they first encountered a passage that stretched for an unknown distance. The passage was pitch black. Webber took out a torch that he had prepared beforehand, lit it, and walked at the front.

"As the stalker in the team, scouting is my job," Webber said with a smile as he turned around.

Baron and Hammer had no objections. They were both self-aware enough to know that if they were in the lead, they would definitely step on some random button, while the experienced Webber was unlikely to do so.

"Be careful," Hammer warned.

Weber smiled but didn't say much, cautiously moving forward in the passage.

After walking for about ten minutes, a spacious hall appeared before them.

In the very center of the hall stands a huge statue, depicting a creature with bat wings on its back and sharp horns on its head.

"What kind of creature is this?" Hammer asked curiously, his voice echoing through the hall.

"It must be some kind of demon god," Waver said.

"This should be the Vampire Lord." Baron recognized the statue. Before he became an adventurer, a group of scholars helped him cram in the appearances, names, and weaknesses of all known strange creatures.

The Vampire Lords were among the first humans to be infected with Progenitor Vampire Fever, and they were incredibly powerful. Later vampires were far less powerful than them.

"What should we do next?" Hammer asked again, as there were no other doors in the hall besides the one they had come in through.

Baron took out the stone tablet he always carried with him from his pocket. The tablet had strange patterns on it, as well as his and Webber's names.

As time passed, the patterns on the stone tablet appeared on him and Waver's bodies, and they became more convinced that the words on the stone tablet might come true, and that they would suddenly die if they did not break the curse within three months.

Thinking of this, Baron smiled disdainfully again. If he were to die because of the curse of the stone tablet, wouldn't the chief maestro's prophecy have failed?

Weber walked around the walls of the hall and knocked on them, trying to see if there were any hidden doors or anything like that.

"It's no use. Even if there's a hidden door, shouldn't they block it with a very thick stone door according to their habits? You can't tell the difference anyway," Baron said, feeling that Weber's actions were just a waste of effort.

"Then what should we do?" Weber asked.

Baron walked around the huge statue and found a broken part in the base. He placed the stone slab on it and found that it fit perfectly. So he inserted the stone slab without thinking.

After he inserted the stone slab, the huge statue shattered, and he quickly took a few steps back.

He didn't want to get hit by the rolling pebbles.

"This seems to be a seal. You must have broken the seal by putting that stone slab on it. The sealed monster will be released soon," Weber said, covering his nose. After the statue shattered, dust filled the air.

"If he dares to run out, I'll chop him in half with this axe," Baron said with a cold laugh, gripping his giant axe tightly in both hands.

After the smoke cleared, Baron saw that there was actually a downward passage in the base of the statue, which was revealed after the statue shattered.

"Let's go down." Baron climbed onto the pile of rubble, preparing to enter the passage in the base.

"Wait, I'll go first. There might be a lot of traps inside," Webber shouted.

Baron thought Weber's suggestion made sense, so he let him continue to walk at the front.

Following the stairs down the passageway, Baron and his companions entered a corridor with many murals carved on the walls.

"Who built this cave?" Weber looked at the murals on the wall by the dim light of the torch. They seemed to depict a winged man conquering the world.

"Who cares who he is? We're here to break the curse, not to study history," Baron said.

Weber nodded, stopped studying the murals, and continued walking down the corridor.

After reaching the end, a tightly closed stone door appeared before them.

"Let me smash it open with my warhammer," Hammer said, looking eager to try.

"No need, let me pry the door open." Weber handed the torch to Hammer, then began to rummage through his pack, and soon pulled out an iron bar and a wire.

Then, insert the iron bar and wire into the keyhole on the stone door, and then put your ear to the stone door to listen carefully.

"You can pick locks too?" Baron asked curiously.

"Shh!" Webber gestured for Baron to be quiet. "You guys step aside. There's a mechanism when you open the door."

Baron stood against the wall of the corridor as Webber instructed. After Webber opened the door, he quickly ran to the wall and stood there as well. A huge axe slashed out from inside.

The immense force of the axe created a gust of wind that made Baron's scalp tingle.

"You can go in now," Weber said after the giant axe stopped.

The giant axe is attached to the ceiling. When the door is pushed open, it will fly out like a small ball used to verify the conservation of energy in physics class. However, the person behind the door will be standing in the position where gravitational potential energy is the lowest and kinetic energy is the highest.

Behind the stone gate was only a small room, and on the other side of the small room was an iron fence.

"Is there a mechanism in this?" Hammer asked.

Weber shook his head to indicate that he didn't know either. He stepped forward and started knocking and tapping, then turned around and said, "Baron, use your axe to chop down this iron fence."

Hearing Weber's words, Baron recalled the time in the tomb when Rhodes asked him to use an axe to split open the ebony fence, and the only nick on his axe was from that time.

Without much thought, Baron still swung the axe at the iron fence with all his might.

Perhaps because the iron fence was so old, it was far more fragile than Baron had imagined. His axe cleaved through it as easily as cutting through human flesh. With two quick swings, he cleaved a gap high enough for a person to pass through.

He rubbed the steel battle axe in his hand as if touching a lover's skin.

"Then I'll keep going." Webber saw Baron break through the iron fence and walk forward.

Baron and Hammer followed not far behind Weber, in front of a narrow corridor.

"Be careful, there are many traps here," Weber warned.

He suddenly stopped and pointed to a row of small holes in the ceiling ahead. "See that? When we walk past here, arrows will shoot out of these holes. Even if you're wearing iron armor, you'll be riddled with holes at this close range."

"So what should we do?" Hammer asked.

"Don't rush, let me think about it." Weber stared ahead, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Throw your hammer over there, right under those holes," Weber said, pointing to the stone floor in front of him.

Hammer took the warhammer off his back and threw it over as Weber instructed.

"No response." Hammer said with a puzzled look.

"Not enough weight. Baron, throw your axe up too." Weber added, "Your hammer only weighs a few dozen pounds, less than the weight of a normal person, so the mechanism wasn't triggered."

Upon hearing this, Baron threw his giant axe up without hesitation.

The crisp sound of the axe striking the warhammer echoed in the corridor.

"Go easy on me, don't break my old buddy..." Before Hammer could finish speaking, countless arrows shot out from the holes in the ceiling.

Listening to the sound of arrows rubbing against the air, Baron felt a chill run down his bald head.

"You can go now." After saying that, Webber walked over and picked up an arrow from the ground. "It's just a regular poisoned arrow, not one of those enchanted armor-piercing arrows, otherwise I could have made a profit."

"We'll be lucky if we get out of here safely." Hammer bent down and picked up his warhammer.

Baron also picked up his giant axe, touching the scratches left from hitting the warhammer with a touch of heartache.

"Now you know how to feel bad? You just threw it with so much force. You know my hammer is made of meteorite iron," Hammer mocked.

"This is the eighth time you've told me your hammer is made of meteorite iron," Baron said.

"Let's move on," Weber said, stopping Hammer, who was about to launch into another sarcastic remark.

After leaving the corridor, they came into a large hall.

"Look at those lit oil lamps on the ceiling of the hall. If we walk under them, they'll definitely fall down, and then we'll know what roast suckling pig tastes like," Webber said, pointing to the oil lamps hanging on the ceiling of the hall.

Hammer was a little nervous after hearing this and followed closely behind Weber, afraid that he might accidentally walk under the oil lamps. There were quite a few oil lamps on the ceiling, and in the very center there was a huge chandelier.

Baron, however, remained calm. He had never been afraid of fire since he was a child. Once, when he was very young, he climbed the chimney of the castle and accidentally fell down into the fireplace where a roaring fire was burning. Apart from breaking his leg, he was not injured.

Their family members are born with a near-immune state to flames or high temperatures.

Aside from that silly brat Rhodes, his mother's bloodline has polluted the family's lineage. We'll find an opportunity to set fire to his room while he's sleeping and see if he can awaken that talent.

He remembered that in the family's history there was only one person like Rod who did not inherit the family's talent, but he still awakened the talent after being burned by flames. However, the temperature of the flames that burned him was a bit too high, so even if he awakened the talent, he could not be completely immune.

Baron followed Weber and Hammer through the hall and they came to a door.

"How do you open this door if it doesn't have a keyhole?" Hammer asked Weber, standing in front of the door.

"This is where you come in. Use the hammer in your hand." Baron smiled.

"No!" Weber said quickly. "We don't know what's behind the door, it's too dangerous to go through like this."

"Then what should we do?" Hammer asked again.

Weber turned around and carefully observed the decoration and structure of the hall.

"It seems to be related to that big oil lamp in the very center," Weber said after thinking for a moment. "We need to find someone to pull it to the ground, or rather, make it smash to the ground."

"This is too dangerous. There's so much oil inside, and it's burning," Hammer said, looking at the oil lamp.

"I'll go." Baron took off his clothes and handed them and his equipment to Hammer.

Although he was not afraid of fire, his clothes and weapons were still afraid of flames.

"You don't need to go. I can try to shoot it down with a throwing knife," Webber said.

"It's connected by steel cables, so even if you hit it with a throwing knife, you can't knock it down." Baron glanced at Webber speechlessly.

I've already taken my pants off and this is what you're telling me?

"I'll go instead. I'm not afraid of fire." Baron turned and walked to the huge oil lamp in the middle of the hall.

Just as Weber had said, when he walked under the oil lamp, the iron chain of the huge oil lamp suddenly broke, and the oil lamp fell downwards. Then the other oil lamps also fell down, and the entire hall turned into a sea of ​​fire. The hall door also opened, and Weber and Hammer quickly hid behind the door.

Baron was doused with lamp oil, instantly becoming greasy. Before he could think, the flame from the lamp ignited the oil on his body, turning him into a human torch.

Baron felt comfortable bathing in the flames, just like taking a hot bath. He thought he'd try taking a bath standing in the fire next time.

"If you can still move, run over here!" Hammer shouted. He knew that Baron was not afraid of fire, and he remembered the desperate look on the face of a certain mage who was proficient in fire when he faced Baron.

Upon hearing this, Baron ran in the direction Hammer had called out.

Looking at Baron, who was engulfed in flames, Hammer couldn't help but ask, "Is it comfortable?"

"Apart from being a little oily, it's fine. It's even more comfortable than soaking in a hot spring," said "Fireman" Baron calmly.

"How much longer are you going to burn?" Weber asked.

"I don't know, let's wait until the oil on our bodies burns off, otherwise we'll feel greasy and uncomfortable," Baron replied.

"We'd better hurry, it seems we've reached the end of the entire ruins, and there might be a battle later," Webber warned.

"What battle?" Hammer asked.

Weber pointed to several large coffins not far away and said, "They should be out soon."

As soon as he finished speaking, the coffin lid was pushed open, and several ghouls with dry skin and wearing helmets crawled out of the coffin.

"These ghouls seem more powerful than the ones we encountered last time," Baron said, removing the oil from his eyelids.

"Are you scared?" Hammer asked with a smile.

"Scared? There are four in total. Webber and I will each have one, and you'll have two," Baron replied.

After saying that, he charged toward the nearest ghoul. Now, not only was his body engulfed in flames, but even his axe was on fire.

Facing the charging Baron, a strange roar came from the mouth of the ghoul.

"ha!"

Baron held the giant axe in front of him and took a few steps back.

"Why would a ghoul be proficient in the art of war cries?" Baron complained.

"Stop talking, this one in front of me can make you burn like fire, just like you." Hammer was being forced to retreat by a ghoul whose body was engulfed in flames.

Webber, wielding a dark green short sword in one hand and an exceptionally sharp dagger in the other, fought the remaining two ghouls to a standstill.

"Why are you so amazing?" Hammer asked Weber in surprise.

"They seem quite afraid of the dagger in my hand," Weber replied.

"Hamer, let's switch opponents. I'll take on your one, and you take on mine," Baron shouted.

"Okay!" Hammer agreed without hesitation.

These ghouls were all about the same strength, so it didn't matter which one Baron dealt with. However, he noticed that Hammer was having some trouble dealing with the ghoul whose body was engulfed in flames.

Which ancestor was buried here?

Baron pondered this question while fighting the fire ghoul in front of him.

The fire ghoul wielded a two-handed greatsword and swung it wildly at Baron. The ghoul's strength was far inferior to when they were alive, both in terms of physical attributes and combat skills.

Baron initially parried the ghoul's attacks, then found an opportunity to cleave it in two with a horizontal axe strike, plunging it into eternal slumber. The entire process took less than a minute.

"This ancestor is too weak. Judging from his physique, he probably died just as he came of age," Baron thought, looking at the fire ghoul lying on the ground.

Baron didn't think too much about it and went to help Webber with his giant axe. He could clearly feel that the two ghouls seemed to be very wary of the dagger in Webber's hand, and didn't even want their weapons to touch the dagger.

"Help me first!" Hammer shouted. The ghoul in front of him roared like it was free. Every time Hammer raised his warhammer to smash it down, he would be interrupted by a warhammer and then be beaten down by the ghoul who was also holding a warhammer.

Baron smiled when he saw Hammer's miserable state. Taking advantage of the moment when the ghoul had just finished using its war cry, he threw the dark gold axe from its waist. The ghoul used its hammer to knock the axe away, and at that moment, Baron rushed in front of the ghoul.

He swung his giant axe down on it, and the ghoul had no time to defend itself.

With a tearing sound, half of the ghoul's head, along with most of its shoulder, was chopped off by Baron's axe.

"All it can do is warcry, and its movements are so slow, why can't you beat it?" Baron mocked Hammer.

"Try letting it roar at you seven or eight times in a row. I feel like I'm floating right now," Hammer said, supporting himself with his warhammer.

Baron smiled and stopped mocking him. He joined the battle on Webber's side. Webber was already able to suppress the two ghouls with his dagger, and the battle ended quickly after he joined in.

"Is that all?" Hammer asked breathlessly, supporting himself with his warhammer.

"No, I feel the marks on my body haven't disappeared yet," Weber said.

"Is there a hidden door that you haven't discovered?" Baron asked.

"No, our final opponent should definitely be that statue we saw at the entrance," Weber replied.

"Take your time looking, I'm a little dizzy, I'll sit down for a while." Hammer walked over to a sculpture and sat down on its base.

There are two of these sculptures in the room, both depicting a strange-looking bat.

Baron looked at the sculpture next to Hammer and felt that it looked familiar. It seemed that before he left home, a scholar had explained this kind of creature to him. I think it was called a gargoyle.

Just as Baron was still reminiscing, the stone shell on the sculpture cracked, scattering countless specks of dust.

"Ah!" Hammer cried out in terror.

Webber rushed into the smoke and saw Hammer fighting two strange-looking giant bats with a warhammer. He rushed forward to help Hammer.

"These are gargoyles. They are almost immune to ordinary physical damage. It's best to use frost magic," Baron shouted.

Using weapons like daggers and longswords against gargoyles is quite limited; the best weapon is a warhammer like Hammer's, while Baron's giant axe is also quite effective.

Baron suddenly sensed a deadly danger. He turned around and saw the vampire lord, who looked exactly like the statue at the entrance, standing not far behind him with a red one-handed longsword, slowly approaching him.

When the vampire lord saw that his sneak attack had failed, he charged straight at Baron.

It was incredibly fast, appearing before Baron in an instant. Baron unleashed the power hidden within his bloodline, covering his body and the giant axe in his hand with flames.

"I never expected to run into you wretched insects again so soon after I woke up." The vampire lord used all his strength to slash his longsword at Baron.

Baron easily blocked the attack using his massive axe, as large as a door panel, as a shield.

"What? You've been locked up here for so long and you've lost all your energy?" Baron mocked, feeling that the power coming from the giant axe was much less than he had expected.

Then Baron switched from defense to offense, bringing his flaming giant axe down on the vampire lord's head.

The vampire lord was clearly wary of Baron's attack, flapping his wings to retreat and create distance between himself and Baron.

Baron saw a pale blue orb of light rise from its empty left hand.

Oh no! That old bat is about to use illusion magic.

Baron wasn't afraid of destructive magic, but he was still somewhat wary of bizarre illusion magic.

Baron felt extremely angry; he felt his blood boiling and the whole world turning blood red.

Damn it! It's the spell that counters my anger the most. If it were using a fear spell, I could be immune to most of the negative effects.

He was completely out of control of his actions. He saw that everyone around him was the vampire lord, and he frantically swung his giant axe at the illusions he saw.

This attack was fierce, but chaotic and extremely taxing on physical strength.

The vampire lord hovered in mid-air, holding a blood-red longsword, silently watching Baron below waste his energy on thin air. This was a common tactic he used against these incredibly powerful barbarians: casting a Wrath spell and a Confusion spell on them, driving them mad by the illusions they created.

Then, once they were exhausted, they used their speed to take their lives.

Baron tried to calm himself down. At this moment, he felt that defense was more advantageous than attacking, but he felt that his body was out of control, and a strange feeling compelled him to keep attacking.

That old bat must be hiding among these illusions, trying to take the opportunity to ambush me. These illusions that are getting close to me could all be its real form. If I'm careless, I might get seriously injured. Since I can't control my defense, I might as well clear all these illusions away.

With this thought in mind, Baron continued to swing his giant axe forcefully at the surrounding air.

On the other side, Waver and Hammer were entangled by two gargoyles. Gargoyles are powerful alchemical creatures that use rocks as a vessel to be immune to ordinary physical and magical attacks. They also have wings and are quite agile, often flapping their wings to dodge attacks in ways that are unimaginable to normal people.

Although Hammer, wielding the warhammer, was able to damage the two gargoyles, the warhammer's weight slowed down his attack speed, and after a long fight, he only managed to leave a crack around one of the gargoyles.

The vampire lord used the illusion on Baron again, deciding to deal with Hammer and Waver first.

"I'll hold off these two gargoyles by myself, you deal with that humanoid bat," Hammer roared.

"Then hold on." After saying that, Webber took his short sword and dagger and took the initiative to meet the vampire lord.

The vampire lord sneered. He loved dealing with stalkers the most and hated plate-armored warriors the most. The barbarian berserker who had fallen under his illusion spell was his second most hated.

It flapped its wings and arrived in front of Weber at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye, thrusting its blood-red longsword at him. This was its innate ability, which, although it could only be used occasionally, could instantly kill most of the stalkers in front of it who were skilled in speed.

Plate-armored warriors and berserkers are both tough and thick-skinned. Like that barbarian just now, his muscles were like rocks. Even if they didn't react in time, they might not suffer serious damage from this hit. Instead, it might make them go berserk.

However, the result was somewhat different from what he had expected. Just as the short stalker in front of him was about to touch his muscle, the stalker swiftly used the dagger in his hand to cleave the longsword in two, even breaking it in two.

This longsword has been with it for countless years, sucking the blood of countless powerful warriors. Although the endless years have made it less hard and sharp than before, it is still much better than the steel swords forged by those masters.

Webber was still somewhat shaken by the vampire lord's attack. In fact, he hadn't fully seen its movements and only managed to block the blow thanks to his experience accumulated from countless battles over the decades.

This kind of movement is his muscle memory; it doesn't require his brain to react at all. The combat experience left behind by those ghouls after they died is also like this.

Taking advantage of the moment when the vampire lord was stunned, Waver swiftly thrust his dark green short sword into it with his right hand, easily slicing open the skin on its chest.

After creating some distance, the vampire lord looked at the wound on his chest.

Damn it! You've sealed me away for so long that I've almost forgotten how to fight. I used to never be distracted during battle.

Waver breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the wound on the vampire lord's body, cut by his dark green short sword.

All I need to do now is stall it. The poison on the sword will weaken it and make it move more and more slowly.

Webber held his weapon and watched the vampire lord in the distance warily. He felt there was no need to take the initiative to attack. Although a fierce battle would accelerate the onset of the poison, even the slightest mistake could lead to his death when fighting such an opponent.

The vampire lord did not launch an attack; it was waiting to be able to use its talent again.

If we could use our talents as soon as we came out of the seal, we wouldn't have to sneak around and ambush that Nord barbarian like we did just now.

It felt its magic power had recovered somewhat, allowing it to use a spell again.

A pale blue orb appeared in its left hand. It held up the half-broken blood-red longsword in its right hand, preparing to use its talent the instant the Fear spell was cast, to appear in front of the rogue, sever his throat, and suck his blood.

"It was fun to play tricks on me before, wasn't it!" The vampire lord heard the barbarian roar.

Then it heard the sound of weapons cutting through the air.

Out of the corner of its eye, it noticed that the barbarian had actually thrown his big axe at it.

Baron threw the axe with all his might, which made the giant axe fly very fast, and he only shouted after he had thrown it.

The vampire lord felt as if it were locked in place and couldn't move at all. It subconsciously used its talent to dodge the giant axe that was flying towards it.

The spell was forcibly dispelled before it could be used, and it even suffered a backlash from the spell.

Baron sneered, took a dark gold throwing axe from his waist, and hurled it at the vampire lord. This throwing axe was the most valuable piece of equipment he owned; it was incredibly sharp and could withstand his flames, injecting them into the enemy's wounds before they exploded.

In fact, Baron believed that his greatest skill was not chopping people with an axe, but throwing it. No matter how big the axe was, he could hit the target accurately.

The dark gold axe flew out with a sonic boom and struck the vampire lord's head.

Its head exploded violently after being hit, like a watermelon falling to the ground; it must be dead.

Meanwhile, the two gargoyles were still attacking Hammer.

Baron stepped forward, picked up his giant axe, and with a powerful leap, cleaved a gargoyle in two with a single blow. He then jumped again and cleaved the remaining one in half.

"How did you suddenly become so amazing?" Hammer looked at Baron in disbelief.

"Haven't I always been this good?" Baron smiled.

He knew very well that he had just been hit by the Wrath spell and suddenly gained an ability to convert anger into his own power and become immune to many negative spells, but doing so would seem to leave him weak for a while.

"Why hasn't the curse disappeared yet?" Weber looked at the marks still on his body.

"May I borrow your hammer, Hammer?" Baron said, noticing a strange statue above the entrance to the hall. It seemed as if the vampire lord had emerged from this statue, and Baron suspected that the statue was related to a curse.

Hammer hesitated for a moment before handing his warhammer to Baron. Baron took it with both hands, then used his waist strength to throw the warhammer at the statue.

"What are you doing!" Hammer shouted in terror.

The flying warhammer struck the statue and smashed it to pieces.

Suddenly the entire hall went dark, and Baron heard countless people whispering.

However, the strange phenomenon soon disappeared, and the marks on their bodies also vanished.

"This vampire probably wanted to become a god through faith, but he was sealed away by some powerful creature. The stone slab we touched was probably a contingency plan he left behind to escape the seal. Fortunately, he lost most of his power after being sealed for countless years, otherwise we wouldn't be a match for him." Weber quickly figured out the general cause and effect.

"The curse has been broken. Let's go back to Ebony City now," Baron said. He wasn't interested in the details of the matter; he was more concerned about whether Rhodes was alive or dead.

"Then let's go to Wasteland City and hire a carriage first..."

……

Tom had no idea how many years he had lived. He touched the bronze mask on his face, which did not reveal his eyes but instead featured two scarlet gems that were priceless.

When he was young, he felt that someone like him, destined to become a legend, should have a better-sounding and more magnificent name. But after he truly became a legend, he no longer cared about such things. No one knew his name; they only knew him as the Grim Reaper in the darkness and the King of the shadowy world.

Some time ago, he remembered seeing his biological brother's offspring in a small town, and he rescued him.

When Tom arrived in Ebony City, he sensed the boy inside the castle, barely alive, seemingly burned to death.

Tom immediately became interested in the boy; he had finally found someone who, like him, belonged to the same family but was afraid of fire.

He sneaked into the castle several times to carefully examine the boy's condition, knowing that even if he woke up, he would have countless scars on his body, just like his own.

Unless you soak him in dragon blood, an ordinary person would definitely be burned by the dragon blood, but for their family, dragon blood is a miraculous medicine for healing injuries.

He was left with countless scars because he didn't get enough dragon blood in time.

Ordinary dragon blood won't do; it must be from a true dragon or a progenitor-level dragon.

Just as he was lost in thought, he suddenly sensed a pure-blooded dragonman approaching the city.

After the dragonman arrived in the city, he turned half of the castle into a sea of ​​fire. The flames at that temperature did not harm Tom at all, but he hated fire.

The fate of the entire city was irrelevant to him; the only thing he cared about was the boy on the bed in front of him.

His immortal life caused him to lose most of his emotions. In any case, even if all these humans died, humans in other places would create many more humans. Hundreds of years later, all those humans would also die, while he would still be alive, and another group of humans would live in this world.

Therefore, Tom doesn't care about the life and death of ordinary people at all, just like ordinary people view ants.

He casually knocked out the doctor who suddenly ran in, even though the doctor couldn't see him.

Tom picked up the boy from the bed and left the room, while the dragon-man seemed to have been severely injured by another descendant of his brother and fled.

He suddenly became curious whether the dragonman's blood could heal the boy's wounds, so he chased after the dragonman.

Surprisingly, this dragon-man looked somewhat familiar; I think his name was something like Beth.

"Found you." Tom emerged from the shadows.

The dragon-man, who was healing his wounds, was startled.

"Who are you?" The dragon-man looked at the man in front of him wearing a bronze mask and black clothes with a look of horror, and felt his whole body trembling.

"I'm sorry to tell you first, but once I kill you, you can't be resurrected," Tom said to himself.

He suddenly appeared in front of the dragonman, his dagger piercing the dragonman's jaw. He twisted the dagger and pulled it out.

He casually used a spell to stop the wound from bleeding out.

"Now we need to find a better place," Tom muttered to himself.

He carried the offspring of his own brother in one hand and the corpse of the dragonman in the other.

Tom moves very fast; he can pass directly through any shaded area.

Soon after, he found a cave filled with magical energy.

"This place is not bad. It's a good opportunity to give him a great fortune. When he wakes up, the magic power in his body will be more than that of others who have meditated for decades." He muttered to himself.

He casually threw a spell on the ground, and a pool-shaped depression appeared.

Tom hung the dragonman on the depression to break the spell, letting its blood drip freely, and then threw the boy into the blood pool.

That kid was still able to breathe freely even when submerged in the pool of blood.

"It seems he'll need some more time to wake up, so I'll just leave an illusion here," Tom decided.

Although he had nothing to do, he didn't like staying in one place for too long, as it made him feel a bit bored...

Rod opened his eyes and found himself soaking in a pool, with several torches hanging on the uneven walls around him. "I'm in a cave," he deduced.

He sniffed the air and smelled a strong stench of blood. He looked down and found himself submerged in a pool of blood, which startled him so much that he stood up.

"You're finally awake." Rhodes turned around and saw the man in black he had seen before. His voice sounded young, not even thirty years old. He was wearing a bronze mask with two bright red gems around his eyes.

"Who are you?" Rhodes asked.

"I am your ancestor," the man in black replied.

Rhodes: "???"

"Never mind, you'll find out who I am later." The man in black rubbed his forehead and said helplessly, "It won't be long, you'll know next time we meet."

As soon as the man in black finished speaking, all the torches around him went out, but they all reignited in the next moment. However, the man in black had already disappeared.

Rhodes looked around but couldn't see him. He felt some liquid drip onto his head. He looked up and saw it was the dragonman. It was hanging from the top of the cave by chains, with only two wounds on its body. One wound almost completely cleaved its chest open, and the other pierced through its skull from its jaw. Blood was still dripping from the wound on its jaw.

Looking at the pool of blood beside him, Rhodes guessed where the blood came from; it seemed the dragonman had been killed again.

Standing in a pool of blood, Rhodes felt no discomfort whatsoever; in fact, he felt quite comfortable. He climbed out of the pool, and surprisingly, his body was completely untouched by blood.

He looked at his arm, which seemed much thinner than before. He wondered how long he had been unconscious and where Aya had gone. He stared at his hand for a while.

Rhodes searched the vicinity, but the man in black hadn't left him any clothes. He thought about where his clothes had gone; it seemed that the newly made deerskin coat he was wearing had been burned by the dragonman hanging on his head.

He remembered that he had a night suit in the system. He took it out and put it on. Now that it was spring, he didn't feel cold even at night when he was only wearing the night suit.

However, his boots were burned to ashes, and now he has no shoes to wear.

Where did Shengxie go? Where did my backpack go?

Rhodes searched everywhere but couldn't find it. He figured he must have been robbed by that man in black. Someone as skilled as him might have a collecting obsession, hoarding weapons and armor at home, just like he used to do in games, where even if he didn't use the powerful equipment, he'd still leave it in the warehouse and take it out to admire it from time to time.

The sound of the dragon's blood dripping into the blood pool pulled him out of his daze. He looked up and couldn't contain his excitement—he was rich!

The corpses of dragon people are all treasures; their scales can be used to make armor, their claws and horns can be used to make daggers, and their meat is also a great tonic.

Rhodes looked at the dragonman's corpse with some worry. Should he drag it back whole, or skin it for what was useful? After hesitating for a while, he decided to take it all with him.

Rhodes, who had just woken up from his coma, was not sleepy, but felt a little hungry. What puzzled him was that he did not have the urge to eat the dragonman's corpse after it died this time. Was the last one just a hallucination?

Rod dragged the dragonman's corpse away from the cave. It was daytime outside the cave, and he discovered that the cave was inside a deserted mountain. The mountain was barren, with no plants or animals, making it impossible to hunt.

Rhodes left Lonely Mountain and came to a main road. He figured that if he followed the road, he would surely find a settlement. He discovered that his strength was much greater than before; even when he was hungry, he didn't feel tired dragging a dragonman who was nearly three meters tall.

About half an hour later, Rhodes dragged the dragonman's corpse to a giant city. The city gave people a very dangerous feeling from afar, and there were many soldiers guarding the gate.

As Rhodes approached the city, he looked up and saw the four large characters carved above the city gate. He realized that he was far from where he had fainted. He had come from the north of Winterfell Province to the Winterfell Fortress, the southernmost part of the province…