Mystery: The Undead Don't Die from Linking the Fire

Chapter 299 You are lucky

The Forsaken Land, afternoon town camp.

Within the camp made of countless giant stones adorned with the first lanterns, the residents of Silver City watched the two outsiders depart, just as they had arrived.

The bright helmet, as clear as day, was also taken away, and the light faded further and further away, as if hope itself was being taken away with it.

Dolores couldn't help but ask:

"Chief, since they are also going to explore the Giants' Court, why don't you go with them?"

He had participated in the exploration of the temple of the true creator and met the little boy named Jack. Therefore, he knew better than anyone else in Silver City that the world beyond the Forsaken Lands was real!

The way to leave the land of the forsaken gods may very well lie in the court of the giants!

The chief must understand this principle, otherwise he wouldn't have led them to establish this camp.

Wasn't the establishment of the Afternoon Town camp precisely for the purpose of exploring Afternoon Town and preparing for the next step of exploring the Giants' Court?

Colin watched the light fade into the distance, his voice low and deep:

"If I leave with them, who will guarantee the safety of this camp?"

"I cannot risk your lives."

Dolores said without hesitation:

"Then I'll go with them! If I don't come back, consider me dead. But if I do come back alive, perhaps I'll find a way out!"

Colin the Demon Hunter rejected him without hesitation.

"No, let's not talk about this anymore. Go on patrol."

Dolores gritted her teeth, clearly unwilling to give up.

But faced with the chief's resolute attitude, he had no choice but to obey and turn to leave.

Colin continued to gaze at the distant light, his eyes unreadable.

What Dolores didn't understand was that Colin wasn't incapable of taking risks.

He was willing to try various things to leave the Forsaken Land, so he let many things go. Whether it was Derrick or Lovia, they were different directions that Silver City was trying, and they both represented a possibility.

But no matter which path those two possibilities lead them to, they will always be people of Silver City. Even though their individual attempts have both ended in failure, Colin believes that in their hearts, the future of Silver City will always come first.

This time was different. Even though it might be the closest they'd ever come to hope, because they'd actually encountered outsiders, one of whom was even a giant, it might also be the closest they'd ever come to destruction.

He couldn't be sure if the two outsiders were friendly. Even though they tried their best to be friendly during their conversation, Colin couldn't be sure if they were truly as friendly as they seemed or if they had ulterior motives.

If it's the former, it would be a pity to miss this opportunity to explore the Giants' Court with them.

However, if they were to actually explore the Giants' Court, it could, in a sense, provide some convenience for Silver City's subsequent exploration. After all, they would inevitably encounter many monsters during their exploration.

If they are to continue their journey, they must eliminate these monsters.

This will make the subsequent exploration of Silver City much easier.

But if these two people have ulterior motives, then what awaits them and Silver City will be utter destruction!

Dolores was only a Sequence 6 Dawn Knight, and his knowledge was very limited.

Therefore, he did not understand why Colin would not let him explore the Giants' Court with the two outsiders. In his eyes, even if the exploration failed, at most only he would be sacrificed.

But Colin knew very well that there were special ways in this world to access human memories, such as the dragon pathway.

Although Silver City only possesses potion recipes for low-series Dragonpath potions, the Sequence 7 'Psychoanalyst' alone already has the ability to read minds and hypnotize!

If any one of them gets separated from the group, they could be captured and their memories probed to pinpoint the location of Silver City. And once the coordinates of Silver City are exposed, those with ulterior motives are far more terrifying than the monsters lurking in the darkness!

Colin couldn't take such a risk.

The goodwill shown by the other party in this brief contact was not enough for Colin to place enough trust in them.

-

Not long after leaving the afternoon town camp of Silver City, under the illumination of high-altitude lightning.

A city finally came into view of Ember and Grosser.

Built against the mountainside, the structure is naturally divided into upper, middle, and lower levels. Here, gray stones form different houses, some hollowed out from a single block, nearly ten meters high, while others are so low that a normal person could almost touch the roof. These buildings are arranged compactly, some collapsed, some still standing, but all bearing the marks of decay and decay.

"Afternoon Town."

Grosser gazed at the distant town, trying to recall a scene from his memory, and murmured:

"It wasn't like this when I last came here."

"Due to the leakage of power from the Giants' Royal Court, the daytime in Afternoon Town is forever 'afternoon'..."

Grosser's tone was incredibly complex, and a hint of nostalgia occasionally flashed in his eyes.

Even though a thousand years have passed, everything here still feels strangely familiar to him.

Even though he had already heard from others about the ultimate fate of the Giants' Court and the Forsaken Land, he still couldn't hide his disappointment when he saw the town he once knew so well turned into what it is now.

As he followed the embers into Afternoon Town, ascending the gray stone steps between towering, dark buildings towards the summit, Grosser's mood grew increasingly somber.

Because he finally saw giants—a great many giants.

They were all about the same height as Grosser and had a distinctive single eye. However, unlike Grosser, whose skin was greyish-blue, these giants were covered in dense, short black hair!

They had long since become corrupt and degenerate, becoming part of these countless dark monsters.

Even though Grosser thought he was mentally prepared, he still felt an indescribable sadness when he saw this scene.

Thump, thump, thump! One after another, similar monsters rushed out from those dark buildings.

Some of them were the height of a normal human and had two eyes, while others, like the previous monsters, had the obvious characteristics of giants and one-eyed features, but without exception, they were all covered with dense black short hair.

"I'm sorry, rest in peace."

Grosser murmured, and bursts of light erupted from his body, transforming into a storm that swept outwards.

Every monster touched by the light, whether giant or human, was suddenly engulfed in transparent flames, radiating a bright dawn that burned everything to ashes.

Just like humans, the giants also believe in the importance of being buried in the ground.

This tradition originated with the giant king Ormir, whose parents were buried in the Decaying Wood, where Grosser was once the guardian.

But there are no conditions to bury these giants one by one now, and even if they were buried, they might turn into new monsters.

Therefore, Grosser wouldn't force it; purifying the giants' bodies was the only thing he could do.

Ember stood aside and watched all of this silently, without trying to intervene.

For Grosser, this was not only clearing obstacles for their progress, but also bringing peace to his compatriots.

Yes, for Grosser, these monsters were also his kin. Even though they had become monsters, even though they had been dead for thousands of years.

Although Grosser always appeared carefree and indifferent to everything, he was actually just as lonely as Shatas in his heart.

For these two "ancient people" who have lived from the Second Age to the present, they have a profound lack of belonging to the current world. Shatas is trying to find her people, and so is Grosser.

The reason he agreed to help Ember explore the Giants' Court was also because he harbored a sliver of hope that he could find other giants there.

Along the way, they encountered more than a dozen waves of monsters, mainly composed of rotting giants, each wave numbering at least a hundred. And the more they encountered such monsters, the deeper Grosser's sorrow became.

Because the thousands of corrupted monsters correspond to the thousands of giants who once lived here!

As we reached the halfway point of the mountain, perhaps because there weren't many 'natives' here, the frequency of monster attacks began to decrease.

And they finally arrived at the area shrouded in twilight—

The massive, towering building stood silently in the frozen twilight, with not a sound around it, as if it were just an oil painting, a magnificent and epic oil painting.

In the frozen twilight, a new hope rekindled in Grosser's heart once again.

The monsters of the Forsaken Lands originate from that deep darkness.

Thousands of years have passed, and the Giants' Court remains frozen in the twilight.

Does this mean...?

"Perhaps there are still living giants in the Giants' Royal Court?"

The moment such a thought crossed Grosser's mind, reality once again threw cold water on him.

Because in that frozen twilight, what still rushed out of those intact buildings were those rotting monsters. They had no reason; they simply charged at the living people they saw, driven only by instinct.

Seeing Groselle grow increasingly silent after dealing with yet another wave of Rotting Giants, Ember asked with concern:

"How are you?"

Grosser was silent for a moment, then flashed his familiar,憨厚 smile:

"Fortunately, I expected this to happen."

After thinking for a moment, Yu Jin said:

"This place reminds me of Anor Londo; you can think of it as the court of giants in another world."

"In the eyes of mortals, Anor Londo is a royal city, a divine capital, and the abode of the gods."

"The gods who rule the world are tall, but much shorter than giants, about two and a half meters tall."

"The Protoss defeated the Ancient Dragons, who were the rulers of the world, in the ancient war against the dragons and became the new rulers."

At this point, Ember suddenly paused.

"And then?"

Grosser instinctively pressed for an answer.

Ember chuckled softly and shook his head, saying:

"Later, the gods declined, and the god-king who led them to glory sacrificed himself to fire. The new rulers did not understand people's hearts and ostracized the old subordinates left by their fathers, causing the gods to fall into disarray."

"In addition, other gods were unwilling to be under his command, and after the death of the old god-king, they left Anor Londo and went to various parts of the world to establish kingdoms and rule over mortals."

"As for Anor Londo, although it still holds symbolic significance as the capital of the gods, it has long lost its former status."

"Even Gwyndolin, who ruled the gods for countless years and was the designated successor of the old god-king, was imprisoned by a plant and swallowed by a pool of mud."

"By the time the world ends, there will be hardly any living beings left of the gods who once ruled the world."

"And the surviving gods were those who had been exiled by the gods."

"Compared to the gods, the giants are already quite fortunate."

"At least not all giants perished along with the Giant Kingdom; there are still quite a few giants whose bloodline remains in the Northern Continent."

Grosser scratched his head; he had been in Backlund for a while.

I've heard rumors about the Fusak Empire in the north—

The people there all consider themselves descendants of giants, and the real giants enjoy a high status there.

Even the god of war they worshipped, whose divine realm, the Twilight Palace, seemed to be a structure prepared for giants. That god of war himself might have been a giant, and perhaps a large number of giants lived within his divine realm.

Grosser thought for a moment, then said seriously:

"Back on the Northern Continent, I want to visit the Fusak Empire."

He wanted to see for himself whether the people there truly had giant blood, and whether there were truly living giants.

Embers laughed:

"That's your freedom."

As they progressed, more and more rotting giants emerged from the roads or from various buildings, growing stronger and stronger, but none reached a level above demigod.

This allowed them to easily break through the monsters' blockade and obstruction, arriving at an extremely quiet area where there was no sound at all, an area that made their scalp tingle.

Grosser hummed:

"I know how to get there, follow me."

Grosser recalled the memories in his mind and continued along the somewhat dilapidated but still familiar street.

After a while, a huge stone staircase appeared in front of them.

Its overall color is grayish-white, yet it is tinged with orange light, making it both dazzling and serene.

Each step of this staircase is relatively high, clearly not intended for ordinary people.

Above the massive steps stands a city wall so majestic that one must look up to see its top. It bears many signs of damage and burning, and in some places, arrows as thick as ordinary trees and several meters long are stuck in the ground, causing some of the stones to collapse.

In the middle of the city wall is a double gate, several tens of meters high, with a grayish-blue color and gold nails embedded in it. Two guards stand outside, creating a strong sense of oppression just by looking at them.

They were five or six meters tall, wearing exquisite and sturdy full-body silver armor. One held a greatsword, and the other had a giant axe planted on the ground. Behind their faceplates, a ball of orange-red light shone out, as if they were single-eyed.

Grosser gazed at the towering city walls, a hint of nostalgia in his eyes.

Even for giants, this is not an area they can easily set foot in.

Fortunately, Grosser's job allowed him to come and go here frequently.

(End of this chapter)