In a small pub filled with people of different races. The people were drinking and chatting. Their laughter echoed in the whole pub as they filled their glass with alcohol.
The wooden door of the pub directly opened and five people wearing black robes that covered their bodies directly stepped forward inside the pub. They were Souta, Amanda, Yenxa, Eztein, and Gragas who traveled from the Earthen Core City to this small rural village.
This village was called Gans and it only has a population of three thousand people. Compared to a big city like Earthen Core, which had tens of millions of people, this small village was nothing.
The people inside the pub turned silent as they observed Souta's group. After a while, they returned to what they were doing before as they decided to ignore this group. They must be travelers that happened to pass by in this small village.
Souta didn't want to stay in this village for too long. They will just stay here for a night and will leave this village tomorrow. He had nothing to do with this sub-world. Chain quest was his priority than other affairs on this planet. Also, he already had a plan to continue his travel to Imperium after this. Who knows how long it would take if he delayed his departure.
Union Peace and Council of High World. From Eilish's reaction, he concluded that the two were really connected.
He shook his head and thought that it was pointless to think about these things considering that he was still a third evolution stage monster. An organization with five gods controlling it was beyond his level.
The group sat around the vacant table. They pulled their hoods and ordered a few drinks.
"Oh, I haven't drunk alcohol since we departed. I hope the alcohol in this place can satisfy me." Gragas said with a laugh.
"It's not that bad," Souta said as he observed the surroundings.
"This village is a little bit strange," Amanda said in a low voice.
"You've noticed it too." Eztein glanced at Amanda. "The negative energy surrounding the village is high. I must say that it's related to undead."
"Don't bother yourself about it. Our target is the Witch Clan's main territory." Souta said to the two in a low voice.
Eztein simply shrugged his shoulders. He was just curious and didn't have a plan to involve himself in some sort of undead.
Amanda also didn't care about this village. Just like Eztein, she was just curious about it. She wouldn't care even if this village was burned in front of her eyes. After all, she burned and sacrificed people in pursuit of her dream before.
'Undead?'
Souta said inwardly as he felt that the negative energy didn't come from this village. Instead, it was coming from the jungle a hundred meters at the north of the village.
'The undead are slowly taking the villagers' life force. Considering the power level of the villagers, no one had noticed it.' Saya explained to him.
Speaking of the undead, Souta recalled the first place where he found himself in Imperium, the Undead Sanctuary. He only cleared the low-level dungeons in that place. The mid-level and high-level dungeons were still untouched. If he cleared it, he would gain enormous treasures.
Also, clearing it would earn him skill points and free attribute points. He would visit it once again if he had some time after he returned to Imperium.
Although he got the universal treasure in the sanctuary there were still some dark grade treasures. He forgot what kind of treasure but it should be useful and only that matters to him.
The group chatted and drink for an hour before they left the pub. They went straight to the inn to rest as they were going to leave tomorrow morning. Since all they did was training, Souta let them loosen up for a bit. It wouldn't harm them anyway as he always celebrated after a hard quest in a brothel.
On the next day, Souta's group left the village called Gans before the sunrise. They walked straight towards the jungle on the north. They had to cross this jungle and they will find mountains peaks. Behind those mountain peaks was the Mist River where the Witch Clan lies.
"The negative mana is irritating…" Gragas said while walking.
"The amount is high but the density is low so it must be some low-level undead at Disaster Realm," Eztein said. He had the right to call B-rank or Disaster Realm low level because he was at S-rank or what people of this world called Annihilation Realm.
Souta didn't care about some low-level undead. The only thing that's in his mind was his preparation for the Witch Clan. He already called Alice to start preparing and Jamine which was in the Astley Planet. There was something that's bothering him when he called Jamine.
Jamine informed him that the Eidin sub-world
was gone along with the galaxies surrounding it. The whole space turned into a desolate area. They couldn't find any stars, planets, asteroids, or sun. It was empty.
There's no doubt about it. The cause of it must be a god. No mortal could extinguish several galaxies effortlessly.
A god.
The group continued to walk for thirty minutes when they felt a fluctuation of negative energy.
"Oi! Is that undead asking us to eliminate it?! Didn't that undead notice why no monster dared to attack us is because we didn't bother to conceal our energy level?!" Gragas said in an annoyed tone.
"What can you do about low-level undead? It has a different sense of danger compared to those monsters." Eztein said to Gragas.
"My light attribute is still lacking so I couldn't merge it with my mana," Amanda said. The undead was weak against light attribute energy but hers was nothing. Inside Saya's inner consciousness, she only trained her dark attribute and her original attribute which was the lightning attribute.
"After we passed this jungle, we need to conceal our energy. We're getting close to the Witch Clan so I don't want them to discover us soon." Souta said as he glanced at Eztein, Amanda, and Gragas.
"I know, I know, so let me deal with this puny undead quickly. This undead is making me mad." Gragas said as he took the hammer on his back.
"Fine, just make it quick. Also, don't create a huge commotion. A little bit of your strength will be enough to handle it." Souta said with a sigh.
"Ehehe, I know," Gragas said with a laugh. His mana slowly covered his covered body before he dashed on the east. It was the direction where the negative energy was coming from.
Swoosh!
In just a second, he traveled several hundreds of meters. He didn't even use his full speed but it was enough to create a gust of wind caused by his energy to demolish some of the trees in his path.
"Annoying undead, I've found you! Stop hiding beneath the ground!"
Gragas smiled as his thick beard fluttered in the wind. Then, he raised the hammer above his head and swung it down.
Bang!
The ground shook heavily and spider-web cracks formed before it collapsed revealing a huge space beneath the surface.
"I don't know why but it feels I'm the one that's only affected by the undead energy. The others are taking it simply as if nothing happened."
Gragas jumped down and saw a skeleton wearing an exquisite red robe. It was holding a staff in its left hand and a book in its right hand. The skeleton was oozing out mana that could rival peak B-rank expert.
"You can enter Extermination Realm if given some time. Unfortunately, you dared to bother me so I'm going to eliminate you and your minions."
He said while glaring at the undead. He could feel that this place was a dungeon and it was filled with low-level undead but the one in front of him was the strongest so he wasn't worried.
This place was simply a low-level dungeon.
One hit is enough to demolish this place.
Gragas grinned as he tightly gripped the handle of the hammer. His mana gathered around the hammer and flames surged fort enveloping his weapon.
[Blazing Pounding Smash]!
BOOOOM!!!!
Souta, Amanda, Eztein, and Yenxa turned their head on the east as they felt Gragas's energy spiked. They could feel a shockwave and the trees around them trembled because of the gust of winds.
Swoosh!
"I already said that he didn't need to use his strength," Souta muttered before he continued to walk.
Amanda and Eztein glanced at Gragas' direction one more time before they followed him.
A few minutes later, Gragas caught up with them.
"How is it?" Eztein asked.
"Nothing. Those undead are annoying but they are too weak." Gragas replied.
"What can you do we are living creatures? Only necromancers could control them. Besides, low-level undead didn't have high intelligence.." Eztein shrugged his shoulder.
