Although Basel had been working as a librarian in Doland Library, he was rather prestigious in the hearts of the mages of the Breezy Plains. Most of the mages who had received his guidance regarded him as their teacher. That was great news to Lin Li and the mages of the Tower of Dusk.
A few days after Basel returned, Lin Li received a letter from Hoffman, which stated that the Glittergold Trade Union’s team of adventurers was ready to set off from Lafalia City. It was also stated in the letter that the meeting point agreed upon was near the huge canyon of Gargas, so there would be no need for the people of the Tower of Dusk to meet them at Lafalia City.
Knowing they might be exploring the ruins of the High Elven royal family, Lin Li took the consideration of the team’s strength seriously when deciding on the members. The first two members of the team were the Legendary-level Undead servants Ujfalusi and Norfeller, followed by Connoris who had the perfect body and Angelano who had the Alchemy Colossus. Basel who had just returned, Alan who had just stepped into the Legendary-realm, and a team of mages composed of hundreds of Archmages were also part of the team. This time, Lin Li decided to bring all the Legendary-level members that he could. It was almost like he was going all out.
Lin Li was not worried about the safety of the Tower of Dusk. After hearing the words of the Ashen Warlock, the large and small forces of the Breezy Plains did not dare to blatantly lay a finger on the Tower of Dusk. Hence, there was no need to leave behind too much manpower for guarding the place. Besides, even if someone was harboring ill intentions about the Tower of Dusk, they wouldn’t be able to escape alive, because they would be attacked by the Magical Crystal Cannons, All-Kill Arrays, and the powerful Eternal Furnace that was on top of the Tower of Dusk.
The expedition team from the Tower of Dusk set off for the huge canyon of Gargas. Along the way, they managed to frighten those who paid attention to the Tower of Dusk, especially the ones who had offended them. They were all terrified, and thought that the Tower of Dusk was planning to settle scores with them. The Mithril Alliance kept their guard up even more, and stayed alert after receiving the news. The members of the headquarters of each of the five major families were panic-stricken, and began to prepare for the future.
Yes, the Ashen Warlock did say that no one was allowed to break the existing peace, but that would depend on who the people in question were. Judging from the situation of the gathering in Gran Town, it was obvious that the Ashen Warlock valued the President of the Tower of Dusk, and they might have reached an agreement during the secret conversation that they had in the Tower of Ashes.
However, Lin Li did not care about what those forces were thinking about or getting up to. The expedition team went all the way north, and soon arrived at the northern boundary of the Breezy Plains, where they entered Lockdamer and headed towards the location that they had agreed upon with Hoffman.
A few days later, the team from the Tower of Dusk arrived in the vicinity of the huge canyon of Gargas, where they joined the team from the Glittergold Trade Union, which had already set up a camp.
Hoffman, who had received the news, led several senior officials from the Glittergold Trade Union out of the camp. After meeting with Lin Li and the rest, Hoffman immediately noticed Basel, who was beside Lin Li, and got a great shock. Although Basel had been living in seclusion in Doland Library, he was prestigious amongst the mages, and Hoffman, the President of the Glittergold Trade Union, definitely knew who he was.
Hoffman didn’t even bother to say hello to Lin Li, and instead asked Basel in shock, “Master Basel, you…”
Basel smiled, and said, “I… have joined the Tower of Dusk.”
Upon hearing this, Hoffman was even more shocked. He turned to look at Lin Li inquisitively.
Lin Li had long predicted that Hoffman would be shocked. Hence, he explained, “Master Basel has agreed to serve as the chief judge of the Tower of Dusk, but we haven’t held an inauguration ceremony yet because of this expedition.”
In a Guild of Magic, the chief judge played an extremely important role, and his authority would not be below that of the leader. Any matter related to the safety of the guild would be handled by the chief judge, who’d have full authority. Sometimes, he might even override the power of the President of the guild. It would be no exaggeration to say that to some extent, the chief judge was akin to another President of the guild. Hence, unlike other members of the guild, the chief judge would have to go through a very formal inauguration ceremony.
Lin Li got his team to set up a camp nearby while he led Basel and the others into the Glittergold Trade Union’s camp. This time, the Glittergold Trade Union sent quite a few members, including the Legendary-mage Thomas, the Sword Sage Jerany, the Legendary-mage Elvan, and the pair of twin Legendary Assassins, Gia and Sike. In addition to those major shareholders, almost half of the mages of the Glittergold Trade Union were there. There were probably about 100-odd Archmages. Besides, there were also 100 Warriors who were above level-15, and were the elites of the Skyfire Knights. However, they did not bring their mounts due to the environment there.
The senior executives of the two parties sat in the tent of the Glittergold Trade Union, and Hoffman took out a map of the huge canyon of Gargas. However, the illustration was not complete, and it was obviously drawn by the previous expedition team.
However, it didn’t take long for everyone to discuss the plan for the expedition inside the tent. All of a sudden, there was a loud noise outside the camp. A soldier barged into the tent, and said, “Mr. President, there are a lot of Undead creatures outside the camp.”
Everyone couldn’t help but be surprised. At this moment, it was still daytime, and ordinary low-level Undead creatures were not allowed to move under the sun. The appearance of a large number of Undead creatures was rather peculiar.
Sunlight was a natural form of Holy Light. Although its power was scattered, and thus it did not have powerful purification powers, it was rather deadly to low-level Undead creatures. Even in the gathering places of the Undead creatures, such as the Shadowglen and Scar of Death, there would be a dense layer of Death Energy fog that would shield them from the sun, while the low-level Undead creatures would fall into deep slumber underground during the day.
It was still sunny in the huge canyon of Gargas, where the sunlight was particularly dazzling under the reflection of the ice and snow, making it seem like the rays were stronger than usual. However, even under such circumstances, Lin Li, Hoffman, and the rest still managed to see a dense cluster of Undead creatures that were swarming in like a white tide from a spot that was one or two kilometers away from the camp.
Upon sight of the Undead creatures that were swarming towards the camp, Lin Li and the others could not help but be shocked, because the Undead creatures were a little different from the ones they had seen before. That explained the sudden commotion in the camp.
The types of Undead creatures could be seen at first glance, and the one rushing to the front was still the Skeletal Warriors, which were the perpetual cannon fodder of the Undead creatures. However, the Skeletal Warriors were all covered with crystal clear ice, and seemed to be wearing crystal armor that glistened under the sunlight. The originally skinny Skeletal Warriors also appeared to be much stronger and more powerful due to the fact that they were covered in ice.
Another thing that caught the attention of Lin Li and the rest was the diversity of the Skeletal Warriors. Not all of them were formed from human bones. Some of them were shorter but thicker, which suggested that they should have been made out of dwarven bones, while some had horns or fangs, and were obviously related to beastmen. Behind those human, dwarven, and beastman Skeletal Warriors, there were giant skeletons, which were the skeletons of giants that were said to have the blood of Titans.
“Legend has it that this was once a battlefield where all races fought, and it seems to be true,” Hoffman muttered to himself.
The huge canyon of Gargas was known to be an insurmountable moat, but it stretched for thousands of miles, and did not quite divide the entire continent in half. Although the Tower of Dusk and the Glittergold Trade Union did not meet at the end of the Grand Canyon, they were about 100 miles away. The terrain there made it easier for them to enter the canyon. It was said that the rebellion alliance formed by various major races had fought several battles with the High Elves because they wanted to rebel against the rule of the High Elves.
Perhaps the rebels, too, wanted to take advantage of the cold environment to affect the High Elves back then, but it turned out that they simply didn’t enjoy cold temperatures. The outcome of the battle was imaginable. It was said that hundreds of thousands of rebels were buried under the white ice and snow there, and many of them were powerful figures of various races.
However, due to the harsh environment there which was cold and dry unlike the rancid Shadowglen and Scar of Death, Lin Li and the rest did not notice the hidden death aura. That was also partly due to the gloominess that was permeating the huge canyon.
Upon sight of the ice-armored Undead creatures at this moment, everyone recalled the legend about that place.
Although the Undead creatures all had peculiar appearance, and were wrapped in armor-like ice, they were, after all, just some low-level Skeletal Warriors and Hell Ghouls. Hence, they did not constitute a substantial threat to the powerful expedition that consisted of 300-400 powerhouses who were above level-15.
After the Undead creatures entered the firing range, the Archmages who had been prepared for a long time raised their staffs, and various rays of light from magical spells instantly filled the air. The magical elements in the air seemed to have been ignited by Mars[1] as they erupted instantly. Although only less than 100 Archmages had launched offensive spells, the magic storm formed by all kinds of spells was rather amazing as it swept towards the Undead creatures like a thunderstorm.
All of a sudden, ice spikes and bones flew all over the sky, and the rising fog almost covered the entire area. When the thick fog dissipated and everything calmed down, the menacing army of Undead creatures had completely disappeared outside the camp, leaving only broken limbs strewn all over the ground. Some of the mages of the Tower of Dusk continued to build their own camp as if nothing had happened.
Although the Undead creatures were rather peculiar, Lin Li shook his head slightly after seeing that they were not that much stronger than their ordinary counterparts. However, when Lin Li turned around and prepared to return to the tent of the Glittergold Trade Union to continue discussing the exploration plan, he saw that Ujfalusi and Norfeller who were behind him looked rather bizarre.
Seeing the two of them gawk at the Undead creatures like people who saw a feast of delicacies after starving for several days, Lin Li immediately understood what was going on. Smiling, he said, “You two don’t need to follow me, just do whatever you want. Go ahead.” He then returned to the tent with Hoffman and the others.
Hearing Lin Li’s instructions, Ujfalusi and Norfeller beamed with joy as they walked away from the camp together. Each of them chanted a short spell in the direction of the destroyed army of Undead creatures, only for everyone to see that there were suddenly various orbs of light in the place that had quieted down again. The orbs looked just like fireflies that were swarming towards the Undead duo.
They were the soul fire of the Undead creatures that had died. Unfortunately, many had been completely extinguished under the scouring of the magic storm. The rest was also damaged and much worse than complete soul fire.
After absorbing the soul fire, Norfeller and Ujfalusi looked at each other before returning to the camp while everyone looked at them with puzzlement. They did not enter, and simply waited outside.
In the tent, Lin Li, Hoffman, and the others talked about the Undead creatures just now, but they didn’t have any clues. Hence, they continued to plan exploring the ruins. However, not long after they started talking again, there was another magical explosion outside, and someone barged in to report that another group of Undead creatures had arrived. However, this time, everyone knew the strength of those Undead creatures. Only when the group of Undead creatures were wiped out did they send someone to report about it.
“Strange, what’s wrong with these Undead creatures? We may give out our auras, but they can’t possibly be unafraid of sunlight anymore, can they?” Hoffman muttered with a frown after hearing his subordinate’s report.
“Master Hoffman, didn’t the expedition team that you sent earlier find a large number of Undead creatures?” Lin Li asked in puzzlement. Hoffman once said that a team of 50 people had been sent to confirm the authenticity of the clues, but only two returned alive. Didn’t they mention any Undead creatures in their report?
Hoffman shook his head, pointed to a spot on the map, and said to Lin Li and others, “The expedition entered the canyon from a spot more than 100 miles away from here, and they only encountered individual Undead creatures along the way. They did not encounter such a large group of Undead creatures, so this information has not been included in the section of key things to note.”
“In that case, why did we meet at this place instead of the spot where they began entering the canyon?” Lin Li continued to ask. Since the previous expedition in front had explored it, it was, in theory, obviously easier to enter according to the route that had been tried previously. That was also a problem that Lin Li had been wondering about ever since he was informed about the meeting point.
[1] Probably the Roman god, iirc that’s where the name Helios came from (though that one’s Greek).
