Chapter 176: Entering the Ruins
When Edwin began counting heads, both Qingbai Wild Sake and Haicheng logged in one after the other. At first, the group had been surprised by the two's uncanny ability to appear and vanish without warning. But after witnessing them resurrect even after death, everyone gradually grew accustomed to it, ultimately accepting that they were "Chosen Ones."
This second expedition included nine professors, as well as powerful combatants like Leandro, Cress, and Zhou Ning. Zhou Ning even brought along two players.
Edwin didn't object. Before departure, he pulled several alchemical potions from his pocket and distributed them among the group. "These are Iron Armor Potions to enhance your defense, War God Potions to boost your attack, and a few anti-toxin potions. Don't be stingy—use them if you're in danger. Don't make mistakes."
Everyone accepted the potions and nodded solemnly. After yesterday's experience, no one dared take things lightly.
That morning, the weather was bizarre—an extremely rare winter snowstorm with thunder, coupled with intermittent acid rain. Lightning and thunder raged through the falling snow for a full hour before abruptly turning into a torrential downpour.
"Let's go." Only after the rain had been pouring for some time did Edwin finish his weather analysis and give the command to depart.
The rain was heavy. As Zhou Ning approached the entrance to the ruins, a pungent stench of decay hit him. The fog within the ruins seemed even thicker than the day before. The layered storm clouds and pouring rain made the surroundings look apocalyptic.
They had entered the domain of undead creatures. Nearby, weathered and tattered figures wandered aimlessly and tirelessly.
Suddenly, the figures seemed to sense someone approaching. Slowly, they turned toward the group.
They were corpses—rotting skin, blank expressions.
After yesterday's experience, Zhou Ning understood that these corpses needed to be dealt with immediately. The number of undead in this ruin was countless. No one could guess what might be hiding in the shadows. The longer the fight dragged on, the more dangerous it became.
This time, Zhou Ning didn't opt for firearms. Instead, he charged forward and unleashed a Divine Banishment. A blazing sword light surged forth, instantly engulfing a large number of corpses.
Almost at the same time, Rosie Lily completed her incantation. Her alchemy bottle triggered a powerful fire spell that detonated in the midst of the corpses. Flames roared to life, incinerating nearly ten corpses before they could even turn around.
Not to be outdone, the fiercely competitive Leandro charged with his flaming greatsword and launched a leaping cleave.
Everyone present was formidable, and their coordination was flawless. It didn't take long before they had wiped out nearly all the undead. When Zhou Ning eliminated the last one with a Ripple Shot, the battle was over.
The fight didn't yield much experience, but Zhou Ning harvested around twenty fairly high-quality undead cores, making the trip worthwhile.
The road ahead wasn't exactly peaceful either. Broken bones and incomplete skeletons littered the path. Though many high-level undead preferred to wander at night, the chaotic meteorological tides here made it difficult to distinguish between day and night. Zhou Ning saw with his own eyes a giant skeleton cloaked in black, dragging an enormous scythe, roaming through the thick fog.
He wasn't sure of its strength, but judging by Edwin's wary posture and the "Extremely Lethal" warning from his own detection skill, it was not something they could afford to provoke.
Given his own level—57—for the system to warn him of "Extremely Lethal," that creature had to be at least level 69 or higher: an ancient, malevolent being.
They waited in place for fifteen whole minutes until the giant skeleton wandered off. Only then did Edwin let out a sigh of relief and lead the team around from another direction.
The weather on the next leg of the journey was wildly erratic—rain, then snow, then sun, and back to snow, followed by another storm. Everyone finally got a full taste of what "meteorological tides" really meant.
With frequent stops to assess the weather and avoid potential natural disasters, they finally returned—after more than an hour—to the place they had retreated from the day before. Fortunately, this time there were no undead in sight.
Perhaps Edwin was right: the death energy was less active during the day, and undead creatures preferred to roam at night.
As they passed the collapsed building where they had encountered Archibald yesterday, Zhou Ning couldn't help glancing that way. It was empty—no one in sight.
But the once half-collapsed structure had been completely restored overnight, as if it had never been damaged. The newly restored building didn't look like a residence; it resembled a floating mausoleum. It was eerily familiar—strikingly similar to the Undead main base from Warcraft.
Zhou Ning: …
He had a rough idea why the architecture here remained in such pristine condition—undead creatures, tireless and unceasing, had silently taken on the work of restoration.
Following a nearly invisible path forward, Zhou Ning saw more buildings, each resembling those floating mausoleums. Though they weren't ruined or collapsed, they were overrun with tangled, unknown vines and black vegetation, giving them an air of decay brought on by time.
Before long, the group came to a halt. In front of them was a staircase made of black stone—astonishing in scale, with no fewer than two hundred steps. To the west stood a broken bell tower, long devoid of a bell.
This was the destination of their expedition—the ruin once visited by Count Robbins of Wisdom, only for him to return in defeat.
Looking up at the grand structure, Professor Albert from the History Department said, "This is a classic example of church architecture from the Four Heroes era. The St. Raymond Cathedral in Darkland uses this style—a spire at the top, the whole structure striving toward the heavens. A bell tower always stands on the western facade because, according to legend, the gods dwell in the Sea of Mist to the continent's west. The bells ring toward them for their ears."
Quite reasonable. Zhou Ning surveyed the area and nodded in agreement. Edwin, unable to wait, took the lead and began climbing the black stone steps toward the main door.
Soon, Edwin reached the entrance. He extended his hand, gripped the handle, and pulled the door open.
With a rusty creak, the heavy doors slowly swung wide.
Ahead lay a vast hall, classic in St. Raymond style: a long, narrow nave. Compared to the mostly intact exterior, the interior had seen some collapse—two of the four supporting pillar rows had fallen. The pointed arches of the pillars intersected in the vaulted ceiling like upward-thrusting branches growing from underground, creating a strong sense of vertical momentum.
According to Albert, this upward momentum symbolized reverence for the gods and yearning for the divine realm.
The moment Zhou Ning stepped through the doorway, a system prompt appeared on his panel, triggering a new quest:
[Temple Exploration]: You've accidentally entered a temple devoted to an ancient god. Try to explore it as thoroughly as possible to uncover the secrets buried deep in history.
It was a B-rank exploration mission. The objective was to delve as deeply into the temple as possible. The final completion score would be determined based on how much of the temple they had explored by the time they left.
Exploration quests like this usually only showed up in large team dungeons. If his guess was right, this temple was probably a team dungeon that had never been discovered in his past life.
Exploring a high-level map like this would likely yield no less than 600,000 experience points, plus generous bonus rewards. Tagging along with this crew could mean a sizable windfall, Zhou Ning thought with satisfaction.
Following the others into the temple in single file, Zhou Ning instinctively scanned his surroundings. He noticed a side door on each end of the hall, both shut. Leandro walked over and tried to pull one open. It wouldn't budge. Instead, bits of rubble began to fall from above—clear signs of potential collapse.
"Don't touch anything!" Professor Wesley scolded. Leandro withdrew his hand sheepishly and moved toward the opposite side.
Zhou Ning chuckled and looked away. He noticed that the hall interior featured a steeply pitched gable in the Gothic style. Numerous vertical lines and buttresses divided the wall into five sections, and the buttresses were covered with vivid, ornate murals—giving off a deep yet somewhat flamboyant atmosphere.
One mural in particular stood out: the background was a war-torn, blood-red land. Gallows stood everywhere. The land was barren; even the trees had withered.
Swarms of skeletons and zombies were advancing on a village. On the left, a wagon was fully loaded with priests in white robes.
And behind the skeletons stood a towering man—gloomy expression, gray hair, holding an ice-blue greatsword.
Zhou Ning: …
His pupils constricted sharply. He recognized the man in the mural.
That was the Reaper!