Chapter 155: The Eerie Castle

Looking at his 4,270SP, Ling Chen thought for a while, then used 2,400SP to level up Heaven Wind Technique. A ray of light flashed, and the Heaven Wind Technique was levelled up to LV4.

[Heaven Wind Technique]: Current Level: LV4, Highest Level: LV10. SP to Upgrade to LV5: 3,600. Ancient battle technique, after practice it can greatly increase the ability to control any weapon. Effect: When using any weapon, damage dealt is increased by 20%. Effect does not stack with other weapon proficiency skills.

Ling Chen decided to save the remaining 1,870 SP, and walked towards the skeleton castle.

It was incredibly silent here. Apart from the sound of his footsteps and the patter of Xiao Hui’s little feet, Ling Chen could not hear any other sounds, not even the whisper of the wind. Surrounded by countless bones, this was like a district of death, with its deathly silence.

Ling Chen walked to the castle’s only entrance. There was a massive door, made of white bones of course, which was many metres wide and many metres tall. The door looked incredibly ghostly, and looked as if it could be opened with the gentlest touch. Ling Chen stopped in front of the giant door, and Xiao Hui’s fur bristled, his mouth emitting a low growl. He then quickly ran in front of Ling Chen, warning him not to go inside.

Obviously, Xiao Hui felt that there was a great danger within this skeleton castle. His reaction caused Ling Chen to frown… Xiao Hui’s reactions changed according to the level of danger. He had only seen Xiao Hui’s fur bristle and stand up completely only once before… that was at Lonely Spirit Ridge, when they had met the terrifying War Demon Beast.

Xiao Hui’s vocal warning also came in the form of a low growl… it seemed that he didn’t want to make any loud noises so as to not alert the terrifying enemy inside of their presence.

In order to create this massive castle, countless bones had been used, resulting in a thick smell of death. This sort of castle belonged in a place like hell. What sort of person… or creature, or undead, created this castle?? Could it be that with the countless bones here, through the passage of time, they had somehow been merged together into a sentient super undead?

The only things able to survive in this sort of environment were perhaps the undead. How could a living creature be willing to stay in such a terrifying and deathly place?

Standing in front of the great doors, Ling Chen did not move for a long time. He intently listened for any noise within the castle… after ten minutes, he still did not hear anything. It was still as silent as before.

Could it be empty inside?

No way… Xiao Hui’s reaction, as well as his own sense of danger told him that there definitely was some sort of terrifying being inside the castle.

In that case, should he go in or not?

The multitudes of experts who had come here from Azure Dragon City definitely had not died on the way here. After all, the skeletons on the way here were all LV20. In that case, all those experts who had entered, but not exited, must had died in the central region of the forest. That meant that the reason for their deaths was…

The skeleton castle in front of him!

How terrifying the thing inside was, was quite obvious. All the super experts from Azure Dragon City who had entered had lost their lives. He himself was only a little LV17 player, and was bound to share their fate if he entered.

However, despite knowing this, Ling Chen’s hand gradually moved towards the door and pressed against it. An icy coldness spread through his hand, and he stayed there for a few moments… he knew that there was great danger ahead, and that he probably would not have much of a chance if he entered. Most people at this point would make the wiser choice, which was to leave. However, if Ling Chen did this, he would no longer be Ling Chen.

He was the type of person who became more excited the more dangerous the situation was. In this life, he had wandered many times in the boundary between life and death, so many times that he had already lost count. It was not one or two times, nor was it ten or twenty times, but rather hundreds, or even thousands of times. It was at that boundary between life and death he had become stronger and stronger each time. If he was someone who gave up when the situation seemed to difficult, he would not be where he was today, nor would he be much different from the other normal players.

Let’s see what sort of secrets are hidden inside!!

He pushed forwards with the hand on the door. Although the door was enormous, he was able to easily open it by gently pushing with his hand. Amidst a deep rumbling sound, the door began to slowly open. The atmosphere inside was eerie and freezing cold. The air inside rushed out, causing Ling Chen’s body temperature to fall by many degrees.

Ling Chen’s eyes narrowed, looking into the castle. At the same time, he got out a pineapple and held it in his left hand… it was a “Furious Pineapple” he had taken from the Lucky Cat. He was not entirely rash when he had opened the door- if he really encountered an overwhelmingly powerful enemy, he would quickly throw the pineapple and then escape.

The door had fully opened, but it was incredibly dark inside, making it hard for Ling Chen to see. He could only see the white ground, and nothing else. He held his breath, then walked into the skeleton castle.

“Ding… you have entered into the danger zone [Eerie Castle].

As soon as he walked into the castle, a system announcement sounded in his hears. Ling Chen’s awareness was raised to its peak, and he glanced around at him. It was very dark inside the castle, and the light from outside the castle’s doors could allow him to see a maximum of 30 metres in front of him. After stopping for a short while, Ling Chen started to walk forwards again…

Boom!!

A heavy sound came from behind him, and light inside the castle became even dimmer. Ling Chen abruptly turned around, and found that the giant door had automatically closed, sealing off any chance of escape.

As his surroundings suddenly became dark, Ling Chen’s heart leapt, and quickly ran towards the closed door. He tried to pull open the door will al his strength, but to no avail- the door was like a giant unmoving mountain.

Ling Chen gritted his teeth, and used both his hands to forcefully pull, then tried to push… no matter what he tried, the door did not even budge. However, he did not give up, and said in a low voice, “Xi Ling, try to destroy it.”

Out of everyone present, Xi Ling was the only one who had a ‘Destruction’ element in her attacks. Xi Ling flapped her wings, and ‘Red Laser’ landed onto the door.

With a “poof”, the thick red laser was stopped by the door, then extinguished. However, after the fire was extinguished, all that remained was a very small burn mark on the door. It was practically non-existent.

“Let’s try again!”

After the cooldown expired, another Red Laser was shot out by Xi Ling. No miracle appeared for Ling Chen, as yet another small burn mark was left behind. Ling Chen did not get Xi Ling to continue, so as to save her strength in case there was going to be a fight later. As Ling Chen calmed down, he took out a teleport scroll, and tried to shatter it…

“Ding… You are in a special locked map, and are unable to use a teleport scroll.”

Ling Chen silently put the teleport scroll away. After all, he had completed expected this outcome. Right now, he had been completely trapped in this castle, and could only advance… unless he fulfilled some kind of special condition, or died, he would not be able to leave!

He could only advance and see what was ahead.

Ling Chen put away the Furious Pineapple and took out his two weapons. He slowly and carefully walked forwards. The Furious Pineapple was no longer of any use to him in this case- even if he could cause the enemy to be stunned for 5 seconds, he still would not be able to leave, and would only delay his death by 5 seconds.

Tap… tap… tap…

In this sealed environment, his footsteps sounded especially loud. Every step he took felt like he was walking on his own heart. The light from the tiny cracks in the walls only allowed him to see within 20 metres of himself. Although the castle was fifty or sixty metres high, it was only about 100 metres wide. Ling Chen carefully observed his surroundings as he walked. After walking for about fifty metres, there was still only the white ground and nothing else… after walking for another tens of steps, an incomplete skeleton appeared in front of him.

From the moment he saw the first skeleton, he began to see more and more strewn across the ground. Some were complete, and some were incomplete. In this Forest of Bones, Ling Chen had seen far too many skeletons. It could be said that the most worthless things in this forest were skeletons. However, apart from skeletons, there were many… corpses!

That’s right! They were rotting corpses!

Skeletons were the remainders of corpses that had completely rotted. The rotting corpses that had yet to become skeletons meant that… these corpses had not died too long ago! The skeletons from the Forest of Bones all came from the bones from ten thousand years ago, during the Shura’s Devastation. That meant that these corpses weren’t from that time… but rather, were the corpses of those who had died here! Based on the decomposition of the corpses, some had died not even one year ago!

Were these people who had also entered like himself, and then died here?

His heart began to tighten and beat faster. The appearance of these skeletons and corpses meant that the terrifying danger in this castle was very near, maybe even a few steps away.

However, being locked in this castle, his only choice was to advance.

In that case, let’s go see what this castle is hiding!

He continued to walk forwards, one step… two steps… three steps…

“Crack!”

Ling Chen’s right foot had stepped onto a bone, resulting in a cracking sound. Within his field of vision, there were hundreds of skeletons and rotting corpses. At this moment, Ling Chen’s intuition caused him to suddenly raise his head.

In front of him, was the largest skeleton he had ever seen in his whole life…

The gigantic humanoid skeleton was sitting unmoving on a platform created from countless white bones. Although it was in a sitting position, it was still about 20 metres high. Ling Chen’s gaze moved down, from its head, to its neck, to its chest, then fixed on its right knee.

Because on the giant skeleton’s knee was a person!

When Ling Chen looked towards her, that person also moved… she turned around, and gradually opened her eyes.

What Ling Chen saw was a beautiful girl around twelve or thirteen. She had a pair of eyes that were completely black as night, without a single trace of the white sclera most people had.

Her long hair was jet black, and danced around her despite the lack of wind. Her jade white face, in contrast to her pitch black eyes, made her look as if she was some sort of demonic beauty. She was wearing a pure black dress, which revealed her slender legs, which dangled from the giant skeleton’s knee. Within her two hands, she held a doll with long ears… it appeared to be a rabbit doll, but because it was so old, it was almost impossible to tell without looking at the long ears.

A… human… girl…

Ling Chen gaped at her. The contrast to what he had been expecting caused him to become bewildered, and was at a loss for words.

The young girl’s face gradually turned to look at him, and her black eyes met his. Her eyes were usually black, and occasionally gave off a black glow. Looking into her eyes, Ling Chen felt that he was looking at some sort of boundless, pitch black dimension… in the deathly silence, the young girl’s lips moved, and began to speak in a gentle and soft voice…

“Are… you… here… to… give… me… dolls…”

Ling Chen: “……”