Chapter 52 – The Valley of the Dead

Chapter 52 – The Valley of the Dead

Cheng Yang wasn’t entirely clear about the situation around the idle altar. Judging by the circumstances in Luofeng Village, the scale of the monster horde around this altar should be comparable to those near the city exit passages. Successfully capturing this altar would undoubtedly bring significant benefits to Luofeng Village’s development.

Although Cheng Yang had led his team into Xiangcheng City twice in the past two days, they had followed a single route each time without conducting a full-scale monster cleanup. As a result, they encountered numerous monster groups along the way.

Facing large monster groups, Cheng Yang invariably activated his Flower Stealing Wood skill, relying on his formidable attack power to swiftly crush them. Now, Cheng Yang didn’t hesitate to use mana potions, quickly dispatching monster groups before moving forward. Even if refugees hiding underground called for help, Cheng Yang and his team ignored them, as rescuing them now would be futile since they couldn’t be taken away.

After more than an hour, they had advanced over ten kilometers and finally reached the eastern outskirts of Xiangcheng City. About three hundred meters ahead lay a city exit passage, densely packed with a single type of monster that Cheng Yang had encountered before – the Spotted Fur Spiders.

The sight gave Cheng Yang a headache.

Spotted Fur Spiders were among the few first-tier monsters possessing ranged attack capabilities. While their webbing didn’t deal much damage, it had strong binding properties. Small groups of these spiders didn’t concern Cheng Yang, but facing thousands of them was a different matter entirely.

“Leader, what should we do now?” Yu Kai whispered, “Fight or retreat?”

After some thought, Cheng Yang replied, “Let’s hold off for now. I’m the only strong fighter on our side, and who knows what special abilities the Spotted Fur Spider leader might have? We’ll continue rescuing people first. Once you all reach intermediate apprentice level, we’ll come back to deal with these spiders.”

“Agreed!” Yu Kai and the others readily concurred. They didn’t know about the territory altar beyond the passage, or they might not have agreed so readily.

Cheng Yang and his team quietly retreated, careful not to alert the demonic beasts, and continued northward.

Cheng Yang pulled out a map from his pocket, one he had drawn based on his memories from his previous life. It showed no building markings, and only Cheng Yang could understand it.

On this map, Cheng Yang had marked several special locations, including the eastern passage. The other four marked spots included the northern passage and three locations within Xiangcheng City.

Of these three city locations, one was near the city center, which Cheng Yang hadn’t visited yet. The other two were farther from the center, and Cheng Yang’s current target was one of these, conveniently located along their rescue route.

Their progress slowed significantly as they faced various monsters and conducted rescue operations.

The straight-line distance from the eastern passage to Cheng Yang’s marked location was only about five kilometers, but along this route were seven rescue points. This forced them to take detours, and with the time spent on rescues, it was already past 2 PM when they finally reached their destination.

What appeared before them wasn’t a monster, but a glowing white curtain, identical in appearance to the entrance of the Bloody Church dungeon in their territory.

Indeed, this was another dungeon entrance, also a low-level one. However, this wasn’t the Bloody Church but a completely new dungeon.

If Cheng Yang had known that dungeons initially appeared as strange stone slabs, he would have immediately searched all known dungeon locations, collected these slabs, and brought them to Luofeng Village.

But there was no use regretting now. Unless Cheng Yang could be reborn again, which was as likely as humans suddenly becoming immortals. Being reborn once was already unimaginable; being reborn twice? Cheng Yang just chuckled at the thought, knowing it was impossible.

Although this was a beginner-level dungeon, it wasn’t something just anyone could enter. A team without full intermediate apprentice-level combatants would perish in even the lowest-level dungeon. Take the normal-level Bloody Church, for example – its strongest creatures were late first-tier demonic beasts. Sending in a mere five-person team would be suicidal.

This dungeon differed from the Bloody Church. The Bloody Church was a small dungeon, allowing a maximum of five entrants. This one was a medium dungeon, permitting up to fifty entrants. Beyond this were large dungeons, accommodating up to five hundred people. Whether there were even larger dungeons, Cheng Yang didn’t know, as in his previous life, the largest discovered were the large dungeons.

Cheng Yang had entered this dungeon once in his previous life. It was a massive canyon called the Valley of the Dead, which was also the dungeon’s name.

The origin of the Valley of the Dead was unknown, but it produced items related to mages. Most importantly, clearing this dungeon for the first time would yield a significant benefit, one that was particularly valuable to Cheng Yang himself.

Cheng Yang’s decision to become a mage was partly due to his talent and partly because of this dungeon. However, the dungeon’s rewards weren’t urgently needed at present, so he hadn’t rushed here. But since they were passing by, he didn’t mind clearing it now.

“Leader, is this a dungeon?” Yu Kai asked after a moment of stunned silence.

Before Cheng Yang could answer, Liu Hao interjected, “Isn’t that obvious? It looks exactly like the portal in our territory.”

Yu Kai replied, “I know, I just wanted to confirm.”

“Enough,” Cheng Yang said. “This is indeed a beginner-level dungeon, but it’s medium-sized, allowing up to fifty entrants. Correspondingly, its difficulty is higher than the Bloody Church.”

Niu Bing, now fully alert, asked, “Leader, we only have thirty-five people. Isn’t tackling a fifty-person dungeon a bit challenging?”

Cheng Yang replied, “There are challenges, but I’m here. If we’re careful, we should be fine.”

Niu Bing said no more. Cheng Yang’s strength was evident to all in Luofeng Village. So far, they hadn’t encountered anything Cheng Yang couldn’t handle. If Cheng Yang said they could do it, they believed him.

Cheng Yang was indeed confident. In the past, he wouldn’t have dared to attempt this dungeon with just thirty-plus people. Even with a full fifty-person team and himself, success wasn’t guaranteed. But now, with his Flower Stealing Wood skill, which was somewhat of a game-changer, especially when facing weaker opponents, he felt assured.

Cheng Yang instructed everyone to hold hands before the dungeon entrance and then initiated the entry.

In a flash, their surroundings changed dramatically.

If their previous location was a ruin, this place was a dead land. Everywhere they looked, there were bones. They stood in a canyon filled with white, skeletal remains.

“Ah…” screamed one of the female combatants, unaccustomed to such a scene.

A nearby combatant quickly grabbed her and covered her mouth, silencing the scream.

Cheng Yang calmly said, “It’s alright. The monsters here can’t hear. If you’re scared, you can scream all you want. But don’t run off. The monsters here are densely packed. If you separate from the group, you won’t last ten seconds.”

As Cheng Yang spoke, the ground in the canyon began to shift. Wait, not the ground – the bones on the ground were moving.

Liu Hao, being a gaming enthusiast, exclaimed, “Leader, are the monsters here skeleton soldiers?”

Cheng Yang smiled faintly, “Correct, but no prize. To put it more dramatically, this could be called a skeleton sea, albeit a small one.”

Liu Hao confidently said, “Well, today I’ll see the power of a skeleton sea. I wonder if there are necromancers in this world. If not, that would be a shame.”

Cheng Yang didn’t respond. Were there necromancers? He didn’t know. But if there were, it might not be as fun as Liu Hao imagined.

As they spoke, the bones began to move rapidly, assembling themselves into complete skeletons that shakily stood up.

This sight left the young men, raised on atheism, utterly stunned. But they knew the world could no longer be explained by conventional logic.

A hundred skeleton soldiers stood together, presenting an imposing sight. If they held swords instead of bone clubs, the effect would be perfect. But Cheng Yang knew better – anyone who underestimated these bone clubs would regret it, as they were just as deadly as swords.

The skeleton horde seemed to receive a command and charged toward Cheng Yang’s group.

“Prepare for battle!” Cheng Yang shouted, selecting five ranged attackers and summoners, including Yu Kai, Niu Bing, and three mages.

The Flower Stealing Wood skill activated instantly…