Chapter 193: Chapter 193 Circle City
The sight that now lay before me was none other than the Ruins of Lordaeron, with Dark City built beneath these very ruins—truly, Dark City couldn’t yet be called a city. If I wasn’t mistaken, the underground city should still merely be a nascent Earth Cave, initially carved from the sewers of the original Lordaeron. No matter how wildly the story might develop, it had been only a few months since The Forgotten had gained independence. Coupled with harassment from the Bloodthirsty Crusaders and Undead Remnants nearby, those isolated and resource-scarce Forgotten could hardly have a moment’s peace to flourish.
Although now in ruins, the ancient city still managed to exude hints of its former glory. The city walls, hundreds of meters high, were constructed entirely from massive stones, bound together by molten lead and traces of mithril to strengthen the walls’ resistance to magic. Such robust walls could withstand the fiercest external attacks, but who could have foreseen that this magnificent city would ultimately fall from within?
Under the bleak sunset of Tirisfal, the darkened rays reflected off the ancient walls of Lordaeron, revealing the collapsed debris behind its partially crumbled structure. The grand Alliance insignia, once prestigious, now hung like rags from the ramparts, having become a paradise for spiders. Oscillating feebly as the filthy breeze brushed by, the fallen city gates were checkered with startlingly deep fissures, silently narrating the tales of battle and death this land had once endured.
“Master…” Anwina suddenly drew closer to me, her voice tinged with a hint of sorrow.
“It’s okay, everything will get better. Alaya definitely has a way to purify this land.” I comforted Anwina by patting her head, calming my somewhat oppressed mood before speaking.
Beside us, Zaken suddenly stopped walking, then through the Little Zombie behind him, spoke in a deep, threatening tone, “Purify this land?”
“Don’t worry, I’m not like those Crusaders whose brains got fried by the Holy Light. I will heal this world but I don’t think The Forgotten are tainted. Perhaps you can look forward to a world where The Forgotten and the living coexist peacefully under the same blue sky.”
“Hmph—” the other snorted coldly, “Human, I’m becoming more and more curious about you. If you’re not a powerful Prophet, then you must be a madman with a deranged mind. In my view, the latter is more likely…”
“If I were you, I would think the same. But remember, your task is just to bring me in front of Sylvanas. My identity is irrelevant to you, isn’t it? Oh, and we don’t have to go through the sewers, right?”
I realized that Zaken hadn’t led us by the front but was moving toward a small hillside, prompting my curiosity.
“You don’t know? There’s a sewer exit on the small hill next to the Ruins of Lordaeron on the west side of Dark City that leads directly to the surface. I suspect you’re planning to take that route, right?”
“Who are you?!” Zaken finally couldn’t contain his astonishment and stopped abruptly to confront me loudly, “How could you know about that emergency passage that is still only in the design phase?!”
Impossible, this absolutely cannot be, Zaken repeated inwardly. Even many among The Forgotten didn’t know about that emergency passage in the design phase, and he had only heard about it once from his superior. The underground sewer exit that reached the surface had always been there, but nowadays, that place wasn’t even connected to the Earth Cave. Yet this mysterious human before him somehow knew about it?
Could he really be alive? Or was he just a bored ghost who had run out and taken over a body that had recently deceased just for fun?
At that moment, a somewhat humorous thought flashed through Zaken’s mind.
“So it’s still not operational yet,” I said, unaware of the skeleton’s thoughts, and simply nodded, “It seems the plot has been affected… Oh, don’t mind that, just lead the way.”
Despite being full of questions, Zaken decided to keep silent, his curiosity about the peculiar human who seemed to hold all the secrets growing stronger.
Eventually, we arrived in front of a concealed cave at the foot of a mountain. According to Zaken, this was now the entrance to Dark City.
“Human, this is the entrance to Dark City. I don’t know what the elevator you mentioned is, but as of now, we all enter and exit the cave through here, although it’s just a temporary entrance.” Perhaps driven by curiosity about me, Zaken took the initiative to explain all this.
“Oh… it’s quite dark here, is there a light?”
“Darkness is not a problem for the Dead Souls,” Zaken led the way into the pitch-black cave, followed by me and Anwina, and lastly, by the dazed Little Zombie under Zaken’s control.
It’s funny, we were “surrounded” by “one person” all around…
“Probably because of a resource shortage that there are no candles?” I whispered jokingly in the darkness.
I couldn’t see if there was an embarrassed expression on Zaken’s calcium-rich face, but I guessed he must be feeling awkward inside. Everything I said was true, the resource scarcity of The Forgotten had reached astonishing levels. Tirisfal was devastated by the plague, nearly devoid of resources to begin with. Although the material needs of the undead are also very low, their daily resources had reached a deficit, Skeleton Soldiers are quite effective on the battlefield, but they are definitely not qualified workers. Depending on them for resource collection is terribly inefficient, don’t believe the development speed of the Undead Clan in games, that’s all deceptive. The hands of the undead creatures are mostly mutilated and deformed, they can’t use ordinary tools properly, a Ghoul using its claws for logging is no match for a farmer with a hoe, and their claws are definitely unsuitable for construction work that requires precision, high-level undead creatures can make their bodies almost indistinguishable from before their deaths, but can you imagine a squad of Death Knights, bare-chested, drilling holes in a mine?
Zaken was right, the Dead Souls do not fear the dark, but as The Forgotten who had free thought, the memories of their past lives made them long for the light even more, I believe Sylvanas would not like to stay in a pitch-dark Earth Cave all day.
“Anwina, can we get some more light?” I beckoned the Ghost Maid who was behind me.
“Of course, master, watch this!” Triggered by my reminder, Anwina immediately reacted, releasing a bit of her energy, and immediately the originally dim, ordinary ghost-like luminescent body turned into a dazzling little sun.
“It’s a bit too bright, dim it, dim it… Yes, a bit brighter… Make it natural white light… Very good, very good, keep it that way and focus the light a bit more forward…”
Beside me, Zaken was already dumbfounded: Could the light on a ghost’s body be adjusted ?
Also, are there such bored undead in this world?
“Halt! Who goes there?”
Just as I was marveling at my own ingenious creation, a voice suddenly came from ahead. I looked up, only to find that we had reached the end of the passage. An Undead Officer, who looked significantly higher in level than Zaken, stood in front of us. Glancing past this tall undead officer, I could already see a corner of a burgeoning Underground City—of course, the city still looked more like a big cave right now.
“Zaken? Why have you returned?” By then, the Undead Officer had recognized Zaken leading the way; he then tilted his head slightly as if perceiving something in the air, “The scent of a living being?! Zaken, have you brought back a captive?”
Since the undead under the Witch Demon King were controlled by the same Spirit, they could directly transmit messages through Spiritual Connection, but The Forgotten who had acquired free thought lost this ability. They only had the less efficient option, and the Little Zombie behind us stepped forward and started introducing us to the Undead Officer.
“Strange living being,” the Undead Officer turned his gaze to us, “and an even weirder ghost…”
I noticed that when he looked at Anwina, who was playing the role of a mobile searchlight, his severely atrophied face twitched quickly twice before he casually turned his gaze to me: “Living being, I must tell you, no matter who you are or what you intend, you will likely find it very hard to leave this city for quite some time.”
“Not a problem, I’m quite curious about this Circle City. I don’t mind staying a few more days. Can I meet Sylvanas now, or do you need to report first?”
“I hope this guy isn’t a poor fool…” My response left the Skeleton Officer opposite somewhat confused; he whispered to Zaken, “Perhaps Her Majesty the Queen might take an interest in this odd fellow—let’s hope Her Majesty doesn’t think we’re wasting her time with someone mentally abnormal.”