Beneath the mines on the second level are the ruins that make up the third level.
When Lyonse was a mining town, the villagers dug too deep and dug out the entrance, releasing the demon Bailey and the cannibalistic depraved Morlocks who worshiped him. They quickly slaughtered the miners, turning the area into the sinister dungeon it is today.
When Tai arrived in the city, his troops captured Bailey, massacred the devil's worshipers, trained them into workers, and claimed the upper echelons for themselves. Due to the easy access to Alkavist in the mines, the Necromancer never bothered to explore the ruins beyond his nearest location.
until today.
"So, you're new here?" Hagen asked Laufey as he led Tai and his elite through a stone hall. Two rows of stone columns support the ceiling of the vast room, and the walls are decorated with original, half-erased mosaics. The ghost will provide light in Tay's work. "Nice little thing."
"Enough to make your head fall off?" replied the Dark Elf.
"The words are also very vicious. I already like you." "I am Hagen. The silent and stoic one is Spook, and the rotten one is Duke."
"To the living, this is the Duke." The zombie mocked Laufey. "You'd better respect your elders."
"Of course, my lord," Laufey replied, unmoved. Duke hissed in reply, but Ty shot them a look to silence them. Spock trembled in the rearguard, the sight of the hall unsettling him. Before his resurrection, he had been one of the mummies in the catacombs, and returning to his "birthplace" must have troubled him.
"Here, boss," Hagen said, as they reached the T-shaped end of the hall; before them stood a huge stone wall with two small corridors on either side. Dullahan touched the six stones that made up the structure in sequence.
Immediately the wall disappeared, revealing a circular chamber about twenty feet in diameter, the floor covered with runes, ancient hieroglyphs, and spell circles forming a large diagram around a heavy stone. Sixteen noseless, skinny, pig-faced humanoid robots glanced at the newcomers, surrounded by man-eating ghouls and skeleton warriors.
Tay has long suspected that the underground ruins were some kind of place of worship because of the multitude of hidden chambers, tombs and walls inside. Seeing the rock only confirmed his thoughts. "How did you know it existed?" he asked Hagen.
"Remember those adventurers who were accidentally teleported a few days ago?"
A side nodded.
"I don't know how they ended up finding the teleporter, I figured they must have been chasing something through the forest before finding the hidden entrance. So I had the ghouls among us track the scent of the living and they smelled it These," Hagen pointed a finger at the Orc, who winced, "are the little ones behind the wall. After some trial and error, we opened the way."
The wizard, wearing a robe and mask, walked towards the orc, who looked up at him in horror. They must have been hiding in that location for some time and looked clearly malnourished and starving; a glance at nearby bones told Tay that they had even eaten their own carcasses.
"Can I keep them," Laufey asked. “My hound needs chew toys.”
"I say we capture them, alive or dead," Hagen replied, more pragmatically.
Tai recognized some of the tribal markings on the orcs' skin and guessed they were survivors of the Shaman Commandos that had been wiped out by the academy. "'Who is your leader?' the wizard asked them in their native tongue.
The group looked at one of the females, which was a little bigger than the others. Judging by her more elaborate tattoos, cloak, and bone wand, she's at least a spellcaster if not a shaman. "I am a bone-eater who 'resigns myself to fate'." Second only to the shaman. "
There is no god here. Not even the dirty ancestors worshiped by the orcs. "'I am the malicious attacker.'" Tai translated his wizard's name in ancient Elvish, using magic to solidify his dominance. "'Do you seek power? Do you want to be immortal?'"
The goblin seemed to have difficulty understanding the question before answering. ""Yes. You mighty spirit. You are strong. "
"'I can make you stronger than the humans who hunt you here,'" Tye said. "There will be pain, but there will be power and revenge. I can also make sure you never go hungry again.'"
"what price?'"
"You serve."
The goblin had no choice but to snarl at the other members of her tribe. They all knelt before their new master. "Feed them," Tai told his undead servants. "Then take them to my lab for surgery."
Then he turned his attention to the stele. An oppressive cold air leaked from the stone, and Tai confirmed that it was a seal after casting [Super Magic Scan]. The bonds of magic date back thousands of years, and have slowly been weakened over time.
"The Hidden City," Laufey said as he read the runes. "The hall of the unworthy."
"Can you understand these runes?" Tai asked, a little nervously. The knowledge of the runes is a closely guarded secret, known only to certain classes, and even the Necromancers themselves have only partially unlocked it.
Laufey replied with an ancient powerful word, and the binding circle lit up the room. A paranoid duke immediately drew his sword and tried to kill the elf, but Tai stopped him with a gesture.
The stone tablet trembled, but refused to let go.
The dark elf shook his head in disappointment. "I couldn't break the seal myself," she admitted. "But my father could."
Besides the fact that he can't leave the realm he's destined to be in, Tai can never deal with a creature he can't put down.
A closer inspection of the seal confirmed the elf's words. Only the most powerful mages can unlock the seal by speaking the ancient words of power, and Tai would need at least another thirty levels to do so.
"You have never wondered who built these ruins?" Laufey asked curiously. "Why?"
"No," Tai answered bluntly. “I have no interest in revisiting the past unless it helps me shape the future.”
However, although the seal was powerful, a small hole appeared in its magical defense system due to lack of maintenance. He can take advantage of this opportunity now. "Protect my body." Tai ordered as he sat in front of the stone tablet. "I'm going away for a while."
"Pray?" Laufey mused.
Tai didn't give her an answer that made her look noble. "(Astral Projection)."
Called by his spell, his dark soul emerges from the Immortal Coil, a dark, serpentine cloud of darkness visible only to the immortal. Hagen immediately moved to protect his master's body, and Tai's soul slipped out through a small opening in the stone tablet.
Necromancers know this is dangerous. His soul was reduced to its most primitive essence, and in astral form he was unable to cast spells or even use the abilities of a ghost. He was helpless, but this helplessness caused the magical defense system to ignore him.
As his floating soul passes over the stone tablet, Tai finds himself on a dark staircase leading to a dark abyss.
The descent seemed to last several hours, and perhaps it was. Eventually, however, the narrow walls opened up, revealing something incredible.
Amazing stuff.
Stairs lead to a vast cavern so large that it could contain the entire Lyonesse and its surrounding countryside. Veins of alkali cover its walls, giving off a faint crimson glow.
A natural plateau appears in the center of the cave, connected to the world above by stairs. Above it stood a massive black stone wall, a gap revealing the city within.
Meanwhile, deep below them, a sea of purple mist surrounded the plateau, an unnatural veil dividing the living from the dead. Huge, blackened tree roots protrude from the fog and penetrate deep into the plateau.
The root of the World Tree itself.
Somehow, looking at the mist, he felt uncomfortable, and he couldn't figure out why. As Ty floated down the stairs toward the city's entrance, the Necromancer finally received the message from the system itself.
You have entered:[Nast
o
d]．
He had never heard of it.
Judging by its size, the necromancer guessed it was a massive city, older than the human tombs above. However, the architectural style neither suited Jotu
heim's Frostborn, nor their hard-working, passionate Muspelheim cousins. Perhaps it was built by the original Titans or a sect from either realm.
The ghost passed through the gap and entered the city's vast, gravel-covered streets, whose architecture was unlike anything Tai had ever seen. Rectangular blocks of black stone blended into the walls and appeared to form houses, but the team found only a few of them. In fact, after passing through the second row of protective walls, the only striking structure is a huge cathedral in the center: a huge, huge temple made of black stone and black metal, with Odin above. The temples were dwarfed by them.
Regardless, the residents apparently worshiped snakes. From the serpent statues coiled around the pillars to the fangs on the defensive walls, many details about the city reminded the necromancer of reptiles. Calcified fossils of giants often remain nearby, remnants of the people who previously inhabited Nastrang
THOMB!
When the Necromancer's spirit reached a large square in front of the cathedral's gates, a powerful rumble echoed through the streets. A 40-foot-tall black metal giant, who had guarded the building for centuries, approached him. The machine looks like an armored knight carved from dark steel, wielding a large sword. Its enclosed helmet releases toxic fumes.
An indestructible puppet. 60 levels.
A soulless robot, resistant to all magic below the fourth level, possessing the strength of a giant and a blade so sharp that it can cut steel. They have neither fear nor regret, only responsibility. A very powerful guard that can fight against bandits, adventurers, and even noble knights.
One of them was terrifying, but Ty noticed that two others stood on either side of the cathedral, like watchful sentinels unfettered by time. Together they form a formidable defense for all but the mightiest adventurers.
Thankfully, the giant passed him by and continued his ancient, uninterrupted patrol.
Souls approach the church and are immediately turned away by an invisible barrier; a second perfect seal surrounds the entire building, preventing anything from passing through. Unlike the one above, this particular magical defense has stood the test of time. Its design is more complex and layered.
What justification exists for so many magical defenses? What kind of ancient evil slumbers within these walls?
"I feel you, my wayward slave."
A familiar woman's voice whispered to his soul, haughty, cold, and majestic.
An ancient, primal fear buried decades ago awakens in Tai's mind as he can feel the overwhelming pressure of the goddess' gaze on him.
"I smell your fear... and the stench of Midgard above... I feel..."
Tai immediately canceled his [Astral Projection] and his soul immediately bounced back into his body. The chill of Helheim was gone, and its goddess could no longer trace the location of his soul.
"Chief?" Hagen sounded worried as Laufey looked at him confused. "Boss, what happened?"
The necromancer glanced at his fingers and trembled with fear.
"chief?"
"Hello." Tai replied, and all the undead present froze in place. "She almost found me."
For the next few hours, Tai immersed himself in research, never leaving his alchemist's laboratory.
Trapped in a glass jar, suspended in alchemical liquid, Bo
eat
It began to change color, her skin slowly turning silver with black spots on it. The experiment went well; the necromancer believed he could enhance the goblins' physiology, allowing them to adapt to his needs within a few days. Then, his eyes turned to the white mice in the cage, which looked at their master with crimson eyes. His future acquaintance.
Hagen's footsteps interrupted him. "We've got all three levels under control," Loyal Dullahan said, handing him a scroll. "I drew a complete map and marked the places where traps and ambushes could be set."
Ankou grabbed the document, but found that he couldn't focus on the details, his mind was troubled by other things.
"Chief? If you want to talk to someone, I'm always here for you..."
"I should have known that putting down all my magical protection and baring my naked soul would attract Hel's eyes," Tai replied. "This won't happen again."
"She didn't forget," Hagen shrugged. "How long have we not seen each other? Thirty years?"
"29". 29 years ago, Tai successfully brought their souls out of Helheim where they were trapped. For twenty-nine years they had escaped from the iron grip of the savage goddess. Now that she knew he was in Midgard, he would have to be more careful around the church up there.
"We escaped her once, and we can escape her again." The Headless Horseman tried to cheer up his subjects. "Anyway, if she comes for your head, my weapon will be yours."
"Thank you, my friend." "But the goddess is more important to me than removing that seal."
The sheer amount of alkali there justifies breaking the seal, but the presence of Yggdrasil's roots also presents opportunities. They are the backbone of the universe itself, and extracting their life-blood aids his research.
Since he didn't have the level required to break the seal the standard way, he had to research a more...unorthodox method.
Necromancers will avoid destroying the guards around the cathedral. Ty had a feeling that whatever was inside was more trouble than it was worth.
The ghost string passes through a wall. "Boss, you have an emergency!"
"Has the princess found a way to clear the poisonous cloud?" asked the question. "Underworld?"
"It's worse than that, boss," Gustlin said with a smile.
"There's a new alchemist in town."
