According to Shien’s estimation, besides himself, only Leisha, the Spatial Magician, could infiltrate to this extent so silently.
Of course, Nadue, the Goddess of Nature, could also do it.
Her ability to merge with nature was somewhat broken. If it were her, she might even be able to explore this place more thoroughly than Shien.
Shien went down, activating the perception ability of [Outer Awareness of Heaven’s Decree] to observe the surroundings and avoid triggering any traps.
But there didn’t seem to be any traps here.
“They probably think that Legendary-level dracolich is enough to block everything, right?”
Shien thought so.
When Shien reached the bottom of the steps and finally entered the basement, he realized that his previous thoughts were too naive.
Although there were no traps here, it definitely wasn’t just guarded by a single dracolich.
“Groan…”
“Groan…”
In the dim basement, beast-like growls echoed.
Figures slowly wandered here, like walking corpses, a terrifying sight.
Ironically, calling them walking corpses wasn’t wrong.
The figures wandering here weren’t human at all, but mummies.
They were the dead.
They were undead.
Like the dracolich outside, these ghouls, decaying, with ghastly green eyes, ragged clothes, and ferocious faces, wandered here.
“…Did I enter a zombie world?”
Shien felt a wave of discomfort.
Now, he somewhat understood why Anima was so enraged that she descended directly and annihilated that arrogant necromancer.
It wasn’t just because of their harmful actions, but also because using the corpses of the dead was too blasphemous, understandably angering the Goddess of Life.
Shien even saw two somewhat familiar figures among them.
“Aren’t those two from Duke Strimm’s First Knight Order?”
Shien stared intently in one direction.
There, two figures walked unsteadily, entering Shien’s sight.
Shien recognized them.
Back in Cosmos, before the evil aura erupted and they were about to enter the Dark Temple, Shien had seen them.
“Yuri Strimm…”
He was the Knight Commander of Duke Strimm’s territory, Barry’s older brother, and Limgir’s uncle, an expert at level eighty-eight, not far from Legendary-level.
He disappeared along with Limgir during the Cosmos incident.
Unexpectedly, when Shien saw him again, he had become a ghoul, one of the many undead wandering here.
Beside him was the First Knight Order Commander who had targeted Shien before.
“I remember his name was Sona, right?”
This First Knight Order Commander was Yuri’s brother-in-law and was also level eighty.
But now, he had also become one of the many ghouls, a guard dog of this basement.
While Limgir was still alive and well outside, even holding great power, the two Strimm experts who disappeared with him were reduced to this state. Even Shien felt a little sympathetic.
“I advised you before not to enter the land of evil aura, but you didn’t listen. Therefore, you can only blame yourselves.”
Shien shook his head, putting their matters aside, and observed the surroundings.
Upon observing, Shien discovered that there were many cells in this basement.
Iron bars separated the stone caves from the outside space, with ghouls wandering outside the cells, and people imprisoned inside.
Shien frowned, then helplessly walked forward, blending in with the numerous ghouls.
There was no other way. He couldn’t approach the cells otherwise.
Shien carefully avoided touching the ghouls while observing the inside of the cells.
Then, Shien discovered that female knights were imprisoned in the cells.
Some sat huddled on piles of straw, trembling, some sobbed and shed tears, and some stared blankly, lost in thought. But without exception, they were all stripped naked.
This sight didn’t arouse Shien’s lust.
Because it only made him feel that these female knights were being kept like livestock.
They had iron collars around their necks, their hands and feet shackled, and there were scars all over their bodies, clearly having been tortured.
Of course, this wasn’t the most important thing.