“The ancient sword of Muzez Kingdom!”One of the soldiers exclaimed, staring at the sword with eyes that shone with interest and reverence. The other soldiers had similar expressions on their faces, making the hero question just what lore lay behind the sword in the wizard’s grasp.King Julian took the sword from the wizard. The king stared at the sword with a gentle smile, as though reminiscing sweet old times.“This sword was forged by a great blacksmith during the reign of my great-grandfather and in the time of the First Great War. With this sword, he slaughtered hundreds of mighty men and brought glory back to our kingdom. It has been passed down from generation to generation, and it never fails to fulfill the purpose it was made.”As he narrated the lore of the magnificent weapon, the smile on his face widened.The soldiers’ expressions also brightened with reverence. They felt honored to stand in the presence of a royal treasure—one that only a few were fortunate to set eyes on

“What the hell is happening?”“Is this because of the spell?”“I knew nothing good was going to come from those magical scripts we found on that wall! Now we’ve gone and gotten ourselves hopelessly in trouble!”“Why is he still chanting?”The soldiers began bickering in panicked voices as they stared down the undead horde advancing before them. The glowing red eyes of those ghastly abnormalities seared undeniable, unfaltering, deep, true terror into their hearts.King Julian stood behind his men, worry etched deep in his features. His gaze fixed on the wizard, who remained rooted in place, voice raised unwaveringly as he recited the magical scripts from his scroll.The king’s mind churned in confusion—could all of this be the result of the spell the wizard was chanting, or were these undead abnormalities manifesting specifically to prevent him from uncovering the chant’s hidden truth?THUD! THUD!The undead horde pressed in even tighter. With each passing minute, a dozen more skeleton

QUAKE!A strong, unnatural earthquake struck and shook the entire mountain of skull vigorously. It was so strong that it sent the entire crew tumbling to the ground, wounding some in the process."What the heck!"William was not exempted from the powerful earthquake. The hero lost his footing and fell on his butt in the midst of dozens of undead creatures fiercely trying to avenge the death of their comrades.The sudden earthquake was unpredicted — it rendered William completely defenseless for a few seconds.On the other hand, the undead seem fine — they took the opportunity handed to them seriously and ganged in on the defenseless hero.Multiple enraged shrieks tore through the sound barrier in the tunnel."Fuck!"William cussed and acted as fast as he could before the enraged undead got him. He picked up the sword and swung it swiftly at the strong bony arm of a towering undead launching down at him, shattering it.But that wasn't the only attack, as the other ones clawed down on h

William's question opened the eyes of the crew to a possibility they hadn't thought about yet."The hero is correct!""This could've been the handiwork of the cult to capture us. They are already aware of our arrival in the first place, we shouldn't forget that."Everyone began to give their personal opinion of the current situation, including the king himself, who shared the same perspective as the hero.Osborne heard the cause of the commotion. The old wizard shook his head before calling the attention of everyone to provide a solution to their worries."Do not fret. I can check where the portal leads us to by sending an object imbued with my own mana into it. A quick sensory link would be formed, which would be useful for observation."While speaking, he dipped his hand in his spatial pouch and brought out a weird-looking pebble with a single symbol engraved on it.The old wizard wrapped his hand around the small pebble, shut his eyes, and chanted a spell for a brief second before

After the peculiar sensation of passing through the portal faded, William found himself standing in a strange, unfamiliar location."Wow!"The scene before him prompted the hero to exclaim in genuine astonishment.Spread before his eyes was a vast, barren land plunged into darkness and gloom. Only the faint crescent light of the full moon hanging in the sky battled the intense blackness.Not far from his current position, William’s gaze fell on a truly vast, large water body that stretched over a long distance, seemingly unending from his perspective. The hero needed no geography expert to tell him this was Dark Island, the sacred landmark and hideout of the most terrifying dark wizard cult in this dark world.The sound of water calmly flowing could be heard clearly, and the waters were almost visible as they softly reflected the moon."What is that?"A surprised voice muttered behind the hero as its owner’s eyes suddenly and instantly fell upon a mysterious, silhouetted structure ris