"Clatter... Clatter... Clatter..."
The friction of metal armor echoed from all directions, reverberating through the enclosed and winding underground palace passages, making it impossible to determine the location and number of the enemies. Kevin and his two companions retreated while fighting, chased by countless undead knights. They had been running through the astonishingly large underground palace passages for over ten minutes, but still hadn't seen any exit to the surface. If it weren't for the data terminal confidently assuring them that the route was correct, Kevin really thought they might perish in this place.
Humans are strange creatures. Sometimes, they are incredibly weak, but some can unleash boundless strength in desperate situations. Kevin thought the word "boundless" was a bit exaggerated, as he was panting like a dog after all the struggle. Yet, he had indeed displayed courage and brute force beyond what he usually possessed. Normally a non-confrontational civilian, he was now facing swarms of undead without fear, and even seemed to grow braver with each battle. Although the undead wielded swords and spears, presumably due to their recent awakening, they moved slowly and lacked intelligence, merely running forward with their weapons lowered, seemingly forgetting how to use them. Leveraging his agility, Kevin could occasionally kick the iron-clad foes near him away, sustaining only sore legs as his only injury for now.
He felt an unprecedented fighting spirit, but obviously couldn't compare to the true exception in their group: Lily, relying on her immense strength, charged at the forefront of the trio, still wielding the "war hammer" she had from the beginning. It was unknown what misfortune had befallen that undead knight, who hadn't even figured out what year it was upon awakening, when Lily swung him from the tomb chamber to the tunnel and then to the next tomb chamber, crushing over a hundred iron-clad foes back and forth. By now, he was as battered and broken as a pile of crushed scrap metal, no longer showing any signs of movement...
"How much further is it?!" Micro Lily was the most elegant and carefree among the three. Her combat experience as a high-ranking vampire and her diverse blood magic finally came into play when facing hordes of minions. She flew in the air close to the ceiling of the underground palace, relying on endless cold shockwaves and bloody blades to defeat enemies several meters away (any further was difficult to control and risked collapsing the entire underground palace). Along the way, she left countless enemies sliced to shreds or frozen into ice shards, as well as deep scratches on the walls of the underground palace. However, she was as upset as Kevin, as this environment made her feel like her immense abilities couldn't be fully exerted. "Is your radar even reliable? Fighting like this is so frustrating. I can only fly a meter... Ouch, I hit my head again!"
All the injuries Micro Lily had suffered so far were self-inflicted by flying too high and hitting the ceiling.
"We're only halfway through!" Kevin was frustrated. "We rushed too fast and took the wrong turn earlier. Now we have to pass through the middle of the underground palace. Lily, I'm talking to you! Watch your direction!"
However, all Kevin received in response was a garbled roar: After fighting continuously for so long, Lily seemed to have gone berserk.
"Won't she lose her senses?" Kevin became worried when he saw Lily's condition, "Werewolves seem particularly prone to madness."
"Don't worry, I just saw her pull out a bread from her pocket and eat while running. Just based on that, she can't go wild."
The tunnel once again came to an end, and another hall appeared ahead. Kevin silently prayed that this wouldn't be another tomb chamber, otherwise, with several times more undead knights around, he didn't know if he could hold on. Fortunately, his prayers finally worked this time. When the three rushed into the hall, what met their eyes was an empty space, with no wandering undead knights or heart-pounding coffins everywhere.
"Seal the tunnel!" Kevin dodged a heavy-shielded knight lunging at him (he was too exhausted to kick it five meters away) and leaped forward... Okay, he tumbled and crawled into the hall, then shouted at Wei Lili in mid-air.
The vampire girl had already been preparing a powerful spell. When the three rushed into the hall, her entire body suddenly dispersed into a large group of chaotic bats. Then, the bats split into two groups, rapidly spinning into two conical vortices in the air, with the tips of the cones pointing directly at the tunnel entrance. Accompanied by ear-piercing air-tearing sounds, bright, almost blinding blue lightning quickly converged in front of the two conical vortices. After two seconds of charging, the two groups of bats rushed towards the stone door of the hall. With a thunderclap, the entire door, along with the half of the tunnel behind it, was blown to collapse by the impact comparable to natural lightning.
The explosion echoed throughout the hall and even the entire underground palace, with countless sand and gravel falling from the ceiling above. Kevin covered his head and shouted, "Won't this whole place collapse?!"
Wei Lili's voice came from all directions, "Don't worry, I'm controlling the force!"
The bat swarm, blown around by the explosion, quickly regrouped into Wei Lili's form. She jumped down from the air, with a pleased expression on her face, "Finally found a spacious place to unleash my big move. Wasn't that just now awesome? Since consulting Faraday, I've turned this Lightning Strike into two electrodes..."
Kevin: "..."
Although the pursuing enemies behind them had been cut off, the three were not completely safe yet. Because besides Wei Lili and Lily, there were also a few agile sword knights who had rushed in together with Kevin. These iron cans seemed to be becoming more agile and "intelligent" after this warm-up. Taking advantage of the cover of the explosion, these iron cans had crouched in the corner and were now shakily standing up, raising their swords and charging towards the direction of the intruders.
"How many people are buried in this underground palace, exactly?" Kevin panted heavily. "The last lord of Yofolde wouldn't have buried his entire army down here, would he? Is this the English version of Emperor Qin Shi Huang and his Terracotta Warriors?"
"Do you know why, after fighting for so long, their number hasn't decreased?" Weilili suddenly noticed the trick of these knight cans and pointed at a sword knight who had just been swept away by Lily. "This way, we can't kill them at all!"
The sword knight, swept away by the werewolf girl's brute force, crashed into the wall of the underground palace and shattered into pieces on the spot. The components of the full-body armor, such as the bracers, greaves, breastplate, and helmet, scattered all over the ground. However, just a few seconds later, these steel parts reassembled themselves in a rustling noise, and an almost undamaged undead knight charged at the intruders again!
"Are these things empty inside?" Kevin hadn't had the time to take a good look at these guys before, but now he finally noticed this astonishing scene. "Are we fighting with a bunch of armor?"
"Armor with souls, high-grade stuff," Weilili blew out a blast of icy wind and finally froze the last few "hollow knight" into dust. Armor shattered like this couldn't be revived anymore. "Unless you crush them into pieces or disperse them more than ten times in a row, you can't kill these guys at all. And since we're underground, they revive very quickly."
Lily finally recovered from her furious state at this moment. She looked at the "war hammer" in her hand, which was completely dead and only had one leg left. The werewolf girl picked up the leg armor upside down and shook it: "It's really empty inside... I wasted my effort? I should have used more force earlier. I thought it would be fine after dispersing them."
"Is... this the magic of demon hunters?" Kevin approached Lily and carefully poked at the empty section of the armor. "Is there a soul inside?"
"It's gone now. The soul will be liberated naturally after the armor is crushed," Weilili said with disdain. "They were all fanatics in their lifetime, voluntarily sacrificed to become such armor while alive, and were later given the good name of 'heroic spirits.' But frankly, they're just another kind of vengeful spirits. Their obsessions are not much different from those of ordinary vengeful spirits. Don't be too surprised. There are many more magical things than this. Can you be surprised by all of them?"
Kevin chuckled and then noticed that it was too quiet around. "Strange, there seem to be no enemies ahead?"
The entire hall was silent, and the deadly sound of armor rubbing against each other could no longer be heard.