Chapter 801 - 157: City of Decay
"What do you mean by the lords you mentioned?" Su Changxing asked.
The puppet character wiped its skirt with its left hand, pondering, "They are all Eternal Night Monarchs who appeared during the chaotic times. I haven’t seen them myself, only heard from a former master."
Knowing so much, it seems the origins of this puppet are not so simple either.
"Lead the way," Su Changxing said as he looked at the delicate yet tattered puppet character.
The puppet character appeared well-behaved, nodded, and walked into the forest ahead.
Soon they encountered several half-wolf, half-human creatures, wielding torches and walking together, matching against them.
"Human?"
These werewolves first saw the puppet character and weren’t particularly concerned, but when they looked further and saw Su Changxing, they immediately recognized Su Changxing as a human.
Human features are quite easy to distinguish, that lively scent is very obvious, causing their cells to become active, and drool to increase in their mouths.
The puppet character saw these werewolves becoming restless, wanting to explain, "Gentlemen werewolves, I think you’d better not act impulsively..."
Before the words were finished, they rushed towards Su Changxing, howling like wild wolves, their bodies constantly swelling, transforming into large black wolves as they ran.
But before they could get close, they were pushed against and their bodies sliced open by a cold light, breaking into several pieces and falling onto the ground.
"Indeed a bit rude, wouldn’t you say, Hua san?" Su Changxing looked at the bodies of these werewolves on the ground and commented.
The puppet character nodded in agreement, "Indeed a bit rude, but werewolves are generally rough in nature."
This puppet character doesn’t have a name, so Su Changxing named her Hua san, seeing her carrying a floral umbrella.
"Can it be eaten?" Tao Yi’s mind was elsewhere, always considering first whether something could be eaten at the sight of anything.
Su Changxing shook his head and said, "It doesn’t seem too clean."
"True," Tao Yi nodded, though feeling a bit craving. She didn’t lack food, having brought back a large number of insect corpses from the battlefield in the Ninth Dimension.
Her strength also rapidly grew in the process, breaking through to Tier Six and continuously approaching Tier Five.
With her current strength, taking down a Great Wizard is not a problem at all.
Then, from time to time, they encountered other undead, but without exception, all these undead were cut down by Tao Yi wielding a scythe, sparing none.
"What is that?"
Su Changxing looked ahead; it was a giant city, pitch-black without lights, the stench of decay wafting in the wind even from afar.
Hua san replied, "That is the City of Decay, the only road leading outside. You must go through here to leave."
Su Changxing observed the jet-black city, noting that the walls were not made of stones but from living corpses, with many limbs protruding and continually moving, looking extremely horrifying, likely to frighten an average person half to death.
"How do we get across, can we bypass it?"
Hua san explained, "Probably not, you can only walk through the city. The door on the other side of the wall leads to the outside world."
"This city was originally guarded by one of the Eternal Night Monarchs, but it’s been said he disappeared a long time ago, and no one has managed it for a long time. All undead can freely go in and out."
"It’s precisely because of this that I was able to come in from outside, but there are still powerful guardians within the city. Though they don’t manage order, they guard the City of Decay."
Su Changxing nodded, casually saying, "Are these Guardians powerful?"
Hua san showed a serious expression and said, "Very powerful. Sir, if you want to leave from here, you might want to think it through, the best way is to first cover up your belonging to the human identity."
...
"I’ve heard a human has appeared nearby, very powerful, having slain the cemetery guardians."
A short-statured skeleton with black bones squatted on the stone platform, speaking with a heavy tone.
This is no small matter; the City of Decay has not seen a human for hundreds of years.
The last time it happened was when a top human fighter stormed in from the outside, but ultimately fell in their City of Decay, being gnawed bit by bit by millions of ghouls, unable to escape even with the divine soul.
Similarly, their lord at that time also suffered severe injuries in that battle and disappeared for a long time until now.
Opposite him was a Witch Demon, with a half-transparent body, hands crossed over the chest, with a graceful demeanor: "We should indeed pay attention. In such a chaotic environment, the sudden appearance of such a human is a bit odd."
"Could it be a human accidentally came in from outside? But without passing through our City of Decay, how could they enter from outside?"
"Other side? That’s even less likely."
A ghoul impatiently scratched its face with long nails and said, "What are you worried about? That human is at most scampering around like a rat. Do you really think they’d dare to provoke us in the City of Decay?"
The Witch Demon seemed to be much gentler, explaining:
"I’m not saying that exactly. Anyway, it’s best to be careful. After all, before our lord left, we were instructed not to let anything mess up."
The black skeleton gloatingly said, "What do you have to say to him and a stray dog? I don’t think we need to wait for that person to find us; he can find that human ahead of time. Their noses are sharp."
Just then, golden light broke through the darkness, followed by a loud noise, the earth shook, and the whole city trembled.
The massive wall of living corpses on the south side was instantly destroyed, along with a large number of undead vanishing into dust.
Su Changxing swaggered through the breach in the wall, entering the City of Decay empty-handed.
Hua san followed behind with a dazed expression, completely unprepared for Su Changxing to break through the wall in such a violent manner, seemingly deliberately attracting attention.
"Didn’t you say there were some powerful Guardians here? I’ve taken down the whole wall; where are they?"
Su Changxing looked around thoughtfully.
The aura of these undead mixed with the surrounding environment was difficult for him to distinguish, or perhaps these floating red mists served to block Perception.
"This, this..." Hua san tilted their head, momentarily at a loss for words.
Seeing no obstruction, Su Changxing swaggered along the city’s main road towards the gate on the other side.
This was a living city, definitely not a dead city; every building seemed to have undead gathered inside, serving different functions.
This was a fresh experience for him.
Halfway along, he sensed an unusual aura, a skeleton in armor appeared in front of him, not large, seemingly ordinary, yet by no means to be underestimated.
The opponent, though a skeleton, was a Tier Six skeleton, probably a true king among skeletons. After all, skeletons, like zombies, are considered the most lowly beings among the undead.
"Human, your sudden offense against our City of Decay is somewhat impolite, isn’t it? Not even a greeting." The black skeleton carrying a Great Sword stood not far from Su Changxing, probing with caution.
Su Changxing with hands in pockets, pondered and earnestly replied:
"As you put it, it is indeed a bit impolite. But I just thought you undead might not care about this, and as a human, I shouldn’t have to be polite to a group of undead, right?"
The black skeleton was completely surprised that Su Changxing would argue logic and fell into a brief silence, then asked cautiously:
"What do you want, human!"
Unable to sense any power from Su Changxing, just like the most ordinary, fragile human.
But the more it seemed that way, the more unusual it was; he deemed Su Changxing a perilous existence, requiring a combined effort from several Guardians to have a chance.
Su Changxing gave him a bizarre glance: "What do I want? Obviously, to leave. Your city has blocked the way, otherwise I wouldn’t bother to come in."
To leave?
The black skeleton was surprised at Su Changxing’s simple reason, quickly denying it — such a show of force wouldn’t be for a simple reason.
At least, to destroy their City of Decay; otherwise, why would Su Changxing come in at all?
Though just a skeleton, having lived so many years, he held some wisdom.
He looked like facing a formidable enemy, using a profound voice to address Su Changxing:
"Human! If you want a fight, let’s fight then. The warriors of the City of Decay shall never surrender. Even in death, we only perish in flames of battle!"
Once he finished speaking, more skeletons appeared behind him — in various shapes, some equipped with weapons and armor as he was, some standing over ten meters tall like monstrous beast skeletons.
Su Changxing blinked: "Actually, I hadn’t intended to fight. If you could just clear a way, I’d leave directly."
The black skeleton exclaimed indignantly: "Don’t think we’ll lay down our weapons and surrender — it’s impossible. Every warrior has their own honor that allows us to exist in this world without decay!"
"Warriors of the City of Decay! Charge with me!"
Once his words fell, endless calls to battle echoed and an unknown horn sounded throughout the City of Decay.
The Witch Demon stood somewhat in daze; although he had predicted a battle would erupt upon Su Changxing’s arrival, the situation seemed a bit off now.