Undead Mage from a Cell

"Kro, are we really not going to that Ancient Battlefield?"

Staring at the map, Gu Xi couldn’t help feeling a bit regretful. The direction they were heading now was not toward the Ancient Battlefield Kro had mentioned, but toward somewhere else entirely.

Gu Xi actually wanted to speak up and suggest they go check out the Ancient Battlefield.

But after leaving the Beite Alliance, the fourth-ring quest had turned into the fifth ring: protect Kro’s archaeological work, and the site for that archaeology was Kro’s choice to make.

Gu Xi could persuade, but he couldn’t decide.

And Kro claimed this was for Gu Xi’s sake. Along the way Gu Xi had helped him countless times, even dragging him out of the dangers in the Beite Alliance.

If not for Gu Xi’s help all this way, he might already have been buried in some pit by now.

To repay Gu Xi, Kro decided to change his route and first head to that Death City he’d promised to introduce to Gu Xi.

In Kro’s words, that city was definitely the most suitable for Gu Xi.

Hearing that, Gu Xi couldn’t very well say he wasn’t interested in a new Death City, that he actually wanted to go to the Ancient Battlefield for Summoning.

In the end he could only follow the map toward the ruins of that city that had scared Kro out of his wits.

All the way, the two of them argued this point for ages, but Kro stubbornly refused to change his mind.

And he kept wearing that "I’m doing this for your own good" expression.

Faced with this, Gu Xi was a bit speechless.

But the map of the Ancient Battlefield was in Kro’s hands, and Gu Xi wasn’t an archaeology specialist—snatching it wouldn’t help. He could only sulk while watching his reward drop from a BMW to a budget sedan, not sure how many tiers it had just fallen.

In the end Gu Xi had no choice but to change tactics.

He sped up their march, planning to secure that dead city first.

Once that city was in his hands, Kro shouldn’t have any reason to stop him from tagging along to find the Ancient Battlefield.

While Gu Xi was hashing this out with Kro, the Holy Silver Evil Coffin was also picking up speed.

Sometimes it would just travel in the Darkness for an hour or two, only popping out of the dark passage once in a while.

Seeing Gu Xi with his head down, focused on hurrying along, Kro finally let out a breath of relief.

He’d been worried about Gu Xi’s demands this whole time.

There was no way he could take Gu Xi to the Ancient Battlefield.

He couldn’t even let them go in that direction.

If he really brought Gu Xi to the Ancient Battlefield, the next era of this world might well kick off right then and there—the era of the Undead Calamity.

Who knew how many Soldiers of the Ancient Hundred Races and Soldiers of Ancient Giant Dragons were buried in that Ancient Battlefield.

Given Gu Xi’s habit of even taking away the blood-soaked soil from a battlefield, if he really entered the Ancient Battlefield, he probably wouldn’t leave anything behind at all.

Thinking of this, Kro felt for the first time that he’d actually done something for the world.

And while Gu Xi was marching ahead, a certain unit was secretly racing toward the Beite Alliance.

Their advance had been grueling. They’d skirted around Rocovale, which was still locked in combat, and had almost been discovered on the road by the reinforcements the Beite Alliance had sent to support Rocovale.

After barely dodging those reinforcements, they received the latest intel.

Their target had left the Beite Alliance and was now headed in a different direction.

Reading the freshly delivered report, the Leader of this unit went pale.

He turned to glare at the fist-sized rat in front of him—the courier that had brought the message—his face cycling from white to green, green to white.

"I’ve had enough. Didn’t you say it was foolproof?

How did the direction change again? What kind of bullshit intel are you people sending?

We’ve changed course sixteen times on this run already.

I’m telling you, can you not be so useless?

If the intel’s wrong again, I’m done working with you. Whoever wants to deal with this crap from now on can do it themselves."

The rat was just a courier; it couldn’t even talk. Getting yelled at meant nothing to it—it simply stood there, waiting to see if there was a reply to carry back.

After ranting for ages, the Leader still flipped the sheet over and scribbled a short line on it, then rolled it up and stuffed it against the rat’s body.

"This is the last time. If it happens again, I’m taking my brothers and going home."

The rat took the note and darted into the ground.

But if someone had examined that note carefully, they would have found that the intel described the very direction Kro was traveling in.

The report clearly stated that Kro had obtained the archaeological map of the Ancient Battlefield and was now heading toward it.

"The Ancient Battlefield? Don’t even think about it. Even if it costs me my life, I won’t let you disturb the sleep of the dead."

Once the rat was far enough away, the Leader crushed a Stone in his hand, then began issuing orders.

At his command, the unit beside him quickly shifted direction and moved out.

If Gu Xi and Kro had been there, they would have recognized this unit as the source behind the previous ambush on Kro.

Within this unit, there were over a hundred Cyclops Shooter squads that had attacked Kro before—more than two hundred Cyclops in total. A force like that would be considered formidable Combat Power even on a battlefield.

And that wasn’t counting the other sub-units they had besides the Cyclops.

These sub-units were all like the Cyclops Shooter squads—a blend of ancient and modern methods.

The most numerous among them were a type of Red-skinned Lizardman. They wore loose, baggy Leather Armor—you could tell at a glance it was gear repurposed from somewhere else.

Every one of these Lizardmen was pushing a small cart, shorter than a normal wheelbarrow. On these carts lay piles of firewood.

At first glance, anyone would assume they were a transport unit, just like the Cave Dwellers in the Underground City, with no real Combat Power or combat utility.

But if you looked into these Lizardmen’s eyes, you’d notice they were vacant, seeing nothing in the world as real.

In truth, these Lizardmen weren’t a transport unit at all—they were an Attack unit.

Their greatest purpose was to push those small carts straight at the enemy.

And the carts themselves were their means of Attack.

The firewood on the carts had all been soaked in alcohol and oil; once lit, it would ignite, smoke, and even cause different kinds of destruction, with a chance of exploding.

When those little fire-carts rammed forward, they could smash open any Battle Array.

And this unit had many other squads of a similar kind.

They were all various Non-human Races, combined with Human weapons and tools.

Every one of these combinations was forged through battle drill, again and again.

That was the source of the Leader’s confidence.

Once he gave the order, the troops who had been resting on the spot quickly rose to their feet. They picked up their weapons and gear, confirmed their heading, and then followed the Leader as they marched on.