Ghost Knight King's Dungeon Project

Chapter 20 [The Sun's Scheme, the Night King's Poison]

The dawn sunlight rose lazily and reluctantly from the horizon of the Kanas Plain, shimmering at the end of the hazy, dusty morning, like a corporate slave who didn't want to go to work kicking off the covers listlessly.

But in any case, the sun eventually rose.

The cries of demonic crows echoed across the wasteland, and some blurry black shadows circled above the bandit camp, drawn by the bandits' mangled and mangled corpses.

Clearly, one of the black-armored knights was extremely brutal.

"Samai... Samo!" came Talia's shout from not far away.

Samael raised his head.

With a loud crash, the slender figure in black armor raised his hammer and spear, smashed two barricades of sharp wooden chevaux-de-frise, and strode through the gap, hurrying towards Samael.

The other three members of Randall's team, along with Talia, had dealt with the hordes of low-level bandits and were heading towards the beacon tower ruins after passing through the bandit camp.

The tall, thin figure in black armor, covered in bandit blood, jogged forward and sized up Samael.

“I thought you weren’t very good at fighting, little prince.” Her helmet touched Samael’s helmet, the foreheads of the two helmets touching. She spoke softly, the slight vibration of her voice transmitted through the metal helmet.

“I already told you I’m just an ordinary person in my hometown, not some prince… We don’t have that title anymore.” Samael muttered under his breath. “I’m not exactly good at fighting, but… I’m alright.”

He recalled a romantic scene from the novel "The Three-Body Problem" he had read in his previous life: In the vacuum of space, where sound could not be transmitted, two astronauts whose communication systems were malfunctioning embraced tightly and touched their helmets together in order to communicate, relying on the vibrations from the helmets to transmit sound.

“I’ve discovered something, and we’ll have to talk about it in a bit.” Samael gestured subtly to the grain sack at his feet and said in a low voice, “I’ll go check with Randall first.”

Talia looked at the writing on the food sack, remained silent for a moment, and then slowly nodded.

“This is a bit of a problem…we need to find an excuse to get away from them and be alone for a while,” she said softly.

Samael glanced at Randall's group not far away—they were gathered around Elliott, checking his injuries.

“Elliot has broken his ribs and lungs, and the wounds are not healing well... Don’t move him for now.” He heard the mage Serena’s voice.

Elliott was still coughing up blood intermittently.

Swordsman Gerard seemed somewhat dull, unable to help or interject, awkwardly standing there guarding, wiping the blood from Elliot's mouth with his sleeve.

"What weapon caused this wound? Why can even a high-purity healing potion only barely heal it to this extent?" The potion master Ruby was completely baffled.

“This sword,” Rondar placed the Bloodsteel longsword on the ground, “please examine it.”

Ruby took out a small bottle filled with clarifying potion and a small piece of white gauze from the leather pouch at her waist. She dripped a drop of the potion onto the blood-red longsword, and after a dozen seconds, she used the white gauze to absorb the drop of potion, examining the color of the droplet stain on the gauze.

A brilliant deep blue.

“The magic indicator ranges from light blue to black; the darker the color, the higher the magic content.” Ruby held up the white gauze, examining the deep blue droplets of stain against the light. “It’s some kind of high-quality magic material.”

Serena fiddled with the runestone staff, took out three beast eyeballs from her catalyst bag, embedded them into the grooves of the universal magic circle on the runestone, and after confirming that the runes and circuits were correct by turning the stone-carved rune wheel, she activated the magic circle with the bloodsteel longsword.

The three beastly eyes spun around, scanning the bloodsteel longsword back and forth for a few seconds.

"The results of the [Appraisal Magic] show that this sword can plunder life force, using the victim's life force to strengthen the user," Serena explained in a low voice. "Being stabbed by it will severely damage one's constitution, impairing both physical and mental strength. It's already quite remarkable that Elliot is still alive."

“Thanks to Brother Samos,” Rondar said in a low voice.

Samael leaned over and gently patted Randall on the shoulder.

Randall turned around.

"What's the next step, Rondar brothers?" Samael asked. "Any plans?"

“Elliot is seriously injured and cannot endure a long journey for the time being. In addition, these spoils have not yet been sorted. I’m afraid we’ll have to… stay at the bandit camp for a day, probably a day and a night. Perhaps… we can return to the city tomorrow morning?” Rondar rubbed his forehead. “I’m so sorry, Brother Samo, for taking up your precious time again.”

“It’s alright, it’s alright. I just came to check on things—well, my monastery and Brother Taran’s have a tradition that we must pray after a battle. According to the rules, we need a secluded place,” Samael explained. “Brother Taran and I would like to go somewhere far away to sit and pray for a while—after all, we can’t really help Elliot here.”

“Of course, of course, please go ahead.” Rondar nodded in acknowledgment. “This mission has truly been hard work for the two of you monks.”

Samael pondered for a moment, then silently waved and headed out of the camp with Talia.

Randall watched Samael's departing figure, gazing at the rusted bronze sword and shield on his back, then at the blood-red longsword. He recalled the bandit leader's fearful words during the battle, and the chilling aura emanating from the Samo monk's armor during close encounters, and fell silent for a moment.

In the end, he said nothing, but silently listened to Ruby and Serena arguing about the treatment plan, and together with Gerard, carefully lifted the coughing Elliott and placed him on the bedding to rest.

Samael and Talia carefully controlled their angle, using the ruins of the ancient imperial beacon tower to conceal their figures. They crossed the wasteland near the bandit camp, hid behind a charred tree, and peered out to make sure that Rondar's squad could not see their position or hear their conversation.

“The words on that bag…” Samael lowered his voice.

“We have to pretend we don’t know,” Talia interrupted him. “Besides, we didn’t know in the first place! It was just a lucky coincidence—maybe they had nothing to do with Valak at all! Maybe they were just a few ordinary bandits who happened to rob a convoy transporting food to the underground city.”

"Pretend you don't know what?" a voice suddenly rang out from above.

The two suddenly looked up and saw a huge crested raven perched on a charred branch above them, its blood-red eyes staring coldly at them.

Its crest had opened like a folding fan, and the headdress, made of jet-black hard feathers, was covered with blood-red eye spots, proclaiming the monarch's anger.

“Valak, we know nothing!” Talia argued.

"You don't know?!" the demon crow shrieked. "Then you must know the contents of our agreement, right? Have you already forgotten about that half-blood girl from the Ronoway family so quickly?"

"We didn't even enter your dungeon! It's hundreds of kilometers away from here!" Talia protested!

"You killed my servants!" the raven cawed. "This place is too far from my dungeon, beyond the range of my psychic powers, beyond the reach of the beast hordes and the Nightmare Legion. I fed these wild dogs, making them work for me outside the sphere of influence! And you slaughtered them all!"

"It's just... just a bunch of stray dogs. You wouldn't be so petty as to care about a few stray dogs, would you?" Talia stammered in her defense.

"The wild dogs are unimportant; what matters is their mission!" the Feathered Crow roared. "212 adventurers of level six or higher are now residing in the third ring of my dungeon, including 13 level nine adventurers, 2 level ten adventurers, and 1 damned level eleven! They've formed an unprecedentedly large force of 212, camped at the gates of my house, killing my pets, uprooting my gardens, digging up my armory, breaking into my safes, and stealing my relics from the Age of Gods! My herds of beasts, demon hunters, demonized warriors and wizards of human servants, and even slave laborers have been sent to harass them in shifts, restricting their movements!"

"Do you know how to force them out of my territory? Huh? Do you even know, you stupid girl?" The raven perched on a branch and glared at Talia. "They can't access the resources in the psionic ecosystem. All their food has to be transported from the outside to the third ring of the dungeon! Once their food supply is cut off and they lose their strength, all 212 of them together won't last even seven days of hunger!"

"I fed these wild dogs and ordered them to intercept Alliance supply convoys for me!"

"The high-level adventurer camp at the entrance of my courtyard has been without food for two days, and we were on the verge of success! At this critical juncture, you killed the wild dog that was in charge of this important mission?"

The raven cackled shrilly! "You want to start a war with me, Ronoway? Do you really think I'm afraid of a few adventurers? Fine, I'll just abandon my beloved complex that I spent over a decade building! I'll personally crush these stupid adventurers, and you two will be next! Get ready for the earthquake!"

"Wait, Valak! Just a moment!" Talia cried out. "We...we can take care of the grain convoy for you instead of these wild dogs!"

"You?" The demon crow narrowed its eyes, its crest of feathers slightly tightening.

“Tell us when the next grain convoy will arrive in the Kanas Plain,” Talia replied. “We will help you intercept the convoy.”

"Huh?" Samael was stunned.

Talia stepped on Samael's foot.

"Hmm..." the Feathered Crow pondered, hesitating slightly.

"Can we not kill the innocent?" Samael asked in a low voice.

“Please, little prince, let’s deal with this first before we talk about anything else!” Talia replied softly.

"Isn't there any other way? Even if we just... can't we just dispose of the food?" Samael asked in a low voice. "Make the food disappear? Or make it unusable?"

"You've ruined my plans; making up for it with the mission alone won't do." The Demon Raven sized up the two whispering figures and shook its head.

“Uh… oh right! Wait a minute, Valak, have you tried putting psionic fungi in their food?” Talia was inspired by Samael’s words and suddenly looked up. “Let their food get moldy and contaminated, that way we can consume their food reserves faster!”

"They've assigned dedicated personnel to guard the granary at the underground city outpost, so it's impossible to get anything in," Demon Raven said thoughtfully.

“If we put psionic mold into the grain in the Alliance’s supply wagons, contaminating the entire wagon, the effect will be the same—or even better!” Talia explained. “The mold contamination won’t be noticeable at first. If they send the contaminated grain bags into the granary, the food in the entire adventurer camp’s granary will be contaminated and spread—nourishd by the Dungeon Overlord’s psionic energy, the mold will multiply much faster, and the spores can contaminate the entire granary within a day! Once the food supply is completely cut off, they will naturally leave.”

"That way, you won't have to wait five days anymore. You can force them to retreat in one or two days!"

The demon crow hesitated for a few seconds.

“Fine.” He snorted. “If all goes well… I can let you go. The latest grain convoy will arrive at the Kanas Plain tonight, crossing the desolate road at the edge of the Bone Hills. Figure it out yourselves.”

“We need strains of psionic fungi from the dungeons,” Talia replied.

"I'll send a raven scout to deliver it to you before nightfall—are you pretending to be adventurers? Playing house with a few low-level adventurers? The quirks of half-demon are truly laughable!" Valak cackled. "When the raven-delivered fungal strains arrive, figure out how to get them yourselves. Don't let your housework interfere with my business!"

“No problem.” Talia nodded.

The crested raven flapped its wings and flew away.

“My God, this is just…” Talia breathed a sigh of relief.

“I… well, actually I still don’t really want to fight against the Alliance,” Samael said softly. “They seem… to be pretty nice people.”

“It’s alright, I’ll do it.” Talia shook her head. “However, our appearance is too distinctive, so we absolutely cannot do it ourselves. Otherwise, we will be recognized too easily, which will arouse the suspicion of other adventurers.”

“This place is too far from Valak’s dungeon, beyond the ruler’s range. He can’t control the beasts in this area. Only the raven’s psionic compatibility is relatively high, allowing him to control one or two from a distance. But we are closer, so I can control the nearby magical beasts.”

"Tonight, I'll take control of the monster interception convoy in the vicinity to draw their attention and take the opportunity to release the poisonous fungus."

"Speaking of monsters... Randall's team might be getting a little suspicious," Samael added. "They haven't encountered any monster attacks along the way, so they might suspect it was us. We still need to figure out a way to put on an act and get away with it."

“Ah…that is a problem…” Talia paused, “Wait a minute, I remember they also said they didn’t encounter any undead?”

"Weren't the undead and monsters all scared away by you?" Samael asked.

“No, Samael, the predatory aura of demons can only scare away magical beasts.” Talia shook her head. “The undead attack all living things indiscriminately, including demons. Although demons can expend a lot of extra psionic energy to control the undead, it is very difficult and inconvenient—we are more used to controlling demonized living things.”

"In other words, the reason why we haven't encountered any undead since we started traveling together is..." Samael pondered.

Talia looked at Samael, and Samael looked at Talia.

"Oh, right." He snapped out of his reverie and looked down at his breastplate.

“…I read about it in a book in my mother’s study when I was a child. Ancient Ghost Knights were the most powerful high-level undead, capable of controlling necromancer creations. The necromancer aura of their armor could also cover a small area around them, preventing the surrounding necromancer creations from being disturbed,” Talia recalled.

"Huh? I can control the undead?" Samael frantically navigated through the messy database in the UI, searching for entries with names related to the concept of "control".

The textual descriptions in the armor database differ greatly from the names used in this world, making it difficult to find corresponding information immediately.

control……

[Basic material phase transition - heat treatment control]... No.

[Colonial Management - Staffing and Cost Control]... No.

No, no, it should be a different concept, another keyword... What is it?

Samael pondered, suddenly recalling the text summarizing the methods of controlling the Rot Root Ball and the Earth-Eating Demon Worm:
[The methods of activation include, but are not limited to: etheric psionic signals (i.e., the psionic signals of space-descent beings), and psionic implant modifications.]

"Signal"? Or "driving force"?
Search for the term "signal"...

[Artificial Life Science - Necropolis Resonance Signal]

[A resonant signal generated using Nether Copper can drive psionic constructs that recycle waste organic matter. Due to its unique resonant frequency, this signal can only be generated using Nether Copper.]

Searching for "ghost copper resonance"...

[Auxiliary Equipment Testing: Grimm Copper Resonator]

【Condition: Good. 】

The bronze resonator is ready and usable.

[Strike the spirit copper to generate a resonant signal at a specific frequency, enabling remote communication and controlling organic psionic constructs within the resonant signal's range.]

　Please add to your favorites/read more/vote!

　　Only readers can transform words into works of art, and only readers can inspire writers to become authors. Thank you to every reader for your support and encouragement!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)