Ghost Knight King's Dungeon Project

Chapter 44 [The Shadow of the Soul: The Oak Knight and Glinka]

The entire southern border of the empire runs right up against the Skeleton Heart Plains.

Before the War of the Hearts, there was once a bustling metropolis in the southwest of this area. In the ancient empire's territory that spanned half the continent, countless roads once traversed the plains in the center of the continent. Travelers from different countries and races gathered here. This place was the closest transportation hub to the center of the world and a prosperous trading city, which people called "Glorious City" Glinka.

However, the war, corpses, and plague of the Battle of the Hearts transformed the Heartless Plains in the heart of the continent into the terrifying Heartless Plains.

Strange trees, hard as bronze, stand on the muddy land transformed by psychic energy. Their gnarled roots twist and deform like ghostly hands. Hidden, filthy swamps are always ready to devour the living. The central area is perpetually shrouded in a cold mist. The entire land is teeming with venomous scavengers, half-rotten monsters infected with disease, and hordes of undead.

The roads that traversed the plains were completely blocked by the undead and the plague, and trade routes were lost. The "glorious city" Glinka gradually declined and became a dilapidated and ruined city.

Although the buildings remaining from the ancient empire are still sturdy and reliable, and the tall buildings from the Glinka period still stand, everything is quite different in the shadows cast by the dark brick and lime concrete.

The once wide streets, built for the passage of carriages and horses, are now overflowing with sewage and filled with crooked wooden sheds and dilapidated shacks, their roofs covered with tattered tarpaulins that reek of filth, leaving only a narrow passageway like a maze. People, barely clothed, stare blankly with lifeless eyes from the shacks that fill the streets, watching every passerby.

Gang thugs roared in the shops along the roadside, threatening to smash them up while demanding daily "frontage tax" from the shop owners. Young thugs swaggered in the shadows of towering old buildings, brandishing short knives and selecting seemingly vulnerable passersby as their next targets for robbery and extortion.

In Glinka's heyday, long ropes used to hang colorful flags and brocades stretched across the streets. But now, only dirty, moldy bedding and wet underwear hang from those ropes, their sheer number obscuring the sky above Glinka, obscuring its former glory and dreams.

If you stand on the narrow, sewage-filled streets of Glinka, and look up from the dim, oppressive, and cramped sliver of light, your gaze will pass over the mud, over the low shacks of the slums, over the streets teeming with gangsters, and over the tangled clotheslines with moldy bedding and underwear hanging in the wind. Between the black brick rooftops that flank the street, you will see an ancient castle on the distant hillside and the mansions surrounding it, majestic and high above, as if that castle were the only source of sunlight in this place.

That was the castle of the Oak Knights, one of the four great knightly families of Erdrick, located in the southwest.

This is the knightly territory of the Oro family.

With the glorious city of Glinka in their fiefdom, the once powerful Oro family became the most influential and prosperous of the four great knight families.

However, the Battle of the Heart of Bones resulted in heavy casualties for the Oak Knights of the Oro family, with almost all of the older generation of knight lords and their heirs perishing in the battle.

The new heir was chosen from a collateral branch of the family. After taking over the mess, he originally planned to revitalize the family by leveraging Glinka's wealth and the trade routes that spanned the center of the world. However, the merchants brought the corpse plague to the Plains of Bones instead, causing a sharp decline in the population.

The mist of the Plains of Bones began to spread from its central region, and the undead gradually rose from their decay, blocking trade routes to the world's center. Glinka's trade economy was effectively crippled by three-quarters. In an attempt to barely maintain the economic operations of the Southern Europa Knights' Territory, the new heir defied ancestral precepts and collaborated with Glinka's city gangs, transforming Glinka into a city of despair shrouded in shadow.

The decline of each successive generation of heirs was like a series of still frames falling into an abyss. It started with an unreasonable extra tax levied on the knightly territory. Then, merchants avoided Glinka to avoid the extra taxes, and the collapse of the local trade economy led to even greater financial losses. More and heavier taxes were needed to maintain the knightly family's superficial glory. Street thugs began to run rampant, and gangsters who controlled the local taverns and casinos offered to cooperate with the knightly family. Under the guise of assisting the knightly territory in collecting taxes, they acted arrogantly and domineeringly on the streets of this ancient city.

In short, the Oro family has fallen into decline.

This is one of the dark sides of empire. Even the greatest things have shadows, and even the most glorious achievements have flaws. Perfection is an absurd and harsh punishment, dragging idealists who attempt to create great achievements into a rotting swamp of decaying corpses.

Old Duke's exiled tribe merchant wagons moved through the dimly lit, narrow streets, the ponies silently watching the young hooves on the street amidst the clatter of hooves.

Thump, thump. A fist pounded roughly against the side of the carriage.

Old Duke adjusted his glasses, gently peering over at a burly gangster and several young thugs in front of him.

"Paied the toll, old dog?" The gangster, wearing a short jacket and toying with a dagger, glared at Old Duke. "Looks unfamiliar. New here?"

“Oh, I didn’t know McKinney’s friends needed to pay tolls,” old Duke asked gently.

"McKinney?" The thug and the young gangster exchanged a glance, then burst into laughter. "McKinney is dead!"

"Dead?" Old Duke looked at the gangster in confusion.

"The entire Silver Coin Gang is wiped out!" the thug roared, spreading his scarred palm. "Hurry up, old donkey, the toll!"

From the carriage behind, the faint clanging sound of molten metal could be heard. But the driver, Yachi, reached into the carriage and gently waved his hand.

"Don't be in such a hurry, young man. Is Dylan dead too?" Old Duke slowly pushed the thug's hand away with his riding crop.

“Dylan? Dylan Wilbur?” The thug hesitated for a moment. “It’s no use! He’s no longer the leader! He’ll be in trouble soon!”

He drew his short sword and arrogantly pointed it at old Duke's neck.

"Pretty well-connected, old man... but it's useless." He sneered. "Glinka has changed a lot. You know a few old, outdated gang leaders, but that's just stalling for time! Do you think connections can help you evade tolls?"

"Can't you, young man?" Old Duke chuckled. "Then, I wonder what happened to old Gellert, one-finger Miller, Iron Boot Martin, Jack II of the Bridge, Black Fist Kerry, the Marul brothers, old Kahn of the Hats, the Redskinner, Big Baker of the Webber Boys, and Ms. Riley of the Horseshoe Tavern? Are all these old friends and buddies dead?"

The gangster's mouth dropped open, his short sword fell to the ground, and he stared at old Duke in disbelief, like a hamster with a single-threaded brain lost in thought while trying to do many things at once.

A moment later, he bowed respectfully to old Duke's convoy.

“I am so sorry, esteemed sir,” he said humbly, as if he had suddenly transformed from a street thug into a well-educated and virtuous young man. “Please forgive our ignorance and offense—if you are not pleased with my stupidity and rudeness, I beg you to teach me some hospitality with your riding crop.”

He held the whip by the end with both hands, closed his eyes, and waited for the whip to strike his face.

“I think it would be best to let your boss teach you how to treat guests.” Old Duke chuckled and pulled back his riding crop. “Which gang are you in? Maybe I know him too—I’ll have to mention this to him later. The quality of young people these days is getting worse and worse.”

"No, no... Your Excellency... Sir, there's no need... no need for him to know." The gangster stammered, "Sir, you only need to whip me twice, and I'll go back with the welts... at least I'll give the boss an explanation."

“The education of young people is a complex subject, and it’s not my place to interfere. How about I let your eldest brother educate you?” Old Duke smiled, cracked his whip, and drove the carriage away slowly with the caravan of exiled merchants behind him.

The burly gangster and two young thugs stood there dumbfounded, as terrified as an introverted novice maid who had accidentally broken a glass at a formal banquet of a knightly family, affecting the family's reputation. They stood helplessly in front of the broken glass, clutching the hem of their clothes as if they were about to cry.

"Is this also within the Empire's territory?" Samael looked through the gap in the curtains at the gangsters standing in the back of the car, who were getting further and further away, and slowly withdrew his gaze. "It's completely different from what I saw before."

“To be precise, it’s the Knights’ Domain. At the beginning of Erdrich’s founding, the Forge Emperor appointed four knights. The knight lords had a great deal of autonomy, and could adjust the way their territories were managed, and even keep a certain number of private soldiers within permitted limits.” Talia leaned against his shoulder armor, whittling wood with a knife. “The corruption in this area actually has little to do with the Knights’ Domain. There is a lot of corruption in other parts of the Empire as well.” Archie explained as he drove, “It’s just that the areas we’ve passed through so far are very close to the Imperial Foundry, which is directly under the control of the monarchy, and has a large number of high-ranking officers and elite soldiers stationed there. Even the provincial governors must obey the high-ranking officers of the Foundry.”

"Does the size of the garrison affect the level of corruption in the local province?" Samael asked.

“Of course it will—but that only applies to the warmongering Erdrik Empire,” Talia replied lazily.

"The Erdrick Empire has strict military discipline, and in accordance with the conscription laws left by the Great Emperor, all soldiers must be military nobles who have received a certain level of higher education, or sons of good farming families whose family land or flocks of sheep meet the required standards. Poor tenant farmers, hooligans, and idle playboys are not eligible to join the army. Moreover, in order to ensure the productivity of the farmland, the stationed soldiers will work and train together with the local militia during the spring planting season."

"This, like the cult of forgers, is a tradition left by Emperor Erdrick the Forge. Because the Forge started with a group of young men from noble, well-educated knightly families, like the Four Horsemen, who, in an era of war, used armor and shields forged from fine steel and complex and meticulous tactics to achieve victory against overwhelming odds and establish the Empire. In the Empire's ideology, one hundred strong, intelligent, fully armed professional soldiers are far superior to ten thousand ragged vagrants and street thugs who are forcibly conscripted."

"In the Erdrick Empire, which reveres war and expansion, a soldier is a minor noble, while a senior officer is equivalent to a noble title. The residents of the empire are all honored to serve in the army. Near the imperial foundries where the army is stationed for a long time, not to mention gangsters, bandits, and hooligans, even the wild animals on the outskirts of towns are probably too frightened to come near by the incessant sound of metal hammers day and night."

"In areas with fewer troops stationed, there is more or less noble corruption and rampant gangs. The Knight Territory has almost no imperial troops stationed there, and the border garrison will not interfere. The situation in this area depends entirely on how the Oak Knights family governs it."

“In addition, the corruption in Glinka in the southwest of the empire is also related to the Skeleton Heart Plains,” Archie added. “Logically speaking, the Oak Knights’ territory is very close to the Skeleton Heart Plains, and they could have maintained their economy by trading in the enchanted materials of adventurers. However, this income is quite meager and cannot support a complete industry.”

"Why is that?" Samael asked. "In my memory, Fallenthorn City is very prosperous. And according to the rough outline on the map, the area of ​​the Skeleton Heart Plain is almost twenty times that of the Kana Plain, so the enchanted resources should be more abundant than those of the Kana Plain."

“Oh, right, this is your first time in the Skeleton Heart Plains.” Archie realized. “Adventurers in the Skeleton Heart Plains don’t dare to go deep into the Skeleton Heart. They only dare to sneak along the outer edge and collect some low-level resources. Although the Adventurers’ Alliance has a stronghold, it’s almost right next to the empire’s border. They don’t dare to go deep into it at all.”

"Are all the undead in Skeleton Hearts very powerful?" Samael asked.

“It’s not just that the undead are powerful…” Archie swallowed hard. “That…that place, that eerie atmosphere, is like a nightmare. The outer perimeter looks normal enough, but the further you go into the center, the more terrifying it becomes—a twisted, copper-rusted forest, a highly poisonous, sticky swamp, half-rotten monsters silently moving through the forest, staring at you with their pus-filled eyes, and a cold mist drifting across the entire Skeleton Heart Plain. Anyone who dares to trespass will surely lose their way.”

"It is different from the desolate demon realm ruled by the Demon King—to adventurers, the Demon King is merely a powerful and cruel enemy. But the Skeleton Heart Plains is a cold fear, a pure malice like death. No one dares to venture more than ten kilometers into the Skeleton Heart Plains. In fact, to this day, no one knows what lies in the core area shrouded in mist of the Skeleton Heart Plains."

“So… I’m still a little worried sometimes.” He turned to look at Samael. “After all, none of us know what’s in the inner region of the Skeleton Heart Plains.”

“I will do my best,” Samael said thoughtfully.

The real Skeleton Plains seem to be somewhat different from what I had imagined. I originally thought it was just a large plain with a large number of skeleton soldiers roaming around—but now that I've come to my senses, I realize something is wrong—if it were really that simple, how could the kings and kingdoms surrounding the Skeleton Plains allow this strategically important and fertile land to be so easily abandoned?

"Speaking of which, can't demons also control the undead?" He looked up at Archie and Talia.

“It’s possible to control only a small number, and it’s very difficult,” Archie replied. “It requires more than ten times the psionic energy of controlling magical beasts. Moreover, the undead in the Skeleton Heart Plains are very powerful. The skeleton soldiers in the Kana Plains are not even considered roadside rats in the Skeleton Heart. If you want to control more powerful undead creations such as Skeleton Warriors, Corpse Demons, and Swamp Behemoths, the psionic energy consumption is even more severe, which the exiles simply cannot do. Even if the Demon Lord uses all his strength, he can only control a few dozen high-level undead at most at the same time—but the number of undead in the Skeleton Heart is countless.”

“In addition, after controlling the necromancers, the quality of the necromancer warriors will drop significantly. They will become like rusty warriors, often wobbling, losing their balance, moving slowly, and inexplicably staggering and twitching, making them completely useless,” Talia explained. “Therefore, we usually do not use necromancers, not only because they are a huge drain on energy and command positions, but also because the warriors we obtain are not very useful.”

Samael recalled the previous description of the undead:

[The methods of activation include, but are not limited to: resonant signals from necromancy, modifications to psionic implants, and forced coverage of circuits by etheric psionic signals.]

The ethereal psionic signal, also known as the demonic psionic signal, is described as a method of controlling the undead as "forced circuit overlay".

Such behavior would likely damage the original psionic structure of the undead construct, which would explain the slow movements and inexplicable twitching and staggering that Talia described.

He stared blankly at the carriage, taking stock of the technology tree entries that were currently unlocked in the UI.

The Level 2 [Circuit Infiltrator] in Artificial Life Science has been unlocked, and it is now possible to create undead with organic structures using corpses.

Materials Science Level 3 has also been unlocked, and now I can finally replenish my Dark Copper inventory through the [Dark Copper Smelting Method] or the [Dark Copper Generator].

The "Underworld Copper Smelting Method" requires a complex processing procedure for copper ore—too troublesome, so it is not adopted.

The description of the "Underworld Copper Generator" indicates that the machine needs to touch an object containing a large amount of copper to perform underworld copper contamination and extraction.

A large amount of copper... It sounds like if you want to produce a lot of Nether Copper, you still need to mine copper ore and handle the ore with your own hands, only the smelting process of Nether Copper has been simplified.

Samael flipped through the UI database entries.

Besides Hell Copper, Level 3 Materials Science unlocks many other material crafting methods, all with interesting names.

[Melted Stone], [Gray Concrete], [Blood Steel], [High-Strength Cast Steel], [Witch Gold], [Holy Iron]...

It's not just weapon materials, but also raw materials for building materials and production tools.

Although it took a great deal of effort to create the little scouts and infiltrate the crypt of the Forger's Temple, the rewards made it all worthwhile. He controlled a small creature crawling inside the cavity of his breastplate.

Several bronze limbs emerged from the gap between his breastplate and shoulder armor, struggling to squeeze out. A bronze-armored spider, cast from a mixture of bronze and witch gold, used its limbs to claw at the armor surface, slowly crawling into his palm.

The basic technological requirements and manpower needed to build the dungeon are already in place, but... the Skeleton Heart Plains will be a completely new and unknown challenge.

The exile caravan will cross the Imperial border tomorrow and enter the Plains of Skeleton. But the shadow of Skeleton, from the moment it took shape, has already loomed over the borders of all the surrounding kingdoms and territories. The aftershocks of death, plague, and fear have even crossed the border, spreading to the southern provinces of the Empire, crushing a glorious city and a knightly family.

Although his own Bronze Ghost Knight body has absolute dominion over the undead and is not afraid of death, plague, or decay, according to Archie's description, the Plains of Bones has had a huge impact on the situation of this world.

Perhaps some unimaginably terrifying entity lurks here. We must not underestimate it.

Samael slowly tightened his grip on the bronze-helmeted spider, looking down at the fist-sized bell-shaped helmet. On the surface of the bell-shaped helmet, made of ghost bronze, was a single, empty eye; the emptiness and darkness within the eye socket silently watched him.

(End of this chapter)