Ghost Knight King's Dungeon Project

Chapter 48 [The Demonic Insect Larva and the Bell-Ringing Reaper]

Samael slid slowly down the cave wall into the sunken pit in the center of the high grassland, with Talia following closely behind.

"You saw that bronze figure, didn't you?" Samael asked as he drew his sword and planted it in the cave wall to slow his descent. "Tall, broad, with antlers on its head."

“What I’m more concerned about is that incomplete undead earth-devouring worm—that figure was controlling an undead worm, which had been devouring the once-living worm into pieces.” Talia gripped the cave wall tightly with her claw-like armor and slid down from behind Samael.

"It, him, that antler-shaped bronze figure, inside the mouth of the necromancer worm?" Samuel paused.

“That’s normal. Adult earth-devouring worms have sac-like spaces in their mouths and digestive tracts large enough to hold dozens of people—the demons use them to transport small elite legions of cave dwellers from underground to enemy territory for infiltration and decapitation operations,” Talia explained. “Moreover, there is a chair-shaped bone in the worm’s head cavity that connects its internal organs and brain, and the demon lord often manipulates the worm within it.”

“No, no, the key point is that figure—he also seems to possess a bronze body.” Samael waved his hand. “Have you…have you seen any other Ghost Knights besides me before?”

Talia shook her head.

“Ghost Riders are legends from the age of gods, powerful undead that exist only in ancient myths, with almost no concrete sightings—just a story, now used only to scare children or in third-rate fiction.” She answered softly, “Of course, that was the case before I met you.”

"What are ghost knights like in mythology?" he asked, looking at Talia.

"Apocalypse. Destroyer of great deeds, judge of evil, slaughterer of life, trampler of suffering, ender of all things."

"Chaos is brought about by the living, and evil is created by the living. The dead have no evil, nor do they create pain or chaos. Therefore, in the cold and empty silence, all life will receive ultimate redemption after the judgment."

"They are the most fiercely burning individuals among all the souls that turned into stars, the most brutal and furious beings. They appear to destroy everything and spare no effort to kill all the living."

Samael remained silent for a moment.

“I wasn’t talking about you!” Talia added angrily.

“No, no, that’s not what I meant—these comments and rumors are quite meaningful.” Samael shook his head. “I suspect there’s another Ghost Knight on the Plains of Bones…that tall figure with the antlers.”

“Is this possible?” Talia looked at him.

“In the unknown land of the Corpse Heart, where secrets are buried, anything is possible,” Samael replied.

In the center of the deep pit in the high grassland, surrounded by the enormous corpses of the earth-devouring demon worms, the two looked around.

Deep within the worm tunnel, several mounds of earth, about half a person's height, were writhing, colliding, and tearing at each other. They were gnawing on the fragments of the dead earth-devouring worms around them, and were also devouring each other.

"A demonic insect larva!" Talia exclaimed, lunging at one of the mounds and grabbing the creature inside.

She plunged her arms tightly into the sides of the mound of earth, and with a pop, dirt flew everywhere as she pulled out a shell-like object more than two meters long.

Hiss! Hiss! The fat demonic insect, as big as a lion, hissed as it rubbed the spiral teeth on its head, wriggling and struggling in Talia's arm, flicking its fat tail with bone spikes.

The demonic insect had eight small, segmented claws, though they were short and small, resembling eight moving, carapace-like protrusions distributed across its long body. Adult demonic insects were so large that the segmented claws were almost invisible, but this feature was particularly pronounced in the larvae.

Talia grabbed its midsection and lifted it up with both hands, as if she were holding a huge, round, fat mastiff.

“No wonder their mothers didn’t run or hide when attacked by the undead insects.” She looked at the huge corpses around her, which had been devoured into pieces by the undead insects, and said softly, “It was to protect their young with their bodies.”

"Wait a minute, there's more than one larva?" Samael counted the number of mounds and pulled out a fat demonic insect from one of them.

“There are four.” Talia dug aside the other two mounds of earth, a faint blue light flashing in her eyes.

The four larvae flicked their tails, but they didn't seem to obey. They were still struggling to burrow back into the soil, and the two larvae that were placed closer together began to bite each other. Their spiral teeth and scales containing metallic substances collided, and sparks flew everywhere.

“They are very strong. Even though they are just larvae, they already have a very strong mental resistance…” Talia struggled to maintain the suppression of the psionic signal. “There are too many of them. I… I can only guarantee absolute control over one demonic insect.”

"With only one larva, I can guarantee absolute control. Two will be very difficult, and they will occasionally go out of control. Three is the limit. With four, I can only temporarily affect their behavior and calm them down."

"How many demon worms does a demon lord usually have?" Samael asked as he separated the four giant demon worm larvae, each over two meters long and nearly a meter wide, to prevent them from devouring each other. He then forged a dark bronze chain and made four small collars to tie around the demon worms' necks.

This was difficult because the larvae of the demon insects resembled a giant, fat sausage, and their necks weren't very noticeable. Samael had no choice but to bind the chains to the section between their heads and their small claws.

"What do you mean by several?" Talia exclaimed in surprise. "They're very difficult to raise! It takes a lot of resources to get them to work each time, and they can destroy almost any material. They can't be imprisoned, and they can easily go out of control if you're not careful, randomly destroying buildings and terrain structures. Maintaining even one Earth-Eating Demon Worm is already difficult enough, let alone the fact that the monarch only needs one adult demon worm to build a dungeon. Why would he need to raise so many?"

“But there are four in front of us.” Samael raised the bronze chain in his hand, which held four larvae of demonic insects.

"Are you planning to raise four?" Talia snorted, releasing her control over the four juveniles.

The larvae of the demonic insects suddenly began to thrash their bodies and small limbs, running around wildly as if leading four frolicking huskies. The immense force pulled Samael off balance, causing him to fall to the ground and be dragged a long way away with a clatter.

“I have to admit, it might be a little difficult,” he replied amidst the clanging of metal as it was being pulled and thrown to the ground.

Talia's eyes lit up with blue light again as she struggled to temporarily suppress the larvae of the demonic insect.

“Under normal circumstances, they will eat each other until only one or two are left, and then they will devour the mother and enter the sub-adult state.” Talia looked at the four earth-devouring demon worm larvae in front of her. “If the demon lord finds the larvae, he will also let them kill each other until only the strongest one is left, and then take it for his own use.”

"Although it's a desperate measure due to resource constraints, it sounds a bit cruel." Samael got up, shaking off the dust. "Can a juvenile really handle the excavation work in the dungeon?"

“For a juvenile… it’s a bit difficult, the progress will be much slower than that of an adult, but it can still be completed.”

"Will they die immediately if they lack food?"

"No, they only hibernate. The demonic insects have extremely strong vitality, and because the adults are huge, they need a lot of food. So, in order to save resources, they often hibernate underground. The monarch only wakes them up to carry out tasks when needed. Sometimes, adult individuals that have been hibernating for hundreds of years can even be found deep underground."

“Then four will do,” Samael replied.

"Are you kidding me?" Talia stared at him. "Putting aside the food issue, how do you plan to stop them from eating each other?"

Samael reached out and placed his hand on the body of a demonic insect larva. Dark copper flowed from his palm, forming a fixed ring and two powered limbs.

As the larvae of the demonic insects once again attempted to devour each other, the Nether Bronze limbs pried open, automatically took steps, and grabbed the larvae, only to bite empty air.

"Alright, stop gnawing on your own brother, go eat your mother's remains." Samael picked it up and placed it on the broken surface of the Death Worm beside him, where it began to devour the flesh. Although it was just a statement, for some reason, it sounded like a hellish joke and an insult.

He did the same to the remaining three demonic insect larvae, and now they could no longer devour each other. The larvae seemed very angry, trying to bite off the bronze-powered limbs that were preventing them from killing each other, but in the end they just ended up chasing the bony spikes of their short tails in circles.

“I’ve unlocked several new high-strength building material formulations, which might be able to withstand the gnawing of the Earth-Eating Demon Worms.” Samael recalled his newly unlocked tech tree entries. “We can build a huge cage of enchanted metal or reinforced building materials to temporarily confine them when not in use, keeping them dormant and preventing them from running around and damaging buildings and terrain.”

Talia pondered for a moment.

"We can give it a try," she agreed.

The two struggled to climb out of the pit in the center of the tall grass plain, each half-carrying, half-dragging two huge, plump demonic insect larvae under their arms. The demonic insects were not completely under their control; their tails still drooped on the ground, thrashing about restlessly, leaving deep scratches on the ground from their hard carapace spikes and spiral scales.

“I’m thinking about whether this place is suitable for settling down,” Samael said in a low voice, carrying a huge, writhing demonic worm on one shoulder and another tucked under his arm.

“You should believe in yourself—I believe in you, and so do the other demon exiles.” Talia stumbled up, carrying two plump demon worm larvae. The larvae’s enormous, spiraling fangs blocked her view, making her look like a thief who had snatched two pigs from a farm.

“Should we tell the exiles to come over? Or…” Samael suddenly paused.

"What happened?" Talia's vision was blocked by the long fangs of the two demonic insects, and she didn't see the road ahead, nearly bumping into Samael's back.

"Fog." He gently placed the demonic insect at his feet and whispered, "The fog is coming."

Talia also put the demonic insect down. The bronze limbs attached to the larva thrashed thrashed thrashed rapidly, dragging the writhing giant larva back into the sunken pit behind them to hide it.

On the southeastern edge of the Takakusa Plain, a thick fog, like a writhing monster, slowly rolled towards the plain.

“Step back,” Samael whispered. “Step back!” He pulled Talia behind him and raised his sword and shield.

"Help me...it hurts so much..." The hoarse, trapping voice of the undead, mimicking the voices of the living, could be faintly heard in the mist. But it was clearer than the voices of the undead in the tall grass, and the wording was closer to the vocabulary of the living.

A lonely, empty bell echoed in the mist.

"Ah, you stood by and watched me die, you sinners..." The twisted and deformed figures appeared and disappeared in the thick, misty fog. "You killed me."

Jingle Bell……

Hissing laughter and snake-like shadows slithered through the mist, accompanied by the soft clicking of limbs. Something crawled in the mist, accompanied by the soft clanging of metal.

Jingle Bell……

"My corpse." A hoarse, hollow voice grew closer and closer in the mist.

"My...corpse..." The rotting undead in the mist wailed, echoing with ethereal songs.

Ring ring! Ring ring! Ring ring! The piercing sound of bells rang out incessantly!
*Click.* The black gauntlet gripped Samael's shoulder tightly.

“Talia?” Samael turned his head instinctively.

Talia lowered her head, her body trembling slightly. The four larvae of the Earth-Eating Demon Worm also trembled and curled up at her feet.

A strange chill permeated the surroundings, carrying the familiar smell of copper.

Jingle Bell……

The bronze resonator is now in use.

Clang! Clang! Clang! The bronze sword and shield struck each other, shattering the sound of bells ringing in the mist.

The undead in the mist stopped in their tracks, standing stiffly at attention like machines receiving a command. A series of jingling bells rang out, seemingly trying to drown out the clanging of swords and shields, but the two sounds blended together, and the undead remained frozen in place, motionless.

[Ghost Copper Resonance Signal - Command Conflict.]

Please avoid operating multiple signal sources simultaneously.

A figure in the mist paused, the bronze chainmail hanging from its body resembling a tattered robe, the chain links clattering together with a soft rustling sound.

Samael slowly raised his kite-shaped shield, held his knight's sword, and cautiously faced the shadow.

“Anshiba,” the figure in the mist said, “you came all the way from the gray moss-covered wilderness in the north to destroy the corpses of the demonic insects that I’ve been hunting down for so long and was preparing to collect.”

Samael remained silent.

A faint, panting sound came from the fog, like the gasping of a dying animal, or a breathless laugh.

“Ah, Ansba’s instrument isn’t this; his war drums are much deeper,” he whispered. “You are…”

A figure slowly emerged from the misty haze.

It was a peculiar corpse demon, thin, withered, and ferocious, draped in soft armor of dark copper chainmail that resembled a tattered robe. The tiny dark copper chainmail rings were interconnected, forming a texture similar to tattered soft cloth, which made a soft rustling sound as it moved.

On its body, which was covered by a tattered robe of dark bronze chainmail, there were three rotting flesh arms that had been spliced ​​on. One hand held a small dark bronze bell that it could shake, while the other two hands dragged huge, long-handled dark bronze scythes. The scythes exuded a chill, and their massive, curved blades were covered with dense serrations and barbs, stained with black blood. They were powerful enough to cut a living person in half with a single blow.

Its head was adorned with a Collins-style helmet resembling an owl, cast in dark bronze. The upper half of its face was surrounded by dark bronze armor plates, creating dark, empty eye sockets. The lower half of its face was covered by a veil of dark bronze chainmail, barely concealing the horrifying face of the rotting corpse demon beneath.

This is another Ghost Knight's psionic implant. And the helmet design of another Ghost Knight's elite node undead unit.

A strange chill ran through Samael, as if he were being watched. The other party had activated a scanner on him.

“You.” A hoarse, somber voice rang out from beneath the veil of the dark bronze chainmail on the Collins-style helmet. Hollow eyes stared at Samael and Talia behind him.

“You are with living people,” it said. “Why don’t you kill them?”

"Why kill?" Samael asked.

"Where is your hatred?" A hollow chill echoed beneath the chainmail veil of the Collins helmet. "Where is your hatred for the world? Where is your hatred for life? Where is your hatred for everything?"

"Why hate?" Samael asked. "I don't hate anyone."

The owl-shaped helmet and chainmail-clad cadaver emitted a series of gasping sounds, like the panting of a dying animal, followed by a grotesque laugh.

"New here?" it asked. "I've never seen you in the Heart of Bones."

"How many Ghost Knights are there in the Skeleton Plains?" Samael ignored the question.

"I don't know, who cares about such things? As long as we can kill all the living people in this world, isn't that enough?" The rotting corpse demon in tattered bronze chainmail chuckled. "Do you know Ansba?"

“Antlers?” Samael asked.

"A stag-horned frog helmet, heavy armor, a very tall man, with shoulder armor wider than your height, carrying a flame-shaped greatsword," the chainmail-armored corpse demon described, "riding a necromancer earth-devouring worm."

“I met him once,” Samael replied. “He left not long ago.”

"Oh, you two aren't familiar? Would you like to come to my grave?" the Corpse Demon asked.

"You mean the [Dungeon]?" Samael asked, "Or rather, the [Alien Underground Colony]?"

"No, no, no, what? The underground colony is one of the things we need to destroy." The armored ghoul demon shook its head. "Tombs, graveyards, whatever you want to say, places where only the dead exist, places where disgusting living people won't bother us. Follow me, I'll protect you, we'll stay away from those disgusting living people, and once we've collected enough corpses, we'll crush the living and their cities, how about that?"

"Isn't your system the [Alien Underground Colony Construction System]?" Samael asked in a low voice.

The Corpse Demon in the Nether Bronze Chainmail was taken aback, then burst into wild laughter.

“It’s the [Extermination System],” he replied. “Did you install the wrong system? Or is there a problem with your mission? Did something go wrong when you were deployed to the Corpse Heart?”

"Do you...do you have memories of your past life?" Samael cautiously raised his shield to protect Talia.

“Of course there are,” replied the scythe-wielding ghoul in tattered chainmail. “Only exceptional souls, filled with agony at the moment of death, are abandoned here with hatred, to suffer eternal torment from the living until the mission is complete. You know nothing?”

"Thank you for your answer," Samael said softly.

"Come on, join me." The chainmail-armored scythe-wielding corpse demon planted its massive bronze scythe to the side, its hands empty in a gesture of goodwill. "We can cooperate to defeat those other ghost knights—Ansba, Dekgon, Sinzro, Planger, and Sokofa—we can team up, my friend!"

It extended its half-claw-shaped hand, made of rotting flesh and bone, and opened its gauntlets of rotting flesh and bronze towards Samael, as if to shake hands in a friendly manner.

"Rahador, I am Rahador," the chainmail corpse demon introduced himself gently.

Samael remained silent, slowly sheathing the Dark Bronze Knight Sword in his right hand beside him.

The dark bronze chain around his waist twitched. Talia grabbed him, trying to stop him.

But his gauntlets swung behind him as he continued toward Rahador's scythe-wielding necromancer elite.

“Samael. You can call me Samael.” He slowly grasped the dark bronze gauntlets, which were made of rotting flesh and mixed with the rotting flesh of the necromancer.

The chainmail made a slight rustling sound.

The moment the strange sound of flesh and blood tearing through the air rang out, he suddenly raised the bronze kite-shaped shield he had prepared in his left hand.

Clang clang clang clang clang clang! Amidst a series of rapid and frantic slashes, Samael retreated rapidly, his bronze kite-shaped shield already shattered into irregular fragments!

The scanner is now enabled.

[Biological Structure Detection: Nightmare Tendrils]

Nightmare Tendrils (and its associated muscle groups): Strong, multi-functional tendrils, constructed of organic matter, suitable for grasping, manipulating, and destroying tasks in various complex terrains; highly precise, inexpensive, and ruggedly durable.

The database has been updated.

[Burn to the "Artificial Life Sciences - Biological Structure Materials" content library]

[Lacking an organic psionic structure, the body is temporarily unusable.]

In the instant the handshake occurred, the Corpse Demon in its Nether Bronze Chainmail tore open the tattered chainmail covering its chest, and dozens of thick, fleshy tendrils burst forth from its body, wildly lashing out at Samael's body. Each tendril was inlaid with a sharp Nether Bronze blade at its end!
“You’re only telling the truth. First you said you didn’t know how many Ghost Knights there were, then you listed the names of five other knights one by one.” Samael raised his left hand and used the remaining Ghost Copper in his storage to forge another Ghost Copper kite-shaped shield.

“Your attitude changed after you learned that I had seen Ansba with the antler-frog helmet—you were unsure who I would choose to ally with, and judging from your words, Ansba’s power was greater than yours. So you planned to kill me with this implanted elite unit before I could ally with Ansba.” He picked up the Dark Bronze Knight Sword from the ground beside him with his right hand.

"Just testing you... You're really not sincere. I thought you genuinely wanted to form an alliance with me." The armored corpse demon chuckled, slowly extending its rotting claws to grab a scythe beside it.

The next instant, a dark bronze chain wrapped around the scythe handle, and the heavy impact of the [Lion Fighter] knocked the Corpse Demon to the ground. With a clean and swift [Falling Slash], the knight's sword severed its neck and half of its chainmail veil.

Samael grabbed the Collins-style owl helmet and held it in his hand.

"Really not coming?" Rahador's voice still echoed from the empty Collins-style owl helmet. Even though his real body was much farther away, "We can destroy this world together, kill all the living—Samael! My good friend! Come on! I was just joking with you, can't you even handle that?"

“I prefer creation to destruction.” Samael pressed his palm against the Collins-style helmet, melting it into a pool of ghost copper.

Rahado's voice disappeared.

Samael raised his head and met Talia's gaze silently.

……

Outside the Heart of the Dead, in the camp of the exiles.

“That’s roughly the situation,” Samael concluded.

“If everyone can accept that I have six companions in the Skeleton Heart, then let’s start building the dungeon here,” he said gently.

“Everything is fine.” He picked up a wriggling, plump larva of a demonic insect. “However, the undead civil war here might cause signal conflicts… The real combat power should rely entirely on elite units with implants.”

"I'm sorry, I promised you all a better home, but it seems to be different from what I envisioned, and there may be many difficulties ahead. I promise to do my best to make up for this difference. But if you are dissatisfied, that's understandable. I won't force you."

He gazed at the exiles before him.

Old Duke laughed heartily.

“Nothing in this world is easy, and even if it were, it wouldn’t be our turn. We’re used to hardship; it’s an indispensable part of our lives.” He smiled. “If a difficult journey could scare away exiles, we would have been scared to death long ago.”

"When will construction begin?" Archie asked. "The underground city won't build itself."

"Can we begin?" Another demon architect stroked the larva of the demon insect.

“Anytime is fine.” Samael and Talia nodded.

"Build! Build! Build a new home!" the exiles shouted in unison.

(End of this chapter)