Ghost Knight King's Dungeon Project

Chapter 78 [The Marks of Conspiracy]

Surrounded by the corpse knights, the two figures trudged across the chilling ground, through the cloud-shrouded sky, and around the edge of the lake.

Samael and Lysander crossed the lake and followed the small magnet floating on the runestone wheel of Lysander's gauntlets toward a bush.

Far from the lake area, the surrounding vegetation began to sparse, and the soil underfoot became harder and harder, hardened like terracotta bricks, thick and ancient, every speck of dust imbued with secrets from long ago.

Beyond the lake lies a vast expanse of shallow water, with a few shrubs scattered among the bluish rocks and reddish-brown sandy gravelly soil. The plants are withered and decaying, leaving only sparse, dead branches.

The small magnet floating in Lysander's palm stopped its large-scale deviation and stabilized in the center of the roulette wheel, trembling slightly with a certain precise directionality.

This should be it. Samael looked down at the hardened, reddish-brown soil beneath his feet.

It's the color of hematite.

The other ghost riders seemed to only use copper ore, showing almost no interest in other minerals. This iron deposit appeared flat and intact, without even the slightest trace of excavation or exploration.

“Thank you for your guidance on mineral exploration, my friend Lysander,” he said softly, beckoning to the undead accompanying him to make a simple mark in the area before telling Talia to bring the earth-eating worms here for preliminary excavation.

He raised his helmet and saw that Lysander was staring intently at the border of the Lahador territory to the southeast, his gaze focused, as if he were seriously thinking about something.

Lysander kept looking around as if searching for something important, but each time he found something that seemed important, he would examine it for a moment, then shake his head, sigh slightly, and finally look away to continue searching for the next thing that could catch his attention.

This was the first time he had ever thought so intently for such a long time. Perhaps what he was looking for lay on the southeastern border.

Samael was taken aback and followed Lysander's gaze, looking southeast.

Crossing sparse, withered shrubs and the desolate borders of the iron ore region, gray-black gravel and pebbles covered the rough, hard ground, stretching all the way to the horizon.

In the distance, rolling hills rise from the wilderness, their outlines rough and hard, with the distinctive bluish-gray color of copper ore shimmering between the square-shaped rocks, almost directly exposed on the surface.

Several unremarkable grayish-white spheres, covered in black sand, crawled among the shadows of distant hills—these were artificial undead constructs carrying skulls, miniature skeleton hermit crabs created by Sokofa.

"Is there anything important over there?" Samael asked.

"Hmm?" Lysander snapped out of his reverie and coughed twice. "Nothing..."

He hesitated.

“If there’s anything I can do to help, please let me know,” Samael said.

“I have a small request, Mr. Samael,” Lysander finally said.

"Please say."

“Once you, Mr. Samael, have conquered those barren, black mineral hills, I hope you will allow me to search for some important relics in that area,” Lysander said. “That relic is of great importance, and I must find it as soon as possible.”

“Of course,” Samael said. “However, I hope you can tell me first what you intend to do with this relic—if it is intended for evil purposes, I’m afraid I cannot easily assist you.”

"Furthermore, if you, my friend Lysander, could tell me what this relic looks like and where it is buried, perhaps I could send a necromancer to help you find it."

"..." Lysander looked at Samael, hesitated for a moment, "Doing evil and doing good may just be a matter of perspective." He sighed.

“That’s true, I know that very well,” Samael said. “Unfortunately, I don’t care at all about vague positional arguments, abstract good and evil, or debate-style right and wrong.”

"The only people I care about are living, breathing human beings."

"So... what is your attitude towards the Adventurers' Guild?" Lysander asked tentatively.

“My former friends include adventurers, Alliance guards on duty, the landlady of the Alliance outpost, and Alliance mage trainees,” Samael said calmly. “But I don’t care about the Adventurers’ Guild. I care about the specific individuals, not a group with a title.”

Lysander breathed a sigh of relief.

“If I had known your insights were so clear, I wouldn’t have needed to hide anything.” He smiled. “As the Necromancer Lord, you must know about the War of the Corpse Hearts, right?”

“I’ve only heard a little about it,” Samael replied. “I am not a dead person from this world. I come from a distant star—a star that is probably very distant in terms of both time and space.”

“Then, please allow me to briefly recount the conspiracy of the past,” Lysander explained. “Nearly a thousand years ago, after the gods, for unknown reasons, either departed or perished, the world experienced a long period of depression and peace.”

"Until the Demon Race's [First Monarch] tamed a raging Earth-Eating Demon Worm, used it to dig deep underground, excavated a batch of divine relics from the ruins of the Age of Gods, and used these relics to invade the habitable zone, easily taking control of the battlefield."

"The appearance of divine relics changed the world. The forces that obtained the relics of the gods gained unprecedented power, while those that did not could only be conquered, enslaved, and slaughtered."

"All forces are drawn to the divine legacy, caught in an unprecedented frenzy of artifact collection, driven by a fervor for power and authority, seeking the relics of the gods in every possible way."

"The first adventurers also began to appear during this period. However, the adventurers at that time were called 'Relic Seekers.' What they sought was not money or enchanted materials, but the legacy of the gods. Their only adventure was 'adventure in the ruins of the Age of Gods.' The relics they collected from the Age of Gods were enough to make them powerful warriors, scholars, wizards, and even kings of a small country."

"The precursor to the Adventurers' Alliance was also born during this period. At that time, this organization was called the 'Seeker of the Eye,' and it was spontaneously formed by the dozen or so most powerful artifact seekers,"

"According to the creation texts in the ancient temple, this fertile plain at the center of the world was the place where the gods first descended to earth, and the place where the gods began to create and change the world. It contains the most divine heritage."

"Therefore, in order to seize control of this center of the world, the War of the Souls broke out—the war intensified, and the brutal fighting lasted for decades, with the leaders and rulers of the major powers changing several times."

"Plague and darkness devoured the land, countless small kingdoms were swept away and destroyed by war, and swallowed up by other large kingdoms, until only four human kingdoms, five dwarf kingdoms and four elven territories remained."

"Even history began to break down here. Civilization was destroyed, and many of the technologies and cultures of the past were lost. Historical records from before this point were destroyed in the war."

"It wasn't until the relics were completely divided up by the surviving major powers that several powerful adventurers from the [Eye of God] stepped forward to mediate the war, and the raging conflict gradually came to an end."

"【Seeking the Eye of God】collaborated with the surviving kingdoms to rebuild after the war. Meanwhile, the demons, freed from the enslavement of the gods, also established themselves in the desolate demon realms on the outskirts of the continent, built dungeons, and began their counterattack."

"In order to harass and deplete the Demon King's dungeon's energy, and also to provide materials for the two major disciplines of [Potionology] and [Mana Runeology] deciphered from the relics, adventurers were born, and [The Eye of God] was renamed [Adventurers' Alliance]."

Lysander paused.

"At least, according to the records provided to historians by the Adventurers' Alliance, that's the case." He smiled bitterly. "Because the Battle of the Heart of Bones was so brutal that it even caused a historical gap, the true history is no longer known after the war, and can only be recorded according to the information provided by the most authoritative institution, the Eye of God."

"In previous years, my mentor passed away unexpectedly. I lost the guiding star on the path of truth and the warm sunshine that shone in my life."

"I was depressed and listless for a long time. Finally, on my way downstairs to buy wine, I was tripped by a clumsy adventurer, and the wine spilled all over the ground. She didn't compensate me for the wine, but instead gave me a glass of juice."

"On the streets of Falem, the capital of Florence, bathed in the glow of the setting sun, she and I talked for a long time. I was encouraged by her unique adventurer's optimism and courage, struggling out of the gloom of life, and decided to sign a work contract with the Alliance, becoming an Alliance scholar. It was at this time that I gained the right to access the Alliance Archives." "The Alliance Archives is an incredibly large building, hidden deep underground in the abandoned mines of Rosa in the Kingdom of Florence. Some say it was converted from abandoned relics of the Age of Gods."

"In that astonishingly vast archive, I inadvertently wandered into a sealed, ancient door deep within. Using my magical skills, I broke the seal and entered a long-forgotten core secret area. Inside, I found a document from the era of the 'Seeking the Eye of God,' which recounted a secret plan prior to the War of the Corpse Hearts—"

"In fact, before the War of the Souls began, none of the monarchs on the continent were willing to start a war rashly, because they anticipated that the flames of war might burn more and more fiercely, sweeping across the world, to the point that no one could control it."

"Some monarchs originally wanted to negotiate and decide the ownership of each divine relic and each legacy technology through a reasonable and controlled peaceful competitive contest, similar to an arena competition, in order to minimize the losses as much as possible."

"Therefore, before the war began at Skeleton Heart, more than a hundred kings and leaders from different countries and races gathered at Skeleton Heart, hoping to discuss detailed terms regarding the arrangement of arena matches and the fair distribution of the gods' legacy."

"The content of this plan is that [Seeking the Eye of God] will dispatch dozens of elite warriors, all of whom will be highly enhanced with relics from the Age of Gods, to quickly break through the guards and kill all the kings and leaders when all the kings gather. This will leave the continent's nations leaderless, prompting the War of the Souls to begin immediately and causing the intensity of the war to exceed imagination and become uncontrollable."

"It is specifically noted that among the 148 monarchs, 13 monarchs cooperated with the [Eye of God] in advance and learned about the plan. Therefore, they were absent from the peace gathering of the kings at the center of the world. After the decapitation operation, they preserved their strength and waited for an opportunity to launch an attack on other kingdoms that had lost their leaders, becoming the final thirteen surviving forces."

"These thirteen sinner monarchs involved in the conspiracy came from thirteen kingdoms representing three major races:"

"The ancient Erdrik Empire of mankind."

The ancient Supar Empire.

Ancient Florentine Consul Federation.

The ancient Holy Light Church.

"Taralin Morana, the Elf of the Moonlight."

【Blue Leaf's Domain】Sigwa Pridaya.

[Flamewind Territory] Faminlo Gasrida.

[The Land of Algae Waves] Ogorak Serand.

"Mazir-Kazzak of the dwarves in Blackrock Fortress".

【Furnace】Karatod-Kazzak.

【Battlefront Fortress】Ariel-Zudon.

【Icefang Fortress】Isazlo-Zudon.

[Ironsil Fortress] Enoch-Kazzak.

"The rulers of these thirteen ancient kingdoms colluded with the [Eye of God], and together they wove and plotted the terrifying War of the Souls in a dark conspiracy from long ago."

"Even more terrifying is that another, more recent document reveals that more than twenty years ago, another secret plan was put on the agenda by the Adventurers' Alliance. The goal of the plan is to cooperate with the Kings, provoke a second War of the Souls, and let the flames of war sweep across the world once again!"

"I was so engrossed in reading that the administrator of the Alliance Archives caught me red-handed through a secret door—the Alliance, in order to keep the secret, dispatched its elite subordinate force, the Bounty Hunters, to hunt me down."

“The ancient monarchs of other kingdoms also participated in the horrific crimes of that time. I am worried that their kings still have close ties with the alliance and dare not ask the leaders of these kingdoms for help.”

“I originally wanted to join a demon lord, but I heard about the destruction of the northern Rondoran mountain kingdom, when the Adventurers’ Alliance and nine demon lords participated in the siege. I’m worried that some demon lords may have already cooperated with the Adventurers’ Alliance and dare not join the demons anymore.”

"And I risked everything to escape to a place where adventurers' forces could not reach, to delve into the heart of the skeleton, all in order to find the bodies of the ancient monarchs and guards who participated in the Peace Conference of Kings, the bodies of those assassins of the [Seeker of the Eye], and the royal relics of the ancient kingdoms that they left behind when they died—crowns, scepters, knight's swords, royal rings, divine weapons, and divine armor."

"These relics have been lost for a long time. In the field of history, the relics of the kings of those ancient small countries that were destroyed in the Battle of Haixin have never been found. They were probably all slaughtered in the Haixin peace talks and lost here."

"As long as enough relics can be found as evidence, it can prove that what I said is true, and this news can be announced to the world. It can also tell them that the Kings have always been puppets manipulated by the Adventurers' Alliance, which may incite public outrage and stop the Second Heart of the Corpse War."

“According to the records I’ve seen, the meeting of kings took place in a gray-black wasteland near a volcano,” Lysander said in a low voice. “They used powerful relics to quell the smoke and fire of the volcano, and built a powerful magical barrier around the volcano, setting up the council hall for the kings.”

"That's why I get so excited when I see the gray-black wasteland—if only I could find those relics..."

Samael felt a little dizzy. He tried his best to process the information and finally nodded slowly and steadily.

“I will prioritize assisting you with this task,” he replied. “How long until the Alliance instigates a second War of the Souls?”

“The files mention that preparations for war will begin this winter, and the start of the war will likely be instigated around the turn of spring and summer next year,” Lysander said. “We have four or five months left.”

Samael nodded.

“I can’t guarantee that I can do anything,” he said softly. “But I will do my best—this is my friend’s dungeon, and a place for my fellow beings from another world to stay.”

"If they want to fight in the Heart of the Dead, they should at least consider the legion of the dead first."

He pondered the situation, gazing at the rust-red soil of the iron ore deposit before him, and checking the entry for "Holy Iron" in the helmet's UI:

【Saint Iron】

[Through psionic processing and phase transition, the iron phase 3 undergoes a special complex repulsion treatment to reconstruct the psionic structure of iron, resulting in high-strength non-psionic biocompatibility.]

Four different iron phase structures can be obtained by using four different processing methods during casting, and these structures can be combined to obtain stable and reliable logic gate automation devices.

[The computational medium that can be carried is not psionic energy, but repulsive photons in a specific frequency band.]

[Rugged, stable, and reliable, capable of withstanding extreme temperatures. Due to its non-psychic biocompatibility, it can be used to manufacture prosthetics and non-psychic machines.]

[Extremely averse to psionic energy.]

When psionic energy is forcibly injected into sacred iron using a special method, the psionic energy is converted into photons of a specific frequency with 100% efficiency and repelled. This photon frequency can block psionic signals and cause effective interference and a certain degree of powerful damage to psionic constructs.

[It requires iron-containing substances as raw materials.]

[Can be manufactured.]

The process of unifying the skeletons is about to accelerate. Samael bent down, gazing at the soil in front of him containing reddish-brown hematite.

(End of this chapter)