Chapter 65 - 64: McGwire’s Death Tomb
Chapter 65: Chapter 64: McGwire’s Death Tomb
In the heart of the forest,
Arsen and the others set up tents on the grassy ground and even unusually started a bonfire to prepare dinner, as leisurely as if they had come here for a picnic.
But a careful observation would reveal that no one ever took off their equipment to relax for a while, and their weapons were placed beside them, ready to enter the battle status at any moment to respond to danger.
Lis had already set up several layers of warning magic around the camp, prepared for danger at any time.
The whole team appeared casual, but in reality, they were lax on the outside and tense on the inside, all in an effort to lure potential enemies into action.
Even when resting at night, they ensured that at least two people were on guard.
...
However, Lis and the others soon realized that their precaution was entirely meaningless.
This was the second day already, yet there still wasn’t the slightest disturbance; the forest seemed like a true paradise without any dangers.
“What exactly is going on?”
Arsen felt helpless too and looked up at the sun rising towards its zenith.
His group had entered the forest for almost a whole day, stayed in the heart of the forest for one night, but nothing had happened.
Even though they were mentally prepared to face danger, nothing dangerous occurred, causing Arsen to feel the helplessness of striking the air with all his might.
Unlike Arsen and Ailina, at this moment, Lis and Ya’er were somewhat restless.
Lis felt a stifling discomfort in his chest, the pressure of entering the forest growing heavier with time, and he had a premonition of imminent disaster.
Ya’er’s complexion was still somewhat normal, but her hand tightly gripping the longsword reflected her highly alert status.
Arsen noticed Lis’s somewhat pale face and asked with concern,
“Lis, what’s wrong with you? You’ve looked a bit off since yesterday, what happened?”
Lis hesitated for a moment but still decided to share his baseless feeling with his teammates.
“I…”
Just as Lis was about to speak, Lunbos and Arthur, who were sitting on the side on guard, suddenly vanished from their spot without a trace.
Thinking of a possibility, Lis shouted to Ya’er and Ailina next to him,
“Be careful…”
Before Lis could finish, his figure also disappeared from the spot.
—————–
Accompanied by a spell of dizziness and disorientation, when Lis opened his eyes, he found himself in a completely unfamiliar place.
There was no light source around him, and only after his eyes reluctantly adjusted to the darkness could he faintly make out his surroundings.
No longer in front of the lush forest, he was now in a gloomy passage with stone walls covered in dust on both sides, emanating a putrid and nauseating stench from the air that had not circulated for a long time.
Lis shook his head to fully recover from the discomfort of the recent space transmission and carefully began to survey his environment.
He did not use the Flash Technique, as there could be potential dangers nearby, and using magic to illuminate the area would undoubtedly make him a live target.
Lis, with his rich adventure experience from his previous life, naturally came prepared, carefully taking out a carved piece of fluorite from his storage ring. He relied on the faint glow it emitted to examine his surroundings, all the while pondering what exactly was going on.
What was that just now?
A space transmission?
But since Arsen and Ya’er aren’t by my side, does that mean it was a random teleport?
What then, is the trigger condition?
And where am I now… underground?
The heavy stench of corpses in the air certainly indicated that this place was far from safe, and it would be unrealistic to simply wait for rescue. Lis had no choice but to pick up the fluorite and inspect the surrounding stone walls, hoping to find some useful information.
In the faint glow of the fluorite, Lis scrutinized the place he found himself in.
It was a square stone chamber, with walls showing clear signs of sculpting and polishing, and slightly weathered edges that suggested it had withstood the test of time.
Suddenly, Lis felt a different kind of mark on the wall to the right and hurriedly brought the fluorite close to take a careful look.
The mark, chiseled directly into the wall, depicted a one-eyed crow perched on a horizontally placed bone magic wand.
Lis’s eyes widened in recognition of the eerie symbol— it was all too familiar to him.
Wasn’t that the exclusive symbol of the secret realm “McGwire’s Death Tomb”?
…
Lis had already put the fluorite back into the storage ring and was now sitting against the corner of the wall, his thoughts racing as he contemplated his current predicament.
If there were McGwire’s exclusive symbols here, then he must certainly be inside the Death Tomb now.
Thankfully, he seemed to have been teleported to a safe area of the tomb, which was better than being thrown directly into a pile of monsters.
So, was the forest I was in before the secret realm “Nest of Undead Tree Demon”?
In the past life’s game “Divine Revelation”, players could enter secret realms by two methods; one was by using secret realm crystals they found.
The other was by spending a limited number of weekly attempts to directly access a realm through a system-exclusive entrance.
As a Bronze Level secret realm, “Nest of Undead Tree Demon” was naturally a place many players had entered and conquered.
This realm was an ordinary forest, but the demons that appeared were Undead Tree Demons.
They were level 30–40 Undead Monsters, somewhat resembling the Elf Clan’s tree guardians, but their bodies were filled with Death Spirit Energy, capable of controlling this energy to attack. These demons came into being when trees were mutated by the invasion of Death Spirit Energy.
And the boss for clearing the realm was a level 45 Undead Giant Tree Demon, located in the center of the forest; defeating it meant clearing the “Nest of Undead Tree Demon” secret realm.
However, what puzzled players at the time was that no matter how they defeated the Undead Giant Tree Demon, or if they cleared all the Undead Tree Demons in the forest, the completion degree of the “Nest of Undead Tree Demon” was only 99%.
That last 1% remained unachieved for a long time, and even players who went to the lengths of chopping down every tree in the forest couldn’t make any progress.
For a significant period in the game, most mainstream players had reached Silver Level, when one player serendipitously discovered the hidden secret of the “Nest of Undead Tree Demon” realm.
After their team defeated the Undead Giant Tree Demon and cleared the realm, they whimsically decided to throw a party at the center of the forest, indulging in food and drink along with various games, staying in the realm for an entire in-game day.
Just as they were preparing to log off, they were unexpectedly teleported to a new hidden secret realm.
The final 1% of the secret was thus dramatically unraveled.
Who could have thought that the “Nest of Undead Tree Demon” secret realm would be connected to another realm, and the way to enter it was to stay in the realm for a full day, and moreover, at the center of the forest?
This peculiar design was also criticized by players as a bit of wicked humor on the part of the game designers.
As for this new secret realm?
Its name was “McGwire’s Death Tomb”!