Chapter 131 - 45: [Edge of the Heart of the Remains]

Chapter 131: Chapter 45: [Edge of the Heart of the Remains]

The towering city walls, built of stacked stone bricks, cast a bluish-gray hue. They stood on the Inner Ring border line in the southwest of the Empire, spanning between the towns of the southwestern Empire and the Hai Xin Plain at the center of the world.

The damp moss on the walls was like the filth on a dead man’s teeth, carrying a filthy, cruel chill. Watchtowers, beacon towers, and warning bell towers stood densely among them like tombstones.

Although there was no harassment from the Demon Monarch and the Burrower Legion here, for some reason, the military scale of the garrisons on the southern border line of the Ederic Empire was on par with that of the northwestern border line.

Or rather, every kingdom and every racial faction bordering the Hai Xin Plain had stationed Guards of equal scale along the Hai Xin Border Line, all for some tacit yet unspeakable reason.

The Moonlight Watchers of the Elves, the Mobile Iron Cannon Fortresses of the Dwarves, and the Imperial Cavalry, Monastery War Knights, Prism Towers, and Desert Shepherd Soldiers of humanity... All Intelligent Races tacitly stationed heavily fortified military forces on the border line connecting to the Heart of the Remains.

However, for hundreds of years, facing these heavily guarded border lines, the Hai Xin Plain simply maintained a quiet silence, as if playing dumb or being outright disdainful.

Dark clouds loomed over the checkpoints of the border line. Gloomy-faced officers and soldiers, clad in thick coats, patrolled back and forth under the gray sky.

Guarding the border line was certainly no plum job, but as soldiers of the Ederic Empire, they had few complaints. The gloom on their faces stemmed from the fact that this place was right next to the northwestern corner of the Hai Xin Plain. Set in a low-lying area, the mist evaporating from the swamplands of the Heart of the Remains and the Copper Rust Forest caused year-round haze and rain, creating a particularly unpleasant environment.

The Hai Xin Plain covered a massive area with complex and treacherous terrain. It contained various sub-terrains such as highly toxic swamplands, the Copper Rust Forest, the High Grass Plain, desolate wilderness, rocky mining hills, charred-bone volcanoes, and the White Bones Desert. It shared borders to varying degrees with the territories of every kingdom and every race.

Yet, regardless of the natural environment or terrain, every corner of the Hai Xin Plain was filled with a gloomy sense of oppression. It felt like a ghost lingering behind you, trying to strangle your throat.

In this cursed land, rotting toxins were ubiquitous. Toxins and plagues were standard features of the local ecosystem. Corpse-Eating Magical Beasts roamed amidst the cold mist of the swamps and the Copper Rust Forest, while most flora and fauna were infected by bizarre plagues and managed to coexist with them.

The Skeleton Warriors, considered tricky and troublesome elsewhere, could even be called friendly and cute existences here—compared to the Bone Puppets built from accumulating biological remains and calcareous rocks, and the Corpse Demons haphazardly glued together from rotting flesh and severed limbs. Swamp Humus soaked the corpses, transforming them into terrifying Swamp Giants. A vast number of Undead, far beyond humanity’s most terrible imaginations, entrenched themselves here.

The entire Hai Xin Plain had practically become a nightmare that people dared not even think about. It was like accidentally killing someone important and, in a panic, walling their corpse into the crevices of your own home, guarding it closely so no one could approach. At first, it was fine, but now it had begun to rot. Viscous liquid started oozing from the walls. Every night, you were left trembling in the putrid stench, not daring to tear open the wall to face what it had become, yet unable to leave this desperate place where the secret lay buried.

No intelligent creature dared to approach the center of this terrifying land, not even adventurers or Demon Race Exiles. Even the greediest adventurers only dared to dip their toes at the outer edges, scavenging a few scattered spoils in the outermost ring of this massive graveyard. At the slightest strange noise, they would flee in panic like rats back to the Gold Rush City strongholds on the border lines.

The deeper you went, the greater the terror.

In front of a carriage at the checkpoint of the Hai Xin Border Line, the soldiers blocked the road once again.

"Goods tax." The officer’s slightly pale face bore a gloomy expression. "Check the carriage for any suspicious or dangerous individuals."

The Magic Quality Indicator flashed a faint blue luster inside its bottle.

"Are there any Demonization materials?" the officer asked Old Duke calmly with his hands behind his back. "Inspect it and pay the corresponding taxes according to the Imperial Tariff Law." He waved for his soldiers to come over and inspect.

"No, sir. Our Demonization materials have already been sold off within the Empire," Old Duke shook his head. "It’s because our convoy hired a powerful Knight as a bodyguard."

"Oh. In that case, we need to ask this Knight a few simple questions—routine procedure." With a CLANG, the officer reached out and pulled open the carriage door.

Inside the spacious carriage sat a Black Armor Knight with demonic horns. A heavy Hammer Spear rested by her side, and she held a massive rolling suitcase in her arms.

"Are those horns a helmet decoration? Please take off the helmet." The officer sized up the Black Armor Knight before him.

The Black Armor Knight removed her helmet, revealing gray hair and eyes. She looked quite young.

"Are you an adventurer? Level? Class? Where are you from?"

"Yes. Seventh-level Adventurer, Warrior Knight, from the Saint Justin Snow Wind Monastery of the Holy Light Church Country," the gray-eyed Knight replied.

A fluent and unquestionable response. Although, for the qualifications of a Seventh-level Adventurer, the lady before him was perhaps a bit too young. But since she was from the Holy Light Church Country, it made sense. The officer raised the glass bottle of the Magic Quality Indicator in his hand, noticing a point of suspicion.

"What’s in the suitcase?" he asked, looking at the spherical glass bottle in his hand. Pointed directly at the large suitcase in the gray-eyed Knight’s arms, it was flashing with a bright blue glow.