As the Meow King’s group of 6 and the construction site duo were using arge amount of explosives to st open the outer shell above the underground cavern, Brother Mao, who had earlier defeated a Blood Pact Knight recruit, was sharing today’s battle experience with his brothers-in-arms on the road leading to the ancient sewer area.


    “Those Blood Pact Knight recruits are fierce! They excel at head-onbat, theplete opposite of Blood Vulture vampires who always try to target weaknesses,” said Brother Mao, who had alreadymitted to following the ssic profession path of “Weapon Master,” while swinging the war halberd in his hand to find the right feel.


    “They’re the perfect opponents for our fighting style. I guess this might be a time-limited special event in the Fight Club. You guys should try fighting them when you have time. This gamey might lead to group battlester!


    When that happens, the 5 of us can go together and fight several rounds with the Blood Pact Knights.


    Lord Maxim has already posted new challenge rules. If you umte 5 victories in battles against Blood Pact Knights, you can get a piece of the standard Commander-level ‘Crimson diator’ set.


    Although it’s just a ‘reskin’ of the n guard set dyed red, it has very practical attribute enhancement enchantments. Plus, it’s much easier than spending time running dungeons for this 1v1bat.”


    “That might be easier for you, Brother Mao,” East River Lion’s Roar, who had transformed into the advanced “diator” profession and dressed himself like Pantheon with a war spear and small round shield, said with a bitter face:


    “I went up to fight tonight too, but I couldn’t win! Those guys are all elite monsters, and asionally they even throw out an elite boss. Their battle techniques are all Proficient, and they’re incredibly strong. For us who have just learned advanced battle techniques without mastery bonuses, one slip-up and we’re done for.”


    “That just means your technique isn’t good enough. It needs polishing. Like they say, ‘a day with a de, a month with a staff, a lifetime with a spear.’ If you don’t practice for three days, you get rusty. That’s how martial arts is. Having good opponents is a rare opportunity. Do you know how much it costs to hire a sparring partner of this level in real life?Trust me, this is a good thing,” Brother Mao said dismissively.


    As he groped his way forward in the dark of the ancient sewer area, he continued:


    “Now that we’ve unlocked the personal reputation of that Civilian Protection Officer, I reckon after we finish this nightly ghoul invasion routine tonight, we should be able to learn more powerful advanced sword techniques from Lord Kudel.


    That guy’s heavy sword fighting style is the most perfect set I’ve ever seen.


    Not only is it powerful and offensive-oriented, but it also has two sets of stances for both footbat and horsebackbat. If we can learn it, winningpetitions would be a piece of cake.


    It’s a pity it’s not standard greatsword techniques, so we’d have to modify it a bit to use in real life… Hmm, what’s that noise up ahead? Why is it so chaotic?


    Something doesn’t feel right! Be careful.”


    The highly vignt Brother Mao immediately slung his war halberd on his back and drew his sword and shield. The four brothers around him also quickly formed a groupbat formation.


    They lit alchemical torches and slowly moved forward, while strange howls began to rise and fall from the hollow areas in front of and below them. Along with the howls came vibrations from an unknown source.


    It was as if something indescribable was happening deep in the ground beneath their feet. The footsteps approaching in the darkness, sounding more and more like a beast horde, made their hearts race.


    But the brothers showed no fear.


    If there’s any visible benefit to ying this game, it’s definitely the ability to train one’s courage.


    After facing ghouls, vampires, gnolls, and all sorts of other creatures head-on in the game, even the most timid person could be tough.


    Brother Mao felt increasingly uneasy. He made a gesture for everyone to stop, then crouched down, removed his gauntlet, and pressed his hand to the ground to sense the vibrations below. Soon, his expression became extremely shocked.


    “Retreat! Quick, retreat to the first level!” the sword art genius shouted.


    “Send a message to the world channel! Tell everyone who can still move toe quickly! The ghouls are rioting! There are at least several thousand ghouls roaring and charging below.”


    “Damn it!” North Forest Dog’s Paddle cursed. He fumbled to take out alchemical bombs from his bag, threw them on the ground, and stuck the fuses together. West Valley Wolf’s Prowl was already calling for help in the world channel.


    They didn’t doubt Brother Mao’s judgment, as they too had heard the clear scratching sounds!


    It was unmistakably the sound of ghoul ws scratching against rock. From the dense sound effects, they could tell just how many ghouls were rushing into the sewer area below.


    The five brothers quickly retreated to the entrance of this tunnel. South Mountain Tiger’s Howl, who had a talent for marksmanship, grabbed a precisely calibrated demon-hunting firearm.


    The moment arge group of ghouls came howling out along the tunnel, he decisively fired.


    The scorching bullet flew out, igniting the fuse that Dog’s Paddle had just ced there. After a few seconds of hissing, more than a dozen bombs exploded. The low, muffled explosion and its shockwave sent many of the densely packed ghouls flying, but this could hardly stop the ghoul army surging forward.


    What was most troublesome was that some wraiths were mixed in among these ghouls.


    They seemed to be driven by something, or perhaps fearing some strange entity, causing them to scatter like quicksilver along the ancient sewer area.


    “They’ve gone mad! These bastards have gone crazy,” East River Lion’s Roar, who had retreated to the exit of the first-level sewer, cursed.


    “Those damn game designers are at it again! Damn, we had just barely cleared out the ghouls on the first level of the sewers, and now we have to fight them all over again?”


    “This is not as simple as a ‘dungeon reset’!” North Forest Dog’s Paddle next to him shouted:


    “If they break out of the sewers, all those workers who just entered the city today will die. We might not even be able to hold the forward camp outside the city.”


    “Right, we can’t run,” Brother Mao said sternly.


    “Quickly find someone to report to Lord Murphy! Call Stick and tell him to bring people to block the first level of the sewers immediately! All the newbies training there should get out! They can’t hold off so many of these ghostly things.”


    “Damn, what’s wrong with these ghouls? How did so many surge out at once?”


    Just as Brother Mao finished speaking, he heard an exmation in his private chat from Joy Stick, the “sewer specialist”:


    “Brother Meow’s team just got wiped out. They posted on the forum saying a ‘new dungeon’ has spawned at the bottom of the ancient sewers! Don’t stay there either, it’s useless! There’s more than one connecting passage on the first and second levels of the sewers. Retreat quickly! Otherwise, you’ll be surrounded!


    I’ve already called for help.


    The NPCs have mobilized too. You five, get out quickly.”


    “Brother Mao, the back is blocked by wraiths! We can’t get out, damn it,” West Valley Wolf’s Prowl retreated with a dirty face, his armor now bearing several w marks. He reported to Brother Mao:


    “There’s also a group of water ghouls crawling up from the water behind. That sewer must be connected to the bottom. There are leaks everywhere, at least several thousand have rushed out. We can’t fight our way out at all.”


    “Ah, I’m afraid I’ll have to give up my first life here,” Brother Mao also sighed deeply.


    In this situation, he was out of options too. It’s not like he could transform into a Super Saiyan and smash the ground with one punch to get his brothers out, right?


    “You guys! Follow my instructions!”


    Just as the group of 5 was about to find a ce to fight to the death with the ghouls surging from below, a deep voice suddenly sounded in their ears.


    It was the vampiric voice mimicry technique, not indicating that the person was actually beside them, but they all recognized this voice, it was that mysterious vampire Civilian Protection Officer Kudel who had been roaming the ancient area of the sewers.


    “Walk forward past the 3rd intersection, go to the end, then hold that tunnel exit!”


    Kudel said hoarsely:


    “There’s something terrible down there, I smell a different scent. This disaster is not idental! I must fulfill my duty to protect, and you! I recruit you as my temporary retainers.


    I see some children down there, I will send them out, you are responsible for protecting them well! Hold on until those vampires who im to do good deeds bring people here.”


    【Ding! Hidden Quest – ‘Temporary Retainer of the Civilian Protection Officer’ has been triggered!】


    “Finally, damn it!”


    Brother Mao excitedly pumped his fist, and the other 4 brothers also had joyful expressions.


    Although being surrounded by thousands of ghouls in the sewers sounded like a death sentence, the fact that they had finally unlocked Lord Kudel the Civilian Protection Officer’s personal reputation was truly cause for celebration.


    And given tonight’s strange circumstances, they might even trigger a big hidden event!


    Tsk tsk, there were great benefits to be had!


    ——


    In the Blood Vulture Halls, Murphy had already known something was wrong tonight when the little yers encountered danger. He reacted extremely quickly, gathering all thebat forces currently under hismand. The only pity was that Miss Femis had already departed for Seicob City with Adele and Count Andrei, leaving Murphy without a powerful magical support.


    But it was alright, with Lady Tris here, mere ghouls couldn’t cause too much trouble.


    “I know there are ghouls in your city’s sewers, but how can there be so many? This defiesmon sense!”


    But Lady Lainnia, who had just arrived at the Crimson Citadel, was somewhat confused. She looked perplexedly at the city sewer map spread out before her and said:


    “The inner and outer city sewer systems are separated, and there are signs of extensive copse, making it impossible for the terrain here to amodate so many ghouls coexisting. So is there some special area in your city sewers?”


    Murphy and Tris exchanged a nce, and he shook his head, saying:


    “My chief architect just had an ‘overly sessful’ adventure. They found an ancient underground cavern that wasn’t marked on the map, and it can now be confirmed that this is the source of the ghoul disaster.


    As for how many ghouls are there, I can’t give you an answer, mydy.”


    “When Kadman City was attacked, there were 150,000 people in the city,”


    Baroness Miriam, who had been urgently summoned, was still wearing her pajamas and rubbing her eyes, hugging her intimidating Iron Warden trench gun. She said in a low voice:


    “Even if half the people were pulled into the Astral Realm, there are still 70,000 left in the material world. Most of them hid in the sewers when the disaster struck… I can only say, this might be thergest ghoul nest discovered on the entire continent so far.


    Perhaps it’s because arge number of workers entered the city to work today, and the convergence of lifebined with the Grayman’s exploration triggered such arge-scale rampage of ghouls?”


    “No, that’s impossible,”


    Tris shook her head and said:


    “Ghouls aren’t that sensitive to the perception of life. They rushed out from the mysterious bottommost area, which is at least 50 meters below ground! With such thickyers of rock and the interference of residual corrupt spirit energy, not even vampires like me could sense life activity, let alone ghouls.


    There must be other reasons for the ghouls’ unusual activity tonight.


    Perhaps it’s due to some events happening in that mysterious underground, and those little warriors just had bad luck stumbling upon it. The bad things happening have no connection to their curiosity, but we can discuss thister.


    The biggest problem now is to seal off the possibility of ghouls rushing to the surface.


    Their numbers are a bit high. Once they break through to the surface, the forward camp outside the city will be in danger.”


    “Maxim has already led the veterans of the People’s Army to establish defense lines at the various sewer entrances that have been discovered. Guildmaster Natalie has gone to Mond Vige to gather more Witch Hunters toe and assist. This can be considered the first job for the Adventurer’s Guild since its establishment.”


    Murphy’s finger pointed to 3 areas on the sewer map.


    He said:


    “I will lead my warriors into the sewers, expel and kill those savage evil spirits and advance to the 2nd level ‘ancient area’ to establish a semi-permanent stronghold there. The hidden problems in the sewers seem more serious than I imagined.


    But now that the exact location of the ghoul nest has been determined and the road leading there has been opened, it’s time to solve this problem once and for all!”


    “What about us?”


    Although Lainnia didn’t like the local barbaric atmosphere, she clearly knew the mission she was ordered toe here for. At this moment, she voluntarily requested to join the battle, saying:


    “We can help too. Lord Payne hopes to see Transiaplete its order reconstruction before the ck Disaster breaks out. Helping you deal with the ghoul nest under the city will undoubtedly advance the responsibilities I bear.”


    “Then you can start clearing from the outskirts of the sewers,”


    Murphy thought for a moment and said:


    “Ordinary ghouls are just trouble that you can easily handle, so I need you to eliminate the ghouls, wraiths, and water ghouls at the entrance of the first level of the sewers as quickly as possible. The reconstruction of the city has already begun, and I don’t want to see it stop for damn reasons.”


    “Alright!”


    The bow knight responded in a deep voice:


    “I’ll gather my knights immediately, but don’t the Blood Servants in the camp need extra supervision? They might because of fear…”


    “Those are not Blood Servants! Mydy, mind your words!”


    Miriam corrected quite discontentedly:


    “Those are all free people of Transia. ‘Blood Servant’ is not a good term in thisnd. You don’t need to worry about my camp. The curfew is enough to ensure order within. I will guard there and recruit enough militia.”


    “Then let’s start our respective duties,”


    Murphy waved his hand, summoning his Astral Direwolf George, and said to Tris who was frowning at the map beside him:


    “Prepare your incineration techniques. Once the first level of the sewers is cleared, burn it from top to bottom!”


    “Burning the entire underground is not a problem, but Murphy, I think there might be more to this,”


    Tris pointed at her chin and said:


    “Such arge-scale undead anomaly reminds me of certain peculiar techniques, those concerning death spirit energy and the skills to control dead creatures. Even in the realm of Spirit Mages, this is considered quite obscure knowledge.


    I myself barely qualify as proficient in this area, stemming from my exploration of death knowledge in the underworld ne when I was young, which leads me to have a rather frightening guess.”


    She said to Murphy:


    “Perhaps this is not some natural disaster, but man-made!”


    “Hmm?”


    Murphy’s eye twitched a bit, and he said:


    “You mean, someone is hiding behind the scenes manipting all this? Tonight, because of my warriors’ sessful exploration, he was forced to emerge from the shadows he’s been hiding in? Well, this sounds interesting now, especiallybined with Salrokdar’s dying warning…


    You’re right, this matter seems to be bing quite thrilling indeed.”