Chapter 81: The Dark Castle (I)

Older, located southeast of the rocky fortress of Alikok, was once known as Vordrob hundreds of years ago during the Alchemy Age. It was home to a tyrannical lord—Count Vlad.

Count Vlad was an outstanding and talented ruler, but his ambition matched his abilities, earning him many enemies. Eventually, he was attacked by nobles from neighboring countries and died in sorrow. His lands were divided, and his descendants were slaughtered by those neighboring nations.

Decades after Count Vlad’s death, a legend spread in Older, then known as Vordrob. By then, black magic had been gradually refined, and necromancers began exploring the powers of death. For various reasons, they started studying souls.

In their pursuit of these evil spells, necromancers were despised by black magicians, as souls were considered sacred and inviolable territories for mages. With no other choice, some necromancers, after years of wandering, arrived in Vordrob. By then, Count Vlad’s castle had been abandoned. Both the nobles of neighboring countries and the local residents believed that Count Vlad had turned into a demon to continue killing people after his death.

The necromancers paid no attention to these ridiculous rumors. Instead, they used their magic to exaggerate the truth—such as summoning ghosts to wander near the forests of Vordrob, scaring the local residents and travelers so they wouldn’t approach the castle.

Through misinformation and the necromancers’ deliberate exaggerations, the castle in Vordrob was eventually regarded as an ominous place by the locals, who gradually moved away. Hundreds of years later, only a dark forest, a gloomy castle, and an endless graveyard remained…

Occasionally, one might see a few skeletons holding their broken bodies, their empty eye sockets staring blankly around. The necromancers had used these skeletons to deceive the locals for centuries, but in reality, they were very fragile…

“Crack, crack!” As branches snapped underfoot, two figures emerged from the forest. One of them complained with slight dissatisfaction, “I really don’t understand why that guy had to come here!”

“Oh? I thought you’d like this place, dear Pur!”

“Do you think a necromancer likes to hang around with those ugly skeletons? Argus, I once thought about becoming a dark mage too!”
“Oh, my goodness, are you joking? My dear companion?”
“Joking? Do you think I volunteered to learn those damned soul spells? Who would want to spend all day in some dark, stinky ditch? Well, it’s even worse than a ditch…”
“Wow…”
“I thought about becoming a royal mage; the empire would fund my research…”
“Haha—if you want, you can even become the head of the Royal Mage Association!”
“That’s nice—but what I need is freedom! Complete freedom!”
“Don’t worry, my dear companion, everything will go as you wish!”
As they spoke, the two reached the end of the forest and gazed at the vast graveyard. The man in black shrugged and said exaggeratorily, “Wow, these graves are really scary—if it were night, timid folks would probably die of fear!” He then looked up at the stars and moon in the night sky, smiling mockingly.
The soft moonlight illuminated his face, revealing a man with a somewhat cold and teasing smile—it was Argus.
“Isn’t it night now?” His companion, Pule, sneered after glancing at Argus. “What you see is still the better part. Back then, Count Vlad killed all twenty thousand captured soldiers to intimidate the enemy army and impaled them here on wooden frames… Tsk! The strong stench of corpses attracted swarms of crows. I don’t think anyone would want to see that scene… It’s said that tens of thousands of people are buried here—twenty thousand captives, local residents, and enemy soldiers. Maybe Vlad is buried here too…” He turned to Argus, frowning, and said, “Argus, is it okay to leave Lelarkin to handle this alone?”
“So this was an ancient battlefield…” Argus shook his head and then laughed lightly. “Don’t worry, Pule. I believe Kars won’t disappoint us. Besides, there’s Clark outside the city. Even if something goes wrong, we won’t lose a single person—nothing will happen!”
“Do you think they’ll help each other? That’s the funniest joke I’ve ever heard!”

“Hehe.” Patting his companion’s shoulder, Argus stepped forward on the muddy ground of the cemetery—perhaps due to the dense forests surrounding it, the land was extremely muddy, like a swamp, coupled with the unknown stench around, giving people a very unpleasant feeling. As he walked, Argus frowned and covered his nose, saying in disgust, “What is this smell like rotten eggs?”
“Hmph!” Pul found Argus’s expression amusing, shook his head, and said mockingly, “It’s the smell of dead bodies—the soil here is too wet; maybe it rained recently, and the rainwater seeped underground…”
“Oh, I hate this smell…”
“That’s troublesome. These graves cover at least a few thousand yards of land!”
“Damn it!”
Smiling slightly at Argus’s frowning expression, Pul whispered, “Argus, aren’t you planning to win over that werewolf?”
“What else can I do?” Argus said, waving his hand to ward off the stench. “Didn’t those two little bugs say a few days ago? Rex’s great mage, Greta Kaines, and that damned priest Andrew—those two old guys will arrive in Galic soon. I can’t deal with two old guys at the same level as me at once. I need Connel’s power!”
“What about me? Haven’t you counted on me?”
Turning to look at Pul, Argus smiled and said, “You’re my companion! Dear Pul, you’re a genius, but in terms of strength and magic, you’re still not as good as those two old guys—ordinary magic won’t work against them!”
“Tch!” Pul frowned in dissatisfaction.
“Don’t worry, my companion. I have a way to help you boost your strength in a short time…” Argus said, looking at Pul seriously. “As long as you trust me!”
“Like you?” Thinking of the incredible power Argus possessed, Pul instinctively licked his lips, then shook his head, saying with a hint of mockery and self-mockery, “Forget it, Argus. I won’t try to gain power by selling my soul. I have my own methods!”
“Is that so?” Argus smiled faintly, then frowned again and muttered, “Damn it… Can’t this stench be purified?”
“Do you think I’m a priest of the Church?”

As they spoke, a huge shadow gradually appeared before their eyes—a dark and ancient castle, resembling a terrifying beast under the night sky, revealing its fangs. Suddenly, Argus, who was already deep in the graveyard, stopped in his tracks. Pul, who stopped at the same time, glanced around suspiciously, as if he had noticed something unusual. “Huhu…” The howling night wind sounded like the growl of a beast, adding to the horror of the graveyard. “Crack, crack!” Along with a chilling sound, some pale figures appeared in the distance, and Pul’s expression of surprise grew even deeper. “Skulls… skeletons? Ghosts?” “Hey,” Argus shrugged, looking at the dozens of pale skeletons and the ghostly figures floating in the air, and said irritably, “So there really are these things? I thought it was just those commoners being drunk…” “They must be trying to stop us from approaching that castle—I just realized this graveyard has an inherent barrier!” Pul said in a low voice after scanning the surroundings. “But this barrier is strange; I’ve never seen anything like it before…” “So there’s no way to break it?” With a mocking smile, a large amount of dark energy surged from Argus’s feet, turning into whip-like tendrils that, in an instant, shattered the skeletons at least twenty yards away from him. “Hmm, it seems there used to be at least one necromancer living here…” As he spoke, Pul raised his right hand and pointed at a ghostly figure diving toward him. With a shrill scream, the ghost immediately turned into a wisp of white light and disappeared. “Wow, the Finger of Death?” Argus said exaggeratedly. “It’s a Soul Shock!” Pul rolled his eyes and was about to mock him when suddenly he heard faint noises. “Hm?” Argus frowned and looked around, then froze. A pale skeletal arm suddenly emerged from the ground in the distance. In just four or five seconds, a filthy skeleton struggled to climb out of the ground, its empty eye sockets glowing with green soul flames. Then another, then a third, then a fourth… In just a few minutes, hundreds of skeletons appeared around Argus and Pul, and their numbers kept increasing. Glancing around in concern, Pul was shocked to see that the shattered skeletal remains gradually reassembled themselves, forming new bodies.

“Damn it, this is a graveyard—there’s enough death energy here to keep that inherent barrier functioning…” With that thought, Puhl whispered, “Argus, stop wasting time. These skeletons will never be destroyed inside the barrier! Let’s go to the ancient castle!”
“Heh, immortality?” Argus joked. Without moving, the dark energy attached to him shattered the approaching skeletons one by one.
To them, these skeletons, meant only to scare the local residents, were utterly insignificant.
Sure enough, after about ten minutes, Argus and Puhl crossed the graveyard and arrived at the open space beside the ancient castle.
Calling it an open space wasn’t quite accurate, as there was a tomb standing there. Judging from the surroundings, it seemed to have been a garden once—this was a tomb built within a garden, possibly related to the castle’s owner, Count Vlad.
Perhaps due to years of weathering or some other reason, most of the tombstone was damaged, and the inscriptions on it had long since faded. All of this filled the unwelcome visitor standing in front of the tombstone with sorrow.
“Hey!” With a light laugh, Argus walked up to the visitor and greeted him with a smile, “Oh, Connel!”
It turned out the visitor was Connel, the werewolf who had said goodbye to Jiang Zhe and the others a few days ago. He didn’t even look at Argus, lost in his grief. After a long while, he spoke softly, “Cecilia was a very kind woman…”
“Hmm, really…” Argus shrugged.
It seemed he didn’t hear Argus’s words; it appeared Connel was talking to himself. He reached out and gently touched the tombstone, his voice filled with deep sorrow as he said, “She was the youngest daughter of Lord Giris. She was beautiful and kind. She would help anyone in need, even me, a guy abandoned by the world… She often helped me, an orphan, by arranging for me to work on the farm, secretly bringing me food, and pleading with the farm owner not to whip me when I made mistakes… As the lord’s daughter, she didn’t really have to help me at all…”
Smiling slightly, Argus said interestingly, “A love story between nobles and commoners from hundreds of years ago? Hey, and then what?”

“The situation at that time was chaotic. Lords everywhere were eyeing their neighbors, engaging in foolish wars and brutal killings just to expand their territories. Eventually, the turmoil reached us as well… Unfortunately, Lord Giris’s territory was very weak, with only a few hundred guards to maintain order in that small land. How could they possibly deal with tens of thousands of enemy soldiers? With no other choice, Giris’s territory had to surrender. He came up with a plan to make those powerful lords withdraw their troops and bring peace to his land: to find the most beautiful girl in his territory and marry her into the house of the most powerful lord… The girl chosen was Cecilia…”

“Hey, Connel, I’m not interested in the deals between nobles hundreds of years ago!” Though he said that, Agus didn’t show any signs of urgency. It seemed he wasn’t there to persuade Connel but rather to chat with him. He stroked his chin and said with a smile, “Let me guess—did you sacrifice your soul to a demon to get back your beloved woman?”

Glancing at Agus casually, Connel said in a low voice, “You have no right to criticize me, Agus!”

“No, no, no. How could this be criticism?” Agus said in a strangely tone, still smiling. “If it were me, I’d do the same even at the cost of my life!”

Staring deeply at Agus, Connel said calmly, “That statement has changed my opinion of you quite a bit!” He paused for a moment, a hint of a smile in his eyes, then clenched his fist and said softly, “I bowed to the demon… and gained great power. In the words of you magicians, it must be lycanthropy… As a werewolf, I easily retrieved Cecilia, but it also angered one of the lords—because Cecilia was about to marry his son!”

“Was that lord Count Vlad?”

“Hmph! Who else could it be? That mess was started by that bastard who wanted to expand his territory!” After a pause, sadness appeared in Connel’s eyes as he said in a low voice, “We originally planned to flee because Vlad’s army was too strong, but… human endurance eventually reaches its limit, let alone escaping from thousands of soldiers searching for us… She was seriously ill, and though I had great strength, I was helpless. I could only watch her weaken day by day…”

I thought about giving up, giving her up—I also thought about sending her back. After all, living in the lord’s house might make her much happier than following me. But… she stopped me, because she knew that if I took her back, I would surely be executed…
In the end, I still lost her, yet she didn’t give up on me. She stayed with me until the end, along with the only life she had left—during those damned guards’ searches!
Glancing at the furious Connel, Argus asked curiously, “So, what about this grave…”
“That’s because Vlad took her from me!” Connel growled with intense hatred. “He’s a complete bastard! Even though she was lifeless, that bastard still had her buried here! Because I snatched her away from the wedding…”
“Wow, so this is what noble dignity is like! Not hard to understand, buddy!” Argus said, turning to Connel with a smile. “Is there more to the story? I heard you caused quite a stir during the Alchemy Era!”
“Yes!” Connel grinned wickedly. “I’ve already lost everything in my life. What am I afraid of? I didn’t kill those soldiers, but I bit them… Unfortunately, I still couldn’t kill that bastard—all because of those damned alchemists who discovered the most deadly weapon against werewolves!”
“Silver weapons?” Argus glanced at Connel, who then said sneerily, “Want to try them, Argus?”
“No, no, no!” Argus waved his hands frantically, smiling. “Silver weapons do work on werewolves, but not on you. You’re not an ordinary werewolf—I’m not that stupid!”
“Hmph!” Connel snorted, gently stroking the tombstone. After a long silence, he suddenly asked, “Argus, what you said to me back then… was it true?”
Hearing this, Argus’s eyes lit up. He ran a hand through his hair and said softly, “Of course. Have you thought it through? As long as you can use your power to help me with some things, I can fulfill your wish… bring her back to life!”

“Hm?” Purl, standing nearby, was stunned. He stared at Argus with disbelief, knowing how difficult it was to revive a person. Not to mention, even opening the gates to the Land of Death was beyond the reach of ordinary people. It took necromancers generations, even dozens of generations, just to locate the coordinates of the Land of Death and establish a faint mental connection.

It was clear that Cornell was emotionally agitated. His right hand, which was touching the tombstone, trembled slightly. After a moment of silence, he spoke in a threatening tone, “If you dare to deceive me, Argus, I’ll make you taste what it’s like to deceive a Gungor…”

“Especially a Gungor who has devoured 240,000 souls, right?” Argus finished Cornell’s sentence with a light laugh. He let out a sigh of relief, then stretched out his hand and said with a smile, “Welcome to our ranks, Cornell!”

Glancing at Argus’s outstretched hand, Cornell snorted coldly and said, “Stop acting like that. I have no intention of joining you. We’re just in a business partnership. Don’t forget, from the start, I’ve never liked you!”

“Wow, that’s too bad!” Unfazed by Cornell’s coldness, Argus shrugged with feigned regret, then removed his smile and said in a low voice, “But even as business partners, I hope you’ll do your best. If I fail…”

Cornell stared deeply at Argus, frowned, and hesitantly nodded. “I’ll help you, but I swear I won’t kill innocents anymore!”

“Hm? Not kill innocents?” Argus was stunned and said jokingly, “Swearing on your soul? You? A Gungor who’s devoured 240,000 souls, Jean Cornell?”

“Any objections?”

“Hm…” After thinking for a moment, Argus nodded firmly and said casually, “Okay! I’ll do it for you in the end. Tsk tsk, swearing not to kill innocents—you really are a mysterious guy!”

“You too, Argus!”

“Hehe,” Argus smiled faintly and shrugged. “Well, shall we go?”

“Wait!” Turning his gaze from the tombstone to the castle, Cornell said in a hostile tone, “Before leaving, I need to kill that guy first!”

“That guy?” Argus was stunned for a moment, then seemed to remember something. With a hint of surprise, he shook his head and said, “Connel, it’s been three or four hundred years since then. Not long after you were locked underground, Vlad died, and his descendants were killed by enemy nations… Humans can’t live for hundreds of years. He’s been dead for centuries!”
“How could he die?” A hint of madness appeared in Connel’s eyes as he sneered. “Do you know why those alchemists didn’t kill me? Because that bastard wanted to obtain the power of immortality from me…”
“What?” Argus was taken aback. “You mean those alchemists?”
“Yes! Who knows better than me? That bastard originally wanted to transfer me here, but he gave up out of fear that I might escape along the way—those alchemists turned me into a kind of vampire, a ghoul, and studied immortality using my blood. Immortality… what a splendid term!”
“You mean…” Argus turned to look at the dark castle, frowning. “Vlad is still alive? In this castle? Impossible!”
Sniffling, Connel whispered, “Studying werewolves is just a cover story the alchemists used to deceive you. What they really studied were immortal vampires—thanks to them, I’ve gained power far beyond my prime!”
“I see…” Argus glanced at Pule. Pule nodded, closed his eyes, and used magic to sense all signs of life inside the castle.
But soon, Pule frowned, opened his eyes, and shook his head. “No, this castle has a barrier spell; it’s impossible to sense anything inside with mental power!”
“Oh?” Argus was slightly surprised and said jokingly, “That’s quite strange. Do you want to go in and take a look?” As soon as he spoke, he saw Connel walking straight toward the nearby castle. With a helpless smile, Argus shrugged and said, “What a troublesome guy indeed!”
“Do you want to go in and take a look?” Pule stepped beside Argus and whispered, “Judging from the inherent barrier of the graveyard and the castle’s barrier spell, at least one very powerful necromancer must have lived here before. I want to go in and check if there are any spellbooks—over the hundred years under the oppression of the dark magicians, we’ve lost many precious notes and manuscripts…”

“Huh, since you say so—fine!” Glancing at the castle not far away, Argus sighed helplessly and shook his head. “I really wish this were just an ordinary castle. If only Clark were here; even with a barrier spell, he could still detect everything inside the castle… Let’s go! Don’t keep our new companion waiting!” With that, he headed toward the castle.

The dark castle bore traces of a past fire, and the dust covering the ground along with the spiderwebs everywhere indicated that no one had lived there for many years.

Staring at the dust on the ground, Argus glanced at Connel standing in the center of the hall and shook his head in exasperation.

It took over ten minutes for Argus and Purcher to search the entire castle, but they found no signs of habitation.

I told you. How could that guy named Vlad survive for hundreds of years as a human?

Yet Connel’s expression seemed quite serious.

“Any discoveries, my dear companion?”

“Stop trying to disgust me!” Connel frowned at Argus, sniffing around constantly. Then, with a sinister smile, he said, “I seem to smell the scent of my kind… mixed with a dark aura of blood…” With that, he headed in the direction of the smell.

“That can’t be right. We’ve checked every room…” Argus stopped speaking when he saw Connel approach the stairs leading to the second floor. Connel crouched down, and with a loud rumble, he lifted up an entire section of floor the size of two adults.

No, it wasn’t a floor—it was a door disguised as a floor, leading to a dark basement…

“Hey!” Glancing at the pitch-black basement, Argus shook his head, half amused and half annoyed. But then his expression changed slightly, and he said mockingly, “It seems you’re right. It’s not that no one lives here, it’s just that they’re no longer human… Be careful, my dear companions—the smell of darkness and death is very strong down there!”

“Stop trying to disgust me, Argus! And watch out for yourself!” Glaring at Argus, Connel descended the stairs without hesitation.

“Hey, I’m just warning you out of kindness,” Argus said with a sigh, pouting. “What’s so great about being immortal? Well… fine, it must be great!”

And not long after they entered the basement, Jiang Zhe and his group, who had come here through the forest on the edge of the cemetery, stared in shock at the numerous skeletons and wandering spirits roaming the cemetery, including Bernie and Reid, members of the Galick Magic Association branch…
“My god…”
“How… how are we supposed to get through this?”