Beneath the hopeless gray skies of a god-forsaken, ashen domain, an archaic stone castle stood, its authority unshaken.

Outside the stone walls of this ancient structure, a rat was present.

Daru carefully advanced beside the walls of the castle, heading towards the direction of the drawbridge.

A sudden idea struck him before he drifted off to sleep nine hours ago.

Since he had decided to invest the last two days of this information gathering run to learning about the secrets and mechanisms of the ancient stone castle, it would be best if he investigated the drawbridge, too.

Egress would be using it to invade the castle, after all.

'If I can learn how to close it…'

The warrior wraiths would be stuck on the other side.

The stretch of the ancient stone walls didn't seem so vast when he was looking down from the Stone Altar's plateau, so Daru did not expect that he would be spending more than two hours just walking alongside the walls.

There seemed to be no warrior wraiths roaming outside, which was both good and disappointing.

His only workout in the past few days was journeying through the ashen terrains, and he would like some action soon…

The wall finally ended a dozen more minutes of walking later…and the Underworld River began.

'That's…a problem…'

As soon as the wall ended, the land ended, too, so the only way to access the drawbridge was from the inside.

Which meant that if he wanted to infiltrate the castle, he would have to do it from the stone gate.

'That works, too…But I need to get the timings down.'

Otherwise, there was a chance that he would be trapped inside the castle, fighting for his life against an entire royal army of wraiths.

Such a thing could be a rather exciting end for him.

However, death for entertainment was simply out of the question right now.

The folks of Egress were depending on him, after all, and he couldn't simply throw his life away.

Ironically, he had to be willing to if they wanted to escape the god-forsaken realm of Limbo, as the alternative would be a failed campaign and probably lots of casualties, if not a total wipeout, of the Damnedlings of Egress.

He had come to like the wretches, and he would not have fun watching them perish.

The key was finding the right balance between risk and cautiousness.

'Ah…then those final moments in war movies…'

He realized that dying alongside comrades wasn't as glorious as he thought.

Perhaps…perhaps those fighting their last stand were simply hiding the sorrow and fear behind courageous smiles?

Or maybe such scenes had never truly existed in history and were only romanticized in movies?

'I probably should think of more meaningful things…' Daru shook his head, walking back to the stone gate.

On the way, he tried to recall everything he knew about the timing of the wraiths' invasion, including the one-sided massacre of the Ashen Plain, and at what time of the day it occurred.

In terms of Neo-Earth time, specifically in his cluster, Noravia, the event would happen within late morning and early afternoon.

It was impossible to time things perfectly in Limbo, so he would have to accept the risk of inaccuracy.

As much as Daru wanted to be more certain for the sake of those who are depending on him, this was already the extent of how certain one could be, and the only thing remaining to do was take the risk and believe in himself.

That he would pull through.

He had wasted a little over two hours already, checking out the periphery of the castle walls and confirming the distance between the stone gate and the drawbridge.

So, Daru increased his walking pace, or he would miss the timing.

It was still quite early in the morning now, but it would already be midmorn by the time he arrived at the gates, and so he had to hurry.

He still had to infiltrate the castle, which would naturally take more time.

Nonetheless, Daru at least took the time to ensure he wouldn't be trapped inside as much as his little experience and intellect allowed — something he would have never done before.

He would've entered the stone gates without a second thought and not placed importance on stealth or survival, had it not been for his dependents.

Difficulties truly forged a man best.

If previously, Daru's survival would've depended on whether the stone gates closed and trapped him inside, now he at least had an escape route planned.

He could either leave through the stone gates — if it didn't betray his expectations and suddenly slam shut — or exit through the drawbridge, which was why Daru was being careful about the timing.

He arrived at the stone gates an hour and a half later.

While he wasn't breathing heavily, he had spent quite a bit of stamina returning on time.

Daru wasn't about to waste it on hesitation.

Laying his determined eyes upon the two, level fifty-five elites, the Condemned Centurions, he took a deep breath and proceeded to walk closer.

One of his curses, [Yama's Discontent (Soulbound Sword)], increased the aggression range of the Underworld Swordspawns within his periphery, which was why the already malevolent and spiteful Lost Damnedlings seemed to hate him so much.

This, however, only applied when he was within their line of sight or the range of their senses.

Daru hadn't expected that the curse would come in handy now.

The Condemned Centurions didn't attack Rocante, but who could say for certain that he was welcome inside the castle, as well?

He was a Visitor, while the hulking horror was a part of this realm, maybe even considered a guardian.

Furthermore, spawns of the underworld were supposed to hate him because of an underworld deity who disliked his sword, as Onimaru Kunitsuna apparently meddled with the matters of the underworld.

'Well…that deity isn't wrong, I guess…'

Shrugging in acceptance, he walked closer and closer, until finally, the two elites noticed him…hissed angrily, and charged.

He was not welcome.

'Thought as much…'

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