Chapter 368: Chapter 335: Bone Mountain

After making their decision, the group wasted no time and headed straight for the cave.

The cave entrance was far deeper than it appeared from the outside. Jagged rock walls jutted out like canine teeth on either side, and loose gravel crunched softly beneath their boots.

The disciple leading the way retrieved a Light Source Stone, holding it in his palm. Its soft glow barely illuminated the path a dozen paces ahead. The tunnel wasn’t particularly narrow, wide enough for four people to walk abreast. However, the deeper they ventured, the damper and colder the air became, carrying an indescribable, musty odor.

It wasn’t long before a thick layer of grayish-white mist blocked their path. The fog hung stagnant in the air like a heavy curtain draped over the ground, completely sealing off the way forward.

The leading disciple glanced at the scattered footprints on the dirt. "Those adventurers must have already gone inside."

He prodded the edge of the mist with the tip of his boot. Sensing nothing unusual, he stepped right in. The others exchanged glances before following suit.

The moment they pierced through the fog, their line of sight instantly expanded. The dim gloom of the tunnel gave way to an even, grayish-white illumination spilling from above, reminiscent of an overcast afternoon. Everyone halted in their tracks.

A vast, desolate wilderness stretched out before them.

A thick layer of grayish-white dust blanketed the ground, yielding with a soft, sluggish resistance underfoot like half-dried plaster. Shattered swords and armor littered the landscape as far as the eye could see, discarded like worthless wreckage. Some weapons were half-buried in the dirt, exposing only rusted hilts, while others jutted diagonally from the earth, their blades corroded into jagged fragments. Faded scraps of flags hung from crooked poles, their original insignias lost to time; they were nothing more than dusty rags occasionally fluttering in a phantom breeze.

But more prevalent than the weapons were the skeletal remains. They lay scattered across the dust—some sprawled on their sides clutching broken swords, others curled up against scraps of armor as if they hadn’t even had time to lie flat before death claimed them.

"Is this... the Alternate Space?" the Catman youth in their ranks muttered, his face pale with shock.

The others shared his astonishment. The wilderness before them truly resembled an ancient battlefield that had weathered the passage of countless eras.

"Legend says that many Alternate Spaces are actually fragments that broke off from the Dawn Continent during the ancient era," a disciple suddenly remarked. "Could this place be one of those?"

"It’s highly likely."

"I just wonder which part of the continent this used to be."

The disciples murmured among themselves, their eyes scanning the wasteland as they tried to glean some identifying clues from the shattered armor and broken insignias. They only quieted down when Ivy calmly stepped forward. Exchanging their idle chatter for serious expressions, they quickly fell in line behind her.

A few of the sharper disciples pulled stacks of talisman paper, pre-cut into humanoid silhouettes, from their Space Rings. They blew softly onto the paper.

The talismans fluttered into the air, expanding rapidly in the wind. By the time they touched the ground, they had transformed into life-sized paper figures. They swayed in place for a moment before marching steadily forward.

The Paperman Transport Skill. It was a Low Tier Technique typically used to help Cultivators carry heavy loads, but it was perfectly suited for scouting the path ahead.

Over a dozen paper figures fanned out, swaying slightly as they scouted roughly twenty meters ahead of the group. The disciples followed in a loose formation, their weapons half-drawn and their eyes glued to the paper figures’ movements.

About fifteen minutes later, the leading paper figure suddenly halted, looking as though it had tripped over something. A split second later, a rust-mottled Bone Blade thrust upward from the dirt, cleaving the paper figure cleanly in two. Shredded confetti swirled through the air before fluttering harmlessly to the ground.

The group instantly stopped, their eyes fixed warily on a silhouette slowly rising from the earth. It was a skeletal corpse clad in tattered armor. A faded layer of chainmail hung loosely over its dark gray bones, every crevice caked with ancient dust. A rusted helmet sat askew on its skull, and its eye sockets were pits of near-solid darkness. An aura of bone-chilling cold radiated from its form.

As if a switch had been flipped, a dense cacophony of clicking and clattering erupted from the surrounding ground. One by one, skeletal remains pushed themselves up from the dirt. In the blink of an eye, over a hundred skeletons populated the wasteland.

"Are these the Undead Monsters those adventurers mentioned?" Morrek asked, looking the nearby skeletons up and down.

The rest of the group stared with a mix of scrutiny and curiosity. It was their first time encountering true Undead Monsters. The creatures felt somewhat similar to Shadow Soldiers, yet carried a far heavier stench of decay and eerie dread.

But the Undead Monsters didn’t give them time to observe. Hoisting their Bone Blades, the skeletons charged forward with startling agility.

"Attack," Ivy’s crisp voice instantly rang out.

Una moved the fastest. Pushing off the ground, she darted forward like a fleeting shadow. The metal claw gauntlets on her hands tore through the air, slashing with lethal precision toward the nearest Undead Monster’s cervical vertebrae.

CLANG!

Sparks showered into the air.

The Undead Monster’s neck bones were unexpectedly tough. The collision between metal claws and bone only left behind a charred scorch mark, utterly failing to sever the spine in a single strike.

Una’s blow forced the Undead Monster to stumble a half-step backward, but it immediately regained its balance and swung its Bone Blade in a vicious backhand counterattack.

"Watch out! These monsters are at the Black Iron tier!"

Una tilted her head to dodge the Bone Blade, her second claw already launching in its wake. This time, she found the perfect angle, hooking her metal talons directly into the hollow void of the Undead Monster’s eye socket.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.