Warlock Apprentice

Chapter 1405: Section 1406 Corpse Forest

In these ceaselessly struggling undead hands, a path was cleaved, extending from the tree door where Angel stood into unknown depths.

As if the same as the path before, it seemed to be deliberately set forth to guide Angel.

However, it was both guidance and a threat.

Because amongst the deadly pale, slightly greenish hands of the undead, Angel could clearly see that some contained pupils in their palms; it was evident they were composite undead, likely aggregate bodies of spiritual remains.

The potential explosion of so many undead aggregates was unimaginable.

Clearly, the mastermind behind the scenes was using this method to convey the horror and danger of this place to Angel, warning him not to act recklessly.

In the face of such threats, Angel chuckled softly in his heart, unconcerned as he stepped onto the path.

Just as Angel had speculated, with every few steps he took, the path behind would be taken over by the undead hands, much like the previous path which signified a single message: no return.

There was only moving forward, no turning back.

Walking on this exclusive, meandering path carved by the undead hands, Angel’s mood was rather complex; ahead the path twisted into the unknown, illuminated walls stretching endlessly on either side, while behind him more undead hands continuously sprouted, imparting a strange sense of ritual.

Angel was reminded of his past visit to the palace of the Shannon Royal Family, where a luxurious red carpet embroidered with opulent designs extended from the King’s throne atop the dais all the way to the palace gate, with officials standing around its edge. To walk upon that carpet symbolized authority, politics, and a solemn ritual.

While there was a stark contrast between the palace’s red carpet and the path before him, the sense of ritual was strangely familiar.

However, walking this particular path brought not only solemnity due to the thrashing, showy hands of the undead on either side but also eeriness, absurdity, and the peculiar sensation of trekking on the road to hell.

As Angel’s mind wandered, he found that he had already covered a good portion of the path.

The winding path meandered past many trees.

Now, to Angel’s right, stood a tall tree that, similar to the one at the entrance, was large yet dead, with its center hollow. Through the dim light, he could see human shapes swaying within the tree.

Another pair of mummified corpses.

Reflecting on the trees encountered along the way, Angel realized each one housed two mummies; he had passed dozens of such trees, nearing a hundred mummified corpses. And within the entire space, the uncountable trees implied an astounding number of bodies should each one contain two corpses.

Of course, this number was still far less than that of the Corpse Forest outside, but what drew Angel’s particular attention to these trees was a vague conjecture forming in his mind about his location.

He had been contemplating ever since he saw the first tree.

The multitude of trees, hanging mummies, and the enclosed yet vast space reminded Angel of when he and Shadow had stealthily infiltrated Black Castle and heard certain tidbits of information—

The dungeons of Black Castle had eighteen themed layers.

From the sixth to the eighteenth sub-levels were various types of prisons featuring the Blood Prison, Water Prison, and others. The fifth sub-level housed icy caverns, mainly for storage; Greya and Felicia were there, and Isabel’s residual spirit was discovered in its depths. The fourth sub-level was a hive, a delight for poisonous creatures; the third sub-level was a place where souls were pursued, once an Undead paradise; the second sub-level was the Soul Realm, formerly Isabel’s private area, filled with great terror which outsiders dared not enter, but now, due to external changes, it was repurposed as Black Castle’s temporary resting place.

Beyond these seventeen levels, there was a special first sub-level:

Named Corpse Forest.

As the name implies, a forest of bodies where trees are nourished by the corpses, a place full of tree burials.

The very notion of tree burial is encapsulated by encasing corpses within the trees.

And how similar that was to the current situation!

Angel was nearly certain that this was indeed the Corpse Forest, the first sub-level of Black Castle.

Like the third sub-level, the Corpse Forest was also a paradise for the undead, in a dark, enclosed space with an accumulation of deathly energy. Unique funerary rituals meant that souls would not dissipate but instead gradually grow stronger over time. Thus, the presence of numerous undead here was normal.

Moreover, the Corpse Forest was distinct from the other seventeen levels.

The Corpse Forest had no connection with other levels; the rest were fundamentally situated in other-dimensional space, whereas due to special circumstances, the Corpse Forest was only half otherworldly. Most of it, in fact, existed in the real underground space, meaning…

Angel lifted his head, looking towards the dark ceiling above. If all went well, breaking through the soil layer above should allow him to resurface, but given that it was half in other-dimensional space, escaping through the soil layer would likely not be so simple.

Furthermore, should he wish to break through the soil layer, he would have to contend with another issue.

The undead.

As he lifted his head to look above, he could clearly see a large number of undead floating overhead, their skulls hanging vertically downward, staring down at Angel with venomous eyes, as if they wished they could flay him and dismantle his bones.

However, no matter how malevolent the gazes, not a single undead rushed down to deal with Angel.

“It seems that her ability to control the undead is indeed quite impressive,” Angel thought without any fear, remaining non-committal, and calmly continued walking toward the distance.

Having ascertained his location, Angel felt even less burdened.

With the Gate Model at hand, he had the confidence to retreat anytime. Moreover, since the Corpse Forest was actually underground, it wouldn’t take long for Isabel in the outside world to discover his disappearance and estimate his location.

Therefore, Angel just needed to be more cautious so as not to be controlled by some peculiar undead like the Infant Spirits. Leaving would still be quite straightforward. With this confidence, Angel didn’t mind meeting that familiar stranger—the Princess of King Gumman—and incidentally add a new case report to “The Report of Reincarnation Prelude Experiment.”

Angel walked along the long road for nearly ten minutes.

When he arrived at a dense forest area, he heard rustling noises in addition to the mournful weeping of the undead coming from deep within the woods.

Such sounds were like those of some creature moving.

Angel stopped and looked towards the direction of the sounds.

The noise grew louder and the earth trembled in response. Suddenly, a “hissing” sound rose right beside his ear, and when Angel looked up, he saw a giant head peeking out from the tops of the trees.

A snake!

A huge python!

Just the head was bigger than Angel himself.

But like the Mountain Giant he had encountered before, this python looked huge, but it was actually undead. However, whether it was a Composite Undead or not was unknown. If it really was a Composite Undead, the explosion from such a large python would probably not be less destructive than that of the Mountain Giant.

Besides, they were beneath the Black Castle. If it exploded, the Black Castle above ground would likely become a true ruin. However, this was irrelevant to Angel. He was not concerned about the fate of the Black Castle, nor was it his place to be concerned.

Angel and the python eyed each other for a few seconds. The python’s vertical pupils were filled with coldness, staring at Angel as if pondering how to kill him. However, in the end, the python did nothing. It simply coiled its giant body and watched quietly as Angel walked past it, making no move.

“So, it’s a display of strength to threaten me?”

Angel’s guess wasn’t wrong; on the next stretch of the journey, he encountered many strange and unique undead, some of which even made his heart skip a beat.

For instance, a ghastly red-clothed specter stood stationary in the midst of a “prairie” composed of the undead’s hands, an eerie aura materializing around her. This red-clothed specter gave Angel an even stranger feeling than the previous one.

For instance, within an immensely large tree, he saw a coffin whose lid was incessantly shaking. Although he didn’t know what was inside the coffin, a spine-chilling breath seeped out from the cracks of the lid, making even Angel feel a faint urge to avoid its edge.

And then, like now.

Angel arrived at a trench that seemed infinitely deep, shrouded in pitch darkness below. Above this chasm was a wooden suspension bridge that looked dilapidated and old, the planks rotting or missing entirely, seeming extremely dangerous.

The bridge was the only way across, as the path behind him had already been covered once more by the hands of the undead.

Undeterred, Angel stepped onto the bridge.

Walking on the bridge, it swayed slightly—the minor tremors resulting from both Angel’s weight and the cold winds blowing up from the trench, causing the bridge to shake continuously.

Following the pattern he had seen so far, Angel felt that, in character with Princess Gumman, there should be some chaos stirred up on such a swaying, unsupported bridge to make her presence known.

Sure enough, as Angel reached the middle of the bridge, beneath the murky and dull trench, a sudden stir arose.

A giant head glowing with a faint light rose from below, its malicious eyes staring fixedly at the suspension bridge.

Angel raised his eyebrows, having thought the bridge would break and cause him to fall into the trench, or that a massive number of terrifying undead would fly up from below. But unexpectedly, what appeared was yet another Mountain Giant undead.

And this Mountain Giant undead seemed even larger than the previous one.

It wasn’t until Angel had crossed the bridge that the Mountain Giant undead made no move against him.

This also showed that Princess Gumman was still demonstrating her power through this Mountain Giant undead.

This made Angel increasingly curious about what Princess Gumman had done over the years to have brought such numerous and powerful undead under her control.

Or could it be that Princess Gumman’s special ability was so strong that she could easily command even undead of this caliber?