Alder, southeast of the rock fortress of Alicock, is said to have been inhabited by a tyrannical lord, Count Vlad, during the Alchemy Age hundreds of years ago.

The Count Vlad was a brilliant and talented lord, but his ambition was as great as his talent, so he erected a number of hostile forces, and was finally attacked by the nobles of the neighboring countries, and finally died of depression, his territory was divided, and his children were slaughtered by the neighboring countries.

Decades after the death of Count Vlad, there was a legend about Alder, who was then Waldrob.

At that time, the dark magic had been gradually improved, and the necromancers were gradually developing in the direction of exploring the power of death, and for various reasons, necromancers began to study the soul.

And in the process of studying this evil spell, the necromancer is disgusted by the black magician, because the soul is sacred and inviolable forbidden land for magicians.

In desperation, some necromancers came to Wardrob after several years of wandering, because at that time, Count Vlad's castle had been abandoned, and both the nobles of the neighboring countries and the local residents believed that Count Vlad would become evil spirits and continue to kill life after death.

The necromancers were unconcerned about this ridiculous rumor, and instead used their own spells to exaggerate the facts, such as summoning some ghosts to roam the woods of Wardrobe, intimidating the nearby residents and pedestrians so that they did not dare to approach the castle.

Rumors, and hype by necromancers, Wardrobe's castle was finally considered a bad place by the locals, and after a few hundred years, it was left with a dark forest, a gloomy castle, and a cemetery as far as the eye could see...... Occasionally, you may be able to see a few skeletons supporting their broken bodies, their empty eyes looking around blankly, the necromancers have used these skeletons to deceive the local inhabitants for hundreds of years, but in fact, these skeletons are very fragile...... "Click, click!" With the sound of dead branches being trampled, two figures came out of the forest, one of them complained with a little dissatisfaction, "I really don't understand, why that guy is here!"

"Yo, I thought you'd love this place, dear Poole!"

"You think a necromancer likes to be around those ugly skeletons? Argus, I've thought about being a dark mage, too!"

"Oh my God, are you joking?

"Are you kidding? You think I volunteered to learn those damn soul spells? Except for the old guys, who likes to spend all day in a dark stinky gutter - well, it's a place worse than a local stinking gutter!"

"Wow......"

"I've thought about being a royal magician, and the empire will subsidize the research funds......"

"Haha - you can become the president of the Royal Wizards' Guild if you want!"

"That's not bad - but what I need is freedom! complete freedom!"

"Don't worry, my dear companion, everything will be as it is!"

As he spoke, the two of them came to the end of the forest, and looked at the endless cemetery, and the man dressed in a black long-distance runner shrugged his shoulders and said exaggeratedly, "Wow, these graves are really scary—if it's night, the timid ones will be scared to death!"

The smooth moonlight shone slowly on his face, revealing a man's face with a somewhat cold, somewhat playful smile, it was Argus.

"Isn't it night?" Glancing at Argus, his companion, Poole sneered, "what you see is good, when Count Vlad killed all 20,000 captives in order to deter the enemy [***] team, and poked here with a wooden frame...... The heavy stench of corpses attracted a large number of crows, and I don't think I would have liked to see that...... It is said that tens of thousands of corpses are buried here, 20,000 prisoners, local residents, and enemy soldiers, and maybe Vlad is buried here......" He turned his head, looked at Argus, frowned, and said, "Argus, let Lelagin deal with it alone, is that okay?"

"So this is an ancient battlefield......," Argus shook his head, then chuckled, "Don't worry, Poole, I'm sure Kars won't let us down, and besides, there's Clark outside the city, and even if something happens, we won't lose a manpower - nothing will happen!"

"Do you think they're going to help each other? It's the funniest joke I've ever heard!"

"Hehe," patted his companion on the shoulder, and Argus stepped on the muddy cemetery ground and walked forward—probably because the surrounding forest was too dense, the land was very muddy, like a swamp, and the unknown stench around it made people feel very sick.

As he walked, Argus frowned, covered his nose, and said in disgust, "What's this rotten egg-like smell?"

"Hmph!" Poole, looking at Argus's expression with some amusement, shook his head, and said with a bit of teasing, "It's a corpse stench - the soil here is too wet, maybe there was a rain some time ago, and the rain seeped into the ground......"

"Oh, I hate the smell......"

"That's a problem, these graves take up at least a few thousand yards of land!"

"Damn it!"

Looking at Argus's frowning expression and smiling slightly, Poole whispered, "Argus, aren't you going to win over that werewolf?"

"Isn't there no way?" Stretching out his hand to drive away the stench of corpses, Argus frowned and said, "Didn't those two little bugs say two days ago? Gretel Keynes, the great magician of Reochs, and that damn priest Andrew, these two old guys will soon come to Galik, I can't deal with two old guys of the same level as me at the same time, I need Connell's strength!"

"And what about me? Didn't you count me?"

Glancing back at Poole, Argus smiled and said, "You're my companion! Dear Poole, you're a genius, but you're no match for those two old guys in terms of strength or spells - ordinary spells don't have any effect on them!"

"Tsk!" Poole frowned with some dissatisfaction.

"Don't worry, my companion, I have a way to increase your strength in a short period of time......" As he spoke, Argus glanced at Poole and said seriously, "As long as you believe me!"

"Is it the same as you?" Thinking of the incredible power that Argus possessed, Poole couldn't help but lick his lips, then shook his head, and said with a bit of banter and self-deprecation, "Forget it, Argus, I won't try the way to sell my soul to gain power, I have my own way!"

"Really?" Argus smiled faintly, then frowned again and scolded in a low voice, "damn it...... Can't the smell of corpses be purified?"

"Do you think I'm a priest of the Holy See?"

As they spoke, a huge shadow gradually appeared in front of their eyes—it was a dark and ancient castle, like a terrible beast in the night, baring its fangs.

Suddenly, Argus, who was already in the depths of the cemetery, stopped, and Poole, who had stopped at the same time as him, looked around in disbelief, as if he had noticed something unusual.

The howling night wind of "Whirring ......" is like the low roar of a wild beast, adding a bit of horror to the whole cemetery.

"Click, click!" With a sore tooth sound, some white figures appeared in the distance, and we could see that the surprise on Poole's face was even stronger.

"Skeleton...... Skeletons?Geist?

"Hey," Argus shrugged his shoulders and said angrily, looking at the dozens of white skeletons and a few ghostly things floating in the air, "Are there any of these things? I thought it was just the civilians getting drunk......

"They're trying to keep us from getting closer to the castle - I just found out that this graveyard has an inherent barrier!" Poole said in a voice, looking around, "but this barrier is weird, I've never seen ......"

"There's just no way to crack it?" said with a playful smile, and a large amount of dark aura suddenly poured out from under Argus's feet, and then, the dark aura turned into tentacles of whips, and in just an instant, it shattered skeletons at least twenty yards away from him.

"Well, it seems that at least one necromancer once lived here......" Poole raised his right hand and pointed at one of the geists that was swooping towards him, only to hear a terrible scream, and the geist immediately turned into a white light and disappeared.

"Wow, the finger of death?" Argus said exaggeratedly.

"It's a soul blast!" Poole rolled his eyes and was about to taunt him a few words when suddenly, he heard a sparse voice.

"Huh?" Argus frowned and looked around, then he froze.

I saw that in the ground in the distance, a miserable white skeletal arm suddenly stretched out, and then, in just four or five seconds, a filthy skeleton struggled out of the ground, and the empty eye sockets flashed with green soul fire.

Immediately, the second, the third, the fourth...... In just a few minutes, hundreds of skeletons had sprang up around Argus and Poole, and the number of skeletons was still growing.

Frowning and glancing around, Poole was surprised to find that the skeleton shattered by Argus had gradually come together and reshaped.

Damn, this is the graveyard, and there's enough death power to make that inherent barrier work...... Thinking of this, Poole whispered, "Argus, don't waste time, these skeletons will never be destroyed in the enchantment!

"Heh, immortal?" Argus joked, not seeing any movement from him, the dark power clinging to him had already smashed the approaching skeletons to the ground.

For them, these skeletons that scare and scare the nearby residents are simply too insignificant.

Sure enough, ten minutes later, Argus and Poole walked through the cemetery to the clearing next to the castle.

It is not a good place to say that there is a tomb erected there, and looking at the setting next to the tomb, it may have been a garden - this is a tomb built in a garden, and it may have something to do with the owner of the castle, Count Vlad.

Perhaps it was due to the weathering of the accumulated years, or perhaps because of other reasons, the tombstone of this tomb was mostly mutilated, and the handwriting engraved on it had long been blurred, all of which made the heart of the uninvited guest standing in front of the tombstone at this moment full of sadness.

"Hey!" with a chuckle, Argus walked over to the uninvited guest, smiled and greeted, "Yo, Connell!"

It turned out that the uninvited guest was the werewolf Connell who said goodbye to Jiang Zhe and them a few days ago, and I saw that he didn't look at Argus, and was alone in sadness, and after a long time, he said softly, "Cecilia is a very kind woman......"

"Well, yes......" Argus shrugged.

It seemed that he didn't hear Argus's words, as if Connell was just talking to himself, only to see him stretch out his hand and touch the tombstone tremblingly, with a strong sadness, and whispered, "She is the youngest daughter of Lord Giris, very beautiful, very kind, she will help anyone in need, even me, a fellow abandoned by the world...... She often helped me as an orphan, arranged for me to work on the farm, secretly delivered me food, and begged the farmer not to whip me when I made a mistake...... She's the lord's daughter, and she didn't have to come to help my ...... in the first place."

Smiling slightly, Argus said with great interest, "What about the love affair between nobles and commoners hundreds of years ago?

"The situation was very chaotic, the lords everywhere were staring at their neighbors, stupid wars, crazy killings, just to expand their territory, and finally, the war finally reached us...... It's a pity that the territory of the lord of Jiris is very weak, and there are only a few hundred guards to maintain the security of that small territory, how can he deal with tens of thousands of enemy troops with these alone? There is no way, the territory of Jiris has to surrender, he has thought of a way to let those powerful lords withdraw their troops, in order to seek peace in the territory, that is, to find the most beautiful girl in the territory and marry into the most powerful lord's family...... This chosen girl is Cecilia......"

"Hey, Connell, I'm not interested in the bargains between nobles and magnates hundreds of years ago!" said that, but Argus's face was not anxious, as if he was not here to win over Connell, but to come and chat with him, only to see him touch his chin and say with a smile, "Let me guess, in order to get back the woman you love, did you give your soul to the devil?"

Glancing casually at Argus, Connell whispered, "You're not qualified to criticize me, Argus!"

"No, no, no, why am I criticizing you?" said Argus with a slight smile, in an inexplicable tone, "If it were me, even if it cost me my life, I would do the same!"

Glancing deeply at Argus, Connell said lightly, "This sentence has made me think of you a lot!" he paused, with a slight smile in his eyes, clenched his fists, and whispered, "I bowed to the demon...... In exchange for great power, in the words of your magician, it should be wolf magic...... As a werewolf, I easily snatched Cecilia back, but I also drew the wrath of a lord - because Cecilia was about to marry his son!"

"This lord is Count Vlad?"

"Hmph, who else but him? That war was originally provoked by that bastard trying to expand his territory!" After a pause, Connell's eyes showed a little sadness, and he said in a low voice, "We were going to run away, because Vlad's army was too strong, but...... After all, human physical strength will reach the limit, let alone flee under the search of thousands of troops...... She was very sick, and I had all the strength to do but watch her get weaker and weaker day by day...... I thought about giving up, I gave up on her - I thought about sending her back, after all, living in the lord's house may be much happier than following me, but ...... She stopped me because she knew that if I took her back, I would definitely be put to death...... In the end, I lost her, and she didn't give up on me, she stayed with me to the end with her last life - in the hunt of the damned guards!"

Glancing at the angry Connell, Argus asked curiously, "In that case, what is the ...... of this tomb?"

"That's because Vlad took it from me!" Connell growled with intense hatred, "He's a complete bastard! Even if she doesn't have a breath, that bastard is going to send him here to be buried! Because I snatched her back from the wedding......"

"Wow, that's the dignity of a nobleman! that's not hard to understand, man!" said Argus, turning to Connell and smiling, "and the following, I've heard that you're making a fuss in the Alchemy Age!"

"Yes!" Connell grinned with a wicked grin, "I've lost everything in my life, what else do I have to fear? I didn't kill the soldiers, but I bit them...... It's a shame I still couldn't kill that bastard - it's all to the damn alchemists who found the deadliest weapon against werewolves!"

"Silver weapons?" Argus glanced at Connell, only to see him say evilly, "Do you want to try it?"

"No, no, no!" Argus said with a smile waving his hand, "Silver weapons are effective against werewolves, but not against you, you're no ordinary werewolf - I'm not that stupid!"

"Hmph!" with a cold snort, Connell carefully stroked the tombstone, and after a long silence, he suddenly asked, "Argus, what did you say to me at that time...... Is it true?"

Hearing this, Agaston's eyes lit up, he stroked his hair, and whispered, "Of course, have you thought about it? As long as you can use your power to help me do something, I can achieve your wish...... Resurrect her!"

"Hmm?" Poole, who was standing on the side, was stunned, and looked at Argus with incredible eyes, because he knew how difficult it was to resurrect a person, not to mention anything else, just opening the door to the realm of death was not something that ordinary people could do, and the necromancers had only found the coordinates of the realm of death through the efforts of several generations, or even more than ten generations, and established a few spiritual connections.

It could be seen that Connell's emotions were a little excited, and his right hand, which was touching the tombstone, trembled slightly, and after a moment of silence, he said in a deep voice full of threats, "If you dare to deceive me, Argus, I will let you taste what it will cost to deceive a Gangero......"

"Especially a Gungero who has devoured 240,000 souls, right?" chuckling to fill in Conneill's unfinished words, Argus let out a sigh of relief, then reached out and said with a smile, "Welcome to join us, Connell!"

Glancing at Argus's outstretched hand, Connell snorted coldly and said, "Don't come here, I don't mean to join you, we're just a partnership, don't forget, from the beginning, I saw you very unpleasantly!"

"Wow, that's a pity!" Not minding Connell's coldness, Argus shrugged his shoulders with a bit of pretentious regret, then retracted his smile and whispered, "But even if it's a partnership, I want you to do your best, if I fail......"

Glancing deeply at Argus, Connell frowned and nodded hesitantly, "I'll help you, but I swear never to kill innocents again!"

"Hmm, don't kill innocent people?" Argus said with a sense of amusement, "swear to souls?

"Any comments?"

"Hmm......" After a moment's thought, Argus nodded heavily, and said lightly, "Okay! let me do it for you one last time, tsk, swear not to kill innocent people again, you are really an incomprehensible fellow!"

"So do you, Argus!"

"Hehe," said Argus, shrugging his shoulders with a faint smile, "then, shall we go?"

"Wait!" Shifting his gaze from the tombstone to the castle, Connell said in a low voice with a bit of hatred, "I'm going to kill that guy before I leave!"

"That guy?" Argus was stunned, then seemed to think of something, and with a little surprise, he shook his head and said, "Connell, it has been three or four hundred years since then, and soon after you were locked underground, Vlad died, and his heirs were killed by the enemy...... It is impossible for a human being to live for hundreds of years, he has been dead for hundreds of years!"

"How could he die?" said with a sneer in his eyes, Connell sneered, "Do you know why those alchemists didn't kill me, because that bastard wants to get immortal power from me......"

"What?" Argus said in amazement, "those alchemists, you say?"

"Yes, who knows better than me? That bastard wanted to transfer me here, but gave up for fear that I would run away - those alchemists and warlocks had turned me into a kind of gangaro of vampires, studying immortality and immortality from my blood, what a brilliant word!"

"You mean......" Turning his head at the dark castle, Argus frowned, "Vlad is still alive? in this castle?

Snorting, Connell whispered, "Studying werewolves is just a record of those alchemists fooling you, and what they really study is immortal vampires - thanks to them, I have gained powers far beyond the best of times!"

"So......" Argus turned his head to look at Poole, only to see Poole nodding and closing his eyes to sense all signs of life in the castle with magic.

But then, Poole frowned, opened his eyes and shook his head, and said, "No, this castle has a forbidden enchantment, and you can't use your spiritual power to explore the inside!"

"Oh?" Argus said with a slight surprise and a bit of a joke, "That's really a little strange, do you want to go in and have a look?" As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Connell walking straight towards the castle not far away, and a helpless smile appeared on his face, shrugging his shoulders and saying with a bitter smile, "What a headache guy!"

"Would you like to go in and have a look?" Poole whispered as he walked over to Argus, "Judging by the inherent barrier in the graveyard and the forbidden barrier in the castle, there may have been at least one powerful necromancer living here before, I want to go in and find out if there is a codex of spells - we have lost many precious notes and codexes in the more than a hundred years that have been suppressed by the dark magicians......"

"Phew, you've said that—all right!" Glancing at the castle not far away, Argus sighed speechlessly, shook his head, and said, "I wish it was just an ordinary castle - if only Clark were here, even if it was a forbidden barrier, he would be able to find out everything inside the castle...... Let's go, don't keep our new companion waiting!" he said, walking toward the castle.

The black castle is a sign of the fire, and the dust and cobwebs on the ground indicate that it has been uninhabited for many years.

Looking at the dust on the floor, Argus glanced at Connell, who was standing in the middle of the hall, and shook his head speechlessly.

It took Argus and Pulcher to search the entire castle, but found no signs of inhabitation.

That said, as a human being, how could that guy named Vlad live for hundreds of years?

It's just that Connell's expression seems to be very serious.

"What have you discovered, my dear companion!"

"Don't disgust me!" Glancing at Argus, Connell sniffed around and then smirked, "I smell my kind...... A dark aura mixed with the smell of blood......" he said, walking in the direction where the smell came from.

"No way, we've already checked all the rooms......" At this point, Argus couldn't go any further, for he saw Connell walk up to the stairs leading to the second floor, crouch down, and hear a thud as he pulled up a whole piece of floor the size of two Makohito.

No, it wasn't the floor, it was a door disguised as a floor, a door to the dark basement...... "Hey!" Glancing at the dark basement, Argus shook his head with a little cry, but then, his expression changed slightly, and he said with a bit of banter, "It seems that you are right, this place is not uninhabited, but it is no longer human...... Attention, my dear companions, the smell of darkness and death is very strong down there!"

"Don't disgust me, Argus! Also, be careful with yourself!" glaring at Argus, Connell walked down the stairs without hesitation.

"Hey, I'm kind enough to warn you," Argus said with a grug of dismay, "Immortality is amazing, huh...... Well, that's amazing!"

And not long after they entered the basement, at the edge of the cemetery, Jiang Zhe and his party who had arrived here through the forest stared at the large number of skeletons and geyses wandering in the cemetery with wide eyes and horrors, including Bernie and Reed, members of the Galic Magic Association branch, ...... "My God......"

"This ...... How did this pass?"

(To be continued)