Chapter 1030: Breakout
The voices of the Odin Kingdom's people grew louder and louder. The noise was so overwhelming that Leon couldn't help but hear every word. Hubert and the others glared angrily in rebuttal, but Leon just curled his lip and ignored the Odin Kingdom crowd.
Idiots, all of them. Do they really think killing the Nine-Tailed Ice Fox means it's over? The frost traces around here have lasted less than a hundred years at most, which means that fox only showed up and went to sleep here within the last century. It wasn't always guarding this place.
Besides, apart from those twelve beast god statues, there's nothing else here. The corridor is massive, but there's nothing valuable in it. Sure, the temple's construction materials are top-notch, but good luck prying even a single slab loose.
A dump like this, guarded by a Sky Rank magical beast? Are they all brainless? They just rushed in and killed the beast...
Leon ignored Diras' words and instead frowned, continuing to inspect the temple, especially the wall hundreds of meters tall at the end of the corridor—which was his main focus.
Seeing Leon walking toward the Nine-Tailed Ice Fox's corpse, Diras immediately screeched.
"Matthew Merlin, you damned bastard, what are you up to? You already slacked off during the fight, and now, after we finally killed the Nine-Tailed Ice Fox, you want a share of the spoils? That's outrageous!"
Diras shouted accusations, and the rest of the Odin Kingdom people quickly joined in. They had no idea Leon was just trying to examine the bizarrely patterned wall at the end—they thought he was going for the Nine-Tailed Ice Fox.
"Bumpkins from Andalusia, every last one of you! Ran off during the fight, but now that it's over, you're the first to rush up for the loot!"
"What an obnoxious bunch—lazy, cowardly, greedy little goblins..."
Letting these greedy, lazy fools tag along was definitely the worst idea yet...
The Odin Kingdom people all started shouting accusations at once. Diras, seeing everyone on his side, couldn't hide a smug look and sneered at Leon.
"Matthew Merlin, what do you have to say for yourself now? Get lost—stay far away from the Nine-Tailed Ice Fox's corpse...!"
Leon frowned, studying the patterns beneath the Nine-Tailed Ice Fox's corpse. Comparing them to the patterns on the towering wall, he was starting to piece things together.
The densely packed, bizarre yet dazzling patterns weren't mere decoration—they were ancient alchemical runes. What Leon saw stretched for hundreds, even thousands of meters, and was only a part of the whole...
Especially noticing there wasn't a drop of blood around the Nine-Tailed Ice Fox's corpse—or even on its fur—Leon grew even more uneasy.
Leon frowned, turning back to his team. The Odin Kingdom people were still shouting, with Diras leading the charge. Leon just sneered.
If you have this much energy, maybe focus on how to deal with the trouble that's coming.
After Leon spoke, he returned to his team, face grave. Seeing his expression, Hubert and the others immediately realized things were getting serious—they stopped arguing with the Odin Kingdom people and instantly switched to battle mode.
The Odin Kingdom people were startled by his words, especially Morgan and Arno, whose expressions changed immediately.
Most people didn't know how strong Leon was, but Morgan and Arno had seen him easily handle Sky Rank beasts. If something was making Leon uneasy, it had to be big trouble...
The others were surprised, but their first reaction was disbelief. Diras's expression shifted, then he sneered.
"Matthew Merlin, even now you still..."
Before Diras could finish, something terrifying happened—the Nine-Tailed Ice Fox's corpse began to shrink rapidly, its shiny fur turning dull, as if some monstrous force was devouring it.
The Nine-Tailed Ice Fox's corpse withered and shrank. Only then did everyone notice that after its death, there wasn't a drop of blood to be seen. Now, even its flesh, essence, and terrifying magical power had vanished.
In less than three seconds, the Nine-Tailed Ice Fox's body turned to a pile of dry ash. Only an ice-blue mana crystal floated in midair, but before anyone could react, the dazzling crystal shattered into fragments.
A genuine Sky Rank Mana Crystal exploded, but not a trace of mana leaked out. Instead, all the energy surged into the ground, lighting up the intricate, dazzling patterns as if a ripple had swept through them.
Suddenly, the entire dim corridor was flooded with light. Every pattern covering the corridor lit up at once.
Only after seeing the full layout of the corridor and its patterns did Leon finally understand.
Blood sacrifice...
That Sky Rank Nine-Tailed Ice Fox was just a sacrifice, waiting to be slaughtered. Its flesh, soul, and mana crystal—all were offerings to activate the temple!
Using a fully grown, genuine Sky Rank beast as a blood sacrifice was meant to activate the temple and teleport everything inside away.
This massive temple corridor was actually a super teleportation array. Where would it send everyone?
Definitely not somewhere pleasant...
Leon frowned, saying nothing—there was no point now. He'd thought the temple held secrets about the Blazeforge Battlefield, but it turned out to be just a gateway, a teleportation array.
Once the temple was fully activated, a blinding flash erupted—everyone vanished instantly, no matter how prepared or powerful they were.
In the next instant, everyone found themselves on a vast, endless grassland.
No sooner had they arrived than everyone braced themselves, ready for any danger that might appear.
But after more than ten seconds, nothing happened—the silence was absolute, almost deathly still.
The grassland was perfectly flat, the ground barely undulating. You could see for miles in every direction, but even with Eagle Eye spells, no one could spot the edge of the prairie.
Leon looked troubled. The endless prairie, the green grass covering the ground—it wasn't like anything from Northend or the Blazeforge Realm. Instead, it was a short, branching grass that spread like a carpet, hiding every speck of soil.
And it was eerily silent—no insects, no signs of life, not even a trace on their life detection spells.
Casting Eagle Eye, they scanned the flat grassland for miles, and even twenty kilometers out, they could barely make out distant shapes.
But after looking around, there wasn't a single living creature in sight—within a twenty-kilometer radius, nothing moved, and not even a bird flew overhead.
There wasn't even a hint of scent in the air. The atmosphere felt stagnant, suffused with an unnatural, deathly stillness—so quiet it made your skin crawl.
Just as everyone finished scanning their surroundings, the ground suddenly began to tremble. Off in the distance, the earth itself seemed to shake...
With a squelch, a bone-white hand burst from beneath the earth, followed by another. Then a skull with half its head missing crawled out, its eye sockets blazing with eerie green soul fire. Four massive fangs marked its identity.
Orcs...
Undead orcs...
Morgan cried out in shock and fear.
Oh my god, undead orcs?
He quickly cast several undead detection spells, but the results made Morgan's hair stand on end.
They're all undead—everywhere!
Morgan shrieked, his voice cracking, face pale as a sheet.
As Morgan screamed, undead began bursting from the ground all across the prairie, countless skeletons as far as the eye could see.
Most were orc skeleton warriors wielding massive bone clubs, while others snapped off their own ribs to use as weapons after crawling out of the earth.
In an instant, the clear sky turned dark and the air filled with the stench of death. The grass withered rapidly, and in seconds, the prairie seemed to transform into an undead realm.
The earth was black, an endless sea of undead. The air was thick with death, swirling into dark, gray winds. Wailing noises echoed, as if banshees were crying out across the land.
Just as everyone tried to take flight, a swarm of skeletal wyverns emerged from the undead army, filling the sky and plunging it into darkness.
More and more undead orcs crawled out, along with gigantic skeletal Kodo beasts, some as tall as seven or eight meters, others more than ten.
And that wasn't all—everyone could see an endless stream of undead pouring from beneath the earth, each wave stronger than the last.
Break through!
Deidara shouted in terror.
No one dared underestimate these undead—even the weakest orc skeletons were level fifteen, and the strongest were just under level thirty.
But as time passed, the undead emerging from the ground grew ever stronger. There seemed to be no limit to their numbers—who knew when a Sky Rank undead would appear?
The terror of the undead lay not in their strength, but in their sheer numbers and their fearless nature. Even level fifteen undead would attack a Sky Rank warrior without hesitation.
Faced with such endless numbers, even a Sky Rank warrior could be worn down and killed.