"Is it necessary to disguise ourselves? Can't we just go in like this?" Ilvest patted his shoulder. His wings, under Muria's strong insistence and his sister's support, were already retracted. He now looked like a noble prince in luxurious armor, ready to explore the underground abyss.
"We need to keep a low profile. What's the point of being so ostentatious?" Muria adjusted his armor, also dressed like a high-class adventurer. Some qualities can't be hidden. "Your wings are too conspicuous."
"That's no fun. If we're too weak, we'll attract all sorts of trouble. If we show our true identity, no one will dare to mess with us."
"Maintaining our power at the Gold level is sufficient." Muria snapped his fingers lightly, and the high-level invisibility spell on the three of them vanished, revealing their presence above the undead abyss. The garrisoned troops and the adventurers below could now see them.
...
"Report to the General, there's movement above the undead abyss."
"No need to report, I'm not blind. I see it. Such young faces, it's probably some noble brats out for thrills. Those born into great families have it good, breaking through to the Gold level at such a young age."
Seeing Muria and the others floating in the air, the general leading the suppression corps showed a look of envy. He was born a commoner, breaking through to the Gold level in his fifties. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been assigned to the tough job of suppressing the undead abyss.
"Should we warn them? The undead abyss is not as simple as they think. If they recklessly go in, they might provoke strong undead and end up dead."
"Give them a map. Beyond that, it's not our concern." The general thought for a moment, then impatiently waved his hand. Originally, he intended to ignore them—just three reckless noble brats looking for thrills. However, he reconsidered, fearing the repercussions if these young nobles met with misfortune and their powerful families came after him. Such young nobles, already at the Gold level, undoubtedly had immense backgrounds.
Muria, Mikaela, and Ilvest landed softly, standing a meter off the ground. The adventurers around them instinctively avoided them, casting various glances of reverence, envy, and jealousy, but mostly respect. No one dared to approach.
Even though their power was suppressed to an unimpressive level in Ilvest's eyes, being at the Gold level meant being a lord of a city in human terms. Ordinary folks wouldn't dare provoke them, especially not nobles with evident significant backgrounds.
"Excuse me, sirs." As Muria was about to enter the abyss, a squad of soldiers mounted on fierce velociraptor-like creatures approached.
Muria glanced over, and his first impression was that they were poor. Except for their mounts, which were somewhat decent, their equipment was shabby. Only the leading soldier wore light armor; the rest were clad in leather armor, which offered little protection.
"What do you need?" Seeing the soldiers addressing them, Ilvest, who usually gave Muria a hard time, smiled warmly, his attitude surprisingly gentle.
"Sirs, our general instructed us to deliver this map to you. It marks the locations of many dangerous undead our corps has explored. Please take care."
Seeing Ilvest's warm smile, the young officer delivering the map felt a natural sense of goodwill and reverence. Such demeanor was befitting a great noble, treating even a nobody like him with such kindness.
"A map!" Ilvest was momentarily stunned. He remembered his first venture into the undead abyss in his true form, with no one offering him a map.
"Thank you." Muria glanced at Ilvest and accepted the nearly meter-wide beast hide map. After a moment's thought, he pulled out a piece of gold half the size of an average human and tossed it to the officer.
For Muria, now supported by the resources of eight worlds, gold and silver were meaningless.
"Thank you for the reward, sir." The young officer, nearly knocked over by the gold piece, thanked him profusely, delighted by the unexpected reward.
"You deserve it." Muria, maintaining a generous facade, didn't reveal that he was actually deeply in debt.
With the map in hand, the three of them entered the abyss. A wave of death energy hit them; the entrance seemed to divide the realms of the living and the dead. Outside the cave was the world of the living; inside was the domain of the dead.
"Check the map. They mentioned it marks many powerful undead for the garrison. We should make the most of this trip," Muria said.
"Let me see what strong undead are noted." Ilvest, feeling bitter as he remembered his first blind foray into the abyss, opened the map. Back then, he had no map and had wandered aimlessly. If not for his elders' rescue, he would have perished. This embarrassing tale was his secret.
"Any information on liches?" Muria peered over Ilvest's shoulder at the map, which detailed numerous underground cavities, many marked with high-level undead.
"No. They're just humans. What kind of intelligence could they gather? If they saw a lich, they probably wouldn't live to tell," Ilvest replied flatly.
"Then what is this?" Muria pointed to a dark castle icon with a glaring red skull symbol. "I may not be well-read, but you can't fool me."
"A deserted lich castle. No lich, but plenty of high-level undead. It's a death zone for humans," Ilvest said without expression.
"So, a castle once inhabited by a lich. If it was inhabited, there's a chance it might be again. Even if not, we might find clues to trace it," Muria mused, the golden light flickering in his disguised eyes.
"Why are you so obsessed with liches?" Ilvest asked.
"Each lich is at least a high-level spellcaster. I want to capture a few," Muria said matter-of-factly. "Synapse is currently lacking in this kind of talent."
"You're a golden dragon. Enslaving undead is something black dragons or pestilence dragons would do."
"Why do you care? I'm not using them for evil purposes," Muria retorted, annoyed by his brother-in-law's meddling. "Ever heard of 'talent regardless of origin'? As long as it's beneficial, I don't care what kind of creature it is, as long as it obeys."
"That's an extremely evil thought."
"Do you want to fight?"
_________________________
[Check out my Patreon for +200 additional chapters in all my fanfics! $5 for all!!]
[w w w . p a t r e o n .com / INNIT]
[+50 PowerStones = +1 Chapter]