Chapter 8

Chapter 2: The Lost City

After walking out of the forest, I felt like I had survived a disaster. I took a few deep breaths and decided to return to Cold Emerald to replenish my supplies. Looking around... Wait! What is this? Where is Cold Emerald?

What I saw was not the beautiful and vast grassland in front of Cold Emerald, but a huge cemetery stretching for several kilometers. Under the gray sky, there were broken tombstones and scattered weeds everywhere. What kind of place is this! Fortunately, I could see a magnificent... I didn't know whether to call it a fortress or a city. If it were a fortress, it would be too large; although I couldn't see its full size from a distance, it seemed to cover more than three times the area of Cold Emerald. If it were a city, it was built on a huge lake island, with the only access being a stone bridge over three kilometers long.

I shook my head vigorously to clear my confusion and bravely walked towards the city. No matter what, I would know once I saw it!

This cemetery was enormous; if there were really people buried here, it must be in the millions. Fortunately, this is a game, so there's no fatigue, and the open view means I won't get lost. As I walked, I saw broken stone slabs and bones of unknown creatures scattered everywhere, occasionally even human skulls. The whole area reminded me of the Necropolis in Heroes of Might and Magic. What on earth is the Chinese company trying to do with such a huge cemetery!

Finally, I reached the long bridge outside the city. Now I realized that the stone bridge was much longer than it looked from a distance, over five kilometers long. Looking at the lake, it seemed very strange. The vast, calm surface looked viscous, and the water was pitch black, occasionally bubbling, but fortunately, there was no foul smell.

As I was considering whether to cross the lake, Lucky suddenly flew out of my arms and snorted at the lake. It seemed to want to breathe fire, but it was too young and didn't have that skill yet.

Following Lucky's direction, I saw a series of huge bubbles suddenly rise from the distant lake. Then, a fin covered in a membrane and full of spikes emerged from the water. The part of the fin above water was over 20 meters long, giving an idea of its owner's size. Fortunately, it didn't seem to be coming towards me! Not far from it, an even larger fin emerged, and the two seemed to be about to fight.

Sure enough, the two fins suddenly accelerated towards each other. With a loud splash, a water column shot up, carrying all sorts of debris, scaring me into running away. In my panic, I tripped over something and fell flat on my face. Just as I raised my head, a longsword impaled my arm. I couldn't help but scream as blood spurted out. I quickly pulled out the sword, but the wound was still bleeding. Seeing my HP drop rapidly, I drank the last red potion, and the wound glowed red, finally stopping the bleeding.

Damn, why am I so unlucky! I even got hit by debris while watching monsters fight! Just as I got up, there was a loud clang, and a heavy shield hit my head, making me stagger and almost fall again. Oh God! Who did I offend!

I quickly picked up the shield and ran towards the forest, holding it over my head. Various objects kept hitting the shield, making my hands numb.

Just as I was about to reach the edge of the forest, I noticed a shadow covering me. I cautiously peeked out from under the shield. I almost fainted when I saw a giant eel over 100 meters long falling from the sky, and it was going to land right where I was standing.

Almost instinctively, I sat on the ground and raised my sword towards the sky. I felt a heavy weight on my hand, and then everything went black.

A cold sensation on my face woke me up. It was Lucky licking my face. I felt fine, but upon closer inspection, I realized I was buried. The thing on top of me, of course, was the damn giant eel. Fortunately, my sword, with one end on the ground and the other pressing against the eel, created a small space for me.

As I was thinking about how to get out, a white light flashed above me, and the eel suddenly disappeared. With a clang, my sword broke into two pieces. The system message sounded: "Player Ziri upgraded to level 25. Player Ziri upgraded to level 26. Player Ziri upgraded to level 27. Player Ziri upgraded to level 28. Player Ziri upgraded to level 29."

"What? This is possible!" Is the system making a mistake! But free experience is free, and it's a pity that the monster wasn't a boss, or there might have been some rewards!

Just as I was happy, I remembered my broken sword and quickly picked up the remains. Ah! It's broken into two pieces! Although it's useless, it was my only weapon. I started to regret throwing away the beginner's sword!

Suddenly, I felt a cool sensation in my hand. It was the heavy sword that hit me earlier! Hehe! There's always a way out! My mood fluctuated rapidly because I just discovered that I couldn't equip this damn sword. My stats are level 29, strength 377, agility 174, intelligence 58, stamina 87, and constitution 232. However, the sword requires level 30, strength 300, agility 160, and constitution 150. Ah! Why can't I equip it!

I searched the ground nearby and found a pearl or fish eye that couldn't be identified and seventeen gold coins. There were many weapons scattered around, but most were broken, so I only kept three. One was the shield that hit me, which turned out to be a Fortified Shield, a large shield that I could equip. Its attributes are 75 defense, 35% block chance, and 10% damage reflection. Another was a pair of Dark Guardian leg guards. Their attributes are 80 defense, 10% lightning absorption, 10% dark damage absorption, and 5% increased movement speed, but they require level 37, so I can't use them yet. The last one was the broken sword I couldn't use. I put the unusable items in my backpack; maybe I can sell them for something!

Considering the terrifying monster in the water, I crouched and moved forward on the bridge, afraid it might suddenly jump out and kill me! I nervously ran to the end of the bridge, where the city gates loomed before me. The massive stone gates, 18 meters high and 7 meters wide, looked very imposing. The black letters on the gate read "Lost City," making me feel uneasy!

I quickly ran into the city and found it even more unsettling. The entire city was desolate, not because the buildings were in ruins, but because they were exceptionally grand. All the buildings were made of black stone, looking very sturdy. However, the vast black buildings under the gray sky were truly frightening!

"Is... is anyone here?" I shouted, but my voice trembled with fear.

With a hiss, two black swords were placed on either side of my neck. "The Land of the Undead, no living shall enter! Leave quickly!" The speaker was a fully armored knight, with four followers also in black armor, even their mounts covered in black armor. The leading knight had a long red feather on his helmet, indicating he was the leader.

I found it strange that players had such flashy equipment so early. A single identification spell almost scared me. The leader was a Myslock Knight Captain, level 250, and the others were Myslock Knights, level 200, with special skills like Group Charge and Intimidation. They were all NPCs, which explained their strength!

Seeing my lack of reaction, a knight raised his sword to strike, but I closed my eyes, and the sword didn't fall as expected. Opening my eyes, I saw Lucky flapping its wings in front of me, barking at the knight. Surprisingly, the five knights immediately dismounted, and the leading knight said, "We did not recognize the Great Black Dragon, my apologies!"

Lucky continued to flap its wings and bark, and the knight respectfully replied, "Yes! We understand!" Then the five knights remounted and rode into the city. Lucky turned to me and barked happily, and I patted it to show my happiness.

With the five knights gone, I started walking into the city, as Lucky seemed to be respected here!

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