Chapter 74: 74. Chapter 74: In the competition of not being human, the players are slightly better than the Demon King

74. Chapter 74: In the competition of not being human, the players are slightly better than the Demon King

In the pitch-black stone prison, a young man with his eyes closed suddenly twitched his eyebrows and sat up from the ground with difficulty.

His name is Daniel, an archer from Xiliu Town, only in his early twenties, just in the rising period of his career.

Before becoming an adventurer, he was a well-known hunter in the vicinity of his hometown and also a militia member trusted by the townspeople.

Such an excellent young man usually wouldn't waste his precious life in a backwater, but should waste his life in a big city.

Sure enough, at the age of eighteen, he heard from adventurers passing through the town that being an adventurer was far more profitable than hunting for the lord and guarding the house, and the time was free. If he saved enough money, he might even be able to buy a big house in the Holy City.

What moved Daniel was not just wealth, but the magnificent adventure stories in the mouths of adventurers.

That was something he had never experienced in his life, something he didn't even dare to think about, yet it was said so casually from their mouths.

He also wanted to become such a legend!

Carrying the dream of becoming a legend, Daniel bid farewell to his childhood sweetheart, bought a longbow and sword with his savings, and followed the adventurers passing through the town to Lei Ming County, joining the ranks of adventurers.

At first, everything went smoothly. He even miraculously awakened the transcendent power he didn't dare to think about before at the critical moment when the team encountered a fatal crisis!

It is said that among one hundred ordinary people, only one can reach Black Iron tier!

And the remaining ninety-nine people, no matter how hard they hone their martial arts, if no miracle happens or they accidentally please the gods, they can only be ordinary people for a lifetime.

The beginning is always the hardest.

Once becoming Black Iron tier, there is hope to sprint to Bronze, or even Steel and higher tiers!

Once reaching Steel tier, there is capital to be wooed by the lord!

In fact, in some small places, such as his hometown, Black Iron tier is enough for the local baron to invite him to his home for a heart-to-heart talk.

It's just that in a place like Lei Ming County, transcendent power is not so scarce.

However, Daniel still believed that he was the destined chosen one. Sooner or later, he would rely on his courage and determination to gain the favor of Lord Shengxi, break through the Black Iron-tier limit to become Bronze or even Steel! Then, he would return to his hometown covered in glory, be received by the noble Lord, and live a life free from worry from then on.

However, just when he was riding high, a sudden flood changed the trajectory of his life.

He still remembers the expression on his teammates' faces when they saw a ghost before he passed out.

Flood!

They actually encountered a flood in the labyrinth!

There was no time to react, their entire team was washed deep into the labyrinth by the monstrous flood. And when he woke up, half of his body was already in a cocoon made of spider silk, and the cave spider rubbing its mouthparts was drooling over him.

Looking around at the pitch-black surroundings, Daniel swallowed his saliva with difficulty and said with a trembling voice.

"Here... is hell?"

No one answered.

Just as he began to feel panic, a soft sigh suddenly came from somewhere in his ear.

"So hungry..."

"Is anyone there? Are you Thor? Or Dilum?"

Hearing that there was still someone here, a glimmer of hope reignited on Daniel's terrified face. While calling his companion's name, he tried to move towards the direction where the sound came from, until he bumped into a stone fence, causing him to see stars.

Vaguely, he seemed to hear the sound of bone friction, as if a skeleton soldier was grinding its teeth.

In an instant, Daniel immediately closed his mouth, nervously held his breath, fearing to attract the attention of the unknown existence in the darkness.

However, as the saying goes, the more you fear something, the more it comes. The sound finally targeted him.

"Thor? Dilum? I don't have such a vulgar name... Listen well, my name is Shark-Drop, Shark-Drop Things."

Shark-Drop·Things?

Daniel was stunned for a moment, completely unable to understand this strange pronunciation.

But being able to communicate was not a bad thing after all, so he continued tremblingly.

"Shark-Drop... senior, may I ask what place this is?"

The hoarse voice continued to come through the darkness.

"Here, is the Necropolis."

"Necropolis?!"

Never having heard of this strange name, Daniel opened his eyes wide in surprise.

And the voice in the darkness continued with a positive tone.

"That's right, this is the deepest part of the labyrinth, a hell more terrifying than hell... Do you want to hear my story?"

For some reason.

The senior's voice was always accompanied by a creaking sound.

Daniel nodded nervously.

"Please tell me..."

A soft laugh came from the darkness, chilling to the bone.

Immediately following that, the person in the darkness used a narrative tone to tell him a story about the "Thirteenth Adventurer."

"... Legend has it that there was such an adventurer team. In order to find the legendary treasure, they took the map bought at the market and entered a hidden floor that no one had ever been to. There were no monsters, no traps, and not even a fork in the road. But strangely, no matter how long they walked, the labyrinth never came to an end."

"... Food and water were running low, so they decided to retreat first. However, when they started to walk back, they found that the way back seemed to have disappeared."

"... Not only that, even the partners beside them became strange. Everyone remembered clearly that there were twelve people when they entered, but now there was one more. And what was even more bizarre was that no one could tell which one was the extra one..."

Suspicion, slaughter, and cannibalism that Shengxisi could not tolerate... and the final survivor found that he was not a human at all.

This was not a rare story on Earth, just changing the skin of many classic elements, from the Arctic Circle and the old school building to the labyrinth.

However, it was different here.

Daniel had heard stories of slaying dragons, but had never heard such a terrifying story.

He also knew for the first time that being an adventurer was so dangerous!

He even began to regret that he shouldn't have left his hometown, and shouldn't have abandoned everything to come here!

But in order to find clues to leave here, he still listened very carefully. However, the more he listened, the more he felt his back chill and his thoughts terrifying.

Something is wrong.

He finally realized something.

This guy told it too detailed!

So much so that Daniel had a feeling—

This storyteller was the eyewitness of the story.

And just at this time, the voice in the darkness seemed to think it was about enough, and used a meaningful sentence to conclude.

"Only the deeply sinful dead will come here... My story is over, it's your turn, friend, tell me how you came here?"

"Dead?!" Daniel widened his eyes, retreated in horror, until the back of his head hit the hard rock.

Facing the coldness through the darkness, he roared hysterically.

"No! I'm still alive."

Hearing his shouting, the voice in the darkness just smiled.

"You're so sure?"

"What do you mean!"

Daniel swallowed his saliva, reached out to touch his chest in fear, found that his heartbeat was still there, just wanted to breathe a sigh of relief, but remembered that this didn't explain anything.

Undead are not just skeletons.

They could also be zombies or ghouls, or other more evil things... and many of these guys have heartbeats.

Even looking like humans!

Just like that extra thirteenth person...

At this time, a beam of light suddenly lit up in the darkness, illuminating the damp wall and the storyteller in a trance.

He was wearing a cloak, holding a candle in front of his chest, and under the hood was a shocking skeleton, with scarlet liquid flowing from the eyes.

This terrifying scene was deeply branded into the depths of his soul.

He swore—

He had never seen such a terrifying skeleton!

"You are not human! You are undead!"

Daniel screamed, his legs kicking hard to stay away, the back of his head pressed tightly against the wall, almost scraping his scalp.

That "thirteenth adventurer"!!!

Only the eerie laughter answered him, seemingly praising his intelligence.

"Giggle..."

The flickering candle went out.

Along with it went the strange laughter.

He had never been so grateful for the arrival of darkness, but the silence that followed made him fall into boundless fear.

That undead might not have left, the creaking sound was the evidence.

It was in the dark, staring at him, appreciating his fear without blinking...

In this boundless darkness, Daniel held the back of his head that had broken skin, curled up in the corner, trying to make his body look smaller.

He didn't look like a transcendent at all, just an ordinary coward...

On the other side, Shark-Drop Things left the small dark room and placed the "translation crystal ball" in the copper basin by the wall.

This is a quest item.

It has to be returned after use.

Coming out with her was Whale-Fall North-South, and at this moment, the face in reality was wearing an unfulfilled expression, as if dreaming of something interesting.

Shark-Drop Things stretched.

"Brother Whale, did we go too far? We wouldn't have scared the NPC to death, right?"

Although she said so, there was not a bit of repentance in her tone, and she was even a bit proud.

After all, being able to scare an AI to cry, normal people would only feel they are super awesome.

Whale-Fall North-South patted her shoulder and said with a smile.

"Whatever, the reward is already in hand, it's time to go to the next prison... By the way, let me tell the stand-up comedy this time."

Shark-Drop Things looked at her in surprise.

"Eh??? Didn't we agree, you write it and I tell it?"

The skeleton index finger rested on the exposed jaw, and Whale-Fall North-South's voice carried a hint of meaning.

"Emmm... but it feels very interesting, that broken expression."

Shark-Drop Things shrank her neck and jumped a step to the side.

"... You guy, so scary."

Whale-Fall North-South: "By the way, did you eat the pudding in the fridge? I remember there was one left yesterday."

Shark-Drop Things: "Don't tell me ghost stories!!!"

On the other side, the Demon King's magic workshop.

Although Luo Yan didn't personally go to scare those fifteen adventurers, he could still feel that those guys were scared quite badly by his minions.

【Faith Value +3】

【Faith Value +2】

【Faith Value +3】

【...】

This faith value jumped once in a while, these fifteen big brothers might have fallen faster than the "Silver Scimitar."

Sure enough, the efficiency of physical torture is still too low.

Luo Yan couldn't help but seriously review his work, perhaps this kind of work should have been handed over to the players to do from the beginning.

Hearing You You was fanning the flames on the side.

"Lord Demon King, your players seem to be even less human than you are. If you don't work harder, you're going to be surpassed by them."

Luo Yan guessed that this guy probably wanted to incite himself to take the initiative to conquer human towns again.

However, it was ultimately too young, not knowing the principle of attacking the heart first and attacking the city second.

He didn't spend a single soldier or a single soldier, Silver Pine Town had already become his pocket, and the legend of the Flame King was also popular in the taverns frequented by adventurers unknowingly.

"Doesn't matter, I didn't plan to compare anything with them."

Players have players' work, Demon King has Demon King's work, the better they do, the more it shows that he did the right thing.

Luo Yan dismissed Hearing You You casually, refocused his attention on the letter paper spread on the pine table, picked up the fountain pen placed on the side, and continued to ponder the words.

This thing is not a note sent to a vassal, just write it casually, but a "work progress report" to be sent back to the Demon Capital.

As a Demon King, while accepting hell's assistance, he has the obligation to regularly report his work progress to the Demon Capital.

Simply put, it is to report how many villages were burned, how many people were killed, how many spoils were grabbed, and how many adventurers were captured.

If not, reporting the situation of production and preaching is also fine. After all, the Demon King Management Division of the Internal Affairs Department also understands that it is not easy to do big things in the hinterland of humans.

Because the Necropolis is an enclave, it is almost impossible for the Demon Capital to send people to supervise his work situation, so theoretically Luo Yan can write this report however he wants, as long as it can match up in the end, and if it doesn't match, he can also blame the human adventurers for being too hard-working.

Spending about an hour, Luo Yan first complained about how huge the mess left by Lei Ji Delagong was, and even he himself landed in a human town, those rebels were simply inhumane... phew! Demon-like!

Afterwards, Luo Yan complained that the Chosen One deployed by Shengxisi in the Campbell Principality was too powerful, Amethyst peak, half-step grandmaster, and even faintly had the posture of a demigod, which should not be underestimated... As for the fact that this guy just broke through Amethyst not long ago, and was a sick person, he didn't mention a word.

In this way, hell would surely be more understanding of his difficulties.

And considering the power of the Grand Duke of Campbell, his report would not make the late Lei Ji Delagong lose too much face, thereby offending the Delagong family.

"... Although the underground labyrinth of Lei Ming City possesses many difficulties, I, with piety and loyalty toward His Majesty the Demon God, have faced the challenges head-on and forged ahead... Fortunately, I did not fail the trust of the citizens of the Great Cemetery. First, I wiped out the ten thousand Earth Dragon tribe apostate forces that colluded with the overseas Shark-folk to rebel against the labyrinth, and then I successively recovered the first and second layers of the labyrinth territory that were originally in a state of partition!"

"At present, the progress of the Necropolis is going smoothly. Except for the serious shortage of resources and lack of manpower, there are no more serious problems here for the time being."

"In addition, we encountered some accidents when trying to recover the third layer of the labyrinth. The heretics there actually believe in the evil Ai Sa Ke sect, which has brought us no small trouble. In order to deal with the threat of the Ai Sa Ke sect believers, I need an academic magic engineer who is proficient in the history of the Ai Sa Ke dynasty, rune magic, and Ai Sa Ke magic, and the stronger the strength, the better."

"Also, don't send succubi over, preferably knowledgeable goblins." ===== CHAPTER 75 =====