Chapter 72: City of Death

Looking at the empty floor, everyone was stunned and felt an inexplicable chill creep into their hearts. Although they hadn’t paid attention to the maid when they entered due to haste, everyone knew that there was indeed a maid knocked unconscious by their captain and lying there. But now, there was no trace of anyone, only a piece of clothing without an owner. Seeing this scene, the rumors about Twilight Castle inevitably resurfaced in everyone’s minds. They trembled and looked at each other, not knowing what to say.

“Captain, this…”

“Shut up, I’m not blind,” Lester frowned and shouted in a low voice. He instinctively glanced at the main door. Although the door was ajar, it wasn’t completely closed. Originally, Lester had planned to lock the door immediately, but this eerie situation made him somewhat fearful. He walked to the door, gripped the handle, thought for a moment, then gritted his teeth.

“We’ll talk about this later. I think everyone knows there used to be strange things here, and we don’t know if those rumors are true or false now. Don’t panic. Now, let’s start our operation immediately. According to our original plan, form groups of three and start searching,” saying this, Lester paused, then looked at his deputy standing beside him.

“You lead two people to guard the main door here. If anything happens, notify us immediately.”

“Yes, captain.”

After hearing his subordinate’s response, Lester nodded with satisfaction. The slight unease deep in his heart seemed to be temporarily appeased. However, even so, the original “leisurely vacation” mood was completely gone. Originally, in everyone’s eyes, this castle was exceptionally grand, with very luxurious and magnificent decorations. But now, when they looked again, they only felt coldness, loneliness, and a sense of existence that seemed to be detached from everyone – detached from the entire world of the living, frightening and to be avoided.

Let’s finish the mission and go back quickly.

Not only Lester but even his subordinates had the same thought. So, after Lester gave the order, they quickly dispersed, forming groups of three, and advanced into the castle.

Although the population in Twilight Forest wasn’t large, Twilight Castle was indeed not small. Because Twilight Forest had been at the forefront of the enemy-friendly border for a long time, Twilight Castle itself wasn’t just a simple castle, but incorporated quite a few fortress features. Steep cliffs and mountain walls were its natural barriers, and the interior of the castle was much larger than ordinary ones. In fact, although most castles consider elements of siege and defensive warfare when initially built, Twilight Castle was clearly more thorough in this aspect. To be able to gather quickly in the shortest time and use terrain advantages to strike enemies invading the castle, Twilight Castle made many modifications to its passageways and room sizes. A long room would have three to five connected passages, and these passages would intricately connect to other rooms. For enemy troops unfamiliar with the castle, once they entered, rashly dispersing their forces would lead to ambushes. If they concentrated their forces at one point, they would be surrounded and have their retreat routes cut off. Of course, after the war ended, this castle underwent considerable changes under the renovations of several subsequent owners, but the basic internal layout couldn’t be altered.

However, Lester and his men clearly didn’t know about the special features of Twilight Castle. In fact, due to the considerable concealment provided by the construction and decoration of the great hall, these people didn’t notice this point. They quickly divided into two groups, with one part searching on the first floor, and the other part heading upstairs to search for any stragglers, to avoid unexpected situations.

“This noble is really poor,” looking at the dining room before them, which wasn’t shabby but also not particularly luxurious, a warrior revealed a mocking smile and spoke.

“Yeah, there’s not even a single gold plate here. The brothers were hoping to take something to spend,” scanning the decorations along the wall, another person couldn’t hide his disappointment. Originally, in their memory, places like living rooms and dining rooms were where nobles most easily showed off their wealth. But now this noble clearly wasn’t among them. Not to mention those luxurious decorations and antiques, even on the walls, there were no paintings or decorative items to be seen. This greatly disappointed these soldiers who came with high expectations. But complaints aside, after mocking for a few words, they still gripped their weapons tightly, slowed their pace, and walked towards their destination.

“Squeak!”

At this moment, a small cry suddenly sounded, startling the three people responsible for searching. They instinctively turned their heads to observe where the sound came from, only to see a small black shadow suddenly dart out from under the table, then quickly disappear into the darkness of the corridor, vanishing without a trace.

“There are even rats here. How can this noble be so poor? This is worse than those rich merchants.”

“Alright, stop talking and get to work.”

The three didn’t take this unexpected incident to heart. They just grumbled a few words, then continued to advance. But they didn’t notice that now the rat had poked its head out from behind the door again, carefully observing the figures of the three, then darted out, silently following behind them.

Originally, in everyone’s view, although this mission was somewhat strange, it wasn’t considered difficult. After all, according to the intelligence passed down from above, there weren’t many people inside Twilight Castle, let alone any guard force to speak of. Before arriving, most of them thought this was just the lord relying on those terrifying rumors to deter those with ill intentions from intruding. But now, after being inside the castle, everyone suddenly discovered that this place was far more complex than they had imagined.

Not only because of the increasing number of passages and stairs as they went deeper, but also because it was too quiet here. Although the intelligence said there weren’t many people, now, in this castle, it really seemed like no one lived here at all. According to general common sense, no matter how down-and-out or short-staffed a noble was, they should arrange a few servants for night duty. They were not only responsible for dealing with emergencies at night but also for maintaining the lighting and safety of the entire castle. But now, not a single person could be seen here. Although some soldiers even deliberately made noises, there was no sign of anyone approaching.

What’s going on with this ghostly place?

The deeper they went, the more uneasy everyone’s hearts became. And… until they wanted to express their confusion and unease to their companions, they found that at some point, there was no one they could rely on around them anymore.

“Damn it, where did all these passages come from in this ghostly place?” A warrior gripping a giant axe gritted his teeth, slowly walking along the wall. At his side, a swordsman followed closely, while behind them, a thief holding a dagger focused on protecting their rear.

“I feel something’s not quite right. Should we just go back and regroup? Talk to the captain?” Hearing these words, the swordsman also frowned. He anxiously looked back, and the distant passage was still shrouded in darkness, seemingly endless. Even he felt somewhat inclined to return the way they came, rather than continue deeper as they were now.

“That doesn’t seem right. The captain has always been very focused on the plan. If we…” Faced with his companion’s suggestion, the warrior holding the giant axe hesitated. He was about to say something, knowing that Captain Lester wasn’t an easy person to deal with. Although the current situation was indeed strange, turning back without encountering any danger would definitely lead to a scolding. Moreover, he was a warrior after all, to be scared by such a small matter…

“Caw caw!”

Suddenly, a hoarse cry came from outside the window. The three immediately turned their heads and saw a black raven perched on the windowsill, stretching its wings and tilting its head to look at the three before it.

“Damn broken bird!”

The giant axe warrior was already somewhat irritable, and was immediately angered by the raven. He suddenly stood up, no longer concealing his movements, and strode to the window, forcefully opening it. With this action, the raven seemed startled and flapped its wings, quickly flying into the night sky.

In this instant, the three’s attention was focused on the black figure flying in the night sky. Because of this, they didn’t notice the danger beside them.

The thief at the rear only felt a slight wind at the back of his head. But before he could instinctively roll to dodge, a cold, hard black arrow easily penetrated his brain. The poor fellow only managed to open his mouth, making an almost inaudible “ha” sound, before falling to the ground motionless.

“Enemy attack!”

Seeing the thief behind him fall to the ground, the swordsman immediately jumped up. He instinctively turned around, trying to raise his shield in front of him, but at the same time, a second dark arrow followed like a shadow, piercing through his not-yet-organized defense line at an extremely tricky angle, entering his throat, forcefully choking the word “attack” in the swordsman’s mouth.

The giant axe warrior’s reaction was the slowest. In fact, it wasn’t his fault for being too slow. From his companions falling in succession to now, it was only a two-second gap. It wasn’t until the swordsman fell to the ground, the cold sound of armor colliding with the floor ringing out, that it gave him the final warning. But it only went this far. Although the giant axe warrior heard his companion’s dying warning, the third black arrow still easily shot into his eye, turning the results brought by the final warning into nothingness.

“Nothing more than this.”

At the end of the corridor, in the corner covered by shadows, the girl with long blue hair stood up, lowering her longbow. Her beautiful, cold face revealed a hint of indifference. Then, she adjusted the hem of her dress and turned to leave.

“Please, Miss Charlotte, I have completed my task.”

With the maid’s words, the originally quiet air suddenly stirred. A bone-chilling soul wind suddenly erupted, letting out low howls as it passed through the corridor. The heavy wooden doors on both sides of the corridor closed heavily under an invisible force, completely isolating the three corpses from everyone else.

At this time, unlike their companions searching inside the castle, the three people responsible for guarding felt extremely bored.

“How long do we have to wait here?” The thief holding a dagger anxiously looked outside the door, unable to understand why there was still no movement after such a long time for what was supposed to be a simple task. According to the planned schedule, they should have been able to hear crying, screaming, or even a few girls in nightgowns fleeing here in panic by now. But now, the situation was completely beyond their expectations. Not only had they not heard any sounds, but the entire castle seemed even quieter than when they arrived. They certainly wouldn’t have thought that this castle was far more complex in structure than it appeared, but such a long time without news was indeed very rare.

“You don’t think something happened to the captain and the others, do you?”

“Nonsense!” His companion clearly had no fondness for this thief’s pessimism and coldly snapped.

“The captain isn’t like you, how could he be so stupid? Mind your own business. We have an important task now, don’t get distracted.”

“I know, I was just saying…”

“Alright, stop arguing,” the young warrior standing between the two frowned and interrupted their conversation. He was Lester’s deputy and believed he knew his superior quite well. And now this eerie silence was indeed a bit too long. Not only these subordinates but even he himself couldn’t help feeling uneasy. Could the intelligence be wrong? Was there someone else here guarding this castle? It didn’t make sense… Even if something had happened, there couldn’t be no report at all, right?

“Stop talking nonsense. Our task is to hold the main door. All of you, be on high alert. If anything goes wrong, don’t blame me for being harsh.”

The three chatting didn’t notice that right above their heads, a petite black shadow was hovering there—no, it wasn’t really hovering. In the moonlight, one could faintly see that under the girl’s feet, several thin, almost invisible light lines were crisscrossing, spreading out like a spider web, supporting the girl’s body in it. Now, the girl was stretching out her hands, lowering her head, squinting her eyes to carefully examine her prey. Then, she couldn’t help but adjust her collar, stabilizing those somewhat shaky huge “weapons” again.

“Such big things are really tiring. I should have given some to Rudy if I had known,” the girl smiled, speaking in an almost inaudible voice, then lowered her hands. Those black, luxurious gloves immediately shed some “things”.

“Hm?” Sensing something sliding down in front of him, the young warrior instinctively waved his hand, but all he could feel was a light, almost imperceptible touch.

“Annoying spider web,” after casually waving away the fine threads in front of him, the young swordsman coldly snorted, then continued to focus his attention on the hall in front of him.

At this moment, the girl slightly raised her hands, her ten slender, long fingers beginning to vibrate like playing a piano. Then, her hands stopped, and she tightly clenched them.

In the next instant, the girl’s figure traced a semicircle in the air, jumping down.

The sound of wind rose.

No one had time to react to the girl’s jump, and in fact, when they raised their heads and saw that beautiful, graceful black shadow, their lives also ended.

“Hum—”

When she was still two or three centimeters from the ground, the girl’s figure suspended in the air. She curiously tilted her head, then suddenly pulled hard. The invisible fine lines contracted, entwined, and returned to where they originally should be.

When the girl landed on the ground, the three people were still maintaining their heads-up gazing posture, without any change. The only difference was—the heads that should have been on their necks had now rolled onto the ground, with bright red blood smearing the carpet, leaving a shocking red of life.

“Tomorrow will be good weather,” casually sweeping over the bodies that had fallen to the ground due to loss of balance, the girl walked out the door and looked at the clear, cloudless night.

“Washing the carpet should dry quickly, right?”

Then, the girl pulled the main door, closing it tightly.

From this moment on, Lester and his men no longer had any hope of survival.