Chapter 462: The Hidden Battlefield Underground
When Yuliya finally stepped into the newly excavated area of the battlefield ruins, she thought she understood what Danny meant by “religious elements.”
The Beastmen’s representation of their beliefs often involved flags and totems, which were, quite frankly, a lot more rugged than what the Humans had to offer.
In this place, while the flags had long since rotted away, the totem traces were everywhere—literally too many to count!
At the same time, Yuliya spotted “chains.”
Not your garden-variety chains, mind you, but a more loosely defined concept encompassing any object that resembled a chain.
Metal ones, wooden ones, stone ones, and even some made of plants.
Broken, scattered, tied up, or mysteriously connecting two random ends.
Danny leaned closer to Yuliya and said, “See? Just take a look, and you’ll get what I was rambling about earlier.”
Yuliya nodded, “Yep, Master. I get it, and I can feel it too.”
Then she sniffed the air. “I smell something unpleasant.”
No doubt about it, this place was definitely linked to the divine and the demonic.
By now, Yuliya was convinced.
But she wasn’t going to say it out loud.
How on earth do you explain that you can smell a divine being?
Let’s assume Danny believed her; he’d totally drop the ruins exploration and start analyzing her.
Because come on, her ability was way more interesting than some old ruins!
Um… okay, in fairness, Yuliya was indeed far more interesting than the ruins. Seriously, she was even more mysterious than those so-called gods!
Anyway, as long as Yuliya kept her mouth shut, Danny had his own methods to back up his theories.
The fact that he was so sure of himself while telling Yuliya was a strong indicator of his confidence.
Their mission to the ruins was merely the first step in proving that the great war had been caused by divine beings. The real goal was to dig deeper and understand why the divine beings did what they did.
Guess what? Yuliya also wanted to know what those gods were up to!
These ruins, this new area, the totems, the chains—what was the deal with all of it?
Danny told the three adventurers that he suspected this was a graveyard from the battlefield, a large tomb. Well, that was half true, and the explanation about the chains was rather reasonable.
These words were just for the adventurers’ ears—sounded professional but narrowly focused, classic Danny!
The real juicy research? Oh, that was strictly between him and Yuliya.
“No worries, just the entrance for now! There’s a path leading down ahead; that’s when we really go in!” Danny pointed ahead.
Yuliya squinted in confusion. “Isn’t this supposed to be a battlefield ruin? Why is it still underground?”
“I have my doubts too, but it’s definitely underground,” Danny shrugged.
“Hahaha, the two of you are in for a surprise!” Sinful from the Foxmen chimed in, grinning widely. “Actually, not just this new area; the whole battlefield ruin is underground.”
“From what we can see now, we’re only seeing a quarter of the battlefield! The remaining three-quarters are buried underground! Can you imagine how grand that battle must have been?”
Grand? Really? Not violent?
Oh, that description screamed ‘Beastmen’ all over it.
But Yuliya was more concerned about the first part of Sinful’s rant: “But why would it be like that? A battlefield should either remain intact or be completely buried in dirt, right? Why leave a quarter above ground?”
“Well, that’s not something adventurers like us can answer. You might want to ask your master instead,” Sinful shrugged.
Danny furrowed his brow, clueless.
He hadn’t heard of anything like this before.
This battlefield ruin was in the territory of the Wolfmen, and before this, he had relied on them for intel, but they were as tight-lipped as a clam when it came to this. Information obtained was painfully limited.
Last time, everyone was busy with the new area and didn’t really focus on the original battlefield.
He had overlooked it too.
“Though rare, there are instances where, if the battle is intense enough to dramatically alter the landscape surrounding the battlefield, many things could happen.”
“I’m more concerned that if the actual battlefield is far bigger than what we see now, then this new area is just the tip of the iceberg!”
“In other words, could the vast underground area be just like here?”
Sinful shrugged again. “We don’t really know about that.”
But Yuliya immediately connected the dots.
Danny had previously told the adventurers that this place was a graveyard because it indeed was laden with thick, negative energy, grievances, and curses—a lot of people had died here.
Now, if the underground area was likely filled with these negative energies and grievances as well, that meant… how many people had to have died?!
She exchanged a serious look with Danny, and they both recognized the gravity of the situation.
This wasn’t a joke.
When enough dead energy accumulates, it could turn into a relic, and even legendary beings wouldn’t dare to take it lightly.
Danny sighed and reminded the three adventurers, “In any case, we must be cautious once we go down. It might be far more dangerous than we imagine. If we find any unknown paths, don’t just jump in!”
The three adventurers laughed. “Don’t worry, old prof, just keep an eye on your students! We’ve got this!”
Danny didn’t bother to argue further, nodding at Yuliya, and they headed toward the underground entrance of the ruins.
The entrance was the largest known so far, acting like a ventilation shaft, and the air was thick with the stench of d*ath. Regular weaklings wouldn’t even get close!
In this group, aside from Yuliya, Danny was a top-notch Emerald Level, not too far from legendary strength. He may not have looked intimidating, but he gave off a vibe that was more Emerald Level beginner.
The other three adventurers were about between high Gold Level and Emerald Level beginner.
This setup didn’t seem to have a significant impact.
But they came across many others along the way.
Most were adventurers who were considerably weaker than them yet trudged forward despite the discomfort.
They probably wouldn’t last more than a few minutes inside.
At the entrance, Jaine said to Danny and Yuliya, “We’ll lead the way ahead; just follow us. But beyond that, we’re not exactly sure what awaits, so we’ll need your help to explore!”
Danny nodded, “Sounds good. But if we encounter any unique spots, we should take a breather to study for a while.”
“Of course! But if we find any unique items in the ruins?”
“You can choose first, but if something catches our interest, we might request to borrow it for research, backed by the Saint Felis Academy.”
“Huh…”
Yuliya suddenly chimed in, “But if we find anything inside that hasn’t gone through our professional evaluation, you guys wouldn’t dare use it, right? What if there’s some unknown curse lurking?”
The three exchanged glances and nodded in agreement.
“Alright, it’s settled.”
And with that, they entered the underground ruins one after the other.
