Graveyard Depths

Even in the early morning, the old graveyard was filled with a lingering scent of decay.

Sunlight pierced through the gnarled branches of dead trees, resembling ghostly claws, casting dappled shadows among the cracked tombstones and overgrown weeds.

A strange odor, a mix of damp earth, rotting leaves, and something sickly sweet, assaulted Xia Lin's senses, causing him to wrinkle his nose involuntarily.

"This place smells like an ogre had a party here and then collectively got diarrhea," Xia Lin whispered, trying to dispel the oppressive atmosphere with a joke.

Sera ignored his "humor," scanning their surroundings vigilantly.

Xia Lin noticed that unlike his own revulsion to the stench of decay, Sera's breathing seemed steadier. Her purple tail, hidden beneath her robes, appeared more relaxed than usual, as if the stillness and negative energy of this place made her feel more at ease.

His gaze swept over patches of disturbed earth and toppled tombstones. Occasionally, plump graveyard rats darted from between stones, or carrion birds let out hoarse cries from distant dead branches.

The faint sense of oppression in the air completely dissipated Xia Lin's initial lightness. He tightened his grip on his newly acquired longsword, his vigilance at its peak.

This place was more uncomfortable than he had imagined.

The two continued deeper into the graveyard.

The further they went, the denser the tombstones became. Some dilapidated family mausoleums stood like silent behemoths along the path, their shadows slicing the sunlight into fragments, causing the light to dim rapidly.

Tall, dead tree branches intertwined, almost obscuring the sky, leaving only a few wisps of pale light.

"No way, there are actually monsters!" Xia Lin suddenly exclaimed, pointing not far ahead.

In a relatively concentrated area of tombstones, from beneath several disturbed graves, withered, decaying arms suddenly shot out. Immediately after, three tattered zombies, reeking of foul odor, crawled shakily out of the earth.

They clutched rusty short swords or broken bones in their hands, emitting guttural growls from their throats. With staggering steps, they lunged towards Xia Lin and Sera.

"It's all yours," Sera said, crossing her arms and stepping back a few paces, her tone indifferent, as if the shambling corpses before them were merely bothersome flies.

"Don't slack off either," Xia Lin retorted, but his feet didn't hesitate.

He took a deep breath, his new longsword flashing a brilliant silver arc in the dim light as he actively charged towards the zombies.

One zombie swung its rusty sword at him. Xia Lin didn't dodge, taking the blow directly on his shoulder.

Clang! Sparks flew. The scale armor merely vibrated slightly, and the zombie's attack didn't even leave a scratch.

Xia Lin seized the opportunity, thrusting his longsword forward, [Pierce]!

The sword tip accurately pierced the zombie's rotten eye socket, going straight through to the back of its skull. He flicked his wrist, drawing his sword. The zombie swayed and then collapsed with a thud.

The other two zombies were already closing in.

Xia Lin remained unhurried, his footwork agile. Utilizing the lightness of his new sword, his blade flashed. His [Block Counterattack] became increasingly proficient, easily parrying the zombies' uncoordinated chops. He then retaliated with a sword strike, biting at their necks like a venomous snake.

Squelch! Squelch!

Two more rotten heads flew through the air.

Just as Xia Lin finished off the last zombie and was about to relax, Sera's cold voice suddenly rang out, "Watch your left!"

Xia Lin startled and rolled sharply to his right.

The moment he left his original position, a zombie, larger than a normal one and with eerily black bones, silently lunged from a nearby cracked stone coffin. Its claws, shimmering with a faint negative energy aura, slammed into the ground where Xia Lin had been standing, leaving several deep gouges.

"Thanks!" Xia Lin said, feeling a lingering fear as he looked at Sera.

Warlocks typically possessed sensory abilities similar to [Detect Magic], allowing them to sense faint magic auras and energy fluctuations. This enabled her to detect anomalies before Xia Lin when facing unknown dangers.

Sera didn't respond. A fleeting crimson light flashed in her eyes, hidden behind her veil. She raised a hand, her palm facing the black zombie that was lunging again.

"Hallelu-Yah!" she uttered a strange syllable filled with peculiar power.

A beam composed entirely of purplish-black energy, like a spear condensed from shadow, shot out from her palm, accurately hitting the black zombie's head.

Boom!

A dull explosion sounded as the black zombie's head burst like a watermelon smashed by a heavy hammer, splattering rotten tissue and bone fragments everywhere.

"[Eldritch Blast], my most frequently used cantrip," Sera said, lowering her hand and explaining calmly, seemingly unfazed by the precise and deadly strike. "It's more effective against these guys with brains full of rotten meat than your tin foil."

Xia Lin looked at the headless corpse still smoking on the ground, then at the nonchalant Sera, gaining a more direct understanding of the Tiefling warlock's strength.

After clearing these few unwelcoming appetizers, the two continued deeper.

In the depths of the graveyard, the vegetation grew denser. Tall vines coiled around the ruined stone walls of mausoleums like giant pythons, and thick bushes almost completely submerged the path.

The scent of decay and the sense of stillness in the air grew even more intense.

"The old dwarf said that Graveyard Ghosts like to grow in places with the strongest death energy," Xia Lin said, pushing aside hanging vines and carefully identifying their direction. "Logically, it should be around here."

Sera closed her eyes, seemingly sensing something.

A moment later, she opened them and pointed to an area to their front left, obscured by a large dead tree and a collapsed stone wall: "The negative energy fluctuations are strongest over there, and also the most... 'pure'." She used a slightly odd word.

The two walked towards the direction Sera indicated. It was an area almost completely covered by wild vines and bushes, with the outline of a sizable, dilapidated tomb faintly visible in the center.

Xia Lin drew his longsword, carefully chopping at the thorns and vines blocking their path, while simultaneously concentrating his mind to conduct a carpet-like [Item Appraisal] of their surroundings.

[Overgrown Ground (Stone slab structure beneath)] [Collapsed Stone Wall (Ordinary rock, partially covered with undead moss)] [Withered Thicket (Sharp thorns, beware of scratches)]

When he focused [Item Appraisal] on a patch of ground near the tomb entrance, covered by thick fallen leaves and newly grown weeds, a line of unusual information suddenly popped up on the light blue screen:

[Disguised Stone Steps (Downwards, leads to unknown area)]

[Status: Structure is acceptable, entrance cleverly concealed]

[Evaluation: It seems someone discovered this place's secret before you. Just don't know if they returned laden with treasure, or stayed below forever.]

"Hey, Sera, look here!" Xia Lin pushed aside the weeds and fallen leaves, revealing several stone slabs underneath that were slightly different in color from their surroundings.

He tapped them with his sword hilt, producing a dull, hollow sound.

The two of them worked together to move the stone slabs, and a dark, downward stone staircase entrance, just wide enough for one person to pass through, appeared before them.

Scattered around the entrance were remnants of long-rusted shovels, broken crowbars, and several human skeletons that had completely turned to bone. Judging by the shape of the bones and the scattered tattered clothing, these were clearly the remains of tomb robbers.

Xia Lin used the tip of his sword to pick up a brown skull, looking at its empty eye sockets, and tutted twice. "These unlucky tomb robbers, looks like they wanted to dig for treasure but ended up losing themselves."

"The price of greed," Sera's gaze swept over the skeletons, their tone icy. "Let's hope we don't follow in their footsteps."