Chapter 314 - Cursed City (1)

"Over there!" Auron pointed out at their eleven o'clock direction.

It was a big vast place with building rubble all over the areas. The place was as wide as a city. It was actually an ancient city.

Long ago, the city was prosperous and magnificent. It was one of the top cities in the kingdom back then. However, one day, due to some unknown reason, the people inside the city suddenly gone.

The kingdom had sent their people to investigate, but there was no clue at all. What's more, the kingdom had sent some people to live in that city for a while. Unfortunately, the people that were sent there also gone missing.

What made it weirder was that there were no screams or struggles when the people went missing. Moreover, the missing case only happened when a person stayed overnight inside the city. If someone remained outside the city, then he would be safe.

That was why no one wanted to stay near the city. And, the city got a nickname, Cursed City.

With no one wanted to manage the city, slowly, the city deteriorated. Moreover, an earthquake had happened in the past and destroyed the city. The building started to collapse. Of course, there wasn't any victim since no one lives there.

One year ago, the king had thought about revitalizing the city. The place was vast, but it was abandoned. It would be a massive loss for the kingdom.

The first step to revitalize the city was to investigate what caused the person who stayed in that city gone missing. After a long preparation, they had decided to revitalize the city starting this month.

However, due to the instability in the Bridge World and also the demonic monster appearance, the plan was postponed indefinitely.

But, all of it only what the NPC all this time had known. When Auron stepped inside the city, several notifications appeared.

[You have entered the Cursed City]

[A dark and mysterious power watching all of your actions]

[You have 06:10:20 to get out from this place]

[If you don't get out in time, you will suffer a mysterious death. The death penalty will be doubled]

A countdown timer showed in front of Auron. There were 6 hours left for him to leave the city. As the notification had stated, if a player didn't get out in time, then they would immediately die and sent back to the resurrection point. Moreover, they would lose two levels because of the death penalty.

Even for high leveled players or the maxed leveled players, they would also die when they could not get out in time. At first, the players didn't know about this and tried to experience this.

However, the result, all of the players had died a mysterious death and lose two levels each. Some of the players believed that there would be a great reward for someone who could unveil the mystery. A lot of players tried to get that rewards.

However, a lot of players also failed. They found nothing at all. Several guilds had sent their man and found nothing. Slowly the number of players lingering the area decreased. It was because they were only wasting their time. There were no monsters around here or anything extraordinary. All the players started to leave this place, and slowly this place became abandoned once again.

Actually, the players found something. They had discovered some truth about the places. For example, the countdown was a countdown to midnight. So, the extermination would be running at midnight.

The players could leave the city for a while before midnight and entered again after midnight had passed. When they entered once again, they would not get the punishment, and the countdown would show a slightly less than 24 hours.

Also, some players who were experiencing the mysterious death testified that when the countdown went zero, their surroundings became dark and black as if they were in a room without any source of light. A second later, they had come back at their resurrection point and lose two levels as well as two equipment.

However, when they tried to look back for their equipment, they found nothing as if the equipment vaporated.

Some players had tried to inform the NPC about what they found. However, it was futile. After they finished told what they knew, the NPC's expression went blank, and their memory had been reset. Because of that, the information only shared between the players.

Semial and Remus followed Auron inside the city. They also had heard about the rumor and felt scared. However, they had no choice and trusted Auron.

Meanwhile, the bandits also hesitated for a bit before the leader among them shouted, "Chase them! Don't let them escape."

The archer shot out several arrows. However, it was challenging to hit Auron and his groups. The building rubble here served as a natural defense for Auron and co.

The bandit's leader gave a sign to his other group's members. He told them to separate and used a three-pronged attack on Auron.

The bandits did as what they told. They separated into three groups with the leader and the archer in one group.

Auron looked behind him and saw the bandits separated. He knew what they were gonna did. "What should I do?" Auron was thinking hard.

In front of him, there was a big building. The building was located at the center of the city and stood firm amidst the building rubble. Although it was still standing, however, the condition also not that good. The roof had been missing while there were cracked everywhere on the wall. Also, the top floor was destroyed.

Back then, this building was the city's town hall. The first floor was used for city gatherings and announcements. Meanwhile, the second floor served as the city governor's workplace as well as a meeting place with important people.

Auron gave a sign to Semial and Remus to enter the building. After they entered the building, Auron immediately blocked the entrance with an [Earth Wall].