Marcus and his companions stepped out of the empty and dusty laundry room where the hidden entrance into the castle was located and found themselves in a large corridor.
Immediately signs of ancient violence became evident. There were chips in the stone where weapons had stuck and rusty brown streaks of blood covering the walls.
Of course, there were no bodies to be seen anywhere. No doubt that anyone killed in this place continued to move even after their deaths. This was a cursed place that would not offer even the dead any rest.
Thankfully, there did not appear to be any undead sentries in this part of the castle and their group was able to continue forward without any issue.
"I honestly thought we would be attacked immediately. Yet there doesn't seem to be anything here." Miguel said, looking around warily.
"True, you would think that there would be monsters at the center of undead capital. I'd honestly rather that they just come out and get it over with rather than keep building up suspense." Marcus replied.
Naturally none of them believed that the entire castle would be empty.
When they originally entered the sewers, they received no response at first as well though. Still Roxene confirmed that nothing was watching them as of right now, so any undead in the castle were unaware of infiltration.
"Perhaps we underestimated Houten's forces. More monsters that normally dwell within the castle might be out fighting than we expected." Mrazivý suggested.
Her conjecture soon appeared to be true.
Once they reached an area close to the main gates, many tracks in the long-accumulated dust could be seen. It seemed that a huge army had moved out from here not too long ago.
Had they snuck into the castle without joining the operation to reclaim the castle, the halls would have been crawling with thousands of undead.
Fortunately, the reanimated corpses that normally wandered the castle were nowhere to be seen and they waltzed into the inner section where the throne room would be located. This was where they expected Ghost King Arriba Houten to be.
"Looks like we've finally found some guards." Lilia said, peering around a corner at two armored figures.
"Hm, I don't think my magic will easily work on them. They're too high level and the necrotic energy cleaning to them is far more powerful than any of the other monsters we've encountered so far."
After finally making it to the corridor just outside what they believed to be the throne room, a team of eight knights guarding the door.
Each one was decked out in magical armor and gear made of adamantine. Something that undead monsters normally would not have on them.
"They're all Death Knights. Ranging from level seventy-four to eighty-three."
Mrazivý using her Dragon Eyes analyzed the monster's levels and capabilities. Read now on m_vl_em_p_yr
From what she could tell each one of them were pretty powerful. Nothing they could not handle, but it would not be possible to beat them quietly as they had the other protectors throughout the castle.
"Let's just blast them with everything we have and be done with it. They are only a minor obstacle on the way to our objective." Roxene said, looking unconcerned.
At this point Marcus would normally turn down her destructive suggestion, but he seriously considered it. The castle would take immense damage, but that really was not their problem. Even if Houten's army reached this point a fight against such high-level entities would undoubtedly bring destruction to everything within the vicinity. One massive attack might honestly cause less damage.
"Okay. We will go with that plan. Everyone, begin preparing a suitable attack. Then on my signal we'll launch everything at once."
Since their enemies seemed to either not have noticed them or were completely ignoring their presence, Marcus and his companions had ample time to prepare a series of unbelievably strong attacks.
'Last Light.'
All at once they leapt out from their hiding places and fired magic and ranged attack skills at the Death Knights blocking their paths.
Not holding anything back, Marcus cast his tier eight light magic spell.
A cataclysmic explosion of all manner of magic erupted from the castle, and the sturdy structure that had stood for centuries even after becoming the home to only the dead collapsed almost entirely.