The clear night sky hung above everyone like a piece of jade.
The stars dotted the night like dancers drunk on wine, forming one beautiful totem after another.
The shimmering starlight intertwined across the sky, the patterns flowing into their eyes like ink, condensing into an even brighter star.
Several bright blue pillars of light rose from the ground like crystal, shooting straight into the deep and clear sky.
Creak! Rumble!
A dull vibration suddenly echoed across the empty land. The massive elevator slowly descended, kicking up waves of dust.
Aurelian stared without blinking. Her mouth half-open, she was the first to step out of the elevator, setting foot on the ground.
A soft sensation came from beneath her feet, the loose soil covered in a layer of fine sand.
Ahead was a vast and endless view.
A solid road extended out from the elevator, winding like a giant serpent into the depths of the earth.
But if this place was supposed to hold death row prisoners, where were they?
Karin slowly lifted its chin. The ghostly green fire in its eyes flickered like demonic flames.
Looking at the endless sandy land, it spoke in a grave tone, "This is the final level of Guanta Prison. It's divided into many small zones."
"Each zone holds one death row prisoner."
"They can't be kept together."
The actual number of death row prisoners was limited. It wasn't like they filled the land.
Only those personally sent here by Duke Barlow deserved the title of death row prisoner.
In other words, if every prisoner here had to be sent in by Duke Barlow, he probably would have died from exhaustion long ago.
Karin floated forward like a ghost along the road, the green flames behind it trailing like shooting stars.
Viktor and the others followed behind. A layer of dust drifted around them like mist, and the only sound was the soft movement of sand.
Before long, a massive tombstone stood in the middle of the vast sea of sand.
Karin turned around and announced to them,
"We're here."
"This is the location of the first death row prisoner."
Viktor looked at the tall stone monument and reached out to wipe away the dust covering it.
[Hunting Dogs: Mercenary Assassination Group]
[Leader: Fourth-tier Warrior, Cliff Owen]
[Massacred villages across different nations with extreme cruelty, nailing villagers to walls, slaughtering infants, torturing the elderly. The souls who died under their blades number in the thousands]
[Leech-like greed, hyena-like savagery]
[Their crime warrants execution]
This was a mercenary group made up of scum from all over the world, including many different professions.
Among them, the leader, who had reached the peak of the fourth tier, stood out the most.
Based on headcount, each member had their own tombstone standing behind the main monument.
Looking at the forest of tombstones before her, Aurelian felt dizzy.
But looking at it this way, it also seemed quite reasonable.
Death row prisoners… if they were buried underground, didn't that count as execution?
But Karin said they weren't truly dead, which confused her.
Priscilla seemed to recall something. Looking at the tombstones, she explained to Aurelian, "It's said that the prisoners here are imprisoned in this unique way, their body and soul split in half."
"Their bodies sleep beneath the sand, while their souls are bound in chains."
This was to ensure they could never escape.
Although Priscilla had never been here, as someone born and raised in this land, she naturally knew of Duke Barlow's well-known methods.
The group passed through the towering tombstones and continued forward.
Not far ahead, a giant pillar that shot straight into the starry sky caught their attention.
Crossing the sandy ground, they finally stood before it.
This so-called pillar was actually an incredibly massive tombstone.
Its sheer size surpassed the endless sandland. Standing before it felt like it blocked out the entire sea of stars.
Carved into the tombstone was a powerful fifth-tier demonic dragon.
It had once harassed people along the borders of the Cant Kingdom, devouring innocent travelers.
Unknown wanderers and merchant caravans had all become its food.
In the end, Duke Barlow personally acted after receiving the news, capturing it alive with his undead army, and burying it at the lowest level of Guanta Prison.
Looking at the record on the tombstone, Aurelian gained a deeper understanding and admiration for her grandfather's strength.
Following the path further, there were many more tombstones nearby.
And the death row prisoners buried within them were all powerful.
There were even many non-human beings like that demonic dragon.
Without exception, all of them were extremely evil and difficult to suppress.
Duke Barlow was like the guardian god of the Cant Kingdom. Just from this level of the prison alone, it was clear.
How much he had given to protect the kingdom.
Leaving behind the dragon's pillar-like tombstone and the many monuments bearing legendary names, they were almost at the end.
Ahead, several tall stone monuments stood clustered together.
Over a dozen names were engraved on them, and beneath each name, their profession was listed.
[Necromancer]
Aurelian and Priscilla felt their minds shake.
'Necromancers?'
Before this, necromancers had once had their most glorious era in the Cant Kingdom.
Led by Duke Barlow, the necromancer faction had even given the Mage Council a headache for quite some time.
But they had vanished like a fleeting bloom.
Not long after, aside from Duke Barlow, the only remaining necromancer, all the others disappeared.
They had thought those mages had perished while exploring soul magic.
But they hadn't expected them all to be imprisoned at the bottom of Guanta Prison.
Buried beneath this yellow earth, in this city of the end.
The reason… what was it?
Aurelian and Priscilla leaned closer, looking at the reasons carved into the tombstones.
[Desecration of soul and life and death]
[Attempted to transcend death]
[Treated souls and living beings as worthless grass]
[Their sins defile the mortal world]
The two looked at it, then at each other, and shook their heads.
They couldn't understand.
At this moment, Karin looked around at the towering tombstones and said, "This is probably all the death row prisoners here."
"We can leave now. There's nothing else worth seeing."
But hearing this made Aurelian curious.
She raised her head and looked into the distance.
On the vast sandy land stood a massive fortress.
Under the dense sea of stars, its enormous outline faintly appeared.
The towering castle spires shimmered in a faint blue-purple glow under the starlight, as if draped in a sky full of stars.
Like a colossal beast of the night resting upon the endless sand plains.
"But what is that?"
Karin followed her gaze. Its jaw dropped, and its face instantly turned pale.
Though it was already pale, it still looked terrified as it said, "Th-this! Damn it, why would it appear today?"
Viktor looked at the panicking Karin and spoke as if reminding it, "Care to explain?"
Karin nervously explained, "That is the Fallen Star Fortress."
"The lord who lives inside was once the ruler of this Land of Starbound Souls."
"But in the end, he was sealed by Duke Barlow and imprisoned there."
The lord of that fortress had once been an authoritative general in life.
Back then, this land had not yet been called the Cant Kingdom.
After his death, his obsession turned into a wandering soul that roamed the world.
After finishing its explanation, Karin hurriedly turned back the way they came, "Sorry, we must leave. I need to inform Duke Barlow immediately."
Viktor reached out and grabbed it, looking at the unstable, phantom-like fortress.
"No need."
"We came here for it."
On Viktor's shoulder, the black crow's eyes glowed blue, shining like the stars in the sky.
Like a mysterious nebula flowing within its gaze, turning into a cascading stream of light.
At that moment, the stars in the sky lit up, turning into endless starlight that fell upon the phantom fortress.
Karin was stunned by the scene, watching as the castle became clearer and clearer like an illusion turning real.
Dust filled its vision, the ground trembled violently, as if a castle beneath the surface was awakening.
Karin trembled in fear, shouting incoherently, "It's over, it's over."
Now its head really was going to fall off.
The blue-purple Fallen Star Fortress began to tremble. Under their gaze, two massive stone doors slowly opened to either side.
From within the fortress, a giant clad in heavy armor stepped out.
Massive arc-shaped steel structures trembled slightly on his broad shoulders. He wore solid armor flowing with a purple starry sky.
His sturdy hands shone with nebula light, clear and radiant patterns arranged across his arms.
His legs were formed from steel armor supported by nebulae.
His entire head was made of stars, suspended above his massive body by a huge arch-like structure.
The moment Karin saw the star giant, it was completely stunned.
Even the ghostly fire in its eyes seemed to shrink.
Facing the massive and terrifying enemy, Viktor spoke calmly, "This is your lesson for today, Aurelian."
"Watch carefully."
The next moment, a wave of ghostly green mist surged beneath Viktor's feet, sweeping across the entire sandy land like a raging sea.
The green mist covered countless tombstones behind him.
In an instant, endless undead burst out of the dust, crawling out of the graves that buried them.
Skeleton corpses rose one after another.
Holding various weapons, ghostly green flames flickered in their skulls as they gathered toward Viktor like a field of stars.
But what followed was even more shocking.
At that moment, the ground trembled even more violently.
Beneath the massive dragon tombstone, a thick cloud of dust rose.
Aurelian and Priscilla quickly raised their hands to block the dust.
The next second, they both looked up at the sky.
Like a massive sand-colored tsunami rising from the ground, it shot straight into the starry sky.
The enormous white dragon skeleton soared into the air.
Dust and sand cascaded from its body like a wild waterfall.
Ghostly flames climbed along its spine, spreading through the white bones.
Deep within its chest, a dark green flame pulsed like a heart.
It flew high above, hovering over Viktor.
Beneath it stood hundreds of undead, each radiating the aura of absolute strength.
Between the tombstones, ghostly green flames ignited, stretching endlessly across the entire sea of sand.
Viktor stood at the front of the undead.
One of his eyes burned with green flame.
His waist was shattered, and a strange fire burned within the fragments.
Across his chest, lines of ghostly flames flowed, glowing with scattered light.
Behind him, his coat was wrapped in ghostly green fire.
Like a commander of the undead, leading an entire army of powerful undead.
"I'll only teach you this once."
[🎉 Shoutout to Paulius for joining p@treon. Thank you very much.🤗]