"It's so quiet," Mia muttered as she stepped closer to Ethan, their skin making contact.
RageHeart only took a glance at this with a flat expression on his face before returning his focus to the environment.
Ethan also paid no attention to Mia's actions or words as he continued to observe his surroundings with his guard fully up.
From outside the castle, when they were still at the castle gates before entering, the whole structure was very silent, as if no one was in it.
This should be impossible though, since the foot trails Ethan had found before, along with the ones he saw after he entered the clearing that encircled the castle, leading towards it, showed that people were in the castle.
However, why is it that even after entering the castle through its gates, all they were met with was silence?
It was dead silent, and the only thing that echoed were faint sounds of their footsteps on the stone floor.
"Should we try and search through one of the huts?" RageHeart suddenly asked aloud, and Ethan immediately replied.
"If this had been a regular typical game, then I would have seconded that, but our situation is different," Ethan stated as he continued making his way into the inner circle where the palace was situated.
"So let's just focus on the system blessing and get done with whatever our business is with it and leave. This place makes me feel uncomfortable," Ethan added.
Hearing the words that came out of Ethan's mouth, both RageHeart and Mia subconsciously raised their guard as they kept silent and cautiously made their way toward the gigantic palace, a distance away from them.
All three players had expectations to have been met with action the moment they stepped into the castle surroundings. So, the fact that they were met with the exact opposite of what they expected made them very uncomfortable as well.
The difference between the three players was that Mia was basically just scared of every unknown thing in the tutorial grounds, which made her feel uncomfortable when she was currently using her legs to walk into something unknown, while RageHeart was mostly uncomfortable due to the eerie silence that enveloped the outer region of the castle.
Fortunately, the silence was later broken by something; unfortunately, what broke the silence was not something the three players would have wished for, especially Mia.
"What is that?" RageHeart muttered with a strong frown on his face as he stared at the figures ahead of him that had just emerged from the side of a stone hut.
As he spoke, his body also slowly repositioned into a fighting stance.
It was the same for Ethan, who repositioned his stance as well as he replied to RageHeart.
"A different opponent that is not a wolf," Ethan stated while gesturing to Mia behind him to distance herself from them and hide at a close distance, so they could reach her, which she gladly did.
"They look so real," RageHeart muttered again to Ethan, with a mix of admiration and disgust evident in his voice. He seemed to be impressed with whatever was in front of him while also being disgusted at their sight at the same time.
Ethan also thought and felt the same as he replied.
"They also don't look like they're here to talk," Ethan stated with a serious expression on his face.
[{Normal Grade}Level 1 Undead Knight}
[{Normal Grade}Level 1 Undead Knight}
"Undead knights, huh?" Ethan whispered, then added, "They really do look like one."
The undead knights stood shoulder to shoulder, their appearance more unsettling than imposing. Their armour, battered and caked with dirt, barely clung to their decaying bodies. Dull, lifeless eyes peered out from behind dishevelled helmets, their gaze vacant and unfocused. Strings of rotting flesh hung loosely from their bony frames, and patches of exposed bone hinted at the advanced state of decay.
Their movements were sluggish and uncoordinated, akin to stumbling. Tattered, muddied cloaks trailed behind them as if forgotten remnants of their former lives. Each wielded a weapon, a corroded sword and a chipped mace, their grip feeble and unsteady.
These undead figures seemed more like tragic victims of some curse than fearsome adversaries. Their presence exuded an aura of decay, the air carrying the scent of death and damp earth. As they stood side by side, their zombified features and sluggish demeanour created a disconcerting tableau.
Growl!!!!
Growl!!!!
The two undead suddenly started to growl at Ethan and RageHeart and charged at them.
"I never thought I would fight anything like this in my life, but let's go, Rage!" Ethan exclaimed in a loud voice.
Both he and RageHeart charged at a new type of opponent, one they would face for the first time after encountering wolves in the tutorial ground.
They each chose one undead knight to fight and separated.
Thankfully, it seemed like the undead knight thought the same.
Well, rather than saying they thought, it was better to say they just separated from each other because Ethan and RageHeart separated from each other themselves to grab the attention of the undead they chose to fight.
"It's undead now. Only heaven knows what it will be next, so I can't back down now. If I do so now, I'll do it next time. And putting this aside, I also need EXP to become stronger, so there's no running away from a fight like this," Ethan thought as both he and the undead knight got closer to each other.