The Paladin in the Abyss

"Is this zombie guarding this area?" Koula carefully circled around the nearly headless corpse on the ground, "I've heard that zombies can still follow simple instructions, it looks like a patrolling guard."

"I'm afraid not, zombies can only understand commands like stay here, move forward, attack a certain enemy, they can't comprehend whether their surroundings are dangerous or not, like if their target is on the other side of a cliff, so it's unlikely they could follow orders to patrol within such a complex tunnel system," Kalalin shook his head, "I guess this is another zombie that has broken free from the spellcaster's control, acting on some kind of instinct."

"How far are we from that corpse sinking room?" Lancelot asked the gnoll guide behind him.

"Still about half a candle's time!" Read exclusive content at empire

"That means we've already walked half the distance," Bruto nodded, he scraped his hammer on the wall to try to clean off the flesh and blood sticking to it, and a whole piece of the wall crumbled away.

"Considering the extent of decay, the enemy's nest is not far," Kalalin looked at the damage caused by Bruto, "Our enemy is likely to have a large group of undead guards, during the battle make sure to protect Alamir, his Holy Fire Technique is the most effective way to ensure that fallen enemies don't rise again."

Everyone nodded in understanding and continued forward. The gnoll Taka had already positioned himself at the rear of the group, looking ready to flee at any moment, only speaking up to remind the others when they encountered a fork in the road.

They encountered some more zombies, but against Lancelot's sharp longsword and Bruto's warhammer, these slow-moving and completely mindless enemies posed no threat at all. Occasionally, some enemies whose legs were broken by Bruto could still attack, but they all turned to ash under Alamir's scorching Holy Light.

Kalalin's frown grew deeper. After the group had continuously taken down eight wandering zombies, he spoke again:

"Something's not right here."

"What's wrong?" Bruto asked, puzzled, "These guys are easy to handle."

"A spellcaster can only control a limited number of undead creatures. Even powerful spellcasters can control more, but not indefinitely.

Once the limit is reached, if new undead creatures are still being created, the old ones will break free from control," Kalalin explained, "These zombies seem to have all broken free, their minds are no longer under the creator's command, and they are merely wandering here on instinct."

"So what?" Bruto still didn't understand what Kalalin was worried about, "Who cares how many there are, why not just finish them all off?"

"The issue is, why the spellcaster is still continuously creating new undead creatures," Lancelot had already understood Kalalin's concern, "You're worried that the enemy might be conducting some kind of terrible necromancy experiment, which is why there are so many out-of-control zombies wandering in the sewers."

"Experiments with necromancy usually don't end well." Kalalin's face darkened as he nodded, "Soon we may see some rather gruesome things."

"This is a desecration of life!" Anger began to gather on the Elf Priest, "Cleansing! It must be cleansed!"

"I have some potions here, maybe they can be of some use," Koula took out some small bottles with pale golden potions from her backpack, "This is Courage Potion, it can help you remain calm when you see some... shocking scenes."

Kalalin did not hesitate to take the potion and drank it. He was not like Bruto who could resist the effects of fear just by relying on anger, nor could he rely on the power of the gods like Alamir to face everything.

Lancelot also took a bottle. His Spirit Perception could not identify the effects of the potion, but he could vaguely sense whether an item was beneficial or harmful to him. The potion in his hand felt good, so he too tilted his head back and drank it.

The taste was not bad, Koula must have added some honey. As for the effects, they were not apparent just yet.

Bruto initially wanted to refuse Koula's kindness, but seeing that his big brother Lancelot had drunk it, he no longer insisted. Even Alamir had a bottle, Shuni's priests were not rigid fools; they were not the type who believed that 'as long as one is devout enough, the gods will take care of everything.' They were happy to adopt any beneficial preparatory measures.

The only one who did not need it was Eckmond, considering that ninety-nine percent of his memories took place in a desert completely made of corpses, any situation related to corpses was only a minor scene to him.

After walking for a while, they encountered seven or eight zombies clustered together, causing only a little trouble. Finally, the group arrived at the entrance of the abyssal chamber of corpses as mentioned by the dog-headed creature.

The channel carrying trash and wastewater was designed as a waterfall about twenty feet high. In the middle of the waterfall, there was a chute made of metal mesh. The water would flow through the gaps of the sliding chute, but any larger solids (like the floating corpses) would be caught by it and then pushed aside into a cave by the falling force and the water's thrust.

It had to be said that this was a very ingenious engineering design. Any city in the Abyss could produce a large number of corpses every day, which should be an important source of materials for the underground kobold tribes, but these corpses were also excellent experimental materials for necromancers.

Human wizards, who cared more for personal hygiene and quality of life, generally stayed in their Mage Towers, obtaining these experimental materials through hired help in exchange for money, whereas an ogre or some other creature would not mind the filthy environment of the sewers.

"That is the chamber of sunken corpses, Taka has brought you here as agreed!" the dog-headed creature pointed to the side path beside the channel and then looked at Lancelot with expectant eyes, but dared not to speak up to claim the promised reward.

"You did very well, and you were very brave." Lancelot took out another turquoise gemstone and handed it to the dog-headed creature.

The dog-headed creature silently took the gemstone and then turned and ran, quickly disappearing from their sight.

"What a coward." Bruto scoffed.

"The instinct to seek profit and avoid harm is natural to all creatures." Lancelot shook his head, "And I feel there's indeed a big one ahead, let's go meet the true mastermind behind all this."

They all agreed and entered the pitch-black cave.

After a steep but not too long passage, they found themselves in a spacious hall. Purple demon fire burned all around, illuminating the underground cavity brightly. In the center of the hall was a huge pile of corpses, above which was the end of the slide that caught the bodies, and a giant figure in a cloak was turning to look at the visitors.

"Ah, more fresh material. Are you adventurers sent by that Agamemnon? Welcome to my laboratory." The blue-skinned creature, looking like a demonized ogre, gave them a grin. "It's a pity you won't become a part of my great creation. I wonder which of you will have the honor of being its first victim?"