Starforce Warriors-Chapter 985: The Underground Prison

Raspy, guttural snarls rang out as the revived monsters surged toward Li Xiaofei, unleashing waves of lightning, frost, and poison. Before Li Xiaofei even had a chance to act, the undead bone dragon Ao Ying leaped forward eagerly.

This was a battle between the dead. Ao Ying tore through the horde with its massive frame and razor-sharp claws, sweeping and shredding the creatures with brutal efficiency.

Elemental attacks such as lightning, ice, and venom bombarded its skeletal body head-on, but failed to inflict any damage. Within moments, the entire group of revived monsters had been utterly crushed by Ao Ying.

The bone dragon was clearly thrilled. It began rummaging through the broken corpses, searching for pristine bones. Then, like a child piecing together a Lego set, it started embedding the bones into its own body.

It was evolving. Ao Ying was strengthening itself by absorbing and assembling bones. Li Xiaofei was at a loss for words.

Ao Ying’s body had originally been well-proportioned, even elegant in a grim sort of way. But now, with random bones awkwardly attached, it looked more like a poorly assembled puppet.

Still, Ao Ying was clearly enjoying itself. It even attempted to fashion a pair of skeletal wings. But there weren’t enough high-quality bones available, so it could only create a small stubby pair.

The result was comical. It looked like a mighty eagle fitted with chicken-sized wings. Shaking his head, Li Xiaofei moved deeper into the stone hall. There, he found a steel-barred gate.

Just like the one he had encountered back in the Temple of Endurance, this gate radiated a strange pressure, imbued with a powerful protective force. It would be difficult to break through with brute force.

But the gate within the iron bars had been broken and now stood ajar. No wonder so many Reaper warriors had fought to the death to hold the line here.

Judging by the scene, they had failed. The enemy had still broken through into the area beyond the steel barrier. Beyond the gate stretched a wide corridor. As expected, corpses were piled along the passage as well.

Judging by their attire that was tattered and decayed, it was clear that those who had died here held higher ranks within the Reaper hierarchy.

The corridor had sealed stone doors on either side. When Li Xiaofei opened one of them, he found a sealed chamber that was roughly five hundred square meters. Chains and manacles hung from the walls.

One of the manacles still bound a mummified corpse, a Reaper with the head of a lizard and the body of a man. From the layout, it was clear that this room had been a prison cell.

“So this underground space was a prison?”

Li Xiaofei examined a few more rooms. Their structures were almost identical. It became clear that this entire underground level beneath the statue was once a detention facility, likely used to imprison Reaper criminals.

But after the catastrophe, this place had seemingly become a last bastion of relative safety, a final refuge for the Reapers in the city who were forced to retreat and make their final stand within the prison. Clearly, they had still failed in the end.

Li Xiaofei continued walking down the corridor. Braziers hung from iron chains on both sides, flames dancing within them. They were eternal flames, burning without end for millennia.

The howling wind stirred the tongues of fire. The flickering light made the shadows along the corridor pulse and jump. Then, with a flash of lightning, the dead Reapers in this area once again began to resurrect, turning into dried, twisted husks and lunging at Li Xiaofei.

But they were swiftly dispatched by Ao Ying. Ao Ying’s combat strength had been steadily increasing since entering the underground prison. He seemed to be absorbing the deathly aura that filled the space, growing stronger with every breath. This environment suited him perfectly.

Li Xiaofei could sense keenly that the strength of the revived monsters was rising as he delved deeper into the prison. But he suspected this had nothing to do with the revival itself. Rather, it was simply because the ones deeper within had been stronger in life.

Eventually, even the ancient undead bone dragon Ao Ying began to struggle. Li Xiaofei activated the Heart of Guardianship. Streams of light tore through the air, felling the monsters one by one. With his current strength, even a tier-ten Reaper would be no match for him—let alone these remnants.

***

An hour later.

Man and bone dragon arrived at the deepest part of the prison. It was an enormous underground chamber. The domed ceiling rose over forty meters high, and the chamber spanned at least three thousand meters in width. The ground was packed with corpses. It was densely layered, like an overwhelming sea of the dead.

Toward the end, the bodies had become so crowded they simply remained standing, like commuters in the Great Xia’s Spring Festival trains during the 1980s back on Earth. They were so tightly packed that even asleep, no one could fall.

At the center of the chamber lay an underground magma pool a full kilometer in diameter. The magma bubbled and churned like boiling water. The sweltering heat turned the once-dark chamber into a blazing furnace. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Its piercing red glow cast an eerie sheen across the entire space. In the middle of the magma pool stood a massive crimson rock formation. Its peak had been flattened to a smooth and polished surface.

Sixteen black chains extended from all directions, anchoring the rock platform to the surrounding magma pool. An ancient altar with nine tiers stood atop the rock platform. Its steps gleamed like molten red wax.

Nine figures, all rat-headed mages, stood around it. Each held a beast-ear staff in their hands. All nine had died long ago.

In this blistering environment, their bodies had dried completely, mummified by the heat into grotesque specimens. Each remained frozen in the posture they had held in life, both arms raised high, as if in the midst of some arcane chant.

At the top of the altar stood a circular stone gate. Its frame was densely covered in totemic symbols all drawn in that familiar white paint Li Xiaofei had seen many times before. A lone figure stood before the stone gate.

It was three meters tall with a crab head, humanoid body, and six arms. It was clearly a high-level Reaper. Each of his six hands held a different weapon, some a staff, others a candlestick, a vine whip... Each was unique in shape and design.

Upon his head rested a metal crown shaped like a king’s diadem, adorned with brilliant red gemstones that were luxurious, imposing, and regal. But he, too, was already dead. A desiccated corpse.

Li Xiaofei stood atop the bone dragon’s back, overlooking the scene, a chill crawling over his scalp. The entire tableau felt frozen in time, like a grand ritual had reached its most critical moment, and then, suddenly, everything had been paused.

Everything here had died. It was like observing insects trapped beneath the still surface of a lake. The air was already beginning to stir with the faint buildup of lightning elemental energy.

Li Xiaofei understood instantly; a wave of resurrection was about to begin. With a flicker of movement, he appeared on the magma platform at the center of the pool in the blink of an eye.

A moment later—

Crackle!

The power of lightning surged into the chamber. Countless Reaper corpses immediately began to reawaken.

“I’ll leave it to you,” said Li Xiaofei as he patted Ao Ying, the undead bone dragon, on the head.

Thirty million Heart of Guardianship shards instantly transformed into a dense layer of metallic scales, covering Ao Ying from head to toe. The bone dragon now gleamed like a living metal wyrm, its combat power skyrocketing.

Ao Ying roared as it charged straight into the sea of corpses. Meanwhile, Li Xiaofei approached the ancient altar made of wax-like red stone. To his surprise, he saw that the altar was glowing with a pulsing red light.

This glow seemed to contain a strange energy, one that kept the nine rat-headed mage corpses surrounding the altar from being revived by the lightning.

They remained in a state of death. Li Xiaofei advanced with absolute caution, one step at a time, until he reached the summit of the red wax-like ancient altar. The stone gate before him gave off a strange impression. It was almost like a stargate straight out of a sci-fi film such as Stargate. Only, it now lay dormant. The symbols etched into the stone frame were utterly indecipherable to Li Xiaofei.

He knew he couldn’t crack their secrets. Even if those symbols represented coordinates, addresses, or access codes, it was far beyond his ken. So instead, Li Xiaofei turned his gaze to the towering crab-headed Reaper mage standing in front of the stone gate. Protected by the red glow emanating from the altar, this figure had not revived either.

Li Xiaofei could clearly see the expression frozen on the mage’s face. It was fear and fury. His eyes, in particular, retained a disturbing clarity. They were brimming with life, as though he were still alive.

On his chest hung a satchel, which seemed to contain several books. Li Xiaofei’s eyes lit up instantly, thinking, At last, written records.