Chapter 1 The Lost Invader

Reality and games are different.

After crossing into this world, Zane understood this point deeply once again.

In the game, he didn't need to consider other issues, just needed to create enough space for those goblins to dig, and then he could just spend money to build various rooms. But in reality, he didn't have such a luxury. Here, digging not only required considering space but also load-bearing, windproof, and dust removal among other troublesome issues.

Although Zane had read many books in the Demon Race's library, unfortunately, for such low-level work content, the Demon Race obviously wouldn't waste time recording it, so Zane had no way to become a master architect.

At the beginning, Zane had thought about directly digging out a piece of heaven and earth, but after nearly burying himself underneath three times, he finally gave up the idea of expanding his territory for the time being and relied on natural caves to build his underground city.

As for other places, just let those goblins fuss about it.

Unfortunately, now it seems that letting them fuss about it didn't lead to any good results.

"Ding——"

Just then, a light sound suddenly rang in Zane's ear, followed by a line of system text displayed in front of Zane.

[You have finally realized that without a qualified architect, your end will be to be completely buried by a collapsing cave one day in the future. To ensure you don't die an unclear death, you need a strong assistant——Mission: Recruit an Architect Opened (Reward: 100 experience, can create a summoning crystal)]

This system really isn't here to pit me?

Although Zane had long known about the system's bad taste, he still frowned and stared closely at the mission in front of him.

This kind of mission wasn't the first time Zane had received it, in fact, almost every day, the system would randomly give him a task. And these tasks were mostly bizarre, all kinds.

For example, [You gaze into the dark abyss, feeling the call of your heart, a compulsion driving you to break free from your bonds and experience the joy of flying freely——jump off the cliff and enjoy the thrill of courting death] and the like.

Strictly speaking, the system wouldn't give Zane tasks that were beyond his abilities——jumping off a cliff seemed dangerous, but below was the Demon World's abyss, other than falling into subspace and happily picking up soap with countless demons, there wasn't much danger.

And expressing love was also very simple, the only problem was that the other party was his sister, and also a dragon hybrid...well, if one doesn't consider the consequences, it's still possible to complete.

If one doesn't consider the consequences.

"Master, do you have any thoughts?"

The girl's soft and pleasant voice pulled Zane back to reality, he turned his head, looking at his adjutant, then quietly pushed his glasses.

"It seems, we indeed need a talent in architecture."

Saying this, Zane paused for a moment.

"If we really can't find a way, I will make a trip to Brandon Stone City."

Hearing Zane's words, the girl's face showed no change, she just nodded her head.

"Dwarves are indeed very good architects underground, I have also heard that they are hired by dark elves or other underground races to build cities. But..." as she spoke, the girl's pair of bright red eyes quietly and intently stared at Zane in front of her. "...Dwarves are also known for being cunning and deceitful, although you are a Demon Race, they probably wouldn't dare to do anything to you, but it's better to be cautious."

"I understand."

Hearing the girl's words, Zane nodded, he couldn't help but set his gaze on the girl, quickly, a character information bar appeared beside the girl.

[Enoa Arkunis (Silver)]

[Race: Undead]

[Combat Power: ★☆ (Undead know no fatigue or pain, she will fight for you until the end)]

[Management: ★★☆ (She possesses outstanding knowledge and management skills, making her a trustworthy right-hand)]

[Influence: ★★ (Few dare to blatantly oppose her suggestions, whether it's due to her beauty or her race is unknown)]

[Loyalty: ★★★★★ (Your souls are merged as one, nothing in this world can separate them)]

[Traits]

[Necromancy——Fragile souls are nothing before her (Skill Strengthening +3)]

[Intelligence Gathering——No whispers can escape her ears (Information gathering speed +5)]

[Special Skills]

[Soul Reading: Can manipulate others' souls to read information]

[Lightning Manipulation: Possesses the ability to wield lightning magic (LV1+1)]

Zane withdrew his gaze, then he reached out and gently stroked the girl's hair. The silky, smooth touch beneath, was the cold, representing the breath of death. She was not a living being, nor a creature. But for Zane, the girl in front of him was his only subordinate, family, and comrade-in-arms.

Feeling Zane's touch, Enoa squinted her eyes like a kitten, but soon, her ears twitched slightly. The next moment, the girl who was lazily like a kitten returned to her usual calmness.

"Master, I think, we have guests coming."

Just like the surface, the dark and deep underground also has many races. Including bear goblins, dwarves, soul suckers, and dark elves, but here is more dangerous than the surface, no matter which corner you walk through, you might encounter deadly dangers. Even for Demon Races, one must be careful in such places——after all, nothing is more embarrassing than capsizing in the gutter.

Although Zane's underground city is considered a remote area where birds don't shit in the eyes of the Demon Race, there are also crises here. Around Zane's underground city, there are fire lizard nests, bear goblin holes, and terror claw monster tribes, they are all very terrifying monsters. Not to mention the cities of dwarves and bear goblins are also around. If discovered by others, then Zane's underground city might face an unprecedented disaster.

Fortunately, it is far from the cities of dark elves. Although in the Demon World, dark elves are generally the most trustworthy slaves and subordinates for the Demon Race, but for a Demon Race with insufficient strength like Zane, they are the best prey.

The underground is dangerous.

Now, Bix could feel the meaning of this sentence more than ever.

At this moment, she was walking with a gloomy face among a group of fully-armed mercenaries. As a dwarf, she was not unaware of the dangers of the dark underground. But the damn curiosity of the dwarves still got her into trouble, if not for seeking the so-called "legendary crystal," she wouldn't have left the city alone to go to Crystal Valley. As a result, she was caught by this group of mercenaries.

The mercenaries underground are not good stuff, they are mostly half-orcs and bear goblins, crude, greedy but strong. A dwarf has no resistance in front of them. Bix already knew her fate, she would be sold as a slave, although she didn't know who the buyer was, Bix was sure, her days would definitely not be easy.

Stones above... I wish I could die here.

Just as the mercenaries were enthusiastically discussing how much money they would get after selling the dwarf, an unexpected event happened.

"Boom!!"

With a loud noise, the ground began to shake. Surprised, everyone turned their heads to look, only to find that the passage behind them had been completely blocked by heavy stones, leaving no way back.

"What's going on? What's happening?"

This sudden accident surprised everyone else as well, they turned their heads around in a panic, but at the same time. With a "whoosh" sound, the originally pitch-black underground passage suddenly became extremely bright. Looking around, burning torches illuminated the originally dark passage, revealing its true appearance.

Strange patterns and reliefs emerged from the stone walls, smooth passages extended in all directions, and in the corners of the walls, evil stone statues made ferocious shapes, as if they would come to life and completely tear apart the intruders in front of them the next moment.

"Underground city——!!"

A terribly shrill scream came from the mouth of the leading half-orc mercenary, and hearing this, the others immediately panicked.

Any creature living underground knows about the existence of underground cities, which are the domains of evil rulers, the cities of Demon Lords, filled with death traps, terrifying monsters, and powerful demons. Any rational underground creature would absolutely not want to meet these terrifying beings!

"Run!!"

Now that the way back was sealed, the half-orcs and bear goblins immediately panicked, only to see a few half-orcs waving their arms frantically, running aimlessly towards the side passages.

"Crack!"

Just as these few half-orcs ran into the passage, with a light sound, dozens of sharp iron spikes suddenly sprang from the ground, piercing the large bodies of the half-orcs from bottom to top in the blink of an eye, turning them into a pile of bloody corpses.

Seeing this scene, the other mercenaries also panicked, avoiding the passage as if avoiding the plague. A few smarter ones even turned around and ran back, trying to open the originally sealed exit.

Unfortunately, they still made a wrong choice.

"Pfft..."

Just as those few bear goblins screamed and rushed towards the entrance blocked by the stone door, accompanied by a light sound, a dark green poisonous fog erupted out of nowhere, forming a dense and deadly cloud of death gas, completely enveloping those bear goblins. The bear goblins swallowed by the poison fog didn't even have time to struggle, they painfully covered their throats, staggered and fell to the ground, never breathing again.

The mercenary team of more than a dozen people now had less than five left, this sudden change made the leading half-orc warrior also greatly shocked. But with the fate of two groups of cannon fodder before, he dared not continue to act rashly at this moment. He could only hold his battle axe, standing back to back with the few remaining companions, vigilantly watching the surroundings.

As for Bix, they had long thrown her to the back of their minds.

"Tap... tap..."

Footsteps sounded.

Hearing these footsteps, the half-orc mercenaries gripped their weapons tightly, their eyes widened, looking in the direction where the sound was coming from. And under the watchful eyes of the half-orc mercenaries, it didn't take long for a thin figure in a dark robe to slowly emerge.