The clear night sky hung like a jade canopy above their heads.

Stars, like intoxicated dancers, adorned the night curtain, weaving beautiful totems across the darkness.

The twinkling starlight intertwined across the heavens, these celestial patterns merging like ink into everyone's pupils, condensing into even brighter stars.

Several brilliant blue light pillars rose from the ground like crystal columns, shooting straight toward the deep, clear sky.

Creaking—Boom—

A dull rumbling sound suddenly echoed across the empty land as a massive elevator slowly descended, kicking up swirling clouds of dust.

Aurelianne stared intently, her mouth half-open as she was the first to step out of the elevator onto the ground.

A soft sensation came from beneath her feet—powdery soil covered with a layer of fine dust.

Before her stretched a vast, boundless landscape.

A solid road extended from the elevator, winding like a giant python into the depths of the earth.

But this was supposed to be a prison holding death row inmates—so where were they?

Karin slowly raised her chin, the ghostly green flames in her eyes dancing like demonic fire.

Looking across the endless dusty terrain, she explained solemnly:

"This is the final level of Guanta Prison, divided into many small areas."

"Each area holds one death row prisoner."

"They cannot be kept together."

In reality, the number of true death row inmates was limited. They weren't scattered everywhere.

Only those personally sent to prison by Grand Duke Balo deserved the title of death row inmate.

In other words, if every prisoner in this facility had to be sent in by Grand Duke Balo himself, the Duke would likely have died from exhaustion long ago.

Karin floated along the road like a ghost, the green ghostly fire trailing behind her like a comet's tail across space.

Viktor and his companions followed behind her, with a layer of misty dust floating around them. In the silence, only the soft sound of shifting sand could be heard.

Soon, a majestic tombstone stood tall amidst the vast sea of sand.

Karin turned around and announced to everyone:

"We've arrived."

"This is where the first death row inmate is located."

Viktor looked at the tall stone monument and reached out to wipe away the dust covering it.

[The Hounds, Assassin Mercenary Team]

[Leader: Tier-4 Warrior, Cliff Owen]

[Brutally massacred villages across different countries, nailing villagers to walls, slaughtering infants, torturing the elderly. Souls claimed by their blades number in the thousands]

[Greedy as leeches, vicious as hyenas]

[For these crimes, death]

This was a mercenary team composed of hardened criminals from around the world, encompassing many professions.

Among them, the leader who had reached the peak of Tier-4 was particularly notable.

Behind the giant monument stood individual tombstones for each team member, arranged by headcount.

Aurelianne looked at the forest of tombstones before her, feeling dizzy.

But looking at it this way, it seemed quite logical.

Death row inmates—buried in the soil—wasn't that carrying out the death sentence?

Yet Karin claimed they weren't truly dead, which confused her.

Pricis seemed to remember something as she looked at these tombstones and explained to Aurelianne:

"It's said that the criminals here are imprisoned in a unique way—their bodies and souls are split in half,"

"Their physical forms sleep beneath the sand, while their souls are bound by chains."

This was to ensure they could never escape.

Although Pricis had never been here before, as a native-born vampire of this land,

She naturally knew about Grand Duke Balo's widely-known methods.

The group passed through the towering tombstones and continued forward.

Not far ahead, a pillar-like structure stretching toward the starry sky caught their attention.

Crossing the dusty terrain, they finally stood before the massive pillar.

This so-called pillar was actually an incredibly impressive tombstone.

The tombstone was awe-inspiring, its enormous body towering over the endless dusty landscape.

Standing before it felt like being screened from the entire sea of stars.

Carved on the tombstone was a powerful Tier-5 magic dragon.

It had once terrorized the border of the Kanter Kingdom, devouring innocent passersby.

Unknown travelers and merchant caravans had all become its meals.

Eventually, upon receiving news, Grand Duke Balo took action, capturing it alive with his undead army,

And buried it in the lowest level of Guanta Prison.

Looking at the record on the tombstone, Aurelianne gained a deeper understanding and respect for her grandfather's power.

Following this path, there were many more tombstones nearby.

And those death row inmates imprisoned within were all formidable.

There were even many non-human creatures like the magic dragon.

Without exception, they were all heinous criminals who were difficult to subdue.

Grand Duke Balo was like the guardian deity of Kanter Kingdom. Just from this prison level alone, one could see

How much the Duke had sacrificed to protect the kingdom.

Leaving behind the pillar-like tombstone of the magic dragon and the various criminal tombstones inscribed with legendary names,

They approached what seemed to be the end of the path.

Several more tall stone monuments clustered together came into view.

About a dozen names were engraved on the stone monuments, and beneath their names, their positions were listed.

[Necromancer]

Aurelianne and Pricis felt their hearts tremble.

Necromancers?

Before this, necromancers had once experienced their most glorious period in Kanter Kingdom.

The group of necromancers led by Grand Duke Balo had even given the Mage Council headaches for a long time.

But they were like fleeting blossoms.

Before long, except for Grand Duke Balo who remained as the only necromancer, all the other mages had disappeared.

It was believed they had perished on the path of exploring soul magic.

Yet unexpectedly, they had all been imprisoned by Grand Duke Balo in the lowest level of Guanta Prison.

Buried beneath this yellow earth in the city of the unending.

What was the reason?

Aurelianne and Pricis approached together, looking at the reason carved on the tombstone.

[Desecration of souls and life and death]

[Attempting to transcend death]

[Treating souls and living beings as worthless]

[Their evil deeds defiled the human world]

The two looked at each other and shook their heads.

They couldn't understand.

At this moment, Karin surveyed the imposing tombstones around them and said:

"That's about all the death row inmates here."

"We can leave now. There's nothing else worth seeing."

But hearing Karin's words made Aurelianne curious.

She looked up questioningly toward the distance.

On that vast sandy terrain stood a massive fortress.

Under the dense starry sky, it vaguely revealed its enormous silhouette.

The towering castle towers showed a hazy bluish-purple color under the starlight, as if draped in a layer of prosperous starry sky.

Like a celestial beast nestled in the vast dusty plains.

"But what is that over there?"

Karin followed her gaze, her jaw dropping as her face turned pale.

Although her face was already quite pale, Karin still looked terribly shocked and said in horror:

"This! Damn it, why would it appear today?"

Viktor looked at the extremely panicked Karin and said as if reminding her:

"Care to explain?"

Karin nervously explained:

"That is the Fallen Star Fortress."

"The lord who resides within was once the master of this starry land."

"However, he was eventually sealed by Grand Duke Balo and confined there."

The lord of this Fallen Star Fortress was once an authoritative general in life.

At that time, the land had not yet been named Kanter Kingdom.

After his death, his obsession transformed into a wandering soul in the mortal world.

After Karin finished explaining, she hurriedly turned back toward the way they had come:

"I'm sorry, but we must leave now. I need to notify Grand Duke Balo immediately."

Viktor reached out and grabbed her, looking at the ethereal castle.

"No need."

"We came here for it."

On Viktor's shoulder, the black raven's eyes glowed with blue light, as brilliant as the stars in the sky.

Mysterious nebulae seemed to flow in its eyes, transforming into a flowing waterfall.

In that instant, the stars in the sky brightened, turning into endless starlight falling upon the ethereal fortress.

Karin was stunned by this sight, watching as the castle became increasingly clear, like a phantom materializing.

The dust swirled violently, and the ground shook fiercely, as if a castle beneath the surface was awakening.

Karin trembled with fear, stammering: "It's over, it's over."

Now her head was really going to roll.

The bluish-purple Fallen Star Fortress began to tremble. As they watched, two massive stone doors slowly opened to both sides.

From within the fortress emerged a giant clad in heavy iron armor.

Steel arc-like structures trembled slightly on his broad shoulders, the giant wearing solid armor that flowed with purple starry sky.

His solid hands shone with nebula light, clear and twinkling patterns arranged on his nebula arms.

Two legs formed of steel armor supported by nebulae,

The entire head composed of stars, a huge arch-shaped support hovering above the massive body.

The moment she saw the star giant, Karin was completely stunned.

Even the ghostly fire in her eyes seemed to grow pitifully small.

Facing the massive and terrifying enemy, Viktor calmly said:

"This is your lesson today, Aurelianne."

"Observe carefully."

The next second, a surge of ghostly green mist rose from beneath Viktor's feet, sweeping across the dusty terrain like turbulent ocean waves.

The green misty waves covered all the countless tombstones behind them.

Instantly, numerous undead broke through the dust, crawling out from the graves that had buried them.

Skeletons and corpses also climbed out.

They held various weapons, with ghostly green fire glowing in their skulls, converging toward Viktor like a cluster of stars.

But the most shocking was yet to come.

In that instant, the ground shook with even greater violence.

Beneath the huge magic dragon tombstone, a thick cloud of dust rose.

Aurelianne and Pricis hurriedly raised their hands to shield themselves from the dust.

The next second, they both looked up at the sky.

Like a massive dust-colored tsunami rising from the ground, shooting straight toward the starry sky.

The enormous white dragon bones instantly soared into the sky.

Flying soil and rolling sand formed wild waterfalls, constantly falling from its body.

Ghostly fire wound up along the dragon's spine, dispersing between the white bones.

Deep in its chest, a deep green flame pulsed like a heart.

It soared high in the sky, above Viktor's head.

Below it were hundreds more undead, emanating the aura of absolute powerhouses.

In the cracks between the tombstones, ghostly green fire that could span the entire sea of sand ignited, stretching endlessly.

Viktor stood at the forefront of the undead horde, one eye burning with ghostly green fire.

His waist was shattered, with a strange flame burning amidst the fragments.

Ghostly fire patterns flowed across his chest, with tiny sparks of light shining within.

His coat behind him was entwined with ghostly green fire.

Like an undead commander, leading an entire army of powerful undead warriors.

"I'll only teach you this once."

"""

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