Chapter 157: Forging Demon Bone

” Cough cough cough, wait a moment, I have a small problem I must remind you two: as far as I know, these bones are very hard,” Sun Fei said. He switched into [Barbarian Mode] and summoned the Purple and Green Twin Swords. He gave a demonstration, swinging the sword and fiercely striking a piece of bone nearby. That strike could surely kill a Three-Star expert instantly, but it did not leave even a tiny white mark on that bone piece. “Look, the bones are way harder than you imagine. So, how do we make equipment out of them? Or how do we grind them into bone powder?”

The Aunt Acarra, in her excitement, showed an ‘idiot’ look on her face. She turned her head away and said, “If it was ordinary weapons and methods, obviously you couldn’t forge ‘Demon Bone.’ But, Lord Sun Fei, have you forgotten? You once defeated the fallen Paladin Griswold in [Monastery] at [Tristram Plateau], and got that Magic Hammer for Charsi? That hammer has divine power from [Deity], perfectly suited for forging Demon Bone!”

Magic Hammer?

Sun Fei rejoiced. If that was true, it would be great news. The entire Mountain of White Bones in front of them could be fully mined.

Thinking this, Sun Fei was already a bit impatient. He directly activated the divine skill [Summoning], transferring the female blacksmith Charsi over from [Hero City], where she was heatedly crafting equipment with blacksmiths.

“Woah, where is this place?” Charsi had her fiery-red hair tied in a ponytail behind her head. She looked around, and her eyes quickly fixed on the Mountain of White Bones nearby. Her eyes, filled with the flames of eagerness, showed shock and a strange familiarity. “That’s odd, I suddenly feel a strong connection. What is this? Bones?”

Sun Fei smiled and pulled out a bone piece from an unknown creature. It was about one meter long and twenty centimeters wide, shaped like a sword. He placed it on a smooth rock surface nearby and waved her over. “Come on, try your hammer. See if you can break this bone piece.”

Thud!

With one hammer strike from Charsi, white fragments flew everywhere. Sun Fei’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Unbelievable. Just that single simple hammer blow shattered the bone piece that Sun Fei had tried so hard to damage but couldn’t even scrape a bit off. Bone dust flew in every direction, and it broke into pieces… It was truly amazing. The hammer in Charsi’s hands seemed like a natural enemy to this ‘Demon Bone’!

After proving the effect of the Magic Hammer, the next tasks became much simpler.

Sun Fei gathered his words and carefully, piece by piece, shared everything he knew about the [Divine-Demon Ruins] with Aunt Acarra and Elder Kane. But to Sun Fei’s slight embarrassment, after only a little surprise, they both brushed aside his detailed and mysterious description. Instead, they vied to tell Charsi about the value and uses of ‘Demon Bone’, almost impatiently wanting her to instantly turn that entire Mountain of White Bones into countless powerful [Magical Equipment]. Before that, though, they both bothered Charsi a lot to use the Magic Hammer to grind some fine bone powder for them, to complete their theories and studies.

During this time, Charsi slowly got used to forging these bones with the Magic Hammer. Forging bones was different from hammering metal. If the force was even a bit too strong, the bones would shatter into dust, not forming the shapes she had designed in her head. Watching Charsi hammer one hundred bones into bits, Nun Auntie and Elder Kane felt their hearts almost shatter. Luckily, there was still that whole Mountain of White Bones present; otherwise, they might have fought Charsi to the death!

Half an hour later, a beautiful bone sword was crafted.

Sun Fei weighed it in his hands. It was very light, with a wide blade about one meter long and the width of five fingers, suitable for hacking. It didn’t look like it could do much harm. But when he swung it gently backward, it left a deep cut, three to four fingers deep, on those super-strong giant stone pillars. Sun Fei’s mouth dropped open. This was stone that only a Seven-Star Level expert could scratch… The sharpness of this bone sword was beyond what Sun Fei had imagined.

“Hahaha, I’ll keep this sword for myself.” His Majesty the King said without any shame, taking the first bone sword made from ‘Demon Bone’ as his own. No one else had even a hint of disagreement about this; after all, Sun Fei was now the supreme leader of the [Rogue Encampment], with the right to own the best items.

After that, Charsi started forging more bone-type weapons. Nun Auntie and Elder Kane circled the Mountain of White Bones, closely examining it, trying to find more details. If they could discover how this bone mountain formed, that would be even better.

Because of this, Sun Fei as the main person was left with little to do.

Deciding nothing in the mysterious space could hold his interest anymore, Sun Fei simply used the [Summoning] skill through his divine power to call five or six strong female Rogues. He placed them in front of the Mountain of White Bones to guard, protect, and handle chores. He then discussed with Nun Auntie, used one [Town Portal Scroll], carved a small magic array, and made a [Portal] that they could use to retreat to the [World of Diablo] anytime. After that, he kept walking ahead to start the next phase of exploring.

This space was vast beyond measure. After walking for half an hour, Sun Fei looked back. He could only faintly see a glimpse of the Mountain of White Bones in the dim light. Aunt Acarra and others were completely invisible in the dark. The endless shadow seemed to swallow light; even the fire they lit couldn’t be seen.

Sun Fei summoned a Giant-winged Crow and a white giant wolf to scout and watch above and all around.

Then he thought for a moment, hesitated, and summoned the female Mercenary Ileena.

Seeing Ileena’s graceful figure step out from the portal, Sun Fei felt his eyes brighten. Maybe because of that intimate moment in the stone room earlier, Ileena now looked even more dazzling and lovely. A faint sweet scent gently drifted to Sun Fei’s nose, so familiar that it instantly brought back memories of that romantic time. Sun Fei felt dazed; it seemed like the dark space lit up with light.

“Lord Sun Fei!” Ileena lowered her head a bit and softly walked over.

Sun Fei smiled. At that moment, all his awkwardness and nervousness mysteriously vanished. He naturally reached out and held the Mercenary’s smooth, slender hand. A cool feeling touched his skin. Walking side by side with Ileena, he smiled and said, “Ileena, just call me Alexander from now on. Don’t call me Lord Sun Fei!”

Feeling the warmth from Sun Fei’s hand, Ileena felt like fire was burning in her cheeks. “Alexander…”

Neither spoke after that. The atmosphere grew strangely peaceful and lovely; time seemed to freeze without them noticing its passage.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, the white giant wolf ahead howled loudly. Sun Fei pulled Ileena’s hand and rushed forward quickly. He saw that they had finally reached the end of this huge mysterious space. A deep, dark chasm about a hundred meters wide lay ahead. Faint howling sounds came from below, but it was impossible to see what was down there. Sun Fei picked up a large stone and threw it in. After ten minutes or so, he never heard the sound of it hitting bottom.

“This… this is way too deep!” Sun Fei and Ileena both gasped in shock.

Feeling the chilly air rising from the chasm, they gave up any plan to go down and explore. The cold was too intense, and deeper down it would surely get worse. Even with Ileena and Sun Fei’s current strength, they’d freeze into ice sculptures within a thousand meters, with no chance of escape.

Sun Fei thought briefly and looked toward the other side of the chasm.

Maybe they really were connected by a psychic bond, because Ileena instantly guessed what he wanted. She bent her bow and placed an arrow, whoosh—a fire arrow shot out. The blazing red flame attached to the arrow instantly lit up the dark space. As the arrow flew across, everything on the other side became clearly visible.

There was a stone wall taller than the eye could see. It was very smooth, like a huge mirror standing there.

But Sun Fei and Ileena were extremely shocked. That stone wall wasn’t intact; its surface was covered with countless black holes, as dense as a beehive. They looked like giant beasts’ open mouths waiting in the shadows, eerie and terrifying, with unspeakable strangeness.

“I’ll go over first!” Ileena said.

Sun Fei quickly grabbed her hand and shook his head. “Wait a bit, I have an idea… let’s see the situation over there!” He ordered the Giant-winged Crow circling overhead to swoop down toward the other wall. Sun Fei’s vision shifted to the crow’s view. The wall had thousands of holes all over it. After circling for a while, the Giant-winged Crow carefully chose a slightly bigger hole and flew in.

To Sun Fei’s surprise, as soon as it entered the cave, what met his eyes wasn’t the expected jagged, natural rock surface. Instead, it was a tunnel similar to the one he’d walked through earlier, very neat and orderly. Clearly, it was hand-carved later, not a natural cave.

The Giant-winged Crow searched inside for a while but didn’t find anything dangerous. Then, under Sun Fei’s command, it flew into over a dozen other holes, with all results matching the first one perfectly: all were man-made tunnels. At that point, Sun Fei could guess that the thousands of holes on the wall were all carved out by human hands long ago.

Just who did this, and why carve so many tunnels here?

To really understand that, he needed to cross over and explore deep into the tunnels himself.