To be honest, Lord Shen Mu still had a good impression of the Vampire Matriarch Isabelle, and this Vampire Matriarch was also the only Undead Monster he had encountered who could communicate and negotiate with him normally.
Being able to communicate and negotiate normally indicates that the other party is a being with its own rationality.
Furthermore, they wouldn't have significant conflicts with him due to their alignment.
Even now, Lord Shen Mu was certain that Isabelle had maintained absolute restraint, which made him quite surprised whenever he thought about it.
"Lord, should we still go over and check?" Just behind Lord Shen Mu, a Holy Tree Knight spoke at this moment.
At the same time, he tugged the reins in his hand, so that the warhorse beneath him could either stop its advance or gallop forward according to his subsequent actions.
"No need." Lord Shen Mu, however, withdrew his gaze from the large supermarket.
He shook the reins in his hand, causing the warhorse beneath him to continue trotting forward.
He said in a calm tone, "There's not enough time, and it's almost dark. Our schedule to reach New Uxhall was already tight, so there's no need to waste time on this now."
Anyway, this large supermarket is located between New Uxhall and New Deherim.
If he wanted to, he could send troops to inspect it at any time.
There's no need to waste time now.
"Understood."
These Holy Tree Knights also nodded, and then, at Fatis's signal, they kept up with Lord Shen Mu's speed.
They quickly continued moving towards New Uxhall.
Time was indeed running out.
The current time was 5:55 PM.
In another 5 minutes, they would enter the darkness covered by the death spirit rules.
Although they were not afraid of briefly moving around in the darkness covered by the death spirit rules now, it was important to remember that the premise of this statement had a prerequisite: it was for brief activity.
If they were to operate in this darkness for a long time, what if the death spirit rules detected the anomaly here and sent down more Undead Monsters?
By then, their mere 22 people would be trapped in the darkness, facing the encirclement of more and more endless Undead Monsters.
The outcome would be very miserable.
Therefore, Lord Shen Mu did not want to gamble.
Moreover, gambling with one's life on something that is bound to happen would truly be too foolish.
"Let's go, let's speed up." So Lord Shen Mu urged Fatis and the Holy Tree Knights beside him, and raised his hand, waving it forward to indicate increasing speed.
Hooves thundered.
Their speed as they galloped forward also increased.
Soon, after they rounded a city corner, the outline of Uxhall's castle faintly appeared ahead under the setting sun.
After all, Uxhall was built on a massive mound, with its highest point nearly 40 meters high.
The mound itself was nearly 30 meters tall.
Plus the castle, which was over ten meters high.
So, it could be seen from a distance, couldn't it?
This was still due to the large number of Blue Star buildings within Bali River Street.
If not for these Blue Star buildings,
It's likely that from the location of New Deherim, one could already see New Uxhall, built on this massive mound, from afar.
"Lord, we need to pick up the pace, or it will be dark." At this moment, Fatis looked at the environment around them, which had already fallen into gloom, and even the gray mist that had appeared in the depths of some buildings where sunlight couldn't reach, and his expression gradually became serious.
They had to speed up.
And looking at the time, they still needed over 10 minutes to reach New Uxhall. Well, if they didn't speed up, they would definitely, absolutely be trapped in the darkness.
It would not be good if they encountered those cruel Undead Monsters then.
"Okay."
Lord Shen Mu nodded and once again led them, increasing their speed.
The horseshoes striking the ground made a chaotic yet dense sound.
Their speed was very fast.
However, even if their speed was faster, time was already running out.
In the distance to the west, the sun struggling on the horizon had now entered the final countdown to its complete descent.
The dim yellow sunlight could no longer cover the entire Blue Star World at this moment.
The native rules belonging to the Blue Star World were now gradually being replaced by the death spirit rules as the rules themselves weakened.
Now, watching the increasingly sparse yellow light of the setting sun, which was growing weaker and weaker,
One could tell.
The death spirit rules had already dispelled the blue star rules.
Now.
Next.
It was time for the death spirit rules to make their appearance.
"Get ready, it's about to get dark."
Lord Shen Mu could, after all, estimate the time of nightfall. At this moment, he gripped the spear in his hand, turned to Fatis and the Holy Tree Knights behind him, and reminded them in a deep voice, "No matter what we encounter, let's not get entangled here. We'll fight our way directly to New Uxhall. Don't hesitate. Do you all understand?"
"Understood." Fatis and the 20 Holy Tree Knights behind him responded with serious tones.
So their speed became faster and faster.
But after they had galloped for about four or five hundred meters, a special palpitation suddenly arose in their hearts.
The feeling was as if they had encountered an absolute terror.
As if they had met a natural predator.
'Buzz!'
And at this moment, the setting sun still struggling in the west finally completely set.
It completely dropped below the horizon.
Daytime was over.
'Woo woo woo woo——'
Then, the originally dim yellow sky was instantly and completely overtaken by a deep, pure blackness, as if the stars had shifted.
The sky darkened.
The world entered into darkness.
It was dark.
"Stay vigilant." Fatis suddenly spoke up at this moment, issuing a reminder.
"Stay vigilant."
Every single one of the Holy Tree Knights repeated Fatis's reminder.
And the formation, which initially had Lord Shen Mu riding at the very front, followed by Fatis and the 20 Holy Tree Knights in order, had completely changed.
The 20 Holy Tree Knights actively moved forward, forming a conical circle, protecting Lord Shen Mu and Fatis in the very center of the group.
Furthermore, 5 Holy Tree Knights were clearing the way approximately 10 meters ahead, and another 5 Holy Tree Knights were covering the rear approximately 5 meters behind.
They formed a protective formation.
"Okay."
Lord Shen Mu, riding on his horse, nodded slightly upon seeing their skilled protective formation. This was why he had brought these Holy Tree Knights.
Whether it was combat on the battlefield or protection in daily life, these Holy Tree Knights could perform these tasks very well.
And with their superb skills.
For example, the 5 Holy Tree Knights at the very front were clearing the way.
Upon encountering any Undead Monster that descended into this world from the death spirit rules, they didn't hesitate at all. They simply raised the spear in their hands and fiercely thrust it forward.
Utilizing the inertia and power generated by the speed of the galloping warhorse beneath them, they basically struck with a single blow.
And it was a fatal blow.
Even if these Holy Tree Knights didn't want to use the spears in their hands to deal with those Undead Monsters, the warhorses beneath them, wearing holy tree barding which was chainmail level armor, were not only hard but also quite heavy. As these warhorses charged, they were like battering rams.
Any Undead Monster that appeared before them, as long as it couldn't dodge in time and was hit by these holy tree warhorses, which possessed special bloodlines and enhanced physiques,
It would instantly be like being struck by a giant hammer wielded by a giant.
Ordinary Skeleton Soldiers instantly turned into scattered Skeleton on the ground.
The seemingly tough Zombies directly fell to the ground, their flesh and blood torn apart by the impact.
Even the slightly stronger Ghoul, when facing this heavy blow, would recoil backwards with wails, unable to stand up for a while, and would be pierced through the body by the spear of the Holy Tree Knight following closely behind. Utilizing the extra damage of Mithril against Undead Creatures, it was killed at their feet in an instant.
For these Holy Tree Knights, the Undead Monsters appearing now were no match for them.
Even when they were charging forward quickly,
The Undead Monsters along the way were killed one after another by them.
That feeling of ease.
It made everyone present, including Lord Shen Mu, realize that something was not right.
"These Undead Monsters seem to be very weak." Right beside Lord Shen Mu, Fatis also personally used the spear in his hand during the charge to deal with a Ghoul that was trying to rush over from the side.
With just one pass, he thrust the spear into the Ghoul's chest, destroying its heart.
It also destroyed its energy circuits.
Coupled with the Holy Tree Knight covering the rear also raising his spear, with one pass, he accurately thrust the spear into the Ghoul's eye socket, completely killing it.
This scene made Fatis feel even stranger: "These Undead Monsters didn't seem this weak before."
"Yes, that's true." Lord Shen Mu had also noticed this phenomenon.
Before this.
As long as it was dark, the Undead Monsters appearing in this darkness were basically in groups.
After all, darkness and gray mist were the media that produced Undead Monsters.
But now.
Both darkness and gray mist were present, but the number of Undead Monsters produced was really too small, and the strength of these Undead Monsters was also very weak.
It made them feel incredibly easy, to the point of disbelief.
Even when Lord Shen Mu and these Holy Tree Knights were charging forward on horseback, they could faintly feel that even the gray mist, which was originally so thick that they couldn't see their own hands, felt significantly thinner as they looked around at this moment.
So much so that they could see each other's figures from a distance of about 20 meters.
Even enemies more than 30 meters away.
They could see a general outline.
Compared to before, when even lighting torches only provided a narrow field of vision within a 10 meters radius, the current situation was far too abnormal and violated the understanding of the death spirit rules under the darkness that Lord Shen Mu, these Holy Tree Knights, and Fatis had.
Moreover, even as they were galloping forward quickly, without torches in their hands to illuminate and dispel the death spirit rules,
The power of Mithril within their armor was only faintly warm.
It wasn't like before.
As long as they entered the darkness and the power of the death spirit rules appeared, the Holy Tree Knight armor they wore would directly emit waves of holy power belonging to Mithril, bringing a sense of warmth.
"If I'm not mistaken, Lord Shen Mu, this seems to indicate that the evil power within this darkness is not too strong."
A Holy Tree Knight spoke slowly.
"The evil power in the darkness is not too strong?" Lord Shen Mu slowly lowered his head, shook the reins in his hand again, making the warhorse beneath him run forward, maintaining a constant speed.
But in his heart, he had some special thoughts about the Holy Tree Knight's speculation.
"Yes, Lord Shen Mu, if the evil power were too strong, our Holy Tree Knight armor would definitely be quite hot, giving us a warning." The Holy Tree Knight added again.
"That should be the case." The surrounding Holy Tree Knights also nodded, agreeing with the Holy Tree Knight's speculation.
After all, they had stayed in the darkness before, and had also left Deherim to fight in the darkness.
It should be known that at that time, they were still holding torches, and their Holy Tree Knight armor felt somewhat warm.
Although that warmth was slightly less than now.
But if you think about it carefully,
That warmth was actually not much less than it is now.
After all, they were both in darkness, surrounded by death spirit rules. For Holy Tree Knight armor, the death spirit rules themselves were evil power.
Of course, if those Undead Monsters got closer and closer, the warmth on their bodies would also become stronger and stronger.
But now, the Undead Monsters they faced were so weak and so few.
The warmth on their bodies was just like this.
Doesn't that indicate that the surrounding evil power is actually not too strong, to the extent that the Mithril contained within their Holy Tree Knight armor doesn't need to release excessively hot power as a warning?
"Lord Shen Mu, New Uxhall, where Mr. Bandak is located, is almost here." And just as Lord Shen Mu was also contemplating, the voice of the Holy Tree Knight responsible for clearing the way at the front interrupted his thoughts.
Lord Shen Mu raised his head, and within his sight, the outline of a massive mound appeared in the darkness.
And right at the foot of the mound.
It was also faintly emitting a special sense of purity, like a deep moonlit night, with no absolute darkness or gray mist present.
It was as if a translucent cover was covering the area, isolating it from the darkness and gray mist.
It gave Lord Shen Mu a sense of familiarity. (End of Chapter)
