The sun hid from the evil rooted in the undead land and gave off a gloomy light to the surroundings.
The wind blew everywhere and made it difficult for Abium and others to breathe. But the skeleton warrior and other skeletons appeared unaffected by the harsh atmosphere and proceeded to walk in a particular direction.
While they were moving further, a massive sand tornado appeared on their right and caused some difficulty. The black clouds in the gloomy sky also grew denser, and the roaring noises of the winds reverberated everywhere.
At this point, the Skeleton Warrior commanded the other skeletal soldiers to form a square formation, encircled Abium and others, and protected them from being pulled by the wind.
The group then tried to move further away from the tornado and continued their journey.
But the journey wasn't an easy one. Out of nowhere, flashes of lightning bolts fell from the sky and incinerated those withering poisonous trees from time to time. Some lightning bolts even landed on one or two pitiful undead soldiers and killed them in a blink.
Just when Abium and others noticed the disappearance of the tornado and lightning, drops of eerie black liquid fell from the sky, landed on the surroundings, and started corrupting everything. The weed-like plants, withered trees, and reddish sand turned blackish color as they were touched by the black liquid and turned into ashes!
Thankfully, Abium noticed this in a hurry and cast the [Blazing Shield] spell on Nicolaus before warning others.
Meanwhile, Fennelis and Umi also cast defensive spells and defended their bodies from getting corrupted.
On the other hand, the undead soldiers were the ones affected most.
Just when Abium thought that the whole undead group would perish here, a strange building-like structure appeared in his sight.
At that moment, the skeleton warrior sent out another order and told everyone to march faster.
As they moved closer, Abium got a clear view of a dome-shaped building and was surprised.
The dome building appeared between two small hills and seemed well protected from severe hurricanes and sand storms. Unlike the other buildings Abium had seen in the Easica World, this one seemed to be made of pure grey rock and had rough edges in many places. He also saw a two-meter wall encircling the dome-shaped building and acting as a defensive wall.
As they moved closer to the building, Abium saw a large group of undead skeletons standing at the entrance and holding unique weapons in their hands.
Several elite skeletons and undead warriors, cloaked assassin-like skeletons, and two-meter tall humanoid undead skeletons also appeared before their eyes. They all stood at the entrance gate in line and gave curious glances at Abium and the others.
It was the first time they had seen these strange beings, so they all looked at Abium and the others.
"Grurdin! What are they?" A three-meter tall humanoid skeleton took a step forward, blocked their path, and asked authoritatively,
"Why are you bringing them here?"
It wore a simple dark cloak and carried a broadsword in its white bony hand. Its two blue fire eyes flickered constantly and seemed to be inspecting them.
At that moment, the undead skeleton warrior who brought them here moved forward, knelt on the ground, and spoke while lowering his skull.
"Captain Rit'zyk! I found these creatures next to my mining cave. At first, I considered killing them, but remembering Lord's words about the Bone Tree, I decided to bring them here and let him decide what to do."
"Oh? You think these guys are capable of achieving it?" The undead named Rit'zyk unsheathed its broadsword and asked.
Seeing the enormous power emanating from the tall gigantic skeleton, Grurdin trembled a little and nodded.
"They managed to kill the Colossal Wyrm in a minute." As he spoke, he glanced at Abium and added.
"We all saw it with our own eyes. That creature also has some miraculous power to move at an unimaginable speed."
'Oh? So, they were watching us from the very beginning, huh.'
Abium furrowed his brows, quietly shifted his gaze towards the gigantic undead named Rit'zyk, and scanned it.
He soon read the information and discovered that this undead was a unique being called Dark Knight!
What surprised Abium most was its physical attributes.
All of its physical attributes reached around 9, and this skeleton even had unique nether skills!
'Hoo, this world sure is a fascinating one.'
While he was in deep thoughts, the giant skeleton named Rit'zyk grunted and gave an in-depth look at Abium.
After some time, he nodded his skull and agreed.
"Bring them inside. There is a storm coming."
He turned around, moved towards the metallic gate, and pushed the two-meter tall gate with his left hand.
Then, he gave a signal to other undead skeletons and walked inside.
On the other hand, the other skeletons ordered Grurdin and others to stand in line and check them. The ones who were infected with black dots were taken to the building's backside, while the rest were allowed to enter the walls.
Once they walked inside, Abium finally saw the building's outer look closer and was a little disappointed. Although they had indeed built a two-storied castle-like building, every stone appeared irregular and disorganized. He even saw many damaged areas and got more confused.
'They are imitating the architecture of the Easica World, but who taught them? Moreover, where did they get water in this dry plane for constructing this building? What did they use to replace grey clays? What about the foundation?' Countless questions appeared in his mind, but no answers.
After that, Abium also analyzed the skeleton's strength and sighed deeply.
'These undead skeletons' strength should be enough to destroy a small kingdom, but here they seem to be hiding from powerful monsters.'
While he was thinking, the skeleton warrior Grurdin arrived closer to him and ordered them to follow after him.
They soon entered the two-storied mansion-like building, stepped into the main hall, and entered a narrow corridor.
After a minute of a long walk, they arrived in front of the large three-meter tall metal gate and looked around.
Just as Abium was about to ask a question, a stern voice came from inside and subconsciously caused everyone to stiffen up.
"Who is it?"
'Spirit power?' Abium raised his eyebrow and soon felt a sharp headache.
It was so powerful that it created strange ripples in the air and even caused the strange illuminating stones to crack.
At that moment, Grurdin managed to snap out of the shock, stepped forward, and responded in a nervous tone.
"I am Grurdin from the Camrock hills region, My Lord. I captured some creatures near our border area." He paused for a moment and then added.
"They said that they came from the outer land."
A silence appeared in the corridor!
After a long silence, a cold voice came from inside.
"Come in."
The metal door moved slowly and opened with a loud screech the next instant.
Abium and others also raised their heads, looked inside the gigantic hall, and soon saw a small humanoid golden skeleton sitting on a throne-like chair.
It wore a luxurious white robe made of plant fibers and had a small dagger in its hand. It appeared to be around 1 to 1.2 meters tall, had golden bones and skull, unique purplish flames in its eye sockets, and even had a crack on its left side of the skull.
But what made everyone stiffen up was the strange power emitting from the throne-like chair.
To be precise, it was completely made of bones and had an aura of wickedness around it.
As Abium and others walked in, the golden skeleton looked at them with its unique purple flames and calmly lazed on the bone throne. It released a unique spiritual wave towards Abium and others and scanned them.
No, Abium felt that this wave seemed to have been scanning his soul itself!
As he pondered, the golden skeleton finally raised its bony hand and spoke in a male yet female voice.
"Humans and Beastkins. It's rare to see the flesh beings in this desolated plane. Where are you from?" The golden skeleton's question surprised everyone.
'It knew about us! Should I tell this skeleton about Runeth? No, it's better to act cautiously. From Grurdin's earlier words, they seem to be in dire need of our help.'
Concealing his inner emotions, Abium gave a polite bow and answered.
"We ended up here due to an accident, My Lord. As for our origin, we came from a faraway world called Nexus Plane."
"Oh? Nexus Plane? I haven't heard of such a world in my life. I wonder if Lord Liches know of such a plane." While muttering, the golden skeleton shifted its gaze towards Nicolaus and others and tried to see through their emotions.
But to its surprise, Fennelis and Nicolaus didn't show any confusion or surprised emotions.
In truth, they would've exposed the truth if Abium hadn't warned them earlier.
'They are doing pretty good.' Abium nodded inwardly and waited for the other party to ask the next question.
"What do you want? Do you want our assistance to leave this plane?" The golden skeleton asked.
'Hmm? He is going straight to the point-?' Before Abium could think, the golden skeleton shook its skull and added coldly.
"I do wish to assist you all. Unfortunately, we don't have any facility like planetary teleportation gate in this low plane, visitors."
'Hoo, he wants to lower our heads and beg desperately, huh.' Abium chuckled inwardly and let out a deep sigh.
"Sigh, we are in a low Undead Plane, huh. No wonder I felt a difference in the scarcity of mana compared to the higher plane. Pity." Abium spoke like he had given up on the decision to persuade the golden skeleton, turned his gaze towards Fennelis, and spoke.
"It seems we have no choice but to stay here for a while, My Lady. How many years do you need to create a new planar circle?"
His words surprised the skeleton.
Although Fennelis couldn't understand what he said, she chose to play along. She hurriedly recalled all the information he knew about mages and spoke like a real mage.
"The outer array circles are not a problem, kid. I can make them in a month or two. But it would take around 3 years to construct the array circle for the 'Spatial' spell model. We also have to find a suitable place before creating the teleportation array circle; otherwise, it might be destroyed mid-way due to the rough weather condition."
Upon hearing those words, the golden skeleton named Skaktak was stunned inside.
'Are they bluffing? They didn't seem like powerful mages, but why do I feel something is off. It's better to test their strength first.'
"Ahem, I haven't finished talking yet," Skaktak interjected their conversation.
On the other hand, Abium furrowed his brows and asked.
"What is it, My Lord?"
As he asked, the golden skeleton suddenly straightened its back, released its full spirit power, and attacked Abium and others with pure invisible power.