Cursed Immortality

Six months passed since Jacob broke the first shackle, and he had started waiting for a distraction, but there we simply no movement in the vicinity of the castle.

He was also running out of ration, and he could only go on like this for two more months.

So, today, Jacob decided to move out and hunt for Extraordinary Dark Beings!

Because the time spent in his room wasn't gone in vain, as he had already made progress with fluid acceleration and had even more profound control over his heart rate and breathing.

Jacob knew the clash with extraordinary dark beings was inevitable, even if someone distracted the Lich King and his ministers. So, he was preparing for his next move. Even if no distractions come, he knows he doesn't have the luxury of time to wait until it does.

Since no one was coming, he had to move out himself.

But he wasn't desperate enough to storm his way toward the inner castle. He was still going to use his zombie disguise, which was stowed in the infinity pendant, not to get spoiled.

After Jacob became a zombie, he opened the door that hadn't been open since he entered here. He had to admit the dark beings were really obedient like machines as in these few months he hadn't even heard a movement from outside.

They were still standing listlessly in their spots without caring about eating or drinking; heck, they didn't even need to breathe.

A dark being's lifespan was as long as their Dead Flame existed, and a Dark Being, like a tier-1 Skeleton Soldier or Toxic Zombie, could stay alive for 100 years without absorbing any life force.

Life Force was fuel to their dark flame, and as long as they absorbed enough, they would evolve into higher tiers. But there was one restriction on rank evolution, the Life Force level!

If a Dark Being wanted to evolve from a Rare-Tier-9 to an Extraodianry-Tier-1, they needed the life force of an Extraodinry-Tier-1 living being and not just a single but multiple.

Or if they could just grow by absorbing low-level life forces, then there would be an incredible number of Extraordinary Dark Begins, and Lich King would've long crossed the power cap of Rare Plains.

That's why dark beings always wanted to devour every living; the stronger they are, the more they will grow.

Still, the lifespan of an Extraordinary Dark Being was ten times greater than a living, and they could continue to live as long as they had life crystal filled with extraordinary tier life force. In contrast, a living being would eventually die!

In a sense, they were immortal if they had an endless amount of life force, but it also made them depend on living beings since, without them, there would be no life force or life crystals.

They will perish just like any other life out there.

If Jacob didn't have cursed immortality, he might've wanted to join the undead once he found out about this fact. But now, he won't even if someone offers him to.

Because the dark beings were completely restricted by those with higher evolution than them and can't seem to go against them if they don't evolve.

An extraordinary sane zombie could easily stop any zombie below him from absorbing higher level life force and prevent them from evolving any further or simply forbid them from absorbing any life force and letting them rot. They won't be able to go against that order.

A Lich which is a higher evolution above the Sane Zombie could do the same to Sane Zombie, and they were as intelligent as any living. At the same time, the Wight was a higher evolution of a Skeleton Grand Warrior.

This is also the highest evolution that any Dark Being could achieve while staying in the Type-1 Plain!

The only comfort was as long as they needed a massive amount of such live force to evolve into a Lich or Wight, which could only be acquired from living beings as strong as them in rank.

So, it wasn't easy for a Lich or Wight appeared among the Dark Beings for centuries.

The Dark Knights were all those who had started to evolve into either a Lich or Wight but were still a distance away from reaching it.

Jacob had no idea what kind of creatures were guarding the secret room as he moved deeper into the castle.

After moving for two hundred meters in the left hallway, he saw a cross path that was blocked by a group of dark beings, which meant he was on the right path.

Those dark beings only glance at him before they return to being dead.

Jacob chose to go left again while crossing the dark beings. He was almost used to it now and didn't even flinch while moving within them.

However, the passage he chose turned out to lead into a gloomy courtyard that was filled with debris and weeds. There weren't any traces of dark beings here, which means he should've gone to the right corridor.

But he didn't choose to leave immediately and decided to investigate this place. Although he wasn't hopeful but still if he could avoid those dark beings, he would prefer to do it.

A castle where a royal family lived should have many hidden passages for their escape. If he could find one that led to the innermost area, he wouldn't have to risk trying to assassinate the extraordinary dark beings.

Only the ground floor was intact in this courtyard, and Jacob found nothing but dust and stones in this palace. He couldn't guess who this place belonged to, but it should be someone from the royal family.

After searching for fifteen minutes, he approached the last room. There was no door, and he didn't have much hope for this place either.

However, when he entered the room, his eyes winded because he saw a broken status just like the one in the ruined temple, but it was half of its size, but it was definitely the status of the Priest Skeleton!

There was also a broken altar in front of this statue which should be there for offerings which made this room a payer room or a small worship temple for whoever used to live there.

There were broken pieces of statue and debris in this room and nothing else. Jacob would've thought the same if he hadn't seen the secret room in the temple!

With great anticipation, he approached the wall behind the statue and started to scrutinize it.

After scratching around the wall for a while, Jacob finally found a faint outline.

'Jackpot!' Jacob knew he had stumbled upon a huge opportunity.

Jacob then took out his short sword and tried cutting a holder so he could pull the door. He knew there was no mechanism to open this door. It was only opened with a push from inside.

It was probably made this way to fool others into thinking that there wasn't any trap door unless they had enough time to try destroying these thick walls. The temple's trap door was made the same way.

Only if someone knew about that door would they think this way.

Jacob then carved a small handle into the wall and pushed it. With a loud sound, the wall suddenly split, and a thick brick door opened.

Jacob frowned because of the sound, but he knew it was already too late. But the distance between the extraordinary beings and this place was quite large, so they might not have heard it at all.

Nevertheless, Jacob only opened it enough for himself to slip in. But he didn't enter instantly. He wanted to make sure this place would remain hidden.

So, he quickly started to block the entire section of the hallway with debris so everyone would think there was no door in the hallways, and it ended right there.

It would almost look like a wall crumbled in this place. But he wasn't satisfied with it since anyone would be able to know if they tried to see past the debris that there was a hidden door behind it.

So, he set up TNT with a trip wire, and the moment someone tried to clear the debris, it would go off, and the entire hallways with the room will crumble!

This way, he would also know someone had discovered this place or if he came back after discovering nothing, this would also be proof that no one had come here since he left.

Then he hid the handle he carved by filling it again, then quickly entered the room and closed it just like it was before!

---

Two days after Jacob discovered the trap door.

In the east wing of the ruined castle, there was another courtyard like the one he discovered, and there was a worship room with a broken statue of a priest's skeleton.

The wall behind the statue suddenly trembled before it opened, revealing black-clad figures!