It wasn’t a lie. For Rene herself, it really was a short distance.
Climbing mountains was nothing for Rene, who spent more than half of her day training her physical strength.
'Surprisingly, it's not that hard for me either.'
When I was being chased by the knights in the human world, I would get out of breath after running for just a few minutes.
But now, I didn't feel tired anywhere except for the mental fatigue.
I could even increase my speed if I wanted to.
"Let's move at high speed now."
"Okay."
As I said that, Rene kicked off the ground and started running.
In an instant, she was moving at a speed that was too fast for even my enhanced dynamic vision to catch.
I couldn't keep up with Rene with just my physical abilities, but I had a talent that was specialized in movement.
"Designation."
I activated Position Exchange.
Then, I could see an arrow twice as long as before extending.
This was thanks to Position Exchange having grown to Stage II.
'It's a pretty satisfactory result.'
In addition to that, there was also an additional ability that had been added as a side effect.
'That' is not an ability that is suitable for moving, so I'll postpone using it for later.
"Move."
The moment I uttered the activation word for Position Exchange.
My body had moved next to Rene.
"......!"
Rene had a surprised expression on her face when I, who had started moving later than her, closed the distance.
I laughed and pointed an arrow at a boulder in front of me.
"Designation."
"Move."
"Designation."
"Move."
After using Position Exchange five times.
Thud.
Rene and I stopped jumping and looked down at the ground.
The green grass turned gray as if a line had been drawn.
"I think we've arrived."
The territory of the undead. We had finally reached it.
As I slowly stepped forward, an eerie atmosphere enveloped me.
The feeling was distinctly different from that outside the boundary, and I narrowed my brows.
'I don't want to stay here a moment longer...'
I hurriedly quickened my pace.
From here on, Rene would not be able to guide me.
Only I knew the way to the hidden realm, the realm of the dead.
─ Beneath the largest rock statue, rotting soldiers guard the realm.
Recalling the description from the original work, I continued walking.
As I left the entrance of the gray forest and went deeper, a village came into view.
In fact, it was questionable whether it could be called a 'village'.
The village looked as if it had been ravaged by a storm, with houses collapsed.
There was no sign of human presence, and not even the sound of animals could be heard.
"...Those Cerberus bastards."
Rene bit his lower lip at the gruesome sight.
"Cerberus bastards" - was that an expression similar to "sons of bitches"?
Seeing Rene's face contorted like a demon, I swallowed those words back down my throat.
I definitely couldn't let her find out that I was a descendant of the Asen family.
I was not yet confident that I could handle Rene's anger if it were directed at me.
"Let's go over there for now."
I gestured to the growling Rene.
The place I was pointing to was a hill made of large and small stones.
On top of the hill was a 'cross' that seemed to have been carved out of gray rock.
'A statue.'
Rene and I approached the cross together.
And we looked around the cross, but all we could see were stones, and there was no entrance to the hidden realm.
Is it as described in the novel?
I looked away from the cross and at Rene.
"I think we have to dig under this."
"Yeah."
Rene agreed to my suggestion to dig the ground and immediately put it into action.
Thud. Thud.
We focused on digging the ground.
As we removed the stones, a huge circular disk came into view.
Rene grabbed the disk and lifted it up, revealing a large hole.
'That's it.'
This was the entrance to the territory of the undead.
I looked at Rene with a strange look in my eyes and opened my mouth.
"Let's go in."
* * *
Contrary to my worries, the interior of the secret realm was relatively bright.
It was no comparison to the sunlit exterior, but the torches sparsely installed on the stone walls provided some light.
Rene followed me as I walked past the stone walls adorned with unidentified murals.
We had been walking through the interior of the secret realm for dozens of minutes when...
"We've found it."
The sight before my eyes.
I swallowed dryly and scanned the area ahead.
A vast cavity lay beyond the visible passage.
Within that cavity were countless tombstones and graves.
'...Is this the territory of the undead?'
This was the first proper secret realm I had ever challenged.
I glanced back and saw that Rene was also visibly tense.
"Let's go."
"Yes."
Rene nodded and stepped forward.
I followed Rene towards the cavity.
And then.
Rustle-. Rustle-.
Clang-. Clang-. Clang-.
The countless graves in the cavity began to ripple like waves.
Soon, the graves shattered, and skeletons emerged.
Skeletons with fierce gazes glared at us.
They were the inhabitants of the undead territory, and now they had become its guardians.
'Fortunately, not all the territory's inhabitants are buried here.'
Only the necromancer clan who ruled this territory were buried in the chamber within the secret realm.
Even so, their numbers were certainly not to be underestimated.
There were at least a hundred of them, so it might be difficult for the two of us to handle them.
But we had to do it.
The greater the difficulty, the sweeter the reward would be...
"Milady, I ask for your assistance."
"Yes."
Rene nodded and charged towards the skeletal soldiers.
I cautiously followed behind her.
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Thanks for the chapters! I'm enjoying the story so far.
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