Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

Simon circulated all of his curse energy towards his claws and extended his hands in a stabbing motion towards his opponent's head.

The attacker zombie realising the danger, raised all six of his hands in an attempt to block his attack. However, now that all of its curse energy was directed towards healing its wounds, its defences were naturally lowered which made it easier for Simon's claws to penetrate through all six of its arms and reach its brain.

SPURT…  as if a watermelon had been smashed apart, the content of its brain splattered everywhere. The body of the attacker zombie became motionless before dropping down to the ground.

Huff… Simon took a breath of relief and sat down on a rock. He had finally defeated all of the three attacker zombies which meant that he had finally cleared the last horde.  As if proving his words, the notification popped in front of his face.

[All ten hordes have been successfully cleared, the powerful curse of Ozymandias recedes. Insert all of the crimson beads to proceed forward with the trial].

The moment the notification arrived, Simon noticed that the powerful curse energy within the hall swiftly receded away. Even the one that was within him and the body of the attacker zombie, scattered into thin air.

He sighed when he felt his body revert back to his original exhausted state. The curse energy, the sensation of overwhelming power and being the one in control was like a powerful drug one that was hard to resist once you get the taste of it.

Simon felt a little regretful once the curse energy left his body; however, he knew that it was only a borrowed power and was not something that was his own. If he wanted overwhelming strength and be the one in control, he must get stronger and achieve that level himself.

That was why he was here of all places in the first place and after he got the taste of what he could with that much power, his craving for strength was stronger than ever. Simon took a rest to recover from his exhausted state before looking around the destroyed hall for the crimson bead.

While he doing that, he was also inwardly contemplating as to why he was able to utilise the curse energy which should have only affected the zombies.

'Was it because I am a demon noble? No, that doesn't sound right'. The curse energy was completely different from the mystical energy which meant that it should have also affected the demon nobles.

Simon recalled the sensation when he was exposed to the curse energy, it was... yes, it was as if he was already familiar with it. The more Simon thought, the more unlikely it seemed.

Before entering the comb of depraved, he had never come in contact with the curse energy. So how can it be that it felt familiar to him? In the first place, the curse energy originated from the being named Ozymandias.

Simon shook his head unable to find an answer and concentrated on the task at hand. After a while of searching, he found the crimson bead inside the body of one of the attacker zombies that had died in the tunnel created by his amalgamation magic.

Simon picked it up and tossed it into the fireplace. The moment he did so, the fireplace became alive. The flames inside the fireplace burned intensely and in the blink of an eye, it became a huge fire that took the form of a woman.

Simon was surprised for a second before hurriedly composing his mind.

[Yela's sacrificial fire purges the evil curse energy and pushes it back temporarily. However, it is not enough to stop Ozymandias' powerful grudge. Find the other two glistering jewels and insert them back into Yela's crown to stand a chance against Ozy's onslaught].

As he read the instructions, Simon immediately understood that the woman in the flames was Yela.

Yela clasped her hands in prayer and the fire around her immediately started converging and taking the form of a golden glittering crystal. Simon extended his hands and the crystal landed on it giving him a clear look of what it was.

Other than being pretty, Simon couldn't see any practical use for it. However, [Analysis] told him that it was a Quest item (1/3) which meant that he needed to find two other crystals just like this one and insert them into the crown to complete the fourth trial.

When he looked back up he saw that Yela's form had disappeared after she handed him the crystal. Now that he got the glistering crystal, it was time for him to leave this hall. Looking around he saw that the entrance from which he had come inside, had opened up indicating that this was also his exit.

Exiting the hall, Simon was back to the place where the Altar was. Since there was no other exit out of the hall, it meant that the other door which was yet to be opened, was the exit.

He was proven right when he opened the door to the left, there was a teleportation circle right in the middle of the room.

Simon did not know how to read the ancient text but if he had to guess the text written on the altar it would read as such. In front are two doors, the door to the left leads to the exit while the door to the right takes you to the comb of depraved. Obtain the glistering crystal from the comb to unlock the left door and exit the tomb of burial.

It did not matter if he was wrong and the text on it meant something else, in any case, he had cleared this tomb and got the quest item.

Simon unhesitantly walked in the middle of the teleportation circle and a few seconds later he found himself back in the middle of the wilderness where he found the stone structure. Though the stone structure was now gone, he could still somewhat recognise the place.

-----

The Northern Outlaw Forest, home to many monsters, bandits and all the outlaws. It spanned for hundreds of miles and was an excellent place to hide for those who are wanted or have been branded as a criminal.

Deep inside the forest, there was a town of some sorts ruled by the various factions that had emerged here called the 'Black Town'. Naturally, the town attracted all the criminals/outlaws from all of the regions of the kingdom of Ellesmere.

You would find no good person walking in this town that was filled with crime and murders everywhere. Perhaps you cannot find any other place more barbaric than this town.

There was no law binding anyone within this place. If there was one it would be the law of the jungle that prevailed here. In other words, it meant that the weak were the prey for the strong here. The one with the bigger fist, had the final say, it was that simple.

This place was like a utopia for the rough and tough outlaws where they can do anything they please, kill, steal or rape, they were was no one stopping you as long as you have sufficient strength.

Of course, even if the town was ruled by the primitive law of the jungle, there are certain factions that have rooted themselves deeply here that you cannot dare to offend even if you have hundred times the gall.

Otherwise, you wouldn't live to see the sunlight of the next day. These factions are the true ruler of the northern outlaw forest so much so that their infamy had even spread to the surrounding regions.

It was not like the nobles and the governing authority of the regions surrounding the northern outlaw forest didn't try to eliminate them given the threat they represented. However, the forest was their territory and they banded together to form a big coalition whenever the surrounding region assembled a force to eliminate them.

Thus, they were able to survive the onslaught and become a hegemon in this vast northern outlaw forest.

Other than this aforementioned reason there was another additional reason that the coalition forces never really tried to completely eradicate the town. That reason was none other than the usefulness the town had.

The Black Town was no doubt a dangerous place and a gathering of outlaws. However, it was also an important information exchange point for the kingdom. With all of the outlaws gathering from the various regions of the kingdom and probably even from outside, the town was bound to be circulating with many big and small information.

Even the black market where most of the stolen things, some of which can even be considered treasures flowed and exchanged hands every day was located here.

Of course, there was no reason to mention as to who bought these things. The strong and the governing authority of the surrounding regions might show their disdain openly for the town, but deep down they were the one of the parties profiting from this business.

It was in human nature to love chaos and to seek any possible profit from it. How could they let go of this big temptation that was the 'Black Town'?

Although on the surface they showed that they periodically sent forces to cull down the numbers of the bandits and outlaws that was gathering inside the forest, it was just an act to fool the ordinary mass.

Therefore even though people knew that the place was full of danger, there were still many people that swarmed into this place with various motives in mind.

The 'Black Town' was full of spies and assassins sent by the neighbouring regions.