Strength 99999 but the Holy Sister

"I see, so it's just the goblins?"

"Of course, that's their territory. You know that kind of place is full of traps for them to hunt, so I don't recommend you go there."

Goblins are short, agile monsters that live in groups. Occasionally, evolved individuals are born, but they pose no threat to Elsa, who does not care about this so-called "danger".

"Please take us to the foot of the mountain in the south. Don't worry, I'm a gold medal adventurer."

"Gold medal?" The driver finally revealed a look of surprise, and looked at Elsa carefully. "No wonder... If you're a gold medalist, why didn't you tell me earlier? Haha, okay, sure, I'll take you there."

The driver burst into laughter and stopped trying to persuade him.

The driver drove the carriage for a long time before stopping in front of a patch of light woods. From here, one could look up and see the rising mountainside.

"That's it, ladies," the driver said with a smile, his attitude more familiar than before. "If you want to go to the cemetery, just go straight through. You will see your destination soon."

"Thank you very much, uncle."

"Ha, a small matter."

Aisha gave the driver a tip, and the driver left with a smile and returned the same way.

Elsa and Vivian went straight into the forest.

……

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32. A forest without monsters

There is a winding path in the forest. It looks like it has been abandoned for a long time. The trees on both sides have grown lush and green, and there is no trace of human activity.

"There's a smell of blood here, but it's from the monster. Just be careful."

The smell of human and monster blood is different. Elsa can smell the unique fishy smell of monsters in the air. It is very faint, but it is there.

The forest was quiet. Just as the driver had said, it was filled with traces of goblin activity. Some trees still bore goblin totems and ropes, and sharpened stakes dangled quietly from beneath, revealing the presence of traps. Goblins couldn't craft their own iron, but they did use looted tools to create simple traps and weapons, demonstrating a certain level of intelligence.

Humans like Elsa and Vivian who walk in the forest are sometimes hunted by goblins.

Elsa was naturally not afraid of low-level monsters like goblins. She was ready to drive them away, but she and Vivian had been walking for a while without encountering any goblins.

Not to mention goblins, not even monsters or wild animals were seen. The entire forest was silent, with only the rustling sound of the breeze stirring the leaves.

"It's so quiet... This place must have been cleaned out before we came. The monsters are gone. Maybe they've been attracted by the magic energy in the underground palace."

Aisha observed her surroundings.

"It's a little strange, though. It's a little too quiet here."

Most monsters will instinctively chase after magic. The rich magic in the underground palace will undoubtedly attract monsters into it. Therefore, the monsters near the underground palace usually become very rare. But generally speaking, only those monsters with extremely low intelligence will be foolishly attracted into it and become food for more powerful monsters. Monsters like goblins who live in tribes and have a certain degree of intelligence will often sense the danger and avoid it.

Although goblins are stupid, they are not stupid enough to go to the underground palace and seek death.

So where have all the goblins in the forest gone?

Could it be that the Knights and Magicians had cleared the entire mountain in such a short time? Furthermore, even if the monsters were driven out, the animals wouldn't be as well, right?

But there is nothing here.

Continuing forward, Elsa saw a small goblin settlement. There was no sign of goblins, only two fallen thick trees that crushed the simple huts built of wood, hay, and dead branches.

Moss-covered trees stood in front of them, blocking their way.

Elsa climbed up the fallen tree trunk and turned back to reach out to Vivian.

"Can you come up?"

Vivian hesitated and grabbed Aisha's hand.

"Thanks……"

In fact, Vivian could easily climb up by herself. This height was not a problem for her, but she didn't want to refuse Elsa's kindness.

This was the third time that Elsa had taken the initiative to hold her hand. Vivian thought that nuns often wore gloves, and even through the gloves she could feel the softness and a little coldness of Elsa's palms. These did not seem to be the hands of someone who had been holding a gun for a long time. In comparison, Vivian's own hands were covered with calluses, which were left by long-term training with a staff.

In this regard, Elsa seems to be more feminine, but her mother said that such a person is weak in energy and blood, and is not suitable for practicing martial arts, but should learn magic.

Does Aisha know this herself? Looking at the spear behind Aisha, Vivian couldn't help but feel a little worried.

If she encountered troublesome monsters, she might as well handle it herself. This was the only thing Vivian had more experience with and could help with, she thought.

Climbing up the tree trunk, Vivian subconsciously followed Elsa and stayed close to her.

Elsa didn't notice Vivian's little movement. She just looked into the depths of the dense forest. Compared with the great forest west of Weilin Town, the trees and plants here didn't seem so strong, and the view was much wider. Elsa could clearly see places far away - she still didn't find any monsters.

Elsa frowned slightly.

Vivian's eyes never left Elsa. She quickly noticed the doubt on Elsa's face. After hesitating for a moment, she mustered up the courage and took the initiative to express her concern: "What, what's wrong..."

"There are no monsters, birds, or other animals here."

"Well……"

Vivian also noticed this situation, but she didn't know how to respond - she really didn't know how to chat, and she didn't know whether to agree or say something else. In her opinion, there were sometimes no animals in the forest because they didn't want to get close to the witch's home.

Elsa didn't know what Vivian was thinking. She jumped off the tree trunk and squatted down to check the ground. There were some traces of bare feet and blunt objects left under the leaves, but they didn't look fresh.

"These goblins seem to have been gone for a while. I guess the same is true for the other monsters... It's really strange. This place always makes me feel very uncomfortable."

It is common sense that there are animals and monsters in the forest. If there are none, it is abnormal.

But when Elsa felt it on the spot, she found that the faint feeling of discomfort was sometimes far away and sometimes distant, making it difficult for Elsa to tell what the cause was.

She shook her head.

"Let's go to the underground palace first."

……

As the driver said, this was a shortcut, at least much faster than entering the forest from the west.

After passing through the goblin's territory and crossing the mountainside, Elsa and Vivian soon arrived at their destination - the cemetery underground palace.

Before entering the underground palace, one needs to undergo identity verification at the gathering place. When Elsa arrived, there were a dozen figures dressed as adventurers gathered here. In addition, there were people from the Magician Corps and the Knights who were responsible for maintaining order on the scene. People from the Church could also be seen - they set up camp here, representing the local nobles, tycoons and the forces controlled by the Church.

Elsa found a woman from the magician group nearby and asked her about the disappearance of monsters in the forest.

Because Elsa was a nun in the church, the female magician did not doubt Elsa's words, but shook her head in surprise.

"The monster disappeared? Sorry... We didn't extend the defense line. This probably wasn't done by our people. I only found out about this today..."

"Is that so? Then has anything strange happened recently?"

Aisha felt that she might have asked too much.

"Honestly, we don't have the energy to investigate beyond the underground palace... We're short-handed," the female mage said with a helpless expression. "But I did hear from the senior on duty that there haven't been any monster attacks on the camp recently. Maybe there's some connection."

The female mage continued.

"In short, this matter is indeed a bit unusual. I will report it to our leader and deputy leader for you."

"In that case, I'll trouble you."

"You're welcome."

Elsa would have nothing to worry about if someone from the Magician Corps could handle the matter - compared to Elsa who only knew how to fight, those who knew magic were the experts in this area.

……

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33. New Panel Data

The gathering place was only a few hundred meters away from the underground palace. Elsa and Vivian naturally walked together and followed the team to the entrance of the underground palace.

The entrance to the underground palace is a cave extending into the ground. The diameter of the cave is about 20 meters. The place where the tombs should have been has been replaced by a tiankeng like an abyss. Looking down, there is a chaotic darkness. The collapsed tombstones are scattered in a mess in the nearby area. There is turned soil and grass everywhere. The huge ancient trees are tilted due to the collapse of the soil, as if they are about to be sucked into the ground by the underground palace.

If you look down from the sky, you will find a huge, irregularly shaped cave in the forest, like a dark pupil staring at the sky.

Most of the adventurers and mercenaries were here for the first time, and they shuddered at the sight of the huge pit.

Vivian unconsciously leaned towards Aisha.

Directly above this huge dark cave entrance, a wooden platform used an elevator to send people down to the underground palace, and those people were quickly swallowed up by the dark shadows.

Those wooden supports and elevators seemed to have been strengthened with magic, but the thin support points still gave people a very unreliable feeling.

Soon, it was Aisha and Vivian's turn.

"You two in a team?" After checking Elsa and Vivian's documents, the elevator operator glanced at them for a moment longer. "Then be careful. Light the torches as soon as you get down. Even though there are only some dead monsters down there for now, don't underestimate them. May the goddess bless you."

Elsa and Vivian stepped onto the elevator. Vivian looked down at her feet—the dark abyss was expanding, as if a huge, deep, empty eye was staring at her.

She pursed her lips and unconsciously clutched the hem of her clothes.

At this moment, a soft touch wrapped around her hand. She subconsciously wanted to pull it back, raised her eyes, and happened to meet Elsa's golden eyes.

"Is this your first time?"

Aisha asked.

Vivian nodded, looking a little nervous.

Aisha gently raised her hand and smiled, "Don't worry, hold my hand, close your eyes, and we'll be in soon."

Vivian pursed her lips and moved cautiously towards Elsa.

As the elevator descended, Vivian could clearly feel the temperature dropping, and the strong smell of blood and the stench of rotting plant roots in the soil hit her face.

The elevator slowly stopped.

"Be careful."

Elsa lit the torch first and jumped down the elevator, followed by Vivian.

"The oxygen here is thinner than outside, but it's okay. It seems the magicians have built a magical device for air circulation here."

Elsa pulled the rope next to the elevator, and the people on top slowly pulled the elevator up.

"Yang Qi...?"

Vivian didn't understand what Elsa said, and Elsa smiled awkwardly.

In fact, Elsa came to the underground palace with an idea in mind - she wondered if she could encounter monsters in the underground palace that could give her experience points, just like the "Filthy One" last time. It would be best if she could level up a few levels, gain more magic points, and then learn magic.

But Elsa didn't hold out much hope. After all, she had been to the underground palace before, but didn't get any experience points.

"Anyway, let's move forward. The monsters here should have been cleared out by those ahead of us—but we still have to be careful. The underground palace is huge, and there will definitely be some that slip through the net."

Aisha held the torch high and looked around.

This is a fairly large underground space with an uneven ground. Under the soil are rocks, and there are things that look like tree roots everywhere. Those "roots" grow in an arch shape, supporting this area. Connecting this hollow are a total of seven dark corridors, and the entrances of the corridors are covered with plant roots.

"Looks like we need to choose a direction. Why not choose the one on the far right? The airflow there is denser, and there should be a larger space underneath. Perhaps it's the 'first floor'."

Aisha suggested, and Vivian just nodded.

The crypt is a vast underground area composed of "bubbles" that are the same or similar to this one. These spaces are caused by the expansion of the earth's veins due to congestion. When the miasma was cleared by the magician group, it became like this. Therefore, in order to facilitate distinction, the crypt is artificially divided into multiple "layers".

The deeper you go, the closer you get to the earth veins, the stronger the monsters will be, and the more abundant the products like magic ore will be.

Elsa walked straight into the corridor on the far right with a torch, and Vivian followed closely behind. Soon, as the underground corridor narrowed, the torches were able to illuminate the surrounding space.

"Some adventurers use magical lighting devices instead of torches. Generally speaking, that's more convenient, but since we're here for training, we can use torches to get used to it. Let your eyes get used to the underground palace's environment, use your ears to hear, and your senses of smell and taste are also very important. We need to hone our perception abilities to prepare for any danger that may occur at any time."

Aisha explained to Vivian as they walked.

"Of course, we also need to prepare a magic device. It will be very useful in actual combat."

It was Vivian's first time in the underground palace, and she listened attentively to the things rarely mentioned in books. The things Elsa told Vivian were all her own experiences. Back then, Elsa was far less powerful than she is now, and exploring the underground palace alone did encounter many difficulties.

At this time, the light of the torch vaguely illuminated a bright red bloodstain. The pungent smell of blood filled the air, mixed with the stench of the soil in the underground palace.

Aisha and Vivian stopped and saw the corpse of a monster appear in front of them.

"These are probably the corpses of undead creatures," Elsa said, looking around. "There must have been a battle here, but the adventurers didn't clean up the bodies properly. In the underground palace, such corpses will continue to absorb magic energy and may even be resurrected."

As soon as Elsa finished speaking, a burst of dense footsteps came quickly towards Elsa and Vivian. The footsteps were light and fast, accompanied by a low roar, and a distorted half-human, half-beast monster appeared in their sight.

"Y-It's a monster..."

The light of the torches reflected in Vivian's eyes. She stared anxiously at the indistinct monster, then looked at Elsa, who was too calm.

"Whatever you say comes true."