Feeling the tremors beneath his feet, Ed thought that a new Undead Monster might appear. He positioned Melissa behind him, drew his fine steel sword, and remained on high alert.

After a long while, there were no significant changes in the dark underground cave.

The Undead Hunter Knight, riding a Skeleton Warhorse, occasionally turned his head to glance at the cave behind him.

Leon, sneering, raised his golden-glowing sword and pointed it at the Undead Hunter Knight, saying with a smile,

"Ha, I thought something would happen. Stop making a scene here! Watch this!"

Without hesitation, Leon swung his golden sword and charged at the Undead Hunter Knight.

The Undead Hunter, however, chose to avoid the attack. He swiftly turned his Skeleton Warhorse and retreated back into the Undead Legion.

Leon's eyes were filled with excitement. He turned to Finniel and shouted,

"With me here, the Undead Monsters in this place won't dare to face me head-on!"

However, Finniel was not looking at Leon. Instead, she was focused on Ed and Eng, listening to their conversation.

Ed, ever cautious, spoke up,

"That Undead Hunter Knight's behavior earlier was clearly abnormal. Despite being outclassed by us, he showed no fear whatsoever."

"And that sudden tremor—it's likely the reason why the Undead Hunter Knight decided to leave."

Eng nodded in agreement, sensing something was off as well.

But abandoning the mission now was not an option. They had already entered the Underground Undead Cavern, and if they turned back, the Undead Monsters might relocate elsewhere and hide. Furthermore, they couldn't afford to delay matters related to the Holy City. Eng pondered for a moment, about to give an order, when he heard Leon's dismissive voice.

Leon looked at Ed and said directly,

"Ed, that Undead Hunter Knight was clearly afraid of my strength and chose to leave. There's no danger here at all!"

"If it's too much for you, you can just leave. I'll even pay you the mission's bounty!"

Ed didn't respond to Leon's mockery. He merely glanced at Melissa. Seeing the determination in her eyes, Ed let out a small sigh and quietly said to Melissa,

"We can continue, but you must follow my orders. If there's significant danger, we leave immediately."

Melissa nodded firmly. She gazed at Ed and said slowly,

"I will, Ed. Thank you..."

Ed waved his hand. Melissa had helped him a lot, and how could he turn a blind eye when she needed him?

At this moment, Eng issued an order, shouting loudly,

"Everyone, attack together! Eliminate these Undead Monsters and keep moving forward!"

Perhaps it was Leon's words earlier, or the image of the Undead Hunter Knight choosing to leave, but the other Hunters present seemed to relax a little, feeling that the mission would likely go smoothly without any surprises.

They fought with great effort, and within about ten minutes, the blocking Undead Legion was taken care of.

Part of the reason was that Leon's sword was particularly effective against the Undead Monsters, while the Morton Family's guards also took action to speed up the elimination of the Undead Monsters.

Almost no one was injured, and the group continued deeper into the cave.

Along the way, Leon occasionally made sarcastic remarks, all aimed at Ed. The general gist was:

"Heroes are meant to charge forward without hesitation, leading others to defeat everything!"

"Anyone who keeps saying 'it's dangerous here, dangerous there' is just a coward. Only someone as strong as me can protect everyone's safety!"

Many of the Hunters chimed in, agreeing with Leon. Ed didn't want to argue. In fact, he was curious to see if, when they truly faced extreme danger, Leon would live up to his words and charge forward without hesitation!

As they ventured deeper into the underground, the other Hunters began to feel unwell. One of them quietly murmured,

"This is so strange... I feel like I'm surrounded by moonlight. It's cold, draining, and strangely uncomfortable!"

"Yeah, I thought it was just my imagination, but it seems I'm not the only one who feels this way!"

"This is odd... What's going on?"

Eng and the others also sensed something was off, but as Gold-level Hunter guards, they couldn't explain the phenomenon. It was Melissa, however, who seemed to have figured something out. She whispered to Ed,

"Undead Monsters need to absorb energy from the moonlight. It's likely that the environment here is special, able to gather and concentrate the moonlight's energy. The deeper we go, the stronger the moonlight energy becomes!"

"That would explain why so many Undead Monsters, even Elf Undead, are born here."

When she mentioned the Elf Undead, the sadness on Melissa's face was very apparent.

Ed wanted to know what connection Melissa had with the elves, but since she wasn't willing to talk about it now, he didn't push the matter.

Compared to the others, Ed felt unusually good. He had no discomfort whatsoever. In fact, he felt that his strength was increasing, and he was in peak condition to perform even better.

Throughout the journey, they didn't encounter any more Undead Monsters. Apart from the initial white bone vines and the Undead Legion, it seemed as though all other Undead Monsters had disappeared.

The group continued their exploration, and soon, a strange sound echoed through the air, like the grinding of rolling stones against the ground, coming from not too far away.

The unusual sound immediately made everyone tense up. The calm atmosphere vanished, and a faint blue glow began to appear in the distance.

About three minutes later, Eng, Ed, Leon, Melissa, Finniel, and the other Hunters reached the source of the strange sound.

Just a glance, and everyone present was left in stunned silence.

What appeared before them was a river completely made up of countless white bones!

The pale blue ghostly flames were the only light in the darkness, casting an eerie and chilling aura over the flowing bones, giving them a terrifying, cold, and sinister feel.

Some were so stunned they took a few steps back, murmuring in disbelief,

"Are... are these bones human?"

"How many people must have died here?"

Ed furrowed his brow. He took the initiative to step forward, bypassing Leon who stood frozen in place, and carefully examined the bones.

What struck him as odd was that not only human bones were present, but there were also many bones from creatures he couldn't identify. They looked hideously grotesque and unique.

Melissa followed Ed and stood beside the River of White Bones. Her recognition skills were clearly better than Ed's. She said,

"Apart from human bones, there are many from other creatures. For example, that's a troll's leg bone, that's a dwarf's skull, and there are bones from elves, giants, orcs..."

"This should be an Ancient Battlefield!"

Ancient Battlefield?

Ed furrowed his brows again. The Underground Undead Cavern turned out to be an Ancient Battlefield, involving trolls, dwarves, elves, giants, orcs, and more. It was simply unbelievable.

The others were equally shocked. Eng frowned and asked,

"Miss Melissa, can you determine how long these bones have been here?"

Melissa shook her head. She could only identify some of the bones and which races they belonged to, but beyond that, she wasn't sure.

The River of White Bones made the atmosphere feel heavy for the Hunters. Many of them exchanged glances, their eyes filled with thoughts of retreat.

Eng, keenly aware of the situation, spoke up:

"If anyone wants to retreat now, I won't stop you. However, those who choose to back out will receive no reward. With Leon's sword and our four Gold-level Hunter guards, it's unlikely that anything unexpected will happen on this mission."

"As for the powerful Undead Monsters, you won't need to fight them. Just focus on clearing out the lower-level Undead Monsters."

The Hunters who had considered retreating gritted their teeth and nodded, refraining from speaking the words of giving up.

Melissa, however, looked at Ed with some anxiety and softly said,

"Ed, maybe we should go back. You're here to help me, and I don't want you to really be in danger."

This time, it was Ed who didn't want to leave.

[Distance to high-tier Silver breakthrough: 18%]

His progress had automatically increased!

It was worth noting that Ed hadn't been using the Moonlight Meditation Technique to cultivate or increase his progress. The special environment here was so potent that he didn't even need to use the technique to improve. If he left now, it would be such a waste of the opportunity!

Moreover, Ed had a feeling that if he continued deeper into this Ancient Battlefield within the Underground Undead Cavern, his progress would increase even faster!

In addition, in this environment, Ed didn't feel weakened. Instead, he felt that his physical state had reached its peak, enabling him to perform beyond his usual capabilities.

Without hesitation, Ed replied,

"It's fine, let's move forward a bit more."

Upon hearing Ed's answer, Melissa's expression became quite complicated. She stared at him for a long time before finally saying,

"Alright."

After a brief discussion, the group decided to follow the direction of the River of White Bones. The Elf Undead should be in that area.

As they continued forward, the expressions of the other Hunters grew increasingly uncomfortable. They could feel their strength being affected.

Fortunately, no Undead Monsters had appeared along the way, allowing the Hunters to avoid fighting. Their stamina hadn't been drained, and they were still in relatively good shape.

Soon, something even more shocking appeared before everyone's eyes.

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