The sky of the Northern Ionian Mountains becomes dim every late autumn: the snow clouds and mist from the north are like the unwillingness and sorrow that lingers in every corner of the world, floating forever in the sky of this coastal mountainous area.

Gasha has never liked snow. Before being adopted by the professor, he was an orphan wandering in the sewers of the mobile urban cluster in the south. He relied on doing things for gangs and thieves to make a living... Snow means cold, his fingers will stiffen, his body will tremble, his movements will slow, and his thinking will solidify.

The snowfall lasts too long, and the cold air makes sub-dragons like him drowsy and prone to cold and fever.

And that means death.

For a barbarian who has no father or mother and no identity certificate, whether he is unable to work and starve to death, or dies of illness, the ending is the same.

The threat of death... He hasn't felt this way for a long time... Three years, four years? Since he was rescued from the filthy slums and sewers by the professor and accepted as an apprentice, he has become accustomed to not worrying about survival, but focusing on studying and living.

But now...

"Gasha...Dean...Why is this happening..."

The boy with white hair... or boy was sobbing in a low voice, his blue eyes were filled with tears, but they did not drip.

Although he was crying, his hands were very stable. Loya was assembling a small magic refrigerator at a speed that ordinary people could not reproduce, and was ready to be placed in the sarcophagus to preserve the professor's body.

Due to the sudden frost disaster, the gate of the ruins collapsed. Now the entire exploration team is trapped in this ancient ruin of the last era, and I don’t know when I will go out.

But even if I don’t know if I can go out alive, I can’t let the professor’s body corrupt. Not only them, but the children in the yard are also waiting for the professor to go back.

Even if...it's just a corpse.

Crack. Luoya has assembled a magic energy cooler. The crystal in the center of the small square alchemy device is flashing with an ice blue light like his eyes, and freezing air like a cold disaster outside.

Seeing this scene, Gasha couldn't help but think: "He is always so clever and has amazing talent in alchemy engineering...and he is always a good child."

Loya is indeed a good boy. When she is still struggling to survive in the sewer and is chased by local gangs, Loya will help inform her, bring some black liba and clean water.

My father was once an alchemist in the Ching of Light, Loya, who was literate and educated. If he had time, he would even study for himself, teach him to write and sing.

If his parents had not died in a battle between the demonized and the city-state security regiment, he would not have fallen to the point of entering the slums.

And myself...

"Gasha, help me move the surface of the stone coffin..."

Standing shakingly, the white-haired boy wiped his eyes: "It's too heavy, I can't lift it. Please help put the magic energy cooler in...Woooo...Dean..."

As he said that, he fell into sadness again.

"Loya, stop crying... I can't let the professor come alive even if I cry."

In response to this, the boy with black hair and dark golden pupils could only sigh lightly, suppressing his confusion, took the magic refrigerator from the other party, and then walked towards the sarcophagus while comforting the other party: "We must stay calm now and protect the professor's body and go back..."

Although it is not much higher than Loa, as a dragon, Gasha is stronger than many adults. He is good at using shields and hammers, and even during training, he is praised for his potential to become a real knight in the future.

Although everyone knows that a patient with demonized disease will never become a knight, and at most he will be a mercenary, this also proves his potential.

"But, Gasha... can we survive without the dean?"

He held back his sobs, not naive, and even considered premature wise, said in a daze: "This mission, this mission is simply not right! It is obvious that he just said that he would explore ancient ruins, why did he suddenly become so dangerous?"

"The adults of the exploration team have been unearthed since they discovered the 'iron coffin' in the ruins with the dean, and the atmosphere has become wrong... Aunt Yelena was originally very gentle, but now, although it has not changed on the surface, I can feel that she has become dangerous..."

"Now there is no enough dry food and water. Gasha, I still remember the famine of the dean that year. Uncle Leov was originally very nice to us, but later he wanted to eat us... Will we..."

As he said that, Loya closed her eyes to prevent tears from flowing out, and he murmured in a low voice: "I want to eat vegetable soup and bread made by Aunt Sophia..."

"I……"

Gasha, who is not good at speaking, opened his mouth and didn't know how to answer.

Although it is indeed fear, it is not fragile.

In the ancient ruins far from home, located in the Ionian Mountains near the depths of the quiet glaciers, two children, who had no twenty-eight years old, lost their support, and anxiety and confusion were normal.

Moreover, Loya is right.

This time, something was wrong with the ruins exploration.

The children in the yard didn't know what the professor did before establishing an orphanage, but his old friends often came to visit him and called him a professor or a tutor.

He did teach orphanage children a variety of knowledge, so some children called them the dean, and some children called them the professor.

Maintaining orphanages and teaching requires money. Although professors have savings, it is obviously impossible to maintain the operation of the hospital for a long time.

So every few months, the professor will go out and act with some acquaintances or strangers.

As the two largest and smartest children in the orphanage, Gasha and Loya can already help the professor deal with some problems in alchemy and exploration. They are basically apprentices, so they are occasionally taken by the professor to perform tasks.

Most of the tasks are to go to some ancient ruins and analyze some ancient documents, murals, and various creations that look big.

There is no need to parse, just sort it and store it.

This is all easy and has a considerable income, which is enough to support the normal operation of the orphanage.

In the process, both Loya and Gasha have been trained. They can help the professor handle almost all the chores and basic work. In the next few years, they may be able to carry out related tasks alone.

This is probably the reason why the professor took them to act.

But some time ago, because there were too many rebels, the empire increased its income from large war taxes.

In order not to be deprived of titles, the rulers of the mobile city-state where the orphanage was located also began to impose taxes.

The orphanage was also found, and the rude tax officer issued an ultimatum: If the orphanage cannot pay the full amount of taxes according to the heads of the yard, then all the boys in the orphanage will be taken to work in the farms and mining areas on the Simov plains until they die, and the girl will be taken to act as military prostitutes.

Children should be tax-free, but it is useless to reason with them. In this world, whatever the empire and nobles say is the truth.

As a last resort, the professor had to speed up his work, but this kind of work was hard to come by. After completing all the relevant tasks, the tax was still half the difference.

Fortunately, at this moment, a reliable Wandering Knight, the extraordinary man named Yelena, found the professor and said that he had a rather dangerous but extremely rewarding task.

She invited a team of elites to explore an ancient ruin from the previous era in the Ionian Mountains northwest of the mainland. As a well-known scholar of ancient civilization and former vice president of the Imperial Alchemy Association, the professor was naturally the most important of all personnel, so he came here to invite him in person.

In order to show sincerity, she even paid some remuneration in advance: this could block most of the tax gap. If the full payment is received, the orphanage could even renovate the accommodation building!

At this point, the professor could no longer refuse. He was ready to go, brought a full set of tools, and even purchased a set of equipment for both apprentices, Gasha and Luoya, and then set off with Yelena.

So it's too suspicious, from the beginning.

The right high reward, the mysterious ancient ruins mission, the ancient text that only professors can understand, the metal coffin brought back from the depths of the earth... and the professor who clearly had no wounds on his body, but was extremely weak and eventually died.

Boom, boom... the entire ruins were trembling, and even the sarcophagus placed beside them was slightly shaking, just like the person inside was moving.

It was a natural disaster, a "frost natural disaster" that was raging outside the ruins and around the entire mountain range.

Due to the conflict between the Demon Moon and the Holy Sun, terrifying disasters often occur on this continent named "Aion". Although most of the disasters only occur in fixed areas, they are also scary enough.

In addition, in recent days, the glory of the Holy Sun has faded, and the frequency and location of natural disasters have begun to become less stable.

Frost natural disasters, as one of the most terrifying natural disasters in the northern region, are manifested in a form similar to the huge hailstones condensed from the sky, falling from the sky to the ground. This is irresistible destruction, and no city wall or shield can resist it.

Everyone in the exploration team was already preparing to end their return, but they were locked in the remains by this sudden natural disaster.

There was even a huge hail storm that smashed the ruins in the mountain, leaving everyone trapped in the ruins and unable to get out at all.

"...If the natural disaster does not end again and we have not found another passage to get out of the ruins, then when the dry food is finished, we will really start eating people next."

Holding the magic refrigerator tightly in his hand, Gasha's heart was colder than it: "I am a demonizer. If I had no choice, normal people would not be able to contact the demonizer, let alone eat my flesh. But Luoya is not. He even has elf blood... No, this is unacceptable!"

Compared to himself, he was more concerned about the safety of his friends. The black-haired boy subconsciously gritted his teeth and almost crushed the magic refrigerator in his hand.

Even if he died, he could not allow Loya to encounter such a thing!

But at this moment, I suddenly heard a few heavy knocks.

"Dong, dun, dun."

There was a sound coming from the sarcophagus that came out of the center of the room.

The voice immediately interrupted Gasha's worries and Loya's confusion. Both children raised their heads and looked at the location of the sarcophagus in confusion.

After a while, the two of them exclaimed in surprise.

"Move, move?"

"The professor's coffin board actually moved!"

Swish! At the first moment, Gasha picked up his shield and hammer from the side, staring at that direction with a nervous expression: "Is it the undead?!"

This shield was a fine iron shield selected by the professor himself. For him now, it is a large shield that can cover his whole body. When he becomes an adult, he can continue to use it, and ordinary people can't move at all.

However, even the iron shield that cannot be penetrated by arrows and magic guns cannot deal with the invisible and intangible undead - the rotten body of the undead is not worth worrying about. What is really terrifying is their weakest and can naturally reach the "soul-condensing level"!

The undead is a monster that can only appear in places with extremely high magic concentration, and this ruin happens to be extremely high magic concentration. In addition, the frost and natural disasters outside bring natural magic power like sea tides. If the professor really becomes undead... it is really not surprising.

"Didn't it be that the professor is not dead?"

But on the other side, Loya stood up, her blue eyes full of joy - the boy was optimistic about his thoughts, and he didn't expect anything about the dead, and even began to take a step forward quickly towards the sarcophagus.

Of course, Gasha stopped the other party.

"How long has the professor stopped breathing? How could he not die?"

The boy from the Dragon carefully held a shield in one hand and a hammer in the other, slowly approaching the sarcophagus. He was used to life and death in the slums, of course he knew what it would be like after death. Although the weather was cold and the professor's body had not begun to change, his blood had long stopped flowing, and it was impossible for the extraordinary to save him.

He wanted to let Loya go away, but he thought of the current sinister situation of the exploration team, so he did not continue to speak.

"Dongdongdongdongdongdong!"

At this moment, the sarcophagus moved even more violently, which was a different shaking from the entire ruins under natural disasters. It was obvious that someone inside was trying to open the sarcophagus, but they were not sure about it.
To be continued...