Faced with unknown danger and even greater profit, these awakeners all chose temporary cooperation.

After all, no matter how many gold coins one earned, there was one prerequisite.

One had to still be alive to spend them.

Thus, under the leadership of a veteran awakener, the awakeners split into five groups and began carefully searching the entire chapel hall.

At first, they were extremely cautious, afraid that they might accidentally trigger some hidden mechanism.

However, half an hour later, they were shocked to discover that this place was simply empty.

There were no damn mechanisms at all.

As a result, quite a few awakeners began speeding up their progress, exploring the inner areas of the chapel.

But after searching around, they found absolutely nothing!

At this moment, the awakeners gathered once again in the center of the hall.

"Everyone, speak up. Did you discover anything?"

"Discover my ass. I suspect we’ve been set up by the Instance!"

"I suggest we enter the second floor as soon as possible. There’s nothing on the first floor. Maybe the monsters and treasures are all hidden on the second floor!"

"I agree. We need to move quickly!"

...

Thus, without any further delay, the awakeners made their decision.

They all walked toward the staircase.

However, the moment they stepped onto the stairs, strange expressions appeared on their faces.

Especially when they saw that the staircase ahead had been completely destroyed, their faces flushed red with anger.

"No, seriously, who the hell is sick in the head? Why would anyone blow up the stairs?"

"We finally entered a hidden area, and someone directly blew up the staircase? Can you act like a human being? This is basically malicious competition!"

"Which ruthless bastard gave themselves absolutely no way out? Did they not think about how they were going to leave the Instance later?"

"Brother, did you forget that Instances have a maximum stay time? Once it exceeds forty-eight hours, you’ll be forcibly teleported out."

...

At this moment, the awakeners present were almost driven mad with anger.

However, faced with the situation before them, they had no real solution.

After all, most awakeners did not possess creation-related abilities. They needed a specialized Builder-class awakener to come in before the bridge could be repaired.

"Stop standing around! Hurry up and contact a Builder to come in. Otherwise, this trip will have been for nothing!"

"I have a friend who’s a Builder. I’ll contact him right now!"

...

Just as these awakeners were discussing how to repair the stairs, a violent explosion suddenly came from directly above their heads!

Boom!

At that moment, the entire Ruined Chapel even trembled slightly.

The awakeners staggered all over the place, and many of them directly fell to the ground.

"What’s going on upstairs? Are they trying to tear down the Ruined Chapel?"

"Damn it! This hidden area really does have monsters. They were just cleared out by someone ahead of us!"

"Do you think there’s a possibility that the hidden area upstairs is actually the Dead Zone?"

When someone mentioned the words "Dead Zone," the originally furious expressions on the awakeners’ faces suddenly became somewhat unnatural.

Dead Zone?

Could this place really be the Dead Zone?

Regarding the Dead Zone, there had always been a legend about it in the [Raise Undead] Instance.

It was said that somewhere within the entire Instance, there existed a Dead Zone, and that it was also where the true boss was hidden.

Over all these years, it was not that no one had discovered this place.

Rather, everyone who discovered it had died.

According to the few legends about the Dead Zone, it did seem to mention a chapel, undead...

Could it be...!?

A storm immediately surged in everyone’s hearts, while the battle above their heads was still raging fiercely.

For a moment, they subconsciously held their breath.

"Brothers, could this place really be the Dead Zone? If it is, I think we should retreat first."

"Yeah. In the Dead Zone, aside from the lucky ones who withdrew at the very beginning, not a single person has ever made it out alive!"

"Stop being so suspicious. Our luck can’t possibly be that bad! Besides, are you really willing to withdraw just like this?"

"What’s there to be unwilling about? We can enter once every month anyway. At worst, we’ll just fight again next month. What’s the big deal?"

"I’m still not willing. No matter what, I have to go take a look!"

While the awakeners were engaged in heated discussion, the battle on the second floor of the Ruined Chapel had already entered its most intense stage.

Caelan still had not made a move. Instead, he allowed Alyssa to launch her attacks against the [Archbishop Wraith].

As the boss guarding the second floor, the strength of the [Archbishop Wraith] was beyond question.

The only thing Caelan could not understand no matter how he thought about it was why the skills used by this [Archbishop Wraith] were all corruption and darkness-type skills.

Was it because he had become an undead?

Or was it because he had fallen?

Caelan shook his head, temporarily putting aside those messy thoughts.

His gaze subconsciously shifted toward the battlefield not far away.

At this moment, Alyssa was also caught in an intense battle.

Unlike her earlier ease, the current Alyssa was absolutely using her full strength.

The [Archbishop Wraith] not only attacked in bizarre ways, but also possessed a large number of damage-reduction and health-recovery skills.

Even more bug-like was the fact that every time Alyssa painstakingly forced his HP below 60%, he would devour a small [Choir Wraith] from the choir classroom nearby.

And after devouring the wraith, his HP would instantly return to full.

On the other side, Caelan frowned slightly when he saw this.

The situation before him was actually already very clear.

The [Archbishop Wraith] was not Alyssa’s match. It was merely relying on constantly devouring [Choir Wraiths] to stall for time.

So this battle had basically entered garbage time.

The problem was...

Those Builders should be arriving soon.

Moreover, Caelan did not want to waste precious time over such a minor matter.

Thus, he immediately said,

"Alyssa, step aside for now. I believe you’ve already tested your current strength. Now we need to finish it off completely."

"Also, your understanding of [Infinite Lightblade] still isn’t perfect. Next, I’ll demonstrate it for you. Watch carefully and pay attention to the technique behind the force."

As he spoke, Caelan had already gripped his longsword with one hand.

The next moment, he casually swung it.

A dazzling sun rose on the second floor of the chapel!

"Praise the sun, fallen archbishop!"