Chapter 85: Orcs (II)

Now, this is really troublesome…
Looking at the room, which had once been quite empty, now crowded with people—assuming those things that crawled out of the wooden coffins could even be called people—even Argus, whose strength far surpassed that of a grand mage, couldn’t help but show signs of concern, not to mention the nine powerful orcs floating in mid-air.
“What exactly are these guys?” Connel frowned and stepped back a few steps, gripping his claws cautiously as he stared at his enemies.
Were they puppets?
Connel guessed secretly, because those things that emerged from the coffins weren’t all men; there were also women—extremely alluring and beautiful women.
The men had handsome faces and tall, slender builds, while the women were enchanting and radiant, exuding dazzling charm. Most of them wore black formal wear from centuries ago, with some wrapped in black outer cloaks with red interiors. Their pale skin, sharp teeth visible above their lips, and the faint scent of blood around them all indicated that they were not ordinary humans!
Could it be… vampires?!
A word suddenly popped into Connel’s mind.
Of course, Connel didn’t mistake those beings for his kind. On the contrary, he had never truly admitted to being a vampire. Just like many Gangrel in history, they could barely accept being werewolves but couldn’t stand calling themselves vampires, because werewolves still retained some semblance of humanity, but vampires… they were completely beyond humancategory.
But they didn’t seem strong…
Connel found it strange, as those suspected vampires didn’t have strong bodies. If they were vampires like him…
Wait… Could they be Gangrel vampires formed from dead werewolves?
But… besides Gangrel, were there other types of vampires in the world?
“My servants, kill all humans who set foot in this area!” Craig Hardlor, one of the orcs floating in mid-air, gave the order to attack.
But strangely, those vampires that crawled out of the coffins seemed not to hear him. They stared around blankly, then, with an inexplicable joy, chatted happily with their kind in a language others couldn’t understand, which surprised Argus and the others.

“What’s going on here?” Listening to those vampire-like figures talking in groups in an incomprehensible language, Argus had a strange illusion that he was attending some boring noble party.
“Foolish idiots!” The lurcher Hadrolor’s grotesque skull seemed to show an expression of anger as he roared at the vampires, “Kill all humans, you fools! Do you really want to experience the terrible consequences of defying your master?!”
Suddenly, the entire room fell silent. The vampires, dressed like ancient nobles, gave Hadrolor a look filled with indescribable expressions before turning their gazes uniformly toward Argus and his companions.
“Is it time to fight?” Argus wore a bitter smile, already anticipating a fierce battle. Glancing at the nine lurchers floating in the air, he licked his lips and whispered, “Connel, I leave these guys to you. Pule, do your best to help Connel hold them off!”
“What about you?” Pule asked with a frown. “Are you sure you can deal with nine powerful lurchers at once?”
“Sure?” Argus smiled and whispered, “How can I know unless I try?”
“You might die…”
“No,” Argus glanced at Pule with an inexplicable expression and said softly, “I won’t die. I have reasons why I absolutely must survive! Go help Connel…”
Glancing at Argus, who was ready to fight, Connel thought for a moment before saying firmly, “You can choose to leave. This is my fight…”
“Ah ah ah, do you think I want to stay here?” Argus glanced at Connel mockingly before saying seriously, “Trust me, Connel. If it weren’t for today, I would have left right away—I have no need to be enemies with such powerful guys!” He paused briefly before turning his attention to the nine lurchers floating in the air and said self-mockingly, “But now… since you’ve agreed to be my companion for now… Honestly, I’m starting to regret it…”
Looking deeply at Argus, Connel took a deep breath and whispered, “I won’t owe you anything. It’s just a deal between us: you help me fulfill a long-held wish, and I’ll help you solve some problems…”
“Yes, yes, I know…”
“Though… I’ve changed my mind a bit about you. You’re not that annoying after all…”

“Hey! Is that considered praise? That’s too much…” Argus smiled slightly and was about to say something when Pule interrupted him.
“I’m sorry to interrupt your emotional exchange, but I think it’s better to discuss this after we leave here alive!” With a stern look in his eyes, Pule added, “They’re coming!”
As soon as he spoke, Connel instinctively felt a sharp, needle-like pain in his mind. Before he could recover from the dizziness, a cold, sharp claw pierced his abdomen.
What speed!
Looking at the owner of that cold claw—a woman with an alluring appearance—Connel was shocked. He instinctively swung his elbow, but the woman had already stepped back, standing about three or four yards away from Connel, licking the blood on her hand with her bright red tongue.
Damn it!
Connel smirked coldly. The wound in his abdomen healed at an astonishing speed, returning to its original state in the blink of an eye.
“It’s my turn!” With a growl, Connel’s eyes flashed with a ferocity akin to that of a hungry wolf. In a flash, he disappeared from his spot. His powerful Gungro physique allowed him to move through the vampires at a speed impossible to detect by the naked eye. By the time he returned, he was holding one vampire in each hand and biting the woman who had hurt him.
“Crack! Crack!” Amidst a few screams, Connel easily broke the throats of the two vampires he was holding. The female vampire was also killed by his bite. After all, he had sworn by his soul not to harm innocent humans—not vampires or werewolves, who were never creatures of love!
Yet vampires remained vampires. Within seconds, the three vampires killed by Connel opened their eyes again and pierced his body with their cold claws.
“Tch!” Feeling the cold claws inside him and seeing the mocking looks on the faces of the two men he held, Connel’s anger flared. Ignoring his severe injuries, he used his hands to slam the two vampires’ heads together, then threw them far away. They crashed against the wall with a loud noise. At the same time, he bit down hard, completely tearing apart the female vampire’s throat.
“Thud!” The female vampire collapsed to the ground with her throat severed. Connel licked his blood-stained lips and glared fiercely at the vampires surrounding him.

Although they were all vampires, these vampires were far inferior to Connel, who was a Gungoro, in terms of strength, speed, explosive power, and recovery ability. To reduce the chances of the opponent reviving, Connel could tear apart their bodies with his hands or completely bite through their throats, but those vampires couldn’t truly harm Connel—no matter if their bodies were torn apart or their heads severed, he could still regenerate his body without losing any of his life counts. Only by completely eliminating all the blood that made up his body at once could he truly be killed once. But obviously, these vampires couldn’t do that; at best, they could only drain Connel’s stamina and the blood energy that composed his body. With luck, they might be able to kill him once—this was the horror of being a mutated vampire, a Gungoro. Yet killing him once clearly wouldn’t change anything. “Wow!” Argus let out an exaggerated exclamation after glancing at Connel, who was slaughtering the vampires. Then, as if sensing something, he said in a deep voice, “Pul, back up!” Instantly, the dark power surrounding him surged—pure and profound darkness, like an endless black hole, swallowed up all the bones thrown at him and his companion Pul. “Accept the punishment of death, reptile!” The lich Hadrolor roared angrily. Under the combined attacks of him and eight other liches, Argus quickly fell at a disadvantage. “What on earth is this guy thinking? Tch!” Pul, who had retreated to a corner, frowned. Even if Connel agreed to be their companion temporarily, didn’t he have to go that far? Any normal person would choose to leave, right? Was this guy insane? Tch! What a troublesome guy! Pul shook his head secretly. Then, as if sensing something, he turned to look to his right. There, a vampire was reaching out sharp claws at him. Strangely, those seemingly sharp claws didn’t land on Pul. No—rather, it seemed something was tightly entangling that vampire. “Uuuu…” The vampire let out painful sounds, as if struggling. Its eyes, clearly those of an intelligent being, stared at Pul with confusion and pain. On its body, a thorny red plant was tightly wrapping around it, its barbed branches piercing deep into the vampire’s body. Along with those gurgling sounds, red liquid could be faintly seen being drawn out of the vampire’s body.

“Attacking a legitimate necromancer is a foolish thing… Revive?” Puul said coldly, staring at the vampire. “I’m curious—can one really be revived without a body?” As he spoke, the strange thorny plant sprouted more branches, continuously sucking the vampire’s blood until only a dried corpse remained.

Yet that wasn’t the end. Increibly, a pink flower with bright red spots bloomed on one of the plant’s branches. But unlike ordinary plants, it was a carnivorous flower covered in sharp teeth…

In the end, the vampire didn’t even leave a dried corpse behind, becoming nourishment for the dark plant.

This was a terrifying plant that only grew in the Land of Death. It was summoned by necromancers to the mortal world as a weapon of attack, named after its horrific death—[Bloodthirsty Thorn: Diuadis].

“Remember, don’t attack necromancers next time… Hmm, there won’t be a next time!”

As necromancer Puul murmured to himself, the Bloodthirsty Thorn kept growing more branches. Its thorny vines resembled deadly blades. Once vampires got entangled in them, they seemed to lose all strength, allowing the plant to drain their blood…

In the face of such a dark plant, the vampires’ proud resurrection ability was completely useless, unless they possessed a resurrection power as extreme as Connel’s, which defied the laws of the world.

Yes, even if they could resurrect themselves, there was still a hierarchy between these two types of vampires. In Connel’s words, “They’re just mere scum!”

Still, the balance of victory didn’t lean in favor of Argus and the others. After all, even as scum, those guys were at least intelligent vampires. After witnessing the horror of the Bloodthirsty Thorn, they wisely avoided it.

After all, the Bloodthirsty Thorn was just a plant. It was difficult to chase down vampires who deliberately avoided it. So, after killing a dozen reckless fools, the plant could at most protect its master, Puul, and harass those vampires.

To be honest, Puul wasn’t worried about Connel. After all, that guy was a monster that couldn’t even be killed by the Bloodthirsty Thorn. What worried him was Argus.

He never thought there would be idiots in this world who dared to confront nine powerful liches at once!

Those were liches!

Break free from the shackles and become a powerful necromancer among the undead—someone whose rank is at least that of a Archmage. In other words, Argus has to deal with nine Archmages at once!
Even though Argus is extremely strong, fighting nine of them simultaneously…
“There’s not the slightest chance of winning!” Pul glanced at Argus and those nine liches fighting fiercely not far away, feeling increasingly anxious.
For reasons he couldn’t reveal, Pul had secretly assessed Argus’s strength. With that guy’s power, dealing with two powerful liches shouldn’t be a problem, three would be very difficult, and if there were more than three, he would likely have no chance of winning at all…
As Pul had predicted, under the combined attacks of those nine powerful liches, Argus could only defend himself, with no chance to attack—any attempt to strike would only invite several liches to exploit his defensive weaknesses.
Although Argus hadn’t said it outright, he was indeed left with no means of retaliation, forced to defend passively. Worse still, this unnaturally strong being was gradually running out of energy—under the attacks of those nine former liches, Argus’s mental strength was being severely drained, and his magic power was also waning. Just look at the shadow attached to him—it was becoming increasingly thin, no longer as deep and pure as before.
This can’t go on!
Pul shook his head in frustration, frowning as he tried to come up with a plan.
Flee?
It was already too late to run now. After all, they had come here through those winding passages. Turning around to flee would be suicide—those liches could pass through anything. How could they escape in such a place?
The only option was to fight…
But if they fought…
Those liches were immune to physical damage, so Connel couldn’t be used. As for himself, he could barely take on one…
Argus could barely handle three…
That left five…
Five liches left…
Should Connel try to distract five of them? But that guy was still fighting those vampires… Hmm, if those vampires were allowed to interfere, the consequences might be even worse, but…
Tch! Damn it! If Simonley and Lelarkin were here, they could at least each distract one. What should they do?!
Just as Pul was deep in thought, Argus, fighting alone against those nine terrifying liches, finally gave up.

With a snap, the dark aura resembling armor clinging to Argus was shattered to pieces by the endless bone spears and skeletal souls. If not for Pur calling upon a bone wall in haste to hold back the attack for a while, Argus would have lost all his combat strength from that strike. Even so, Argus’s situation was extremely dire. The sweat beading on his forehead clearly showed how hard it was for him to deal with nine liches at once; perhaps his physical and mental strength had reached its limit. Yet, this also demonstrated once again that Argus possessed terrifying power—after all, it was likely no one else in the world could withstand such combined attacks for so long.

“Hah, truly worthy of being a lich!” Taking advantage of the bone wall created by Pur holding back the attack for a brief moment, Argus took several deep breaths to calm his chaotic magic. But that brief respite lasted only three or four seconds before the wall, built with Pur’s full effort, exploded into fragments with a loud crash.

“It’s over, foolish humans! For insulting the great Hadrolor, you shall pay with your lives! Hahaha…” Lich Hadrolor issued his final death threat to Argus and Pur, believing they no longer had the strength to fight. Glancing at the nine liches floating in midair, radiating waves of magic, Pur whispered, “Argus, can you continue?”

“Mm,” Argus took a few breaths before slowly nodding, frowning as he said, “But I’m not sure I can handle nine at once…”

“What if it’s eight?” Pur asked seriously.

“Eight…” Argus clearly understood what Pur meant. With a bitter smile, he shook his head and said, “There’s basically no chance of winning…”

Will I die here?
How can I die here?!
I still have things left unfinished!
If I must die, it will be only after I’ve completed everything!
I won’t die… absolutely not!

Under Pur’s astonished gaze, Argus stood up again. Endless dark power surged from his body, but unlike before, this darkness was deeper and purer, with faint traces of evil and ominous aura. The shadow clinging to Argus also became clearer, especially those pale red eyes, which now showed a hint of human-like emotion.

This strange feeling…
This isn’t the usual Argus!

Looking at the slightly sinister smile on Argus’s face that gave off a chilling aura, Pule whispered, “Argus?!”
“Hm?” Seemingly hearing Pule’s call, Argus snapped out of his daze. The sinister smile on his face vanished instantly, replaced by a strange expression of surprise and relief.
“Are you okay, Argus?”
“I’m fine!” Argus smiled faintly, but inside, he couldn’t laugh.
No, I can’t draw that power anymore…
This is already the limit!
If I take in too much power, then…
I’ll be consumed!
I still have things left unfinished—how can I be consumed?
But even as it is now, I can’t possibly defeat those nine liches…
What should I do?!
A hint of struggle flashed in Argus’s eyes.
However, the lich Hadrolor misinterpreted Argus’s inner struggle as fear and let out a mocking laugh.
“Poor worm, repent! Repent for your sins and seek forgiveness from the great Hadrolor. But… no matter how much you beg, I won’t forgive you. Hehehehe…”
“Beg you?” With a cold sneer, a resolve flashed in Argus’s eyes as he said coldly, “Stop being so arrogant. You’re nothing to me!”
My current power isn’t enough to deal with these guys. There’s no other way…
I hope…
Please bless me…
“Still talking tough at this point?” The lich Hadrolor roared angrily. Then, seeing the dark power surge back in Argus’s body, his voice softened slightly as he said disdainfully, “Still want to fight? With the little power you have left? Very well, the great Hadrolor will grant your wish—letting you die in endless fear and helplessness. Hehehehe…” He paused for a moment, his grotesque head turning slightly as he murmured, “Besides you guys, are there any foolish humans who dare to set foot in this area?”
“Huh?” Argus, who seemed to be making an important decision, froze slightly. Frowning, he glanced at the lich Hadrolor and saw him say to the five liches beside him in a low voice, “Go, my brethren! Kill all humans who set foot in this area. Leave these three for us!”
The five liches nodded and left one after another, four of them heading in the same direction.
Huh?
It seems there are two more groups of reckless fools who have come to this ancient castle besides us!
But…

What kind of guy would need four liches to go after him? Could it be Ghalick’s magicians? Those guys aren’t very strong—they can’t possibly lure away four liches… Strange… After thinking hard, Argus still couldn’t figure it out. But that didn’t matter. What was important was that those nine liches were scattered. Did those foolish guys really think they had no strength to fight back? Four liches… Argus and Puhl exchanged a glance, a slight smile appearing on their lips. It seemed the gods of fate still favored them—four… no, three liches. Heh! It was still a bit tight, but at least it was much easier now… Meanwhile, outside that ancient castle, by the graveyard, a few people stopped there—one, two, three… It was a group of ten people. Were they passing travelers? No, no traveler would want to come here, as there was nothing to see here except for vast graves and a dilapidated, abandoned castle. Could they be fleeing civilians? No, at least their clothing proved they weren’t ordinary civilians. Though they wore travel cloaks that made them look like ordinary travelers, the magic robes beneath could still be seen through the wind-blown cloaks. They were magicians! And among those ten people, there were two elders standing at the edge of the graveyard, seemingly talking to each other. “It really does seem something’s off, Andrew…” “Mm, the darkness here is too thick, Kaines. Don’t you have any memory of this place at all?” “Please spare me. I used to enjoy traveling when I was young, but I no longer have the strength. If it weren’t for that young man named Argus, I’d still prefer to stay comfortably in my room…” “Heh, does that sound like you? The respected Archmage Greta Kaines—your name is known even by young children in the empire. I’ve heard your glorious deeds so many times my ears are calloused from listening…” “Hahaha, because this is the empire, not Salonia. Otherwise, it would be me complaining here!” “Heh!” Huh? Weren’t those two elders the head of the Heliorox Magic Academy, Archmage Greta Kaines, and Father Andrew Ashworth, one of the twelve cardinal archbishops of the Church?

Looking at the other eight people, aren’t they Father Andrew’s two assistant monks, along with six inquisitors from the Holy Inquisition, including Brother Cheshé whom Jiang Zhe had met? How did they end up here? It turned out that after receiving intelligence from Galkic, the Archmagician Gret Kaines, also known as the old abbot, concluded that Argus would not leave Galkic in the short term. To prevent this dangerous man from causing any major threats to the empire and to seize the opportunity to capture him, the old abbot and Father Andrew rushed to Galkic day and night. But as they passed through the Alton region, the old abbot and Father Andrew sensed a strong dark force in the area. When they arrived at this graveyard, it happened to be the time when Argus was fighting against those nine liches. The evil aura emanating from those liches, originating from the Land of Death, was immediately detected by the two archmagicians. Following this powerful evil aura, the old abbot and Father Andrew arrived at the graveyard. Looking at the vast number of skeletons wandering around, they found it hard to believe that nothing had happened here. “What a wicked magic array,” Father Andrew sighed, shaking his head as he looked at the skeletons in the graveyard. “To seal innocent souls here using a barrier of their own nature—what a vile creature… To prevent so many souls from escaping is truly tragic…” As he spoke, he stepped forward toward the skeletons. The skeletons seemed to notice Father Andrew and staggered toward him, but surprisingly, they stopped all at once when only a yard away from him. “Sigh…” Father Andrew shook his head, reached out to touch one of the skeletons’ heads, and said in a voice filled with regret and sorrow, “It’s unfortunate that your souls have been marked with evil and will remain here forever… Tell me, do you wish to stay here forever, enslaved by others, in this inhuman, ugly state, or do you choose eternal liberation? Tell me…” Tell him? Could skeletons even speak? Strangely, the skeleton seemed to tremble slightly, its jaw moving, but no sound came out.

“I understand…” Father Andrew sighed and nodded, stroking the skull as he spoke softly, “You will no longer be bound by this evil magic array. You can be completely freed from here, forever…” As he spoke, a few rays of bright white light emanated from his right hand. Soon after, with a series of cracking sounds, all the bones of the skull gradually shattered and turned into a pile of white ash.

Faintly, traces of light green mist emerged from the skull, gathering in midair to form a shadow that seemed to be looking at Father Andrew. Then, the light green shadow was scattered by the wind and vanished completely.

Perhaps this time, it would never rise again…

“I’m sorry; this is all I can do. May the Lord bless you. Rest in peace…” With a quiet sigh, Father Andrew glanced at the numerous skulls around him and smiled, “What about your answers?”

After a long moment of reflection, Father Andrew nodded and said, “You can do the same—eternal liberation…” A milky white halo spread around him, gradually expanding before shooting out in all directions.

At the same time, with more cracking sounds, the vast number of skulls shattered simultaneously, turning into piles of white crystals. During this time, countless light green, thread-like mists surged from those skulls and from the graves beneath the ground, forming a huge light green vortex.

Within this vortex, faint yet clear faces could be seen, wearing expressions of utter relief, gradually disappearing into the breeze.

“Trapping souls—such unforgivable sins!” The old dean sighed quietly, then stared solemnly at the ancient black castle in the distance. He could sense that the evil, dark aura filled with deadly force originated from that castle.

After praying devoutly, Father Andrew said in a deep voice, “Though we’re in the empire, such acts are being committed. It seems we need to pay a visit to the master of this place!”

“Hmm!” The old dean nodded silently. Then, his expression changed slightly as he raised his head and frowned, “Andrew, do you feel it?”

“Ugh!” Father Andrew raised his head with a serious expression and said in a deep voice, “It seems the master has already discovered what’s going on here… One, two, three, four… Such abnormal magical fluctuations, along with this evil aura—I thought they had vanished into history…”
“It seems not!” The old dean pressed down on the brim of his wizard’s hat, pulled out a slender, earth-yellow magic staff from his bosom, and then stared coldly at the four terrifying, pale-blue creatures floating in the air.
“Undead!”
“I am Bernard Brash, a human. How dare you release those souls meant as guardians without permission…”
“Detestable and pitiful wretches,” Andrew interrupted, his voice filled with suppressed anger. “I rarely feel true anger, but this time… I feel it’s necessary to make you understand one thing: souls are sacred and inviolable! They are off-limits to anyone!”
At the same time, the six Inquisitors, including Brother Chesho, also removed their cloaks and stared at the four undead with eyes filled with intense hatred and disgust, as if they were dead things, while praying.
“Disgusting smell…” The undead named Bernard Brash seemed to sense the holy light emanating from Father Andrew and the six Inquisitors. With utter disgust, he roared, “You’re all going to die!”
Meanwhile, Jiang Zhe and the others were following the dark passage taken by Argus and the others, heading toward the basement.
Although this dark passage was nothing to Argus and his group, it still caused some trouble for Jiang Zhe and the others—even with the fireballs summoned by Jiang Zhe to illuminate the way, they still stumbled occasionally.
Moreover, the girls in the group were naturally afraid of such dark environments. Not to mention the others, even Dia, who was two years older than the others, showed signs of fear in her eyes. She instinctively grasped Jiang Zhe’s arm and walked carefully.
“Hmph!” Dia grumbled in dissatisfaction upon noticing this.
In fact, just like last year in that mine, as a girl, she too was afraid of such dark places. But after seeing Dia’s reaction, she seemed to suddenly become stronger.
Because from Dia’s expression, she recalled her own self from a year ago—cowardly, timid, afraid of the unknown. These were normal things for girls, but for Ravia, they were a disgrace!
Sympathy? Receiving protection from others?

Proud and stubborn as she was, she didn’t need anyone’s protection, especially at a time like this… Not just others—she didn’t even need the only person who might help her, because she was different from that girl who was showing fear and clutching tightly at someone’s arm! Even if it was because of poor lighting and she stepped on an empty step… “Be careful, Avi!” Lailira beside her quickly supported Ravia and gave her a subtle glance. Ravia shook her head and whispered to Jiang Zhe, Allen, and the others who had turned around, “It’s fine, I was just distracted!” “Haven’t we finished yet?” Lisa beside Allen couldn’t help but complain. “It should be almost at the end,” Bernie, who was leading the way, said with a smile. “This ancient castle was built hundreds of years ago, so all the torches used for lighting in the passages are unusable—hold on a bit longer; I think we’ll be there soon!” “Ah, okay,” Lisa sighed weakly and pouted. “Avi, why did that uncle come to a place like this? It’s so dirty. I guess it’s been abandoned for hundreds of years…” “I don’t know. He didn’t say,” Ravia replied, shaking her head. “Maybe he used to know someone here—friends who once lived here…” “Huh?” Lisa widened her eyes in surprise. “Avi, I heard this castle has been abandoned for a long time—like a hundred or two hundred years… By the way, where is that uncle from? I see you know Thors too. When did you meet them? It’s so strange!” “Um…” Ravia, realizing she had said something wrong, suddenly stammered. Just as she was thinking about how to cover up Connel’s matter, Lisa, who had asked the question, seemed to sense something. She stopped in her tracks and said tremblingly, with an inexplicable fear, “Um… do you guys feel something’s off? It’s really cold behind us, a chilly feeling…” “Do we?” Allen asked in surprise. “Yes!” Lisa nodded vigorously. “Don’t you feel it getting colder and colder here…” “I don’t think so?” Allen looked at Lisa in confusion, then said to Jiang Zhe, “Hey, buddy, is something wrong?” Jiang Zhe shook his head and was about to speak when Ravia interrupted him. “No!” Feeling the temperature around her carefully, Ravia frowned. “Lisa is right. It’s indeed getting colder!”

“I feel it too,” Scott added, pushing his glasses up. “I thought it was because we were underground that it was cold, but the temperature down here is almost the same as outside during winter—that’s a bit unusual. Other than that, I don’t sense anything wrong… Maybe it’s because of that iron door in the basement—it’s too heavy; I guess it can only be closed from the outside…”

“That iron door,” Bernie sighed in front of the group, irritably. “I told you to stay outside. This is a dangerous place—not for kids like you… Hey, Allen, what’s with that expression of yours?” He paused, shook his head, and murmured, “Also, ever since we entered here, I’ve felt something’s off—just like that little girl said. It gives you a creepy feeling in the back… I don’t know why, but this basement is extremely cold—be careful all of you. If anything happens, leave immediately, Reid!”

“I know!” Reid, who was at the end of the group, nodded.

And so, the group passed through that passage and arrived at the underground library they had been in before with Argus.

“Wow, there’s a library here!” Lisa curiously picked up a book and flipped through it a few times before asking in confusion, “Bone spears? Skeletons? What kind of magic is this?”

“Necromancy?” Hearing Lisa’s words, Ravia was surprised. She took the book from her hands, glanced at it, then frowned and said, “There’s no doubt about it—this is necromancy!” She turned to look around the library and whispered, “Be careful. The place we’ve intruded into must be the residence of a necromancer…”

“A necromancer?” Bernie gasped and shook his head repeatedly. “That’s impossible! How could Gallek have a necromancer? Besides, these books seem to be from many years ago…”

“Avi,” Lisa asked, tugging at Ravia’s arm, “what is a necromancer? Is he also a magician?”

“Hmm,” Ravia nodded, speaking in a low voice with some disgust, “I’ve seen descriptions of them in the library… As the name suggests, necromancers are also magicians, but they are evil magicians. They can control dead bodies, make skeletons move, and even manipulate souls… They’re the most wicked creatures!”

“That kind of evil person…” Lisa widened her eyes, shrinking back in fear. Then, as if she thought of something, she patted her chest and said casually, “Maybe some necromancer who lived here left long ago. Um, or perhaps they died of illness or old age—this place has been abandoned for so long…”
“That’s true!” Ravia casually threw the magic book from her hands onto the ground. Then, as if sensing something, she frowned and said, “Have you heard… any noises? A rumbling sound?”
“Noises?” Jiang Zhe listened carefully before pointing in the distance. “Yes! It’s coming from there.”
“There?” Everyone looked up and followed Jiang Zhe’s gaze, only to unexpectedly see a faint pale blue light coming from the corridor in the distance…
It was a light that made people feel extremely uncomfortable…
At that moment, a series of “crackling” sounds came from all around the library. Everyone instinctively looked around but saw nothing unusual.
“I mean…” Lisa said timidly, with a hint of fear toward the unknown, “Do you feel… it’s getting colder?”
“Don’t be afraid, Lisa. I’m here!” Allen said cheerfully, leaning on the wall. Then, his face showed confusion as he turned to look at the wall and murmured, “Is this… ice?”
Everyone instinctively looked at the wall where Allen was standing and saw a thin layer of ice on it. The strange crackling sound was actually the sound of the wall freezing.
“Something’s wrong…” Bernie kept the children behind him and scanned the surroundings warily. Suddenly, he noticed a child named Thos looking up at the ceiling and asked curiously, “What are you looking at?”
The child frowned and stared at the ceiling, saying in a deep voice, “Up there… it seems like something is coming.”
“What? Coming here?” Bernie was puzzled.
Suddenly, the entire library was illuminated by a strange pale blue light. Bernie instinctively looked up and saw a creature resembling a ghost, exhaling frosty cold air as it floated quietly in front of everyone.
“I am Amos Halwell… You shouldn’t be here, humans!”
For a moment, the entire library fell silent. Everyone stared in disbelief at the strange creature before them, terrified.

Unlike those children who were frightened by the creature’s terrifying appearance, Bernie was trembling all over, including his heart. He raised his finger and pointed at the pale blue creature, shouting in terror, “Witch… witch… lich!”