Do you have a problem with necromancers?

Chapter 121 Charlotte Hegenfein

“After the war ended, Charles and I returned to Fjordland.”

"To prevent the resurgence of the Corpse Worship Cult, Charles and I have decided to form the Tower Wizards' Council to restrain wizards from crossing ethical red lines."

"As time went on, the differences in our views became more and more serious."

“Charles wants to strengthen and centralize the power of the Wizard Council, force the trading city-states to submit to the wizards, and finally establish a kingdom in the Fjordlands, so that I and his descendants can become the royal family that rules for generations.”

"Charles intends to marry you?" Ellina exclaimed in astonishment. "You two are siblings! This... this is a grave sin that the gods forbid!"

“He’s completely obsessed,” Charlotte said sadly. “I couldn’t agree with his plan, but he ambushed and killed me, and even my soul is imprisoned here—he wants to force me to submit to him and hand over all the knowledge in my memory through endless loneliness.”

Ellina and Bersalia listened with heavy hearts. In their memories, Charles was a gentle and refined young wizard, not only knowledgeable and experienced, but also possessing keen and unique insights into many things. It was hard to imagine that such an outstanding man could turn into a stubborn, ambitious, and even evil scoundrel who harmed his own sister.

But seeing Charlotte's miserable state, her soul even bound here for over a thousand years... all my good impressions of Charles vanished instantly, and I bowed my head in utter despair.

“Then how can we save you?” Dia asked sympathetically.

“That will break the ritual,” Charlotte whispered. “I can teach you how to break it. First, rotate the altar in the due east direction, being careful not to blow out the candles, otherwise…”

"Phew." Ryan blew out the candle in one breath and asked, "What will happen if I blow it out?"

Charlotte paused for a moment, then said:

"This will make further cracking more difficult."

“Oh, sorry, please continue,” Ryan said.

“First, rotate the altar in the due east direction once,” Charlotte said quietly. “Then rotate the altars in the due west, northeast, southwest, southeast, and northwest directions, for a total of six altars. After rotating them all in order, each of you should place your hands on the altars and recite the specific incantation I gave you. The binding ritual will then be completely broken.”

“Hmm, I have a question,” Renn suddenly asked. “There are a total of six altars to operate. What will you do if we don’t have six people with us this time?”

Charlotte paused for a moment, then replied:

"If there are too few people, it will be very difficult to crack. You happen to have six people, so this method is the simplest."

"So what's the solution for those with fewer people?" Renn asked.

“The altar needs to be rotated in a different order, and the incantation needs to be recited more than once,” Charlotte replied. “I won’t go into the specifics of how to do it, since there are six people here, aren’t there?”

“You should go into detail,” Renn said.

“Is it really necessary?” Charlotte countered.

"Yes, I'd love to hear how else you can make up this little essay."

An awkward silence filled the hall.

Ellina and Bersalia remained expressionless; they had sensed something was wrong the moment Renn began blowing out the candles. Fatin and Aurora, not knowing Charlotte, naturally wouldn't believe her. As for Dia…

"What! Is she lying?!" Dia exclaimed in shock.

“I’m not lying.” Charlotte said, her face contorted with utter distress, her voice choked with emotion. “I’m a victim trapped here by a cursed magic circle. Can’t you tell?”

“I didn’t see that,” Renn chuckled. “I only see six small binding circles that will trap the victim who is turning the altar.”

Charlotte looked at him resentfully, then turned to Elrina and Bersalia, and said tearfully:
"And you? Eileen, Bertha, don't you believe me either?"

Ellina was speechless. Emotionally, she naturally wanted to believe that Charlotte Hegenfein was still the gentle and shy girl who was inseparable from her twin brother a thousand years ago… But what was the point of believing or not believing? Was this situation really up to her?
She remained silent, stunned, while Besalia beside her laughed:

“I’m sorry, Charlotte. We’d rather trust our husband than an old friend we haven’t spoken to in almost a thousand years.”

Ellina couldn't help but show a speechless expression that said, "What nonsense are you talking about? This is utterly nonsensical." Charlotte, who had believed her, first had a stiff expression, then turned to annoyance and a cold laugh.

"I see, you're all married." Her tone changed, from a pitiful tremor to a cold and resolute one. "In that case, I won't pretend to be an old friend anymore."

Charlotte's body suddenly floated up and instantly transformed into a huge and illusory half-human figure, almost filling half of the hall.

As her body swelled like a balloon, a chilling, bone-deep cold began to spread outwards. The dense incantations and magic circles on the floor also began to frantically spew out frost. Everyone instinctively raised their arms to shield themselves, only to feel a gust of cold wind hit their faces, so cold that they could hardly open their eyes.

Bersalia swiftly cast a spell, and flames rapidly formed in her palm as magic gathered, transforming into a powerful strike that pierced through the icy wind.

However, Charlotte's smug laughter echoed through the hall once again:

"Bessa! After all these years, you still only know tricks like the Cloud Burning Technique? Let me show you what real magic is!"

The giant half-body puffed out its cheeks and blew a breath forward with a clumsy yet endearing expression, but the crowd quickly changed their minds. The icy wind blowing from its mouth soon transformed into a small blizzard, threatening to turn the entire hall into a frozen, frigid hell.

Dia could no longer restrain herself, and her body also rapidly expanded, transforming into a horned behemoth covered in scales.

"A dragon?" Charlotte was caught off guard and looked shocked, while Dia had already raised her neck, and dazzling sparks spewed from between her teeth and nostrils.

She unleashed a torrent of dragonfire from her snout, colliding with the oncoming blizzard. The clash of ice and fire created a violent surge of water vapor, forcing everyone to retreat once more to avoid the turbulent, high-temperature steam.

Aurora suddenly turned her head and reminded her:

"There are footsteps downstairs! Very heavy ones?"

Very heavy? Everyone was slightly taken aback, then quickly realized what was going on.

Those puppets!
On their way from the bottom to the top, the group encountered many "dead golems." At the time, they thought they were just running out of energy, but now it seems that Charlotte had deliberately shut them all down to lull everyone into a false sense of security.

Now that the two sides have completely broken off relations, Charlotte has quietly activated them remotely, which has led to the predicament of being attacked from both sides by Raine and others.

"You all go cover the rear," Raine ordered the others. "Dia stays here."

The heroes quickly disengaged from the battlefield. The battlefield environment, massively altered by frost magic, made them all feel extremely uncomfortable. The cold slowed their movements and severely reduced their sensory acuity. "Special forces" like Aurora and Fatin, who relied solely on their precision and agility in combat, were almost completely neutralized.

Only Renn and Dia remained on the field. The blizzard enveloping the hall grew increasingly fierce and sharp, the howling wind sounding like faint sobs, or the groans and cries of the dying.

Dia suddenly struggled, for the frost beneath her feet had somehow covered her hind legs up to her knees. The excruciating pain only fueled her ferocity, and she unleashed another torrent of dragonfire toward Charlotte, only to have it swallowed up by the relentless blizzard.

The dragon roared furiously from its semi-frozen state, but Renn did not rush to its aid. He simply gazed at the enormous figure, appearing and disappearing amidst the blizzard, and asked with interest:

"What kind of breed have you become?"

"You wouldn't understand even if I told you," Charlotte said dismissively. "I find it strange, though, why would Irene and Bertha both be interested in you?"

“Because of the face,” Ryan replied.

The howling blizzard seemed to slow down for a moment. A instant later, Charlotte's voice came from the wind:

"You... I must say, you are indeed quite good-looking. So the elves' aesthetic sense is similar to ours. Hmm, I've changed my mind. If you abandon that pathetic worldly marriage and become my personal servant, I can spare your life."

"And what about them?" Renn asked slowly.

"What, you can't bear to part with your wife?" Charlotte let out a clear sneer. "Even though elves live longer than humans, they will eventually come to an end. But if you choose to serve me, perhaps one day I will grant you eternal life—not the half-baked, high-cost kind of eternal life of a necromancer, but true immortality beyond death."

Renn frowned almost imperceptibly, then changed the subject and asked:

"You seem to have some prejudice against necromancers?"

"Didn't Eileen and the others tell you?" Charlotte said calmly, "My brother Charles is a necromancer obsessed with researching how to resurrect the dead."

"He spent his entire life exploring the realm of the soul, and in the end he had to admit that from the moment of death, the soul is permanently degraded into the attributes of a dead being, constantly being called, attracted, and bound by the River Styx. Unless the gods bring down a miracle, it is impossible to be resurrected as a living being. And any form of undead creature is merely using various methods to opportunistically prevent the River Styx from finding it; it is by no means immortal."

"However, my unique secret technique can prevent the soul from falling into the attributes of a dead soul from the very beginning, thus achieving true 'immortality'."

"I see." Renn nodded. "What exactly is this secret technique?"

"Do you think I would generously share my research findings with you?" Charlotte said arrogantly. "Submit to me, pledge allegiance to me, kneel at my feet and prostrate yourself before me, begging me to grant you the secret of eternal life..."

“It should be a way to separate the body and soul, then freeze the body to hibernate it, maintaining only a minimum level of life,” Renn said thoughtfully. “In other words, the essence of your current form is actually just the soul leaving the body.”

Charlotte's voice stopped abruptly, as if someone had suddenly grabbed her throat.

After a moment, she suddenly screamed:
"You stole my academic work!"

"Why steal?" Renn simply shrugged and said calmly, "When the body dies, the soul degenerates into a ghost, so your body certainly hasn't died. Besides, your body isn't with you right now, so it's most likely been placed elsewhere. To have survived for over a thousand years, the only explanation I can think of is sealing it with ice magic, suppressing the body's life force to a minimum… It's just simple logical deduction." "You, you…you!" Charlotte exclaimed angrily, "So what?! Even if I'm only in soul form now, you're no match for me! Surrender unconditionally immediately, and I might consider sparing your lives, otherwise…"

"What else?" Ellina's voice rang out from outside the door.

Charlotte stared in disbelief at the doorway. The heroes had already dealt with all the puppets and returned with extremely hostile expressions.

Obviously, if she were truly confident in defeating the combined forces of Ellina and Bersalia, she wouldn't have immediately chosen to disguise herself as a trapped victim after everyone entered the giant tower.

Now, besides her two old friends, she faces two exceptionally skilled heroes, a giant dragon, and a man who can see through her magic...

"Heh, can we reconcile?" Charlotte asked with a forced smile.

------------

In the main hall of the Hell Tower, people are cleaning the runes, magic circles, and altars on the floor.

Charlotte's translucent soul lay weakly on the ground, like a pitiful woman being persecuted by villains.

However, even Ellina and Bersalia, who had known her for a thousand years, showed her no sympathy or pity. Instead, they completely destroyed all the key nodes of the ritual circle she used to cast the blizzard spell.

"Please don't do this, please don't do this..." Charlotte cried out, "At least leave me a magic circle to protect myself!"

"What self-preservation?" Bersalia asked, bewildered. "We won't let you stay here; you have to come with us."

"Go with you?" Charlotte was stunned. "What do you want me to do? I... I'm in a soul state right now, without a physical body. I need a ritual circle to even cast the most basic spells. What use am I to you?"

“He has a hobby of collecting ancient heroes,” Berthalia said, pointing to Renn.

Charlotte instinctively showed fear and trepidation, but then she thought, her physical body isn't here, how could he possibly touch a soul without a physical form? So she regained her courage and determination, and loudly proclaimed to Renn, who was studying the magic circle:

"You don't need to covet my beauty, because I will never be your plaything—you can never touch my body!"

“I can stuff you inside a female dog,” Ryan said without looking up.

"You didn't know?" Bersalia said in surprise, "Charlotte, he's a necromancer."

"I'm sorry," Charlotte immediately prostrated herself on the ground, saying humbly, "I was too carried away just now. From now on, I will do whatever you ask of me, Master."

“Hmm, I happen to have a question for you,” Renn said, stroking his chin. “Where is your body sealed away?”

“I’ve hidden it in some ancient ruins,” Charlotte said timidly. “Getting to those ruins is rather troublesome. How about I tell you where Charles’s remains are? Charles was much stronger than me, and he told me that he didn’t intend to transform into a lich before he died, but wanted to rest in the White Stone Cemetery at the bottom of the Seven Towers.”

“Whitestone Cemetery is the stronghold of the Tower Wizards,” Raine said, frowning unhappily. “Are you trying to trick me into becoming an enemy of the entire Fjordlands and the Tower Wizards?”

“You can go to the Fjords as a traveling mage first,” Charlotte said quickly. “I know there are secret passages underground in the Seven Towers, many of which were designed and built by Charles and me. I can lead you directly to my brother’s sarcophagus and have him return to the world to serve you.”

"You and Charles really have a deep sibling bond," Ellina couldn't help but say sarcastically.

“Don’t be silly, Eileen,” Charlotte said helplessly. “Isn’t a soul without a body like a slave in shackles meeting a slave owner in front of a necromancer? Even if I grit my teeth and refuse to cooperate, he has plenty of ways to force me to submit. So why don’t I just cooperate with him directly? At least I can retain some dignity and face.”

“Your understanding is not wrong.” Renn glanced at Ellina and said, “However, I am not interested in your brother for the time being. The second question…”

"Was there any vengeful spirit here before we arrived?"

“A vengeful spirit?” Charlotte thought for a moment. “It seems there was indeed an undead creature trying to enter my tower, but I activated the puppet to force it back.”

"Why is it that when it comes to us old friends, you set a trap to deceive us?" Bersalia asked, displeased.

"Because I can't beat you," Charlotte said honestly. "If you harbor even the slightest ill will towards me, in my current state, I would have almost no ability to fight back."

Ellina and Bersalia exchanged glances for a moment, thinking to themselves that almost a thousand years had passed, and the only improvement this guy had made was a bit more self-righteous cleverness... They wondered how Charles had taught this little sister back then.

“Let’s save your reminiscing for later,” Renn interrupted the conversation. “Since the Wild Elf King hasn’t left, let’s find him in this plane as soon as possible.”

------------

Severely injured, Karlik silently huddled in the cave.

He paid a heavy price to escape the demon army's pursuit and hide here. Worse still, the scorching infernal environment was extremely detrimental to the self-healing properties of vengeful spirits, so he could only eke out a living in this place, letting the magic of death slowly repair his injuries.

Damn humans, once I leave this world, I will definitely...

"Could it be in here?" Renn's voice rang out from outside.

“The only way to escape the demons is to hide in the caves,” Charlotte replied. “Those demons are impossible to communicate with, and they will resurrect endlessly here after they die. Unless I slaughter them with puppets for hundreds of years like I have, until they are completely terrified, I guess I have no choice but to hide.”

Karlik retreated silently, hiding in the shadows of the cave, preparing to launch a desperate sneak attack.

Even if I am destined to perish here in the end, I will make you pay the most terrible price!

With a fierce determination to perish together, the Wild Elf King lurked silently like a venomous snake until the shadow of the newcomer appeared at the corner of the tunnel. Only then did he suddenly burst out of his hiding place and unleash the most insidious spell he knew upon his opponent.

The heavy, clumsy black iron golem suddenly collapsed and disintegrated under the vengeful blow of the Wild Elf King, and even the internal metal components rusted and corroded rapidly under the corrosive power of the undead.

Karlik's expression froze instantly upon seeing the puppet he had destroyed. Before he could even realize what had happened, his body was frozen by an unknown spell.

In the final moments before his consciousness faded, he vaguely heard a woman's blood-curdling scream:

"My puppet!!!"

Finally, the Wild Elf King was captured, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Thus, the long-standing threat to the river bend has been largely resolved.

Next, all that is needed is to defeat the savage army, which has begun to split due to the lack of a leader, to completely end this long and protracted war.

Back at the top of the tower, Charlotte instructed everyone to set up a ritual to open the entrance to the prime plane.

“Actually, this plane is very suitable for living in seclusion.” She said with some reluctance, “Even if the White Walkers return and invade the world again, as long as you hide in this plane, you don’t have to worry at all.”

“The White Walkers have returned,” Raine said calmly.

"what?"

Before Charlotte could react, Renn had already stepped through the portal.

“This is the real reason we took you away,” Ellina said, looking past her translucent body. “Your memories contain a wealth of experience in dealing with the White Walkers, which is invaluable knowledge that the world a thousand years from now desperately needs—and of course, we have returned to the world for the same reason.”

“So you were lying to me just now, Bertha?!” Charlotte asked, turning around incredulously.

“Of course,” Bersalia said with a grin, gesturing for her to hurry up and follow. “Looking like this, what man would want you?”

Charlotte was stunned.

Her life as a recluse for over a thousand years had caused her to forget many things. Often, she even resorted to talking to puppets to ensure her language skills didn't deteriorate due to a lack of social interaction.

Now, reminded by Berthalia, she finally remembered:

The soul has no color.

To outsiders, she was nothing more than a semi-transparent ghost. Her alluring feminine features—like jet-black hair, fair skin, and rosy lips—were completely absent… Wait, what were my hair and eye colors again?

Charlotte followed the others, looking dejected, back to the Serpent Mountains of the Prime Material Plane, where she saw the Hell Cauldron still standing atop the mountain, continuously spewing out lava.

"How can this be completely destroyed?" Renn asked.

“It’s difficult,” Charlotte replied. “I studied this evil object before. It must have been forged by demon lords using extremely complex materials and rituals, a process that took an incredibly long time, perhaps even thousands of years. So, completely destroying it won’t be something that can be done overnight. However, there is a simpler way to deal with it…”

"Bury it deep?" Renn asked.

“Ah, yes, as long as it’s sent to a place where no one can touch it,” Charlotte said in surprise. “Like throwing it into the sea. As long as its depth exceeds the limit of human retrieval, then this evil thing will be no different from being completely destroyed.”

Raine didn't ask any more questions, but stared at the Hell Cauldron, which was nearly two people tall, and began to think with narrowed eyes.

(End of this chapter)