My career has infinite upgrades.

Chapter 77 The Lich Herman, Enslaving the Holy Seal!

Once inside the cave, the deeper one goes, the stronger the power of the undead becomes.

After walking several dozen meters, Gu Qing realized something was wrong and slowed down.

A large number of monster corpses and skeletons appeared in the surrounding area.

The skeletons varied in size, but in any case, they all looked like they had been recently killed.

Gu Qing asked Melissand to sense the situation inside the cave.

After a moment, Melissand frowned and said, "Master, something here is interfering with my senses. I can't feel anything inside."

"However, there is a very strong necromantic power inside."

Gu Qing pondered for a moment. The very dense necromantic power could be Netherworld Star Marrow, or it could be a powerful necromantic creature.

In any case, be careful.

Looking at the Necromancer's Crown in his hand, Gu Qing first put it into his spatial ring, and then continued forward.

Two undead guards walked at the front, bone knives close to their sides, slowly probing the way.

The three walked less than fifty meters before the passage came to an end.

There was only a cold, damp rock wall ahead, with the ground littered with dead branches and broken bones.

Large swaths of dead vines hung down from the top, obscuring most of the rock face.

Gu Qing looked down at the ground.

The necromantic energy in the air all seeped into the vines when it reached this point.

"Pull it open."

Cecilia's whip wrapped around the vines and yanked them sharply to the side.

Large sections of the withered vines broke off.

A dark hole was revealed behind it.

The edge of the cave entrance was littered with pebbles, and there were no footprints outside. Dense necromantic energy flowed into the cave along the ground, as if something was constantly swallowing it.

Melissand raised her hand and released a sound wave.

The sound was disrupted by interference as soon as it entered the cave.

"It's unclear."

Gu Qing did not approach, but directly ordered two undead guards to enter.

Just as the undead guard Senbai reached the cave entrance, a hoarse voice came from the depths of darkness.

"The new owner of the crown, come in."

The sound wasn't loud, but it reached the ears of all three people precisely.

The two undead guards stopped at the same time.

Gu Qing froze, her brows furrowing as she stared at the dark entrance without responding.

The beings inside not only discovered them, but also knew about the Crown of the Dead!

This isn't some mindless monster waiting for its prey to come to it.

The other person had been waiting for him.

We were able to communicate, and judging from the other person's tone, there wasn't much hostility.

Without hesitation, Gu Qing raised her hand and pressed it to her chest.

Dark soul fire surged from within his body, quickly condensing into Netherworld Soul Armor.

Black armor plates covered his entire body, with pale blue soul fire slowly flowing along the gaps between the plates.

Cecilia stepped in front of Gu Qing.

"Master, I'll go in first."

"Together."

Gu Qing gripped the black bone sickle and stepped into the cave.

Cecilia walked on the left, her long whip poised to strike, while Melissand followed on the right, her purple sonic waves confined to a fifty-meter radius, constantly sweeping across the front.

Beyond the cave entrance is a straight stone staircase leading downwards.

The walls were embedded with pale white bone lamps, their wicks burning with green soul fire. As the three approached, the bone lamps lit up one after another.

At the end was a spacious stone chamber.

A six-pointed star array occupied most of the ground.

The center of the formation was piled high with the corpses of demons.

Black-horned boars, gray-backed wolves, bone-rotting spiders, and many skeletons were all pierced by dark red patterns.

The flesh and blood shrank at a rate visible to the naked eye.

Streams of necromantic power were drawn from the corpses and flowed into the center of the six-pointed star array.

There stood a lich wearing a tattered robe.

Its body had long since decayed, with only a layer of dry skin and flesh clinging to its skeleton.

Two pale green soul flames hung in his eye sockets, and he held a bone staff inlaid with grayish-white gems in his hand.

After Gu Qing entered the stone chamber, it did not make a move.

The power of the undead did not target the three.

The lich simply raised his head and looked at the spatial ring where Gu Qing stored the Necromancer's Crown.

"It really is it."

Its withered jaw opened and closed slowly.

"The Crown of the Dead".

Gu Qing stood at the edge of the stone steps, not stepping into the six-pointed star formation.

"Who are you?"

Herman.

The lich's voice echoed in the stone chamber.

"The name that used to be used has not been called for a long time."

"7

Cecilia slightly raised her whip.

Herman didn't look at her; his pale green soul flame remained fixed on Gu Qing.

"Give me the crown."

"You can take these two abyssal creatures with you, and I will help you return to a safe place."

Gu Qing did not take out the crown.

"Did you attract the beast tide outside?"

Herman's soul flame flickered gently.

"Those people want you to enter the mountain stream; that's none of my business."

"I don't care if I crush you, you little ant, but now that you have the Crown of the Dead, things are different."

"All I need is the crown."

It lightly tapped the ground with its bone staff.

The corpses within the formation quickly collapsed, their flesh turning to ash. The extracted necromantic power flowed along the formation's patterns, eventually sinking into the lower part of the stone chamber.

"Keeping the crown in your hands is a waste."

"You are not yet able to withstand its true power."

Gu Qing scanned the six-pointed star array and surveyed the surrounding environment.

"So you're going to keep it for me?"

Hermann ignored his sarcasm.

"It never belonged to the living."

"Hand it over, and I'll let you go."

Gu Qing gripped the black bone scythe, his tone calm.

"What if I don't give it to them?"

The stone chamber fell silent.

The green soul flame inside the bone lamp flickered simultaneously, and the shadow on the wall lengthened accordingly.

Herman did not get angry, nor did he make a move immediately. He looked at Gu Qing for a moment, and then pointed his bone staff at the six-pointed star array again.

"You don't understand its value."

"I have no idea what it will bring if I carry it with me."

"7

"Young man, believe me, it's a good deal for you to trade it for a chance to survive."

"Of course, you'll also gain my Herman's friendship."

Gu Qing didn't waste any more words with it. It seemed that the person outside had driven him in just to use him as a tool to kill the lich in front of him.

However, something seems wrong with the lich in front of us.

Gu Qing's gaze fell on the magic array, and his rune perception had already quietly begun to unfold.

The pattern of the six-pointed star quickly came to mind.

The main body of the formation is composed of necromancy runes, and its function is not complicated.

Extract the flesh and blood and the power of the dead from the corpses, and then send these powers underground.

Hidden among the dark red patterns are several silver-white lines.

The lines were very thin, almost completely obscured by the aura of the dead.

Gu Qing was no stranger to this power.

Holy light.

Holy light power was somehow mixed into a sacrificial array set up by a lich.

Moreover, whenever a corpse is devoured, the power of the undead will first pass through those silvery lines, the two forces will collide with each other, forming a layer of suppression, and then sink into the ground together.

Herman wasn't simply consuming corpses to increase his power.

Each time it completes a sacrifice, it uses the power of holy light and the dead to suppress something beneath the stone chamber.

Gu Qing looked up at Herman.

"Something's wrong with you. Are you suppressing something? You seem unable to move at all."

The flickering flames in Herman's eye sockets ceased.

Gu Qing raised the black bone scythe and pointed it at the array patterns at his feet.

"These holy light runes are well hidden."

"Unfortunately, it wasn't hidden completely."

Hermann remained silent for a few moments.

The corpses within the formation continued to wither and shrivel, and the silvery lines lit up, only to quickly disappear again.

"You shouldn't understand these things."

Herman raised a withered hand.

The skeletons around the stone chamber trembled simultaneously, and dense white bones burst forth from the ground, intertwining and piecing together behind Gu Qing and the other two.

boom!

A wall of bones rose up, completely sealing off the entrance to the cave.

Gu Qing's heart tightened, and he was ready to act at any moment.

Herman looked at Gu Qing, and a pale white bone staff appeared in his hand.

"I'm giving you one last chance. Hand over the Crown of the Dead."

Gu Qing did not answer, but suddenly swung the black bone scythe forward.

The Netherworld opens.

Enormous bone wings emerged from the undead space, followed by the massive body of the Desert Undead Dragon.

Fortunately, there is enough space here, otherwise the Desert Undead Dragon wouldn't fit.

boom!"

The Desert Undead Dragon immediately attacked, slamming a claw down at Herman.

Herman raised his bone staff, and a bone shield rose up, directly blocking the Desert Undead Dragon's attack.

Herman looked surprised as he saw the desert undead dragon in front of him.

"An adult desert undead dragon? You have something like that?"

He swung the bone staff again, and a black and white ripple emanated from it, enveloping the body of the Desert Undead Dragon.

Gu Qing instantly felt the connection between himself and the Desert Undead Dragon weaken, as if it had been severed by something.

Hermann's gaze fell on Gu Qing, his tone laced with sarcasm.

"How laughable! Someone of your rank can control a dead creature like this?"

"But you may not know that in the eyes of those in high positions, your spirit is nothing more than an obedient skeleton."

Gu Qing frowned deeply; the other party actually wanted to erase the mark between him and the Desert Undead Dragon.

If it weren't for the restriction of that six-pointed star array, I probably wouldn't have been able to hold on for very long.

This lich is definitely not low-level!

"Cecilia, Melissant."

As soon as Gu Qing finished speaking, ripples spread around them, and Cecilia and Melissant emerged from the contract space.

Before entering, Gu Qing sent the two back to the contract space, intending to catch them off guard.

Cecilia took a step forward, and black and white light unfolded from behind her, illuminating the entire stone chamber with the Feather of Sacrifice.

The SS-rank primal pressure descended.

Melissand's cold purple eyes gleamed, and purple sound waves entwined with the soul fire of the Desert Undead Dragon.

After the fragments of the accompanying sacred artifact merged into her origin, her sonic power became even more solid than before.

With the simultaneous suppression of two high-level abyssal creatures, the soul fire in the eyes of the Desert Necromancer Dragon stabilized again.

click!

The bone claw, which had been suspended in mid-air, landed heavily on the ground.

It raised its head and let out a silent roar, its bone wings fully spread, forcibly dispersing the gray-white ripples that Herman had applied.

Hermann's hand, which was gripping the bone staff, stopped.

It first looked at Melissand, then shifted its gaze to Cecilia.

"Two high-level Abyss Contractors."

"One is of S-rank, and the other is of SS-rank?!"

Cecilia's long whip slashed across the ground, black and white flames spreading along its shaft.

Hermann did not continue to underestimate Gu Qing.

The desert undead dragon was not enough to make it wary, but two abyssal creatures with high-level origins took the initiative to stand in front of Gu Qing.

This is something that ordinary contracts cannot achieve.

Gu Qing held the black bone scythe horizontally beside him.

"Can you still crush a little ant like me now?"

The soul fire in Herman's eyes slowly contracted.

"You are certainly qualified to talk to me now."

"Lend me the crown, and I can exchange it for something of equal value. Once I have finished what I am doing, the crown will still be yours."

"Just now you were handing over the crown, and now you're saying you're borrowing it?"

Gu Qing glanced at the bone wall behind him.

"Your friendships develop quite quickly."

Herman did not respond.

Its gaze remained fixed on Cecilia.

The intertwined power of black and white reflected in the ghastly green soul fire, and Herman's hand gripping the bone staff tightened little by little.

"This force—"

"The Fallen Holy Light, the Abyss Origin, and the Remnants of the Saintess's Mark."

Cecilia frowned.

Herman took half a step toward her, the clanking of chains beneath his feet echoing in the air.

Only then did Gu Qing notice that several silver chains were wrapped around the bottom of its robe.

One end of the chain was driven into the bone, and the other end was embedded in the center of the six-pointed star array.

Herman was indeed unable to leave the formation.

"The First Saintess"

The green soul fire in the stone chamber flickered.

"Cecilia, the first Saintess of the Holy See of Light."

The whip tore through the air, its black and white light aimed directly at Hermann's head.

"Shut up!"

Cecilia's Feather of Light fully unfolded behind her, and the necromantic aura at the edge of the hexagram was forced downwards.

Just as she was about to make a move, Gu Qing grabbed her wrist.

"Listen to what it has to say first."

"Master, it's stalling for time."

Cecilia stared at Herman, her whip still raised.

"My identity is not for a lich to judge."

The soul fire in Hermann's eyes flickered again.

"It really was you."

"A thousand years have passed, and the First Saintess has become an abyssal creature, and has even signed a contract of kinship with a human."

"How ironic."

Cecilia held the whip taut, the black and white flames at the tip distorting the surrounding air.

Gu Qing frowned and looked up at Herman.

"Do you know her?"

"More than just acquaintances."

Herman slowly raised his withered hand and tore open the tattered robe on his chest.

The withered skeleton was engraved with dense silver-white runes, some of which were broken, but the remaining patterns were still connected to the six-pointed star array under its feet.

The most prominent of these is the cross of the sword in the center of the sternum.

"I once served the Church of Light."

"To be precise, they enslaved us."

"The Vatican sealed my soul with the Nail of the Holy Relic and engraved the Seal of enslavement in my very being. From that time on, I could only obey those who held authority."

Herman looked at Cecilia.

"And the First Holy Maiden possesses the highest authority to enslave."

Cecilia's face turned cold.

"nonsense."

"The Holy Maiden of the Church has the right to mobilize paladins and priests, but she has no right to enslave other races, much less to inscribe a holy seal in the origin of the dead."

Hermann let out a cold laugh: "No right?"

"The Saintess's mark is still on you. Just now, when you made your move, the Saintly Seal of Enslavement within me already reacted."

.

Cecilia frowned. The lich in front of her spoke with conviction, and didn't seem to be lying.

But I have no memory of it at all.

However, now is not the time to dwell on that. Cecilia keenly noticed what the other person was saying.

"You just said that you have the Holy Seal of enslavement from the Church of Light within you, right?"

'

Cecilia raised her palm, and a white light rose up.

Although she had fallen into the abyss, she had not forgotten the methods of the Vatican.

"Buzz!"

The holy sword cross on Herman's chest suddenly lit up, and holy light burst forth from his body.

A piercing scream rang out, and half of Herman's skeleton was charred black by the surge of holy light!