Academic gathering with Lich colleagues

Lyle's gaze softened as he watched the two laughing. Black tentacles crawled up Lyle's body, tightly enveloping him. Nia's large eyes narrowed slightly as she pressed down on Lyle's head, while Medusa quietly wrapped her arms around his sleeves.

"Nia, give Gulu a hug! Nia is the warmest."

Lyle stroked the slippery tentacles that had crawled onto his face; his expression was obscured beneath the black tentacles.

"Alright, Nia is the best. Time to get to work, Nia."

"Uh-huh."

Nia detached from Lyle's body, her suspended tentacles overlapping the bandits' corpses. Like a crawling spider, she stood atop the corpses, announcing with boundless energy.

"Nia needs to start processing the materials!"

Lyle flipped over, turning his back to the corpses.

William and Kevin looked at him with suspicion.

“I’m going to process these corpses now, and then use necromancy to modify and create things. Specifically, Nia will extract and absorb the flesh and blood from these corpses, leaving only the skeletons. But the scene is too bloody, so I suggest you don’t go to see it.”

William and Kevin exchanged glances, then looked at Lyle with a mocking expression. "What haven't we seen? Real men don't back down."

Lyle sighed. "I've already warned you, Nia. Let's begin."

Strange and eerie sounds came from behind Lyle, like a swarm of insects of different shapes gnawing at a huge piece of flesh.

"I've been struggling in the darkest corners of society for over ten years in this dark age. How could my endurance be reduced to mere... Ugh!!!" William began to vomit, and as the sounds behind him grew louder, his outburst intensified.

"I am the son of a baron! My library is filled with strange tales, mountain spirits and monsters, and medicine has granted me incredible resilience. I bear the honor of nobility; how could I be defeated by a mere… Ugh!!!" Kevin's luck, this time, did not help him. Perhaps his talent also understood what misfortune was, and what self-inflicted suffering was.

Listening to the sounds from both sides that resembled excretion, Lyle felt a little helpless.

Then, someone grabbed my shoulder and forced me to turn around.

"What are you doing!" Lyle demanded in alarm of the two vomiting bastards.

Kevin and William, their mouths still full of vomit and retching, managed to say, "Good...brothers, we'll...share...trouble..."

“You’re not my brothers… damn it… ugh.”

The once quiet forest was now filled with a sour, foul smell.

……

Pale magic coiled around Lyle's arm, and with the light at the tip of the wand, the bones began to reassemble within Nia's evolving flesh.

The creature's skeletal body was flat, with eight long legs, each formed by the limbs of a human being embracing each other. At the very front of the body, in a writhing fleshy head, appeared four holes, each containing a skull burning with the flames of a soul.

Kevin stared at the massive creation, his eyes wide with astonishment, as if his jaw had never closed. He poked the creation's thigh bone, and the flesh trapped between the bones extended tentacles that lashed out at him.

"Lyle, it hit me!"

Lyle was changing into his plague doctor attire. After casting necromancy, he needed to maintain his mysterious identity, since playing with the dead was unpopular everywhere.

"It was made from the corpses of bandits, so it inevitably carries their ferocity. Don't go near its head or its long legs. This multi-legged chariot is no gentle creature."

Lyle walked behind the creation, stepped onto the folded bone steps, and stood up smoothly.

"It's a wild tank, coming up from the back, gentlemen."

William felt a sense of disgust looking at the menacing appearance of the multi-legged chariot.

Lyle noticed his concerns and kindly offered a new solution. He took out the Spinal Wheel he already had from his pocket. "This is a vehicle I built for my graduation exam. Theoretically, it's stronger and faster, but it can only carry one person."

Without that grotesque big head, the Spinal Wheel looks much better.

William didn't make a final decision yet. "Kevin, which one do you choose?"

"The spine..." "I choose the Wheel of the Spine!"

Without saying a word, William got into the wheel.

Kevin and Lyle boarded several sets of vehicles together.

Soon the Spine Wheel surged ahead, then collapsed a hundred meters away.

William struggled to crawl out, feeling dizzy and disoriented, and vomited again.

"My God, you didn't tell me this thing rolls! Do you know I spun around twelve times in a second? Lyle! Are you sure this thing isn't some kind of horrible torture device? How did you manage to stay dizzy, Kevin?! You tricked me!"

In the past, Lyle would enter a state of suspended animation through Nia and use Nia's senses to confirm what was ahead, so he wouldn't feel dizzy. But William was actually tied up to it, which was no different from a torture device.

"I haven't finished speaking yet. I said I'm not considering the Wheel of the Spine for the time being..."

Finally, the three of them boarded the chariot and moved forward, accompanied by its oar-like limbs.

“Kevin, the information I received from the dead indicates that there are fifty or sixty bandits waiting for us ahead, and Hamlet has something even more dangerous. Are you really sure this journey only needs the three of us?”

Kevin also seemed a little hesitant, "It shouldn't be wrong. My intuition tells me that we have enough people for this trip."

Is that really enough?

Chapter 163 Tomb Explorers

In the surging darkness, restless souls roam, and with the slightest sound, they push open the stone coffins that seal them, wanting to unleash their resentment upon the creatures of this world, armed with weapons.

The next instant, just as his body was halfway out, a holy warhammer burning with intense flames smashed down on him, shattering him and his grave into dust.

In the darkness, a divine light flickered, illuminating that slightly chubby face, despite the resolute look in his eyes.

Following the lively, petite paladin, a tall, slender figure spoke.

"Karen, have you gained weight recently?"

Karen, the little knight, was like a cat with its fur standing on end. She swung a warhammer taller than herself and smashed it flat, revealing a skull with its head sticking out.

"No way! I haven't gained any weight from eating desserts!"

Elian watched as her little niece desperately tried to hide herself, leaning to the side to prevent him from seeing her face. She was still angry; the Holy Light Hammer struck heavily and fiercely, smashing the coffins and the skeletons inside into dust.

Teasing her is really a lot of fun.

“But Karen, look at your body, your flesh is showing.”

Karen hurriedly checked her still-loose nun's habit, trying to find that unruly piece of flesh. Although she didn't seem to have gained weight in her own eyes, Elian's voice always convinced her that she really had.

"I haven't gotten fat! I'm just going through puberty, and I'll soon become a beautiful and powerful paladin!"

Elian let out a cheerful laugh.

"Silly girl, I was talking about the flesh on your face. Do you think you can grow a brain too? Hmm, it's not impossible for such a silly girl to grow a brain."

"Hmph!" Karen sulked, realizing she had been tricked. She threw the hammer aside, but to her surprise, it smashed a hole in the wall, leading to another hidden tomb chamber.

"Sister Leanna, there's another hidden tomb here!"

Karen excitedly poked her head in, completely unaware that a skeleton lurking in the corner was watching her intently. This was a peculiar skeleton; he wore a black robe from a bygone era and held a worn bronze goblet in his hand, filled with a bubbling liquid. This was no ordinary black carbonated water; this liquid was far more dangerous. And now, the skeleton intended to throw the goblet.

A shadow claw gripped his fragile body, the sound of his leg bones and pelvis being crushed echoing in his empty skull. The claw that seized him had long, sharp spikes at the tips of its five fingers, like a woman's long, slender fingernails.

One of the sharp tips was poking at his wine glass.

The skeleton watched helplessly as the bubbling liquid flowed from the cup and slowly poured over itself, feeling the torment of its bones dissolving. With its last moments, it looked at the tall figure standing in the center of the tomb.

Her silver armor was stained black by shadows, which appeared behind her like a gushing spring, condensing into an abstract face. The only clear feature was that sinister smile that seemed to freeze people in place.

"Sister Leanna?"

Karen turned around and saw the familiar white figure standing in the center of the tomb chamber, the light emanating from her body illuminating the darkness of the tomb, like a graceful lily. She gently tilted her head, and although she wore a veil, Karen could sense her joy and smile.

"What's wrong, Karen?"

"There's a new burial chamber behind this, and it's quite large."

"Then let's set off quickly."

“Okay.” Karen widened the opening in the wall and crawled into the secret passage behind it.

Elian walked in with a smile, and before leaving the tomb, she casually kicked a bronze goblet that had rolled out back into the darkness.

The secret passage behind the wall was quite long, and the air carried a musty smell of something that hadn't been opened yet, but under the nun's purification, Karen only felt the scent of sunshine.

“Sister Leanna, why are we exploring this tomb? There are so many other activities we could do for spiritual practice, like chanting scriptures or praying to the Lord.”

"You are devout enough, little Karen. Now you should improve your strength and protect yourself. Although paladins can sense the Holy Light like monks, paladins also have a cultivation method most suited to them. Paladins improve themselves by punishing enemies of the Holy Light. The fall of enemies represents the paladin's merit, and the paladin's glory is always equivalent to strength. This is a secret that only high-ranking paladins know. The reason the Church chooses to keep it from lower-ranking seekers of the Light is because it wants to temper your devout hearts first. Before you gain equal power, you must first learn to bear equal responsibility."

“I understand, but Sister Riana is clearly a nun, how could she know the secrets of a high-ranking paladin?”

"Because my archbishop is a paladin, a very remarkable paladin."

Karen's expression suddenly became excited. "Really? Aunt Elian is also serving a powerful paladin? A powerful paladin, is that the legendary one...?"

"That's right, he's the legendary Crusader..."

Karen excitedly interrupted her, "Wow! Aunt Elian, the Archbishop, is a Crusader! I want to become a glorious Crusader too!"

Elian looked at the excited Karen and continued asking questions.

Who is Karen's role model? Do you have a favorite Crusader?

"Of course there are. The Crusaders I admire are, of course, high above, powerful, and holy..."

"Your Holiness Raphael Baidmon! Leader of the Crusaders! Angel of the Earth!"

Elian paused for a moment before speaking, "Little Karen doesn't like the other Crusader leaders?"

Karen frowned.

"I do like him, but aren't the other Crusader leaders already dead? The strongest one now is His Majesty Raphael."

"And what about His Majesty Merok Raymond?"

Karen's expression turned conflicted.

"I don't really like His Majesty Raymond, because I probably can't become that kind of person. Rumor has it that he single-handedly destroyed a heretical city. Is the old bishop just making up stories to fool me? Although he has the Holy Sword Tulmond, destroying a city is too unbelievable."

Elian recalled what His Majesty Raymond had mentioned.

[A shattered city? Oh, Simpson Park, is that right? Well, the higher-ups did make up a little lie. They tricked you into thinking I shattered that city, right? That's wrong, it was a cover-up. It was my first day with Tulmond, and I wanted to test its power on something. In my excitement, I used all my strength. Simpson Park didn't shatter; I reduced it to ashes. But the higher-ups thought that kind of power was too outrageous and feared it would cause panic among the people, so they moved some rubble overnight and built a makeshift ruin. The rumor is indeed false.]

Because the truth is even more outrageous.

"Moreover, His Majesty Raphael now possesses four holy swords, including Tulmond. Even His Majesty Raymond wouldn't be able to defeat him now."

Elian recalled what His Majesty Raymond had mentioned.