Academic gathering with Lich colleagues

She looked at Ariana and forced a smile. "Please leave quickly, before I change, before I hurt you."

"Are you a human?"

“You used to be…” The woman looked at the silent Ariana, “You seem to sense disappointment…”

"I want to find a way to improve my singing ability, so I am looking for a real siren."

"Could you show me your singing?" The inhuman woman smiled. Perhaps the long period of being a monster had made her feel lonely, or perhaps she was just a kind-hearted person. "I received some music training decades ago, back in the human world. Maybe my fond memories lingering in the corner of my mind can have a positive effect on your singing skills."

Ariana recalled the beautiful song she had heard not long ago, and she found herself nodding to this former human.

She clasped her hands together in front of her chest, gazing at the moon peeking out from behind the clouds.

Ariana began to sing.

……

Lyle was huddled in the tower of the bandit camp, facing the campfire, when suddenly he clutched his chest.

"What's wrong, Lyle?"

My heart skipped a beat.

"...I hope your heart doesn't break down and can stop." Kevin's worried expression turned to disdain, and he shrank back into his blanket.

"It's true, I have a feeling something's going to happen."

……

In the bay, the fish-men who were still conscious scrambled back into the water, while the rest lay unconscious on the ground.

Beatrice covered her ears and squatted to one side, while the woman struggled to her feet and looked at the girl in white with astonishment.

Her deformed bone spurs were twitching, but adhering to the principle of helping people to the end, she listened to Ariana's entire song.

It almost ended its monster life.

She patted her brain, which felt like mush, and began to speak with difficulty.

"You... are not a living being, are you?"

"Yes, I am a lich. What does that have to do with my singing?"

"There is an absurd legend among human musicians that a perfect singer, after death, will have her voice favored by Death, and will continue to sing in the land of the dead for those who are obsessed with her."

"Her singing will become the sound of death; it will awaken the most primal senses of life."

That is, pain.

"The dead will feel pleasure from experiencing what they felt in life, while the living will suffer this unbearable torment."

"Madam, your voice is a heavenly sound that the living cannot bear. No matter how much you refine it, it is of no use. It belongs only to the dead."

Ariana seemed to have suffered a blow.

"Does it belong only to the dead?"

"He doesn't belong to the dead?"

Chapter 169 The Collective Explorers

The town of Hamlet does not have sturdy high walls, which may be because the Duke does not live in the town.

The Duke's mansion was located halfway up a desolate mountain, while the town of Hamlet was at its foot. The town's buildings were all low-rise houses, with the tallest inn not exceeding three stories. In the center of the town stood a tall, handsome stone statue of a man, presumably the Duke of Hamlet.

The town's buildings were dilapidated, with some houses having collapsed walls. In the relatively intact houses, every household had boarded up their doors and windows.

This is the scene that greeted Lyle and his companions as they entered Hamlet's town.

It was morning, and dark clouds overhead obscured the sun. The entire town was deserted, and Lyle avoided the houses boarded up and filled with darkness. An eerie and terrifying atmosphere pervaded the town, making it seem like a ghost town.

The three stepped over Hamlet's low railing, where the door had been, now blocked by clutter. Under the Plague Doctor's black overcoat, the mobile Nia slipped back into her trousers.

"There is no danger."

Since this is a selection process for Hamlet's successor, Kevin, as the heir, absolutely must openly reveal his identity. Because Lyle might use necromancy and need to conceal his identity, William will have to act as Kevin's squire. This might be the most appropriate way; both of them are respectable enough.

The three of them stood on the edge of the town, feeling the cold wind. This damn weather! It was still summer!

"Damn it, isn't there anyone alive here?"

"Yes." An aged voice, like a cool breeze from an ice cellar, brushed against the back of the three.

It was a skinny old man, his sparse white hair like camel thorns in the desert, tangled here and there. His skin was withered, and his eye bags drooped severely, like invisible weights. He wore a tattered black robe that covered his wrinkled head, and he was curled up in a black armchair, sitting behind a mud wall, sheltered from the cold wind. His two eyes, one large and one small, stared at the three people walking forward.

"You must be the new heir. I am Hamlet's registrar. Come here and sign your name."

“Oh.” Kevin wrote his name on the yellowed roll of paper.

Looking at the old man's thin body, he couldn't help but express his concern.

"Old sir, why did Hamlet choose you as the registrar? Where are all the young lads?"

The old man didn't answer the question; instead, he gave a strange smile and revealed yellow teeth, talking about completely unrelated things.

“I used to be Hamlet’s gravedigger, but that job is no longer viable, so I came here as a registrar to make ends meet.” As he spoke, he tossed a palm-sized square stone from his pocket and showed it to Kevin.

"Twenty silver coins."

Kevin understood what the old man meant. "Why don't you just rob someone? This stone you have is worth twenty silver coins. What kind of thing is worth so much?"

The old man's laughter became grating and sinister.

"Give me twenty silver coins for your tombstone, and I'll have your name engraved on it. At least after you die, you'll have a stone, won't you?"

Kevin didn't fly into a rage at the old man's curse-like words; his emotions were suppressed by the fear in his heart. This place was truly eerie.

The old man seemed to treat what had just happened as a joke, acting as if nothing had occurred. He rocked his rocking chair, still fiddling with the stone in his hand.

"If you want to find a place to rest, go to an inn. Hamlet doesn't like strangers. Just leave the payment at the inn's front desk. If you really can't get used to it, you can go directly to the Duke's mansion, which is halfway up the mountain. There are plenty of empty rooms there for you to stay in."

The three continued on their way. The old man remained in his rocking chair. Despite his eccentric temperament, the tension among the three eased considerably after one of them spoke.

"Which way should we go, to the inn or directly to the Duke's mansion?"

"Inn. Don't you remember Sheriu's letter? If Hamlet is this eerie, the Duke's mansion, which studies evil rituals, must be far more terrifying than this place."

"Of course, we shouldn't rush to the hotel. I suggest we walk around first to assess the danger in the area."

The three quickly finalized their new itinerary, but just before setting off, William called Kevin back.

His expression was more serious than ever before.

“Kevin, I think you’ve probably noticed that your journey to become the successor isn’t as simple as it seems. We might encounter dangers beyond our imagination. If that happens, I will abandon you. I will leave you behind to survive on my own.”

“William…”

"I would never risk my life for a mere fortune."

"I understand, and I won't either. If something truly terrifying comes our way that we can't face, then let's shamefully run away."

Running away is shameful, but it's useful!

……

The three moved along the outskirts of Hamlet town, but there was not a single living creature in sight.

In the midst of this oppressive atmosphere, a sound came from the bushes ten meters away from the three of them.

William's clenched wand, Lyle's prepared curse, Nia's liquid tentacles already flowing on the ground, and Kevin's swallowing sounds.

A wooden lantern emitting a white light emerged from the grass.

A humanoid creature with long white hair. Lyle judged his race from his long, narrow ears: elf. However, his pale skin was quite unusual.

After a long standoff, Lyle and the others breathed a sigh of relief.

"It's really not easy to run into a living person here, sir."

The white-haired, long-eared elf put down his lantern and looked at Lyle's bird-beak mask with a thoughtful expression.

"Fanila, they are not the enemy."

Right to the side of the three, in another patch of grass closest to William, an elven girl with a bow and arrow emerged from the grass.

It turns out that Hines was luring the enemy.

"Eh? You're from that time, an Andrei?!" The elven girl exclaimed in surprise as she looked at Lyle.

Lyle also remembered his identity as an elf, and William must have been just as surprised.

"The Honey Trap Elf Girl!"

“It’s not a honey trap! My name is Fanila!” The lively female elf glanced at the people around Lyle. “Andrei, where’s your lecherous clown friend?”

Lyle glanced at William, who was sweating profusely. "We've parted ways."

"Hmph, he's lucky."

His niece suddenly got angry for some reason, and Hines stretched out his palm, which faintly emitted a white light.

"Hello, I am the Wither Druid, Hines."

"Hello, Mr. Hines, I am the epidemic doctor."

The handshake is instant.

"Doctor, do you know Mr. Windfury? A man from Andrei."

Chapter 170 The Divergent Explorers

The heavy rocks, like pomegranate fruits, are embedded in the mountainside, covered in dust from the constant polishing of the sun and moon. With each impact, the rocks loosen and dust falls off.

The light in the gap grew increasingly dazzling, as if some rare and precious treasure had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

With a loud bang, the stone shattered.

Kallen emerged, shimmering. She planted her Holy Light Warhammer on the ground and rested against the upright handle, breathing heavily as she watched the setting sun descend into the distance.

"Sister Leona! We're finally out!" Beyond the tomb they had explored lay a deep, dark ancient mausoleum. There were few enemies of the Holy Light within, and some of the coffins were even empty. Judging from the contents of the tomb and the burial goods, it belonged to a large family.