Academic gathering with Lich colleagues

Beatrice, now fully transformed, sniffed Ariana's body, the unease in her blood-red eyes lessening considerably.

"Fortunately, only the soul is injured."

Beatrice gave Lyle one last glare, her eyes filled with a chilling coldness that could freeze one's blood. Holding Ariana in her arms, she smashed the castle window with her massive body and flew away, disappearing into the night sky.

"Lyle..." Medusa emerged from behind the rubble at the doorway, climbed onto Lyle's body, and gently touched him as he sat there in a daze.

“Medusa…” Lyle stretched out his arm, pulling Nia back onto him. “I didn’t do anything…”

Medusa patted his mask gently, like an older sister comforting her younger brother. "Ariana will be alright, Lyle. Everyone has things to do, Lyle, and what you have to do is not yet finished."

"For example, killing the owner of this castle."

……

Lyle returned to the hall and gathered with his companions, where Hines was explaining some knowledge.

"When you want to enter the fourth tier, you will find that your individual abilities are weak. Only by joining a [clan] can you enter the fourth tier."

"A 'clique' is similar to a biological population, forming a group with other spellcasters of similar abilities, sharing your knowledge and power. In many cases, a 'clique' is synonymous with your race. Vampires mostly stick together with other vampires, mages mostly stick together with other mages, druids mostly stick together with other druids..."

Karen looked at Ariana, "Aunt Leanna, what about the Holy Light? Are we the same?"

"It's the same, but we don't call them a race, we call them legions, Crusader Legions."

"The Crusaders were the largest ethnic group in the world."

Hines glanced at the two clergymen and continued his explanation.

“Generally speaking, clans are established for greater power, and clan members are all of the third tier, but there are exceptions…” Hines pointed to the vampire ashes on the ground. “When someone who is about to advance cannot find a similar ability user, or is unwilling to find a similar person to form a clan, then he has another path: to reproduce a clan on his own.”

"That requires a series of complex taboo rituals, and its offspring will enjoy the benefits of the group even when they are very weak. However, this ability to reproduce will weaken the leader of the group."

"Now, the weaker members of Duke Hamlet's clan have been wiped out by Beatrice..."

"So we only need to face a weakened fourth-tier monster now? That's great news." William breathed a sigh of relief. Hines was already a fourth-tier monster, and with the rest of them, taking down the Duke shouldn't be difficult.

"Don't be careless. Normal vampire clans wouldn't turn into these disgusting mosquitoes. Because of that stone, these vampire nobles can put all their defenses into their armor. This doesn't conform to the natural laws of biological evolution."

"In addition to the soil pollution we saw earlier outside the town of Hamlet."

"Pollution and corruption, interference and distortion."

"This is the specialty of evil gods."

Chapter 179 You're Just Unlucky

Evil gods, wicked deities.

When Hines uttered that word, it was like pronouncing a taboo.

Fanila bit her lip lightly, Karen's face was solemn and uneasy, William was thinking, Kevin hadn't changed, Ariane... Ariane, you can't see her.

As for Lyle, incredibly, he only found it ridiculous. Perhaps it was because Nia had mentioned the word "evil god" so many times, telling him he wanted to be an evil god when he grew up. So much so that when Lyle heard the word, he only pictured Nia and the Lightbat lying in a pile of cheese.

"Is this evil god... very terrifying?" Kevin asked, looking at the people around him.

Everyone wore conflicted expressions. Evil gods were only mentioned briefly in the hidden corners of ancient books, and all they knew were fragments of information associated with various ominous terms.

Kevin looked at Hines, the most learned man there, but he remained silent.

"you do not need to know."

"Nia knows, Nia is telling you! Nia is the evil god! Awooo!" Nia poked her head out from Lyle's body, making a threatening gesture at Kevin. Her eyes were wide open, and her tentacles trembled in the air like seaweed.

"Are all evil gods immature children?" Nia's antics eased the tension among everyone, and Kevin flicked the tentacles that were about to hit his face. "I'm not nervous at all right now."

"The evil god is older than your race, but there's no need to worry too much. At most, Duke Hamlet obtained some things related to the evil god, and they won't be too powerful."

"Otherwise, none of us would be alive and well now."

Where Lola Shaffer shattered, behind the enormous portrait of the duke, a hidden passage appeared as the painting crumbled. From within, a murky, dark aura emanated, reaching deep into the passageway.

“With his people completely destroyed, now is his weakest moment, and we should eliminate him immediately.” Hines walked straight down, and the others followed suit.

“Ms. Leanna…I have something I’d like to discuss with you,” Lyle called out to Ariane, who was about to get up.

Karen grabbed Ariana's arm. "Be careful, Leona, he's a necromancer, and he has a bunch of evil tentacle monsters."

Karen, you used to call her "Your Excellency the Pure One" all the time, what a shallow fool you are.

Ariane patted Karen's head. "It's okay, Karen. Trust me. You can go down now."

Karen reluctantly nodded and stepped into the secret passage.

"The plague doctor?" Kevin asked, leading William to look at Lyle.

"You may all leave now. I would like to speak with Ms. Leanna alone."

"Then be careful."

Kevin's footsteps were completely inaudible, and Lyle looked at the silent white knight.

"Ms. Ariane, are you also... are you also a lich like Ariana...?"

Ariane did not reply. She lifted her leg and walked into the darkness. Just as her figure was about to disappear from Lyle's sight, only a gentle voice came from the darkness.

“Lyle, as I said before, Andre is not right for you. However, as a nun, I will listen to your troubles; this duty is only for you.”

……

Following the secret passage to the bottom of the huge stone chamber, perhaps due to the altitude or because it was close to the sea, the air here was cold and damp, and the walls were covered with water stains, looking as if they had been soaked.

The room with the thick stone gate was enormous, like a small stadium, with a huge, bright red chunk of meat hanging from the center of the low, dripping ceiling.

The surface of the meat chunk was covered with sharp spikes, like a hedgehog. Red chains of flesh pulled at the lump of meat, making a sound as it expanded and contracted.

It's like a giant heart.

In this enclosed space, only the sound of their heartbeats, like the tolling of bells, remained. They unconsciously lowered their voices, as if to avoid waking him.

William lowered his voice and looked at Hines, "How?"

“I’ll attack first. Once I have him under control, William, use your most powerful magic, the wind element, which will counter him. Next, use the power of holy light. If nothing unexpected happens, these attacks should be enough to kill him.”

"Okay." "Received."

Ten seconds later.

"attack!"

Spinal Spikes! Eye of the Wind! Hammer of Wrath!

The perfectly timed attack struck the massive chunk of flesh. The spikes on its surface were shattered without any effect, the flesh broke apart, and thick, viscous red contents spilled onto the ground. The heartbeat of the flesh ceased.

"Is that all?" William looked at Hines, his face filled with expectation and disbelief.

Hines frowned, then blew on the white flame in the lantern. The dancing flames, like light dandelions, drifted and landed on the clumps of flesh, igniting them.

Hines looked at the raging flames and breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes, we succeeded. The Duke has been defeated."

Kevin looked a little uneasy. "Wasn't this too easy? We just took down a cunning old monster like that?"

"Of course, conspiracies can never be brought to the table. Didn't you see how well prepared we were? Besides, he's the kind of monster who single-handedly reproduced an entire race. As a reproductive unit, it's reasonable that he has no combat power."

"Don't you think so, Lyle?"

Upon hearing William's question, Lyle began to ponder. Logically, there was nothing wrong with it, but he did have a strong sense of unease; things shouldn't have gone so smoothly.

Am I just being paranoid?

"This is an illusion."

A clear, ethereal voice appeared in Lyle's mind, like a pebble thrown into a lake. The scene before Lyle's eyes rippled.

He opened his eyes again and suddenly collapsed to the ground. Karen's Holy Light Hammer grazed his scalp, its intense heat nearly setting Lyle's clothes ablaze.

Reality presents a different picture.

Fanila was relentlessly firing arrows into her uncle Hines' wooden armor, while Hines, transformed into a bear, roared and slammed his massive paws against the nimble Fanila as she dodged through the air. Kevin lay on the ground, his fate unknown. William attacked Ariane, who had already turned into shadow, with his magic, and Ariane's shadow claws tore at Hines' armor. Karen was preparing to smash Lyle's head into a pancake.

The huge lump of flesh did indeed break apart, but that was part of Duke Hamlet's plan. The moment everyone felt the plan was going smoothly, they didn't realize they were already under a hallucination.

“I didn’t expect you to break free from the illusion, Mr. Lyle Bouler. Unfortunately, you chose the cruelest way to die.” A tall, slender figure walked over from behind the mangled remains.

“I originally intended to let you indulge in your dreams, but now I have to do it myself.”

"You're out of luck, Mr. Lyle."

Easter Egg Chapter: Moon Wine

You climbed up from the damp ground. Even though it was just a simple gesture of raising your hand, it felt incredibly unfamiliar as you followed your body's instincts.

"Is this what it feels like to lose flesh and blood? It's strange, but it's not so strange after all."

You have become a ghost.

"That corpse summoner seemed to have said that I am now some kind of lich..."

You habitually cross your arms to think, but a white mask gradually fills your entire field of vision. That faceless mask, resembling an egg, is interfering with your thinking.

That chilling voice came from behind the mask.

"Stop hogging the magic circle, get out of here, newbie."

"Oh, I'm so sorry."

You followed his instructions and left the stone slab with its strange patterns. You pinched the ring on your slender finger, the blue emblem with the jasmine flower shimmering. You stroked the letter A on it and looked at the enormous castle complex right in front of you.

"If you accidentally press the ring down and it increases my workload when you teleport back next time, I'll take your ribs off one by one..."

"Oh, sorry, sorry." You quickly let go of the ring, bowed to your senior colleague who was working diligently, and headed towards the castle, feeling embarrassed.

"Wait, newbie." The senior suddenly called out to you, then tossed you a black object.

A brand new black robe and a full-coverage mask that looked like an eggshell.

"Your bones are exposed. Replace them with these. In Andrei, you must protect your identity. If you have any questions, you can come to the Magic Research Society to find me. I am Faceless."

"Thank you very much, Mr. Faceless."