Your Majesty's money, why don't you engrave my name on it?

The treasure map was indeed stuck between the rocks. However, right in front of it, a human-shaped, semi-transparent entity, darker than the surrounding night, stood quietly, or rather, floated there. Its head was lowered, and two dim yellow lights stared fixedly at its feet, as if examining the treasure map.

A ghost?

Angelita felt a slight chill, but wasn't too alarmed. She slowly backed away, not intending to disturb its concentration. However, just as she took her third step, despite the complete silence, the creature's head suddenly turned, staring directly at Angelita!

Chapter 406 Binding Spirits

"Loyalty..."

The attack came so suddenly that the ghostly, shadowy monster reached out its claws almost the instant it saw Angelita. Powers not belonging to the living swirled around its fingertips, as if a single glance could suck away a person's soul.

"Scatter!" Angelita's reaction was incredibly fast. Despite the shadow of death looming over her, she drew her longsword as quickly as possible, and in a flash, she accurately struck the monster's outstretched claws.

As a magical weapon, the Guardian's Edict possesses a sharpness far exceeding that of ordinary weapons; even ghosts cannot escape being wounded by it. The monster, in pain, quickly withdrew its claws, howling as it retreated. Meanwhile, Angelita's left hand surged with her own magic, and with a flick of her finger at the monster, the tolling of a death knell rang out above its head!

"Roar—" With the resounding chime of the bell, the monster's form instantly blurred into a black shadow, yet when it looked again, it seemed completely unharmed. But Angrita's magical attack had truly enraged it, and with a strange cry, the monster vanished into the night once more, reappearing right in front of Angrita!

There was no terrifying entity, no putrid stench, but just as the faceless figure was about to touch Angelita, a series of images flashed before the girl's eyes—memories of someone else, but not hers.

It was a room forever shrouded in the crimson hues of twilight, where cast-iron cookware cast distorted, sturdy shadows. Angelita, from her own perspective, witnessed cooking upon cooking, each one almost never repeating, yet ultimately becoming mundane at the limits of her imagination.

Until... the blade sliced ​​through the thigh, and a disgusting chunk of flesh fell into the boiling soup, bloody foam bubbling up, blood and soup mingling into a dark purple vortex.

A moment later, the ladle scooped out the artwork. She heard painful groans and the joy of success. As the painting turned, the monarch's praise and the compliments of others followed one after another, almost overwhelming Angelita. She saw countless gold and silver jewels, fine silks and satins, and it seemed as if a voice in the darkness was urging her on:

Stay here, these are your memories... If you stay, all of this will be yours, and you will enjoy endless riches and glory...

Endless...wealth and luxury?

That's it?

Who are you trying to insult with these barbarian gadgets?!

In an instant, the illusions before Angelita shattered, accompanied by the roar of handguns and the monster's scream of terror at the thwarted scheme.

“If I ever stoop so low as to pursue these things, I’d rather go to hell than become a monster like you,” Angelita said, throwing down her pistol, her face ashen. “Whatever you were in the past or are now, die!”

The shadow opposite could not understand why this living person would discard what it was so fascinated by. It only knew that the last trace of memory it had been evoked by the map was now irretrievable. All it needed to do now was to drag the living person in front of it into death!

The monster soared into the air, its lack of physical form freeing it from the earth's constraints. Shadows coiled around its claws, threatening to drain its life force and turn it into one of its own kind if one wasn't careful. Although Angrita's offense and defense were perfectly balanced, and Shouzhi Changshi could switch between sword and shield as needed, she was ultimately hampered at every turn and was on the verge of falling into a disadvantageous position.

The monster's claws lashed out again, and Angelita dodged and retreated, only to crash into the trunk of a dead tree. Fortunately, at this critical moment, a large hand suddenly slapped down from behind, pulling Angelita backward. With a muffled thud, the monster firmly gripped the tree trunk.

However, dead trees have no life left for it to draw upon.

“No wonder these trees were perfectly fine, but they all died here.” Raslaufer’s voice came from beside Angelita. Although she didn’t have time to put on her armor, the presence of Dople was enough to reassure her.

"Alright, you filthy mess, let me see what you're really capable of."

Raslaufer shielded Angelita behind him, raising his greatsword to head level, pointing it forward like bull horns. However, the undead creature merely stared at Raslaufer, who extended beyond the boundary marked by the row of dead trees, his shadow energy flowing silently, showing no intention of attacking.

"What does this mean..."

“You’re not in its hatred range, old Ray,” Daisy had just been pulled up by Mary and rushed over. “This is a bound spirit, which usually stays near its obsession. And look at these trees, they might be part of some kind of ritual, which also serves as a restraint.”

"In short, 'You can only get bird eggs by climbing a tree'—how about that, a slang term I just learned recently."

“That’s certainly not freedom.” Leslaufer chuckled, stepping without hesitation into the boundary formed by the dead trees. Just as the poet had predicted, the moment he entered, the bound spirits launched a fierce attack on him.

However, the melee combat skills that even Angelita could handle were meaningless to Raslaufer. The mercenary easily blocked the attack, and with a twist of his blade, he drew an arc and pierced through what appeared to be the neck of the Bound Spirit.

The sensation from the sword told Raslaufer that he had indeed hit it, but the spirit had simply become ethereal and appeared further away, seemingly unharmed.

“Use your battle sword, Old Lei! Ordinary weapons definitely won’t work on this thing,” Daisy’s voice came from behind. “I’m not going in. This thing looks like it can teleport…”

Raslaufer nodded. No one else was needed; the mercenaries could handle the monster themselves. He planted his greatsword in the ground and drew his battle blade. The creation from the Nine Hells seemed to have a natural advantage against such spirits; even though Raslaufer hadn't struck it, the bound spirit appeared to have shrunk considerably.

"I wonder if you'll follow me around too." Dobul smiled again, imagining that scene. The next moment, he transformed into a storm and charged towards the ghost!

The spirit howled in agony, trying to defy its fate as a soul lost to Raslaufer's blade, but it couldn't do such a thing even in life, let alone after death. After only two or three exchanges, a large shadow dissipated under the blade of the battle sword, and even the cold atmosphere around it seemed to lessen considerably.

However, when Leslaufer closed his eyes, his brow furrowed.

"They got away," the man with his eyes closed spat. "How come there's a lame cook now?"

Chapter 407 Since We're Here

Among the spirits surrounding Raslaufer, a cook with distinctly different legs had a ashen and wooden expression, appearing almost transparent compared to the other spirits. Raslaufer was certain he had never killed such a person.

“It should be this,” Angelita briefly told everyone about the fragments of memory she had seen under the influence of the spirit. It was roughly a story about a cook who cut off his own thigh to make soup in order to please the king. “I even heard a voice saying that I could have everything he had in his previous life.”

“That would be terrible for you,” Daisy retorted after hearing this. “What about Mary? Maybe Mary would be willing?”

“Although my past is not what I wanted, that doesn’t mean I want to be a chef,” Margaret replied expressionlessly, while pinching Daisy’s thigh. “I think your flesh is more suited to cooking for the king… going to taverns to eat and drink every day.”

"Are you kidding me! I'm just going to sing, why would you cut off my own flesh?"

"Isn't this perfect? ​​You don't dance, so you don't need your legs."

“Alright, alright, I’ve never seen you this out of line before, Mary,” Raslaw tapped his sword twice on his greatsword. “Stop going crazy with ‘Mrs. Fuzzy’. What’s there to compare in this kind of thing?”

If he were the cook, he might as well take a knife and go to the king himself—since His Majesty has already tasted so many delicacies, the meat must be incredibly delicious by now.

"Speaking of which, Annie, why aren't you keeping watch properly? What are you doing running around in the middle of the night? If we hadn't heard the sound of that pistol, we wouldn't have known you'd been fighting with that thing all night."

Angelita couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. She led the group to the large rock where the spirit had been found and pointed to the fake map that was still stuck in the crevice: "Look, it's because of this. I saw it fly away and wanted to get it back, but I couldn't catch it several times. When it finally stopped flying, it attracted that monster."

Daisy was quiet for a moment, and after listening to the devil's advice, she nodded and said, "Everything will become unfortunate near areas where spirit-binding activities occur. No wonder you couldn't catch a piece of paper—or rather, no wonder I let it fly away and you decided to chase after it."

This characteristic allows a bound spirit, even if confined to one place due to some obsession, to continue to maliciously harm the living, endlessly, until it completely disappears from the world for various reasons.

"But there's still a problem: this is a treasure map. Like most undead creatures, the bound spirit is only obsessed with memories of its past life or the moment of its death, and doesn't react to anything else. How could it be so engrossed in staring at a treasure map?"

"A chef who doesn't look at recipes, but instead goes treasure hunting?"

“Do you think it’s possible…” Mary thought for a moment and then slowly said, “Daisy, your treasure map isn’t actually fake, but your people just gave it to the wrong person.”

"It doesn't point to King Igor's mausoleum, but rather to the cook's burial place?"

It was buried here after it died, which is why it lingers nearby. Although someone later built a row of trees as part of the confinement ritual, the power of the spirit-binding has finally leaked out, luring the surrounding creatures into its death.

However, although this theory seems perfect, it still seems to have some flaws... What are they?

“Generally speaking, the dead don’t walk into their graves and lie down on their own,” Raslaufer said, surveying his surroundings with the light spell Daisy had lit. “Even if this spirit is obsessed with the cemetery, what is it staring at on that treasure map? Can it read?”

Many living people can't read, so how can an undead creature be better than a living person?

"Unless... it came with the treasure map when it was alive?!" Daisy was horrified by her own guess. "That would be terrible, it's a trap!"

Based on this reasoning, even a fool could guess that the location indicated by the treasure map, regardless of whether there is any treasure, is definitely dangerous!

It could kill a cook who was favored by the king—the cook was lame, so he couldn't have come alone—but they were still wiped out!

“It seems this place isn’t a good choice for a picnic,” Leslaufer said, turning his head to see Blackclaw hiding not far away. Driven by animal instinct, the Deinonychus, though awake long ago, had not dared to approach the dead trees. “Perhaps we should head back. Also, Daisy should never go to that tavern again.”

"Even if you gave me your courage, I wouldn't dare go again!" the bard cried, his face contorted with grief. "Luckily, I don't drink much. If I had gotten drunk there, that shrew would have dragged me into the kitchen and chopped me into mincemeat!"

“I told you your meat was good quality,” Mary added at the opportune moment, making Daisy so scared that her legs almost buckled forward.

“That’s true…” However, Dubul changed the subject. He looked up at the sky; the moon was bright and the stars were few. Tomorrow should be a sunny day. “We’ve come all this way. If we only take one spirit back, wouldn’t that be a wasted trip?”

"How about we treat this as exercise?" Although Daisy had started it, the poet was clearly only thinking about his extra pounds now. "At least we're not going home empty-handed..."

“Most undead creatures are afraid of light, so maybe we can wait until dawn and look around,” Angelita suggested, though she was more frightened than Daisy. She reloaded her pistol and said, “Like Uncle Leslaufer said, since we’re already here, it would be too cowardly to just go back.”

“Mary, what do you think would be better? If it’s two to two, then we’ll go back,” Angelita glanced at the Deinonychus over there. “Blackclaw is clearly unwilling to continue exploring, so let’s just say it’s half a person.”

“Anne, you know me,” Mary shrugged. “I come from a merchant family.”

She was also trained in skills such as intelligence gathering—she was willing to take risks as long as there was profit to be made.

Of course, this was just the official explanation. Everyone knew that Mary was determined to tie herself to Angrita, and that she would stand by Angrita's side regardless of whether Angrita intended to continue the adventure.

“Looks like I’ll have to prepare a few more Daylight Spells,” Daisy, the initiator, couldn’t insist any longer. “Hey! We’ve even made it through that so-called demon descendant’s graveyard, what are we afraid of with the cook! We’re already here!”

Chapter 408 The Visited Tomb

The map shows that the entrance to the tomb is at the intersection of three elder trees. Elder trees are said to have spiritual power and are often used by shamans and wizards for various purposes. There are also legends that little fairies live on each elder tree.

Whether the legend is true or not, no one knows, but in any case, there is nothing on the three trees in this ominous place. In fact, the three of them are on the verge of death; even trees commonly used in funerals cannot withstand the corrosive invasion of the shadows.

“If we had brought a Luoyang shovel, we could at least check the quality of the soil…” Daisy gestured, making it clear to the others that she was referring to some kind of specialized testing tool. But in reality, even if they had such a thing on hand, they wouldn't need to use it at all—the spirit had already escaped, so what was the point of checking it?

The tombs here blend the styles of Eastern Inassis and Ampiri, and even incorporate western customs. Digging three to five meters down from the marked location leads to a solid platform. From there, extending outwards reveals the actual entrance to the tomb. This was typically done to facilitate the "relocation" of the deceased's remains after death, or to welcome later companions and relatives, but it also provided considerable convenience for grave robbers.

As the location of the actual tomb was revealed, a bright, sun-like daylight spell immediately illuminated its interior, exposing the various skeletons and coffins surrounding it.

As Reslaufer dug the entrance and exit wider and wider, large traces of battle were exposed on the ground inside.

“That cook must have brought a lot of people with him…” Daisy murmured. “There might even be a mage among them. See that huge charred area? It was probably a fireball spell. In this godforsaken place, you never know when your own people might get caught in it.”

The shattered skeletons on the ground seemed to testify to Daisy's words. Many of them were almost charred, while others were roughly brittle. When Raslaw jumped into the tomb first, he kicked one of the relatively intact skeletons, and it crumbled into pieces on the ground.

“Whatever magic they used, it’s a good thing for us,” Dubler picked up a skull, flipped it over and smashed it on the ground. “At least we don’t have to worry about them coming back to life.”

There were ghosts like the Bound Spirit, which didn't look weak, and naturally, there were also undead creatures like zombies and skeletons, but they probably couldn't get up anymore.

Raslaufer looked toward the end of the space, where there was a dark opening, which might lead to the main burial chamber or was just a corridor. He was not used to dealing with these things, so he could not tell which possibility was more likely.

“Let me see.” Daisy reattached the spell to the Sea Song Blade in her hand, but instead of moving forward, she conjured a faintly glowing illusion of a house cat, which meowed as it ran deeper into the depths until it reached the end, where a stone door tightly sealed it, before dispelling the illusion.

“There’s a corridor behind, with three rooms on each side, one on the left, two on the right, and one more at the end,” Mary said after careful observation, as no one in the group could see in the dark without von Dahl. “The one on the left and the one on the right near the door are open, while the other two doors are closed.”

“That must be the place the previous ‘visitors’ visited,” Daisy said, walking in front with her spell in hand. She first swung her rapier across the room on the right, then looked at the one on the left. “Heh, things are scattered everywhere. I bet they disturbed something they shouldn’t have while taking things without asking.”

As he spoke, the poet focused the light from his rapier onto a pile of humanoid skeletons on the ground that were larger and more robust than normal: "I reasonably suspect it's this big guy. Look, there are fragments of plate armor on it, and over there is a large axe."

“That looks like plate armor, Daisy,” Raslaufer picked it up and examined it. “The two types are quite different in price. If it really is plate armor, we need to consider whether this really is King Igor’s tomb.”

“Even if it’s just plate armor, this guy must have been incredibly strong when he was ‘alive,’” Angelita poked the pile of bones with her longsword and frowned. “Now I’m starting to wonder who was buried here. The cook and his men weren’t even able to explore all the side chambers.”

“That’s perfect, we can take over some of their work,” Leslaufer said, examining the scattered items on the ground. He found there wasn’t much worth taking. “Take whatever you like. It seems that the spirit wasn’t after any ‘treasure’ when he was alive; he was looking for something else.”

A man who enjoys the king's favor—even the king of Eastern Inassus—is unlikely to risk his life for what is here, and the answer he seeks is probably behind these two remaining rooms.

Before setting off, Mary had purchased a set of lock-picking tools, which saved her the trouble of pulling out her hair. However, as the door to the right-hand tomb chamber opened, the contents inside were disappointing.

In contrast, the other room on the right was just an ordinary burial chamber. The barrels, jars, bottles and bowls may have once contained herbs or soup, but now they had all turned into a pile of dark, sticky paste that would only make people feel nauseous.

"Could this be what the cook is looking for?" Daisy covered her mouth and nose, her face pale. "If I were his king, and he dared to serve me this, he'd be dead..."

“Ha, maybe the chef can tell what ingredients are in it just by smelling it,” Mary teased, seemingly enjoying her banter with Daisy last night. “How can you know what’s so special about it if you won’t even smell it?”

"If the purpose of courage is to try for the sake of trying, then I'd rather be a coward—after all, the purpose of those who tried before me was to prevent me from trying again."

“In my opinion, we should leave here quickly and go see what’s in the main burial chamber. Don’t people usually keep the best things with them?” the poet said, turning around, raising his rapier, and preparing to walk out the door.

However, before she could even reach the door, the heavy, rusty metal door suddenly opened without any wind, banging loudly and locking everyone inside. The next moment, a tall skeleton wearing old, plated armor jumped out from some corner, two red will-o'-the-wisps flickering in its eye sockets. Before anyone could react, it dragged a heavy battle axe and smashed it straight at the bard's head!

Chapter 409 Skeleton Knight

Caught off guard, the poet cried out in alarm. The incident happened so suddenly that she had no time to swing her matte and could only hastily defend herself with her rapier!

"Daisy!" Angelita was shocked. A flame immediately ignited in her hand as she drew her sword to help, but to her surprise, Leslaufer and Mary blocked her way from the left and right.

"How..." The girl was stunned, but what surprised her even more was what followed. Before them, the rapier, its gleam tinged with a pinkish halo, resembled a nimble water snake, and had managed to barely block a blow from the head with a series of side attacks. And just as the stiff undead creature beneath the armor began to slowly retract its strength and strike again, Daisy actually managed to thrust out several more swords.

Although the first three hits failed to penetrate the armor, and the rest were just wild swings, the first few were actually quite well done!

“It’s a rare opportunity to give her this chance,” Leslaufer said softly. “Don’t rush.”

Because she can solve most problems by casting spells, and even if someone gets close, she has the melody that is accompanied by thunder to protect her. Although she studied the swordsmanship of Corazonde with Angelita and Mary, Daisy hardly had any opportunities to show off her learning results, and she always made excuses to avoid it.

Now, we can finally learn about her achievements.

"How come even Daisy seems to be better than me...?" After looking at her for a while, Angelita couldn't help but feel frustrated. She looked at Leslaufer with a bitter face, "Uncle Leslaufer, does this mean that I am actually the one with the worst talent?"

“Your sword,” Leslaufer shook his head, “is a half-hand sword, which makes it easy for you to switch strategies between different styles, but it’s not as good as a swift sword or a rapier for Corazon swordsmanship. With my skills, you might as well switch to a two-handed sword.”

Specialization versus generalization—this is a question in every field… and it's no exception here. When employing the highly efficient and refined Corazonde swordsmanship, the lighter rapier, which focuses more on slashing and thrusting, or even just thrusting, has advantages that a half-sword cannot match.

However, it was indeed unsuitable for dealing with the armored skeleton in front of it.

"Old Lei! Help me out!" After barely managing to parry the skeleton's heavy blow for the third time, the bard finally couldn't hold on any longer and began to plead for help from her companions. "I can't dodge in this small space at all!"

She was destined not to be able to fight the opponent head-on like Leslaufer, but this was just a room in the tomb. No matter how fast she ran, she could not escape the skeleton's attack range—the opponent did not even need to take many steps, just block the door and keep slashing.

Daisy, on the other hand, has many more things to consider.

"Left rear, retreat!" Raslaufer narrowed his eyes slightly and shouted as Daisy retreated again. Without waiting for the poet to react, Dople immediately slammed his greatsword down!