Witch Troupe and the Undead

“Then I can’t think of a more destructive adjective than ‘tyrant’.” Alessina spread his hands, feeling that he needed a more aggressive word than “tyrant” to describe the brutality of this Night King.

Chapter 393 The Witch Who Pilots Gundams

"Carlos, the court steward, charges: theft, incitement." There was an unlucky fellow tied to a chair. Leslie casually stuffed the emerald-carved grapes and silver cups and plates into her bag. From the perspective of adventure rewards, this underground theater had quite a lot of treasures.

Even ignoring their artistic and cultural value, those fruit models made of gemstones and precious metals could fetch a considerable income if sold simply as ordinary gemstones.

According to Leslie's estimate, these emerald grapes should be worth no less than 1 gold coin each, while the exquisite silver wine glasses and tableware are worth about 5 to 6 silver coins each. If they are pure silver, then their value should be between 2 and 3 gold coins.

If we consider its craftsmanship and artistic value, then it should be worth about 10 gold coins and 5 gold coins respectively. Each of the dozen or so noble boxes in the row has at least a complete set of pure silver tableware and wine glasses, as well as several plates of jeweled fruit.

Cherries carved from rubies, grapes made of emeralds, and a vibrant apple carved from a single piece of ruby—this display of wealth was so extravagant that even Roach was amazed by the tyrant's riches. This ostentatious display of wealth was almost comparable to the displays of wealth by powerful figures in ancient Chinese dynasties.

"Don't take too much; no one here will help you carry your luggage," Alessina warned. Carrying too much loot during an adventure is not a good thing, as it means expending a lot of energy. Balancing supplies and carrying loot is a real art.

“I know, didn’t you see that I only brought valuable and small items?” Leslie didn’t bring any of the heavier silver-plated items, only a few small sterling silver wine glasses and those lightweight gemstone fruits that didn’t take up much space.

Passing through the side corridor of the theater, the exit from this area is located behind the stage. The stage is at least 1.5 meters above the ground. For Lulua and Alessina, this level of drop meant they jumped up with almost no running start or effort. Leon, due to the weight of his armor, did not jump but instead climbed up.

Leslie's situation was a bit more complicated, but with a help from the knight, she easily climbed onto the stage. There was only a pile of rotting clothes and ashes on the stage. Livia lifted the stillness spell and freed these people.

"Be careful~" Roach grabbed the little witch under her armpits and lifted her up. Alessina reached out and pulled her onto the stage. Roach was the last one to climb up.

"Huh!?" Just as he grabbed the edge of the stage and pulled himself up, his ankles were suddenly tangled in something. He turned his head and saw a smiling ceramic face right in front of him.

"Damn it!" Roach let go and was about to fall. "Hold on tight!" Leon grabbed his arm and pulled him up with all his might, along with the thin iron chains around his ankles. "Clang!" The Wolf Head Demon-Slaying Sword struck the chains, sparks flying.

“Soul puppet…” Leon cut the chain on Roach’s ankle, watching the remaining half of the chain retract back under the stage. At the same time, the exit behind the stage was also blocked by several layers of iron railings that fell down.

Accompanied by the sound of some mechanism being activated, the light from the luminous crystal, cleverly reflected by the mirror, fell on the center and surrounding area of ​​the stage. Amidst the creaking of gears turning, a sound like that of a music box rang out from all sides.

"I knew this kind of pervert wouldn't just create a stop-motion theater so easily." Alessina gripped her twin swords, shielding the little witch behind her.

What is a "soul puppet"?

“A puppet created by a sorcery ritual,” Leon stood at the front of the stage, sword in hand, looking at the restless terracotta figures in the audience.

"By burning the ashes of the newly deceased together with clay, the soul of the deceased is trapped inside the terracotta figurine, thus creating this kind of soul figurine that can move freely!"

"Hmm, magic puppets?" Livia looked at the soul puppets, which were unfamiliar to her. If the occasion weren't so inappropriate, she would have taken out her notebook to record these strange technologies and magical creations.

"No, it's a type of necromancer." The least knowledge Livia had learned was about necromancers. The old witch hadn't taught her much about this. Of course, it's also possible that she was a half-elf. Even if she scoffed at her elven bloodline, she still had a strong aversion to the necromancy and necromancy of the Soul Realm.

"In the name of the Holy Lord..." Leon instinctively tried to summon the Holy Flame, but Lulua swept past him, her small fist wrapped in moonlight, and smashed a soul puppet that had just climbed onto the stage to pieces with a single punch.

The God of Night's power doesn't have the same strong anti-necromantic effect as the Gods of Death. However, since it's not a true undead creature but a necromantic puppet, it can still produce some effect, at least better than the Holy Flame which targets demons and evil spirits.

“The souls… are imprisoned…” Livia reached out and tried to tug at the twisted, fused souls inside the bodies of these soul puppets, only to find that they were imprisoned by some kind of magical ritual. In other words, she couldn’t violently tear or pull these souls out until the spell was broken or their physical form was destroyed.

If the souls of normal people or demons are connected to the body by threads or even ropes of varying thickness and strength, then these soul puppets and undead golems are bound to this crude container with rings of iron chains—as if being tortured.

The former only requires a little more or less effort from the little witch, while the latter is the type she simply cannot budge unless she destroys the "nails" at the ends of these chains, which are the ritual structures.

However, the inability to tear the soul doesn't mean it can't cause damage. No matter how many times these "chains" are wrapped around it, there are still gaps. Beams of light covered the surface of the soul terracotta warrior, like countless threads converging towards the witch's palm. The pottery on the surface of the body showed slight cracks, but the extent was small and the speed was slow. This indicates that the soul damage caused by Livia's spell was quite weak.

"Hmm..." The witch released her hand and looked at the soul puppets that had surrounded her and her group. A large number of soul puppets surged to the edge of the stage, and Leon and Alessina tried their best to intercept them, but they could not prevent the defensive circle from shrinking.

"Master Roach?" "Coming!" Roach pulled two test tubes from his bag, one red and one blue. "Young Miss! Some water, please!"

"Hmm!" The girl raised her right hand, as if lifting something into the sky, and her body spun lightly half a circle. Her staff was slightly raised, as if she was completing the construction of a secret ritual through a dance-like movement.

"Splash!" The water summoned from the Water Elemental Realm lashed at a Soul Puppet, causing it to stagger. Then, the moisture in the air and the water droplets dripping from the sky turned into countless water whips.

Luo Qi hurled the blue test tube at the Soul Corpse. The test tube exploded, instantly releasing a large amount of extremely cold smoke. The smoke passed through the water whip that was binding the Soul Corpse, quickly turning the flowing water into ice blocks, and the water whip turned into countless icy thorns.

The thicket of thorns trapped these soul puppets in place. "Hmph~" the little witch let out a smug snort, as if she had mastered another combo attack skill.

"Leon!" Roach threw the red test tube at the knight, who froze upon seeing it, almost thinking that Master Roach had accidentally dropped it. "Sword oil!" With Roach's command, Leon swiftly swung his sword, blocking the test tube before it hit his forehead. The exploding test tube splashed the bright red liquid onto the blade.

The knight swung his sword with practiced ease, ensuring that every inch of the blade passed precisely through the splashing liquid, instantly creating a layer of crimson mist on the blade. "Master Roach, what kind of sword oil is this?"

"Oh, explosive sword oil."

"What!?" Leon abruptly withdrew his sword, but it was too late. The blade had already struck the foremost, incredibly obese soul puppet. "Boom!" The explosive shockwave and flames shattered the unfortunate soul puppet, while large cracks appeared on the faces of the surrounding soul puppets that were imprisoned by ice.

"I..." Leon almost lost his balance and fell, but fortunately, the battle-hardened knight managed to deflect the enormous impact in time. The red aura on the blade dimmed slightly, and he estimated that it could still be used seven or eight more times.

Why does something like Explosive Sword Oil even exist in this world?! Who would think of enchanting a sword with such a property and effect?

"Ah, this was developed to make it easier to dig rocks and mine minerals. It's an extension of the results of my previous Thorn Sword..." Roach explained. This way, he could make up for his lack of physical strength and his inability to dig those rocks and minerals in this world. He only needed to apply this sword oil to his pickaxe, and with just one strike, he could blast those solid and heavy ores into pieces.

With the help of the Explosive Sword Oil, the soul puppets that were fixed in place by ice and unable to move were all shattered, and a large amount of soul essence appeared in the little witch's bottle.

Under normal circumstances, Soul Puppets are not so easy to deal with. Even if they are broken, their magical effects will reassemble the fragments until the energy of the fused soul orb that powers them is exhausted. For ordinary adventurers, these hundreds of Soul Puppets are enough to completely deplete their physical strength and magical resources.

However, for the little witch, all she needed to do was shatter this body. Before the magic could repair the material structure and restore the chains binding it, she could tear apart these soul orbs that had been forcibly fused together.

"There shouldn't be any new tricks, right?" "I think there should be." Roach pulled out a few more test tubes and runestones and held them in his hand. Leslie agreed with Roach's opinion: "With such a big show, it's not quite an appetizer, but to say it's the whole thing, I don't think so. It should be said that this is the grand finale."

"Oh? What's the basis for that?"

“I am a bard, and this is a stage. Just because my technique is not good doesn’t mean my theory is not solid!” Leslie argued, her face flushed.

"Stay alert!" Alessina protected the little witch as they approached the edge of the stage. "No matter what happens next, it's best not to let your guard down."

With a mechanical creak, four chains behind the stage began to rise, pulling out a huge object. "Is this a deus ex machina?"

In classical drama, when the plot develops to the point where it can no longer be handled, a mechanical image or statue representing a god is lowered to salvage the overly chaotic plot. Although Rod had not studied drama, he was somewhat familiar with this theory after it was abused in modern times.

Now, what appears before them is the true "fundamentalist" "deus ex machina," using machinery to hoist up something that represents God or something capable of obliterating all plot conflicts.

"Whoosh~" The scorching air spread in all directions, accompanied by a steady and powerful heartbeat. The cloth covering the giant object slowly slipped down, revealing the tip of a golden crown, followed by a helmet with a crown. Below the T-shaped opening was not a face, but another layer of armor that completely covered the facial features.

Shoulder armor carved with dragon patterns, breastplate imitating dragon ribs, and arm armor like sharp claws are revealed one by one. Underneath the outer plate armor are layers of chainmail and scale plates.

However, upon closer inspection, these armors are not true triple armor, but rather a structure similar to golem exoskeleton, only sculpted into the shape of a knight wearing triple armor and a crown.

The colossal figure, initially in a semi-crouching posture, gradually stretched out its body, its ten-meter-tall stature making the entire theater seem exceptionally cramped and small. The knight's right hand held a massive sword at least four meters long, its bronze blade composed of twelve prismatic metal rings engraved with various runes and unidentified patterns, its edges sharp. Angels with outstretched wings, holding the blade, formed the guard and hilt.

Because the blade is so large, everyone can clearly see the main runes and patterns on the surface, which are composed of many smaller runes and ritual patterns.

"Whoosh~" Accompanied by heavy breathing, scorching air blew out from under the visor. Just as Leon pursed his lips, preparing for a fight to the death, the colossus sluggishly extended its left hand, which was not holding a weapon, and then slowly knelt down on one knee with its palm open.

"what?"

"=w=" The little witch revealed a smug smile. This giant statue was driven by souls and magic, and with this method of driving, she only needed to exert a little effort to persuade the souls within it to change the object of their service.

The witch reached out and took out a bottle filled with soul essence, and climbed onto her palm with some effort. The colossus withdrew its palm and placed it in front of its chest. The layers of armor opened, revealing the entrance to the power core, which consisted of hundreds of golden rings of runes.

Livia pulled off the bottle cap and poured the essence of the soul inside into the golden ring at her heart. Soon, a stronger heartbeat sounded, the layers of her breastplate closed up, and her hands lowered again, allowing the little witch to climb down.

After confirming that the witch had gone down, the colossus stood up again, holding a longsword in both hands, and slammed the hilt of the sword heavily against the backstage wall. The entire underground palace wall collapsed backward, revealing the path to the lower level.

"Come on~" Livia called out, gesturing for everyone to stand together. After smashing through the wall, the colossus turned around, grabbed Roach and the others with one hand, and then moved towards the helmet.

"Hiss!" The T-shaped opening on the mask opened, revealing the space inside used to house the control soul core. It was a cylindrical room with rings of rune discs on the floor and a raised platform in the very center.

After everyone entered, the T-shaped mask closed, and the little witch patted the platform in front of her, signaling Roach to carry her up.

"This really is a Gundam!" Professor Roach was greatly shocked, especially after he lifted the little witch onto it. The central platform sank down and became completely transparent. Chains made of blue glow wrapped around the witch's hands and feet, and the T-shaped part on the mask also became completely transparent, allowing people inside to see the scenery outside.

“Although this colossus is very old, it is very advanced!” Livia nodded. The craftsmanship of this Soul Rune Golem is still very advanced in modern times. The main reason is that many technologies have been lost, such as this soul-driven method. This makes the operation of the golem simpler and reduces the cost of manufacturing and driving the golem.

However, for reasons everyone knows, this falls under the category of necromancy, and the use of soul fragments is particularly taboo. Therefore, this core part of the process was destroyed.

Although the souls of the natural world and those who die naturally quickly shatter and dissipate, and this is not limited to humans—most animal souls can also be used in this way—the above refers to legal, reasonable, and harmless methods of exploitation. As we all know, if there is a legal way to do something risky, then everything illegal becomes legal.

Simply put, if the use of soul fragments is allowed, then the inefficient natural acquisition methods will soon be replaced by efficient ones, all of which will be disguised as legal.

Soul fragments from natural deaths and those from wilderness cemeteries need to be collected within 3 to 7 days of death. Souls are relatively intact within 1 to 2 days of death. Church rituals can artificially accelerate the fragmentation process, speeding up the death process and preventing the creation of undead creatures.

If you choose the legal way to obtain it, you will need to spend a long time camping in the graveyard, and unless you are on the battlefield, it is almost impossible to collect the required amount of this golem.

Furthermore, choosing animal souls requires spending a long time in the slaughterhouse. Although there is now a certain scale of breeding and slaughtering, such a good thing was not always possible in the past. Moreover, animal souls can only be used as soul fuel for these golems, but they are probably not suitable as cores.

In other words, as long as you loosen this permission instead of imposing a blanket ban, there will soon be instances of people actively provoking wars to obtain large quantities of soul fragments, especially for rulers who are at a disadvantage on the battlefield and in terms of national strength. To achieve their ambitions and goals, they are absolutely capable of doing such a thing.

This is considered relatively normal. Abnormal psychics would even artificially spread and research plagues to create large-scale deaths and more efficient exploitation. On a smaller scale, mages and alchemists would not mind killing a few living people or researching how to torture living people more efficiently to continuously generate soul fragments.

For example, if someone is made to survive, their soul fragments could be extracted like bile from a live bear, since the soul can regenerate to some extent (slowly and only if the damage is not severe). It's only a matter of time before similar farms emerge.

Therefore, these core techniques and spells became forbidden arts, and were basically destroyed and sealed under the forceful impetus of the gods, especially the Church of Death.

However, this "Eternal Night King" was clearly the kind of inhuman tyrant, and no one here, including Leslie, doubted how he collected the materials.

However, we also have to thank this tyrant. If he had actually placed a flesh golem or a rock golem here, even with the little witch present, we would have had to be prepared for casualties or even total annihilation.

However, since he chose the Soul Rune Golem, well, sorry: "This awesome and cool toy now belongs to Miss Livia~"

"Forward!" The golem strode through the huge gap, completely ignoring the corridor on the third floor, and leaped down from the edge of the corridor, landing on the underground plaza on the fourth floor.

Chapter 394 Mobile Combat Chronicle (Seriously)

"Hold on tight~" Accompanying the little witch's soft voice was a sudden feeling of weightlessness. The rune golem jumped directly from the side of the corridor, which was at least 30 meters high. Even inside the core cabin, everyone frantically grabbed the rune prisms on the wall, whose purpose was unknown.

"Hey!" The chains wrapped around Livia's ankles lit up instantly, and magic flowed into the base along the runic chains. "Boom!" The shockwave spread in all directions, knocking down the ancient and exquisite columns and magnificent statues.

"This looks like an arena. Is there another arena after the theater?" Roach wondered if this Eternal Night King was some otherworldly version of Nero, the famous Roman emperor.

This level of the underground palace is a spacious arena, with an architectural style similar to ancient Roman architecture. It consists of tiered stands and hundreds of stone columns arranged in an oval. The entire arena is at least 50 meters high. The ceiling of the uppermost level is the top ceiling of the mine or the underground palace. Crystals embedded between the rocks and stalactites project intersecting beams of light downwards, illuminating the center of the entire arena.

The arena is about 300 meters long and 75 meters wide. For a golem that is 10 meters or more tall, it is just a small arena.

"Wow, this is huge! How deep is this underground palace? Are we going to end up in lava?"

"No, actually, considering that the entrance to the mine we came in through is halfway up the mountain, we are actually at the bottom of the mountain right now, and haven't even really entered the area below ground yet."

At least another 500 meters would be needed to reach the magma chamber, assuming the area is geologically active and the crust is thin. Of course, this is based on Earth's theory; the situation in the magical world is hard to say.

Faded, blurry flags hung around the arena, with a faint hint of blue visible. At the center of each flag was a gold-embroidered emblem. Although the emblem had faded due to oxidation, it was still clearly visible. It was a ring composed of some kind of plant stems and flowers, with a uniquely shaped longsword at its center.

Just like the longsword in the golem's hand, the blade was made of 12 interlocking sharp rhomboid rings, and the hilt and guard were angels with four arms and four wings, while the one in the golem's hand was an angel with two wings and two arms.

"This is probably the royal emblem of this so-called Eternal Night King. In comparison, the emperor of the empire looks more like a beggar."

Leon remarked that, regardless of the size of this underground palace or its luxurious features, this "Eternal Night King" seemed to be even wealthier than the emperor of the empire. Of course, it could also be that this guy had simply achieved this through excessive taxation.

If the old emperor didn't intend to continue running the country, or even pass it on to his descendants, and only wanted to live a life of luxury before he died, it wouldn't be impossible for him to create such a spectacle. Even though much magical knowledge and technology had been lost, overall, the society's productive capacity was still improving, and the wealth created was certainly more than in the past. It's just that most of this wealth had been deposited in the hands of private merchants and nobles.

"Whoosh!" A loud whistle rang out, and a group of wriggling black shadows appeared at the edge of the empty stands, followed by continuous shouts. These shadows seemed to be very afraid of the light of the crystal and lingered in the shadows.

"Snap!" The little witch snapped her fingers, and magic flowed along the thin rune chains on her wrist. A large amount of fluorescent liquid overflowed from the cabin wall and quickly outlined several simple runes. Looking out from the T-shaped window, the shadows instantly became clear.

"An undead creature?" Its pale skin was covered with black veins, and its eyes had completely degenerated, leaving only slits. Numerous tiny tentacles grew from under its eyelids, sniffing through the air, seemingly some kind of sensory organ that had replaced sight.

Apart from that, its face is almost indistinguishable from a human's, with slightly pointed ears, no hair, and limbs that extend to the extremities. The black veins become more abundant and thicker, eventually turning blood red in the palms, and its nails are as sharp as blades.

They did not appear to be simple animals, as most of them were dressed in some kind of rags and held pickaxes and short spears made of flint and sharp metal ores.

“No, they are simply demonized creatures. Those black parts are demonized patterns,” Roach refuted Leon’s judgment. These things still looked alive because he could see that they were communicating with each other, clearly exhibiting some sociality and division of labor, and some of them were even subtly fighting each other.

Most undead are emotionally detached and lack most of the desires of the living, except for hatred and a bloodlust for the living. However, these monsters clearly showed surprise and curiosity about the massive tremor of the golem's landing, indicating they were not undead.

“Perhaps the craftsmen who built the tomb for the Night King were buried alive here and survived in some way,” Roach guessed. Alessina was silent for a few seconds, then nodded. After all, given the Night King’s inhuman behavior, this possibility was very high.

While Roach and the others were discussing, these pale monsters seemed to have reached some conclusion or made some decision. "Crack!" A javelin struck the golem's breastplate with a crisp clang. Seeing that the little witch didn't seem to retaliate, they quickly began attacking with javelins and arrows. After finding that ranged attacks were ineffective, they frantically tried to climb up with their claws and pickaxes.

"..." Livia looked at Roach for help, who sighed, "Just think of it as some kind of monster~"

"Hmm~!" The little witch raised her right foot, and the rune chain on her jade-like ankle lit up. A blue rune composed of an oval ring and a wedge-shaped vertical line appeared on her little foot, like the Chinese character "中" (zhong).

The golem also raised its right foot in unison, and the same runes appeared on the sole of its foot, which was encased in dragon claw metal boots, but they were yellowish-brown. "Hey!" The witch stomped down hard, and the golem also took a step forward.

"Whoosh!" The shockwave spread out in a fan shape directly in front, and dozens of fang-like crystal pillars shot upwards, piercing through the pale monsters that were attacking them, before turning into golden dust and disappearing.

"Shock piercing? This thing is enchanted!?" Leon rubbed his eyes. This golem is enchanted, at least the soles of its feet are enchanted. It is powered and controlled by a witch, and is released directly using the golem's own size and enhancement array.

"Yeah, so it's very expensive!" Livia said softly. She had wanted one for a long time, but the old witch hesitated on this matter because she really couldn't afford to buy or make such a thing.

Stealing a book is a matter of conflict between mages. Even if they trick a king or two, it's only the person involved who feels annoyed. But their successor, apart from putting a bounty on himself, doesn't actually do anything special.

However, to create such a golem, one would have to plunder the treasury of at least one kingdom, and even that might not be enough, not to mention the problem of how to obtain the soul fragments needed to drive it.

A golem of this size would require the souls of at least one or two thousand people to deal with its core. If it were made of pigs, it would require at least four thousand pigs. Then comes the hellish joke: four thousand pigs are definitely more expensive than four thousand people, and killing four thousand pigs is also more troublesome than killing four thousand people—because pigs won't surrender en masse, nor will they obediently huddle together and wait to be slaughtered.

In a sense, as long as the research and creation of soul-created objects are allowed, most arcane mages and alchemists, except for those with an excessive amount of conscience, will choose to use humans rather than animals. After all, animals really cost money to buy, while the money spent on humans can be recovered from corpses.

Startled by the shockwave, the pale creatures quickly retreated to the perimeter of the arena, hiding in the shadows to observe the giant. They relied on some kind of magic emitted from their tiny tentacles to probe their surroundings and then receive feedback. In their eyes, this golem was a huge thing radiating a strong magical signal.

"Creak~ Creak~" A strange sound rang out. After listening for a few seconds, Leon's expression suddenly changed drastically. "Get out of the way!"

"Huh?" Livia was a little confused, but it was too late. Several millstone-sized stones flew over with a whoosh. "It's a catapult!" In the spacious underground space behind the stands, an underground river flowed quietly, and on the opposite side of the river were several large counterweight catapults. The strange creaking sound was the sound of the winches turning.

"Bang!" A stone hit the golem's shoulder, causing the massive creation to tilt to the side, and the entire core chamber to tilt and shake.