Chapter 212 : Thinking of Leaving?

Thinking of Leaving?

Witnessing his subordinates being massacred, quells felt as though his heart was bleeding. One must know that those undead mages had been painstakingly trained by him since childhood.

He wanted to control Chilia and the Skeleton Warriors to resist, but was stopped by Little Black.

"Stop resisting."

Upon hearing the voice, quells glanced at Little Black. Realizing his life was now in their hands, he had no choice but to yield, so Quells made Chilia and the Skeleton Warriors stop their actions, and then Talius restrained them.

"Who are you people? Why have you ambushed us, the Church of Death!"

Quells shouted loudly, but seeing that the situation was already under control, Celia rode the Carrion Beast out from the rear. She glanced at the restrained Quells and Astor, and then looked toward the inside of the barrier.

"Said you were just going out for a stroll, but ended up causing so much trouble."

Celia remarked, and Eighty, carrying the siege warhammer, walked toward the barrier. Although Dogsius could break the barrier, such means were unnecessary.

Eighty steadied herself, swung the warhammer in her hand in a circle, and upon seeing the intent of that Undead, quells shouted excitedly.

"Stop!"

But his shout did not stop Eighty's motion. With a devastating blow, the siege warhammer crashed down hard onto the barrier.

Boom!

With that strike, a multitude of cracks appeared on the barrier, and since no undead mage was channeling magic into it, the barrier was not repaired.

"Stop immediately, or I swear by the name of the Bishop of the Church of Death, our Church will never coexist peacefully with you!"

Quells attempted one last threat, but Little Black's tail blade drew out again, stabbing him, and the heart-wrenching pain silenced him.

Boom!

Crack!

Eighty swung her warhammer for the second time, directly shattering the barrier into pieces that dissolved into magic, revealing the people within.

Inside, manshir was still leading his forces against the Ghouls. Just when they were nearing despair, the barrier was shattered. Seeing the barrier dissolve and the Ghouls retreat, the Holy Knights were stunned for a moment. But before the joy of victory could wash over them, they discovered something even more severe.

As soon as the barrier broke, the Skeleton Warriors outside immediately turned their eyes to the interior, just in time to meet Manshir and his companions' gaze.

In an instant, manshir's smile froze on his face; his throat bobbed as he swallowed with difficulty.

—What did it feel like to be stared at by nearly a hundred underworld Undead...

Manshir thought perhaps it would be safer inside the barrier.

"Thank you all for your hard work."

At this moment, a female voice broke the silence. Everyone turned to look, and two vastly different titles rang out simultaneously.

"Your Majesty the Queen!"

"Honored Holy Maiden!"

They each cried out, and then Serea rode out on Chips, but when everyone saw who was riding on Chips...

"Two Queen Your Majesties (Holy Maidens)!" xN

Everyone was dumbfounded on the spot. With Serea carrying Lilith to stand before them, she dismounted and looked at Quells.

"Hey, why aren't you shouting anymore? Weren't you pretty arrogant just now?"

With a face full of gloating, Serea's words snapped Manshir, quells, and the others back to reality. All those powerful underworld Undead and elves were subordinates of 'Lady Lilith's' little sister, Serea—who was, in fact, their Queen!

"You!!!"

Quells swept a glance around. Faced with such powerful Undead, the harsh words stuck in his throat.

Meanwhile, Celia also noticed Lilith's presence. Though she didn't know why Lilith was here, out of respect for their past years of sword training, she greeted her politely.

"Princess Lilith."

"It's Celia! You're here too!"

Lilith's tone was full of excitement and relief—for both her sister and her childhood friend were still alive...

"Lady Lilith!"

With confirmation that the Undead were on their side, manshir and the others carried the wounded over.

"Are you all right?"

"Everything's fine."

Manshir replied, but Lilith was no fool; she noticed that a few familiar faces were missing from the party. Each of them had once sworn to be her lifelong Holy Knight.

"It was my mistake in judgment that brought harm to you."

"No, lady Lilith, you were not at fault. The only one to blame is this man!"

As he spoke, manshir glared furiously at Astor, and the other Holy Knights gritted their teeth in anger as well.

But now that he was captured, Astor's former arrogance had vanished. Fear washed over him; if he, a traitor, were to be caught by them...

"No, lady Lilith! Please, let me explain, I—"

"Astor!"

Before he could finish, a surge of intangible power of the netherworld struck him.

"Ahhh!"

It was Leklis who acted, holding the gravely injured, unconscious Julie in his arms. He glared at Astor with malice.

At the moment, leklis's heart was filled with rage. It was all because of that man that Julie was hurt.

The power of the netherworld siphoned away Astor's life; the agony of both body and spirit caused him to collapse entirely.

"Ahhhh—let...let me go... I'll pay any price!"

The cowardly Astor begged for mercy, but Serea did not intervene, nor did Leklis acknowledge him. The power of the netherworld he wielded became tangible, dragging Astor's decayed body into the air.

Wracked by endless pain, Astor's already aged frame withered further, becoming a shriveled husk. His life was completely drained, but Leklis's hatred did not subside, and he kept Astor's corpse entangled in netherworld power.

His eyes were filled with blood veins, his expression twisting in a way that was the stark opposite of his usual 'good-hearted' self.

That state lasted until a delicate hand gently touched his wrist.

Feeling that familiar touch, leklis looked down and saw Julie had awoken. Weakly, she held onto Leklis's hand and shook her head at him.

"Don't become like that again..."

That sentence shocked Leklis. He slowly let go, and Astor's lifeless corpse dropped to the ground.

"All right."

Leklis agreed, reverting from 'Reaper' back to his usual self.

Seeing this, julie smiled faintly. That smile reminded Leklis of something.

"Right, I have something for you."

Leklis searched through his pockets but could not find it, quickly growing anxious.

"Are you looking for this?"

Serea said, tossing over a jewelry box.

Leklis caught it in a hurry. Inside were two exquisite silver rings.

"Yes, that's it!"

Leklis said excitedly. He had bought those rings at the trading post as a gift for Julie. With Julie's silent approval, he slipped one onto her finger.

Watching the deeply affectionate man, manshir could hardly believe this was the infamous 'Reaper.'

"Serea, are all these your subordinates?"

Lilith was still stunned. She couldn't believe her sister had amassed such powerful followers.

"Mm, yes. But as for the details, let's talk after we get back. For now, we need to deal with this man first."

Serea looked at Quells. Little Black understood her intent, lifting and restraining Quells with his tail blade.

"What...what are you going to do? I am the Bishop of the Church of Death! If you dare...ahhh!"

Serea extended her hand toward him, and under her control, a stream of blood slowly flowed out.

"You have three minutes. If you do not answer all my questions in three minutes, you will die as your blood is drained."

Quells, terrified, valued his life even more than the Church of Death's interests.

Seeing her intimidation succeed, Serea began the interrogation.

"First question: Why are you here?"

"To-all...ally with Astor and capture the Church's Holy Maiden."

"For what purpose?"

"To use the Holy Maiden as an exchange for the 'Book of the Undead' taken by the Church."

As Quells spoke, lilith's breathing visibly quickened at the mention of the 'Book of the Undead.'

"The Book of the Undead?"

"It's a magic tome, recording all of the Reaper's Shadow's lifelong necromancy research."

Reaper's Shadow...

Tsk tsk, her again. She really couldn't get away from that one.

"How many are involved in this operation?"

"Everyone's here."

"I see..."

Serea muttered. Having provoked another group like the 'Church of Death' was truly a headache, but there was nothing to be done. Trouble had come from above while she merely sat at home—there was no escape...

But since the battle had already started, nothing could be done about it; just kill all the witnesses and who would know it was her?

Besides, the other party was just the Church of Death, not a giant like the Church or the kingdom. What could they possibly do?

"All right; I've finished my questions."

"Then..."

Quells tried to plead, but Serea suddenly said—

"I heard you wanted to play 'with both sisters at once'?"

"......"

The question stunned Quells, while Lilith blushed in shame and anger.

"No, no, my lady, please let me explain!"

"I've already told you, you're not lucky enough for that—why just don't you listen..."

Serea's hand clenched; Blood Absorption intensified, blood surged forth, and Quells felt as if his very being was being drained.

"You can't kill me! If you kill me, the Church of Death will never forgive you!"

"Don't worry. They'll never know, and even if they do, I don't think they'd go to war with me over you."

Serea said with a seductive and beautiful smile.

"No!"

Quells let out a furious shout, trying to break free, but was unable to escape Little Black's restraint.

Desperate, he called out to Chilia. Receiving his command, chilia broke away from Talius's grip and, lunging upright, stabbed her lance straight at Serea.

Danger!

Clang!

Eighty rushed up in time, hammering Chilia's lance aside. The two started brawling, and this little incident drew Serea's attention back to that unique 'Death Lancer'—Chilia.

What a remarkable fellow...

"Lady Serea, let me handle him."

Hearing the voice, Serea turned to see Leklis, who had settled Julie onto the Carrion Beast's back, approaching with the beast in tow.

"You?"

"Yes, please watch closely, my lady."

Leklis took a step forward to face Chilia.

"Cease resistance."

Leklis's voice echoed out. Upon hearing it, chilia, who had been fighting Eighty to a standstill, suddenly stopped moving, and was promptly knocked away by a hammer blow.

"What?!"

Quells was dumbfounded. Leklis explained,

"Heh, when you took them, I left a little something behind."

As he finished, a black rune glowed on Chilia's back, as well as on the other two Skeleton Warriors, who were struggling as well. Quells suddenly felt his spiritual link with Chilia and the Skeleton Warriors severed.

The rune dissipated. Chilia shakily rose, and then knelt directly before Leklis.

"My master, I have returned."

Seeing this and combining it with Leklis's words, Serea understood that Chilia and those two Skeleton Warriors were originally Leklis's undead followers but had been taken by Quells.

"No, no, impossible! Those are mine! The Church of Death...will never...forgive you all!!!"

Quells cried out in vain before finally becoming a dried corpse—the last enemy extinguished.

"Sorry to trouble you, my lady."

Leklis said. Serea stared at Chilia for a while before suddenly commenting...

"I think he looks like he could be my captain of the lancers. What do you think?"

Serea turned her head. Confronted by her gaze, leklis was at a loss for words.

"Ah... If that's what you wish, my lady, I think so too."

Intimidated by Serea's authority, leklis forced a smile.

So it was with the Black Knight, and with Talius, and now with Chilia—not a single one left behind...

"Then it's decided for now. I'll talk to you about it back home."

Serea was very pleased. With Chilia added, this trip had proven fruitful.

Now that all the enemies were eliminated and the crisis had passed, lilith relaxed her tense spirit. But because of the curse mark's corruption on her back, her consciousness was starting to fade.

Seeing Lilith's swaying form, Serea rushed to support her.

"Th-thank you..."

"Mm, we'll get you treatment as soon as we get back."

"More important than that, I must quickly get this information back to the Church."

Lilith said, realizing that the Church of Death's actions had sounded the alarm—there could never be just one Astor within the Church. For the sake of future operations, she needed to root out all the 'traitors' hidden within.

But hearing Lilith's words, Serea revealed a mischievous smile.

"No need for that."

"Huh?"

"You're all my captives now; how could I let you go back and deliver the message? So, sister, just come home with me in peace."

With Serea's words, the Holy Knights' eyes widened.

Clang, clang, clang!

Blades were drawn, skeleton Warriors surrounded the wounded Holy Knights, and the blood elves' bowstrings tightened as well.

Thinking of escaping? Not that easy!

(To be continued....)