Chapter 136: Impostor Undead Empire

A squad of holy knights was all sprayed to death, leaving only one holy angel bound in a holy shroud, its eyes covered, lying there silently.

Ang temporarily stuffed it into the Palace of Rest, then examined the little angel's body—his fingers barely touched its skin when white smoke immediately hissed up.

"Huh? Such pure holy light energy—has the little thing truly become an angel?" Negril flew over, curiously poking it with a tiny claw, instantly sending up another puff of white smoke.

At the same time, a searing pain shot into Negril's soul, like blisters forming.

Phelin came over, curiously prodded it—hiss! and snatched his hand back.

Lisa came over, curiously prodded it—oy! and snatched her hand back.

Lan came, Anna came, the little zombie came, little zombie, little zombie, little zombie.

"Aow!" The impatient little angel punched the little zombie in the eye socket, sending smoke curling from its orbit.

"Looks like it really became a holy spirit—pure holy light energy, with the power to burn souls. I thought my claws were blistering," Negril said.

Lisa asked, puzzled: "How is this possible? Why isn't the little angel's soul burned? Holy light should burn the soul first."

"Ang is shielding it. No matter how strong the holy light, it can't burn the soul under the protection of the God of Undeath."

"Then why didn't its body turn to ash this time when it released Holy Radiance?" Phelin asked.

"Because its body was restored by true holy light—the true body of an angel. It doesn't conflict with Holy Radiance."

"So it can use Holy Radiance anytime now?" Lisa's eyes sparkled.

"Try it?" All eyes turned to Ang.

Ang nodded at the little angel.

The little angel pushed both palms forward—between them, as if sighing, a small cluster of holy light emerged.

"Charging, charging—maybe it's out of energy," Negril said.

Ang summoned holy light for the little angel to absorb—after consuming the equivalent of ninety-one Level One Purification spells, the little angel tilted its head and let out an "Aow."

"It says it needs this long before it can use it again," Ang gestured with both hands, translating for everyone.

"Uh… how long is 'this long'?" Negril asked.

Ang calculated: "Three hours."

"Aww…" Lisa sighed in disappointment: "I just imagined Ang carrying the little angel, constantly charging it up while going 'bap-bap-bap' and blasting enemies away—too bad, three hours."

Everyone pictured Lisa's scene and sighed in disappointment.

Negril grumbled: "Even a six-winged angel couldn't use it continuously—its body couldn't handle it. This is already fast; before, it took two days to recover after one use."

Previously, the little angel needed two days to recover its body after using Holy Radiance.

After checking the little angel's body, everyone turned their attention to Phelin and Lisa. Negril asked: "What's going on with these holy knights?"

Phelin said: "We don't know. After leaving Darkface City, everything went smoothly—until we took the new path, then these holy knights appeared and chased us all the way back."

Jielika bowed to Ang first, then spoke: "These holy knights are enemies who've long patrolled Darkface City. They must have been tracking us to find our exit point, so they followed."

"Patrolled?" Negril didn't quite understand the term.

Phelin explained: "Darkface City isn't really a city—it's a vast underground cave system spread across a rocky plateau, possibly thousands of square kilometers. Exits lead everywhere, like a giant ant colony, even larger than our Wraith City. Without hundreds of thousands of troops, you can't seal all the exits."

"So the Church of Light stationed a knightly order there—the Silver Knights—who permanently guard and hunt, constantly patrolling. We probably got spotted when we left. Hoping for a bigger prize, they quietly followed. But they didn't expect a path to suddenly appear in the desert—we sprinted straight back."

Negril nodded—he'd been to Wraith City. Hearing it was larger than that, he understood instantly: such a massive underground space couldn't be sealed by a few people.

"What's the situation there now? Did you get the bacteria that corrodes undead?" Negril asked.

"We got it. We even brought back a patient. The people of Darkface City said they'd pay any price to have us revive him," Phelin said.

Negril glanced behind them, his gaze finally settling on the horse-like object, completely wrapped up but leaking death aura at intervals.

"You brought back a patient?" Negril stressed the word "person."

"Well… not really a person," Jielika had already rushed to the horse-like object, pulled out a box, and placed it on the ground.

"This box can hold a patient?" Negril asked, puzzled. The box was only thirty centimeters on each side—no way it could fit a person, even disassembled.

Finally, Anna went over and opened the box—she was alive, so she wasn't afraid of the bacteria that corroded undead.

The box opened, revealing a golden skull. As soon as it was uncovered, the golden skull clacked its jaws and screamed with its soul: "You wretched creatures! How dare you treat me, Goldtooth Crunch? When my King arrives, I'll tear you all to shreds!"

Negril gestured for Anna to close the box. "What's going on?"

Phelin said: "According to information I gathered in Darkface City, this Goldtooth Crunch claims to be an envoy of the Undead Empire. A while ago, he arrived near Darkface City with a squad of Silver Skeletons, found the city's lord, and demanded all undead in the city pledge allegiance to the Undead Empire. Before the city's leaders could decide, this golden skeleton fell ill—his body kept rotting until only his skull remained."

"His Silver Skeletons suffered the same fate. Since then, this bacteria has spread through Darkface City, infecting more and more undead. But Goldtooth Crunch insists the city betrayed him and demands retribution."

"Jielika was also infected by this bacteria—once the Lord's holy light cleansed her, she recovered. The people of Darkface City were overjoyed and prepared to come pay homage to the Lord. But leaving Darkface City isn't easy—they can't all leave together, or the Silver Knights would notice."

Negril stopped listening to the rest: Undead Empire? Someone's impersonating the Undead Empire?