Chapter 453: Where Are the Holy Light Dogs? Let Me See

The dragon's head looked up blankly, stuck out its tongue to lick its gums, then stared dully at the dozen broken teeth on the ground, utterly confused—why had its teeth fallen out? Cavities?

It found it hard to believe its teeth had been shattered by something else; even a piece of iron shouldn't have been able to break them.

A beam of light struck its body, brimming with searing holy light, scorching off a large patch of its flesh and bone as if doused in concentrated acid.

If it were just acid, that would've been fine—the lich-body felt no pain—but worse was that the holy light directly damaged the soul, burning it into agonized shrieks.

But the moment the wail escaped, BOOM! A roar exploded within its soul, slamming it into dizziness—soul shock.

Though its soul was reeling, the dragon lich suddenly snapped alert—soul shock? The enemy's soul shock had actually struck it? That meant the opponent's soul was stronger than its own—how was that possible?

When it had just awakened, it had quietly observed: everyone present were tiny humans and a single flying little yellow book—none looked like they possessed a vigorous soul.

If someone had a soul stronger than its own, wouldn't they at least be larger in size?

Unfortunately, the soul shock that struck it wasn't even from the strongest soul here—the little zombie, after launching its soul shock, surged forward, armored its shoulders, and slammed its shoulder into the dragon lich's neck.

The dragon lich's neck twisted into an impossible angle.

Nagris instinctively shrank its neck—then realized it didn't have one; its body remained in North Wind City, and it was currently using the little yellow book's form.

If this were a living dragon, such a twist would've snapped its neck.

The dragon lich's neck didn't break; it writhed, trying to lift its head.

A giant angelic staff, crowned with holy light, slammed down onto its head, crushing its skull hard into the ground.

"Ahh~ Roar~" The dragon lich groaned in agony, bracing its limbs against the ground to rise—but suddenly felt its body constrict.

It twisted its head—and saw dozens of pale white hand-bones piercing up from the ground, tightly binding it to the earth.

Nagris gasped: "Bone Abyss! Didn't you say you couldn't use Bone Abyss?"

Ang tilted his head: "No."

As he spoke, he kept casting—more hand-bones continuously erupted from the ground, gripping every scale on the dragon lich's body.

It wasn't Bone Abyss—true Bone Abyss was an eighth-rank area AoE spell; Ang's was a single-target spell, summoning one hand-bone per incantation.

"Kuaba da! Freak! You turned a single-target spell into an AoE!" Nagris exclaimed in outrage.

Individual hand-bones, forcibly turned by Ang into a Bone Abyss, pinned the dragon lich firmly to the ground.

The little angel swung the giant angelic staff, hammering the dragon lich again and again; each strike delivered holy light damage that burned and jolted its soul—wherever it hit, that spot burned.

The little zombie ran forward, slammed into its cheek, leapt up, slammed into its cheek, dove in, slammed into its cheek—until it cracked the dragon lich's hardened facial bone.

Satisfied, the little zombie switched targets, charging to ram its chest—BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Du Luo reluctantly lowered his Golden Pointing Rod; Anthony reluctantly lowered his scepter—they were no longer needed.

Du Luo exclaimed in surprise: "The little zombie's soul shock was so violent—could its soul really be that strong?"

"Of course," Nagris snapped. "You have no idea how much valuable stuff it swallowed. Between those two and the little wraith, they've devoured countless treasures—their souls are swollen like balloons. Do you think its death aura wave was just randomly unleashed?"

Under the combined assault of Ang's trio, the dragon lich couldn't rise, its counterattacks were shattered—the little angel hammered its soul into excruciating pain. After a while of beating, the dragon lich sent out a pained soul message: "Stop! Stop! I surrender! I surrender!"

The little angel and little zombie stepped back—only Ang kept casting, more hand-bones emerging, interlocking, tightly coiling around the dragon lich's body—a composite Bone Prison.

Given a moment to breathe, the dragon lich snarled: "Who are you? I am Gadrigo, dragon lich under Grandmaster Gust of the Undead Council. Who are you?"

Anthony stepped forward, smiling: "Gadrigo? Do you remember what happened?"

"What happened?" Anthony's question stirred Gadrigo's memories—he recalled lunging at an airship, then the Silence Sphere exploding, after which he knew nothing.

"I was blown unconscious?" Gadrigo asked.

"You died," Anthony said.

"Impossible—if I died, who's talking to you now? Don't joke—it's not funny," Gadrigo snapped.

Anthony turned to Ang and bowed: "My lord."

Ang nodded: "Ahh!"

The little angel, thrilled, swung the giant angelic staff and beat Gadrigo again, making it shriek in agony.

Holy light and death aura mutually counteract—and the damage they inflict strikes directly at the soul. No matter how tough Gadrigo's flesh, its soul screamed in torment.

Gadrigo finally understood its situation and frantically wailed: "Funny! So funny! Keep joking! Don't hit me! Don't hit me!"

Interrogation resumed. Anthony said: "Look at your heart, then sense your soul links."

Gadrigo turned its awareness inward—saw the soul vial embedded in its heart, then sensed its soul links—all severed. Both its link to its master and its links to its subjects were gone.

Only then did Gadrigo begin to half-believe: "I'm really dead?"

Anthony nodded.

"You revived me through the soul vial? Impossible—what soul vial could fit me? Even if one existed, installing it after I died would be too late. Even if it weren't, a soul vial can't sever soul links."

Because soul vial resurrection had many flaws—like not being sized for something as large as Gadrigo—it couldn't be fitted into its heart, so dragon liches had no soul vials.

Even if revived by a soul vial, soul links couldn't be severed—because the soul vial itself maintained the link. Even if the main soul scattered, the soul vial's link remained.

Otherwise, subjects bound by soul links could escape their master's control this way.

"Whether you believe it or not, this is the truth. My lord, make it see clearly," Anthony bowed again to Ang.

The little angel enthusiastically attacked again—the dragon lich's large size had its advantages: it could take punishment. This kind of punching bag? The little angel loved it.

Fine, beaten again, Gadrigo "believed" Anthony's nonsense.

"So we saved your life," Anthony said.

"Yes yes yes, thank you for saving me—I'll repay you! Now let me go, I'll give you all my family's wealth."

Anthony smiled: "Do I look like a fool, my lord?"

Beaten again.

Inattentive attitude? Beat. Sarcastic tone? Beat. Incomplete answers? Beat. Hesitant or evasive? Beat. Repeated like this, Gadrigo nearly developed trauma-induced PTSD.

Anthony, like a soul scanner, detected every psychological shift—forcing Gadrigo to spill every answer he wanted, and even forcing it to strain its memory for details he hadn't asked.

Nagris, watching halfway through, suddenly understood: "Now I know why the old priest hates soul-searching—soul-searching can't extract such coherent information."

Undead could scan an enemy's soul to extract memories, but Nagris noticed Anthony rarely used this method—he preferred the time-consuming, laborious interrogation.

Du Luo nodded: "Interrogation suits Anthony better. You can't do it—he has the ability to judge truth from lies, and the skill to extract more information."

Soul-searching had limits: it required a complete soul, and the memories retrieved were fragmented—the closer to the present, the clearer.

This meant the enemy remembered bleeding gums from this morning's toothbrushing more vividly than ascending the throne years ago.

Thus, vast useless fragments flooded out, requiring painstaking assembly to form a coherent narrative.

If key information was missing, an incomplete narrative could be more dangerous than knowing nothing at all.

For example: meet beauty—send flowers—dinner—opera—pub—that's a complete sequence.

But soul-searching might skip the middle steps, leaving only: meet beauty—pub. Following that could easily lead to disaster.

Also, soul-searching offered only one chance—once the soul scattered, no re-extraction was possible. Interrogation, however, could be repeated endlessly.

Gadrigo moaned: "I've answered this question four times already! Why are you asking again?!"

"You said twenty the second time, nineteen the fourth—how many are there?" Anthony asked.

Gadrigo replied: "Twenty—but only nineteen acted. Grandmaster Gust… Gust didn't act. He vanished halfway, no one knows where he went."

"Good. Next question: what's the current status of the Sorcerer's Ladder on the Dongnai Peninsula?" Anthony asked.

"Still standing there—we can't activate it, it won't start—but the rings are gone, split into individual airships and flew away," Gadrigo groaned. "You already asked this."

"Good. Next question: when did the Necropolis collapse?" Anthony asked.

"How should I know?!" Gadrigo was irritated by the sudden jump—from Sorcerer's Ladder to Necropolis—how would it know when the Necropolis fell?

Anthony turned and bowed: "My lord."

"No no no, let me think… it must've been sixteen years ago—I remember Gust suddenly became very cheerful then. Others whispered it was because the Necropolis collapsed, leaving only the Undead Council as the symbol. I still don't get why Gust cared so much about a ruined temple," Gadrigo strained his memory.

The advantage of interrogation was clear—even with fuzzy memories, it could force the subject to strain and recall.

"Sixteen years ago? But I heard it was ten years ago. Are you lying?" Anthony's eyes flickered—he guessed the reason, but feigned ignorance.

"You heard from humans? News from after the Death Line takes years to reach them," Gadrigo said.

Anthony guessed correctly and didn't press further, moving to the next question: "Next question: what does Death Line mean?"

"You again? I don't believe you don't know what Death Line means. You keep asking things everyone knows—is this funny?" Gadrigo wailed.

Anthony smiled and turned to bow.

"No no no, I'll tell! Death Line is the boundary beyond which the Sorcerer's Starburst can't reach. Our plane is spherical—the Starburst Array hangs in the sky and can't strike the opposite side; the plane itself blocks it. Behind that circle of unstruck line lies the realm of the dead—that's why it's called Death Line."

Nagris suddenly understood—the Undead Empire called it Death Line, while the Sorcerer's Alliance called it Star Line—it was the tangent between the Starburst Array and the plane's curvature.

Beyond the Death Line, the Starburst Array couldn't directly strike ground targets—the plane itself blocked them. The Undead Empire retreated to that side, building all key structures there to avoid Starburst strikes.

This also sank Nagris's spirits—because it meant the Starburst Array had other attack methods besides "Starburst."

Anthony wove common knowledge—questions every being on this plane should know—into his interrogation. Gadrigo, annoyed by the questioning, assumed it was just a tactic, never suspecting Anthony truly didn't know.

During interrogation, Luo Ke suddenly rushed in: "My lord, you should come see—hundreds of crows are flying overhead. Something feels off."

"Crows? Hehe, you're done. The Dream Hag is coming."

"Done? Why say that?" Anthony asked calmly.

"The Dream Hag can search every corner without fail. If she suspects any Holy Light dog is hiding here, she'll find them—guaranteed. Hehehe."

Anthony's face turned to shock: "Holy Light dog? Where? Where? Did you see it?" As he spoke, black mist surged from his body, rapidly forming soul armor.

Du Luo widened his eyes, feigning ignorance: "Nope, didn't see anything. What Holy Light dog? Let me look."

As he spoke, he donned his Golden Gear, but only armored his face with a soul armor mask—radiating palpable death aura.

Ang tilted his head, summoned his Straw Man Cloak soul armor.

The little zombie summoned its soul armor; the little angel took a deep breath, completely suppressing its holy light—no one could see a single trace of a Holy Light dog in this fresh, pale little girl.

Gadrigo's eyes bulged, jaw dropping to the ground.

"By the way, extract its soul, toss the body into the Divine Realm—otherwise someone will see it and know we picked up a corpse," Anthony said.

Ang rushed over and yanked—the dragon lich instinctively resisted, but found itself utterly powerless, its soul pulled out—this man's soul was even stronger than the one that had shocked it earlier.

Oh my god, what kind of monsters are these? They possess Divine Light power and yet have such powerful souls?

The dragon lich's body was thrown into the Divine Realm; all the holy mushrooms outside were gathered up, every trace of light erased. The place that had just been radiant now became serene and still, lifeless and hollow…