Ante Bofford's funeral took place on a cold morning in late winter.

As a king, Ante's funeral was very bleak, and apart from the ministers and nobles who had to attend, even if there was a lavish funeral feast, there were very few commoners willing to follow the mourning.

The deceased king, crowned with the help of the Temple of Water, claimed to be the most devout believer in the god of water, but in the last part of his life he lost his mind and spared no effort to destroy the temple's power. When Ed Singall, Sean Freyche, and even Icabold and Browder were all "missing", and the Collins Temple was shrouded in a fog that no one could dispel, even if Brooke Xiuan would not refuse, it was clear that the King's body could not be parked in the Temple of the Water God in Stonebuch. And now in Stunbuch, and in Rutgarh, the god of creation who is revered in Nesses, the sage he chose is Scott Christus, who died at the hands of Ante.

The king, who had nowhere else to go, stopped at Lockburg and was escorted from the south gate to the royal cemetery early in the morning of the funeral. Because the queen insisted on refusing to be buried, it is said that Ante's body had begun to decompose, so it had to be sealed in a sarcophagus and transported by horse-drawn carriage.

Not many people in the crowd who followed slowly knew that the king's gorgeous sarcophagus was actually empty.

Many people know that the king's body was once stolen, but almost everyone believes that although Scott did not appear at the funeral, he also brought back the body stolen by the necromancers when he destroyed the necromancer's lair hidden in the mountains of Mariel in one fell swoop, causing their leader, the mysterious female mage, to escape with serious injuries.

Only a very small number of people know. That's not true.

Scott sat quietly in his chair, his eyes down, as if lost in thought. But his heart is far from being as calm as it seems.

He heard the bell of the king's funeral...... The voice hit his eardrums again and again, like some kind of accusation.

He felt no guilt about Ante's death, and the rest of his grief faded, but it was indeed his fault - he promised Moira but failed to do so, and Ante's body was still missing.

The emaciated queen offered him forgiveness, and if Frederick had known the truth, he would most likely never have forgiven him...... But in fact. Scott didn't care about any of that.

He was more concerned about why Lydia was so attached to Ante Bofford's corpse...... It wasn't meant to humiliate him.

Ante died too strangely, and Scott instinctively realized that his death was most likely not the end but the beginning...... So early in the morning, he left marks on the corpse that were difficult to find and impossible to detect with magic. Wait patiently.

He made a note of where every corpse had stayed, found everyone involved, and followed the trail all the way, but remained still.

Lydia is bold but cautious. And this time. He wasn't going to let her go anymore - he didn't have the energy to deal with her endless tricks.

Ante's body ended up in the middle of the continent, near the mountains of Mariel on the western coast.

Scott found the place - Lydia's hideout between the mountains was elaborate and ornate, like a palace, probably using the ruins left behind by the elves, but also clearly distinguishing the complexity and exaggeration that Lydia loved.

Scott did nothing but "search" on the surface, which never stopped, until Lydia relaxed, thinking that he could no longer track down anything. He quickly arranged everything and attacked on the night when it was certain that Lydia was there.

Night is the time of the necromancer—it will make them lose their vigilance.

Scott didn't go alone. At the suggestion of Alan and Brooke. He summoned many deities of different faiths, but trusted priests, and no matter what their judgments and doubts may have about him, at least, there was no contradiction between them when dealing with necromancers.

The ending was already predetermined at the beginning of the battle. Unprepared necromancers, even if they could summon all the undead they could control in the night, were no match for the united clergy.

And Scott's only target is Lydia.

Lydia Bell never fought to the death, but she never ran away without a fight, which gave Scott enough time to find her and never escape.

When they met this time, they seemed to have nothing to say. The female mage's smile was still sweet and charming, but her subordinates showed no mercy. It wasn't her vagaries of spells that surprised Scott, but her fearlessness—he was sure that Lydia knew she wasn't his match.

But she always smiled and did not flinch, even when she was injured and fell to the ground, and she was no longer able to resist, there was no fear in her eyes, and her thin and black eyebrows were slightly raised, and even revealed a hint of sarcasm and provocation, as if she decided that he would not really kill her.

That look infuriated him, and he lost his guard for a while...... He really didn't expect Lydia to have a stronger ally.

The sudden storm of ice and snow made him almost think that he had been attacked by an ice dragon...... But it was an elf, or rather, an elf, with long, dull blond hair and a pale face, and blue-gray veins visible under the thin skin, the slightest signs of decay that even a thick layer of fat could not conceal.

It almost looked like an undead...... But how could the undead be so powerful?

The searing flames flowing through his blood saved Scott from being frozen, but his reaction was inevitably affected, and in that brief moment, the mysterious elf had taken Lydia with only a few dark traces of blood.

He was powerless to pursue them, so he let them flee - the only consolation was that it was an "escape" after all, and the other necromancers had no such good fortune.

He found Ante...... Shaun was even found, and the long-missing Paladin Commander was still alive, although he was breathing weakly and unconscious.

No one knows what exactly Lydia did to him. Even now, Sean still hasn't woken up. Neither Brooke nor Scott were helpless, lying there as if they were just an empty body, but their souls had been torn to pieces...... Or have been lucky enough to go to another world.

And Ante ...... Scott asked Morey, a priest of the god of water, to return to Stonebuch with the king's body, but neither the body nor the priest could return.

At first, he thought it was Morey who still held a grudge against Ante...... But at dawn Brooke found Morey's body. The unfortunate priest had never been able to teleport away, lying in Lydia's garden where roses were still blooming in winter, his stiff fingers clutching a small stone—the "mark" that Scott had secretly stuffed into Ante's corpse.

Once again, Lydia took the body.

What made Scott even more difficult to accept was that his momentary carelessness killed what he had left, his former companions.

But now, he can only sit here, silent, and let others whitewash the truth with lies for all sorts of noble reasons, turning his defeat into a great victory with a little regret.

Little by little, he couldn't help himself...... became the kind of person he used to hate the most.

And he couldn't even go looking for Lydia...... For more than ten days, he even had to hide and not meet anyone.

The attack of that "elf"...... The damage to him was much worse than he expected.

There was a low roar at the door, and Scott came to his senses, calmly and helplessly, as the door was kicked open, and a white shadow sprang at his feet, shrinking at his feet, and a low, threatening and weak-looking grunt came from his throat.

"Tell your watchdog not to stand in my way next time!!"

Iss yelled angrily, "Don't think I won't eat it!"

"It's not a dog, it's a leopard. Scott rubbed his forehead, avoiding his gaze, got up and tore open the curtains, pushing open the window, letting the cold wind rush into the room, and his heart beat uncontrollably.

“...... Where the hell have you been?!" Iss asked him.

The momentum of that short sentence at the beginning was like a question, but the end tone fell weakly, turning into an unconcealed worry.

"I have ...... Something else. Scott could only vaguely reply, "Very important." ”

"Is it more important than that hell door?"

“...... Did you find it?" asked Scott.

"No!" Iss looked anxiously at the half-sized leopard nestled under the chair and innocently flicking its tail, "it's gone, not even a shadow!"

“...... What does Nia say?"

"Just like you, don't say anything!" Iss looked up at Scott as if it was all his fault.

“...... Where is he now?" Scott tensed slightly.

"With Alan. ”

Scott breathed a sigh of relief.

"Don't worry, he's not going to just disappear. Isis said with a cold face.

Scott smiled wryly, understanding the unspeakable accusation.

"He asked me to ask you if you could help him enter the Black Tower, if it's convenient for you...... Although he can go in himself. ”

"Blacktower?" Scott frowned, "what does he want to do?"

Iss shrugged, "Why don't you ask him yourself?"

Scott hesitated, his throat a little dry.

It wasn't a big deal—he told himself, it wouldn't hurt Is......

But once he retreats backwards, where will it end?

"I will. "But until then, I'm ...... I need you to do me a favor. ”

“...... What's the busy?"

My heart was pounding, and it was painful.

"I need ...... Your blood. He struggled to speak, "I need dragon's blood." ”.

(To be continued......)