Walking under the sky again – even when the bleak moonlight overhead makes the surroundings gloomy, is incredibly gratifying.

Ed took a deep breath of cold air into the sky, and though he almost became a world-weary ghost, he now felt that it was better to be alive.

"Look at it. Eric whispered, as if he was afraid of disturbing the sacred animal.

The snowy owls flapped their wings on a half-collapsed roof not far from them, combing their feathers with their pointed beaks.

"It lifted the snow off the manhole cover. Ed kicked the manhole cover that had been lifted under his feet. The snow was thick, and it probably took some effort on the part of the animal. It may have been sent by the Ice Goddess to help them, otherwise it's hard to explain how it would have known where they were and how to get them out, and the elf had already said he didn't have the ability to communicate with animals - oh, he wished Norway was there for him now!

The snowy owl flew over, circled over their heads, and flew off into the distance, and flew back when it saw them standing still in a daze, cooing impatiently, and flying in the same direction again.

"I guess that's ......," Eric guessed.

"Follow me, stupid. Ed grunted.

Eric looked at him with a speechless expression.

"Come on, don't make the Ice Goddess's pet angry!" Ed patted Eric on the shoulder and chased after the Snowy Owl.

"It's symbolic ......," Eric retorted weakly, following him closely.

It didn't take long for them to see messy footprints in the snow.

"Skeletons. Eric said with a solemn expression, "A lot." ”

"yes? I thought it was a flock of birds. Ed was talking nonsense, his heart began to beat faster, and he was already scared half to death when he hit a zombie, and it was not a pleasant sight to imagine a group of skeletons rushing towards him.

Eric didn't even look at him, probably in no mood to pay attention to his nonsense.

Judging by the footprints in the snow, the skeletons were heading south, which was the direction of the hall.

They hesitated for a moment before deciding to follow the trail, but the snowy owl chirped sharply and swooped down to Ed, its sharp claws unceremoniously pulling a blood mark on his jaw.

“...... It doesn't want us to go over there. Ed touched his face, looked at the blood on his hands, and said sadly, "The Ice Goddess doesn't have a good temper, does she?"

"That's a disrespectful punishment for you. Eric said solemnly, "I think we should still follow it." ”

The snowy owl guided them to the place where the skeleton appeared. It was a large open space in the north of the city, near the city walls, and the tombstones and statues revealed to them its purpose - it was a cemetery.

The cemetery, which was supposed to be solemn and holy, was now devastated. Many of the tombs were opened, the tombstones collapsed, and the snow mixed with the dirt became dirty and humble, trampled by countless footprints.

"Now I know why the Ice Goddess is angry. Ed whispered.

But the cemetery was quiet. Whatever happened here is now over.

"So what the hell are you bringing us here for?" Ed asked, landing on a tombstone on the side, casually turning his head to look around, looking like a big white owl that had completed its mission.

The snowy owl looked at him indifferently, flapped its wings and flew away.

"There must be some clue here. Eric had stepped into the cemetery, skirting grave pit after grave pit on the ground, looking down for clues that he didn't know what they were, until Ed reached out and grabbed him by the belt, dragging him to a stumbling ground and nearly sinking into an open sarcophagus.

"Ed!" he exclaimed, exasperatedly, "if you're scared, find a place to stay still!"

He didn't want to admit that he was also a little scared...... He's a paladin! though he's temporarily out of power......

If it weren't for the fact that this guy behind him was always startling and scaring him, he might not have been so scared at all!

An arm reached over his shoulder, trembling and pointing straight at a statue in the distance: "It's moving!"

From a distance, it was a statue of nothing special, kneeling on the ground, hands slightly stretched to the sides, head bowed. But if you look at it for a long time, you will find that when the wind is a little stronger, its body will expand and move with the wind.

“...... It wasn't a statue. Eric's voice trembled imperceptibly, "That's a person...... Necromancer!"

- What else could a guy kneeling in a cemetery be under the moonlight? .

It was the first time Eric had encountered a necromancer, and it was only when he had lost his strength that he nervously drew his sword at his waist, only to find that he had no weapon at all.

He was stunned for a moment, unable to remember where his sword had gone, it was the long sword blessed by the goddess, which Sean Fratsche had given him himself......

Edsey gave him a short sword that smelled a little strange: "Elf crafted, absolutely sharp!"

Eric stared at the dagger in his hand for a moment, then shook his head and gave it back to Ed, staring at the necromancer who didn't seem to have discovered their existence yet, as he moved his body and bent down to pull out a scimitar from the sarcophagus beneath his feet, and abandoned it here because its awakened owner might have some other weapon.

The thousand-year-old weapon has long since been dusted, but after gently wiping the dust away, it still glows proudly.

"Elven weapons!" Ed said in a smirk voice as if he had made the scimitar.

Eric covered his mouth with his backhand, which was still stained with ashes.

They held their breath, and with the help of every tombstone and statue that had not yet been poured into the dirt, they approached the necromancer little by little. When they got close enough, they finally realized that it was a woman.

Her figure was obscured by a thick gray cloak, but they could already see her full breasts and small chin under her hood.

She remained in that position, no different from a stone statue, except that her cloak was occasionally blown by the wind, revealing her body that seemed to tremble slightly. Around her body, a circle of runes was drawn on the ground, not blood-red as Ed had thought, but an inconspicuous gray with a faint metallic sheen.

She didn't make any sounds, either—like the legendary Devil May Cry spell.

But silence can also bring fear at this time. And the inexplicable fear was sometimes more unbearable than the obvious danger, and the air seemed to have weight, weighing heavily on them, making them want to fall to their knees.

Eric jerked out of his hiding place, his cutlass pointed at the woman in front of him.

"Mage, your sins are coming to an end here!" the paladin said sternly, but his voice and the tip of his sword trembled slightly, sounding a little weak.

Ed had no choice but to draw his dagger as well. If the skeletons had come out of nowhere to protect their owners, he would probably have bought the young knight, who wasn't much older than him, a little bit of time - he'd heard that poking eye sockets was useful. Of course, if he can hit the shot.

But nothing happened.

There was no necromancer waiting for them to come to the door, no necromancer looking up and smiling at them - the woman ignored everything, just knelt there quietly, her posture calm and graceful, more like a prayer, but rather a presumptuous and rude paladin who suddenly jumped out.

Eric's scimitar was lowered, a little overwhelmed, unlike the necromancer he'd heard of...... But the surrounding runes are indeed used to summon the undead.

Eder hesitated and stepped out.

"Is she dead?" he asked.

Eric hesitated, and carefully picked open the woman's hood with his scimitar, and several shaved blonde hairs fell in the wind, but the woman still didn't move.

Ed squatted down and tilted his head to look at the woman's face.

A pair of bloodshot eyes, rounded with horror and pain, turned to him, as if with some kind of supplication.

Ed yelled and sat back, "She's alive!"

Eric subconsciously raised his knife and slashed, and the scimitar brought a sharp wind sound and slashed into the woman's head.

A strange scream rang in Ed's ears, and a gust of wind swept through the cemetery. He felt his shoulders loosen, no longer the feeling of being too heavy to breathe, the air became clear, and even though the ground was still dirty, the elven graveyard seemed to be quiet again.

Eric couldn't pull the knife out with a little effort, so he let go of the knife and took a few steps backwards, staring blankly at the corpse with the knife stuck in his head falling limply to the ground.

Ed rolled backwards, the woman's face almost hitting his feet.

No one spoke for a while.

"Congratulations...... You have avenged yourself. Ed looked away from the blood-soaked blonde hair.

Eric turned his head to him in a daze.

"Oh, I forgot you forgot...... This woman," Ed raised his chin toward the dead woman, "the one who stabbed you in the chest." ”

Eric touched his chest: "...... So I didn't kill the wrong person. ”

His expression was relieved.

“...... First killing?" Ed guessed, though it was only today that he saw someone killed in front of him for the first time.

Eric nodded silently.

"Why would a paladin like you, who has no experience at all, be sent out to slay dragons, do you want to send you to your death?" Ed speculated maliciously.

"Many people have been transferred elsewhere, and we are understaffed...... "Eric replied absentmindedly, still staring at the corpses on the ground in a daze, "the undead she summoned should all be ...... by now He's dead. ”

That sounds weird...... Listen, I want to say, 'She's dead, this is over, justice will prevail!'...... But the expression on her face just now was really not right. ”

Ed got up and crouched down beside the woman again, "Help me turn her over!"