"We're in trouble. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ”

This was the first thing Lily said when she saw Jill again.

"What's wrong?" The mercenary looked at each other - when she reached the center of the forest, the dark-haired woman was already waiting there, which made her slightly disappointed, "Isn't there something wrong with those two places that you are dealing with?" ”

"Of course not." Jill spread his hands, "You know, I'm not going to come here to be lazy until I'm done. ”

"So, how the hell did you do it?" Lily glared at her, "With the time we use, it's not enough for you to just travel?" ”

The brunette woman chuckled, as if she had expected Lily to ask the question.

"It doesn't hurt to tell you." She said lightly, "Thanks to Bayard, in this forest, I can complete the teleportation through the astral plane." She gestured to Lily with an inviting gesture, "Well, would you like to consider joining us?" At least I'm welcome to you. ”

"Forget it." Lily shook her head and rejected the other party's offer, "We want to be strong, but freedom is also necessary. But you, don't you think about joining our mercenary group? ”

"When you try a little harder, maybe I can think about it." Jill politely rejected Lily as well, and looked at the blue-haired 'woman' behind her, as if she had just noticed her, "What's going on with that, your new member?" ”

She hoped so, Lily whispered. Along the way, the Celestial named Ariel has been trying to persuade her not to disturb the plans left behind by Lord Stark. The mercenary was very suspicious, if it weren't for the fact that the forest was indeed full of death and uncleanness at the moment, the other party would even directly attack them.

Lily even suspected that the celestial had a broken brain, but the other party insisted that "Master Stark" was a good person, and the rest of the communication and logic were normal. In the end, the mercenary can only blame it on some mysterious "brainwashing tactic" that can simply change the target's impression of a certain person.

Well, she knew that this statement was very unreliable. However, even Ann, the most knowledgeable member of the team, could not give a convincing enough explanation for this situation, which was completely outside of common sense.

"Maybe the lich was a good guy in the first place, but then he turned bad." The girl pondered for a while, and then wrote the words in her notebook, "After all, everyone changes."

In the end, the issue had to be shelved. After her and Ann's efforts to persuade her, Ariel finally agreed to work with them to confirm the current state of the forest. Of course, according to the other party, it is to "avoid them from acting too roughly".

"That's it." Lily sighed helplessly and briefly explained the situation to Jill.

The black-haired woman stared at the Celestial Clan earnestly for a moment, then spoke, "So, Ariel, right?" Her next sentence was astonishing, "There's a black dragon around here that has been turned into a dragon lich by your 'Master Stark', and now I'm going to find a way to kill it, what are you going to do?" ”

"Let's wait a minute—" Before the Celestials could reply, Lily reacted first, "You say...... Dragon Lich? Are you sure you're getting me right? ”

Not only her, but Ann, Grum, and even Alphonse, everyone who knew anything about it had a look of disbelief. After all, if dragons are secluded creatures that can still be seen occasionally, the existence of the dragon lich itself is an out-and-out legend.

According to the history books - or myths - the dragon lich was born at the end of the last century. Waging war for supremacy on the continent, the sapient races of the last era slain a large number of dragons and crafted their remains into undead who were completely obedient to orders, while retaining the dragons' talents, spell-casting abilities, and a certain amount of independent judgment. In fact, it is believed to be one of the main reasons for the anger of the 'Father of the Gods' and the collapse of the previous era.

However, there is rarely a distinction between good and evil in the means themselves. A seemingly cruel spell is not necessarily evil if it is used against the wicked. Dradura was clearly not a good dragon - it was able to live with the "gods of the world" in the past, but when it left the forest to 'hunt', countless travelers and merchants died under its hands. This can be seen from the various treasures that filled its lair at that time.

But now is not the time to consider whether the other party has become like this, whether he deserves it, or whether this act of "Earl Stark" can be regarded as an evil act. Obviously, they had a big problem to face: the dragon lich was no less powerful than the dragon itself, and it was made more tricky by adding certain undead traits.

In any case, the final combat weapon from the previous era - the name alone is scary enough.

"Of course, it's no good for me to lie to you." Jill shrugged, "It's a bit hard for me to take that guy alone, and I'm afraid you won't be able to go anywhere." So, let's join forces this time. ”

Lily nodded silently, then turned her head and looked at the female Celestial Clan who had followed her along with the dark-haired woman.

"Master Protodis said that the dragon lich ...... should not be allowed to exist on this continent. Ariel pondered for a long time, and finally gave an answer, "If what you say is true, I ...... It depends on the situation to decide what to do. ”

"It's really not frank." Jill picked the corners of her mouth, "But that's fine, come with me." ”

Lily answered, following in the footsteps of the dark-haired woman. They walked through the deep woods, towards the direction of death, which the mercenary could clearly feel—the heart of the forest.

The surrounding environment is becoming more and more oppressive, and the temperature seems to have dropped to the point where people start to shiver. Her body's instincts kept reminding Lily, telling her to stop and stay away from the dangerous place she was in. She ignored the warnings and continued to follow Jill until the forest suddenly broke off in front of her.

It was as if there was an invisible line that completely separated life from death. On their side, even if it is surrounded by dying dead wood and decaying soil, it is still a place where the world can be contained. However, a few feet ahead, there is no exaggeration, pure death.

There is complete nothingness. No life - not even the tiniest and most tenacious moss or mold - can survive in that environment. If it weren't for some kind of "barrier" that restrained the power of death that poured out from within, I am afraid that it would spread to an area far wider than what was in front of you, and most of this forest would have completely turned into a forbidden area for life.

Lily narrowed her eyes and looked in. Through the faint light from the outside, she recognized the massive "death" itself that was lying horizontally in the center of nothingness, completely different from what she remembered.