"You're Duke Verne?"

Lance looked up sharply and looked at the source of the sound.

However, in the vast darkness, he did not see a single figure.

"Duko Verne is dead, and I am his heir...... Of course, I used to be his test subject, but then I turned against him. ”

The voice sneered, "He tried to transform me into a half-lich so that he could survive a similar method before he died." He succeeded, and I, a good human being, tortured him to the point where he was now in his half-human, half-ghost state, but he also failed, because I did use all sorts of methods of feigning death to avoid Verne's detection. ”

"You guys are perceptive, I didn't come to the island a few months ago, in fact, I've been in this place for at least five or six years. It's been so long since I've become a half-lich! Do you know what it's like to live in an icy world forever? That bastard of Verne has stripped me of my flesh, he has stripped me of my rights as a human being! He has killed my parents, and he has tried all that messy sorcery on me over and over again—some of which are the result of his whimsy and will never succeed in any way, but he is still happy in me! I am fed up with him!"

"Since you hate Verne so much, you shouldn't try to be like him, should you?" said Lance.

"Shut up!" the other party looked a little irritable: "What do you know? You don't know anything at all!"

"Self-righteous wizards, what's the difference between you and Verne? and bowed before you. Do you think that's power? Fart, you're nothing!"

"In my eyes, you are the same as Verne! and I am not! I am forced to be helpless. I don't want to hurt anyone at all! You know? I'm forced!"

The roar in the darkness grew louder and louder.

The three of them glanced at each other quickly, and each of them saw a trace of helplessness and surprise in each other's eyes.

"I know what you're doing. Trying to tell where I am by the source of my voice, I should praise you for being so calm in this situation. It's a pity that you're all wrong, because I'm not in this factory myself!"

The man laughed and said, "And after you have lost your magic powers, what is the difference between you and the ordinary people you regard as ants?"

Lance's eyes rolled slightly, and he said tentatively: "You said you were forced, so who is persecuting you?"

"Who? Haven't you woken up yet? It's fate!"

The man said coldly, "Fate is forcing me, it is forcing me to make a choice." Or die forever. Not even a single soul can be left behind, either immortality, but if you want to do that, you have to make some changes. ”

"Since that real yàn, I have successfully faked my death. Blinded Verne's vision. I made him think that the real yàn had failed. So he put my body in a failed specimen room. In the beginning. I just wanted to hide there and never go out for the rest of my life. I especially don't want to see that demon of Verne again!"

"After all, the half-lich state is painful, but it also keeps me from starving, even if it is boring at times. But I endured it. I just wanted to be alone and quiet until the time was right for that bastard of Verne! I knew then that he wouldn't live long -- can you understand how it felt? I was alone in a dark basement, surrounded by my companions who had died tragically. They are all people who were abused and died by Verne, alive as test subjects for evil wizards, and dead as specimens!"

"I just spent more than five years in a cold basement. Every time Verne came, he would bring some new specimens with him, and at that time I was often the most nervous and scared, and I was afraid that he would suddenly find out about my trick of feigning death, and then I would be subjected to even more painful abuse than before, and although I had lost my sense of pain, I knew that once I was caught, the demon would not let me go. ”

"My life went on in such a terrified way. I've been looking forward to the day when Verne will die. In fact, from what I've observed, every time he goes into the basement, he's a lot older. Judging by the number and speed of the death of the apprentice on the island, his reality was very unpleasant, he became more irritable and crazy, he was an evil guy in his lifetime, but he was the least daring man in the world. He was terribly afraid of death. And looking at him like this, my heart will feel a lot better. ”

"I've been telling myself that I've got through it soon, and I'll get through it soon. ”

However, that day, when he suddenly entered the basement to place the new banner, there was an accident. ”

Lance frowned and asked, "You were discovered?"

"No! my acting is very realistic!" said the man gloomily, "but I have heard something that makes me feel uneasy." ”

"Normally, every time Verne entered the basement, he hurriedly put the specimen and left, but this time, after he finished the specimen, he actually came to me. He stayed with me for a long time, and he talked to himself for a long time. It was these words that forced me to make a different decision in the end. ”

From those words, I learned. Verne had calculated that he would not live longer than two months. This is the deadline. His research in other areas is far less profound than the transformation of the Half-Lich. He couldn't prolong his life in other realms, and he wanted to fight to the death and transform himself into a half-lich, even if the odds of success were low. ”

He also said a whole bunch of other things, and he wanted me to forgive him and bless him with a successful conversion ritual -- phew! How could I possibly bless him after all this unwarranted calamity? I hated him to the core, and at the same time feared him like a tiger. But on this day, the fear in my heart suddenly subsided a lot. He was standing in front of me like this, and it took a lot of effort to say a word, and he looked like a real old man, as if a gust of wind could knock him down. ”

"Although I knew that this qiē was all appearances, after that day, I began to realize: Verne was dying. His strength has declined like never before, and soon, I will be able to get through it. ”

"But this qiē is based on the premise that Verne must die!"

"He thought that the original reality had failed, but he didn't! The ritual of transforming into a half-lich is actually very mature, and only I know that with Verne's technique, the chances of successfully transforming himself into a half-lich are far higher than he imagined! And once the ritual is successful, he may be able to see through my disguise immediately. At the same time, once his life is extended, I will never be able to come out of this hellish place. ”

"So I had to make a decision! At this time, I finally felt the taste of fate. It pushes me to make decisions one by one. Some decisions really don't come from my heart, but fate forces me to do so...... I just want to live. ”

......

In the darkness, the strange fragrance became more and more intense, and the paralysis in the bodies of the three of them became heavier and heavier.

It is not a wise decision for them to drag it out like this. Lance could use his shuttle ability to escape at any time, but the other two may not have the ability.

But other than that, they don't seem to have any other countermeasures, so they can only listen to this guy's self-description a little crazy. Stalling for a moment and thinking of other options.

"So you killed him?" asked Lance.

"I didn't!" the man laughed, "I just sneaked out of the basement and ambushed him at the place where he was performing the transformation ritual, and I jumped out at the most important juncture in his transformation ritual." I managed to scare him, even though I didn't know anything about witchcraft at the time, but I was still so frightened that he was distracted, and the whole ritual failed. ”

"Don't you think it's ironic? At least that's what I think. Duke Verne, such an unstoppable evil wizard, was scared to death by his own test specimens!hahaha...... It's just hilarious. Honestly, whenever I think back to that scene, I can't help but laugh for a while. I don't even know what I'm doing, aren't lichs supposed to be emotionless?"

"You're half-lich, and you should still have some human feelings. Lance kindly reminded.

"You're right, I'm half-lich. ”

The voice continued, "If I were a true lich, you wouldn't be trapped here today. But because I'm half-lich, things get complicated. ”

"After Verne's death, I had intended to live alone on this small island. I really wasn't going to hurt anyone. But then, just as I was idle and looking through the Verne notes, I suddenly discovered a very terrible truth!"

"The Half-Lich is nothing more than a half-finished stage in the Lich's Transformation Ritual. In fact, only a fraction of the ceremony was completed. My soul was extracted and fused with the life box, but I didn't become a real lich! a half-lich is far more fragile than a lich, and this stage will last me for a maximum of seven years or so. And because of my greed for life and fear of death, I wasted five or six of them!"

"I didn't want to die, and I started to learn about necromancy like crazy. Thanks to this body that never gets tired, I quickly reaped the rewards of studying day and night. ”

"In just half a year, I mastered the method of follow-up rituals. But the time I had left didn't allow me to go step by step the way I had been. ”

"I had to find my own way. (To be continued......)