"What?" Chu Lian's sudden transformation left Wang Hao, who had believed everything was firmly within his grasp, momentarily stunned. That this girl could erupt with the aura of a high Earth rank expert had been within his expectations. But this presence—this aura as if it could annihilate everything—where had it come from?
When those cyan-blue eyes fixed on him, his heart actually trembled. A fatal sense of danger screamed within him: Run. Run now. Leave this place immediately! Yet his own steely willpower suppressed the impulse. He merely stared at the surging Chu Lian, his heart heavy with unease.
I still underestimated her. This girl is far from someone I can simply control at will...
Her long blade descended, cleaving the bone prison apart. The lingering force of the blade's arc swept forward, destroying half of the underground passage painstakingly constructed by generations of the Wang family, leaving only the spacetime rift at the very end.
Wang Hao had already retreated to the side the moment Chu Lian erupted, narrowly avoiding the blade's strike. Feeling the tremors shaking the space around him, he realized things were going terribly wrong.
Above, Ger—who had been maintaining the bone prison with his own power—saw the cage shattered by Chu Lian's strike. The ghostly green soul-flames in his eyes dimmed abruptly. His skeletal body swayed violently several times, and the aura around him plummeted instantly to high Earth rank.
If it had merely been the destruction of the spell, he might have suffered some backlash—but never to this extent. The true cause was the sheer terror of Chu Lian's blade. Not only had its destructive force reached a level even peak Earth rank warriors would not dare receive head-on, it had also activated the Mystic Eyes of Death Perception—nothing less than a godly technique of slaughter.
That single strike had not only split open the white bone prison, it had severed Ger's connection to the spell itself. From that moment on, he would never again be able to cast this nearly self-created technique.
Even so, at worst it should only have damaged his soul. It should never have caused his aura to collapse or his strength to decline.
The true reason was that Chu Lian, inadvertently, had torn apart the sliver of remnant soul Ger had attached to the spell to observe and monitor the conversation between her and Wang Hao.
For a lich—an undead being that relied almost entirely upon soul energy to exist—how catastrophic was such damage to the soul?
Had Ger not lingered at peak Earth rank for countless years, possessing deep foundations and considerable standing, this blow alone would have left any other lich half-dispersed, teetering on the brink of annihilation.
"Damn it..."
It took Ger a long time to calm the violent turbulence within his soul. The green flames in his eyes flared brilliantly as he muttered viciously, "Damn it, damn it, damn it. If only one must reach Heaven rank to obtain a hidden phylactery to conceal the soul—how would I have fallen to such a state? I have gained nothing, yet paid so much. Now I am grievously wounded, and who knows how many years it will take to recover. Wang Hao, you dare deceive me!"
Unfortunately, the lich's awakening had come too late. His purpose had been to trap Chu Lian so Wang Hao could take her to the Otherside. But now, the white bone prison lay in ruins. Before such overwhelming force, his defenses had been nothing but a joke. His strength had also fallen—rendering him practically useless to Wang Hao now.
Moreover, Wang Hao had not deceived him at all. It was merely Ger's own greed. He had fantasized about the benefits awaiting him in the future, only for reality to shatter those illusions and unbalance his heart.
"Ahhh! I will never share the same sky with you!"
A lich like him had originally been nothing more than a resentful spirit clinging to a skeleton. Only after endless years and countless transformations had he evolved into what he was now. He was nothing like those supreme experts who, in life, had already stood at great heights and willingly abandoned their mortal bodies to become liches in pursuit of even greater power.
Those beings, upon transforming, were Heaven rank great liches from the very beginning. With their phylacteries hidden away, they were practically immortal, utterly fearless of injury.
Originally, with just a little more time, Ger might have completed that evolution as well.
But now, he had failed.
Everything had failed.
How could he not hate?
Yet no amount of hatred could undo his losses.
"It's Lian..."
After dealing with the Night Demon and the Oni-Masked Brute, Inori Yuzuriha rushed over—but she was still a step too late. Chu Lian had already fallen into the dark depths below. Without her permission, Inori did not know whether she should follow. She could only pace anxiously at the edge of the collapse.
However, among the Earth rank undead guarding this place, one who had yet to receive instructions had already locked onto Inori as its target.
Kill her!
"I never expected that fighting alongside you would be such a pleasant experience."
The Umbral Knight's black armor was riddled with scars. A long tear split open the plating across its back, within which a mysterious deep-blue substance surged, lending this unyielding warrior a strange brilliance.
Propping itself up with its twin blades, it spoke its honest thoughts to the utterly exhausted Kurosaki Satsuki.
"Without you, I probably wouldn't have survived this ordeal," she replied.
She had never imagined that her decision to stay had been part of the enemy's scheme. That grotesquely obese zombie had been waiting for the moment she fought alone, intending to cooperate with the Umbral Knight to kill her.
Yet the Umbral Knight had refused to play along. Instead, it joined forces with the white-haired girl, battling the horde of zombies together. Not only had they slaughtered them all, they had even slain the one that had reached Beginner Earth rank.
Though the price paid had been heavy, the exhilaration of overcoming the many with the few, of defeating the strong while weak, coupled with the tacit understanding forged between them in battle, filled the Umbral Knight with admiration for Kurosaki Satsuki.
The white-haired girl also knew that this victory was largely thanks to the knight before her. If it had not repeatedly used its own body to shield her from fatal blows, she would have perished long ago. There was no way she would still be standing here.
Thus, she attributed most of the credit for this triumph to the Umbral Knight.
Even if they would soon fight one another, that would not change.
"Your current strength is indeed not my equal," the Umbral Knight said as it drew its twin blades and stood upright. Turning around, its crimson gaze fixed steadily upon the white-haired girl. "But your heart allows me to see your limitless growth in the future.
"Moreover, within you I see all the finest virtues of a knight and a warrior. You are someone worthy of my respect—and worthy of my following."
"Following?" Kurosaki Satsuki had assumed it would say, "You are someone worthy of my respect—and worthy to be my opponent." Instead, what it proposed was following.
"Yes, following. I have grown weary of the battles in the Otherside. They rely only on schemes and tricks, rarely thinking about how to win through their own strength. We Umbral Knights—had we not once promised our ancestors to stand with the undead and the Otherside—we would have left long ago to seek our own destination."
The Umbral Knight did not conceal its secrets. It seemed she had truly resolved to follow Kurosaki Satsuki.
"After coming here, I witnessed humanity's betrayal and resistance, and I saw the nature of this race. Just as I was falling into disappointment, I encountered you. You are almost the embodiment of everything we have dreamed of. I believe that by following you, I will certainly ascend to an even higher level."
With that explanation, Kurosaki Satsuki understood. In the end, they were the same—cultivators with unwavering devotion to the martial path.
"I cannot accept your following," the girl said, shaking her head. "Not unless one day I defeat you with my own strength. Only then will I agree. For now, let us remain comrades-in-arms. We will grow together through battle. How about that?"
Though her reasons were clear and her goal direct, the girl refused.
The Umbral Knight was not surprised. She nodded, sheathed her twin blades behind her back, and gave Kurosaki Satsuki a formal bow.
"My name is Ying—Ying, as in firefly. An Umbral Knight. In life, I was a princess of a kingdom. That memory lies very far in the past. Please forgive me, for I can no longer recall it clearly."
Ying's self-introduction left Kurosaki Satsuki in disarray. This Umbral Knight, who looked every bit the rugged warrior and spoke with bold, heroic spirit—she had assumed he was male. To think that in life she had been a princess of a kingdom. It was utterly unexpected.
"Is it that strange?" Ying seemed puzzled by Kurosaki Satsuki's reaction, but that did not stop her from stating her objective. "I wish to grow into a Nightmare Knight, and then return to my kingdom to see how they fare now. It is a distant goal."
"I'll help you."
Kurosaki Satsuki now felt a powerful sense of goodwill toward warriors who pursued their own path in martial arts—especially this Umbral Knight who had risked her life alongside her. Ying's dream would become hers to help fulfill.
"Thank you. Now it is time to deal with those filthy rats."
Whether it was the result of her upbringing in life or a change of temperament after becoming an Umbral Knight, Ying harbored intense hatred for evil. Toward her nominal superiors—Ger and the others—she felt nothing but disgust.
"We should follow Chu Lian."
Her clothing was torn, patches of white skin visible through the slashes in the fabric at her arms. Yet the white high heels she had worn into battle had miraculously survived unscathed.
The flashy black cape and sunglasses had long since been discarded. Now she simply carried one black and one white katana, following behind Ying as they pursued the path Chu Lian had taken.
"Ha! Weren't you all acting so arrogant before? Chu Chu said she would protect Big Sis—and she absolutely will!"
Lightning exploded around her body. At that moment, Chu Chu resembled a thunder god incarnate, wielding the supreme authority of lightning as she unleashed her fury without restraint.
Within a hundred-meter radius around her, the area had turned into a prison of thunder. Countless bolts crashed down, draining the energy of those undead who repeatedly slipped into the Shadow Plane to evade damage, before blasting them into dust.
Among them, only the Earth rank Beginner undead capable of transforming into a crow continued to hold on.
Yet beside it hovered an undamaged lightning spirit, while the Queen of Lightning, Lia, entangled it relentlessly.
Chu Chu's lightning only served as nourishment for them, increasing their energy without causing the slightest harm. Exploiting this shameless tactic, Chu Chu locked onto the undead and continued bombarding it with lightning.
After more than thirty seconds of relentless thunder prison, Chu Chu's spiritual power was nearly exhausted before the undead finally let out a wail. A blurred image of its soul flickered behind it, then vanished, and its body was reduced to ashes beneath the lightning.
"Phew... finally dealt with."
She reached out to summon Lia back. Thirty lightning spirits still circled around her. After a moment's thought, she decided to expend more spiritual power to maintain their existence—because another great battle awaited.
Just as she prepared to rush to Chu Lian's aid, the white-haired girl's voice rose from below.
"Chu Chu, finished?"
"Of course!"
Grinning proudly, Chu Chu saw that the white-haired girl had returned without serious injury. The worry in her heart eased somewhat.
Then her gaze lingered briefly on the Umbral Knight, who no longer harbored any hostility toward her, before she said, "We should go support Big Sis. From the looks of it, the battle down there is intense."
"That was my intention as well."
Having made their decision, the two wasted no time. After navigating the complex pathways, they arrived at the place where Inori had battled the Night Demon. Seeing the ground littered with shattered flesh and crystals, they exchanged a glance and smiled bitterly.
"Looks like the enemy also set up a powerful ambush, trying to attack Sister Inori while she was separated and fighting alone. They must have provoked Sister Eve within her. That's why it ended up like this."
Chu Chu knew of Mana and Eve's existence. Only Eve—at peak Heaven rank—could have caused such destruction. Neither Mana nor Inori possessed that level of power.
"No matter what, we press forward," Ying said after a long silence.
The moment she spoke, the two girls snapped out of their thoughts. They stopped dwelling on the scene and passed through the building, heading toward the source of the tremors.
Clang~
The massive void greatsword blocked the skeleton soldier's bone blade. Inori was already panting. Though the enemy was holding back for caution's sake and only one attacked her—
It was an Earth rank Intermediate opponent.
Against such a foe, she could only defend. She could not counterattack—let alone win.
Just a few strikes had already drained her stamina drastically. At this rate, she would not last even half a minute more.
"Lian..."
Clenching her teeth, Inori's only thought was Chu Lian's condition. If something happened to her, what should she do? Yet the enemy before her was so powerful, refusing to let her leave. What was she supposed to do?
The violet light in her eyes intensified. Just as Eve was about to emerge once more, figures appeared behind her—Chu Chu, Kurosaki Satsuki, and Ying had arrived.
"Sister Inori..."
Lightning descended. The sword-and-shield skeleton soldier flipped agilely aside to evade. Its empty skull lifted, staring at Chu Chu and the others, as though contemplating something.
"Lian is below. But the five of them..."
Inori pointed toward the collapsed crater, then toward the Earth rank undead. Her expression was grave.
"Even if there are five. Even if every one of them is Earth rank. For Big Sis—we have no other choice."
Chu Chu nodded. Her words represented the will of them all.
An unequal battle began the moment the girl's words fell...