Inner Panic (Thanks for the Reward, Great Scarred Fool)

"The resentment is overflowing, carrying a deathly aura..."

Haodos uttered a string of unknown death appraisal terms.

Then he continued:

"Alright, we can now understand the general situation of this deceased."

Haodos dispelled the light cluster in his hand, then approached Hui Dun, crossed his arms, performed a religious gesture, and said:

"This deceased died from undead-type magic. The cow dung on his body and the resentment after his death can both serve as evidence.

Furthermore, there are traces of medicinal residue on him, confirming he was contaminated by undead potions.

And judging by the degree of lividity and the cloudiness of his eyeballs, we can confirm he died three to five days ago."

"This is the murderer declaring war on us, Count."

After Haodos finished his autopsy results, he said this.

Hui Dun and the others remained silent. It was clear that the alchemist was provoking Hui Dun, explicitly telling them he had entered his territory and asking what Hui Dun could do about it.

Undoubtedly, everyone present was filled with rage. Not only did the alchemist disregard Hui Dun, the Count, but he also disrespected the Church.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have used such conspicuous undead-type potions on a Church cleric.

As Hui Dun, who had become a political creature, his first thought, amidst his anger, was why this alchemist would come to his insignificant territory at this particular time.

The territory he governed was the most remote part of the kingdom, with magic and population resources inferior to other regions.

Of course, Hui Dun's thought wasn't wrong. Alchemists themselves cared about their peculiar magical research.

Moreover, known alchemists who caused trouble usually chose areas with dense populations and abundant magical resources, as these offered higher research value for their magic.

They could also find the necessary research materials quickly.

As for being hunted by powerful individuals.

To these madmen, nothing was more important than experimental data. Furthermore, over the years of battling wits with humans on the continent, they had learned excellent hiding skills.

Unless one used a domain to search, ordinary means would hardly detect them.

To form a domain, one needed to reach at least Platinum Rank, and the domain's range was limited. As long as they wreaked havoc over a large enough area, it would take a considerable amount of time to find them.

In that time, they would have already obtained the data they desired in prosperous regions.

Therefore, Hui Dun began to suspect that old fellow Jamir was secretly pulling the strings, and this was also a warning to him for approaching Professor Pempes recently?

However, looking at Father Haodos beside him, whose face showed genuine anger, Hui Dun fell into deep contemplation once more.

Meanwhile, outside Nanmu Forest, the military camp was already in ruins.

Collapsed barracks and tents were scattered everywhere, and blood stained the ground, dyeing it red.

Como and the bodies of his soldiers were being dragged by Undead Skeletons to the training ground. On the high platform of the training ground, the alchemist held his crystal ball, chanting an incantation.

Then, the corpses, whose blood had not yet dried, rapidly decayed. Because these warriors had battle qi when they were alive, the skeletons that emerged from their husks after decay were Undead Skeletons.

Como, a peak Silver warrior, excited the alchemist. He ordered the Undead Knight to decapitate Como, then took out bottles of newly concocted potions from his carriage and approached the headless corpse.

He then poured the potions in his hand, chanting soul-stirring ancient incantations. The headless corpse began to move.

Como's headless corpse's muscles tightened and became powerful, its originally flesh-colored skin rapidly turned dark blue, and it exuded a subtle metallic feel.

Thus, a headless knight was quickly refined by the alchemist.

Looking at the Undead Knight and the headless knight before him, the alchemist's confidence in his subsequent plan grew.

He returned to his carriage, his eyes filled with obsession as he gazed at the Magic Crystal in his hand, muttering in his hoarse voice:

"Sword of Kings, you are mine, I must obtain you."

At this time, within the city, after confirming the other party was indeed an alchemist, Hui Dun ordered a city-wide lockdown and sent people to the military camp outside the forest to summon Como to bring his army back to the city.

They needed to gather forces that could be quickly assembled to defend Hui Dun City.

Since this alchemist clearly possessed undead-type magic, combined with the previous tomb robberies, it could be inferred that the alchemist had already gathered a group of undead soldiers around him.

Moreover, the corpse delivered by the alchemist was enough to indicate that he was directly targeting Hui Dun City.

The situation here was also reported by Haodos to Jamir through his subordinates. It was precisely because of this action that Hui Dun temporarily dismissed his suspicions of Jamir.

If this was truly Jamir's doing, he would have needed a large number of personnel and resources to create such a significant disturbance.

Father Haodos, who was by his side, would have surely known something.

From his observation of Father Haodos's expression from the beginning until now, Hui Dun saw only anger, tension, and determination on his face.

At this point, he dared not gamble and could only believe that Jamir and the others were not involved.

Because to face this crisis, the Church's influence was indispensable.

Everything Hui Dun could do had been done. He needed to return to the academy to discuss with Adolf and the others how to find and kill this alchemist in one fell swoop.

Yes, to truly kill this alchemist, powerhouses like Adolf were needed. This was also evident from the accurate estimation of the death time from Peiqi's corpse, indicating the alchemist's formidable strength.

Moreover, these individuals were like rats, adept at concealing their tracks. Only powerhouses with domains, like Adolf, could quickly apprehend him.

This was also one of the reasons why Hui Dun had to ally with Jamir.

At this moment, inside the church, Jamir's brow furrowed deeply after hearing the monk's report.

He was very familiar with alchemists, these mages who represented darkness. Based on the monk's report and the alchemist's control over his power, he could guess that the alchemist's strength was definitely not weaker than his own.

But why would such a powerful alchemist come to this place? Shouldn't he have gone to the royal capital to make a huge scene?

Jamir immediately ordered the knights in the church to deploy to the city walls to assist in the defense. He also ordered the priests and other clergy in the church to prepare.

If the alchemist truly brought his undead army to attack the city, then the Light Magic that these clergy had learned would be needed to help on the city walls.

That's right, Jamir had already guessed that the alchemist who had come this time was a madman. The only thing he could think of was that this madman intended to start from Hui Dun City, slaughtering living beings little by little to create an undead army, and then exterminate the entire world.

This was also the only reason Jamir could think of, from the perspective of these alchemist madmen, why he would come to such an out-of-the-way place as Hui Dun.

Although Jamir had acted insidiously and decisively regarding Hui Dun, he still possessed the responsibility of a clergyman.

After issuing the orders, Jamir prepared for the worst. He went to the Bishop's prayer room in the back courtyard of the church.

Then, he knelt before the small statue of the God of Light and began to pray, recounting what had happened here and his own speculations.

This small statue was not just a statue; it contained a sound transmission magic array, a communicator that could be used to contact the Grand Bishop above him.

After reporting what had happened here, Jamir left.

Meanwhile, in the Principal's office at the academy, after hearing the situation from Hui Dun, Adolf had been pacing back and forth in his office. Professor Pempes, on the other hand, sat there sighing incessantly.

These two men had lived long enough and traveled widely enough to have seen more than Hui Dun and the other. Naturally, they had arrived at the same conclusion as Jamir.

"Adolf, can you stop pacing? If you have any ideas, just say them."

Professor Pempes rubbed his head and said.

Adolf, however, simply replied in a light tone:

"This guy wants to slaughter the city."

His words shocked Hui Dun and the other. Professor Pempes sighed again, then his eyes turned fierce as he said, "If he really dares to come and slaughter the city, then the two of us will directly charge out, find him, and grind him into dust."

"Don't say useless things like that. If the real undead army arrives, to truly defend the city, we will need the large-scale magic support from both of us. Moreover, alchemists are the best at hiding. Don't let the city be breached by his undead army before we even find him."

Professor Pempes was somewhat discouraged by this. However, he seemed to have thought of something else, and his large eyes looked towards Chen Cheng beside him.

In his opinion, the only one who could resolve the crisis was Chen Cheng's Variable Magic. Perhaps, with the current resources in the city, they could work overtime to create a simplified defensive device with multiple magical capabilities.