Fang Zheng paid Connie no mind at all. He knew perfectly well that she was even more badly injured than he was, and Malte's Holy Knights were not particularly skilled at healing either. In fact, the cleric responsible for treating their group had already died in the earlier ambush. That was why Malte and the others had struggled so much afterward. If Fang Zheng had not healed them later, they probably would not even have recovered their fighting strength by now.
Although Connie had caused some trouble, Fang Zheng and Stone had still successfully completed half their mission. They had found the Holy Knights remaining here. In theory, they only needed to take them back to settle this mess. Yet from the looks of it, neither Malte nor Stone intended to leave.
Malte was aware of the Lich's scheme, while Stone did not know exactly what had happened here, but he too had sensed that something was wrong. In fact, when Stone arrived, he, Connie, and Miss M had discovered the Undead creatures here. Not only that, they had personally witnessed Undead creatures dragging those Holy Knights into the Quarry. To find out what these Undead creatures were trying to do, and to rescue his comrades, Stone had chosen to investigate alone. He had originally told Connie to return and pass a message to Miss M, lest the poor young lady worry herself sick. Who would have thought she would run into Fang Zheng instead, and then... Sigh, what kind of mess was this?
"We don't have any extra time to waste. That Lich must have noticed what happened above."
As Stone spoke, he shot Connie and Fang Zheng an irritated glare. Under his gaze, Connie lowered her head without saying a word, while Fang Zheng simply shrugged, looking as though it had nothing to do with him. Seeing their reactions, Stone rolled his eyes helplessly before turning to Malte again.
"What do you think, Malte?"
"..."
Faced with Stone's question, Malte thought for a moment before raising his head to look at him again.
"Are you certain my comrades are still alive?"
"At least they were alive when they were dragged inside. Now... I can't guarantee it."
"..."
This time, Malte remained silent even longer. Then he glanced at the others, as if making up his mind, and spoke.
"Stone, I need a favor from you."
"Say it."
"I want you to help draw that Lich's attention. Then... we'll find an opportunity to rush in and see whether we can rescue our companions. If possible, we might even be able to destroy the Dark Ritual they are trying to complete in one stroke..."
At that, Malte turned to glance at Connie.
"I'm entrusting this girl to you as well. She's seriously injured and has no combat strength. Taking her along would only make her a burden; she's better off staying here. If we don't return, please take her back to the Holy Temple."
"You..."
Stone froze upon hearing that. Even Fang Zheng widened his eyes and stared at Malte. He was not an idiot; of course he understood what Malte meant. To ordinary people, Malte's request might sound rather heartless, but on closer thought, it placed practically no burden on Stone and Fang Zheng at all!
Malte only wanted them to act as bait and draw the Lich's attention. Frankly, that was not difficult, nor was it particularly dangerous. Malte and his men, on the other hand, would be venturing deep into the trap. Stone and Fang Zheng only needed to taunt from the outside, pull the boss over, and run away. Malte and the others would have to penetrate all the way into the core area. Malte said they were going to rescue their comrades, but Stone and Fang Zheng were not fools. The Lich had put so much effort into performing the Dark Ritual, so the core area was surely filled with danger. Malte and his group claimed they were going to sabotage the plan and save people, but it was easy to guess that they would almost certainly never return.
Fang Zheng frowned, but seeing Stone beside him, he said nothing more. To be honest, Malte and the others truly lived up to the title of Holy Knight. Fang Zheng could not bear to watch them march off to their deaths, but Malte had clearly already made his decision, and Stone did not seem inclined to stop him. Fang Zheng could hardly say anything else.
"...All right."
In the end, Stone let out a long sigh.
"Malte, come back alive. I'm still waiting for you to buy me a drink."
"Don't worry. I won't die that easily."
After saying that, Malte smiled and waved to Fang Zheng and Miss M, then turned and left with his companions. Watching Malte's retreating back, Fang Zheng was completely speechless. The death flag on your back is three meters high, Great Knight Malte. How am I supposed to save you now? And Stone, you planted that flag pretty eagerly too. Can't you show your comrades a little mercy? Don't you know it's best to leave some room for future meetings? With flags planted like that, wouldn't it be letting you down if they didn't die?
"All right, let's move too."
Stone naturally had no idea what Fang Zheng was muttering about behind his back. He merely watched silently as Malte disappeared, then turned to Fang Zheng.
"You know our task now. We need to draw that Lich's attention. Luckily, you and that girl fought like hell just now. The Lich has probably already noticed something wrong above. All we need to do next is drag that Lich out and keep it from focusing on anything else."
"Drag it out? How?"
Hearing Stone's order, Fang Zheng froze and stared at his mentor in surprise. Frankly, after spending so much time with Stone, Fang Zheng had come to understand him fairly well. In Fang Zheng's eyes, this Grand Knight was more like a fierce general who led soldiers in a charge, not someone skilled at strategies or plans. That was precisely why Stone's order gave Fang Zheng an extremely bad feeling.
In response to Fang Zheng's question, Stone clenched his fists, flashed him a brilliant grin, and bared his white teeth.
"By charging straight in, of course!!"
"..."
For the first time, Fang Zheng felt that perhaps he should change mentors... Maybe Malte would be a good choice?
At that moment, deep beneath the dark, gloomy Quarry, an entirely different scene was unfolding.
Within a vast underground cavern, ghostly blue flames flickered and burned. At the center of the cavern, a magic circle drawn in blood glimmered with faint light. Directly above it floated a Lich wrapped from head to toe in black robes. It raised its head, scarlet light flashing intermittently within its hollow eye sockets. Then the Lich looked toward the Skeleton Soldiers beside it and issued a quiet command.
"You, go and see what happened outside."
Upon hearing the Lich's order, the fully armed Skeleton Soldiers respectfully bowed to it, then turned and marched away in unison. They had once been brave warriors in life, but now these soldiers had become Undead slaves. Their souls could find no rest and could only submit helplessly to the power of darkness and death.
That was right. Darkness and death were the true essence of this world.
At that thought, the scarlet flames in the Lich's eye sockets suddenly flared. Then it issued another command.
"Bring up the sacrifice."
Soon, following the Lich's order, two towering Undead Giants escorted a Holy Knight forward. The Holy Knight looked young. He was badly wounded and appeared barely able to stand. He glared viciously at the Lich before him, his eyes blazing with boundless fury.
"You cursed Undead creature! Your scheme will never succeed! Everything you have done will be judged by justice!"
"How boring."
Hearing the young Knight's words, the Lich merely snorted. Then it raised a hand and pointed at the young Knight. A beam of black light immediately shot from the Lich's fingertip and struck the young Knight in the chest.
"Ah... ah...!"
After being struck by that black beam, the young Knight's face instantly turned pale. He opened his mouth and let out a pained wail. His body began trembling uncontrollably, and then bright red blood burst from his mouth, nose, eyes, and ears like a waterfall. The young Knight seemed to be suffering unimaginable agony. He instinctively opened his mouth to scream, but before any sound could emerge, the blood surging up from his throat completely choked it back.
"Ugh... ugh!!!"
The young Knight's eyes were now wide open. Both hands clawed desperately at his throat, like a drowning man struggling to breathe. Yet no matter how he fought, he could not draw even a trace of air. Because the "water" drowning him did not come from outside—it came from within his own body!!
"-----!!!"
At last, the young Knight's body began convulsing wildly. He flailed his arms like a madman and opened his mouth, yet not a single sound emerged. Only blood mixed with bubbles sprayed from his mouth and ran down his body onto the ground. At that moment, the young Knight stopped moving and became nothing more than a corpse.
He had been drowned alive by his own blood!
Although the young Knight was dead, the blood flowing from his body did not stop. Slowly, his body began to shrivel like a deflating balloon. In the end, he became a desiccated corpse, skin stretched over bone. The blood, meanwhile, slowly formed a huge crimson magic circle under the influence of some mysterious power. The instant the circle was completed, a faint shadow suddenly emerged from its center. It frantically waved its hands, trying to escape this evil place. But in the next moment, it was violently dragged back like a dog on a chain and vanished into the magic circle once more.
Immediately afterward, a Stone Coffin at the center of the circle jolted violently, then fell silent again.
"Still not enough..."
Looking at the magic circle before it, the Lich snorted coldly and quietly issued its command.
"The next one."
Before you continue