Ash and Clouds

The antlers did not take the King's head for themselves, but wanted to give it to someone else.

"Let's make a deal... I'll only do the mission this time, and you can kill the others."

He discussed this with Lily, demonstrating his harmlessness and goodwill.

He spread his hands, palms facing outwards, indicating that he meant no harm. "I'm just your helper this time, your bait. I'll stand outside and attract attention, while you can take advantage of the opportunity to launch a sneak attack... If I'm in danger, you don't need to show up to rescue me."

"In this way, you won't have to worry about me betraying you, and I can be your loyal teammate—how about that? This won't do you any harm, right?"

Deer Antlers certainly knew that Path of Adaptation could easily lead to traitors.

But does he encounter fewer two-faced people in his daily life?

He was already used to dealing with this kind of person.

People who are prone to betrayal are not necessarily betrayers. As long as they are given sufficient benefits and a sense of security, and the cost of betrayal is increased, these people can still be exploited.

Moreover, the antlers were certain that Aleister was a young man under twenty. The "Knight" was also just over twenty, and now he was certain that the King was one of the very few pragmatic superhumans who, after obtaining a mysterious skill, would not advance any further.

In other words, everyone else is on a dual path, including this "Gray Robe."

Since he is on a dual path, he is not as extreme as a single-path transcendent... Just like how, although he is on the Path of Twilight, he is still very talkative.

Furthermore, Lu Jiao always felt that the other person's personality should actually be quite good.

He felt no hostility towards the Gray Robe man, and even a vague sense of kinship. This was not based on any evidence, but merely his instinct—and his instincts were usually quite accurate.

Although the antlers didn't immediately receive a response from the Gray Robe, they vaguely heard the King's breathing suddenly cease and be replaced by a very low "gurgling" sound, as if someone were choking him. The antlers, however, couldn't pinpoint the exact location of the "Gray Robe."

After a short while, a deep voice sounded.

"Alright. Here, take his body."

—It's only been less than half a minute, right? Such a skilled hand-to-hand strangulation... Is he from the Strangulation Gang?

Deer Antlers had a vague idea in his mind.

But the Strangulation Gang may not necessarily be unable to cooperate.

He laughed cheerfully, "It's quite a coincidence... I don't know if you've ever heard this saying. Of the Nine Great Paths, three are active, three tend towards stillness, and three are changeable. Wisdom, adaptation, and twilight are all paths that prefer stillness, and you are a very typical adaptor."

"But for the Path of Twilight, I am quite talkative."

As he spoke, Deer Antlers reached out and groped on the ground, finding the still-warm corpse's head.

He reached out and pressed his hand on the other person's forehead. The dim, yellowish light, like worms, slowly crawled up his fingers onto the face of the "King's " corpse.

"My friends, my family, my lover. Those I accidentally killed, those I couldn't save."

The antlers murmured in a peculiar rhythm, "I am the mournful messenger of Boötes, the Icarius's Dog. There is no place for you in the underworld; please return silently."

As he spoke, he used his other hand to pry open the King's mouth and blew a breath into it.

In that instant, the King's corpse seemed like a lamp that had been lit.

His whole body glowed with a dim, yellowish light, which grew brighter and brighter.

These rays of light traveled throughout his body, eventually converging half in his heart and half in his brain.

The "King" suddenly opened his eyes, and a dim yellow light shone in his pupils.

He nimbly got up from the ground and followed behind the antlers. He opened his mouth slightly, but no sound came out.

"... Can't he speak?"

Watching the "ritual of resurrection" from the sidelines, Lily finally couldn't help but ask a question.

"Hmm, no. But he is still the King, not just an empty shell. It's just that he can't think straight."

The antlers answered decisively, "Speech and singing are the realm of beauty, reproduction and emotion are the realm of love. Thinking is related to wisdom, training is related to transcendence—those who are dead but whose remains are stripped of four realms, those who are dead but whose souls remain are stripped of six realms, and those who are dead but whose souls no longer exist are stripped of eight realms, leaving only twilight."

"From this perspective, the dead who are resurrected by necromancy... are actually still in the world of the dead."

This is a principle of necromancy that a normal necromancer would not explain.

But for Deer Horn, whose profession is Law Mage, there was nothing to hide.

Deer Antlers glanced at the massive door and ordered, "Go open the door."

The King, who had come back from the dead, opened his mouth silently and then rushed over with extraordinary agility, climbing up like a monkey.

"It's a pity there's no bone staff."

Deer Antler sighed, "If I had a bone staff, I could strengthen the King's remains. I wouldn't need to issue commands like this anymore."

"Aren't you a big shot in Avalon?"

Lily asked casually, "Making a bone staff isn't that difficult?"

"That's really difficult. The weapons that can be brought into the ceremony must be made by ourselves," Deer Antlers said casually. "I'm getting old, and it's not easy for me to learn carving from scratch."

What was said in jest was taken seriously by the listener.

Just that one sentence, "I'm getting old," stirred something in Lily's heart.

Although it's normal for important people to be older... for some reason, when she first met Deer Antler, she had a vague sense of familiarity, as if she had seen him somewhere before.

At this moment, the antlers spoke up and asked, "Speaking of which, how should I address you?"

"Ash."

Lily replied.

The "Silken Grimoire" that she inherited was taught by Gray Angel. Using this name now couldn't be more fitting.

"I will protect you in secret."

She whispered, "I will follow you, but don't try to find me... I am the spider in the corner."

Of course, this is a lie.

She quietly observed the antlers, searching for an opportunity to strike decisively.

Actually, she didn't understand the mission... but Lily clearly realized one thing.

—Victory is assured if all six people are killed in total. And Young Master Iver is certain to succeed.

However, the first "antlers" to appear in the ceremony were the most uncontrollable variable.

No one knows how many more cards he has up his sleeve. Therefore, Lily must stay close to him and find an opportunity that will absolutely kill him.

However, apart from that...

"You say you're a big shot."

Lily, lurking in the shadows, couldn't help but ask, "Do you know anything about the ministers in the Round Table Hall?"

She was still somewhat curious about her biological father, whom she knew almost nothing about.

Upon hearing this, Deer Antlers smiled confidently, "Of course. No one knows the people in the Round Table Hall better than me."

On the other side...

Gordon, who goes by the alias "Thunder," the Knight, and the mentally unstable, sluggish man had already escaped.

They left the storage room without suffering any casualties.

Where are you going next?

Gordon naturally took over the captain's duties. "Let me see if we're going the same way—if we are, we can help each other out. If not, we'll just have to go our separate ways."

"I want to find the Holy Lance."

The knight replied without hesitation, "Then I'll use the Holy Lance to shatter that giant's Magic Cauldron! If I have the chance, I'd also like to challenge those giants who worship Evil God!"

"I can go with you to retrieve the Holy Lance," Gordon nodded solemnly, "And I can go with you to shatter the Magic Cauldron. But I strongly disapprove of you attacking the giants—however, if you insist on doing so, I won't stop you."

"I will stay with you and try to protect you. If you unfortunately perish, I can take your place and take the Holy Lance."

Both of them harbored a very strong hostility towards the giants.

Compared to the Cavaliers, Gordon's desire for promotion wasn't as strong.

The man who stood quietly to the side, like a piece of rotten wood, couldn't help but chuckle softly, "Evil God? Hehehe..."

His voice was completely at odds with his disheveled and decadent appearance; it sounded unusually calm, elegant, and refined. He didn't seem like a madman, but rather like an aristocrat.

"The Supreme Heaven is of course Evil God."

Gordon frowned slightly, but patiently explained to the man, "' Supreme Heaven ' is what the followers of the Bear Angel call Him. He is a God who leans towards the Path of Love but Path of Authority. They yearn for a world of violence, lawlessness, disorder, where the strong can bully the weak at will."

"The ancient Giant Kingdom of Arctos was a dynasty that worshipped the Bear Angel. And as you've seen... they devoured all races, even their own. And the Supreme Heaven even blessed this evil race—"

"Thunder! Did you see the 'Successfully Escape' mission?"

The knight added, "The Serpent Father said we need to find the key and escape from the Pankerde Temple... The place we are in is called the Pankerde Temple!"

Gordon asserted, "This 'giant couple' is no ordinary couple. They can kill an apostle, live in a temple dedicated to the Supreme Heaven, and possess Magic Cauldron bestowed by the Supreme Heaven. Moreover, they are so enormous... They may be the legendary High Giant."

Once you reach Gordon's level, you'll have access to some historical records about the Giant Kingdom.

Generally speaking, Pure-Blood Giant are only six or seven meters tall.

Titans aren't actually born very tall; rather, they grow taller as they age. Although newborn Titans can run, a three-year-old Titan is less than a meter tall, and a teenage Titan is usually only two meters tall, looking like a slightly taller human teenager.

Unlike humans, giants have an extremely long developmental period, sometimes lasting hundreds of years, during which they continuously grow larger. However, generally speaking, the maximum height a giant can reach varies depending on their individual talents.

Because it is said that the Bear Angel is enormous, the giants protected by Him take pride in being even taller. Generally, the taller the giant, the higher their status. Giants that grow to a certain height are called "High Giant" and are usually regarded as "gifts from the Supreme Heaven."

The ministers of the Giant Kingdom were all taller than the Royal City walls. They were tall and thin, nearly twenty meters tall, with white beards that cascaded down like waterfalls.

Human weapons can hardly harm them, and killing humans is no more difficult for them than a human crushing an insect. These giants can cause earthquakes when they run, so they usually sit still and eat. Only during festivals do they stand up and wrestle with each other, and then the earth shakes for days.

Judging from the doors in this temple, the giant couple must have been at least twenty meters tall, which is three times the height of a normal giant.

"This 'giant couple' is probably actually Bear Angel's apostles."

Gordon looked at the knight and said seriously, "It's perfectly normal for apostles to guard the temple, which is why they can kill apostles who Dedication Path and seize the Holy Lance. Just like in the Temple of Akropolis, Hippocrates and Akropolis occasionally appear... The Giant Dynasty worshipped the Bear Angel and built temples everywhere, so the apostles could be fully manifested in the temples."

"That's why I don't agree with you attacking the giants. Even if Bear Angel's apostles aren't as powerful as the apostles of the Nine Pillar Gods... Bear Angel is still a Tiansi of the Path of Authority. You're using the weapons of the Apostles of the Dedication Path to challenge two Apostles of the Path of Authority. I still think that's a reckless move."

Upon hearing this, the rotten-wood-like man laughed again, "The Path of Authority? Hahaha..."

Gordon finally couldn't hold back any longer.

He turned around seriously and asked earnestly, "Sir, you can just say what you find funny. Please don't use riddles; they'll only spoil the mood—I think we're still teammates who escaped together, so why can't we just say what we mean?"

"... Are you sure you want to hear this?"

A subtle smile appeared on the man's lips, "You said it yourself, so don't blame me."

Although Gordon and the Knight had a vague sense of unease, they were unwilling to turn back now that things had come to this.

"You can call me Cloud. I am a werewolf being hunted by the Child of the Moon. A poor writer... preparing to flee to Avalon. I hope you can do me a favor then... Thunder."

The withered-wood-like man leaned against the massive, rough, blue stone wall, raising a finger with a malicious smirk. "This is knowledge you will never gain in Avalon. Though the Silver Crowned Dragon himself may not care, His apostles will; His apostles may not care, but the mortal rulers must—for they didn't wipe out the giants back then. This is the secret of Avalon's founding, history before the path of 'authoritarianism' existed, the only time in human history that the Nine Pillar Gods has been replaced."

"Listen, then face the truth..."

A 7,000-word update is complete!