Church of Death

Two mysterious girls suddenly appeared here, and those humans had vanished. Looking at the corpses of undead on the ground—

“Where did those humans go?”

“They left.”

“You saved them?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Were those undead killed by you too?”

“That’s right.”

“What about my underworld Undead?”

“Is it him?”

Serea calmly pointed at the Skeleton Warrior nearby who was still gravely injured and yet to recover, as if the person before her wasn’t an undead mage but a kind uncle.

“Very well, you’ve successfully enraged the Church of Death’s Preacher ‘Leklis’. I swear by my lord ‘Reaper’s Shadow’, my wrath will burn your soul to ashes, and your body will never rest in peace for all eternity!”

Leklis bellowed. Though he knew the enemy before him was no ordinary person, as a ‘genius’ (silver elite) on the verge of breaking through to intermediate (level 29) undead mage, he wasn’t afraid. Besides, there were over two hundred undead followers under his command.

“Ahhhh!”

“Ssshhhhh!”

Zombies and skeletons rioted, sensing their master’s anger, baring their teeth and claws at Serea. But this scene, which would terrify ordinary people, elicited no reaction from Serea at all. Compared to those undead, what she cared more about was…

“Wait a minute, I have a question. I know the ‘Reaper’s Shadow’, but what is the Church of Death?”

At Serea’s inquiry, the zombies and skeletons who were about to charge forward were forcibly dragged back by Leklis.

“Hmph, ignorant fool! You don’t even know the name of the Church of Death, and you call yourself an undead mage?”

“Uh… How about you tell me, and then I’ll know?”

“Then listen well!”

Leklis put on great ceremony and then showed off his mage’s robe riddled with holes to Serea, on which was a pattern of a cross-shaped coffin.

“I am the Preacher of the Church of Death, dedicated to spreading the glory of my lord ‘Reaper’s Shadow’ across the world. Death is rebirth!”

“Uh… aren’t you just spouting nonsense? Who can understand you?”

Serea’s lips twitched; she felt this undead mage was a little crazy.

“The Church of Death, originally named the ‘Undead Magic Study Society’, was the place where undead mages gathered to study necromancy. But several centuries ago, when a number of powerful liches joined forces and defected to the demon race, leading the undead in an invasion of the world, necromancy became branded as a taboo in some countries, and its study became restricted. Soon after, the Holy Empire began to resist necromancy, so the Undead Magic Study Society was expelled, and many undead mages were slaughtered. Since then, the ‘Undead Magic Study Society’ was renamed as the ‘Church of Death’, operating under the banner of revenge throughout the nations of the Eastern Continent. But unlike before, when the Church was filled with people passionate about learning and exploring necromancy, the current ‘Church of Death’ has completely degenerated into a gathering place for fallen undead mages.”

Celia explained, yet a single sentence of hers immediately angered Leklis.

“You are forbidden to insult the Church!”

“I’m just stating facts. If I’m not mistaken, you attacked those humans at the behest of ‘money’, right?”

“So what if I did.”

“Then is it me insulting your group, or you all insulting yourselves?”

Celia retorted, having no patience left for the so-called ‘Church of Death’.

“This… hmph, say what you will. Someday, if you find yourself hunted for no reason every single day, you won’t say such things. We…”

Leklis started to speak, but stopped mid-sentence, raising his staff.

“No need to talk so much with you two brats. Now, I advise you to leave this place immediately and release Talius. Otherwise, even if we are both emissaries of the undead, I will show no mercy!”

Leklis made his threat, and as a level 29 silver elite he did have the right to do so, but—

“From what you’re saying, it sounds like you’re already sure to win.”

“Hmph, am I not?”

“Are you sure you want to fight?”

“This is Church territory, so I shouldn’t attack a fellow undead mage. But if you insist on standing in my way, don’t blame me for what happens.”

“Then enough talk, let’s fight.”

“You brought this upon yourself!”

With that, leklis wasted no more words and immediately began chanting magic. As he chanted, Serea did nothing, which made Leklis ask in bewilderment.

“What’s this? You’re not summoning any followers or casting magic—are you just going to sit there and wait to die?”

Leklis reminded her out of goodwill, but Serea countered,

“Are you sure you want me to summon my followers?”

“I never bully the weak. Go ahead!”

As Leklis spoke, the zombies and skeletons before him did not rush forward. He was giving Serea a chance, for the sake of her being the ‘same kind’.

“All right then… Little Black, Little White, little Red, eighty.”

Serea called out. But hearing those names, leklis couldn’t help bursting out in laughter.

“Pfft, hahaha, what kind of names are those? So there are names in this world even sillier than ‘Talius’… huh…”

Watch as a smile slowly disappears from a face…

What the hell! What the hell! What the hell is that thing!!!

Staring at the four skeletons that marched out from behind the caravan, leklis swallowed hard.

All equipped with magic gear, and one among them was clearly a high-ranking ‘undead war god’. For a moment, leklis was dumbfounded.

“Hoo…”

Leklis exhaled and rubbed his eyes.

“Really now, if I’d known, I wouldn’t have stayed up late. My eyes are seeing things…”

When he finished rubbing his eyes, leklis fixed his gaze. After a moment of silence, he asked,

“I see. You’re a spirit mage, creating illusions, no wonder you managed to handle so many of my undead followers.”

Leklis said this calmly, unable to accept the reality before his eyes. He settled on the only, nearly impossible explanation left, and treated it as absolute truth.

“Heh-heh, that’s not all.”

Serea said, and then shouted toward the edge of the woods beside her.

“It’s a fight!”

Following her shout, leklis felt the ground tremble slightly, as if some warbeast was walking out from the forest. He looked over.

At the scene before him, he still maintained his composure—or perhaps he was paralyzed—so much so that sweat dripped into his eyes, yet he didn’t blink.

Clang-clang-clang!

Iron clashed as the Skeleton Shield Warriors formed up before Serea. Behind them, the Skeleton Lancers set their formation, skeleton Heavy Warriors guarded the flanks, and Skeleton Archers were at the rear. On the hillside to the side, skeleton Cavalry stood by on their bone steeds, ready to charge at any time.

Leklis did not know how to react. He covered his mouth, then awkwardly lowered his hand.

“Uh… not bad, around fifty nether undead, each about on par with his own ‘Talius’. It’s not that big a deal, nothing to fuss about.”

Leklis was perfectly calm inside. He fumbled out a pipe he hadn’t touched in ages, and with trembling hands, took a nervous puff.

“Hoo…”

A smoke ring emerged; the air was so silent that even the previously savage zombies and skeletons all quieted down, as if they’d always been well-behaved.

(To be continued…)

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