Nether Crystal

Serea had her eyes closed for a long time. At this moment, she was faced with a serious question—should she make a move or not?

Setting everything else aside, if Lilith managed to take with her the information on Serea and return, the consequences waiting for her were self-evident. But if Serea tried to intercept them, it would definitely be a hard-fought battle.

As she hesitated, two of the blood slaves had already dug up what Leklis had called his “life savings and research results.”

It was a large iron box, somewhat rusted, which suggested it had been buried for quite some time.

“Queen, it’s this one.”

When they opened the iron box and placed it before Serea, she looked inside.

There were a dozen or so gold coins, some magic research scrolls, and…

Several black-violet gemstones. Serea’s eyes immediately fixed on those gemstones, and as she picked them up, their information appeared to her.

Nether Crystal (Violet): A new type of power born from the fusion of Soul Power and Death Power.

System: Nether Crystal detected. Would you like to absorb it and unlock the ‘Nether’ structure path?

“Hm! Nether?”

System: The merging of four main altars can give birth to Dark Power. Besides that, the power fusion of certain altars can also create entirely new powers. The Nether path is the result of fusing the power of the ‘Soul Altar’ and the ‘Death Altar’.

“So Nether, huh? Turned out Leklis’s so-called research result was creating a fusion of Soul Power and Death Power. No wonder he was able to cultivate underworld Undead like Talius and the Black Knight.”

Clutching the black-violet stone in her hand, Serea was now certain that Leklis was no ordinary undead mage.

“Absorb the Nether Crystal.”

System: Absorbing, please wait…

System: Absorption complete. Skill upgraded. ‘Dance of the Dead’ has been upgraded to ‘Call of the Reaper.’

Call of the Reaper (Tier 4): Consumes a Nether Crystal to summon a ‘Reaper Guard’. Every 3 crystals consumed summons one Reaper Guardsman. Up to four can exist at a time. Summoned at level 20–25, duration 20 minutes, 1-hour skill cooldown.

System: Nether Crystal purity insufficient; unable to unlock building path or special troop type.

“Purity insufficient?”

System: The current Nether Crystals are not perfectly fused. Further refinement is required to unlock the ‘Nether path.’

“How should I refine them?”

System: Please explore the way of fusion on your own.

“……”

Staring at the six Nether Crystals in her hand, though they were not perfect Crystal materials, Serea could still feel the strong power inside them.

Opening the remaining scrolls, she saw that they recorded the synthesis method of the Nether Crystal and the use of Nether Power. These were all things Leklis had figured out bit by bit.

At the end of the scroll, there was another line…

“This power may not be fully refined yet, but I can already foresee that once it is born, it will plunge the necromancy world into slaughter and chaos. Yet I am weary of that kind of life, so I’ve buried it here. If anyone should chance upon these research results, please use them cautiously!”

—Leklis

After reading those words, Serea once again fell into silence. Then, she carefully put the scrolls back into the iron box, but the six Nether Crystals remained tightly held in her palm.

Casually tossing the iron box into her spatial ring, Serea muttered,

“I really hate being given half-finished products, so…”

Chips came running from the distance, and Serea swung herself up onto him.

“You can come back and finish your research yourself before handing it to me.”

With these words, Serea rode Chips in pursuit of Leklis. Upon seeing this, the blood slaves cried out loudly,

“Queen Serea!”

“Take those children back to the camp.”

Upon hearing her command, the blood slaves who wanted to chase after her stopped in their tracks. Eventually, Serea disappeared from their sight.

“Little Black, stop hunting and bring your men over immediately.”

After notifying Little Black, Serea also gave a warning to Lola just in case. The blood elves quickly got ready for action. Mounted on Carrion Beasts along with the skeletal cavalry, they all headed to support her.

Then Serea took off her bracelet, which turned into a slime.

“I need you to do something for me.”

“So much trouble, you know.”

“These materials are for you. Whatever you save later is yours.”

As she said that, Serea packed a hundred Crystal materials of various types into a bag.

“All right, what do you need me to do?”

“You can disguise yourself as anything, right?”

“In theory, yes.”

“Then just follow my lead when the time comes.”

With that, Serea gazed off into the distance.

“My ‘sister’, I hope you still remember your little sister…”

……

Elsewhere, lilith was leading her group through the woods. In a few hours, they would reach Sedis City. But right then, Astor caught up to Lilith on horseback.

“Lady Lilith, please wait a moment.”

“Hm? What is it?”

“Well… I’d like to request a short break.”

Astor looked a little embarrassed as he spoke.

“This is a dangerous area. We should rest after we’re out of the jungle.”

“But I don’t think they’ll hold on that long.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll understand if you look…”

Astor glanced behind, and Lilith followed his gaze. All the Holy Knights looked pale, as if they were enduring some kind of pain.

“What’s wrong with them?”

“Maybe they ate something bad at midnight.”

“What! Food poisoning? Weren’t you aware there was a mission today?!”

Lilith scolded. These ten Holy Knights were all Inquisitors from Sedis City, directly under the leadership of Manshir and Astor. Her rebuke was as much for Astor, their leader, as for them.

“It was my oversight for not keeping them in check, but I hope Lady Lilith can forgive us. They’ll only need twenty minutes.”

“……”

Lilith was very angry. She felt she never should have brought these people along, but now that it had happened, she couldn’t exactly force them to keep marching.

“There’s a clearing up ahead. Rest there, we’ll set out again in fifteen minutes.”

With no other choice, lilith responded, and Astor quickly thanked her.

“Thank you, lady Lilith.”

The group chose a clearing and stopped. As soon as they dismounted, the “upset stomach”

Holy Knights dashed into the woods, including Manshir.

Although Lilith was somewhat annoyed, she said nothing more.

“I… I need to go as well,”

Astor said awkwardly. Lilith waved him off without speaking, and he too dashed into the woods.

Once inside, the look on his face immediately vanished. Using a purple Crystal, he sent out a string of text.

Twenty minutes went by. The Holy Knights ran back and forth several times but never seemed done. Growing frustrated, lilith decided to set out at once. At that moment, a rustling sound arose.

“Someone’s there!”

At the shout, everyone became alert. Then, a black panther-like beast carrying a person charged at them.

(To be continued…)

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