In the original game, the 'Return of the Dead' event was primarily a mundane event for players to quickly accumulate reputation and acquire specific undead-type materials.
The Undead Knight, serving as the boss, wasn't considered particularly powerful among the undead. In the late stages of the original game, players could even encounter a formidable undead known as the Ghost King in a massive underground tomb.
Therefore, during this event, players only needed to think about how to form a party, coordinate skills, and kill the Undead Knight within the time limit. There was absolutely no need to wonder how the event was triggered in the first place.
However, stepping out of the player's perspective and thinking with the logic of this world, one would find many inconsistencies.
First, a large-scale outbreak of undead creatures is by no means a natural phenomenon, as it requires a long period of accumulation.
If these undead had gradually gathered from all directions, it would have been impossible for the city defense patrols to have noticed nothing before the numbers reached a level that threatened the town.
Consequently, there had to be a mastermind behind this event.
At this moment, the woman standing before Greg, draped in a gray robe and having just completed some kind of awakening ritual, was undoubtedly the culprit behind this incident.
However, Greg could not immediately determine if she was the true mastermind.
If she were the mastermind, it wouldn't make sense for Greg to stumble upon her so easily.
"Unless... she herself is merely a pawn placed on the front lines?"
Suddenly, Greg recalled a crucial detail:
In the original game's timeline, the Return of the Dead event occurred much later than it was now.
Furthermore, in that version of the event, aside from the final boss, the Undead Knight, there was no sign of this gray-robed woman in this core burial chamber.
The fact that the event had been significantly moved forward might be partly due to the butterfly effect of his own actions, but... was someone also actively pushing for this 'acceleration'?
If there was a leader behind this gray-robed woman, why would they push to advance the event this time?
What benefit was there in having the event happen early?
Questions surfaced in Greg's mind like tangled threads.
The outline of the truth seemed faintly visible, yet it remained shrouded in even more mist.
He felt his thoughts touching the edge of a massive conspiracy.
However, reality gave him no time to slowly sort through it.
Whether this woman was the mastermind or a pawn, one thing was certain:
She was presiding over the awakening ritual in this core chamber and had successfully awakened the Undead Knight. This in itself meant her strength was absolutely not weak; it was highly likely she was even more powerful than the Undead Knight.
This meant Greg now had to face two formidable enemies at once.
"Heh, can we settle this peacefully?"
The response he received was two points of crimson soulfire suddenly lighting up beneath the gray-robed woman's hood, followed by a screech filled with loathing:
"Die!"
She abruptly raised her withered arm, fingers splayed. A Corrosive Ray composed of concentrated necrotic mana, like a viper's tongue, instantly tore through the air and shot toward Greg!
"Tch!"
Greg had been prepared. The moment the woman raised her hand, he exerted force through his legs.
"Shadow-Step!"
His figure instantly blurred, as if merging into the flickering candlelight and deep shadows of the tomb, leaving behind a fading afterimage.
The sickly green Corrosive Ray pierced the afterimage and struck the stone wall behind him, immediately making a sizzling sound as it eroded a shallow pit that emitted wisps of green smoke.
"Hey! Where's your sense of sportsmanship?"
Greg's voice came from another direction. He had already used the short-distance blink effect of Shadow-Step to put several meters of distance between them.
"Can't we talk a bit before we officially start? Let's share some intel. Weren't you curious about me too?"
"Filthy human!"
Huang Quan's voice was filled with irrepressible rage and a deeper, more profound resentment.
"I have nothing to say to you humans! Only death is the destination you deserve!"
She stopped trying to lock onto the erratically moving Greg with single-target magic. Instead, she spun around and issued a sharp command to the Undead Knight standing behind her—the one with roaring blue soulfire in its sockets, clad in shattered armor, and wielding an ancient greatsword wreathed in black aura:
"Kill him! Crush this intruder! Use his soul as the final sacrifice for the ritual!"
The Undead Knight's hollow sockets turned toward Greg, its jawbone clicking open as it let out a low, tyrannical roar.
Its massive frame suddenly surged forward. Heavy iron boots stomped the ground, producing heart-stopping thuds. The greatsword, as large as a door, dragged behind it with an ear-piercing screech of metal against stone as it launched a berserk charge toward Greg with speed that belied its size!
Simultaneously, a dense aura of death erupted from it, forming a visible gray-black halo that spread outward, bringing a bone-chilling cold and a heavy sense of mental pressure.
"Damn! You're really going for a two-on-one because you can't play fair?!"
Greg let out a startled cry, his feet moving in a series of steps as he dodged to the side again, his gaze rapidly scanning between Huang Quan and the charging Undead Knight.
"Since this woman can directly command the Undead Knight, it proves she is also an undead, just one that's even more powerful."
This realization made Greg's heart sink slightly, but it also helped him find a way to break the deadlock.
Undead creatures, while immune to most physical damage and possessing high resistance to elemental magic—especially toxins and diseases—had specific weaknesses.
In the original game's progression, the most effective counter was light-attribute magic. Victoria's Light's Blessing could also have some effect.
But now, he held a card that had never appeared in the original game: dark-attribute magic!
Using dark-attribute attacks against the undead might not cause the same divine-counter bonus damage as light-attribute magic, but it could effectively erode their soulfire, interfere with the stability of their core, and even trigger a collapse of their internal energy structure!
Because they relied on soulfire for animation, and soulfire itself was a condensation of energy, it could be devoured by darkness!
His plan became instantly clear.
Greg no longer hesitated. Facing the Undead Knight, which had already closed in and was swinging its greatsword in a horizontal arc with a mournful wind-howl, his gaze hardened as he shouted:
"Dark-Erosion Armament!"
Hum—!
Profound dark mana, like boiling ink, surged out from beneath the skin of his hands and feet!
This black mana rapidly condensed and took shape on the surface of his body. In an instant, it transformed into a pair of sinister, pitch-black bracers and greaves that emitted a cold, ominous aura, covering him from forearms to elbows and shins to knees.
On the surface of the armor, dark energy veins pulsed slowly like blood vessels, radiating a bizarre field that seemed to swallow both light and life.
"Wh-What... is that power?!"
Huang Quan, who was preparing to assist the Undead Knight with a magical pincer attack, shuddered violently the moment the Dark-Erosion Armament took form!
The crimson soulfire beneath her hood flickered and swayed wildly, revealing her extreme shock and... a trace of trembling born from her soul's deepest instincts!
The aura radiating from that pitch-black armor was not pure death energy, but something far more ancient and profound, a pressure that seemed to stand above the ordinary hierarchy of the undead!
In the face of this pressure, her pride as a High-tier Undead and her stable soulfire actually wavered, giving her an impulse to prostrate herself!
"No! Impossible! How could I feel the urge to submit to anyone other than the Demon King?!"
"This power... what on earth is going on?!"
Huang Quan roared silently in her heart, forcibly using her will to suppress the throbbing of her soulfire and her knees that were nearly buckling.
Her loyalty to the Demon King and her hatred for humans supported her resistance against this bizarre pressure.
However, the moment she looked up, a massive sword began to expand in her field of vision.
"?!"
Thud—!!!
A dull impact so heavy it made the entire tomb tremble!
Huang Quan's seemingly frail figure was struck as if by a battering ram, sending her flying off the ground and slamming violently into the hard stone wall at the back of the tomb!
The massive force of the impact embedded her deep into the stone, and web-like cracks spread frantically from the point of impact.
A large amount of dust and rubble crumbled from the wall, filling nearly half the chamber.
Meanwhile, Greg, who had just completed his Dark-Erosion Armament transformation and was bracing to fight the Undead Knight, stood frozen in place, his amber eyes filled with shock and bewilderment.
What the hell happened?
How did they... suddenly start fighting each other?!
Rate on N.U.
