In the original game, the "Return of the Dead" event was primarily a normal event for players to quickly build prestige and obtain specific undead materials.
The boss, the Undead Knight, wasn't particularly powerful among the undead either. In the middle-to-late stages of the original game, players could even encounter a powerful undead known as the King of Wraiths in a large underground tomb.
So in this event, players only needed to think about how to form a party, pair skills, and kill the Undead Knight within the time limit. They didn't need to consider how the event actually came to be.
But stepping outside the player's perspective and thinking through the logic of this world, one would find many anomalies.
First, a large-scale outbreak of undead creatures was by no means a natural phenomenon, as it required time to accumulate.
If these undead were gradually gathering from all directions, then before their numbers reached a point where they threatened the town, it would be impossible for the City Guard's patrols to have been completely unaware.
Therefore, behind this event, there had to be a mastermind behind the scenes.
At this moment, the woman clad in a gray robe standing before Greg, who had just finished some kind of awakening ritual, was undoubtedly the culprit of this event.
However, whether she was the true mastermind was something Greg couldn't immediately determine.
Because if she were the mastermind, Greg shouldn't have bumped into her so easily.
"Unless... she herself is merely a pawn placed out in the open?"
Right at that moment, Greg suddenly remembered a crucial detail:
In the original game's timeline, the "Return of the Dead" event took place much later than now.
Furthermore, in that original version of the event, aside from the final boss, the Undead Knight, this gray-robed woman was nowhere to be seen in this core catacomb.
Now that the event had been moved forward significantly, it might be partly due to his butterfly effect, but... was someone actively pushing for this acceleration?
If there was someone behind this gray-robed woman, why would that mastermind advance this event now?
What benefit was there to making the event happen ahead of time?
Question after question emerged rapidly in Greg's mind like intertwined threads.
The outline of the truth seemed faintly visible, yet was shrouded in even deeper mist.
He felt his mind touching the edge of some massive conspiracy.
However, reality gave him no time to slowly sort things out.
Because whether this woman was a mastermind or a pawn, one thing was certain:
The fact that she could preside over the awakening ritual in this core catacomb and successfully awaken the Undead Knight meant her strength was by no means weak—she might even be stronger than the Undead Knight itself.
This meant Greg now had to face two formidable foes at the same time.
"Hehehe, can we make peace?"
What answered him were two spots of crimson soulfire flaring up beneath the gray-robed woman's hood, followed by a screech filled with hatred:
"Die!"
She violently raised her withered arms, spreading her five fingers. A Corrosive Ray composed of concentrated necrotic mana, like a viper flicking its tongue, instantly tore through the air and shot toward Greg!
"Tsk!"
Greg was already prepared. The instant the woman raised her hand, he exerted force underfoot.
"Shadow-Step!"
His figure instantly blurred as if dissolving into the flickering candlelight and deep shadows of the catacomb, leaving an afterimage that slowly dissipated on the spot.
The sickly green Corrosive Ray pierced through the afterimage and struck the stone wall behind him, immediately making a sizzling sound as it corroded a shallow pit emitting green smoke.
"Hey! Where are your manners?!"
Greg's voice came from another direction. Using the short-range teleportation effect of Shadow-Step, he had opened up a distance of several meters.
"Can't we at least chat before starting the actual fight? Let's exchange some information—weren't you pretty curious about me too?"
"Filthy human!"
The gray-robed woman Huang Quan's voice was full of unrestrainable anger and a deeper, darker hatred:
"I have nothing to say to you humans! Death is the only destination you deserve!"
She stopped trying to lock onto Greg's strangely agile movements with single-target magic. Instead, she turned abruptly toward the Undead Knight standing behind her—whose eye sockets blazed with fierce, eerie blue soulfire, wearing tattered armor, and holding an ancient greatsword wrapped in dark aura—and issued a sharp command:
"Kill him! Crush this intruder! Use his soul as the final offering for the ritual!"
The Undead Knight's hollow eye sockets turned toward Greg. Its lower jaw clicked open and shut, letting out a deep, bloodthirsty roar.
Its massive body suddenly surged forward, its heavy iron boots stomping on the ground with heart-stopping thuds. The door-like greatsword dragged behind it, scraping against the stone with an ear-splitting metallic screech as it charged furiously toward Greg at a swift speed completely unfitting its size!
At the same time, a dense death aura erupted from its body, forming a visible gray-black halo that expanded outward, bringing bone-chilling cold and a heavy mental pressure.
"Holy crap! Going two-on-one just because you're losing?!"
Greg let out a strange shout, his feet shifting repeatedly as he dodged to the side again, his eyes swiftly scanning Huang Quan and the charging Undead Knight.
Since this woman can directly command the Undead Knight, it proves she really is undead too, only even stronger than the Undead Knight.
This judgment caused Greg's heart to sink slightly, but at the same time, it helped him find a way to break the deadlock.
Although undead creatures were immune to most physical damage and had high resistance to elemental magic—being especially resistant to poison and disease effects—
In the original game's progression, what countered them most was light-attribute magic, and Victoria's Demon-Breaking Sharpness Divine Protection could also achieve some effect.
But now, he held a card in his hand that had never appeared in the original game: dark-attribute magic!
Using dark-attribute attacks against the undead might not deal holy counter damage like light-attribute magic, but it could effectively erode the undead's soulfire, disrupt the stability of their core, and potentially trigger a collapse of their internal energy structure!
Because they relied on soulfire for power, and soulfire itself was a condensed form of energy—it could be consumed by darkness!
His train of thought instantly became crystal clear.
Greg hesitated no longer. Facing the Undead Knight that had already rushed close and swung its greatsword horizontally with a piercing gust of wind, his eyes narrowed, and he barked out a low drink:
"Dark-Erosion Armament!"
Buzz—!
Deep dark mana, like boiling ink, gushed out from beneath the skin of his hands and feet!
This black mana rapidly condensed and shaped over his body. In an instant, it transformed into a ferocious pair of jet-black bracers and greaves radiating a cold, ominous aura, covering his forearms to elbows, and lower legs to knees.
On the surface of the armor, dark energy veins pulsed slowly like blood vessels, emanating a bizarre field that seemed capable of devouring both light and vitality.
"Wh-What... what power is that?!"
Huang Quan, who had been preparing to launch a joint spell attack alongside the Undead Knight, trembled violently the moment Dark-Erosion Armament took shape!
Beneath her hood, the crimson soulfire flickered and swayed wildly, revealing the extreme shock in her heart and... a shudder originating from the primal instincts of her soul!
What emanated from that jet-black armor was not pure death aura, but a power far more ancient and profound—a pressure that seemed to stand above ordinary undead hierarchies!
In the face of this pressure, her pride as a High-tier Undead and her stable soulfire actually faltered, generating an urge to bow down!
No! Impossible! How could I feel an urge to submit to a presence other than Lord Demon King?!
What on earth... is this power?!
Huang Quan roared silently in her mind, forcibly using her willpower to suppress the trembling of her soulfire and her knees that were nearly bending.
Her loyalty to the Demon King and her hatred for humans sustained her against this eerie pressure.
However, the moment she raised her head, a massive greatsword began expanding rapidly in her field of view.
"?!??"
BOOM—!!!
A thud so heavy it caused the entire catacomb to tremble!
Huang Quan's seemingly frail figure, as if struck head-on by a siege ram, was launched into the air and hurled backward, crashing violently against the hard stone wall at the back of the catacomb!
The immense impact embedded her deeply into the stone wall, spiderweb-like cracks spreading madly outward from the point of impact.
A huge cloud of dust and stone debris fell precipitously from the impact site, filling nearly half the catacomb.
Meanwhile, Greg, who had just completed his Dark-Erosion Armament transformation and was getting ready to engage the Undead Knight, stood rooted to the spot, his amber eyes filled with bewilderment and utter confusion.
What's going on?
How... did they suddenly start fighting amongst themselves?!
Rate on N.U.
