The elevator slowly came to a halt at the lowest floor. Erich followed Lian out of the elevator, his gaze falling upon the space before them.
The basement had been thoroughly renovated. On the left side was a row of iron-barred cells, dimly lit and filled with a decaying stench, where vague, curled-up figures could be faintly seen. On the right side, however, was a spotlessly clean kitchen.
These two completely different worlds were crudely pieced together, creating an indescribable sense of dissonance.
Quite a few undead were still working in the kitchen. If nothing else, this group of chefs was rather skilled. A rich, savory aroma drifted continuously from several boiling cauldrons, thick but not greasy, carrying the deep richness of meat and the piquancy of spices, making one's stomach rumble.
Erich was indeed hungry. Having just finished a tough battle, he had expended a great deal of energy, and his stomach had long been empty. However, when his gaze swept across the piles of unprocessed ingredients on the chopping board, his stomach violently convulsed.
He couldn't help but dry-heave twice. Only after channeling his mana did he manage to suppress the wave of nausea. Turning to Lian, he said, “Go to the cells and look for them first.”
Lian nodded and jogged toward the cell block.
Erich turned his gaze back to the undead chefs in the kitchen. They seemed to have sensed something as well, stopping what they were doing and turning their heads in unison. Dozens of hollow eyes stared at Erich.
The battle was triggered in an instant.
There was nothing much to describe about the process. The strength of these chefs was at most first- or second-tier, though they had the advantage of numbers. Unfortunately, in this castle that had already lost its master, Erich's power was in a league of its own. He didn't even bother to use magic, relying purely on his fists and kicks to knock these undead down one by one.
Without much effort, the kitchen fell silent. Erich casually pulled a clean chef's coat from the wall, threw it on, and turned off the heat under the boiling cauldrons before walking toward the cell block.
The cell block was much darker. Lian stood outside one of the cells, her back to him, completely motionless.
Erich walked over and followed her gaze into the cell.
Curled up behind the iron bars was a young girl. Her limbs were entirely gone, leaving only a bare torso. Some flesh still remained on her face, and from her silhouette, one could vaguely tell that she had been about the same age as Lian when she was alive. However, her eyes were gray and completely devoid of life.
“That's my friend... We were together from the very beginning, but... but I abandoned her...”
Large tears rolled from Lian's eyes, streaming down her cheeks.
Erich let out a soft sigh.
He stepped forward, gripped the iron bars with both hands, and pried them open with force, tearing a gap wide enough for a person to pass through. Squeezing inside, he carefully gathered the girl's remaining bones, wrapped them in a clean cloth, held them in his arms, and then squeezed back out.
“Let's go. We'll find a place to give her a proper send-off.”
Lian wiped her eyes hard and nodded through her sobs.
Next, the two searched every single cell.
For those who could still survive, Erich pulled out the undead materials he had looted from Garein, broke them into pieces, and fed them into their mouths. Anything collected by Garein was bound to be high-quality. After a few bites, their originally dim soulfires grew a bit brighter.
For those who couldn't, Erich and Lian gathered their bones, wrapped them in cloth, and stuffed them into the pack on his back.
The pack grew heavier and heavier, and the procession of undead following behind them grew longer. They were all frail, small undead, some not even reaching Erich's waist, timidly trailing behind them step for step.
After searching the last cell and confirming that no one was left behind, the two led the group of small undead up the stairs, leaving the basement to head out through the main entrance.
There were still guards outside. Several squads of neatly equipped undead soldiers stood guard at the main gates. Upon seeing people emerge, they immediately raised their weapons and surrounded them.
Then, they were turned to ashes by a fireball Erich casually threw.
Seeing how fierce Erich was, the guards who arrived afterward didn't dare to block them either, having no choice but to let Erich and his group leave.
Erich led the procession through the castle gates. Under Lian's guidance, they walked a long distance until they found a cemetery near the edge of the city walls.
Although a cemetery in the realm of the undead felt highly out of place, the feedback from Erich's 【Grave Soil Identification】 told him that this soil was unexpectedly suitable for burial.
Once they found the right spot, Erich and Lian began to dig.
As Lian dug, she began to speak, her voice rambling on, though it was unclear whether she was talking to Erich or to herself:
“Back then, alchemical creations weren't widespread yet. To ordinary people like us, magic was no different from a miracle. But everyone helped each other, and we lived good lives.”
“Then, that thing descended. I don't know what it was. All I know is that the mages, whom we usually looked up to as gods, sacrificed the entire city and countless lives just to barely hold it back.”
Her voice choked up slightly. “After that, we were sealed underground and became undead. My parents... they lost their minds and could only wander outside the city, and then they vanished without a trace.”
“I spent my days in the city in a daze, until I was dragged here and subjected to that secret technique. Only then did I regain a bit of my self-awareness.”
Lian, who was still digging, let out a bitter laugh. “Perhaps I should actually thank Garein.”
Erich didn't know how to respond. He remained silent, placing a wrapped set of bones into the pit and beginning to fill it with dirt.
Lian quickly brought her emotions under control. Wiping away her tears, her voice stabilized as she began to tell Erich the stories of those bones.
They were essentially roommates; even if they didn't share a room, they were neighbors living nearby. The nights in the dungeon were cold and dark, so everyone would always huddle together for warmth, talking and sharing stories of their past lives. It was one of their few comforts, so she remembered every single person.
This one had been a tailor in life, very skilled, and always said that once they got out, she would make Lian a dress.
That one had been a bakery assistant, whose proudest achievement was secretly slipping an extra loaf of bread to the person he liked.
Erich listened as he placed each set of bones into the pits. Lian's voice echoed intermittently beneath the gray sky.
With the last one buried, Erich flattened the soil, pressed it down with his hands, and stood up.
Almost simultaneously, the panel's prompt appeared before his eyes:
【Class changed to 【Funeral Deacon】】
【Acquired skills: 【Corpse Preservation】【Last Rites】【Face of the Dead】】
【Corpse Preservation: Through touch and prayer, you can greatly delay the rate of decomposition of a corpse】
【Last Rites: Those who die in your presence will not turn into undead, nor can their corpses be controlled by necromancy】
【Face of the Dead: By touching a corpse, you can briefly see the final minutes of its life, and you can transform into its appearance for a period of time afterward】
Though he didn't know exactly what ritual he had completed, he had ultimately advanced. He should have been happy that something he had been stuck on for so long had finally progressed, but right now, he only felt tired—an all-encompassing exhaustion.
“Let's go. Back to rest.”
Lian nodded and followed behind him. The group of small undead behind them also silently trailed along, forming a crooked line beneath the dim, gray sky.
Rate on N.U.
