Chapter 638: Empty Coffin

Chapter 638: The Empty Coffin

When a person's life and safety are under severe threat, grabbing onto the last remaining straw around them is an instinct.

Neo had never extravagantly hoped that Karen would come down to assist him; he was even too lazy to think about the question, because it was meaningless.

If Karen came down, he would curse and say your brain is diseased.

If Karen didn't come down, he wouldn't have the slightest resentment either, completely able to understand, and not the kind that was self-consolation.

This wasn't pulling a stunt by flipping tables on stage at the headquarters building's commendation ceremony, where at worst everyone would get stripped of their positions together and start from scratch; this was sacrificing one's life.

Therefore, Neo naturally grabbed onto every possibility to try and save himself.

Besides, between a loyal believer of Order and a remnant of Light, the head of the intelligence department had long possessed extremely rich experience in repeatedly jumping back and forth.

Only, who could have thought that the apostate imprisoned here, an object whom Commander Daan had issued an order to silence, would actually possess such a warped standpoint that was difficult for anyone to understand.

Only against the Grand Priest, not against the Church of Order.

And the result caused by the absence of critical information was: the better your performance, the more ridiculous you appeared to the audience below the stage.

This was exactly the situation Neo faced now; when he finished speaking and saw Molindi's expression turn abruptly from its original gradual clearing to sudden coldness, he realized something was wrong.

Fuck!

He hadn't sought out a diviner from the lineage of the Wise to do a divination before leaving the house today, otherwise it should have been calculated that today was unsuitable for going down a cavern.

Neo immediately began to make amends: "When a person is in a crisis just to stay alive, any kind of crazy words can be spoken, you should be able to understand this, right?"

Molindi shook her head and replied very calmly: "You said I am naive, so I will believe what you said."

"Your selective way of believing is truly quite a headache."

"Perhaps." Molindi's palm faced downward, and the cardiac tentacles that had already confined Neo began to tear at Neo's body even more frantically, "When you uttered that sentence, you had to die, even if it was to stay alive; because, the loyalty of Order cannot be desecrated!"

"Ah ah ah!!"

Neo let out a tragic scream, his body beginning to convulse frantically.

Then,

Neo fiercely raised his head, his two eyes looking as if two bonfires had been lit inside them; behind him, the phantom image of the Mad Pope manifested, currently undergoing a mad-like struggle.

The next moment,

The power of Light traveled along Neo's body, passing through the tentacles, and directly flowed backward into the massive heart down below.

Neo said in a deep voice:

"God said, let there be light."

The power of Light was the nemesis of all negative attribute powers, and the interior of this massive heart below stored an extremely abundant aura of the undead; Neo's action at this moment was equivalent to throwing a spark into a long-accumulated biogas digester.

"Boom!"

Molindi's eyes widened; she hadn't expected the person in front of her to truly be a remnant of Light, and she expected even less that this person had actually made arrangements to this step in advance.

He took the initiative to sneak attack, then took the initiative to let himself be caught, discarding all initiative, solely to be able to come into close contact with her core position.

A violent explosion occurred, and a terrifying wave of air swept through the entire grotto space.

Neo's body was like a deflated leather ball, slammed fiercely in one direction; after the impact occurred, he was continued to be enveloped by the subsequent air waves, undergoing continuous impacts and being overturned.

In the end, Neo crashed into a stone pillar, his body sliding down slowly to sit on the ground.

The divine robe on his body had long since completely annihilated, more than half of his skin was wiped away, and white bones were exposed across a large area.

In his eyes, only one eye could still open; as for the rest of his body parts, they were completely unable to move.

This injury was much more severe than all those experienced in the past; possessing the lineage of a Bloodthirsty Demon, he was truly just that half-breath away from breathing his last now, currently doing nothing more than forcefully hanging onto life.

Perhaps if a child ran over and gave him a gentle kick, that breath would dissipate.

Everything that was originally irregular inside the grotto looked as if it had been shaved over and over again with a carving knife, incomparably smooth.

Is she dead?

Neo thought to himself.

If she was dead, he might still have a chance; with such a violent explosion, Karen up above would definitely come down.

Given his friendship with him, he could understand Karen not coming down to save him, but he could not accept Karen just walking away; no matter what, he had to stay a little longer to reduce his psychological guilt when burning paper for him in the future.

Relying further on that guy's terrifying accumulation of spiritual power to forcefully extend his life and carry him back to the main city to find a specialized church physician for treatment, then he might still have hope of surviving.

Although the Bloodthirsty Demon lineage would be severely downgraded because of this, as long as his life was still there, he could keep playing.

But very soon,

"Thump..."

The sound of a heartbeat broke Neo's illusion.

If he could speak and make movements now, he would probably hold his head with both hands and let out a vexed cry.

And now, the only movement he could make was to close his eyes.

Yet it just so happened that he was reluctant to close his eyes, because it was very likely that the next dozen seconds would be his last chance to look at this world.

However, after the reluctance, what welled up was a burst of relaxation.

This time, he could go to see Elisa with a clear conscience, without worrying that she would blame him for not living well.

Look, my dear, there's no problem with this way of dying of mine, I already tried my best to live on, there really was no chance, you can't blame me anymore for not cherishing life.

The smoke and dust gradually dissipated, revealing the appearance of that heart.

Only the large heart that was originally massive in volume and fresh red all over had now become deflated and deep gray.

Accompanied by a burst of squirming inside the heart, a large amount of pus overflowed, and Molindi's body crawled out from inside.

However, there was no hatred in her eyes, but rather a wave of exhaustion.

She was a person who was meant to die anyway, and was already prepared to go to her death, but having this happen right before dying made her feel a bit weary at heart.

"They were right back then, I just happen to like naivety."

After making such a summary, Molindi didn't speak any other words; in fact, it was precisely those words she had spoken more of previously that gave Neo sufficient opportunity to make arrangements.

She raised her hand and pointed at Neo; a bolt of black lightning shot out from her fingertip, firing toward Neo.

Neo did not close his eyes; opening his eyes to welcome the arrival of death was not considered any display of bravery to him.

"Clang!"

A greatsword appeared in front of him, blocking this bolt of black lightning.

Immediately after, Neo saw a familiar figure from behind.

The entrance of the cave was quite a long distance from here, which meant this guy hadn't come down after hearing the commotion of the explosion; that would definitely be too late, he had already come down before the explosion occurred.

Soft golden hair, a smooth divine robe of Order, his build was not grand, but a figure from behind could also give people a clear feeling of being straight and upright, like a reef that had been polished by seawater for an unknown number of ages.

Neo blinked his single eye, using this to express his distaste for Karen's style of appearance, it was simply: disgusting, nauseating, and cliché!

Karen held the Sword of Diamans across his front, not turning back to look at Neo, but opened his mouth to speak:

"I originally intended to come down and collect your corpse, but I didn't expect you to still have a breath left."

Neo, sitting in the back, felt these words sounded somewhat familiar, as if someone had just borrowed his own mouth to say them not long ago.

Karen continued: "I really didn't mean to deliberately wait until this moment to appear. It truly was just good luck that I caught it. I regret it a bit; had I known, I should have purposely arrived a step earlier or a step later. This isn't a theatrical performance on a stage, where one must strictly hit this specific timing.

Saving you like this is honestly quite disgusting. Why didn't you die a bit sooner? That way, my sense of dissonance would be lesser."

A wave of angry roaring erupted in Neo's heart, but unfortunately, he could not speak right now and could only blink forcefully.

"Alright, save that last bit of strength you have left, lest you truly breathe your last. Not treasuring the hope of survival, Miss Elisa will blame you."

Neo: "..."

If Neo possessed a certain level of mobility right now, he would definitely jump up, point at Karen, and say to Melindi: Look, look, does he deserve to die, is he detestable!

Immediately after, Karen looked toward Melindi up ahead, his gaze sinking slightly;

Pus kept dripping from Melindi's body, yet she still asked with a calm expression:

"Karen?"

"Yes, I am."

"You should die."

Karen nodded and responded: "By orders, eliminating the Order apostate."

Having said that, Karen bent down, assuming a defensive posture.

Since he had come down, then according to Karen's personality, while there were still other alternative choices, he would try as much as possible just like Neo.

But during that previous banter-like conversation with Neo, Neo's blinking response had actually already given a warning:

First, no need to make futile attempts;

Second, the opponent has already suffered heavy trauma, she can be fought!

Tacit understanding, once it reaches a certain level, a single glance can convey an immense amount of information, far more efficient than "woof woof" and "meow meow."

Melindi's gaze swept across the surroundings as she asked:

"There are still others hidden in the dark, right?"

Karen replied: "You can guess."

Neo in the back closed his eyes.

This was to tell Karen that the opponent was not testing or playing tricks.

Neo had already had deep contact with her; this grand necromancer, in terms of personality, could be described as... simple and unsophisticated.

Among her past companions, she probably belonged to the one who was very well-protected, which also highly accorded with the team positioning of a grand necromancer.

And the truth was indeed so; only someone "naive" to a certain extent—had it been anyone else upon discovering the High Priest's true intentions, they would in all probability bury this secret deep in their heart. Only she chose to come alone to the High Priest's office at that time, pointing at his nose to express solemn opposition!

Melindi said indifferently: "Killing you, I can then die too. I promise, if they do not attack me, I will not attack them."

Karen shook his head and replied: "I'm afraid that is unrealistic; they are willing to die for me."

"Heh." Melindi smiled, and when she revealed a smile, the pus continuously dripping down her face began to flow into the corners of her mouth, a scene that looked somewhat nauseating and stomach-turning...

But in fact, the relatively clean Melindi at the very beginning might have been the anomaly among necromantic existences; under normal circumstances, necromantic existences all possessed these characteristics.

"Willing to die for you."

Melindi repeated these words, saying slowly:

"Very much like him. And once, I too was willing to die for him."

Having said that, from within the shriveled heart beneath Melindi, a stream of foul-smelling pus rapidly surged out, as if something was about to emerge from within.

Under that previous violent explosion, although she survived, Vorden and the rest of the necromantic summons were all wiped out. Right now, she could only choose to use others.

"Squelch..."

Like a hen laying a viscous egg, it shattered upon hitting the ground, and then a man slid out from within. This man had a square face, very thick eyebrows, and sharp facial contours; it was Commander Daan.

He stood up, his hands clenched into fists, and in an instant, all the pus on his body shattered and broke away.

But if one observed closely, it could be found that at his fingernails and ear auricles, pus was still continuously secreting, and his eyes were also slightly turbid.

Clearly, the grand necromancer summoning him was in an extremely poor state herself at this moment.

And this was all thanks to Neo.

Using a suicide-attack method, he had carried out a deep-level weakening upon this originally extremely powerful opponent.

Leaving everything else aside, just that huge heart alone... was actually the accumulation of necromantic aura during these years Melindi had been imprisoned. Unlike Karen's method of relying on his own uniqueness to expand the internal storage of spiritual power, she placed this accumulation externally.

It could be understood as her carrying a gas tank with her.

With its support, the grand necromancer could continuously use summoning spells, summoning powerful necromantic creatures one after another to fight for her.

"Whew..."

Karen exhaled a long breath and smiled:

"Very interesting."

Neo opened his eyes, his gaze narrowing slightly.

Karen immediately withdrew his dismissive mindset and became serious.

Having just fought Vorden, Neo knew very well just how excellent that entrepreneurial team from the previous era truly was.

Almost every single person in that team, if peeled away individually to the present day, was an existence that could not be underestimated.

However, just as both sides were about to clash, a small figure ran in; it was Kanna.

She did not run between the two people to look at Melindi and then at Karen; there was no dilemma, no hesitation, and certainly no crying or sadness. Even, without appearing to have any hesitation, she ran straight behind Karen;

With a bounce, she jumped onto Karen's back, her arms wrapping around Karen's neck.

The previous grand explosion had caused this layer of the karst cave to be scraped completely clean. Melindi was not only heavily traumatized but had also lost most of her perception of the outside area, so she too only knew that Kanna had actually come after she appeared.

Looking at the little bone dragon born from herself, a genial smile immediately appeared on her face.

Even though the little bone dragon actively jumped onto Karen's back, there was not the slightest anger or resentment in Melindi's gaze.

She was purely happy just to see the little bone dragon.

"I am sorry to you. Actually, I regret one thing very much, which is that not long after you were just born, I agreed to let him carry you away, because under the circumstances at that time, your ending if you stayed with me would be very bad. Of course, I don't want to defend myself in any way; I just want to tell you, seeing you again, I am very happy."

"Mother..."

Kanna also called out, without much emotion,

When it came to treating his own, Karen had always been exceedingly generous; he would never force Kanna to choose between her "mother" and himself, even though he held her master-servant contract.

However, if it was Kanna's own choice, then Karen saw no reason to be overly fastidious about it.

"Begin," Karen said.

Propping herself up on her elbows, Kanna pointed her ten fingers toward Karen's neck.

Feeling a sudden chill at his throat, Karen immediately warned her:

"Pick another spot."

Kanna did not reply, but she opened her mouth and bit down directly onto Karen's left shoulder.

Pff!

The young girl's teeth were incredibly sharp, piercing straight into the flesh in an instant.

Karen clenched his teeth; he did not actually find it painful—after all, his threshold for pain had long since become exceptionally high—but it felt intensely, deeply itchy.

Soon, Kanna's body began to vanish, and upon Karen, the Dragon God Armor materialized.

Compared to their very first fusion, this transformation appeared far more organized and methodical; the contours of the armor possessed a striking aesthetic beauty, no longer serving a purely defensive function.

Karen subconsciously assumed this was because Kanna had now recovered from her injuries; in truth, a certain black cat had utterly exhausted herself worrying over the visual presentation of her dear little Karen.

The black cat had gone out of her way to take the little bone dragon through armor albums and sketchbooks; before the little bone dragon had even mastered speech, she had already been forced to study the aesthetics of armor.

There was even a distinct difference between the pauldrons on Karen's left and right shoulders, a subtle asymmetry that represented the prime golden seat Purr had reserved for herself.

Molindi's gaze narrowed slightly; she finally understood why that skeleton held this young man before her in such high regard.

Though they had only just met, the reality lay bare before her eyes; she knew full well what she herself had infused into that little bone dragon, yet he had still managed to tame it.

This inevitably caused Molindi to think of Norton's figure once more.

Molindi gave her head a gentle shake, dispelling the stray thoughts from her mind and forcing herself to concentrate on the matters at hand, before she spoke:

"I had originally carved a temporary stone coffin for you out of rock here, but unfortunately, it was destroyed in the recent explosion, so I must offer you an apology."

It sounded much like a pre-battle declaration of ruthlessness; hearing these words, Karen replied with polite restraint:

"It is quite alright. If you have need of one, I have plenty of vacancies at home."