Lyle stepped towards the broken steps of the temple, arriving next to Kajit's corpse. A thick, slightly foul smell of blood permeated the air.
His eyes were wide open in death, his face filled with unwillingness, and his head rolled to one side.
Seeing this scene,
Lyle let out a soft sigh.
It wasn't out of pity for Kajit, but rather a sudden realization that, without him noticing, he no longer felt any discomfort at such scenes.
More than a month of slaughtering goblins in the Great Forest of Tob seemed to have indeed caused some changes to his temperament.
He thought back to his previous life, where he hadn't even killed a single chicken.
He hadn't expected that after transmigrating to this world, in only about two months, he had already completely adapted.
He reached out and picked up the two magic items: the Shadow Staff and the Bone Necklace.
The blood-red robe the opponent wore was also a magic item, but it had been destroyed by the Fire Archangel's attack, which Lyle found a bit regrettable.
That blood-red robe should have been worth a lot of money.
After appraising the two magic items, both were related to necromancy professions and were not very useful to Lyle.
"You four stay here and guard outside for now."
Lyle casually pointed at four Fire Archangels, instructing them to guard outside the temple.
Then,
he took two Fire Archangels and walked into the secret passage beneath the temple.
After about seven or eight minutes,
Lyle re-emerged from the secret passage below, covered only in some dust, with no other gains.
There was nothing of value inside; his anticipation had been for naught.
"Burn it."
Lyle waved his hand, giving the command to the Fire Archangels.
Several Fire Archangels immediately flew forward and touched Kajit's corpse with their flaming swords, burning it to ashes in moments.
Among them, one Fire Archangel flew towards Kajit's severed arm.
"Wait."
Lyle's eyes moved, and he suddenly spoke.
He walked forward,
picked up the severed arm, then casually found a piece of tattered cloth to wrap it in.
"It's time to leave."
Lyle looked up towards the city wall in the distance, bathed in the night, and headed back the way he came.
Outside the tightly shut, heavy gate,
on two watchtowers illuminated by the light of "Enduring Light,"
the guards looked in terror towards the depths of the graveyard.
"What exactly happened in the graveyard? Why is there light appearing?"
"Should we report—?"
"Idiot!"
"What does anything happening in the graveyard have to do with us? It's nighttime right now."
A trembling voice immediately spoke up.
"But…"
"No 'buts,' you fool! Our mission is to prevent the undead from charging the gate."
"Are any undead charging the gate right now?!"
"What happens in the graveyard has nothing to do with us."
"It's not too late to report it when it's daylight. Let those adventurers go in and investigate."
Chaotic, fearful voices continuously echoed from the two watchtowers.
Meanwhile, Lyle had successfully climbed over the wall and disappeared into the night.
By the time he returned to the inn,
it was already around two in the morning.
Lyle used the alley as a foothold, easily climbed to the second floor, and returned to his room through the window.
"Woof!"
Seeing Lyle return, the Imp immediately got up from the floor and let out an excited growl.
"Shh!" Lyle raised a finger and placed it to his lips.
"Woof~" The Imp lowered its voice, wagged its tail, and came forward to rub its head against Lyle's pant leg.
"Good boy, Little Black."
Lyle chuckled, feeling that this Imp was really quite like a dog.
"First, I need a shower. I smell of decay."
Lyle took off the black robe he was wearing and casually tossed the rag wrapped around Kajit's arm into a corner.
He entered the small bathroom in the room.
While the "Ablution" spell could remove odors from his body, Lyle preferred to take a shower to feel more comfortable.
A moment later,
as a burst of white steam emerged,
Lyle stepped out of the shower and saw the Imp lying in the corner, having opened the package containing Kajit's arm, curiously staring at the arm.
"There's negative energy inside. If you eat it, you'll probably die faster," Lyle said calmly.
"Woof." The Imp didn't understand the meaning of Lyle's words, but it could sense something from Lyle's expression, so it lowered its head and voluntarily retreated a few steps.
He glanced at the pale, withered arm.
Lyle averted his gaze; he didn't have any bad habits of collecting corpses.
However, as the Fire Archangel was about to dispose of the arm, Lyle suddenly remembered.
In the anime, after Kajit and Clementine were both slain by the "Darkness" adventurer team, which was Ainz Ooal Gown in disguise,
their bodies mysteriously disappeared from the storage location.
While Ainz Ooal Gown didn't care about such a situation, Lyle couldn't afford not to.
The disappearance of a corpse could only mean two possibilities: one, it was stolen by someone, indicating that there were still members of Zuranon or their subordinates in E-Rantel.
The other possibility,
was that it had been resurrected.
Lyle brought this arm back precisely to determine if it was the second scenario.
Once a dead person is resurrected, any remaining body parts of the resurrected person will also disappear along with them.
As for the location after resurrection, it would be at the caster's position.
The leader of Zuranon was very mysterious.
Lyle actually harbored a suspicion: both Kajit and Clementine, who had defected from the "Black Scripture," were people from the Slane Theocracy.
Therefore, he had a theory: was the leader of Zuranon also from the Slane Theocracy?
The Slane Theocracy had Six-Color Scripture units, which outwardly corresponded to the Six Great Gods. However, in reality, the strongest unit, the "Black Scripture," was formed by selecting the strongest individuals from the other five units.
Rather than corresponding to one of the Six Great Gods, it was more like a special unit comprising elements from the other five colored units. Five of the human players among the Six Great Gods died earliest, with only one heteromorphic Death God player surviving the longest.
And it was precisely this longest-surviving Death God whose worshippers in the Slane Theocracy were very mysterious.
Or rather, on the surface, they seemed to not exist at all.
This was also why Lyle suspected that the leader of Zuranon was from the Slane Theocracy.
Because "Resurrection Magic" belonged to the domain of faith-based magic!
Magic-system spellcasters could not master resurrection magic; even Ainz Ooal Gown couldn't.
Ainz Ooal Gown was able to use resurrection magic because he had a large reserve of resurrection items and cost-free cash shop items.
He himself had not mastered resurrection magic.
"Why does it feel like there are so many cunning old foxes in this world?" Lyle rubbed his temples and walked towards the bed.
"Woof!"
Suddenly, the Imp let out a low growl.
Lyle paused, turned his head to look behind him, and saw the Imp vigilantly staring at the severed arm.
Kajit's severed arm was emitting a faint blue glow, and in the blink of an eye, the entire arm vanished into thin air like melting snow.
"Buzz! Detected skill 'Raise Dead · Altered,' requires magic-system caster level (29-35), current conditions met."
"Consume skill point to learn?"
[Skill Points: 40 → 39]
Skill: Raise Dead · Altered (Fifth Tier)
Cost: 25 (50)
Description: The original faith-based magic "Raise Dead," modified through special means, consumes double the magic power,
allowing magic-system spellcasters to cast it.
Note: This magic can be combined with special methods to reduce the requirements for the extent of damage to the corpse.
Looking at the information displayed on the panel,
Lyle's expression became a bit strange, and he curled his lips: "My luck really is bad. Not only was I wrong, but this leader seems even more troublesome than I imagined."
Although he said that, his tone suggested that Lyle was in a good mood.
An unknown land.
The entire ground presented a dark brown color, as if stained with blood. A mist invisible to the naked eye permeated the air, causing the moonlight to reflect an darkred hue.
"Caw!"
"Caw!"
A crow-like caw echoed from above.
This was not the cry of a crow, but rather a similar sound made by some avian undead due to an affected throat.
In this area, there should be no living creatures.
Unwillingness!
Fury!
Despair!
All sorts of negative emotions filled Kajit's heart, and the fear of death made him tremble all over.
Why was he still conscious?
Shouldn't he be dead?
This thought suddenly flashed through Kajit's mind, and then, as if triggered by some reaction, he abruptly opened his eyes.
"Huff! Huff! Huff!"
Kajit sat up, gasping for breath, the terror and despair in his eyes not yet fully faded.
"How interesting."
"I remember you were in E-Rantel, weren't you? Such a small place shouldn't have anyone capable of threatening you."
A faint, grating sound, like two iron rods rubbing together, came from the front.
Kajit looked up and saw a figure entirely shrouded in black. This wasn't due to clothing; rather, the magic power emanating from the figure had already influenced reality,
thereby enveloping the entire figure in blackness.
"L-Leader."
Kajit trembled all over, quickly scrambled up, and knelt on the ground.