Under the pale moonlight, the tombstones looked like gnarled teeth scattered across the undulating ground. Withered trees with skeletal branches clawed at the night sky, as if in mourning, creating a somber and oppressive atmosphere for anyone who set foot there.
Of course, this gloomy ambiance was not unusual, considering this was the large cemetery of E-Rantel. Not only were the city's deceased civilians laid to rest here, but the valiant soldiers who fell in battle on the front lines would also be transported to this place for collective burial. The negative energy accumulated from so many human remains was enough to taint the soil, preventing any vegetation from thriving in this area.
An isolated and seemingly sturdy walled gate stood at the entrance of the cemetery. Royal soldiers and hired adventurers would patrol the cemetery grounds periodically, carrying out the grim task of eliminating the unfortunate corpses that had risen as low-level undead, disturbing the eternal peace.
Once the footsteps of the last patrol faded away and silence returned to envelop the cemetery, a dark shadow suddenly slipped out from behind a dead tree that stood lonely beside the path. The shadow moved with incredible speed, gliding deep into the heart of the graveyard among the rows of tombstones.
The figure was someone wearing a wide-hooded black robe that concealed their entire body. Strangely, the figure's shoulders and waist seemed to remain completely still as they glided through the shadows, giving the impression of a ghost floating without touching the ground.
Finally, after moving far enough into the center of the cemetery, the robed figure arrived in front of a building that looked like an ancient and abandoned ancestral hall. There, they reached out and pulled back their hood, revealing their surprisingly youthful face.
The face appeared to belong to a young woman who might have been only around twenty years old. Her short blonde hair barely reached her ears, framing delicate and refined facial features with a kind of innocent, kitten-like charm. However, if one observed her a little longer, a cold, bloodthirsty aura and the hidden danger of a carnivorous predator would be felt beneath that cute face.
"Finally arrived," the woman murmured in a cheerful tone that contrasted sharply with the surrounding atmosphere. She ran her fingers through her short golden hair, then stepped forward without hesitation, pushing the heavy stone door of the ancestral hall open with a dreadful creaking sound. A faint sound of metal scraping could be heard from within her robe as she moved.
After entering the dark and cold ancestral hall, the scene inside looked desolate and neglected. The stone platform where corpses were usually laid appeared empty and dusty, and all the offerings that were once placed there to pray for the deceased's souls to ascend to heaven had long been removed. Whether due to long-term use or for other unknown reasons, the stone platform emitted a faint yet lingering scent of incense, mixed with the smell of damp earth and death.
The woman frowned slightly at the unpleasant smell and approached a large stone chair located in the corner of the room. After searching for a moment with her fingers, she pressed a small, inconspicuous carving at the bottom of the stone chair. Suddenly, a faint click was heard, and the stone base began to move slowly, revealing a narrow staircase leading into the underground darkness.
"Come on in, hehehe~" the woman hummed cheerfully, as if playing a game, and walked down the stairs without the slightest hesitation. Not long after, she arrived in a relatively spacious underground cave. Although the walls and floor were still bare earth, it was clear that the soil had been artificially compacted and maintained to prevent collapse. Surprisingly, the air inside the cave was not stuffy, indicating a fairly good ventilation system.
The woman scanned the dimly lit cave, and her eyes suddenly stopped at a point in the corner of the room. A mischievous yet dangerous smile appeared at the corner of her mouth. "Ah~ The person hiding over there, I've found you," she said in a soft, mocking tone.
A man hiding behind the shadow of a stone pillar and peeking out nervously felt his shoulders tremble violently at the woman's voice, but he still didn't fully believe that his presence had been exposed. He tried to remain silent and motionless.
The woman didn't seem to care whether she had been discovered or not and said in a deliberately cheerful tone, "Hello? I'm here to visit little Khajiit, is he here?"
The hidden observer suddenly felt very confused upon hearing that strange nickname. At the same time, another cold and threatening voice sounded from behind him, breaking the silence of the cave. "You may withdraw now."
After a moment, the sound of soft yet steady footsteps approached, and a figure walked out from behind a dark passage and faced the uninvited guest. The figure was a man who looked rather thin and frail. His eyes were sunken deep in the darkness of his eye sockets, and his face was deathly pale without a trace of blood. Strangely, all the hair on his body seemed to have fallen out, leaving his head and eye sockets completely bald. He wore a worn-out dark red magic robe, with a necklace made of small animal skulls encircling his thin neck, and a jet-black magic staff with a skull carving at its tip was held tightly in his bony, thin hands. Rather than calling them human, it would be more accurate to call them monsters resurrected from death.
"Hello, little Khajiit," the woman greeted with a mocking smile that didn't reach her eyes.
The thin man frowned at the woman's impolite and condescending greeting. "Could you not call me that, Clementine? It will damage Zuranon's reputation," he said in a cold tone that tried to hide his annoyance.
Zuranon. That name alone was enough to make one's hair stand on end. It was a secret evil organization with great power, led by ruthless and experienced magic casters. This organization was notorious for its cruelty, having once massacred the entire population of a city and turned them into terrifying undead, and was responsible for several similar tragedies that shook the surrounding countries. Both the thin man called Khajiit and the woman named Clementine were members of this evil organization, but the relationship between them seemed far from harmonious, filled more with hostility and rivalry.
"What are you doing here, Clementine? You know I'm at a critical stage of infusing power into the Death Orb. If you're planning to cause trouble here, I have plenty of ways to deal with you," Khajiit threatened in a cold tone with narrowed eyes.
"How unfortunate, little Khajiit! I actually brought this for you," Clementine replied with a dangerous flirtatious smile, completely unfazed by the man's threat. She rummaged behind her robe for a moment, and finally took out a magic item that radiated a dark and ominous aura.
It was a strange and grotesque crown. Countless small gems were scattered across thin metal wires resembling an intricate spider web, forming a dark and dimly shimmering gauze-like structure. In the center of the crown was set a large gem resembling an obsidian crystal, emitting a cold and mysterious black luster.
"Here you go!" Clementine exclaimed in a cheerful tone, holding out the crown towards Khajiit.
The thin man was stunned at the sight of the crown. Although he had only seen it once before, and that was from a distance, there was no doubt in his mind that it was the same crown.
"The symbol of the Miko Princess of the Slane Theocracy, the Crown of Wisdom! Isn't this one of the greatest and most heavily guarded treasures of that fanatical Slane Theocracy?!" Khajiit exclaimed in a shocked and disbelieving tone.
"Exactly!" Clementine replied with a proud and satisfied smile, enjoying her opponent's shock. However, just as she was about to continue speaking, the web-like crown wrapped around her fingers and which she was swinging suddenly jerked away with unexpected force!
"WHO!?" Clementine and Khajiit exclaimed almost simultaneously, startled by the sudden and threatening change in the situation.
Clementine nimbly jumped back, her hand hidden behind her robe quickly reaching for a weapon tucked at her waist. She stared at the terrifying figure that had suddenly appeared before them with a grim and wary expression.
Yes, a monster. Although the figure still retained its tall and thin human form, there was no longer any flesh and blood left on its body. All that was visible was dry and terrifying white bones. A jet-black magic robe covered the skeleton, and its slender hand tightly gripped a black staff with a skull carving at its tip. Its entire body exuded a cold and terrifying black aura, the aura of pure death.
"In this way, one of the Church's precious secret treasures will become part of my ever-growing collection," the Skeleton Mage said with a horrifying tone of delight in his hoarse and grating voice. He stretched one of his bony hands into the void, and the Crown of Wisdom he had previously snatched also vanished into an unknown dimension. Then, the red glowing eyes in his empty eye sockets glanced towards the two shocked individuals in the cave. "The ninth seat of the Black Scripture of the fanatical Slane Theocracy, Clementine, and one of the twelve disciples of the cruel Zuranon, Khajiit del Badantiel. I suppose I found the right people, didn't I?"
Clementine and Khajiit were both stunned and froze in their places when they heard the mysterious skeleton man accurately call out their true names, including the baptismal names they were supposed to have abandoned. Both of them originally came from the powerful Slane Theocracy, and their names both contained the "baptismal name" given by the Church. However, after they left the Church and joined the evil organization Zuranon, they had abandoned those baptismal names as symbols of their lost faith.
"Who exactly are you!" Khajiit asked in an angry and impatient tone, unable to restrain himself any longer. The fact that the other party knew his past name meant he knew him very well, and that was something extremely disturbing.
Khajiit had been hiding in E-Rantel for a full five years, patiently waiting for the right opportunity to emulate the terrifying achievements of the Zuranon Alliance Leader in turning an entire city into a city of the dead filled with undead, hoping to transform himself into a powerful undead that could retain its memories and obtain infinite lifespan. No problems should hinder his plan at such a critical juncture. This mysterious skeleton man must be eliminated immediately!
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