Super Righteous Player
Chapter 675 - 216 Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust_1

Chapter 675: Chapter 216 Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust_1

Such a clear sense of fear.

The intense and extreme chill of dread roamed throughout the body, as though injecting cold liquid into the veins—an inner to outer coldness.

Laziness paralyzed all the muscles in the body, while a sense of despair blocked all thought.

At a glance, one knew that this was the Skeleton King himself.

Merely standing there, he made the players exert all their strength just to barely turn their heads—

Longjing Tea’s pupils contracted slightly.

Before his eyes stood a giant skeleton that looked to be three meters tall.

But unlike the "thin and dry bones" the players saw when they first encountered the Skeleton King.

He still wore a white cashmere cloak, still bore the pure white triple crown on his head, and his face still donned the golden weeping mask. His feet still stepped in heavy white metal boots, and his hands still wore white thick leather gloves reminiscent of bear paws.

Yet at this moment, he had opened his cloak to both sides.

The skeletal figure that once resembled a soul, so thin it was like a shadow ready to fade away at any moment, was now clad in an immovable, mountain-like heavy armor.

The crown on his head seemed a bit old, and the mask on his face also bore some dark marks. The meticulously maintained pure white armor revealed slight scars as well.

He looked like a true holy knight.

Not the ruler of the undead as the Skeleton King.

But rather as a holy knight who fought to the death against the undead—

Such irony.

"I recognize you..."

The Skeleton King’s old and deep voice rose from beneath the gold mask, "Servants of Annan..."

Perhaps because the inside of the armor was hollow, a strange echo accompanied his words.

Seeing that the Skeleton King seemed to have no desire to attack them, Longjing Tea let out a sigh of relief.

Just a moment ago, he feared they might have disturbed the Skeleton King’s ritual site, prompting Him to come down for revenge and to also defend the high ground...

"Do not worry. I saw it, you did not disturb the peace of the dead..."

The Skeleton King, as if reading Longjing Tea’s mind, cast a vacant glance his way, emitting a sound akin to a sigh.

Longjing Tea did not meet the Skeleton King’s gaze.

Because the weeping mask did not have holes enough to reveal the eyes—it was less a mask, more a metal plate burned onto the face like a clown’s fixed expression.

Seeing the Skeleton King did not immediately attack them, the players suddenly felt energized.

...So, is this a Yellow-named NPC?

If they do not initiate an attack, shouldn’t He become an enemy, right?

That would be great...

Longjing Tea took a deep breath of relief.

In his moment of panic, he thought the Skeleton King was about to beat them...

Maybe because it was actually Chocolate’s body, or perhaps simply because the Skeleton King wasn’t as oppressive towards animals, the first to recover from the shock was actually Defu, in her bush cat form.

She boldly circled around His legs.

With Chocolate’s growth, Defu was now a large cat over half a meter tall—her size, combined with the attribute enhancements from her physical form, allowed her to easily hunt humans.

It could be said that three warriors of the same level might not be able to defeat this single cat.

But in front of the Skeleton King, twice the height of an Aesirland person, Defu looked just like an ordinary pet cat.

The Skeleton King glanced at her but didn’t kick her away. Instead, he looked deeply at the Wandering Child.

"Elves..."

He muttered in a nostalgic tone, "It’s been a long time since I’ve seen an Elven Ring."

"...You’ve seen this before?"

It was the Wandering Child himself who spoke. He asked nervously, "This is... an inheritance I obtained from the Elven relics."

"Of course I’ve seen it. In my era, the ring was glory."

The Skeleton King still spoke in short sentences.

It wasn’t because he was incapable of more coherent speech.

Rather, He simply didn’t speak often... when it came to "modern" grammar, He had to think about how to express Himself.

"The Elves worship the circle. For the Elves are the people of the serpent."

The skeleton calmly answered, "The will of the serpent resides in all circles."

He lifted his hand and made a simple gesture.

Without the appearance of magical runes or even the fluctuation of a curse, the steps on the ground merged back into themselves—as if time was flowing backward, restoring the wall to its doorless state.

The only difference was that the scattered dust did not gather again.

The skeleton did not continue to explain the issue with the Elves but turned around instead.

"Follow me."

He said.

With his voice fallen, he did not hesitate any longer.

He advanced toward the deeper and darker depths where no light reached. Defu immediately followed by the skeleton’s side—their cat body gleaming with broken light, nimbly keeping pace with the giant, illuminating the path for the others.

His heavy metal boots, when trampling on the dust, should not have made that creaking sound typically heard only when stepping on snow. Or rather... given the skeleton’s three-meter-tall stature, there should have been only the sound of huge iron weights thunderously hitting the ground.

He should have brought an oppressive force as unyielding and heavy as a road roller.

Yet...

Longjing Tea looked deeply at the skeleton.

Was this extremely light sound because He did not want to damage the ground here?

Or was it because only a chain of bones remained inside that heavy armor...

A thought occurred to him, and he stepped forward two paces, boldly asking, "Skeleton... do we need to clean up the dust here?"

"There’s no need."

The skeleton, without turning his head, let out that deep, echoing, and aged voice: "Dust to dust, earth to earth..."

That was a voice like a sigh.

The players advanced behind the massive holy knight towering over them like a building.

The light shining from the wildcat’s body reflected on the metal armor, casting a dazzling radiance. But these lights were still too few and too dim—making the shadows cast upon the larger areas of the skeleton’s body appear even darker than the darkness itself.

The people went ahead in silence.

Passing through tomb after tomb in like silence.

Even though there were no undead here, Longjing Tea still felt a chill on his spine.

It was a sense of antiquity that couldn’t be felt when visiting historical landmarks.

—It was the "human touch."

Longjing Tea quickly captured that sensation.

The historical ancient cities he had visited had histories far older than the Dirge Singer Duchy... but they were far less terrifying than these tombs. Because at the edges of those "ancient cities," one could always see buildings that were "not so ancient."

It was the fear of glimpsing through the cracks of history—as if falling through the cracks of the world into a deeper site.

It would be more accurate to call this place in Dirge Singer a tomb rather than an ancient city.

Small buildings akin to garages, grouped together in clusters, lay silently beneath the city. Perhaps they were organized according to family lineages, or maybe according to marriages or companionships...

Observing each of these tombs, Longjing Tea seemed to envision the giants of the old Dirge Singer Duchy peacefully—perhaps even cheerfully—deciding where they wished to be buried and who they wanted as their neighbors after death.

Then they would orderly enter their prepared tombs, consume deadly poison, and wait for someone else to seal their "lid."

...But.

Logically... shouldn’t all those bodies have been absorbed into the Skeleton’s own being?

"This is my homeland."

Suddenly, without any warning.

The skeleton spoke.

"This is where I was born and died. It is also where I died and was reborn."

Like any old person reminiscing about their hometown and missing bygone relationships, he told the unfamiliar young people stories of his past.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.