Chapter 510: Anna (2)

Sean could never have imagined that he would see Chris here.

And it was a living, breathing Chris.

“Sean, don’t go over there!”

Just as Sean instinctively moved forward, demanding answers, Elvire quickly grabbed him. “Don’t fall for it,” she warned. “Chris is dead.”

Sean had seen Chris’s body with his own eyes. Quill had sliced open his stomach with a scalpel, yet the Chris before him was bare-chested, his abdomen showing no trace of the wound.

There were only two possibilities.

Either this person wasn’t Chris, but was merely wearing his face.

Or he *was* Chris, but after death, his body had been infused with some kind of powerful Magic Power. This forced his wounds to heal and granted him a new consciousness or soul, bringing him back to life.

Either way, the Chris before him was no longer the Chris Sean knew.

The memories of his life in the Farm World might still be in his head, but he would never be able to recall them.

Because he had become one of the Undead.

‘The Necromancy Path…’

Sean stared at Chris’s hollow eyes, his fists slowly clenching.

‘So that’s why they could never find Chris’s body, or the bodies of the other Wizards. They were all sent here, to the New World.’

‘Those bastards from the Church Court… Killing people wasn’t enough for them; they wouldn’t even leave the bodies in peace.’

A firestorm of rage brewed within Sean.

Elvire squeezed his hand tightly and whispered, “Sean, don’t do anything rash.”

She knew Sean must be in turmoil. Anyone would be furious to see their friend murdered and their corpse desecrated.

But anger wouldn’t solve anything.

“Don’t forget why we’re here,” Elvire said.

“I know.” Sean took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down and look away from Chris.

His voice quickly regained its composure—at least, on the surface.

“I have good news and bad news.”

Sean said, gathering his thoughts, “The good news is we’re still alive.”

The secret chamber was filled with countless people just like Chris, all bare-chested and standing ramrod straight. They were arranged in a massive, orderly formation, stretching so far into the dim light that one couldn’t see the end of them.

But these figures merely stood there, their heads turning to stare at the intruders. They hadn’t attacked.

This meant they still had time to investigate the secret chamber.

“The bad news is that Chris is here. And not just Chris—all those people Wendos told us about, the ones who came in and never left, they’re probably all here.”

“In other words, these people never made it to the Farm World, and there’s no passage inside the church.”

“We can forget about pinpointing our location.”

“Our whole approach was wrong from the start.”

“The only thing left to do is figure out what exactly the Bright King’s Court is escorting.”

Sean opened his palm, igniting a small flame for light, and began to walk forward in silence.

The flickering firelight illuminated the deathly pale faces of Chris and the others.

As Sean and the two women moved, the heads of the dead turned to follow.

‘Honestly,’ Elise thought, ‘searching a secret chamber under the watchful gaze of a crowd of dead people is a terrible idea.’

‘It’s terrifying.’

‘A Wizard’s senses were already sharp; they could feel a single person’s stare, let alone the gaze of an entire crowd.’

Following behind Sean, Elise brushed past the formation of the dead. She couldn’t resist glancing over, and each time, her eyes met the sinister, chilling gazes of these beings—she wasn’t sure whether to call them Undead or Puppets. ‘How can Sean be so brave?’ she wondered. ‘From another perspective, isn’t what we’re doing—wandering around, searching for things right in front of this army of the dead—incredibly brazen?’

Sean, however, wasn’t thinking about any of that.

In his mind, they had already been discovered. A confrontation with a Grand Mage, followed by their deaths, seemed all but inevitable. It was just as Elvire had said before they entered: rather than wait to be killed, they might as well uncover a few more secrets before they died.

‘Being stared at by so many dead people is definitely unnerving,’ Sean thought. He was creeped out too; the goosebumps hadn’t left his skin since he’d seen that woman in the white dress. ‘But I’m the only man here. If I don’t act brave, am I supposed to let the two of them lead the way?’

“What’s that?” Elvire, who had been vigilantly scanning their surroundings, suddenly asked.

Sean followed her gaze and saw something that looked like a Holy Fire Basin.

A thought flickered in his mind. ‘Could that be it? The treasure the Bright King’s Court is escorting?’

“Let’s go take a look.”

Sean whispered, leading the two women around the formation of the dead and into a corner of the secret chamber.

The result, however, was disappointing.

It wasn’t a treasure at all, but an altar.

There were four such Holy Fire Basins in total, arranged in a square. Runes drawn in a special ink covered the ground between them, but because of the angle and the poor lighting, Elvire had only seen the one closest to them.

“This must be the ritual altar used to resurrect the dead,” Sean said.

He didn’t know much about the Undead Path, but he recognized the runes on the ground. A few of the patterns and symbols, when linked together, meant “soul” in the Old Tongue.

“Let’s check the rest of the room.”

Sean said, “And while we’re at it, let’s look for that ghost in the white dress.”

He glanced sideways at the legions of the dead. They were still staring intently, just as before, but made no other move. A strange feeling settled over Sean. ‘The woman in the white dress clearly knew we were here. She deliberately lured us into this secret chamber. Now that we’ve fallen into her trap, why isn’t she making a move against us?’