Chapter 234: Chapter 229: Puppet Chapter 234: Chapter 229: Puppet “The Dark Knight!” A look of terror was etched onto the young girl Orlina’s face as she watched a knight, shrouded in black death energy, riding a skeletal warhorse burning with nether fire, slowly descending from the sky, thick with necromantic fog.

“Father!” However, the girl quickly recognized the familiar style of armor on this Dark Knight. Along with the long spear in his hand and the sword hanging from his waist, she screamed out.

“Dad!” The girl’s cry startled her younger brother Balk, who had been trembling in the carriage under the oppression of the Lich’s aura. The little boy climbed out of the carriage, and with a single glance, he too, recognized the armor and weapons worn by the Dark Knight, belongings of their own father.

“Cackle, cackle, cackle. Why, little girl, you have a little brother too! That’s great! The whole family has reunited, how touching,” The Lich chuckled heartily after seeing the young boy, “It’s a pity that I’m no longer human.”

“Daddy?” The little boy watched the Dark Knight on the skeletal warhorse with confusion, mixed with a hint of fear. He sensed an odd familiarity from the knight overbearing just like his father. But mostly, it felt foreign.

The cold qualities of death, despair, resentment, and pain emitting from the Dark Knight were emotions that would never have been associated with their father.

Therefore, the little boy slowly shook his head, denying the man before him. “No, it’s not right. You are not my daddy,” he said.

Upon hearing the boy’s words, the Dark Knight who was firmly seated on his skeletal warhorse, quivered slightly. The flickering light of the soul fire beneath his face guard trembled momentarily, reflecting his stirred emotions—signifying that he still possesses an inkling of spiritual intelligence.

“Cackle, cackle, cackle, kid, that’s so cruel! This sort of talk will hurt your knight’s feelings.” The Lich chuckled gleefully, his skull enveloped by violently quivering soul fire. He was clearly amused by the scene before him.

“He is your father and your respected Lord. Regardless of soul, body, weapon, or armor, everything remains the same, only a minor transformation occurred.”

“What have you done to my father?” Orlina asked, confronting the Lich with icy calmness, having unknowingly cast upon herself the spell of mechanized mind – a second-circle spell.

“Isn’t it obvious? He is now a Dark Knight with eternal life. Although, your father is stronger than the average Dark Knight, he is special. Do you want to know why he is special?”

“…” Everyone was silent, but the intensely desolate atmosphere enveloped the fleeing party. Their Lord, with gold rank strength, has now transformed into a high-ranking undead. It was easy to guess what fate awaited them.

“Because this knight was refined personally by yours truly. A mere human knight of the Gold Rank dared to charge at the legendary Lich, Lord Barbosa, with his sword. Such courage amazes Lord Barbosa.

Therefore, to reward this gallant knight, Lord Barbosa ordered me to turn him into a Dark Knight while he was still alive.

Cackle, cackle, cackle. To tell you the truth, it was quite an interesting experience, as this was my first time refining a Dark Knight directly from a living human.

Your father certainly was a qualified knight. Even as his mortal flesh withered away completely in the Undead Flame, he did not scream out in pain or beg for mercy. However, he couldn’t bear the agony and wailing of his soul. Cackle, cackle, cackle, that was truly entertaining.”

“Father!” Orlina, despite being in an absolute state of rationality, couldn’t stop two streams of tears from flowing uncontrollably down her face. Her eyes, however, remained as empty as ever, devoid of any extra sentiment, just like a machine.

“Dad!” Balk sobbed uncontrollably looking at the Dark Knight shrouded in thick black death qi.

“Ahh, such a moving scene.” This Lich, each of his bones inscribed with runes, extended his skeletal arm, touched his smooth jawbone, and displayed an expression of apparent distress.

“However, there’s something discordant here, Father has attained eternal life, but his daughter and young son still remain short-lived species. This is too unfair.”

The Lich turned his head, looked at the Dark Knight he personally refined, and issued what he considered a merciful command:
“As a qualified father, you can’t ignore your own. My knight, since you’ve attained eternal life, grant your children the gift of everlasting immortality!”

The former Lord Ansel, now a Dark Knight, the Soul Fire in his head shook violently, but in the end, he still rode his skeletal warhorse down to the ground, blocking the city gate.

“Lord!” The Silver Rank knight, who had lost one arm, looked at the Dark Knight with death qi before him and tightly gripped his long spear, his body and mind already exhausted.

Despite the pressure from the count who had become a Dark Knight being greater than when he was alive, he had no intention of surrendering and laying down his weapon…

“Indeed, the memory I erased wasn’t thorough enough.” Watching the Dark Knight who stabbed through the torso of the one-armed knight below with a single spear, the Lich hovering in mid-air shook his head in dissatisfaction. “Even though I’ve left a mark on his soul core, he’s still resisting my command.”

“However, that’s okay. Once he kills his children with his own hands, it should eliminate his obsession, and I should be able to fully control him.

This knight has quite a lot of potential, with careful cultivation for over a hundred years, he could potentially become my third Soul Intent Level undead subordinate.”

“Ah!” “Lord, spare us!”… Harrowing screams resonated, the young girl, Orlina, watched as the Dark Knight, emerging from the death qi, wielded a long spear, cutting a swathe of destruction through her people like a tiger amidst a flock of sheep.

The long spear that was supposed to be wrapped in blazing red flames was now ensnared in seinen Nether Fire, the nature of this weapon completely altered, becoming a weapon of the dead.

Each time it was swung, more than a dozen lost their lives. The former Gold Rank Lord Cecil, after being refined into a Dark Knight by the Lich, became unstoppable.

The civilians, adventurers, and guards within the fleeing crowd screamed, wailed, and roared… then, greeted death in despair. Almost 80% of the intermediate-level undead spawned within Cecil City were converged within this area by the Lich, surrounding them and leaving them with nowhere to run.

“March!” “March!”… After slaughtering more than a hundred people, amongst whom were his former guards, the Dark Knight, carrying his bloodied spear, rode his skeletal warhorse up to the Earth Dragon Carriage at the centre of the convoy.

“Are you planning to kill me?” Orlina jumped down from the Earth Dragon Carriage, standing in front of Lord Cecil who had fallen into a puppet of the Lich, she looked up at his faceguard glowing with blue light, “Father!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read