This Lich Requests More Remuneration-Chapter 176 - 163 The Paladin Bows to the Lich

Chapter 176: Chapter 163: The Paladin Bows to the Lich

Chapter 176 -163: The Paladin Bows to the Lich

The moment the Holy Light Magic Array was disrupted, Amberser teleported into the city and unleashed a massive Dark Art.

The entire Sandshadow City was enveloped in a thick black mist, not just thick enough so you couldn’t see your fingers when you waved your hand, even placing your palm in front of your eyes rendered it invisible.

But the magic left by Katherine could only disturb the Magic Array for a few seconds. The Holy Light Magic Array operated once more and immediately locked onto Amberser, an Undead exuding an aura of darkness.

Amberser had always wanted to experience the Laine Empire’s Faith Conversion Magic Array firsthand, and now that he did, he found it was indeed formidable.

The converted power of the Holy Light deeply infused within Sandshadow City’s Magic Array. Upon Amberser’s appearance, the Holy Light formed dozens of light swords and flew toward him.

With that kind of power, the former Amberser definitely wouldn’t dare to resist directly.

Luckily, he was no longer the inferior product he used to be. The Golden Throne directly reinforced the Mage Shield with all its might, blocking the continuous Holy Light bombardment.

But with each sword blocked, a small piece of Amberser’s Golden Throne was shaved off, and hundreds to thousands of Gold Coins disappeared without a trace.

The stream of Holy Light Longswords was unceasing, and Amberser’s Gold also vanished with a whooshing sound.

However, it wasn’t a big problem, as Amberser now had plenty of money. He even had time to carefully study the composition of these Holy Light Longswords.

He wondered which genius had come up with the method to convert intangible faith into the power of Holy Light.

It was clearly a Deity’s prerogative. For the Lord of the Dawn, this should be barely different from blasphemy.

Yet, this Deity just tacitly agreed, which was excessively indulgent towards the Laine People.

After being bombarded by the Holy Light for a short while, Amberser suddenly swiped his hand across the ground, and a wall of earth rose from the ground, significantly reducing the power of the Holy Light.

“Oh, I see now.”

Amberser’s spells flew chaotically, and many crisscrossing earth walls appeared on the ground of Sandshadow City. Seen from above, these earth walls formed another kind of magic structure, “sealing” the entire Sandshadow City.

The Power of Faith that once rippled throughout the city was like butterflies pinned down, unable to flutter their wings any longer.

Amberser even took the time to take out a notebook and copy down this magic structure. He guessed that the Holy Light Magic Arrays of other Laine cities followed the same principle, and if he sold this to Withered Rose, he would recoup today’s expenses.

Amberser was happily considering his business affairs.

A distinct Holy Light lit up from a corner of the city.

As thin as a hair but as dazzling as the blazing sun, wherever this Holy Light reached, darkness parted, the black mist that enveloped the city was neatly split, then quickly disappeared.

This Holy Light had unraveled Amberser’s Dark Art, and the skill of it was so impressive that even Amberser couldn’t help but admire, “Impressive.”

Extending his perception towards the corner where the Holy Light had appeared, he indeed saw an aging figure.

The Silvermoon Knight—he had never left Sandshadow City from the beginning, merely concealing himself and quietly observing the changes.

This old fellow looked as if he might pass away at any moment, but Amberser felt a significant threat from him. If they really fought, even if Amberser could last until the Silvermoon Knight ran out of breath, Amberser feared he would have to return to the Life Casket to be reborn.

The Silvermoon Knight’s face was all seriousness. He had acted because Amberser’s Dark Art had covered the entire city, and if it continued, the ensuing panic would definitely cause many unnecessary casualties.

The Silvermoon Knight was testing the military of Sandshadow City, and he certainly did not wish to bring harm to the civilians.

But his action also represented one thing—the test was over, and Sandshadow City had lost thoroughly.

Without needing Amberser to speak, the Silvermoon Knight was already flying midair, loudly proclaiming to the whole city, “Do not panic; that was just a military exercise. Return home and wait quietly for the announcement. Anyone who commits crimes during the chaos will face severe punishment!”

The Silvermoon Knight’s voice, lacking in strength, echoed over the city, effectively calming the hearts of the people.

The true militia remaining in the city quickly handled the few troublemakers under Allen’s command, and then Allen walked into the Temple of Light in Sandshadow City, his face full of shame.

The Silvermoon Knight and Amberser were both waiting for him there.

When Allen entered, he saw Simon and a group of Paladins kneeling on the ground in shame, not even daring to lift their heads. Seated above them was not only the Silvermoon Knight but also Amberser, who had transformed into a human form.

Seen from a different perspective, it was as if hundreds of Paladins were kneeling to a Lich.

Allen’s breath became heavy with bitterness.

Although he still didn’t know what had happened, this scene would surely be recorded in the history of the Laine Empire, and they, the Paladins, would be infamous for eternity, becoming a new source of jokes for Bards across the continent.

Seeing Allen’s arrival, the Silvermoon Knight snorted coldly and said to him, “Allen Watson, come and kneel with them.”

Allen dared not refute, and could only obediently kneel at the end of the line.

Only then did the Silvermoon Knight coldly speak, “Now that everyone is here, good, now let me tell you what actually happened. I invited Master Ultraman to help with a test. The results were very disappointing; in less than a day, you have lost Sandshadow City. If this were not an exercise, do you know what the outcome would be?

“Tens of thousands of our Sandshadow brethren would have lost their lives due to your stupidity!”

In his agitation, the Silvermoon Knight’s face reddened, and he could not help coughing violently.

Every cry felt as if it tore the lungs apart, agonizing.

Allen hung his head low, clenching his fists tightly. Among all those present, he bore the greatest responsibility, as the guardian of Sandshadow City had been entrusted to him by the Silvermoon Knights.

Just one day! In the span of a mere day, Sandshadow City was lost!

Tears swirled in Allen’s eyes, and he could not find the words to describe his failure.

But not everyone felt the self-blame like Allen did. Paladin Simon, previously brimming with pride and desire for historical renown, now couldn’t accept the outcome, and couldn’t help but retort, “General, it was not our fault. Who could have anticipated the Lich to be so cunning!”

Amberser let out a snort of laughter and said to Simon, “Since when are Undead not cunning? Have you in your lifetime only ever come across the kind of Zombie that can’t even walk properly?”

His words set the Paladin’s anger ablaze, but also left Simon’s face burning red.

Using that excuse seemed hardly convincing.

But immediately, he continued, “General, it’s not just for that reason. There’s also that female Elf. She disguised herself as the Elf Queen and bewitched us with her spells, so we believed her lies. Such a spell, it must be of Legendary power; we simply had no defense against it.”

The Silvermoon Knight, having barely caught his breath, nearly fainted from anger at Simon’s words.

“Shut up! Is Queen Catherine someone you can insult lightly?!”

Simon’s face was a picture of confusion as he asked in astonishment, “General, what are you saying? That woman, she truly is the Elf Queen?”

Who would believe that? The Elf Queen colluding with the Undead, duping them to march out of the city into a trap—saying that would surely shock even the Lord of the Dawn!

Seeing that the Silvermoon Knight was getting breathless, Amberser, to prevent an incident before getting paid, interjected, “Ahem, let me explain this, so you won’t feel so disgruntled about losing.

“Firstly, Queen Catherine’s identity is beyond doubt. As for your claim of deception, that’s not quite right. Queen Catherine was invited by the Silvermoon Knights to participate in this war exercise. Her role was not to deceive you.”

“Despicable Lich, you still dare to deceive me?” Simon, unable to contain himself, stood up and said with indignation, “It was she who played a drama with you, making us believe that you were gravely injured! If that’s not deception, then what is?!”

Amberser replied with a smile, “Sorry, but in our script, your true opponent was indeed a Lich with grave injuries. Had you been able to kill the ‘gravely injured’ me during the second assault, you would have won. Think back carefully, during the second battle, wasn’t the majority of my strength pinned down by Catherine?

“Your second failure was not because of anything else but falling into my Magic Trap. Didn’t Catherine remind you to watch your footing before the battle started?!”

Simon furrowed his brow. What Amberser was saying was all true; the second battle’s scenario was exactly as he described. Yet as soon as they got close, they had fallen into the trap and couldn’t see clearly what became of the two combatants, then they were all captured alive by Amberser.

Could it be the war exercise was set from the beginning with the Lich in a weakened state? And they couldn’t even defeat a weakened Legendary Lich?

Simon asked again, “What about the fake Life Casket? If it weren’t for this casket, we wouldn’t have decided to mobilize everyone!”

Amberser chuckled and said, “In the script, that Life Casket is real. If you really killed me in my ‘critically wounded state,’ and you had the casket, I wouldn’t be able to be reborn. Understand? This way, once the exercise ends, you would have successfully defended Sandshadow City.”

Although Simon was initially reluctant to believe, when he recalled Katherine’s demeanor… he couldn’t help but somewhat believe again. It truly didn’t seem right for the Elf Queen to collaborate with a lich. If this was the script arranged for the exercise, then it made sense.

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Simon’s heart still found it hard to accept that he’d been deceived by Katherine, and he convinced himself of that.

The Silvermoon Knight narrowed his eyes and glanced at Amberser. This lich really had lies roll off his tongue effortlessly. He clearly conspired with the Elf Queen to deceive these hot-blooded young men and somehow managed to absolve Katherine of all responsibility with just a few words. Perhaps this lich was worried about the reputation of the Elf Tribe?

If that were true, then the relationship between this lich and the Elf Queen must be even closer.

This thought caused the Silvermoon Knight’s fingers to tremble.

Lord of the Dawn above!

The Elf Queen with a lich… Is it that I’m getting too old and can’t keep up with the times?

Amberser was indeed helping Katherine off the hook, but the bigger reason was that Katherine was far too useful to burn now; doing so would reduce the effectiveness of future deceptions.

In any case, Katherine must appear pristine in this exercise, solely present to help balance the forces at Sandshadow City, giving these young ones a chance against a Legendary Undead.

Allen stood up at this point and said loudly, “That’s not right. You were only able to breach the magic array and enter the city because the array was disrupted. Weren’t the traps that disturbed the magic array left by Queen Catherine?! If she were entirely on our side in the script, she wouldn’t have helped you set traps.”

Amberser looked at Allen. The boy had grown more intelligent, learning to spot loopholes.

However, Amberser calmly responded, “You’re overthinking it. Before Katherine entered the city, I had already slipped into Sandshadow City stealthily. It was during that infiltration that I met your general, who then invited me to join the exercise. It was also because of his invitation that I had arranged all the means of breaching the city before leaving.”

Amberser turned to the Silvermoon Knight and asked him, “Silvermoon Knight, do you swear on the Holy Light that everything I said was true?”

The Silvermoon Knight wanted to say that everything the lich had said was true, but out of the ten true things, only nine were told.

But after a moment’s hesitation, the Silvermoon Knight nodded and said, “Indeed, every word he said is true.”

These youngsters were too arrogant. Today, they must be taught a harsh lesson. They must be defeated so utterly that they will not find any excuse!

With the Silvermoon Knight vouching, the paladins had nothing to say and could only look for a crack in the ground to crawl into with shame.

Amberser relished the sensation of these paladins bowing before him, but time was almost up, and it was time to collect his payment.