Chapter 79: Blackguard

Pink iridescent light flickered, the gradually dissipating magic particles transforming into starlight dots, fading in the air.

Ingram moved his gaze away from the two people in the forest clearing ahead, controlled by 【Hold Person】.

Without professional level's body attribute bonuses, if they couldn't resist magic's erosion from the very beginning, afterward it would basically be very difficult to break free in a short time.

Not caring at all about the fresh blood and bits of flesh staining his fingertips.

Bending down, holding it with both hands, he properly placed the gravedigger's head right at the top of the skeleton, in the skull's position.

The old man wasn't any necromancer. The ritual book he'd given him didn't contain any spells either.

An ordinary person—one hammer strike and he was dead.

It was just those guards helping escort him together that took slightly more effort.

But compared to himself approaching taking office, they were still far behind.

Two hammer strikes, or was it three?

Didn't matter.

"Huff..."

A breeze swept up fallen leaves.

The flesh and blood on the gravedigger's head melted and dissolved rapidly like muddy water.

The bones trembled, as if some invisible force was brewing and accumulating above the magic circle, wanting to piece together the bones within.

"Don't rush."

The sheriff whispered.

His palm dripping blood had already gripped the iron handle of his mace at his waist.

Bang whoosh—

Metal whistled through the air.

Flesh mixed with bone splashed like fruit juice under the hammer face's bombardment.

Tim, already completely transformed into undead and having lost consciousness, fell backward onto the ground.

His shoulders were empty.

The sheriff's expression remained calm, even carrying a trace of disgust in the depths of his eyes.

Taking his family's safety and his own future as stakes, placing them on the other side of the scales without any scruples.

Ignoring foreseeable enormous risks, for that pitiful bit of luck in his heart, actively walking into the dangerous whirlpool.

Not worthy of sympathy.

Just thinking that he actually breathed the same air as this type of person, he felt disgusted.

"I hope in Mengzhong City, there will be fewer such people."

On his palm, brilliant golden holy light emerged.

"Pop!"

Fingertips wrapped in sacred radiance, under the effect of sun god's power, dissolved the flesh and blood completely corrupted by undead aura.

Without the slightest hesitation, he inserted them into the corpse's spine.

His forearm's thick, solid muscles suddenly exerted force,

Violently pulling!

"Crack!"

A sound that made teeth ache, the resistance of bone and flesh separating echoed in the woods.

On Ingram's handsome, three-dimensional fair face, several drops of blood water had been splattered.

In his right hand was Tim's entire spine.

The slight itch from blood sliding across his cheek's surface made him unconsciously wipe with his free left hand, but this stained half his face red.

He didn't care.

He bent down once more, comparing with human body structure, placing the vertebrae vertically in the skeleton's center.

Nearly complete.

The surging wind in the air suddenly intensified, along with those pale white bones lying on the ground also trembling violently.

"Just a bit more."

Ingram straightened up, but the corner of his eye unconsciously saw the skeleton's right hand, obviously more slender than ordinary people, smaller by two sizes.

Only one step from the plan's success, chaotic thoughts mixed with fragmented images surfaced in his mind.

The alley piled with garbage, a burly tall figure deliberately knocking down the destitute drunk in front, leaving a few pages of the leather book on the ground;

The inn room's lights came on, a man in sheriff's uniform brought guards with hurried footsteps, roadside shadows had humanoid outlines emanating undead aura squirming;

The open, gloomy cemetery, the blond-haired man gently placing the leather book and bone whistle in his hand on the small house's doorstep...

And that night howling with rainstorm and thunder, himself standing before the shabby tent covered with patches, gripping the cold single-handed hammer.

"Joey..."

Ingram's gaze suddenly paused.

On his face that had been without ripples since just now, an expression of complexity suddenly appeared.

It quickly restrained itself.

He could clearly recall when he'd torn open the rag at the tent entrance, the other party's face terrified and bloodless, even the small body trembling from the cold temperature.

"Lord, forgive me."

He'd been efficient—the other party shouldn't have felt too much pain.

"I hope in your next life, you can be born into a good family."

"Not like this life, where even filling your stomach was a problem."

"And not like me..."

The skeleton composed of different human bones, twisted and deformed, trembled violently.

Ingram straightened up, walking toward the edge of the woods, toward that short figure wrapped in pink light.

A halfling, and also a heretic.

In the pages he'd torn from the leather book, it clearly stated:

The more devout the heretic's faith, the better the ritual's effect.

Two days ago, when he'd just met this short person, he hadn't paid attention, nor had he considered him a target.

After all, with the way halflings and their deities got along, it was difficult to describe it with the word "devout."

But unexpectedly, the other party believed in the goddess of fortune "Tymora," and according to the scene described by his informant at Full Money Bag, he obviously wasn't an ordinary believer either.

"Then there's no choice."

Drawing a dagger from his waist, slightly raising it, aiming at the other party's soft, fragile neck.

The bones were already complete. The ritual's final step was to use the heretic's blood to fill the runes on the formation.

At that time, the plan he'd prepared for so long would finally be completed.

【Holy Smite】, 【Divine Sense】, and two years ago under that cultist's bed, the discovered 【Insect Plague】.

Three combat skills and abilities, plus the final step:

"Plan a death magic sacrifice ritual and personally kill the summoned creature."

Then he could obtain professional level, truly becoming a professional.

Becoming one of the variants of the "Paladin" profession,

—【Blackguard】

Honestly, he didn't actually have much understanding of this profession itself.

If it weren't for the priest sir at the church, after he'd turned in 【Insect Plague】, generously telling him partial information about "Blackguard."

He'd never even heard of this paladin variant before.

And even after learning the path to professional advancement from the other party, Ingram initially didn't plan to take office.

After all, compared to "Paladin" with its clear advancement route and extremely broad applicability, "Blackguard's" improvement path wasn't so easy to find.

Until that night, the priest sir made him the promise about "Mengzhong City."

As long as he could successfully take office, he could obtain the other party's letter of introduction and go take office in Mengzhong City.

And Mengzhong City was almost the place on Ephara Continent closest to the "Lord."

How could he refuse?

In his palm was the cool sensation unique to metal. He tightly gripped the dagger, the short blade slashing toward the halfling's neck.

But just at this moment, from beside him, a slight yet obvious sound suddenly came.

His gaze looked over,

Only to see on the other side, that black-haired youth also controlled in place by 【Hold Person】.

His body wrapped in pink light seemed...

To be slightly trembling.

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