The dagger sank into the back of the Vicar's neck. It should have been a killing blow. A severance of the spinal cord, a disruption of the mana flow to the brain.

"SQUELCH."

But there was no blood. There was only the sound of tearing wet paper.

Alvian narrowed his eyes. The sensation transmitted through the hilt of [Voidpiercer] was wrong. He hadn't hit flesh and bone. He had hit something fluid. Something dead.

The Vicar's head rotated 180 degrees. Not quickly, like a snap, but slowly, grindingly, like an owl. The skin of his neck twisted and tore, revealing grey, dead muscle beneath the illusion of healthy skin. The kindly grandfatherly face was gone. In its place was a rictus grin of rotting teeth and black gums.

"Rude," the Vicar hissed.

His body exploded.

"BOOM!"

A shockwave of necrotic energy blasted outward. Alvian was thrown back, flipping mid-air to land cat-like on the nave floor. Valeria, closer to the blast, raised her shield, but the force slid her backward across the polished bone tiles.

The cloud of white smoke and debris cleared. The man who had been the Vicar was gone. Standing in his place was a creature that looked like it had been stitched together from nightmares. He was tall, skeletal, wearing tattered black robes that clung to his emaciated frame. His skin was grey stretched tight over bone. His eyes burned with a sickly green fire.

[Boss Revealed: Harvey the Necromancer]

[Level: 48]

[Class: Soul Stitcher / High Necromancer]

[Status: Undead / Lich Form (Incomplete)]

"You ruined my suit," Harvey rasped, his voice sounding like grave dirt sliding on a coffin lid. "Do you know how hard it is to find a holy man with the right bone structure to wear as a skin suit? It takes months of preparation!"

The congregation, now freed from the mind control, screamed. They scrambled for the exits, trampling each other in their panic.

"Let them run," Harvey laughed, raising a staff made of a human spine topped with a green crystal. "Dead or alive, they all serve me eventually."

He slammed the staff down.

"RISE!"

The floor of the Cathedral cracked. The bone tiles shattered. From beneath the foundation, hands reached up. Skeletal hands. Rotting hands.

"The Cathedral," Alvian realized, looking at the floor. "It wasn't just built of bone. It's a mass grave."

Hundreds of skeletons clawed their way to the surface. They were armed with rusted swords and scraps of armor. But among them were larger shapes. Elite undead guards.

[Enemy Spawned: Skeleton Warrior (Level 35)]

[Enemy Spawned: Flesh Golem (Level 40)]

"Valeria, handle the mobs!" Alvian ordered, his voice cutting through the screams. "Keep them away from the civilians!"

"On it!" Valeria shouted. She charged into the sea of bones. Her claymore swept through the skeletons like a scythe through wheat. "Titan's Cleave!"

A golden arc of energy vaporized ten skeletons instantly. But for every one she crushed, two more rose.

Harvey turned his green eyes to Alvian. "And you... the Anomaly. Kincaid told me about you before he went silent. The boy who freezes gods."

Harvey waved a hand. Three Flesh Golems—massive hulks of stitched muscle—lumbered toward Alvian.

"Let's see if you can freeze death itself."

Alvian didn't draw his lance immediately. He assessed the threat. Necromancy relied on swarming and attrition. Harvey wanted to wear them down.

"Inefficient," Alvian muttered.

He activated [Klaus's Upgrade].

[Ding! Blessing Active.]

"[Frost Descent +2]: Absolute Zero Field."

He didn't cast a blizzard. He cast a zone. A circle of white frost expanded from his feet, covering a fifty-meter radius. The temperature dropped so fast the air cracked.

The Flesh Golems stepped into the circle. Their movements slowed. The moisture in their dead flesh froze, turning their muscles into brittle ice.

"CRACK! SNAP!"

Alvian walked forward. He casually kicked the first Golem in the shin. The leg shattered. The massive construct toppled over, shattering into a thousand pieces of frozen meat on the floor.

He looked at Harvey.

"Your meat puppets are fragile," Alvian said. "Is that all you have?"

Harvey's eyes flared. "Arrogant child! Do you think cold frightens the grave? [Corpse Explosion]!"

He pointed his staff at the shattered remains of the Golem. The frozen chunks of meat began to glow with unstable green light.

"BOOM!"

The debris detonated. Shards of frozen, necrotic bone flew like shrapnel.

Alvian activated [Runic Aegis +2]. Fourteen runes spun around him, deflecting the shrapnel effortlessly.

"Reflect."

The runes fired kinetic bolts back at Harvey.

Harvey didn't dodge. A wall of bone materialized in front of him, absorbing the impacts.

"You possess strong mana," Harvey mused. "Your soul... it shines. It will make a magnificent battery for my collection."

He gestured to the ten people still hanging in the air behind him, suspended by the red chains.

"You want to save them? Come and get them."

He began to chant. The red chains tightened. The prisoners screamed as their life force was ripped out at an accelerated rate. The energy flowed into Harvey, his skeletal form growing larger, his aura turning a deep, toxic green.

"He's using them as fuel to buff himself," Seraphina's voice came from the shadows. She appeared on a balcony above the altar. "Alvian, I can't get close to the chains! There's a necrotic barrier!"

"Then we break the source," Alvian said.

He equipped the [Lance of the Void Winter]. The black metal hummed, hungry for the dense mana filling the room.

"System. Maximize [Solar Cycle]. Infinite Mana Output."

Alvian's eyes glowed violet. He took a step forward, ignoring the army of skeletons between him and the Necromancer.

"Round Two, Harvey," Alvian whispered. "Let's see how many times you can die."

The fight in the Cathedral had devolved into a meat grinder. Valeria was a lighthouse of golden energy in a sea of grey bone, her shield smashing skulls and her sword severing spines. She was holding the line, protecting the fleeing civilians, but the sheer number of undead was overwhelming.

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