This Lich Requests More Remuneration

Chapter 68 - 68 68 The Imaginary Enemy

?Chapter 68: Chapter 68 The Imaginary Enemy Chapter 68: Chapter 68 The Imaginary Enemy The so-called deities cannot sever the conflicts between husband and wife, and Amberser, a lich without a heart, knows even less about how to mediate the emotional issues between spouses.

So, he just responsibly informed Gareth about the imminent arrival of Miss Bone Dragon, leaving him to deal with the headache himself.

Amberser had thought that Gareth would surely flee quickly, so his castle should be safe from the breath of the Bone Dragon.

But to Amberser’s surprise, Gareth’s first reaction was to worry about the safety of that Orc sister.

“I know her too well. If she had discovered me in Alchemy City earlier, then Ona must be under her surveillance too. I’m afraid she might be in danger, and I need to go save her,” he said.

Although the female Orc had already sold the tavern, it wasn’t easy to move away so quickly, so she was still busy dealing with all sorts of movable and immovable properties and had not left Alchemy City.

Amberser hastily said, “Gareth, if you get involved as a third party in rescuing someone, wouldn’t that make your wife even angrier?”

“If I don’t go, Ona will undoubtedly die. If I go, she still has a chance at life.”

Gareth put on his helmet, returned to being that scruffy middle-aged adventurer, and then rushed towards Alchemy City without any delay.

Amberser didn’t know whether to classify these words as those of a caring man or a scoundrel.

But never mind, other people’s family matters were not for Amberser to interfere with too much, and besides, he had more important matters to attend to.

The first thing was to repair the injuries of the Mercury Avatar.

In the previous assassination plan, the Mercury Avatar once again showed combat power that surprised Amberser, with powerful metal absorption abilities that almost rendered Masstar’s Enchanted Armor useless.

If it hadn’t been for the lavish equipment on Masstar, the Mercury Avatar alone could have caused the Paladin a significant loss.

But the little creature also accidentally took a hit from a Holy Slash and suffered serious damage.

The little one now lay weakly in a glass jar, in desperate need of a large amount of metal to recover.

Amberser wasn’t stingy, he directly threw all those scrapped Paladin equipment into it, letting the little one have a big feast. The armors of the Paladins are made of high-quality metals, which are not only light and agile but also exceptionally sturdy; who knows how much Mithril and Adamantine were mixed in, definitely pricier than an equivalent weight of Gold.

But these tough metals were quickly corroded and absorbed under the embrace of the Mercury Avatar, the previously weak Mercury Avatar also recovered at a rate visible to the naked eye, with additional lines of various shades appearing on its silver body.

“Mithril and Adamantine? Got indigestion from eating too much?”

Amberser worried whether the two rare metals could not be fully absorbed, hence why these silk thread patterns remained on the Mercury Avatar’s body. But he soon discovered that this was not a case of indigestion; on the contrary, the little creature began to evolve after consuming high-quality metals.

Gently, Amberser said to the Mercury Avatar, “Come here, my little darling, let me see how you look after you’ve grown.”

As the creator of the Mercury Avatar, the little one was inherently obedient to Amberser’s commands. Upon hearing Amberser’s order, it immediately started to expand like being inflated.

A sword with a gold edge protruded out, smoothly slicing open the entire glass tank with a light scratch.

Soon, small pieces of metal emerged on the body of the Mercury Avatar, assembling into a diamond-shaped shield.

At a glance, Amberser knew that it was a Mithril shield, lightweight yet sturdy.

“You can replicate the properties of the metals you absorb, right?” Amberser inquired.

The Mercury Avatar happily bounced up as if responding to Amberser’s question.

This ability was impressive. With so many special metals in the world, if the Mercury Avatar were to absorb a sufficient amount of high-grade metals, was there a possibility for it to advance to a legendary level?

With this thought, Amberser hurried to the treasury and took out a helmet emitting a pure white radiance.

This was a piece of magic equipment stripped from Masstar’s head, brimming with incredibly intense Holy Light energy, and Amberser could also feel the presence of divine power within it.

Without a doubt, it was a replica of a Divine Artifact, and while it wasn’t genuine, the divine power contained within was real; the Laine Empire probably didn’t have many of these.

This thing must be worth a fortune, yet Amberser was still planning to let the Mercury Avatar consume it.

Amberser couldn’t use the power of the Holy Light, and selling it would be difficult; buyers who could afford it might not dare to offend the Laine Empire, and those who bore grudges against the Laine Empire generally couldn’t afford it. Organizations like the Withered Rose, who could afford and had a grudge against the Empire… She was an Undead just like Amberser, had already explicitly stated the item was of no use to her, and unless it was free, she wouldn’t waste money buying it just to smash it.

Rather than going back to Alchemy City to haggle, it would be better to let the Mercury Avatar consume it; there might even be a pleasant surprise.

Thanks to Master Morgan’s research, the Mercury Avatar was a living creature, not an Undead, and was not susceptible to the restraint of Holy Light; it might be able to absorb all the divine power.

However, the helmet seemed not so easy to digest; the Mercury Avatar sprawled over the helmet, corroding it little by little at an extremely slow pace. Amberser had no choice but to place the Mercury Avatar and the helmet together in another glass container, letting the little guy slowly digest it.

After taking care of this matter, Amberser headed to the castle’s dungeon.

The once-empty dungeon was now filled with Paladins hanging around.

Each one of them showed an angry glare upon seeing Amberser, wishing they could unite their Holy Slashes and reduce Amberser to ashes right then and there. However, their eyes were the only things they could move; each Paladin was sealed with several layers by Amberser, leaving them no possibility of escape after being stripped of their equipment.

Amberser walked up to a female Paladin, scrutinizing her face closely, then reached out to pinch her cheek as if selecting merchandise.

The Paladin’s eyes seemed about to burst with fire, but she could only glare at Amberser with her gaze, utterly powerless to resist.

After confirming that her appearance was not disguised in any way, Amberser finally let go of her and, simultaneously, released the seal on her mouth.

The moment she gained the freedom to speak, the lady lashed out at Amberser with a torrent of curses.

After listening for a few seconds, Amberser said, “Save your strength, will you? The curses you’ve got together don’t even match the number of Paladins here.”

The insults were all repetitive, calling him despicable, shameless, filthy, and ugly, with extreme specificity that didn’t even spare the family; Amberser guessed these Paladins had probably never had a quarrel with anyone since childhood, and these insulting words were likely learned from scriptures and teachings.

Such curses held no destructive power; pointing at a Druid and criticizing him for shedding after transforming would hurt more than this Paladin’s insults.

“I have a question for you, did only ten of you come this time? Are there any other Paladins? Especially female Paladins?” asked Amberser.

A bloody spit flew out, easily dodged by Amberser.

The Paladin scoffed, “Don’t delude yourself; no matter what you ask, I won’t answer. If you’re brave enough, just kill me!”

Amberser sighed and said, “Can’t you just save me some magic power?”

Drawing pink lines of magical power between his fingers, Amberser placed a Bewitchment Spell on the Paladin’s head.

A few minutes later, Amberser left the gloomy dungeon filled with heavy doubts.

“It seems the one who decapitated me was not among these Paladins.”

Of the ten Paladins, only one was a woman, and she was burly and resolute, very politically correct.

Her appearance was completely dissimilar to the fair-skinned beauty prophesied, not even slightly resembling her.

After pondering for a moment, Amberser came to an unsettling conclusion.

If it wasn’t this group of Paladins, then who could the person be who severed my head? Could it be those mad Alchemists?