This Lich Requests More Remuneration

Chapter 73 - 73 73 There Must be a Traitor

?Chapter 73: Chapter 73: There Must be a Traitor Chapter 73: Chapter 73: There Must be a Traitor The most important thing for a Lich is their Life Casket, so every Lich will try every means to hide it.

Some choose to bury it deep underground, others build a perfect magic-defense chamber, and some, suspicious and paranoid, carry it on their person at all times.

Amberser chose all of the above.

He constructed a special chamber in his castle to place a Life Casket, dug a deep pit beneath the chamber to hide another, and always carried one on his person, stashing several more in every place he went.

Gareth sent one, Withered Rose sent one, students sent one, servants sent one… he employed an abundance over scarcity approach.

As for which one was real, heh, that would remain a secret for the time being. After all, not one Life Casket was completely useless.

After taking care of these tasks, Amberser went to the prison to haul out all the Paladins, chained them up tightly, sealed them with magic, packed them into coffins, and then transported them outside the castle.

The airship of Alchemy City had already been waiting there, with an old friend, Gustavo Flint, waiting outside for a long time.

Amberser transformed into a human form and gave Gustavo Flint a radiant smile, “Old friend, it seems you are quite eager.”

“The people from the Laine Empire have already arrived. If you don’t send the people over, I’ll have to invite them for a meal. Hurry up and finish, so I can save some time to go back to my experiments.”

Gustavo Flint’s face was still so serious, his dark skin and intimidating eyes made him look even scarier than Amberser, the Lich.

“Oh, they arrived so quickly. Which big shot is it?” asked Amberser.

“Heh, it’s also an old friend of yours, Supreme Judge of the Laine Empire, James Watson.”

The smile on Amberser’s face disappeared in an instant. If there were any emotions left in him after becoming a Lich, the hatred for James Watson was one of them, and it occupied no small portion.

“Such a shame I can’t let this old man carry his son’s coffin for a state funeral,” Amberser said through clenched teeth.

It was then that Gustavo Flint finally showed a smile, delighted by Amberser’s anger.

This damn Lich, who not only rejected the president’s invitation back in the day but also implicated him in ridicule. Gustavo Flint didn’t think his alchemy was inferior to Amberser’s; it was just that their research directions were different, his own research was not much help to the current plan.

Something not his specialty, and yet people used it to ridicule his intelligence: this made Gustavo Flint wish to destroy Amberser’s Life Casket right then and there.

But he was not in a rush; he would soon have his wish fulfilled.

With this in mind, Gustavo Flint said to Amberser without waiting, “Let’s board the airship. I hope you’re prepared. The Wishing Machine’s use is somewhat complex; we still need several hours of practice.”

“It’s that troublesome? I thought it was as simple as making a wish to the machine and being done with it,” said Amberser.

“How could it be that simple? This is a great machine we’ve created with countless efforts. To let everyone make a wish, naturally, a more complex process is needed. You must pay close attention to the precautions later; if there’s any problem, don’t blame me for not warning you.”

Amberser looked into Gustavo Flint’s face, unable to detect any flaws.

This old fellow is acting like it’s real.

If Amberser hadn’t had friends helping to gather information and dispel their false prophecies, maybe he really would have been fooled.

And now, Amberser and Gustavo Flint, both more than a thousand years old, were putting on a show of acting skills, a pity that there was no film critic to shout out “awesome” at their performance.

Amberser boarded the airship with the captives, and as soon as he entered the cabin, he found himself trapped in a space that blocked teleportation magic.

Gustavo Flint, seeing the change in Amberser’s expression, explained, “This is the latest model, designed to prevent others from teleporting into combat.”

Heh, who would believe that? Who uses teleportation in aerial combat? The airships are directly bombarded with magic conduction cannons.

Probably because he was really in a hurry, Gustavo Flint didn’t care whether Amberser believed him or not, immediately driving the airship at the speed of a running Martial Monk, swiftly returning to Alchemy City in the shortest time possible.

And shortly after the airship had left, a fully armed Paladin Legion appeared outside Amberser’s castle.

It was still the Conviction Knight Order that came, but the number had multiplied several times over.

Moreover, the person leading the team was none other than the High Judge himself, James Watson.

Alchemy City had implied that returning the paladins would be owing them a favor, but in discussions with the Laine Empire, this favor also included the castle of Amberser.

Alchemy City was responsible for leading Amberser out of his castle, seizing the moment when the Legendary Lich wasn’t in his Mage’s Tower, the Laine Empire would personally take action to completely destroy this abode of evil.

This was also a part of the deal.

James Watson stood before Amberser’s castle with a stern face and gave the order, “Destroy the evil before us, purify all filthy undead.”

The paladins responded in unison, lifting their long swords high as holy light connected into one unbroken expanse.

When these paladins charged towards the castle on their Celestial Warhorses, the castle’s Automated Defense System automatically activated, still raining Dark Corrosive Energy from the sky like a downpour.

But the Necromancy Spell, lethal to ordinary people, felt like a gentle breeze on the face under the various defensive blessings of the paladins, having no effect whatsoever.

This was the terrifying aspect of the Laine Empire; their Divine Arts were particularly suited for large legion war, the more people there were, the stronger the combat power they displayed.

The skeleton puppets at the outer limits of the castle could not pose any threat at all, they were purified by the power of the Holy Light before they could even get close.

The paladins advanced irresistibly, the castle’s main gate was broken through, traps at the entrance were detected in advance, and a rock-creating spell completely filled them in… Without anyone in control, these defense mechanisms could only operate mechanically, and their effectiveness was greatly diminished.

The paladins, unstoppable, completed their mission in less than ten minutes.

A paladin coming to report respectfully said to James Watson, “Supreme Judge Sir, we have thoroughly conquered the castle. However… there were some casualties.”

As he mentioned the last part, the paladin seemed a bit embarrassed.

James Watson also frowned and questioned, “Casualties? it’s just a magic castle without a lich’s control, only skeletons, and you’re telling me that the Conviction Knight Order actually suffered casualties?”

It was as if he had heard something unbelievable.

For the Paladin Legion, adept at legion warfare and equipped with various healing Divine Arts, to suffer casualties in such a battle was simply a disgrace.

“Sir, we encountered several strange types of skeletons; they had weird shapes, wielded magic-guide weapons, and their ammunition was very peculiar…”

The paladin detailed the events carefully, causing James Watson to frown deeply.

Initially, their advance was very smooth, and ordinary undead and Magic Traps could not impact the paladins too much. The real danger came from those unexpectedly emerging Alien Skeletons. With only half a body yet wielding Magic-guide Rifles, Skeleton Gunmen hung upside-down from ceilings; Skeleton Tanks blocked wall holes, revealing only a bit of their gun barrels.

These monsters caught the paladins off guard with every attack, and what was more terrifying was that their bullets, once causing a wound, would cause abnormal bone growth in the body. Several paladins were merely grazed, then torn apart by proliferating bones as they screamed in agony.

And this dreadful condition was unaffected by any healing Divine Arts, as if it was not a magic curse, but rather a terrifying force they had never seen before.

Luckily, there were few of these types of skeletons, and once their positions were confirmed, they could be eradicated with Holy Slash. The massive Skeleton Tanks only needed a few more Holy Slashes to be destroyed, and due to their large and clumsy size, they couldn’t dodge, making them nothing more than live targets.

James Watson had not expected Amberser to have such malicious methods; could there really be undead magic that the Holy Light could not purify in this world?

The paladin then continued to report, “Sir, there are quite a few human slaves outside the castle, likely brethren enslaved by the lich.”

James Watson waved his hand and said, “As is customary, provide them with sufficient food and set them free; we didn’t bring them with us this time.”

“However, sir, there’s a Light Priest inside the castle; he claims to be your son’s attendant.”

James Watson frowned, how come there’s a Light Priest? Weren’t all the hostages already handed over to Alchemy City?

“How is he? Is he seriously injured?” James Watson asked.

The paladin hesitated for a moment, then answered, “He seems unharmed and doesn’t appear to be lacking food or water, he looks… very healthy.”

James Watson said angrily, “How could he possibly be unharmed?”

That article had written that Allen endured inhuman torture every day, leaving James Watson with tears streaming down his face; how could this Light Priest possibly be unharmed?

James Watson angrily said, “He must have betrayed his faith. Interrogate him harshly! And, find that lich’s Life Casket as soon as possible!”