Chapter 9

"Quickly, the Hexagram Array!" Yalta shouted, and the other five people immediately took their positions without hesitation. The crosses on their chests suddenly emitted a white light, forming a cohesive whole.

"We walk on the earth, following the will of the Lord, as if we were in the Lord's kingdom! Our words and actions are the words and actions of the Lord!" The six people chanted together, and a mighty holy light descended from the sky, merging into their bodies. It surged forward in a fan shape, blasting everything in its path. The skeletal mammoths, skeleton soldiers, and hell bats vanished in an instant.

The holy light continued forward until it reached the castle gate, about ten feet away, before it disappeared, leaving a large blank area. At that moment, Allen found himself enveloped in the holy light, thinking he was about to die. But to his surprise, the holy light did not harm him. Bob, who looked slightly fatigued, said, "You are our ally, and you have the amulet given to you by the priest. The holy light will not harm you."

Allen let out a sigh of relief. The black mist slowly gathered, but there was no attack. It seemed that the lich did not think it necessary to send these skeletons to their deaths.

Wang Qinan, inside the castle, drew a sharp breath at the sight. This was too terrifying. If he had been in the middle of it, he would have ended up like those skeletons, or even worse, leaving nothing behind.

He cast a far-sighted spell and looked from the tower, seeing Allen among them. He felt a sense of betrayal and anger rising in his heart. He suppressed his anger, remembering that he had not been on guard against Allen. Recalling the memories of Nicholas Andrew, he felt he had done nothing wrong. It seemed that his predecessor had been abandoned by all, and he knew he could not let his anger control him now.

Fortunately, he had inadvertently dismissed them, and they did not know his secret—that Wang Qinan was an Earthling who did not want to follow the rules of this world. He had only recently arrived and might follow the rules of this world in the future, but for now, he still retained his Earthly mindset.

Soon, they arrived at the castle. Yalta and the others stopped at a distance from the gate, just outside the range where the gargoyles would activate. They were experts and had a good grasp of the distance.

Yalta looked up at the gargoyles on the wall. They did not move, and he shouted loudly, "Nicholas Andrew, you have attacked the church multiple times, causing many casualties. Both humans and gods are enraged. Today is your end!"

"Ha ha! A pack of dogs, if you come to die, you won't leave today!" Wang Qinan's voice echoed.

With a sinister laugh, mist emerged, and ghosts appeared in the fog. Yalta and the others' faces changed immediately. Wang Qinan had not followed the rules and launched a direct attack. It was a sound attack, and the sound was like a series of invisible knives. As soon as it entered their ears, they felt restless and a faint sense of nausea.

Realizing the danger, they chanted the holy name and gripped their crosses. A faint holy light appeared, and the discomfort disappeared. But Allen suffered. His head buzzed, his eyes turned bloodshot, and he tried to endure it. But he could not hold on, and in an instant, he lost his mind, screaming and charging towards the castle.

As soon as he entered the range of the gargoyles, they came to life. Their eyes opened, and they stared at Allen, pouncing on him.

"Bad!" Yalta and the others shouted in alarm. The gargoyle had already pounced, and Allen, realizing the danger, pointed his magic staff, releasing a cloud of black mist. But the gargoyle's claws were already upon him, and Allen's head burst like a watermelon.

At the same time, Kenceli's gun and Bog's chain hammer struck the gargoyle, which let out a scream and turned into a pile of rubble.

The six people's eyes turned red. They did not like Allen, but seeing him killed by the gargoyle in front of them, they felt their dignity greatly insulted.

Several gargoyles pounced, but they did not last long and turned into rubble. At the gate, Bog's chain hammer whistled and struck the door. To his surprise, the door was smashed open with one blow.

The door was not broken; it simply had no lock. After the last time, Wang Qinan had not repaired the lock, intending to lure the enemies inside, so he had not locked it.

The group did not have time to think and rushed into the castle. There were many small rooms inside, but Yalta and the others did not split up. They knew they were facing a lich, and this lich had just killed their guide, Allen. They did not feel sorry for Allen's death, but they were angry that Wang Qinan had used a sound attack to cause Allen to make a mistake, leading to his death by the gargoyle.

They opened a small room and found a bronze cannon inside. They placed it randomly, and the cannon's mouth did not point at the door. There was nothing else, and they did not have time to care. It was definitely a strange collection of the lich. They glanced at it and rushed down the corridor.

As soon as they left, a cloud of smoke rose, and three skeletons appeared, one of them holding a torch.

They had not taken a few steps when their feet slipped on an oily floor. They steadied themselves, but this minor trick was not enough to stop them. They sneered inwardly.

Gargoyles pounced from the two adjacent rooms. Although these gargoyles were not very strong, they could fly, and Yalta and the others were on the ground, which was slippery. Their movements were somewhat hindered, and they were not as quick as before.

Kenceli took a step back, forming a horse stance. Although this stance was not called a horse stance in this world and had no specific rules, martial arts were universal. Lowering his body, he formed a stable structure and twisted his gun, thrusting it forward, bringing a trail of holy light. In this world, there was no martial arts rhyme like "the middle-level spear, the king of spears, each thrust is deadly and hard to guard."

The gun reached the gargoyle's chest, and the holy light flashed. The gargoyle suddenly paused, cracked, and then shattered.

Yalta's dual short guns deflected the gargoyle that pounced at him, and the others defended themselves with their weapons, deflecting or knocking away the gargoyles. No one was injured, but they stumbled on the oily floor, though they did not fall, they looked quite disheveled.

At that moment, three bone walls rose in front of and on both sides of them, and the gargoyles continued to pounce. The group felt a sense of danger and tried to form the Hexagram Array again, but the oily floor hindered their movements, and they were a step too slow. Yalta just shouted, "Quickly, the Hexagram Array!"

Kenceli heard a sound behind him, turned around, and saw three skeleton soldiers pushing a bronze cannon, aiming at them. One skeleton was about to light the fuse. Heart and soul scattered, he leaped up, shouting, "Danger!"

A loud explosion echoed, and countless pellets flew towards them. Kenceli's body was enveloped in holy light, but it could not stop the cannon's power. Even with inner armor, he could not resist the pellets. Blood gushed from multiple wounds, and he fell back, hitting the bone wall and clearly dying.

The others were also caught off guard. Under the cannon fire, blood and flesh flew everywhere. Only Yalta reacted quickly, diving to the ground, but he still took some pellets, and the bone wall was shattered.

Yalta pulled out a scroll from his body, tore it open, and the space rippled. In a blink, he disappeared, using a teleportation scroll.

Wang Qinan did not expect him to have a teleportation scroll and was momentarily stunned. He sighed, thinking that the Church of the Creator was truly wealthy, and such a scroll probably cost tens of thousands of gold coins.

He slowly walked to the scene, which was a mess of blood and gore. Bob was still breathing, but he was near death, one eye blinded, and his limbs twisted. His remaining eye glared with hatred at the lich Wang Qinan.

"Don't look at me. I'm a good person. You came to kill me, and I was just defending myself," Wang Qinan said.

"Spit!" Bob spat out a mouthful of blood, unable to speak. Are you a good person? A lich being a good person was a joke. But he had no other options. He had heard that falling into a lich's hands meant no peace for the soul. His eyes, filled with hatred, also showed a hint of fear.

Wang Qinan did not think of this. He had become a lich by exception, and on Earth, he had never even killed a chicken. In this world, he had killed many people, but although he had adapted to killing, he was not a bloodthirsty person, so he did nothing.

Bob took a heavy breath, blood foam spilling from his mouth and nose. His eyes gradually lost focus, and he died. The thing he feared did not happen.

Yalta had teleported away. He had come with great momentum but had not even seen the enemy's face before being almost completely wiped out. He took a deep breath, his body covered in blood holes. His muscles contracted, stopping the bleeding. Now outside the castle, he looked back at the foggy castle, took out a healing potion, and drank it.

Suddenly, he felt something was wrong. He turned around and saw a skeleton-like figure standing not far away. The face was almost a skull, with only a thin layer of skin covering the bones, and the eyes were green.

"Lich!" He was stunned, and without thinking, his body moved. But he was severely injured, and as soon as he moved, the lich let out a sinister laugh. A black staff appeared in his hand, and a dark light flashed. Although Yalta's body was enveloped in holy light, it quickly faded, and a faint shadow appeared, which was Yalta, being sucked into the staff.

Yalta's body fell to the ground and quickly decayed, while the lich, who had been following Yalta and the others, seemed to have absorbed blood, becoming more robust. This was Bonifay, who had stopped at the edge of the hell projection. Since becoming a lich, he knew the power of the hell projection. Although it was not a domain, entering it would quickly reveal a lich.

He decided to wait on the side.