Chapter 543: Undead
Aisha, Marcus, and Eliana raced through the forest toward the place where Amon and Seraphina had fought Alaric.
The closer they came, the more terrifying the destruction became.
Trees had been ripped apart or reduced to splintered stumps. The ground was covered in deep cracks and scorched earth, while smoke still drifted through the air.
Within a radius of dozens of meters almost nothing remained untouched.
"Seraphina!"
Eliana shouted the moment she caught sight of her friend standing in the middle of the ruined clearing.
"She’s alive!" Marcus exclaimed.
The three of them immediately increased their speed.
Eliana’s eyes quickly searched the battlefield.
"But where’s Amon?"
Aisha narrowed her eyes. Someone was kneeling near Seraphina.
No, there were two figures. But they couldn’t see it clearly.
"Who’s that beside her?" she asked cautiously.
The trio continued forward. Seraphina sensed their approach and turned toward them.
Her clothes were torn and covered in dirt. Numerous wounds marked her body, though soft golden light surrounded them as they slowly healed.
"Seraphina!"
Eliana finally reached her.
"Are you safe? What happened to the enemy? And where is Amon?"
She stopped abruptly.
Marcus and Aisha came to a halt beside her.
There, beside Seraphina, two figures were kneeling on the devastated ground.
One of them was unmistakably Amon. The other was an unfamiliar woman with long, brilliant crimson hair.
Amon was holding her tightly. Or perhaps she was the one supporting him.
"We’re both safe," Seraphina answered, still breathing heavily. "Sister Scarlett arrived just in time and saved us."
All three of them stared at the red-haired woman. Then realization struck.
The woman holding Amon was Scarlett. The vampire Amon had spoken about countless times.
She was his lover. He always show off about it.
Marcus’s eyes widened.
"She’s real!"
Eliana turned toward him with an incredulous expression.
"Idiot! Did you think Amon was lying to us?"
"No!"
Marcus immediately defended himself.
"I believed him, but..."
He continued staring at Scarlett.
"Seeing her in person is still unbelievable."
Aisha remained silent. Her gaze settled on Amon and Scarlett. Amon held Scarlett as though nothing else existed around him.
Neither of them seemed to care about the ruined forest, the danger they had barely escaped, or the people standing nearby.
They appeared lost in their own world. Aisha clicked her tongue quietly and looked away.
For some reason the sight irritated her. After a few moments, Scarlett finally loosened her hold on Amon.
"We shouldn’t remain here," she said calmly. "There may be more enemies nearby."
She looked toward the others.
"We should return to Eriye Village."
Before anyone could respond...
Seraphina’s expression suddenly changed.
"It moved."
she was still looking at the direction of Alaric’s dead body. Her golden eyes locked onto Alaric’s corpse.
Scarlett immediately frowned. She rose to her feet and placed one arm around Amon, helping him stand.
Everyone turned toward the body. Alaric’s corpse was twitching.
One finger moved. Then his arm jerked unnaturally.
Amon stared at it in disbelief.
"How is that possible?"
Alaric had been caught directly in the explosion. There was no way anyone could survive such an attack.
Scarlett’s amethyst eyes narrowed.
"He’s dead."
Her voice was firm.
"There’s no doubt about it."
That only made Amon more confused.
"If he’s dead...Then why is he moving?"
Aisha, Marcus, and Eliana immediately drew their weapons.
Seraphina stepped forward as well, golden mana gathering around her hands despite her injuries.
Then a dark-violet magic circle appeared beneath Alaric’s corpse.
Ancient symbols rotated slowly within it. Thick darkness erupted from the circle and wrapped itself around the entire body.
The air grew cold. An unnatural pressure descended over the clearing.
Everyone watched cautiously as the darkness swallowed the corpse.
Several seconds later it began to recede. The darkness spread in to the air.
Alaric was standing. But there was no life within him.
His skin had been burned completely black, and a massive hole remained in the center of his chest. His eyes were entirely consumed by darkness, without even a trace of white remaining.
He wasn’t breathing. There was no heartbeat. There was no pulse. there was nothing.
Yet he stood before them. The gaping wound in his chest slowly began to close.
Burned flesh regenerated. Broken bones shifted back into place with sickening cracks.
Amon gripped his weapon tightly.
"What is that? What’s happening to him?"
Scarlett stared at the corpse for several seconds before answering.
"He’s become an undead."
Everyone looked toward her.
"Alaric is dead," she continued. "What stands before us now is nothing more than a puppet."
Her gaze sharpened.
"Someone is controlling his corpse from somewhere else."
Seraphina raised one brow.
"Who would do something like this?"
Eliana’s expression darkened.
"Someone who wanted you dead."
Before Seraphina could respond.
Alaric’s head moved.
It turned toward them with an unnatural jerk. His lifeless black eyes swept across the group.
Then his burned lips slowly opened.
A voice emerged. But it wasn’t Alaric’s. The voice was deep, calm, and filled with cold amusement.
"This...was not what I expected."
Everyone froze after hearing that voice. The corpse was talking. That was impossible. How could a corpse spoke.
The corpse continued speaking.
"Alaric was killed...by a group of children."
A faint, mocking laugh escaped from its throat.
"How humiliating."
Amon’s expression hardened. Someone else was speaking through Alaric’s corpse. And whoever it was had been watching everything.
The undead slowly turned its head.
Its pitch-black eyes swept across the group one by one.
The lifeless gaze lingered on each of them for only a brief moment before finally stopping on Scarlett.
A flicker of understanding appeared in those unnatural eyes.
"...I see. Another Transcendent-ranked individual was present."
Its burned lips curled into a faint smile.
"No wonder Alaric was defeated. I had wondered how someone of his strength could possibly fall against a handful of academy students."
The corpse tilted its head slightly.
"So...It was you."
Scarlett stepped half a pace forward, instinctively placing herself between the undead and everyone else.
Her eyes remained cold and emotionless.
"Who are you?"
The undead ignored her question. Instead its gaze slowly shifted away from Scarlett. It settled upon Amon. The smile on its charred face widened ever so slightly.
"So...You are the one."
The voice carried an unmistakable trace of curiosity now.
"The child Alaric was so desperate to kill."
Its pitch-black eyes carefully examined Amon from head to toe, as though trying to understand what made him so special.
It simply stared. Then it chuckled softly.
"...Interesting. Very interesting."