Chapter 171: Laughing Wildly.

"What's gotten into him?"

Hannah turned to the undead priest beside her and asked inquisitively, but it only stared blankly at her. The undead priest didn't seem particularly interested in answering, and Hannah wasn't sure it even understood what she was asking.

Damien's miasma held down the Eidolon Priest as the Undead Lich manifested beside him. The black mist wrapped tightly around the Priest's body, pinning its limbs against the ground while the Lich stood silently nearby, its purple runes glowing faintly across its skeletal frame.

"What are you doing? We had an agreement. You were supposed to spare my life."

Damien's cold eyes sent shivers down its spine. There was no anger in them, no hesitation and, strangely enough, not even any excitement. He simply looked at the Eidolon Priest as though it were something he had already decided to use.

The Undead Lich even appeared to have a satisfied smile on its face, despite the fact that it was made entirely of bone.

"You know, there's something else about my world you should know. We believe in sacrifice for the greater good, such as scientific advancement. I mean, more mice have died in labs than people in hospitals…" Damien paused briefly, looking down at the struggling Priest. "You see, Eidolon Priest, you and I are going to do some research."

The Eidolon Priest's eyes widened. It clearly didn't like the sound of that.

Before it could respond, the Undead Lich raised one hand. The runes covering its bones brightened, and the air around its fingers twisted violently. A moment later, several blades of compressed wind shot forward.

The blades struck the Priest's limbs with frightening precision, snapping its tendons and leaving its body unable to move properly. The Eidolon Priest struggled against the black miasma, but there was nowhere for it to go.

It howled in pain.

Which irked Damien, so he reached forward and surgically removed its vocal cords.

"That will keep you quiet."

Blood quickly drenched the Eidolon Priest, staining its blue scales as it struggled weakly beneath the miasma. Damien didn't seem bothered by the sight. His expression remained just as cold as when he had entered the house.

Damien turned toward the Undead Lich, then stepped aside and allowed it to take centre stage. The Lich sat down next to the Eidolon Priest, its skeletal body lowering with an almost casual calmness.

Damien summoned the Vestige, Tome of Avarice, and opened its pages.

The second page was pitch black. There was no writing on it, no visible rune or symbol, only an unnatural darkness that seemed deeper than the rest of the ancient book. Damien retrieved some of the Eidolon Priest's blood and smeared it across the black page.

At first, nothing happened.

The blood remained on the page for several seconds, seemingly absorbed by the darkness beneath it. Then, without warning, the entire book lit up brightly.

A string of runes began to manifest across the black page.

They moved slowly at first, appearing one after another before spreading across the surface. The strange symbols seemed to shift as they formed, and the blood Damien had smeared onto the page began disappearing as though the book itself was greedily drinking it.

Damien narrowed his eyes.

He couldn't understand the runes. They weren't a language he could read, and even after everything he had learned about the Tome of Avarice, the meaning behind its inscriptions remained beyond him. That didn't stop him from trying to understand its power.

Damien carefully watched the runes as they continued to absorb what remained of the Priest's blood. He didn't touch the page again. Instead, he gave the book to the Undead Lich and stepped back.

The Lich accepted it without hesitation.

Damien folded his arms and watched curiously, his cold expression finally showing a hint of interest.

Then cold chanting began to echo through the darkness.

The sound seemed to come from everywhere at once. Damien could hear it from the runes covering the Undead Lich, but at the same time, it seemed to be coming from the black miasma surrounding them. He couldn't tell which was the source, and the deeper the chanting became, the harder it was to distinguish one sound from another.

A powerful blackness descended around them, deeper and more ancient than Damien's own miasma. It spread through them like an additional layer of darkness, swallowing what little light remained and making even Damien's vision begin to fail.

That alone unsettled him. He was within his own domain, yet something else was interfering with his sight.

Hannah's head suddenly collided with the outer layer of miasma as she attempted to walk inside. She stumbled back, rubbed her forehead and glared at the Undead Priest.

The Priest only shrugged. It was obvious that it had no idea what was happening either. Hannah sighed lightly and turned away from the darkness.

"At least help me clean the place up, but don't touch my books… Huh?"

Her eyes fell on the undead Priest lying lifelessly on the ground. Well, he was already lifeless to begin with, but this was different. Damien's influence over the undead creature seemed to have vanished completely.

Hannah stared at the body for several seconds before looking back toward the darkness.

Strong wind suddenly blew through the miasma, causing Damien's black coat to whip violently behind him. A dreadful presence began to manifest within the darkness.

Yet strangely enough, there was something almost divine and pure about it.

The contradiction was so severe that Damien could barely process it. The presence felt foul precisely because it carried two qualities that should never have existed together.

The Undead Lich raised its head and appeared to be laughing wildly, though Damien could no longer tell for certain. The darkness was becoming too thick, even for him.

Then dark tentacles made of pure darkness suddenly shot out from the black page. They plunged directly into the body of the Eidolon Priest.

Its body convulsed violently as the tentacles burrowed deeper. It attempted to roar in pain, but no sound came out. Instead, black blood bubbled from its throat and spilled across the ground.

[Blood Ritual]