The moment Alka saw the enemy, he knew it was him.
This was the previous owner of the treasure mentioned in the treasure information—Simon's captain.
So this was the only six-spiral enemy.
Just as he'd suspected.
Alka immediately ordered, "Julia, assist us. I'll deal with the one with the headband. The rest of you, clear out the other zombies."
He quickly surveyed the surrounding area. None of them posed a significant threat.
This meant these zombies were at most four-spiral, mostly between two and three.
The strongest was the monster with the treasure on its head standing before him.
Fortunately, it had become an undead zombie and couldn't use the treasure's abilities.
Following Alka's command, the group immediately began to disperse.
Julia began to sing at the top of her lungs, her stirring voice, filled with intense battle intent, crashing down on the crowd.
Arcana instantly felt her limbs surge with power, even her magic began to boil, becoming easier to control and more concentrated.
Using this magic to trigger offensive spells would unleash even more powerful attacks.
As the song began, all the zombies paused for a moment before resuming their actions.
This battle-inspired song was primarily used against intelligent enemies, severely damaging their morale and putting them under slight pressure.
But against these mindless, unintelligent undead, it only served to suddenly assault their shattered souls and subject their bodies to some stress.
The reason Julia sang this battle song was because the group was surrounded; such a song would greatly enhance their fighting ability.
Surrounded by enemies, a massive pink mist spread from beneath Alka's feet, surging outwards like a tidal wave.
This thick mist covered their feet.
All the zombies touched by the pink mist instantly became sluggish.
Their already slow movements now resembled those of a dying old man.
A shattered mirror reflected on Alka's face, and a figure wielding a black scythe and wearing a cloak of light emerged from it.
This figure was the only intelligent being Alka had ever seen in his dream.
The Death God of the Dream.
A ring of mirrors was placed around Alka's waist, then shattered, the fragments coalescing into a black and white sphere of light and shadow.
The sphere instantly released a surge of light and shadow energy, instantly forming a cloak that completely enveloped Alka.
At this moment, Arka resembled the Grim Reaper of Dreams, only more robust.
His figure was shrouded in a cloak, his face and limbs completely obscured.
Only from his slightly raised, drooping sleeves did the color of his flesh slowly emerge.
A massive, shadowy scythe appeared in Arka's hand.
This wasn't the first time he had used the Grim Reaper of Dreams form in the outside world. Besides in dreams, he had used and trained on it countless times in reality.
This allowed him to better unleash his full power in battle.
However, the experience of using it in the outside world was completely different from that in the dream world.
Without the powerful boost from the pink mist in the dream world, energy consumption increased significantly.
This state couldn't be maintained for long. According to Arka's previous tests, with his Four Helixes power, this state could only be maintained for about 20 minutes.
However, to ensure safety, Arka only used half of his magic power to maintain his state.
The consumption was enormous, but the resulting increase in strength surprised Arka.
Two blue cards flew out from within the cloak of light and shadow.
But Arka's hands didn't move; he still gripped his scythe.
Following the blue cards, he charged towards the enemy.
The two blue cards first slashed across the enemy, exploding on either side, and ten chains shot out, binding the enemy tightly.
Arka's scythe was already raised, and in an instant, he swung it down at the enemy.
With a clang, a loud, sharp metallic screech resounded.
Arka's scythe had already cut into the enemy's waist, but only to the blade level; with continued force, it was slowly cutting the enemy.
The enemy's body was too tough; its metal and flesh-like form severely hampered the blade's strike.
A zombie charged at Alka from the side.
Its hand was pierced through just as it was raised, an ice bullet freezing it in place.
A ribbon shot out, shattering the frozen zombie into fragments.
At this moment, the enemy in front of Alka broke free of the water chains, its hands radiating a dense, dark green energy as it swiftly swung towards Alka.
Just as it was about to strike Alka, a flash of light appeared, and Alka vanished from his sight.
The blade disappeared along with it.
A large amount of black liquid rapidly flowed from the opening in its waist and abdomen, a small flame appearing there, instantly igniting the black oil.
A flash of light and shadow revealed Alka behind the enemy, a white edge appearing on the blade of his shadowy scythe.
Raising the scythe high, he brought it down again with a fierce slash.
The blade sliced diagonally downwards from the enemy's neck, this time with an even sharper edge.
As the scythe blade fully penetrated the enemy's neck, the entire blade of the shadowy scythe began to boil.
The blade of light and shadow seemed to churn, spiraling and cutting like a saw.
The blade rapidly approached the enemy's spine, while the enemy, engulfed in flames, struggled in place.
Faced with this situation, Alka focused his energy on increasing his strength.
Seemingly sensing his impending death, his body still did not turn to offer any resistance.
Two large holes opened in his back, and two black, oily pipes shot out, rushing towards Alka. The moment the pipes gushing black oil burst forth, they were ignited by flames.
Seeing this, Arka removed his hands from the scythe, leaving it stuck against the enemy's neck, and quickly retreated.
Two silver cards flew out from under his cloak, tracing two arcs as they rapidly approached the enemy's back, flashing with silver light.
The two black oil pipes were instantly severed and fell to the ground.
The enemy had already turned around, reaching behind him, seemingly trying to remove the scythe from his body.
Arka reached up.
The scythe of light and shadow was forcefully pulled out, then flew quickly towards Arka, which he grasped.
The instant it was pulled out, the blade's tip pierced the enemy's spine due to the sliding motion.
The enemy could be seen twitching twice for a moment, but continued charging towards Arka. With a swing of his arms, he launched bursts of dark green energy missiles, each shaped like a dark green skull.
This was clearly an undead energy attack.
Whether it was Alka's imagination or not, these energy attacks seemed unusually scattered.
After dodging several attacks, a swift dark green arrow, concealed behind the main attack, shot straight towards Alka's face.
Alka tilted his head, quickly pulling his cloak down to cover his cheek.
The dark green arrow grazed past the cloak.
Meanwhile, the enemy's iron fist was already upon him, a punch aimed at Alka.
He raised his hand, lifting his cloak, and took the full force of the attack.
Such immense strength.
Alka felt a powerful force surge through his hand, and he was sent flying backward.
This punch not only shattered Alka's shield, but its powerful force even pierced through the cloak of light and shadow.
Alka could feel a fracture in his arm.
After the punch, the enemy, who had just unleashed a series of fluid movements, began to sway from side to side.
It was as if the fluid movements of his previous combo hadn't been executed at all; his body was stiff, as if he were stuck.
In mid-air, a ribbon flew in from the side and wrapped around Alka.
"Throw me over there!"
Hearing this, Julia changed her method of exertion, violently throwing Alka towards the enemy.
The enemy, freed from his stiff state, charged forward.
The instant Alka was thrown, a large amount of pink mist appeared around his legs, causing him to surge forward violently.
Alka's speed increased rapidly.
A pink streak of light and a green streak of light flashed across the sky.
Arka had already passed the enemy and stopped in his tracks.
The zombie was now kneeling on the ground, its left arm severed at the root.
A large amount of liquid gushed from the severed arm, then ignited again, turning the surrounding area into a sea of fire.
Arka wouldn't give the enemy a chance to breathe. He turned around, quickly raised his scythe, poured a massive amount of magic into it, and then hurled it fiercely.
The spiraling scythe formed a cutting ring in the air, slicing straight towards the enemy.
The zombie clearly sensed the attack, immediately curling into a ball and rolling to the side, dodging the blow.
It immediately stood up, facing Arka, then its body once again froze in a stiff, immobile position.
Several black pipes burst from his body, shooting towards Alka.
Facing the incoming pipes, Alka stood motionless.
The pipes stopped two meters away from him, then fell back down.
By this time, the enemy's chest had been pierced by the sharp blade of a scythe.
A dark, upright grip could be seen from behind his head.
Alka raised his left hand, fingers spread.
The propulsion from the spiraling return dragged the enemy's corpse into the air, flying towards Alka.
Alka snatched the grip, then stomped on the enemy's shoulder, pulling him backward with all his might.
The blade pierced the enemy's back, slicing upwards wildly with the pull.
"Squeak!"
With a piercing sound, the entire scythe was pulled out, the blade still adorned with mutilated limbs and black oil pipes.
Arka let out a heavy breath, hoisted the scythe onto his shoulder, and looked at the corpse he had pinned to the ground by his shoulder.
It was now clear that the enemy's shoulder, from the center to the head, had been cleaved in two.
The cut went up from the neck, exiting behind the enemy's ear.
Black oil gushed from the corpse lying on the ground, igniting the flames on its body and spreading outwards.
Looking at the corpse, Arka raised the scythe, then hooked the tip onto a burning headband, its surface shimmering with gold.
Arka swung the scythe, extinguishing the flames on the headband, then hung it at his waist.
A small ball of white flame appeared in his hand, which he tossed into the fire.
The white holy flame transformed the surrounding orange-red flames into a pure white holy fire.
Within the holy fire, a wisp of egg-white soul floated out, lingered in the air for a moment, and then vanished.
Seeing this, Arka nodded in satisfaction.
He had just noticed that the enemy's behavior was unusually strange; something seemed to be influencing the body, preventing it from attacking.
Otherwise, Arka wouldn't have been able to subdue the walking corpse so easily.
Indeed, it was the lingering soul within the body, yearning for eternal peace.
Meanwhile, the channels within the body, imbued with necromantic energy and black oil, were forcibly controlling the body to launch attacks.
Looking at the corpse in the flames, almost reduced to ashes, Arka turned to observe the others.
Surrounded by various mutilated corpses, they still faced several still-active zombies.
The group formed a semicircle, encircling him.
After checking his remaining magical energy, Alka raised his black scythe, the light and shadow flowing into it through his hands.
Then, Alka swung the scythe, taking with it the last wisp of light and shadow from his body.
Now, only a large hole in Alka's abdomen and a floating sphere of light and shadow remained.
The spiraling black scythe traced an arc, severing the necks of the still-living zombies one by one.
After completing a semicircle, it shattered into mirror-like reflections just before reaching Alka and vanished.
Also shattered was the hole in Alka's abdomen, and the mirror on his face sank.
As the enemy died, Jason lowered the guns he had been holding in his left and right hands.
He gave Alka a thumbs-up with his left hand.
"That was pretty cool."
"Hmph, of course."
The two exchanged a smile, and then Alka began to check on the others.
In such a brutal attack, everyone inevitably sustained some external injuries.
Bororo had two scratch marks on his arm, now glowing green, clearly indicating a strange energy invading.
Shadeti was alright, but her right trouser leg was completely gone, and the semi-circular ring she had just been given was now pulled down to her thigh.
On her exposed calves and the front half of her thighs, the fair skin was covered with dark green rotting flesh and black oil from the pipes.
As the water washed away the grime, large areas of purplish-blue bruises were revealed on her fair skin.
These were likely impact wounds caused by repeated powerful attacks using the ring.
A melodious and soothing song began, followed by two ribbons that shot out and wrapped around Polo and Shadeti.
The green energy from the song flowed through the ribbons to the two individuals.
Green pus oozed from the claw marks on Polo's hands, soon followed by fresh blood.
Jason, who had arrived beside him, quickly wrapped his wounds with pre-prepared bandages.
Similarly, the purplish-blue bruises on Shadeti's legs were fading, and she also had a dark green wound on her hand.
Once fresh blood flowed from the wound, Alka began bandaging it as well.
She then quickly bandaged her left hand. The bone in her left arm wasn't completely broken, but there was definitely a crack; she needed to rest.
Meanwhile, Lucilia, perched on a pile of rubble, was spraying water from her hands, cleaning the grime off Zero beside her.
Being small in stature but a melee fighter, she inevitably accumulated a lot of grime while attacking enemies.
On their bodies.
However, the advantage was that their doll-like bodies made them immune to the enemy's undead toxins.
"Hurry up and wash a couple more times, you wash me too, it stinks so bad, I can't stand it, this outfit is ruined!" Lucilia grumbled as they were being washed.
The battle had been intense, and the two hadn't had time to dodge the splattered filthy liquid.
Their small bodies were instantly covered in it, inevitably emitting a foul stench.
Just as they were talking, a large amount of clean water gushed from above, washing them.
It was Pololo, whose hands were already bandaged, who came to their side and began washing them with a large amount of pale blue water.
"This water... it has magic? Its cleaning power is amazing!"
Luceria couldn't help but exclaim.
The seemingly ordinary pale blue liquid quickly washed away the filth from their bodies, including their foul odor.
Jason, watching this, couldn't help but pat Polo on the shoulder.
"What kind of spell is that? Hurry up and rinse me off too."
Polo turned and glanced at Jason, then shook his head in disgust, gesturing for him to leave.
Jason, who had been attacking from a distance, remained completely untouched by the filth.
At this moment, Alka and Shadeti also arrived beside Polo.
Polo looked at the two of them, then had his other hand spray out a large amount of blue liquid, beginning to clean the filth off Shadeti and, incidentally, the odor from Alka.
Alka's robes of light and shadow, which he had been using in close combat, absorbed all the splattered filth.
He himself wasn't contaminated with any foul-smelling residue, but he still emitted a stench.
While everyone was resting, Alka went directly to the edge of the ruins and removed something from the back of a corpse.
This corpse should have been buried in the rubble, but Alka kicked it out as he left.
It was a small round shield, carried on the man's back.
Alka emerged with the small round shield; the others were now resting by the edge of the woods.
The area where they had just fought reeked of a strong stench.
Alka walked over, the stench carried away by the gentle breeze.
Jason, seeing Alka holding a shield in one hand and a headband in the other, asked, "What are these two good things?"
Alka didn't answer, but instead found a large tree and sat down against it.
Then, he sprayed water from his hands and began rinsing the two objects in his hands.
First, the shield was cleaned.
The small round shield was only about the size of an adult's head, likely worn on the arm. It had a beautiful brass metallic color, and the surface was patterned like scales.
Arka gave it a quick inspection.
"It can reflect a certain amount of energy attacks, and the shield is quite sturdy. A decent defensive piece of equipment. Anyone want it?"
Looking at the small round shield in Arka's hands, everyone looked at each other, and finally shook their heads.
"You don't want this?"
"The shield will affect my attack speed and agility," Xia Deti said, waving his hands.
Polo opened his arms: "This shield isn't even as big as my palm."
It's because the size doesn't match.
Arka could understand why these two didn't want it; it really wasn't suitable.
He turned to look at Julia and Jason.
"My ribbons can form a shield."
"I don't like it."
Hearing Jason's words, Alka couldn't help but grunt twice.
"Fine, then it'll just have to go into storage."
He then held up the headband, which had been cleaned.
The headband no longer emitted its golden light.
The headband was entirely white-gold, its surface glossy after cleaning, with a golden line running through the center, and a triangular decoration in the middle.
The triangle was made of interlocking gold and silver, with a triangular yellow crystal inlaid in the center.
This was the biggest haul of the trip.
The Holy Grail-level treasure, the [Ring of Light].
Holding it in his hand, the [Dreamcatcher] already began to repel him, while the [Mirror] seemed unaffected.
"What kind of equipment is this?"
Lucilla asked, sitting next to Alka.
Alka looked down at her.
Then he looked at everyone, a smile on his face, and said,
"This is a...treasure."