The power of the Golden Order seemed to turn into a boundless golden ocean, with waves surging and great swells crashing into the sky.
Before that golden sea, the massive skeletons looked pitifully small and fragile. The moment they drew near, they were smashed to the ground by the towering waves rushing straight at them.
A thunderous blast rang out, water spraying more than ten meters into the air. The skeletons' frames were instantly blown apart, scattering everywhere as countless tiny fragments.
And once Those Who Live in Death were shattered, they could no longer piece themselves back together. They had completely lost the ability to move.
Nolan glanced at the broken bone fragments, then casually swung the Dark Moon Greatsword and unleashed a freezing slash of Magical Power.
Moonlight Greatsword!
With a clear ringing cry of the blade, the sword light swept across the lake.
The water was forcibly split apart, and icy Magical Power spread along the blade. Wherever it passed, the surface rapidly froze into a thick layer of ice crystals that stretched into the distance.
However, the Tibia Mariner seemed to have evaporated into thin air, disappearing without a trace.
Nolan turned his head slightly and looked into the distance. The little boat had reappeared farther away, ghostlike as ever.
It sat quietly upon the churning lake, steady as a mountain no matter how the wind and waves battered it, without the slightest sway.
The boat drifted in the distance while the dragon-transformed Lord beat the wings on his back and watched it from the sky.
To Nolan, the Tibia Mariner was a little strange, truly ghostlike, but nowhere near enough to pose much of a threat.
Disappear one moment and reappear the next. Nolan could do something similar himself. To put it plainly, was it not just Bloodhound's Step, only a slower and inferior version?
It was simple enough to deal with. He only had to be fast enough, so fast the other side had no time to react at all.
That meant driving his blade into its body before it could disappear.
Nolan hefted the greatsword onto his shoulder, held Melina close in his arms, and suddenly snapped the pair of flying dragon wings on his back.
A violent gale erupted at once.
In the blink of an eye, Nolan vanished from where he stood like a phantom. The next instant, he was already directly in front of the Tibia Mariner.
Just as expected, the moment its gaze landed on Nolan, the ancient gravekeeper standing on the boat showed no panic. Instead, its body, together with the entire vessel, began to turn transparent.
It possessed a certain degree of intelligence. It knew it could not face this man head-on. Its true advantage lay in summoning Those Who Live in Death.
But the Those Who Live in Death beneath its feet could no longer revive, and the ones farther away had not yet arrived.
Nolan swung his sword faster than it could vanish. In the blink of an eye, the boat split in two, and even the lake and the earth seemed to crack apart with it.
The ancient gravekeeper's disappearance was interrupted. What followed immediately after was a storm of countless sword lights.
As long as it has a health bar, there is no need to fear any so-called ghost or demon.
The dense web of sword lights interwove into a vast net that blotted out the sky, engulfing the ancient gravekeeper and everything around it.
In an instant, the little boat shattered, the horn broke apart, and the skeleton crumbled into countless tiny bone fragments, drifting down like snow.
"Magnificent!" Seeing this, Lansseax, who had arrived just in time, let out a dragon's roar in delight.
The Ancient Dragon, whose whole heart was fixed on Nolan, naturally could not miss a scene like this. The moment she woke up, she rushed here at full speed.
Sellen, on her back, was thrown from side to side. Nolan had told her to keep watch over Lansseax, but since the Ancient Dragon had run out on her own, of course she had no choice but to follow.
"How was it?" The Princess's voice sounded by his ear once more. She had always believed Nolan would win, but she also knew full well that his real objective was not that boat.
Nolan gently shook his head and replied, "Nothing."
Death and power had entered his body, but there was no extra sensation beyond that.
A trace of disappointment appeared on Ranni's beautiful face. That meant the danger Nolan would have to face next was even greater.
But just as everyone's mood grew heavy, Nolan suddenly seemed to notice something. The tight line of his mouth eased slightly into a faint smile.
He turned his head and looked toward a distant spot, then said softly, "No need to be disappointed yet. Look over there."
He slowly raised a finger and pointed toward the patch of ice that had not yet fully melted.
Through the cracks on the ice's surface, they could vaguely make out what lay beneath the lake.
What came into view was nothing but sand, gravel, scattered bone fragments, and clear ice crystals. There was not a single moving thing to be seen.
A thick, revolting stench filled the air, like the reek of countless corpses mingled with the fishy smell carried by the wind. It was hard to describe and nauseating to the extreme.
Fortunately, Nolan had long since grown used to the particular smell that came with death after spending so much time in all kinds of dangerous places. Otherwise, he might have vomited up the dinner he had just eaten.
"It's tree roots!" Lansseax, hovering in midair, suddenly cried out.
Because she was higher up, her field of vision was broader than everyone else's, and she quickly spotted the twisted, grotesque things exposed on the lakebed.
Before her words had even finished, Lansseax beat her broad wings hard and flew over.
She saw thick roots thrusting up from underground. She had seen something similar before, beneath Stormveil Castle.
"No wonder there are so many Those Who Live in Death here. It seems the shadow of death has already spread this far..." Lansseax murmured softly to herself.
A figure suddenly entered her field of vision. Looking closely, she realized it was Nolan, who had somehow already reached the bottom of the lake.
He continued walking along those tangled roots, as if searching for something.
The others followed closely behind him. The atmosphere was tense, but not oppressive, and in the end they arrived at the edge of a steep cliff.
Once they stopped, everyone was startled to find that both the inner cliff face and the ground were covered in intersecting cracks.
Those fissures spread out like a spiderweb, as though some huge and terrifying existence were trying to break out from below.
For a moment, the whole scene became intensely chilling.
Everyone fell silent, several pairs of beautiful eyes fixed on the man standing above the cracks.
Everyone present understood that the Dead Prince was no ordinary Demigod, and death was no ordinary Divine Power.
The silence lasted for less than a second. Aside from those gazes remaining locked on their target, no one moved.
Then Nolan raised his hand. Dense death gathered within it, and he struck down with a single palm.
In the very next instant, the scarred earth could finally hold out no longer.