Whooooosh!
A fierce chill erupted from Bane's body, frosting the cavern walls and blanketing the floor in a layer of ice.
The powerful cold storm forced the cultist mages—and even the knights of the Celestial Scorpion Palace—to fall back.
As Zeke had instructed, Bane recited his lines.
"This is the resting place of the great Holy King! Those who disturb his repose shall face divine punishment!"
One of the cultist mages pointed at Bane and shouted.
"It's a guardian of the ruins! If we take it down, the door will open!"
Carlito hesitated for a moment before he barked orders at the Celestial Scorpion Palace knights.
"Kill it!"
The knights charged at Bane with swords drawn, following the command.
Rumble rumble rumble—
The intense cold pouring from Bane's body then enveloped the Celestial Scorpion Palace knights.
At that moment, the cultist mages chanted eerie incantations, casting spells over the knights.
Ssssh—
As the black energy seeped into them, the knights seemed to feel no more cold. They straightened from their huddled postures and pressed forward.
With their senses numbed by the magic, the knights ignored the frost creeping over their armor and skin, charging ahead relentlessly.
Bane panicked at the sight.
'What the hell are these guys?'
He had been ordered by Zeke to bind their feet. To carry out the command, Bane unleashed another spell.
Crack crack crack!
With a swing of his staff, a massive ice wall surged up, blocking the path of the oncoming Celestial Scorpion Palace knights.
At the same time, he conjured several ice spikes and hurled them at the knights.
Boom boom boom boom!
Trapped by the ice wall, the Celestial Scorpion Palace knights swung their swords to deflect the barrage of falling spikes.
But then, one of the ice spikes flew toward Gillian, who was at the rear.
Crunch!
The spike pierced Gillian, weakening the magic-infused chains that bound him.
Groooar!
Gillian let out a monstrous roar as he rose to his feet.
He strained against the chains binding him, trying to snap them through sheer force.
Seeing this, Carlito panicked.
"W-Wait a second!"
Snap!
In an instant, Gillian shattered the chains.
Rooooar!
Roaring like a barbarian, Gillian thrashed about, unable to break the leather restraints that still held him.
The restraints, enchanted with powerful ancient magic and an artifact of indestructible make, couldn't be torn by brute strength alone.
Frustrated that they wouldn't yield no matter how he struggled, Gillian charged forward.
He barreled straight ahead, slamming headfirst into the ice wall.
Boom boom boom crash!
Gillian's head collided with the solid ice wall, followed by his body.
Rooooar!
As if venting his pent-up agony from the bindings, he battered the wall relentlessly until cracks spiderwebbed across its surface. Soon, it shattered entirely.
Rumble rumble rumble!
With one side of the ice wall crumbling, Bane had no choice but to panic. 'No way a human can do that. Is that guy a barbarian or something?' Rooooar!
Still bound, Gillian flailed and howled like a beast.
Watching from the side, Carlito seized the moment and shouted.
"Now! Kill that guardian!"
Celestial Scorpion Palace knights surged through the broken ice wall, lunging toward Bane, who hovered in the air.
Whoooosh!
Dozens of knights swung aura-infused swords at Bane.
Boom boom boom boom boom!
Bane soared higher into the air and retaliated by launching ice spikes at the knights below.
But the knights, empowered by the cultists, batted away every spike and closed in, swinging at him relentlessly.
Bane stared in disbelief at the Celestial Scorpion Palace knights, their reason lost to the magic.
'They're not undead—how can living knights act like this?'
The cold Bane summoned was potent enough to freeze an ordinary person solid in mere seconds.
Yet these knights, struck head-on by it, pressed forward without a care, enduring the agony of their bodies freezing.
Some among them had limbs snap from the frost, unable to withstand the chill.
But the Celestial Scorpion Palace knights, bereft of pain, ignored even severed limbs, fixated solely on their assault.
They seemed more undead than Bane, the lich himself.
From behind, the cultists watched, gripping staffs adorned with the idols of their constellations, and began chanting ominous spells once more.
Black energy oozed from the sacred relics.
Ssssh—
seeping darkness infiltrated the noses and mouths of the Celestial Scorpion Palace knights.
Moments later, their lips turned black, and the tongues within withered to charred husks.
Through the power of the Serpent in the Black Mouth, the knights had traded their tongues for unbreakable flesh.
Their eyes shifted, taking on a serpentine gleam.
Sssss—
Tongueless, the knights hissed like snakes. From their severed limbs, new appendages sprouted, scaled like a serpent's hide.
Empowered by the constellation, the Celestial Scorpion Palace knights—now grotesque, scarcely human—charged at Bane with eerie cries.
"Guh!"
Bane recoiled in horror as the knights leaped from the walls to seize him, leaping back into the air.
Just then, a signal came from Zeke.
'Bane, fall back.'
"Understood, Master!"
At Zeke's command, Bane shook off the snake knights and retreated, rising higher into the air.
"You fools! The Holy King's divine punishment will befall you!"
As he cried out, Bane's body began to glow brilliantly. A razor-sharp gale then whipped around them.
Whoooosh!
fierce wind shoved the snake knights back, blanketing the area in white frost. In the
next instant, Bane vanished without a trace.
Ssssh—
With Bane gone, the filling cold dissipated, and the air returned to normal.
The snake knights, still hissing, searched for their vanished foe.
But soon after, they began collapsing to the ground one by one.
Black smoke rose from their bodies, reducing the snake knights to withered mummies.
Their life force, drawn out by the cultists' magic, had finally been exhausted; their flesh could endure no more.
Carlito clenched his teeth at the sight of his knights, reduced to shattered mummies.
'Damn it. If I stay here any longer, I'll end up the same.'
He racked his brain for a way to escape with his captain, Gillian.
As he glanced around frantically, the door behind him suddenly began to creak open.
Rumble rumble rumble—
The door parted without any ritual, prompting the cultists to bow deeply toward their sacred relic and cry out.
"The constellation has graced us and opened the door!"
The Serpent in the Black Mouth was a constellation that valued deals above all.
It offered no rewards without compensation.
The cultists knew this well, but with their impatient emperor waiting, they had seized the initiative.
The hunting dogs entered first, scouting the interior.
Unlike the outer catacombs, the inside preserved its original circular form intact.
Seeing the architecture that evoked the ancient Rubern Dynasty, the hunting dogs were certain this was the Holy King's tomb.
Upon receiving their report, the cultist mages rushed to inform the emperor that the ruins' door had opened.
From beyond the palanquin's curtain, the emperor's voice rang out.
"We take the Holy King's remains now. Let us go."
The Imperial Guard lifted the emperor's palanquin and proceeded into the ruins.
The emperor felt urgency gnawing at him.
He knew his soul could abandon this wretched body at any moment.
The palanquin soon arrived before the ruins' entrance.
Having missed his chance to flee, Carlito had no choice but to kneel before the emperor and bow his head.
"Your Majesty! This Carlito vows to offer body and soul in Your Majesty's defense!" The emperor ignored Carlito's words, leading his Imperial Guard into the ruins.
The cultist mages, hunting dogs, and remaining Celestial Scorpion Palace knights followed.
As the emperor's forces fully entered the Holy King's resting place, a massive rumble echoed.
Rumble rumble rumble—
The open door began to close once more.
Startled, Carlito tried to use an artifact to escape, but to his shock, his mana backlashed, preventing the magic from activating.
Crackle crackle crackle—
With his expensive artifact failing utterly, Carlito panicked and dashed toward the narrowing gap.
But he was too late.
Boom!
The door sealed shut, trapping the emperor's forces inside the resting place.
Carlito quickly shifted his tone, shouting at the cultist mages.
"How insolent! To close the door with His Majesty present! Open it at once!" The cultist mages, caught off guard by the sudden reversal, stammered.
"N-No, it's not..."
They hadn't done anything to open the door in the first place, leaving them powerless.
From the curtained palanquin, the enraged emperor bellowed.
"Enough dawdling! Guide us to the Holy King's remains!"
Carlito hurried to the Imperial Guard's side and yelled at the cultists.
"What are you waiting for? Didn't you hear His Majesty? Lead the way!"
Sensing something off in Carlito's demeanor but not suspecting the brainwashing had broken, the cultists gripped their sacred relics and proceeded forward.
As they traversed a corridor preserved in the style of the Rubern Dynasty, a massive door appeared before them.
Seeing the emblem of light matching the one on the entrance door, the cultist mages assured the emperor.
"Your Majesty! This time, the Holy King's remains are surely beyond that door."
Eager to atone for their earlier failure, the cultists approached the door and pressed their sacred relic against it.
Suddenly, the skull dangling from their staff began to rattle wildly—a vibration subtly different from before.
"Wh-What is this?"
At the same time, the sealed door slowly creaked open.
The cultist mages turned to the emperor and cried out.
"Behold, Your Majesty! We have finally found the place of the Holy King's remains..."
Slash—
The cultist mages couldn't finish their words. Their heads were severed, rolling across the floor.
Thud!
As the headless cultist mages collapsed, Carlito, watching in horror, recoiled.
'What the hell?'
The door then swung fully open, revealing twelve armored knights marching out in perfect formation, swords at the ready.
Clad in gleaming full plate armor, the knights stood firm before the entrance to the resting place.
They were the golem knights guarding the Holy King's sanctuary.
With physiques rivaling barbarians, the golem knights blocked the way, rendering the open door meaningless.
The emperor bellowed at the motionless, ranked knights.
"What are you lot doing? Clear them away at once!"
At the emperor's roar, the hunting dogs and Celestial Scorpion Palace knights surged forward.
"Haaah!"
With near-feral yells, the Celestial Scorpion Palace knights and hunting dogs swung at the golem knights.
Yet the golem knights stood unmoving, swords in hand.
Whoooosh!
Feeling an eerie unease but pressing on, the attackers struck the golem knights' armor.
Clang!
Incredibly, their blades left not a single scratch.
Realizing the armor's material, the hunting dogs paled.
"M-Mithril?"
The golem knights were clad head to toe in solid mithril plate.
In that instant, glints flashed from within their helmets.
The once-still knights began to move.
Shing!
The twelve golem knights drew shields from their backs, strapped them on, and swung them at the hunting dogs and Celestial Scorpion Palace knights.
Boom!
The immense force sent them flying like leaves in a gale.
"Guh!"
As the struck foes staggered, massive swords whistled through the air.
Shing!
In one stroke, the blades bisected their waists.
The survivors recoiled in terror.
The cultist mages swiftly cast spells over them once more.
"Grrr!"
In moments, the surviving Celestial Scorpion Palace knights lost their tongues, transforming into snake knights.
Sssss!
The snake knights charged the shield-wielding golem knights.
But the outcome remained unchanged.
Boom!
Struck by the shields, the snake knights were reduced to bloody pulp.
From behind, Carlito's teeth chattered.
'These mad bastards—what are they?' It was then.
The emperor's waiting Imperial Guard began to advance.
Shing!
Aura blades erupted from the swords drawn by the Imperial Guard knights.
Just as they charged forward— Crackle crackle crackle!
Dozens of lightning bolts crashed down upon the emperor's palanquin.