The group continued advancing deeper and deeper into the cemetery. At this point, they had spent hours following the trails of Soliel’s light.

Uriel still had the presence of the ogre leader etched into his mind. It was difficult to forget someone like him, like a savage beast capable of tearing your face off at any moment, yet somehow civilized. In fact, he had been fairly cordial.

As they walked, Ininise suddenly stopped.

She extended her arm in front of Uriel.

Miguel also halted, his expression instantly turning severe.

"Stop. Don’t you feel like something’s wrong?"

Miguel’s gaze swept across every possible hiding place, mainly behind the tombs and the gigantic black structures scattered throughout the cemetery.

"He’s right. We haven’t fought anything in a long time, and we’re still inside the cemetery."

Uriel agreed with Miguel’s thoughts. This was strange. By now, they should’ve encountered several groups of monsters.

And yet, the golden light still remained, pointing them toward the path they had to follow.

Almost as if it were a premonition, a group of five people stepped out from behind the different tombs.

A group of climbers.

"Hey, seriously, couldn’t you guys have kept walking just a little farther?"

A young-looking red-haired man stepped forward. He seemed to be the leader.

The other four climbers immediately drew bows. One of them even carried a crossbow.

"What do you want?"

Uriel stared directly at him. If they weren’t already killing each other, it was because this man wanted something Uriel had, or thought he could gain some advantage before starting the fight.

"You guys are here because of the prophecy too, right? Man, of course you are. There aren’t many climbers walking around in golden armor."

"Get to the point."

Uriel didn’t want to waste any more time. If they were going to fight, then so be it. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

"Damn, look at this tough guy just because he’s carrying a giant hammer. Listen, kid, let’s do this. You hand over that thing you’ve got there and we’ll all go our separate wa—"

"GAAAH!"

Suddenly, the man carrying the crossbow watched in horror as a spear erupted from the ground and pierced straight through his guts.

Uriel saw the opportunity and didn’t waste it.

"Ininise!"

Immediately, Ininise raised the red spear in her hand while her crimson battle mage armor materialized around her body, ready for combat. The spear pointed with deadly precision toward the red-haired man.

However, right before impact, his body became translucent, causing the attack to pass harmlessly through him.

"What the hell are you idiots waiting for?! Shoot these sons of bitches!"

Three arrows flew through the air.

Two of them were sloppy shots. One struck Miguel’s body but bounced harmlessly off his armor.

Another was aimed at Ininise, but missed entirely, passing beside one of her legs.

The last arrow, however, was different.

It struck Vladimir directly in the stomach.

But he barely moved from where he stood. A simple arrow seemed like nothing to this man.

What followed was a massacre.

These climbers had already lost one of their members, putting them at a complete disadvantage against a full group like Uriel’s.

Vladimir moved with terrifying speed, charging toward his opponents like a beast unleashed from its chains. The cemetery ground cracked beneath his footsteps, and before one of the archers could retreat, the massive man was already standing in front of him.

The climber’s eyes widened in horror.

"W-wait—"

Vladimir’s gigantic hand grabbed his face.

Then smashed him against one of the black tombs.

BOOM!

The stone shattered, and the man’s skull exploded against it in a gruesome spectacle. He didn’t even have time to react.

Uriel didn’t have time to be impressed.

The red-haired man was already moving again.

His body kept entering that strange translucent state whenever an attack came close to hitting him. It didn’t seem offensive, but rather some kind of defensive ability designed to make him untouchable.

Uriel observed the skill and came to a simple conclusion.

Annoying... incredibly annoying.

"Get back!"

Something strange was happening. Miguel wasn’t chasing the red-haired man or trying to attack him. Instead, he was completely focused on something else.

Miguel raised his sword just as two bone spears burst from the ground.

CLANG.

One crashed against his blade while the other grazed his shoulder.

Miguel frowned.

It wasn’t them.

There was someone else here.

The cemetery began trembling faintly.

The black gravestones vibrated, and a wet sound emerged from below.

Like flesh being torn apart.

The red-haired man’s face changed instantly.

"What the hell...?"

Then dozens of skeletal hands burst from the ground.

Some still had rotting flesh clinging to them.

Others were deeply decayed.

Corpses slowly began rising all around them.

Uriel felt a chill run down his spine.

These weren’t ordinary skeletons.

The aura surrounding them was different.

Heavier.

More corrupted.

The golden light of Soliel faintly glowed through Uriel’s hands, and the hammer seemed to react on its own to the darkness.

As if it rejected that energy.

"That damn necromancer again," Miguel muttered.

One of the corpses fully climbed out of the ground, revealing a massive body covered in rusted armor. Its jaw hung twisted, and in one hand it carried a gigantic sword snapped in half.

Then another appeared.

And another.

The entire cemetery seemed to awaken.

The red-haired man cursed loudly.

"Shit! This wasn’t part of the deal!"

Uriel turned his head toward him.

He knew too much important information to be allowed to escape.

One of the corpses lunged at the red-haired man.

He activated his ability again, phasing through the monster’s body like a ghost, but three more appeared behind him.

Ininise extended her hand.

Her spear once again rested in her grasp, ready to kill any monster that stood before her.

BOOM!

The corpses were pierced cleanly by her spear. The first few were easy, but some kept advancing even with half their torsos destroyed.

"Uriel!"

Miguel shouted while blocking another monster’s attack.

Uriel reacted immediately.

He tightened his grip on the enormous hammer and activated Divine Light.

The weapon erupted with golden flashes.

The corpse in front of Miguel turned its head just before the hammer slammed directly into its chest.

Its torso was crushed instantly.

CRAAAAACK.

A massive fissure opened a few meters away from the group.

Everyone immediately stepped back.

Even Vladimir retreated a single step.

Something was emerging again.

That creature moving beneath the underground was returning.

A gigantic worm burst out of the earth.

Its skin was covered with countless skeletal hands.

Uriel felt pressure.

This enemy truly wanted him dead.

An enormous figure began rising from beneath the cemetery.

Several meters tall.

Covered in hands of different sizes.

It looked like a worm made entirely from the fused skeletons buried in the cemetery.

Uriel immediately charged forward, throwing himself into battle with his hammer ready. He smashed the monster’s body, forcing it backward.

By this point, the red-haired man had escaped. However, Uriel noticed Vladimir had captured one of the enemy climbers alive, though he had no idea why.

Right now, all that mattered was killing the worm writhing in pain from the blow. Soliel’s energy seemed extremely effective against it.

Uriel advanced with firm steps as the worm rose again.

But Uriel was already prepared.

He lifted the hammer, spinning it with force, and just as the creature lunged forward to devour him, he completed the swing.

The hammer crashed directly into the worm’s jaw.

Miguel appeared behind it, slicing the worm into multiple sections with his sword.

The worm still tried to continue fighting.

However, Uriel simply approached each remaining piece and destroyed them one by one with downward strikes of his hammer.

The battle had been terribly chaotic.

But it ended quickly.

Uriel searched for Anastasia and found her once again sticking her hands into one of the corpses, likely trying to uncover something.

However, her next words surprised him.

"Comrades, I found the necromancer. Now it’s only a matter of paying the bastard a visit."

The entire group turned toward Anastasia.

The woman remained crouched beside the opened corpse while her fingers slowly moved through the worm’s blackened flesh. Her expression was strangely serious this time.

Even Vladimir approached.

The massive man still had fresh blood covering part of his arms while dragging the captured climber with one hand. The man could barely remain conscious after being beaten repeatedly.

"You found him?" Miguel asked.

Anastasia slowly nodded.

"Yes... this body was directly connected to him."

Uriel frowned.

"Connected? What do you mean?"

Anastasia pulled her hand away from the worm’s body, revealing several black threads sticking to her fingers.

They looked like veins.

But they moved.

As if they were alive.

"To be honest, I don’t fully understand it either, Commissar Uriel, but these things are releasing negative energy toward a specific direction."

Miguel cursed under his breath.

That explained too many things.

The strange skeletal wolf.

The absence of monsters.

The ambush.

Someone had been watching them for a long time.

"So he already knows where we are," Uriel said.

"Probably."

Anastasia slowly stood up.

Her reddish eyes focused on a specific section of the cemetery.

In the distance, enormous black structures could be seen rising through the greenish mist. They resembled gigantic funerary towers connected by broken stone bridges.

And right there...

Soliel’s golden light pointed directly toward them.

Uriel felt a chill.

As if something inside him was reacting.

"The necromancer is there."

And they were going after him.