Imperial Crown.

Chapter 265: Changes in Ancestor Worship
Many thanks to Qidian Dad [Fish Questioned by Water] for the 2 reward!

……

Peter is just one of the many people in Eagle Town, and there are many people like him.

He still failed to ask for leave the next day, and Eagle Town, like him, continued to operate in an orderly manner according to the established rhythm.

As the enrollment for Griffith College was gradually completed, Eagle Town had about 600 more foreign families. Most of these people were businessmen, and a small number were knights' retainers who were frustrated under their respective lords.

With the children here, it is inevitable that part of their respective industries have to be moved here. Although they have not been able to fully absorb the consumer market that expanded after the competition, the wave of unemployment that Fiona had once worried about has not occurred.

The time came on June 1197, 1.

Raven officially turned twenty-four.

I had lunch with Nancy at noon, and in the afternoon I took a shower, changed clothes, and made good preparations. It was not until dark that I drove to Eagle Castle under the escort of a team of personal soldiers led by Eric.

It's the annual day to worship our ancestors.

According to the tradition of the Nordic province, noble ancestor worship can only be performed by the current head of the family, and spouses and children are not eligible.

If they are not heirs, they can only enter the cemetery after their death.

Eagle Castle still looks the same as before, but it is much more deserted - after all, since moving to Eagle City, there are only a few guards left here who take turns to guard it.

Originally, Raven planned to transform it into his own wizard tower, but after all, this was his ancestral land, so he finally gave up after thinking about it.

After ordering everyone to wait outside, Raven led Eric into the hall. Margaret and William were already waiting there. They immediately saluted together, "Master!"

There were two muffled voices beside him: "Baron Raven!"

Turning around, it was Mark and Doug.

Both of them still have long hair, pale skin and sunken eye sockets, but after shaving their beards and being able to wash freely every day, they don't look so shabby anymore.

After Eagle Castle was evacuated, these two prisoners were still unable to leave, but their range of activities was larger.

Raven nodded casually, went to the corner of the first floor, activated the mechanism, and soon an empty corridor appeared in front of everyone.

Walking underground, the cold and slightly turbid air gradually rose, and the sound of footsteps echoed in the empty cemetery.

The environment of the cemetery will never change, but every time he comes here and looks at the coffins of his ancestors, Raven will have some different feelings.

He walked to the end of the cemetery and came to the source of his bloodline - the tomb of Don Quixote Ota Griffith, a powerful man who once reached the seventh level.

After lighting the torch, Raven cut his palm as usual, dripped his blood into the wine, and then picked it up and drank it all.

Every time he offered sacrifice to his ancestors, Raven would think of the blood curse wrapped around his body, and every time he would be reminded how much life he had left.

In less than 16 years, when I turn 40, the blood curse will follow.

But it's not entirely without solutions.

Earlier, at a banquet during the competition, Anthony had mentioned that every once in a while, ranging from 10 to 30 years, the Keynes Empire would send a group of envoys to the ancient forest to visit the Elf Empire.

Many specialties of the Elf Empire are circulated through this channel.

Including the root of the tree of life in Raven's hand.

What really makes all the nobles salivate is the sixth-level material - the sap of life.

As long as you take it, you can extend your natural lifespan by 8-15 years.

It not only prolongs life, but also makes a person's body younger.

Perhaps it could counter the blood curse, giving Raven some breathing room before he could truly deal with it.

The opportunity to go to the Elf Empire is extremely rare. Only those who are above the rank of Imperial Earl are eligible. Each person can only bring two followers, and there is only one chance in a lifetime.

Marquis Anthony has not been there yet, but he is qualified to take people there.

Undoubtedly, he was hinting to Raven not to stand on the wrong side.

Now that Anthony left in anger, it cannot be said that it has nothing to do with Raven, but Raven did not play a decisive role. Even if Anthony wanted to hate him, he would not hate him.

And Raven would not pin all his hopes on Anthony - only by becoming an earl and striving to obtain this qualification could he be truly safe.

The Earl… didn’t know when he would be able to reach this position.

I hope that day won't be too late.

At this moment, a violent vibration sound was heard, echoing throughout the entire underground cemetery, causing the dust on the walls to fall down, and the air became increasingly turbid.

A soldier strode in and knelt down to report: "Sir Baron, there was a large-scale explosion and fire in the direction of Eagle Town. It should be caused by human beings!"

"Human-caused..." Raven frowned slightly. "What's the scale?"

The soldier's voice trembled slightly: "It's huge. It can be seen clearly in Eagle Castle. Only a strong man above the third level can cause such damage!"

A trace of doubt came over Raven's mind - who was attacking Eagle Town, and why did they choose this time to do it?
"Eric, take your men over there immediately to handle the situation, seal off the scene, and send someone to report to me at any time!"

"Yes, Baron!" Eric saluted heavily, then turned and walked out of the room.

When Eric walked out of the dungeon, even though he was prepared, he couldn't help but be shocked. He saw a raging fire rising into the sky in Eagle Town, just like a huge bonfire, and ashes were falling like snowflakes under the firelight.

"The first team stays on standby and protects the Baron. Everyone else, follow me!"

The explosion caused chaos among the residents of Eagle Town. The streets were crowded with people, and crying and screaming were heard everywhere. Some of them had obviously rushed out of the fire, with marks of burns on their bodies. When asked, they cried and could not even speak a complete sentence.

Eric had no choice but to order some people to maintain order and send others to the military camp to get support. He himself pushed through the crowd and rushed to the center of the fire.

The fire started in the Crystal Palace, as if someone had ignited it from the inside by piling up firewood. The entire building was engulfed in flames, and there was a tendency for it to spread to the adjacent buildings.

Such a large-scale explosion, of course, also attracted the attention of the Hawkeye guards, who had already arrived around the fire scene. Thor was delighted to see his father coming, and hurriedly asked, "Father, we have blocked the surrounding streets. What should we do next?"

Eric glanced at him: "There is no father and son here."

"Immediately dispatch all Eagle Guards and lead the escort troops to block key streets and maintain order."

"Anyone who disobeys orders will be killed! Anyone who dares to take advantage of the chaos to rob will be killed! Anyone who dares to spread rumors to confuse the people will be killed!"

"Take your men to the Paramount Hall, evacuate the people, cut off the passage to the Crystal Palace, and stop the fire from spreading!"

Thor's expression was stern, and he immediately saluted and said, "Yes, Sir Knight!"

After giving Eric's order, Thor immediately led his team to the nearby Paramount Hall, but not long after they rushed in, they screamed and rushed back in the crowd.

Seeing his embarrassed look, Eric frowned: "What are you panicking about!?"

"Undead, there are undead!!!"

Before he could finish his words, a group of skeletons rushed out of the Paramount Hall amidst heart-wrenching screams.

They were wearing worn and rusty armor, their bones had turned yellow, and gray or white flames were burning in their skulls.

They are all cannon fodder and first-level skeletons.

Their pace is not slow. Once they catch up with the chaotic crowd, they will immediately swing their weapons and chop them down.

The rusty blade tore through the clothes and slashed into the body, stirring the body and then dragging out the internal organs with the weapon, then continuing to slash, splashing the sticky blood and squirming internal organs all over the ground until the person on the ground was motionless.

Their fleshless skulls would open wide, and they would let out silent laughter as their bones rubbed against each other.

However, the Hawkeye Guards were indeed the best of the best. Even the followers were still organized together to fight against this tragic situation. However, they lacked practical experience after all, and were killed by the skeletons and retreated step by step, leaving behind corpses.

Eric's brows trembled slightly, his fighting spirit rose, and he grabbed in the air, and the rusty weapons in the hands of the skeletons flew in front of him. Then he raised his hand and waved, and with the silver fighting spirit flying, these weapons sank into the heads of their original owners one after another.

It was like harvesting wheat, and all of a sudden a stalk of wheat fell down.

"Don't panic, switch to blunt weapons and aim at the head." Eric shouted, "Hold on, if you let them out, you won't have enough heads to lose!"

Thor's face flushed red, knowing that his father was silently admonishing him. He gritted his teeth, picked up a wooden stick from the roadside, and returned to the team: "Everyone, follow me and guard the gate!"

But the skeletons did not only appear in this place. Screams were heard everywhere, and many skeletons were rushing out from the shadows around the Crystal Palace. Even Eric could not completely stop them.

A riot of this scale must have been caused by the Cult of the Hand of Death, and there must be a Necromancer nearby!
Damn, where is that guy hiding! ?
A flaming spear passed by Eric and nailed a first-level skeleton to the ground. Then flames surged up and engulfed all the skeletons within a few meters around.

Link rushed to Eric's side, "The first to fifth battalions of the Eagle Army are all in position!"

"You're just in time. Take some people and clear the skeletons off the street. I'll go look for that damned—"

Ahhh——

Before Eric could finish his words, a sharp howl like a ghost suddenly rang out. Eric suddenly looked in the direction where the sound came from, and his pupils suddenly contracted.

It's Eagle Castle.

Damn it, I fell into a trap!!!

……

The time goes back to 20 minutes ago.

The fourth-level necromancer Impir, shrouded in a gray-white robe, came to the outside of Eagle Castle.

In his hand he held a bone staff, with a gray orb held in a palm bone at the top of the staff.

The skin on his arms was dry and thin, and one could even see the blue-black blood vessels.

Under his hood was a face as stiff as a corpse, with deep eye sockets and a mop of thick, messy gray beard under his chin.

He opened his mouth slightly, revealing his yellow teeth and a sinister smile.

He had come to Eagle Town as early as last year, but the competition conference was still going on at that time, and there were too many powerful people gathered here, so he chose to lie in wait.

As time passed and the heat of the competition faded, it should have been time for him to take action, but Raven moved into Eagle City - even for him, attacking such a majestic fortress alone was a pipe dream.

So he had to continue to endure, and endurance finally brought rewards. Raven left Eagle City and returned to Eagle Castle.

Although Raven brought Eric along for safety reasons, Imperial was no idiot and deliberately created chaos in the Crystal Palace in order to dilute the guards around Raven.

Now it seems that he succeeded. "Go, my little darlings."

He waved the staff in his hand, and the gray-white death energy surged out like clouds and mist, and drilled into the ground. The next moment, white bones with blue flames burning in their pupils broke through the soil and stood up.

Although their armor was rusty, it still shone with magical luster, and the weapons in their hands were emitting halos, which made it obvious that they were not ordinary items.

These are 13 third-level skeletons, and they are also the wealth accumulated by Impir over the past hundred years!

The guard standing on the city wall noticed something was wrong at the first moment. He reached into his arms to take out the fireworks warning and was about to shout loudly.

But at this moment, a skeleton silently jumped onto the wall and slashed with the sword in its hand. The guard only felt a chill on his arm, and then saw his arm fall to the ground with blood gushing out.

He opened his mouth to shout, but the skeleton's sword swung again, cutting into his skin and severing his throat, leaving him with only a crackling sound like the air leaking from a ball.

The body fell to the ground with a dull thud, and blood flowed into a pool.

Almost at the same time, eight sentries on the city wall fell dead to the ground.

The noise immediately attracted the attention of the soldiers guarding the castle gate. Volaf looked at the empty city wall and suddenly shuddered.

"Enemy attack - protect the Baron!!!"

Raven's personal guards lined up at the entrance of the hall.

The next moment, skeletons leaped down from the city wall, and the cold light of the weapons in their hands made every guard feel uneasy.

The eagle-feather sword in Volav's hand emitted an icy light. There was no shouting or howling. The 13 skeletons pounced forward without any emotion.

The personal soldiers formed a battle formation, which was the result of countless trainings, but it seemed so vulnerable in front of these third-level skeletons.

A bodyguard suddenly saw a sword tip appear on the shield. With a sharp sound of metal cutting, before he could react, the sharp blade cut into his palm without any hindrance.

There was a slight sound of tendon breaking, and the shield broke into two, falling to the ground along with his four fingers.

The grayish-white undead fighting spirit wrapped around him, causing his arms to decay, fester, and dry up, turning into a deathly color. The fighting spirit meandered all the way upwards, making his entire body become decayed and fragile, until he could no longer withstand the weight of the armor, and it fell to the ground with a loud crash.

Another soldier swung his sword forward, but the sword in his hand only bounced off the opponent's armor in vain. His own chest had been cut open by the oncoming scimitar, his armor was broken, and his internal organs splashed all over the ground with a plop, accompanied by hot steam.

Almost in the blink of an eye, all the comrades around him were killed in battle.

"Damn Skeleton...!"

Volaf brandished his sword with ice-blue fighting spirit winding around it, and he roared and slashed at the skeleton in front of him.

In a trance, he seemed to see a hint of mockery in the empty eyes of the skeleton in front of him.

The skeleton swung the sword with his backhand, and the gray-white necromancy spirit flowed, cutting Volaf's sword in two pieces, and then cut through the armor without any hindrance and pierced into his chest.

As the blood spurted out, it began to decay and turn black, and a cold feeling spread. Volaf felt his body go limp, the sword in his hand fell with a clang, and his knees thumped to the ground.

The long sword cut across the neck.

Volav's head was thrown high into the air, and then rolled to the ground with a thud. He died with his eyes open.

The skeleton that killed Volav kicked over his body and rushed into the hall first.

At this moment, a flash of blood rose up in the hall, and it burst open with a bang, blowing the skeleton back.

Its speed was already quite fast, but the blood-red whirlwind that followed was even faster. It rushed in front of the skeleton, stretched out its sharp claws from the whirlwind, grabbed the skeleton's head, and pressed it to the ground.

The sharp claws could hardly penetrate its hard bones. William roared, and blood rushed into the sharp claws, dispersing the death spirit flowing from the skull, pouring into the skull, and blasting it into pieces.

William shook off the bone residue on his hand and said, "Tsk, a bunch of enslaved things. Being classified in the same category as you is really a shame for my blood race."

Before he could finish his words, two level three skeletons swung their swords at him. William jumped up lightly to avoid the blades, and then more skeletons attacked him.

The bloody figures wandered back and forth in the courtyard. Even though William was also at level three, and as a vampire he was extremely agile, and skeletons were always weaker than creatures of the same level, but their blood energy, which was specifically targeted at living beings, could not be effective against a group of dead beings. Being besieged by 12 of them, although William did not lose, he could not make any achievements for a while.

More importantly, there must be a necromancer behind these skeletons, so there is no reason to put all the cards here.

"Hey, you bitch, why don't you do anything?"

William yelled.

Before he finished speaking, the 12 level 3 skeletons that were besieging him suddenly stopped in place, and then half of them suddenly turned around and attacked their companions, chopping down three skeletons in an instant.

Margaret walked out of the hall leisurely, her long hair flying, the holy emblem of death on her chest shining with a hazy light. It was obvious that she had used this holy object to seize control of the skeletons: "Don't worry, the guys behind these skeletons are not easy to deal with. It will take me some time to... Wow!!!"

A puff of black blood suddenly spurted out of Margaret's nose. The control of the skeleton she had just obtained changed hands again. The soul shock brought about by this made her mind turbulent. She subconsciously grabbed the holy symbol of death tightly:

“Who… is it!?”

Impir's body, surrounded by a white air current, slowly floated into the gate. An old, dry voice like the friction of iron blocks sounded: "Oh, it seems that my guess was right. The Holy Symbol of Death is really in the Eagle Territory!"

"Parisil, you betrayed my Lord!?" His eyes first fell on the holy emblem, and then he saw Margaret: "No, that's not right, this breath... You are a witch, you occupied Parisil's body!?"

"Interesting, interesting. A baron of the Keynes Empire actually raised a third-level witch and a third-level vampire." Imperial laughed, his eyes passed Margaret and fell on Raven: "It seems that this time, I can not only take back the holy emblem, but also plant a deep nail for the Holy Church in the Nord Province."

"Baron Raven, I can give you a chance. If you pledge your loyalty to the Holy Church, my Lord will surely help you escape the crisis of the blood curse and gain eternal life!"

Grabbing the Holy Symbol of Death in his hand, he put it into the space to get his belt. Raven said calmly: "I never make deals with heretics."

He was not morally obsessed and had no faith in the Church of Light, so he would not refuse to cooperate with the Order of the Hand of Death because of this - but even if he cooperated, it would be proposed by him, rather than signing a humiliating treaty.

"on!"

At Raven's command, William's heart suddenly trembled, a pair of bat wings emerged from his ribs, the nails on his hands grew wildly, a blood-red halo wrapped around his body, and he turned into a scarlet whirlwind and rushed straight towards Impir!

The skeletons are nothing to be afraid of. Only by killing the necromancer can this crisis be ended.

Although he lost the blood core of the True Ancestor, William was able to control the blood energy without any burden, and his fighting ability increased instead of decreasing compared to when he fought with Raven.

The scarlet whirlwind bypassed the remaining nine skeletons and rushed to Imperial's back. It was so fast that even the dust that rose up when it started did not fall to the ground.

Magician? So what if he's at level 4? Once someone gets close to him, he's just meat to be slaughtered.

William didn't believe that every wizard had a body as strong as Raven.

Impir indeed didn't. He didn't even have time to look back. He just stomped his staff lightly on the ground. Then William saw a woman rising from behind Impir.

She had wet hair like algae, a pair of eyes that were pure dead white with no focus, her face was extremely pale, and her body was even more illusory and invisible.

Third-level magic, Banshee's Wail! ?

A trace of vigilance arose in William's heart, but he immediately sneered. Even if the Banshee's Howl took effect, he was confident that he could end Impir's life before that.

Extending his sharp claws, William thought he could easily penetrate the banshee in soul form, but when his palm was extended, it seemed as if it was plunged into a thick swamp. The surging death energy roared towards him, making his palm begin to fester as if it was soaked in sulfuric acid.

William was horrified and wanted to withdraw, but the banshee had already opened her mouth wide and howled suddenly.

"ah--!!!!!"

The shrill screams echoed in the castle, instantly dispersing the scarlet wind. As the image of the banshee became blurred, a vague white bone shadow grabbed William's arm and climbed onto his body.

A trace of panic rose in William's heart. He did not expect Impir to be so cunning. The Banshee's Howl was just used to confuse him. The real killer move was the fourth-level magic "Embrace of the Dead" hidden in it!
William fell to the ground, with half of the white bone phantom attached to his body embedded in his chest. His skin began to fester and rot, then continued to fill in and complete itself, making it look like an illusion that was being played over and over again.

Margaret followed suit.

A large-scale third-order magic like Banshee's Howl has great destructive power against first- and second-order extraordinary beings, but it is not too serious for third-order extraordinary beings.

But Margaret also knew that the necromancy she got from Parisil was useless against a fourth-level necromancer, so she started by using the curse technique inherited from her bloodline.

A stream of black air rushed out from under her skirt, and her long legs in garter stockings were particularly eye-catching as her robe fluttered.

This did not affect the skeletons that were rushing towards them with their fangs bared, but the thick black air turned into thick black thorny vines, which bound up the nine third-level skeletons with a sticky sound that sounded like scales rubbing against each other.

Skeletons are not living creatures, their joints are more flexible, and their undead fighting spirit is constantly rising up, corroding the vines, and they are also constantly swinging their weapons to cut them down.

Margaret's face became increasingly pale. While forcibly maintaining control, she took out a dagger.

At this moment, William on the ground let out a shrill roar and tore off the flesh on his chest with his own hands. The flesh fell to the ground and turned into a pool of rotten, dirty and smelly meat.

William's chest revealed white bones wrapped in fascia and a vigorously beating heart. Although he was seriously injured, he was able to break free from the grip of the Embrace of the Dead. Then he suddenly stretched out his claws and swept across Imperial's heel. The sound was like being hit by rotten leather, and not even a drop of blood flowed out. Only a bit of gray flesh and blood hung on his fingertips.

Impir frowned, and swung the staff in his hand, and a black gas rushed towards William, but this time it missed.

William turned into a whirlwind and flew back to Margaret, handing the bit of flesh and blood to her.

Margaret stuck out her tongue and swallowed the piece of meat, then slowly raised the dagger and stabbed herself hard in the chest!
call--

A strong wind blew, and Impir's robe rose up. A slit appeared on his chest with a "sizzle", and then gray-white flesh burst out from it.

This is already Margaret's strongest means, the curse of simultaneous death, which requires three substitute puppets to be cast, otherwise one will give up one's own life.

"Well done." Impir suddenly sneered and took a deep breath. A thick deathly aura overflowed from his skin, as if a ball of wet starch wrapped around him.

Margaret's hands suddenly froze, her wrists trembled constantly, and the three straw puppets worn on her waist continued to emit black smoke, but the dagger in her hand could no longer absorb any smoke!
Looking at the tragic scene in front of him, Raven frowned slightly and quietly took a step back.

Judging from the performance, it should be the third-level necromancy magic "Styx Soul Mud", but its strength is far beyond the level that this magic should have!

Is this the magic engraved by Impir?
"Uh……"

Margaret's voice was filled with a sad tone, like crying. Black air was surging around her, but the dagger in her hand couldn't penetrate even a little bit!
Finally, with a bang, the hard blade of the dagger suddenly shattered like glass, and then spread to the entire dagger, causing Margaret's hand to be covered in blood!

The black gas suddenly dissipated, and the vines that originally bound the nine third-level skeletons also disappeared.

Impir stepped forward, driving nine third-tier skeletons closer. His shadow cast on the ground, covering Raven. "Baron Raven, your courage is commendable, but excessive courage is reckless."

"Now, I'll give you one last chance."

"Hand over the Death Symbol!"

Before Lei Wen could reply, the sound of horse hooves galloped closer and closer.

……

(End of this chapter)