I can evolve everything

As they ventured deeper, the path beneath their feet became increasingly slippery and muddy, making it difficult to pass.

This place has completely become a kingdom of the dead.

The surrounding blackwood trees were no longer simply dead; their bark was cracked, from which thick, black pus was constantly flowing out.

It didn't look like a simple resin; it was more like the grease from the decay of some organism, emitting a slightly nauseating sweet and fishy smell.

Even when walking on paved roads, once you get here, your boots will sink deep into the mud with every step.

If you gently brush away the surface silt, you can see countless white bone fragments underneath—some from wild animals, some from humans—as if they have laid a foundation beneath this swamp.

"arrive."

Harold stopped in his tracks, his breathing becoming heavy.

Raine raised his head and looked ahead. Not far away was a vast, stagnant lake, its dark green waters completely still.

On a secluded island in the middle of the lake stands a small house.

The hut had huge animal bones for beams, black rotten wood for walls, and a roof covered with thick, damp moss; even the moss on the eaves was dripping water.

A palpable aura of death, a grayish-black, permeated the area around the cabin, separating the isolated island from the swamp.

"That's Mars' lair," Harold said in a low voice, pointing to the bone house. "Any closer and Mars will probably be able to smell the scent of living people on you."

The old man turned around and looked at the three people behind him.

At that moment, the light in his eyes seemed to clear a little.

"If you can still believe me."

"You guys hide in that dead woods over there. That's upwind, it'll mask your scent." Harold straightened his armor, making himself look more presentable and less disheveled.

"I'll lure him out. That guy's a paranoid rat; if he sees me with a strange knight, he'll blow this place up and run away."

Ryan glanced at Karen.

This is actually a very risky plan.

The three of them had already ventured deep into the heart of the swamp. If Harold were to betray them at this point and collude with Mars after getting close to him, the three of them would immediately be surrounded by a continuous stream of undead creatures.

Karen remained silent for only a second before nodding to her old friend.

"Go ahead. I'll be fifty paces behind you."

Karen didn't say anything more, but that was enough.

Seeing that his old friend still trusted him, Harold's wrinkled face trembled slightly.

He took a deep breath and gripped the longsword at his waist.

The three quickly disappeared into the dead trees on the side, using the huge tree roots and mist to cover their figures.

Renn crouched behind a rock, staring intently at the isolated island through the gaps in the withered branches.

The lake wasn't deep, just reaching Harold's thighs. Under Renn's watchful gaze, he waded closer to the cabin, one step at a time.

Harold stopped a dozen meters away from the Bone House.

Because the doorway of that little house wasn't empty.

Four figures stood there stiffly, wearing tattered leather armor and robes; they must have been the adventurers who had gone missing in Ironwood Town.

But now, they are no longer human.

Their skin had a deathly gray, waxy sheen, and their eye sockets contained no pupils, only two shimmering green globs.

Those things must be zombies—advanced undead that have retained some of their fighting instincts from their previous lives.

Clearly, Mars had deployed his most elite undead creatures to protect the hut near him.

"Mars! Open the door!"

Harold was not intimidated by the guards. He shouted at the tightly closed bone door, pretending to be anxious and angry.

"I know you're in there! Stop playing dead! Something terrible has happened!"

Harold shouted for quite a while before the door slowly opened a crack.

A young man in a gray robe with a gaunt face leaned out halfway.

His skin was as white as paper, his eyes were deep-set, and he exuded a cold, gloomy aura as if he had never seen the light of day.

He is Mars, the necromancer and wanted criminal.

But he didn't come out completely; instead, he cautiously hid behind the undead guards, clutching a staff made of bone tightly in his hand.

"Harold?"

Mars's voice was shrill and grating as he stared at Harold with ill intent, his tone somewhat unfriendly:

"Why did you come in person? Didn't I tell you not to bother me unless it's important? I'm currently busy rearranging the defensive array for those escaped materials."

"You have the nerve to bring up those materials!" Harold stepped forward, seemingly furious. "It's because you let them escape that I almost got caught! That damned 'Hanger' Baron has already sniffed out my plans and is coming after me!"

"What?!"

Upon hearing the name Baron, Mars's deadpan face visibly panicked, and his frustration deepened.

"Damn it... I knew it!" Mars nervously bit his nails.

"This morning, a squad of skeleton soldiers I sent out on patrol suddenly lost contact, their soul flames instantly extinguished. I knew something was wrong... It was him!"

When Ryan, who was hiding in the woods, heard this, his heart tightened suddenly.

This morning?

They followed Harold's directions all the way here, and apart from the zombie still hanging in the tree, they hadn't encountered a single undead creature.

Who killed those skeleton soldiers? There's only one answer.

Ella gently touched Renn's shoulder and mouthed: Baron.

Renn nodded.

That madman was indeed in this swamp, and he was even cleaning up Mars's undead creatures this morning.

His target in the swamp was, unsurprisingly, Mars.

On the deserted island, the conversation continues.

"This is not the time to complain!" Harold roared, interrupting Mars's incessant grumbling.

"Baron has already shown up in Ironwood Town; he seems to know about our deal. The sheriff's office isn't safe anymore, I have to move you immediately. If you get caught, I'll be hanging too!"

"Relocate? Where to?" Mars asked, flustered but still suspicious. "If I leave this swamp, my power will be greatly reduced."

"To the abandoned mine to the west." Harold spoke very quickly; it was a lie he had prepared on the way.

"My guards have hidden a shipment of supplies, and a secret passage leading to the neighboring territory. Hurry! We still have time before Barron finds you!"

Mars hesitated.

His eyes, almost completely black, with no clear distinction between the pupil and the whites, scanned Harold back and forth, as if assessing the credibility of his old partner.

"You...didn't bring anyone else with you, did you?"

"It's just me!" Harold spread his hands, even unfastening the longsword from his waist and throwing it on the ground.

"Look, I didn't even bring a single guard, not even my adjutant. The fewer people who know about our deal, the better!"

This gesture seemed to have finally moved Mars.

"Fine... if you still want to save her, I doubt you'd dare betray me." The necromancer gritted his teeth. "As long as I can get away from that madman, we'll settle this score once I'm in a safe place."

He finally pushed open the door and slowly walked out.

But he remained cautious.

Mars swung his bone staff, and the four undead guards immediately sprang into action.

Two of them walked in front to clear the way, while the other two stayed close to his left and right sides, acting as human shields.

He himself deliberately maintained a safe distance of about five steps from Harold.

One step, two steps.

They followed Harold, slowly approaching the shore.

Raine gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, holding his breath completely to prevent himself from making any sound.

There are still ten steps to the ambush point.

Karen lay motionless in the mud like a lifeless rock, her heartbeat suppressed to the lowest level.

Five more steps.

Just then, Mars suddenly stopped.

His nose twitched twice; his sense of smell, honed from years of dealing with corpses, alerted him to something unusual.

"wrong……"

Mars's expression changed drastically, and at the same time, the bone staff in his hand glowed with an eerie green light. "This isn't the smell of the swamp... this is the smell of living people's sweat! And you're not the only one..."

"Harold! You dare betray me!!"

The moment he realized something was wrong, a strange change occurred.

"Let's do it!"

Karen gave a simple, loud shout.

Without any preamble, he sprang up from the mud as soon as he finished speaking.

At that moment, the old knight seemed to transform into a lion awakening from its slumber.

Covered in mud, he wielded his greatsword with a fierce whistling sound, aiming straight for Mars's head!

[Combat Skill - Swift Slash]

The attack was too fast; Mars didn't even have time to finish chanting the spell.

But he was, after all, a seasoned necromancer with years of experience as a fugitive. In this life-or-death moment, he instinctively pulled a nearby zombie to shield himself while desperately leaning backward.

"puff--!"

The greatsword sliced ​​through the zombie's tough flesh without any resistance.

The sword's momentum hadn't subsided; it continued forward.

"Aaaaaah!!"

A piercing scream echoed through the swamp.

Although Mars managed to avoid the head, his left arm, which wasn't holding the bone staff, along with half of his shoulder, was severed cleanly by the sword!

Blood gushed out, and the severed arm flew off, falling into the dark green lake.

"Kill him! Kill him!!"

Mars collapsed to the ground, clutching his severed arm in agony. His pale face was contorted with pain, making him look no better than the zombies beside him.

With his roar, the previously dazed undead instantly went berserk.

Of the remaining three undead, two lunged at Karen, while the remaining one, following the necromancer's orders, turned and pounced on the traitor, Harold!

"Rain! Ella!"

Karen's attack missed its vital point, and she was now being held tightly by the half-split undead, unable to break free.

He didn't need to shout.

Two figures rushed out of the woods.

"Don't even think about touching him!"

Ella was the fastest; the dagger in her hand flew out and precisely pierced the back of the knee of a zombie that lunged at Harold.

The zombie swayed, and the claws that were originally aimed at Harold's throat shifted a few inches, tearing open the old man's shoulder guard.

Then, Ryan arrived.

Without the slightest hesitation, Renn activated his breathing technique, and his heart began to pump again in his chest cavity.

Although not as extreme as the overuse he had last night, it was enough for him to suppress the undead body in front of him, which had been struck by Ella and lost its balance.

He shoved the zombie aside, then grabbed Harold by the back of his collar, who was standing frozen in place, and yanked him backward.

"Go to the back!"

Harold was thrown off balance and tumbled into the bushes, narrowly escaping death.

But the crisis was not over.

Mars, who had lost an arm, had already retreated back to the entrance of the Bone House under the cover of the undead.

With his only remaining left hand, he pulled a black crystal from his pocket, his eyes filled with such venom that they seemed to drip with poison.

"You will all die...you will all become my collectibles!!"

As he crushed the crystal.

The swampy mud surrounding the entire isolated island began to boil violently.

Countless pale hand bones emerged from beneath the water's surface.

The army of the dead has awakened.