Ark Undead

The black thorn, originally aimed at Melantha's heart, only managed to pierce her calf before its ability to extend further ceased.

Before Gretia could even feel relieved, the black thorn that had pierced Melantha's calf seemed to come alive.

It extended upwards from Melantha's wound, spreading all the way down her thigh.

This is truly a critical moment of life and death.

If Melanie is completely swallowed by this mud, that will be the time when she loses everything.

The decisive kitten drew the straight knife from its waist and held it upright.

The flames ignited the blade, illuminating Melantha's resolute eyes, and she brought the blade down sharply towards her own thigh.

"Xiao Mei!"

Kroos couldn't believe that Melantha was so decisive, able to react in such a short time to cut off a leg.

But this also means that in this dream, Melantha has completely lost her fighting ability upon entering the dream.

They cannot afford such a loss.

However, just as the blade was about to strike his own body...

The only closed door beside the four people was suddenly kicked open.

A dark, large sword pierced horizontally into the gap between Melantha's thigh and the blade.

Melantha felt a tremendous force push against her arm, deflecting her attack.

Suddenly, her waist tightened, and she fell into a familiar embrace.

The blade rubbed against the greatsword, and as the steel clashed, flames, along with the flying sparks, ignited the intruding blade.

At this moment, the slender straight blade and the heavy greatsword completed the exchange and transmission of flames.

The greatsword, which had been waiting for a long time, was ignited once again, and the golden flames spread along the friction point where the blades clashed and spread to the entire blade.

The warrior wielding the greatsword aimed at the spike embedded in Melantha's calf and slashed down fiercely, cleaving her in two.

The black sludge hanging on Melantha's calves began to twist and boil the moment it came into contact with the golden flames.

The mud, which had been trying to escape upwards, lost its ability to move.

It gradually turned into a dry, fragile mud shell in the golden flames that engulfed it, and fell off Melantha's calf.

At that moment, Greta and the others heard a voice.

"Big brother, hurry! I...I can't hold on any longer!"

A Sarkaz youth stood horizontally in the surging tide, wielding a massive, crystal-blue shield.

Behind the shield was the nameless warrior who had his arm around Melantha's waist.

The Undead quickly swept its gaze across Gretia and Laurentina, who were still struggling in the Sea Tide, and Ceobe, who showed an excited expression.

"Come in."

As he spoke, the Undead was the first to turn around and rush back into the room with the golden runes glowing on the door.

Goredia turned around, stepped on Hai Si who was speeding past behind her, and darted into the room like a shadow.

Kroos followed closely behind Goredia.

Seeing that everyone had returned to the room, Greyhound took a step back, and a slender hand grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him in.

The crystal-blue shield that had been blocking the way was shattered in an instant by the surging sea tide after the Greyhounds lost their support.

W threw the greyhound into the room with one hand, then pulled the door open with the other, slammed his shoulder against it, and slammed it against the door frame.

boom!

With a loud bang, the door slammed shut, accompanied by the furious and indescribable hissing of the sludge aggregates that were faintly visible in the air, and all other sounds faded away.

The room was now filled with chaotic breathing sounds.

Everyone had exhausted themselves in the struggle.

In particular, they also had to take into account Laurentina's Gretia.

"Mr. Undying".

After a while, Goredia finally raised her head and nodded to the undead as a greeting.

The Undead looked at Goredia, then glanced at Kroos, who was poised to pounce on them.

He reached out to stop Kroos's lunge, letting her grab his arm again, and said in a deep voice.

"We're safe now."

The greyhound lay on the ground, panting heavily, and added a few more words as it did so.

"Temporary..."

437. Broken Prelude

After everyone recovered from the tidal wave, they realized that they had actually reunited with the Undead.

The people present seemed to be the members who had all found Ark Alk.

Leaving aside Greta and Laurentina, no one knows how Kroos and Melantha got in.

Therefore, the presence of these two people here makes the situation even more confusing.

When Melantha emerged from the Undead's embrace, the wound on her thigh had almost completely healed.

However, the trade-off was that the skin around my thighs became even more withered, almost as if it had been completely dried out.

This further exacerbated the dryness process of Melanie's entire skin condition.

When the Undead saw Melantha in this state, only one word came to mind.

"Zombie transformation".

To be honest, I'm a little worried that no one is dying.

Why Melantha would turn into a zombie after receiving the First Flame is something I just can't understand.

"Melantha, who am I?"

To assess Melantha's mental state, the undead extended a hand and waved it in front of her eyes.

This looks exactly like how doctors on Rhodes Island check on the mental state of patients who have just undergone surgery and are still recovering.

Melanie was at a loss for words.

"Teacher...I'm fine."

Melanie reached out and grasped her teacher's hand. For some reason, when she looked at her teacher now, besides the usual sense of warmth, she felt that strange, intimate connection was gone.

It was as if the bond between the two had been severed by something, and Melantha couldn't even sense that the Undead was standing right in front of her.

"Your body is in very bad shape."

To the undead, Melantha before them was extremely withered, her zombification reaching a very serious level.

Surprisingly, Melantha seemed to have retained her mental and spiritual state.

If it were an immortal person from the past, they probably wouldn't even be able to speak clearly at this point.

"I know, I can feel the power draining from my body, but as long as I don't ignite the flames, I'll be fine."

Melanie responded.

"Teacher, where is your flame?"

That's right, this is exactly the key point that Melanie perceived.

The undead that appeared before him seemed to have lost the protection of the flames.

However, this is also something that the immortals find strange.

"How were you able to bring the First Flame in?"

As the manifestation of the First Flame's will, even the Undead cannot bring the First Flame into the Dream, but Melantha can.

She even materialized the Primordial Flame into a physical form, capable of influencing the swords of the undead.

The sword that just severed the tentacle piercing Melantha's calf was the one from which the Undead drew fire from Melantha's straight blade.

However, the flames were like rootless duckweed, dissipating after a short while and unable to linger for long.

"Huh? Teacher, you can't do it?"

Melantha looked at the undead carefully, then raised her hand.

Melantha's originally withered and wrinkled arms had black lines that looked like cracks. Just as Melantha called for flames in her heart, those black lines lit up with a color that blended crimson and gold.

Like breath, it flickered and intertwined on Melantha's body.

This appearance is exactly the same as those embers who received the blessing of fire and briefly possessed the power of fire.

Just as the Undead were racking their brains trying to figure it out, Goredia interrupted their conversation.

"I apologize for interrupting your conversation, but I think we might need to discuss the current situation."

Upon hearing what Gretia said, the two stopped looking at each other and turned their gazes to Gretia.

For a moment, Goredia's breath caught in her throat, and she instinctively took a step back.

For some reason, she felt a similar sense of oppression from Melantha and the Undead.

Although neither of them showed any hostility in their eyes, the pressure that struck at her very core made Goredia stop speaking abruptly.

"So are we late? Or have you only been fighting it for a short time?"

Greyhound aptly intervened in the conversation between the three, easing the immense pressure.

Facing the gazes of Melantha and the Undead, Greyhound spoke calmly.

"We came down from the sixth floor through a special passage. This is the seventh floor, and the next floor is the eighth floor. I don't know if there's a special passage leading to the ninth floor, but it only took us a few minutes to get down."

"Greteia recalled for a moment," she said.

“Our fight didn’t last long, but from the moment Laurentina and I encountered the monster until the very end, it was at least ten minutes.”

Greta glanced back at Laurentina.