Chapter 167: Belonging(part-1)

Every ounce of sorrow.

Then, he forcefully cleared his throat, the sound echoing through the spacious room mine shaft.

“Warriors of Watkan! The evil false god Zi Luo Mo has been slain! The Strange have also been completely purged!”

“False god!?”

The appearance of that word immediately caused the dwarves to break into noisy chatter.

The Great Artisan God paused deliberately, letting the shocking news fully detonate in the dwarves’ hearts.

Seeing the surprise and rekindled light in his clansmen’s eyes, the Great Artisan God’s expression grew even more solemn.

He continued his announcement:

“Because of the greed of the goblin false god, we have lost many of our kin, our brothers. Blood has soaked our homeland, hatred is etched into our hearts. But our Watkan Tribe has never yielded to darkness! Our mission to guard the Holy Relic is complete, and this will to protect must also continue!”

He took a deep breath, his voice suddenly rising, carrying weight.

“To remember the sacrifice, to continue the glory of our guardianship! For the future survival and prosperity of the Watkan Tribe— I, the Great Artisan God of the Watkan Tribe, hereby declare: From this day forward, the Watkan Tribe, as a whole, belongs to the Light Church! We will follow His Holiness Pope Muxuan, heed the guidance of the Light, rebuild our home, guard order, until the darkness is completely dispelled!”

The echo of the Great Artisan God’s declaration hummed through the mine tunnel, like heavy drumbeats pounding on every dwarf’s heart.

A brief deathly silence enveloped the entire platform, heavier than the pile of bones at the bottom of the cliff just moments ago.

The expressions on the Watkan dwarves’ faces froze.

There was doubt, distrust, and worry.

“The tribe belongs to… the Light Church? Follow… Pope Muxuan?”

“SnoU——”

Hearing Sistine’s anxious voice, Muxuan gently waved her hand, using the Crosier to brace herself against the ground as she struggled to stand.

Her expression was somewhat strained, but the corner of her mouth still held a faint, almost imperceptible smile.

“Still not coming out?”

Muxuan slowly turned around, a hint of playfulness in her voice.

At first, she hadn’t figured out Zi Luo Mo’s meaning, but now, it wasn’t hard to guess.

“You really dare to think you can be the ones who win without doing anything.”

As Muxuan’s words fell, bubbles began to rise from a patch of shadow.

The dwarf lurking in the shadow slowly walked out.

Sistine’s brow furrowed.

She instinctively moved to Muxuan’s side, reaching out to protect her.

Half of that dwarf’s body seemed to have been corroded by something, already turned into stark white bone.

“Leopold…”

The moment the Great Artisan God saw that dwarf, he softly called out the Inteke Tribe chieftain’s name.

Leopold.

Leopold’s figure appeared especially eerie in the shadow filled with the dust of pale bones.

His face, half flesh and half bone, was expressionless, yet deep within his hollow eye sockets, two points of faint green light danced.

Muxuan merely smiled lightly at this.

She had been thinking about it for a while.

The Inteke Tribe neither possessed the construction method for Wonder Buildings nor had sufficient combat strength.

Their mere understanding of the Watkan Tribe was far from enough to make Zi Luo Mo, this false god, choose to cooperate with them.

Moreover, almost the entire Kostershka Mountains were occupied by goblins.

Zi Luo Mo was not short of cannon fodder.

Added to his utter disregard for even his own people, it was even less likely he harbored any goodwill towards the Inteke Tribe.

The most crucial point was that Zi Luo Mo’s goal had always been the Holy Relic, and he had long known its location.

He had no reason to cooperate with the Inteke Tribe.

Unless—

The Authority of Death.

Everything before her completely confirmed Muxuan’s speculation.

She could be certain that Zi Luo Mo was wary of something.

Now it appeared, what he feared was precisely the Fragment of the Authority of Death held by the Inteke Tribe.

Both sides were using each other.

Zi Luo Mo was the first to lose patience and make a move, but the result was his failure.

And the other side naturally wanted to take over everything he left behind.

This was why Zi Luo Mo would rather annihilate himself.

Only…

How exactly did the other party obtain the Authority of Death?

The Great Artisan God looked at Leopold, his gaze extremely grave.

Back when the two tribes were still in contact, Leopold was indeed a very open-minded person among the younger generation.

He didn’t understand why the other had become like this.

Meeting Muxuan’s and the Great Artisan God’s gazes, Leopold’s jaw bones clashed and scraped violently, emitting a piercing “clatter, clatter” sound, as if producing some kind of incomprehensible mockery.

The two points of faint green light danced wildly in his hollow eye sockets, revealing a deep-seated malice and icy stillness.

“Clack!”

With an exceptionally loud sound of bone friction, Leopold’s arm, still covered in skin, suddenly lifted, pointing at Muxuan and the others.

Without any warning.

The mountains of piled bones, as if pushed by an invisible colossal wave, instantly “came alive.”

Those pale white skeletons, whether human-shaped, dwarf-shaped, or twisted monster forms, all charged at the four of them simultaneously at that very moment!

Their speed was extremely fast, filling in an instant all the space illuminated by the light at Muxuan’s fingertips.

The silent bottom of the cliff was instantly overwhelmed by the terrifying sounds of bones colliding, scraping, and shattering.

The stench of decay mixed with icy killing intent, like a tangible tide, striving for everyone’s nerves.

The Great Artisan God reacted first.

The Rock Armor covering his body abruptly thickened.

A surge of dark red air raged from within him, wrapping around the enormous Forging Hammer.

The violent air wave exploded outwards!

Dozens of skeletons charging at the forefront were instantly smashed into bone fragments and powder flying through the air.

The residual force even momentarily halted the surging tide of white bones behind them.

Sistine moved close behind.

The moment the skeletons erupted, she gritted her teeth and ignored the burning pain from the wounds all over her body, standing her ground without stepping back, shielding Muxuan.

The blade of [Lyrasel] erupted with brilliant silver light once more.

Sword light scattered like a silver rainstorm, precisely slicing through every approaching skeleton.

Any skeleton that got close was either severed at the joints or directly shattered by the blows.

“Theodore, get down!”

Sistine shouted sharply, while struggling to cleave apart a gigantic beast skeleton lunging at Theodore.

Theodore, who had ducked with his head down, froze for a moment, then stopped hesitating.

The stone hammer in his hand suddenly enlarged, sweeping violently towards the oncoming skeletons.

In the brief vacuum before the bone piles surged again, Muxuan’s voice rang out, neither loud nor soft.

“You should stop now. Unless you want to lose the Fragment of the Authority of Death.”

She had already confirmed it.

Leopold had not truly obtained the Authority of Death.

It was merely a Fragment.

The flesh remaining on Leopold’s face twitched almost imperceptibly.

The green flame dancing in his eye sockets faltered abruptly, as if brushed by an invisible, icy wind, flickering as if it were about to go out.

The “clattering” mocking sound of his bones also stopped eerily.

Silence, as heavy as lead, pressed down on everyone’s hearts.

The skeletal army remained in their attacking posture, frozen in place.

Their hollow eye sockets collectively “looked” towards Leopold, as if waiting for the next command.

Sistine and the Great Artisan God exchanged a grave look.

Both of them tacitly concentrated their power into their legs.

They already had some guesses.

Leopold’s own power was not strong.

“Clatter… clatter, clatter…”

After a brief pause, the frequency of Leopold’s lower jaw opening and closing became more urgent.

“Ignorant… god… die…”

His voice was broken and intermittent, like a rusty gear forced to turn, each syllable steeped in icy killing intent.

His skeletal arm lifted again, pointing directly at Muxuan.

“You… must also… die…”

As the final hoarse syllable fell, the still skeletal army surged inward again like a tide towards the center.

Just as the Great Artisan God and Sistine were about to act, Muxuan stopped them with her hand.

Giving them both a reassuring look, Muxuan’s figure flickered, instantly appearing beside Leopold.

She gently pinched the Bone Staff in Leopold’s hand between two fingers.

Light burst forth!

The pitch-black orb at the top of the Bone Staff shattered instantly.

“I told you.”

“If you didn’t want to lose the Fragment of the Authority of Death, you should have stopped.”

“Unfortunately, you missed this chance.”

As Muxuan’s words faded, the cloud-like Holy Relic materialized beside her in an instant.

Without any hesitation, she directly stripped a Fragment from the Bone Staff and cast it into the Holy Relic.

Almost the moment the Fragment was stripped away and cast into the Holy Relic—

Leopold’s half-human, half-skeletal body began to convulse violently, as if all support had been drained from him.

“Urgh… ah…”

The light instantly faded from his remaining fleshy eye.

His bloodshot eyeball rolled upwards frantically, revealing large areas of white.

At the same time, the invisible strings binding the skeletal army snapped abruptly!

“Boom——!”

Thousands upon thousands of skeletons, having lost the force compelling them, crashed into each other from momentum, erupting in a deafening roar.

Pale bone fragments cascaded down like an avalanche, raising a blinding cloud of pale dust that instantly swallowed the last trace of Leopold’s existence.

The entire bottom of the cliff trembled.

“Cough, cough, cough——”

Sistine immediately shielded the weakened Muxuan in her arms, using her own back to withstand the impact and the flying bone chips.

Dust filled the air, blurring vision.

The ash mixed with bone powder and the stench of decay choked the air, making it almost impossible to breathe.

In the air, only the continuous “clattering” sound of collapsing bones and the suppressed panting of the group remained.