Bone Burial Ground, beside the stone bridge.
The lake water hadn't completely evaporated, but most of the riverbed was exposed, leaving only the last shallow puddles at the bottom of the lake.
The dried skeletons of fish, merfolk, and water monsters hung on the cliffside, a sickening burnt smell permeating everywhere.
Only a charred church stood on the island, the graveyard, dorms, and even the vineyard and small woods familiar to Heine had vanished, leaving just a few blackened ruins.
Heine silently gazed into the distance, wordless.
In the works he had encountered before, Holy Light was always linked to hope and warmth, or at least a symbol of hypocrisy; he had never seen such violent and brute force.
It was true that the Bone Burial Ground was no place of goodness, and it was also true that Necromancers, who dealt with the dead, were detestable.
But the corpses in the Bone Burial Ground were purchased from lords, and they would spend money to recruit if there were no students; they didn't commit sacrilegious acts.
Heine had run a side business in the academy for three years and had memorized almost every student's face; he had never seen any student secretly taken for human experiments.
At most, it was a gray industry, far from being a crime.
This unwarranted orbital bombardment smacked of extremism, carrying a kind of contemptuous deterrence.
His affection for so-called "Holy Light" had plummeted into the negatives.
"Tsk tsk, Brother Yang, your hometown folks are really ruthless."
"You can't just say that, we Crimson Dawn are disciplined, these Eternal Dawn people are pure war criminals."
"Oh right, you haven't separated from them yet, aren't you going back to rally the troops?"
"Am I in a rush to go and deliver virtue? Right, didn't you say this is a broken bridge? It looks like it can still support vehicles."
"It's just missing the last straw. I just hope he doesn't charge right over."
Heine, of course, would not do so. He remembered the keywords mentioned by the other party and immediately thought of the term 'broken bridge'.
He silently noted the conversation they had just had, tied the horse by the roadside, and connected the three of them with a long rope.
"Step where I've stepped."
After issuing the command, he cautiously set foot on the stone bridge, filled with cracks, taking every step gingerly.
The short distance of a mere ten meters took nearly ten minutes to cross, and Heine truly sighed with relief after making it across safely.
Then, he heard a thunderous collapsing noise behind him.
Turning around, he saw the stone bridge had broken into four pieces.
He was immensely grateful that he had heeded the advice of the transmigrator.
Fortunately, the distance between each section of the broken bridge wasn't too far; perhaps they could still—
"It finally looks a bit like the bridge I know, but how did an extra section appear?"
"The one near the heart of the lake island is unstable. In the game, it was collapsed by a barbarian warrior."
"Big leap over a broken bridge, huh? That's pretty foolish."
"Indeed."
Okay, they still couldn't be at ease.
Heine untied the rope and gestured for the two to head towards the charred church.
Xiya La would usually stay there all night and then go back to sleep for a short while when dawn approached.
His mood was somewhat heavy, and his silhouette looked forlorn.
Suddenly, the cellar door under the corner of the church was lifted, startling Heine, who whispered the order to "Hide," quickly ducking behind nearby ruins.
On turning around, he saw that although these two only started their movements after his command, they scurried away faster than he did.
In the moonlight, amidst the dry, hot air, the cellar door opened, and a hunched figure emerged.
Could this be…
Heine narrowed his eyes, his breathing becoming rapid.
Hunter?
He was sure he wasn't mistaken; several times, when he returned late from hunting outside, this old man would wait at the graveyard's entrance, hands behind his back, ready to fine him, that profile was too familiar!
He saw the logistics manager crawl out, prop the cellar door open with a stick, and then duck back in to drag out a sack longer than himself.
Followed by the second, and the third…
In one go, he dragged out four sacks, his face showing no trace of fatigue.
Heine couldn't help but think of the term "double-dealer." Could it be…
"Brother Yang, Brother Yang, your suit has arrived!"
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
"The 'Bone-Chopping Knife' set, you know, the one paired with the Meat Chopping Block, where the weapon bleeds, and the shield comes with a faint life-stealing aura, usable up to level 15."
"I've remembered now, I didn't even make a full set when I leveled up to 16... Is this the third boss of the Bone Dungeon?"
"Yes, that two-bit character."
It was him indeed!
The root of all this evil!
New grudges piled on top of the old, and although Heine was itching with hatred, he was still very calm facing the imminent situation.
Heine didn't know the strength of Hunter, nor had he ever seen him in action, but they said this was the third boss of the Bone Dungeon, which had to be formidable.
However, the two had previously discussed how their current attributes were sufficient to enter the dungeon, with the only thing lacking being "freedom."
Most Wandering Souls acted on instinct alone, thus requiring restraints to prevent their ineffectual behavior.
Without a system, he didn't know how to adjust the "mode," but it probably had something to do with the degree of restraint.
Moreover, such tactics indeed existed in the Necromancer's combat strategies—removing restraints to allow minions to act freely in order to draw fire was a valid move.
No longer hesitant, Heine slightly relaxed his control over his minions and gave them orders:
"One of you approach silently to attract attention, and the other take the opportunity to ambush. Go!"
The refined orders were quickly sent out in the form of thoughts, and both Skeletons were startled!
"I feel less restricted now?"
"Might have switched modes, eh? Forget it, I'll go first, you circle around behind!"
"Ok!"
Just as Hunter was peeking in to drag out the fifth sack, Zhuo Yang, holding his shield and hunched over, stealthily moved within three to four meters of him without making a sound, an agility not characteristic of Skeleton soldiers.
He suddenly slapped his long sword against the wooden shield with force!
Clang!
The dull sound was especially piercing in the dead of night, evidently startling Hunter, who trembled and accidentally let the fifth sack slip back into the cellar.
Enraged, Hunter jumped up and down and glared at Zhuo Yang:
"Damn skeleton, looking for death, are you!"
But as soon as he saw the silvery ghost fire under the opponent's hood, his body stiffened, and he pointed tremblingly:
"Sp-Spirit Puppet? You... you are..."
"What gibberish are you spouting? Does my body still have some sort of intimidating aura?"
Zhuo Yang didn't understand the babble, but he saw this as a golden opportunity!
He suddenly accelerated, closing the three to four-meter gap instantly, and brought his long sword down overhead!
Clang!
In the nick of time, Hunter regained his composure. Raising his right hand that was black as a claw, he incredibly blocked the sword strike!
Then his face twisted into a triumphant grin.
"Hahaha, weak ants, you're not, you're not one of them!"
He raked his other hand across his face, leaving four fresh red marks that quickly connected with thin blood threads to the four sacks on the ground.
"The Body of Blood, fight for me!"
With a hoarse shout from Hunter, he forcefully pushed Zhuo Yang away with his right hand.
Zhuo Yang appeared to fall awkwardly, but used a backward roll to dissipate most of the force.
As he got up, he half-crouched, holding the wooden shield in front of him and taking a half-step back with one foot.
Almost simultaneously, Hunter's body bathed in bloodlight lunged at him like a ghostly shadow!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Deep marks were left on the wooden shield from the blood claws, and though Zhuo Yang's feet sunk into the scorched earth, he withstood the barrage of attacks!
Their coordination was so perfect it was as if it had been pre-arranged...
"This is impossible!!!"
Horror showed on Hunter's face!
How could this skeleton have completely seen through his tactics on their first encounter?
That's when he suddenly noticed something off—why was there no movement behind him?
Just as he was about to abandon this tough nut to crack, sweetness filled his throat, and he choked out a mouthful of fresh blood!
Panicked, Hunter turned around, only to see a lean figure standing up from the fourth blood-stained sack, holding dual daggers.
His daggers were speckled with blood, and beneath the first three sacks, without exception, large pools of blood had seeped out...
"No—"