The gilded, fine long hair flowed wantonly, and the delicate fragrance of snow orchids gently wafted with her breath. The crystal-clear lips of the Saintess, covered with frost, gradually drew closer.
Although Grevia's eyes and expressions had become a bit more vivid, which made Daphne feel rather gratified, the fact that she was about to be forcibly kissed made Daphne feel extremely embarrassed.
She was originally not as powerful as Grevia, and now, after that incident, she was completely weak and unable to resist, and could only let others do as they pleased.
To be honest, these two sisters were both a bit abnormal deep down in their bones. Even for a half-blood who had no rights, it was unacceptable to push down and forcibly kiss a girl they had just met not long ago.
Her magic power had only recovered a little bit, her hands were bound, she couldn't draw runes or release skills. The skills of her cloak were still on cooldown, and neither the summoned substitute of the Death Seal nor the magic-immune shield of the necklace amulet could defend against this lecherous pervert.
All in all, Daphne had no way to stop Grevia from taking her lips.
Her sobbing instead made Grevia increase the strength of her grip, and her breathing became a lot heavier, obviously becoming even more excited.
But just when Daphne was completely in despair, a sudden sound of footsteps came from deeper in the woods. The two young girls who were entangled with each other on the snowy ground under the tree simultaneously looked warily in that direction.
The deep and thick fog drifted around that figure. Under the robe, one could catch a glimpse of the pitch-black and purplish, unhealthy skin. The putrid smell that only corpses had could be faintly smelled even from a long distance away.
"Unexpectedly, the Platinum Crown of the Empire has such refined tastes, forcing a half-blood girl... Well, each to their own, hehe." A hoarse male voice drifted faintly over.
This guy spoke in a weak and airy tone, with a feeble feeling, and his insidious and malicious laugh was rather disgusting.
"Your accomplice?" Grevia pinched Daphne's neck.
"No, no..." Daphne was startled. Although she did have some dealings with Grover, the commander of the Dead Falcon, she didn't know this guy who had suddenly popped up and spoiled their moment. "I don't know him..."
Seeing the pitiful appearance of the half-blood girl under her, with panic in her eyes and tears at the corners of her eyes, Grevia's heart softened a bit. She let go of her hand and stood up. "Although I don't know your motives and purposes, you did save Edith. For now, I'll assume you have no ill intentions."
Daphne was like a girl who had just been the target of an attempted assault. She wrapped her cloak tightly around herself and shrank back under the tree again, shivering, sobbing and wiping away her tears at the same time.
Grevia hadn't experienced the feeling of having her heartstrings tugged by others' every move for a long time. Seeing Daphne's delicate and tearful appearance now, and thinking that all of this was caused by herself, she actually felt a bit guilty.
"Sorry." The Saintess, who had sealed her heart for too long, didn't know what to say at this time, so she just gave a dry apology. "Wait until I deal with this zombie mage first."
Daphne thought she had misheard. In fact, she was deliberately crying and acting pitifully for that zombie to see. Setting aside her stance, she could remain neutral and avoid being targeted as an attackable target. She hadn't expected to accidentally get an apology from Grevia.
It seemed that this girl still had a bit of a conscience.
"Okay." Then she might as well act cute. Daphne thought so and then nodded delicately at Grevia.
"Presumably, the pests of Clogthia have already infiltrated the territory of the Empire and even appeared in such a southern area." Grevia blew a whistle while quickly drawing runes. Her voice was cold as she slowly approached the man in the robe.
Emma rushed over in response to the whistle and stopped abruptly beside her master. The silver staff made of sea crystals in the saddlebag shot out from the gap surrounded by a faint light of light blue, and then precisely landed in Grevia's palm.
From being empty-handed to being equipped with a weapon, Grevia only took less than a second. Even if the opponent took advantage of this gap to draw runes in advance, Grevia could catch up with or even overtake him at a faster speed. Her extremely high magical talent allowed her to let the opponent have the first syllable.
"You don't know a lot of things. The vision of the living is always short-sighted, just like your lifespan." The man slowly raised his head, revealing his ugly face under the robe - most of his skin had already rotted and died, maggots had drilled a hole on the surface of his cheek, and two bloodshot eyeballs protruded from the shriveled eye sockets without eyelids.
This was a loathsome zombie, a bit more advanced than ordinary skeletons and ghouls, but far inferior to liches in terms of nobility and power. It was also an inferior type among the undead.
However, it was worth noting that he was a zombie mage.
Generally, mages who wanted to become undead would aim for liches as the ultimate goal. That was the ultimate answer in necromancy, with eternal and infinite life, a soul imprisoned forever, and endless arcane energy.
Before one could become a lich, one had to be a living person first, and couldn't be other types of undead.
So a zombie mage like this would always be just a zombie mage. His soul was stored in his physical body, and once it perished, it meant destruction. There was a huge gap of thousands of levels and grades compared to liches.
This guy seemed rather young when he was alive. Presumably, he didn't become a zombie voluntarily but was resurrected by others after an accidental death.
"This smell, it's exactly the same." Grevia sniffed the smell in the air. Her voice gradually turned cold. "You're the necromancer who helped the beastmen attack the team of the Grand Cantor of the Holy Mary Religious Territory. In the direction behind you is where the beast horde is."
The zombie mage was briefly stunned, and then he laughed maliciously in a low voice again, "Hehe, it's me. It's amazing that you could notice. It seems that the Empire isn't full of fools after all."
"It ends here. For your crimes, Lady Vanitaya will pass judgment." After confirming that the other party was an enemy, Grevia immediately raised her staff. Light blue runes filled with icy and cold air began to gather and appear on the top of the sea crystal.
"Overestimating your own abilities!" The zombie mage swung open his robe and raised the pale staff in his hand. That staff was made from a human arm. The bones of the hand tightly grasped a black-purple blood crystal that had been contaminated by evil energy. "You've been surrounded without even realizing it. It seems that I made a wrong judgment. There are indeed mostly fools in the Empire!"
Daphne was stunned.
Of course, it wasn't because of the zombie's magic, but because of the staff in his hand, the "White Bone Staff" that perfectly matched the Death Spectrum. As a transitional item, it was a rather powerful rare-grade main-hand weapon.
She really wanted it.
Should she wait until her strength recovered a bit and then help Grevia? Father and daughter could work together to deal with this guy, pick up the staff, and then slip away while there was chaos?
It sounded feasible. Besides this, there was no other good choice.
Whoever lost or won in the one-on-one fight between these two wasn't the result Daphne wanted to see. It was better to bet on her own ability to improvise.
"What trick are you playing?" Grevia warily stopped drawing the runes, but the ambush that the necromancer claimed didn't arrive as expected. The protective spell "Frost Barrier" that she had prepared had no chance to be cast.
"Attack the Platinum Crown of the Empire herself? I'm not that stupid!" The zombie sneered. "Obviously, the one who is easiest to be torn to pieces here is your lover... Well, perhaps it's more accurate to say it's your pet or slave? Hahaha!"
"Huh?" Daphne didn't react for a moment.
When she turned her head, she found that more than ten undead skeletons and ghouls buried in the snow-covered bushes rushed out at the same time with the necromancer's order. Carrying the putrid smell of dead corpses, they rushed towards her with ferocious looks.
Lover? Pet? Slave?
How could each term be more excessive than the last!?
No, that wasn't the point. She couldn't even muster any strength now and couldn't even crawl. Her magic power had only recovered two or three points and couldn't handle so many skeletons and ghouls at all.
Dear daughter, save your father's life!