Academic gathering with a lich-Chapter 525 - 479: The End Stone

Two meters, facing the bell ringer, the oppressiveness brought on by the visual presence of the Tomb Guardian was much less. His behavior was much smarter than that of the bell ringer, as the Tomb Guardian had his own thoughts and even had his own theories, although all these were based on his own evil nature.

The crows circled in the sky, for Degonris had no birds, and those cawing fowl trailed black fog from the tips of their wings, a physical manifestation of dark forces. They circled above the head of the Tomb Guardian and finally descended upon the refurbished grave soil, fading into it as a shadowy figure.

The Tomb Guardian used his power.

"Death and birth, these are two extremes, withering and sowing, these are also two extremes. Just like you said, I am a diligent gardener, and now, behold the fruits of my labor."

The mounds of the graves were dug open again, and pairs of black claws stretched forth from within, while roaring cries emerged throughout the cemetery. Around the three people, monsters broke out of their graves, twisting their bodies with bark-like, hideous flesh, filling the cemetery with their number.

The Tomb Guardian stood before Ralph with his arms folded, a shovel embedded in the ground, the solitary eye in his head filled with mockery as he watched Ralph.

"You’re similar to the past me, man."

The same black style of dress, the same manner of communication, and the same aura. It was not that Ralph’s presence was particularly similar to the monsters, rather, it was an exact match or even slightly surpassed it.

"I will bury you again, and when you rise, you will become my finest servant," the Tomb Guardian casually concocted the trio’s fate, "Dismember the woman, I’ve had a brilliant idea, I plan to let your transformed self eat her bit by bit."

"Hehehe, don’t worry, Miss Silvette, you will be fine."

The endless monsters became the Tomb Guardian’s confidence as he brazenly detailed his plan, which was quite similar to Ralph in the beginning. If Verlet hadn’t confirmed the blood ties with the Butler family, she might actually have thought the Tomb Guardian was Ralph’s twin brother, a brother that combined all of Ralph’s flaws.

Facing the threat, Ralph took out a small sandalwood box, his expression relaxed, his gloved fingers tracing the patterns on the box.

"I have often been called a monster by the brats Lyle and Kevin behind what they thought was my back. Children can be thoughtless, that’s what I thought, so to help them mature, my education has been quite dedicated."

The box opened, and Ralph reached inside, taking out a relatively slender special bullet. The stone-like casing was smeared with a layer of lively black mud; the Sage’s Stone’s exterior was much dirtier than expected. For this stone signified an Alchemist’s death and their abhorrence of an unacceptable fate. It was the Bullet of Annihilation, the stone of death that ends all things.

Ralph inserted it into the chamber.

"But when I saw you, I realized what a terrible feeling it is to have a monster similar to myself."

He lifted his musket, took aim.

"I’m utterly disgusted, a thing like me, being called a monster by my nephews, one who brings fear, there should only be one Ralph for that, and that’s enough."

Ralph let out a smile, a smile that brought winter’s coldness to the silent cemetery.

"Give my regards to Barkin, Tomb Guardian."

The bullet flew out, making a small noise.

The Dragonfire Alchemy Musket did not show much of its excellent performance as a musket with the Sage’s Stone bullet; it merely served as a frustrated propellant, "casting" the Sage’s Stone towards the Tomb Guardian.

Compared to other bullets, the black bullet traveled relatively slower; perhaps its slick surface slowed down some of the force of the gunpowder. Those mud-like substances made the Bullet of Annihilation a silent, secret arrow, just like death itself.

Three undead blocked the bullet’s path, shields of flesh summoned by the Tomb Guardian.

The blackened skin, akin to tree bark, collided with the black bullet.

The Sage’s Stone penetrated the undead as if a droplet of water joining a body.

Well, not exactly joining, but piercing through.

The Sage’s Stone fulfilled its purpose the moment it touched the body of the undead, melting it away.

Like inserting a candle into the frosting of a cake, unobstructed, the Sage’s Stone bullet pierced through three undead corpses and continued towards the Tomb Guardian without slowing down.

Surprise blossomed like sparks in that vile one-eyed gaze, and by the time the bullet approached, it was too late to dodge. The Tomb Guardian could only raise his shovel in a defensive gesture.

The bullet struck the long handle of the shovel with a bang, emitting a noise at the moment of impact, miraculously altering its trajectory, and finally, it punched through the Tomb Guardian’s shoulder blade, leaving a hole the size of an index finger in his left shoulder. For the two-meter-tall Tomb Guardian, that small hole was still smaller than the tears in his clothes.

The Tomb Guardian breathed a sigh of relief and turned his gaze back to Ralph.

"You indeed gave me a surprise,"

Ralph set down the musket.

The Tomb Guardian let out a strange laugh.

"It’s too late to surrender now. I’m going to dig a hole in your belly and snap your spine in two. Don’t worry, you won’t need it anymore."

Facing the threat from the Tomb Guardian, Ralph didn’t retort.

Ralph was very forgiving, at least towards the dead.

"The second one."

The three corpses that the bullet had pierced through had crumbled into dust, and with his twisted smile, the Tomb Guardian, carrying his shovel, lunged at Ralph. Mid-leap, the Tomb Guardian failed to notice that his body had become like a plate of loose sand. In the first second, his legs remained in place, turning to ashes. In the second second, his lower half cleanly disintegrated in mid-air, while his upper body continued to fly. In the third second, he crumbled, and Ralph caught the flying shovel in his hand, while a slender sword blade fell to the ground amidst the dust.

"The second fragment," Silvette carefully cradled the sword blade in her arms; the edges of the Cursed Sword were not sharp, with the blade dulled to rounded corners and several damaged notches—that sharpness only remained at the tip of the blade, which was also the only spot still flickering with light.

Entering the cemetery, the Tomb Guardian appeared, Ralph took a shot, the Tomb Guardian died. Stripping away Ralph’s morbid flavor of description, the process of hunting the Tomb Guardian was as simple as that. The Sage’s Stone, the stone of death, creating wounds, instant death on contact. The two ladies were still left in the past by the swift unfolding of events, having done nothing while the Tomb Guardian had already perished.

"So powerful, the Sage’s Stone," Silvette’s respect for Ralph and the Sage’s Stone grew even more in her heart.

Ralph, however, looked thoughtfully at the shovel in his hands.

He took out a knife and began to strip the wood skin off the wooden handle of the shovel, along the wound left by the collision with the Sage’s Stone bullet. After a bit of effort, a golden staff was extracted from the shovel.

"This is a ceremonial staff held by the Priests of the church, a relic used for forgiving those who repent,"

"Spoils of war," said staff vanished into Ralph’s coat.

Stepping out of the cemetery, the slightly more vibrant scenery significantly lifted the spirits of the three.

Silvette took the initiative to walk up to Ralph.

"I want to thank you and Mr. Barkin for all the help you have provided to Degonris. I may still seem like a naive noble in your eyes, but Degonris will have a better future,"

Ralph didn’t continue his cold-water-pouring lecturing, as he seemed to be in a particularly good mood now.

"A fine resolve,"

Verlet clung tightly to Ralph’s right arm, the goddess of the flowers of Naranya now wearing a sweet smile.

"What’s making you so happy?"

"I’ve found the way, the way to end all of Degonris’s suffering,"