Chapter 157: Rebirth

A trace of azure light was reflected in the flickering flames replacing the Undead Knight’s eyes.

Before it could react, an illusory phantom had appeared in the underground hall.

With Aurelius’ appearance, but looking colder and more indifferent, it held a large trident and thrust it toward the Undead Knight.

"Die!"

A loud shout echoed in the skeleton’s ears. It had no time to form a defense.

In a hurry, it could only bring its hands together in front of its torso, wanting to use them as a shield.

Bang!

The Sea God’s Trident collided with the Undead Knight.

An eerie cracking sound echoed, shrill enough to make one’s hair stand.

At the point of collision, the bones of the Undead Knight began to shatter.

The skeleton itself was forced to take several steps back to resolve the remaining momentum, its body fragments transforming into black ashes that soon vanished.

"How is this possible?"

"Even if you possess a Divine Vessel and can summon a Divine Phantom, you should be unable to injure me!"

Hearing these words, Aurelius knew that the other party had misunderstood.

Clearly, the Undead Knight believed he had used some external method to summon the Divine Phantom.

Unfortunately, it was mistaken.

His Divine Phantom was not only his own, but it was also armed with the Sea God’s Trident. The two cooperated, creating some form of synergy.

Watching the skeleton’s body break apart, Aurelius knew that his plan had succeeded.

’It was worth risking getting injured to let its guard down. It seems to have worked perfectly...’ he muttered inwardly, though he didn’t relax.

Although injured, the Undead Knight was far from dead.

Moreover, the bizarreness of the hall itself made Aurelius even more apprehensive.

Faced with the Undead Knight’s words of disbelief, he didn’t pause for even a second.

He didn’t try to communicate, let alone resolve its doubts.

Without any hesitation, he controlled the Ocean’s Wrath to strike at his opponent again.

The Sea God’s Trident was urged once more.

This time, water flowed out of its depths and revolved around its tips, while azure mist flowed around it.

The Divine Phantom raised it before bringing it down once again.

Bang!

The Undead Knight had yet to regain its footing before it was attacked again. The trident’s speed was incredible, arriving before it in a split second.

A large hole formed in its sternum, while more of its body broke apart and transformed into ashes.

"Impossible! How could your mortal skills possibly injure me?" The Undead Knight found it unbelievable.

Aurelius’ previous guess had been right. It had retained the same physical strength that it possessed before its death.

Under normal circumstances, even if Aurelius was powerful, he should have been unable to hurt it.

Yet when the skeleton looked down and sensed the somewhat familiar sacred aura remaining on its wounds, it seemed to have realized something.

"You..."

Its gaze shifted toward the Sea God’s Trident, its finger pointing toward it tremblingly.

"A Rare Relic?"

"No!" it quickly dismissed its own thoughts.

"To be able to hurt me just based on its material, it is impossible for it to be an ordinary Rare Relic."

"An Epic Relic...?" The Undead Knight appeared shocked.

Unfortunately, it didn’t receive an answer to its confusion.

Once again, the Sea God’s Trident thrust at it.

Then a second and a third time.

First, the skeleton’s torso was shattered into fragments, followed by its remaining arms and legs.

Within a matter of seconds, the Undead Knight’s body had been torn apart.

Only a single head remained on the ground, the flames in its eye sockets flickering constantly, betraying its inner shock.

"No! No! You can’t kill me!"

"I haven’t completed my great plans! I haven’t resurrected!" it yelled, seemingly unwilling to believe that its grand plans had failed.

An enemy having a mental breakdown should have made Aurelius happy. It showed that the Undead Knight possessed no other trump cards.

But surprisingly, Aurelius didn’t control the Divine Phantom to kill the enemy once and for all.

Instead, he stood on the other side of the hall, staring at the Undead Knight with a frown.

It was not that he had suddenly been moved by its words and decided to spare its life.

Rather, Aurelius found that he couldn’t kill it.

Whenever the thought of landing the final blow emerged in his mind, a terrifying sense of danger would accompany it.

He had a hunch that if he killed the Undead Knight, a calamity would befall him. His life would be in danger!

He couldn’t understand why that was.

Did the Undead Knight have a way to take him alongside it to the Underworld?

Or were there enemies hiding that would appear after its death?

No matter how much he thought about it, Aurelius could not find a plausible answer.

Meanwhile, the Undead Knight’s screams never stopped.

"You can’t kill me! You will never be able to obtain the treasures once I’m dead!"

"If you kill me, I’ll turn into an Undead Evil Spirit and haunt you forever!"

"I’m willing to pay for you to spare my life!"

Begs for mercy, threats, curses.

The Undead Knight did not stop speaking for a single moment, as though its life depended on it.

It seemed powerless to resist Aurelius. A single attack and it would truly perish.

However, the more helpless it appeared, the stronger the sense of danger became in Aurelius’ heart.

His gaze swept through his surroundings cautiously, trying to find the source of that feeling.

Unfortunately, he failed to find any clues.

Until...

A voice reached his ears.

"Have you already noticed? Indeed, geniuses are the most terrifying."

A regretful sigh echoed.

The moment he heard it, Aurelius’ eyes narrowed.

He could recognize it.

It belonged to none other than the Undead Knight who had been begging just seconds ago.

Yet by now, the panic in its voice was nowhere to be found.

When Aurelius turned his head to look at it, his expression changed.