Chapter 14 – Infinite Cycle

The ritual was finally gradually completed, and the Bishop and disciples above all completely turned into monsters.

Su Mo used Lafu to block the two Skeleton Knights, and he had Lafu use his Thick Skin skill. That way, Lafu could tank three monsters at once.

Su Mo was thankful that Lafu was already Level 25, as if any of these three monsters landed a critical hit, it was possible that they would instantly kill Lafu.

Su Mo rolled on the ground to open up some distance before switching to his long bow.

Charged Shot!

After completing the ritual, the Necromancer raised his hand and cast a whole bunch of debuffs on Lafu, making Lafu's strength decrease by more than 30%.

Necromancers were a type of Sorcerer; they could not compare to Magicians in direct attacks, but they could give their targets all kinds of debuffs and make them weaker. That was how they could suppress opponents stronger than them.

Lafu's Defense was not very strong, and after losing 30% of his stats, he was instantly killed by a Soul Devour from Lindberg.

Soul Devour was one of the Necromancers' signature skills. If a Sorcerer used Soul Devour to kill a target, their next attack would be many times more powerful.

Recovering a pet's HP had a cooldown time of 15 seconds, and Su Mo did not have any time to recover HP for Lafu.

At the same time, Su Mo's Charged Shot had gathered enough power. He calculated the amount of damage he could take, and as the Skeleton Knights rushed in front of him and Lindberg's augmented Dark Bone Spear was about to hit him, he released the Charged Shot.

This Charged Shot had not been able to charge for the full eight seconds.

The rule for damage in New World was that once the attacker died, the skills and attacks that they launched would not deal any damage.

Charged Shot was an arrow, and it was incredibly fast. Before the Dark Bone Spear was able to hit Zhou Xuanji, it pierced through Lindberg's chest.

Su Mo was not completely confident; when the bone spear hit him, he had been mentally prepared to die.

However, he did not die!

The bone spear dissipated into countless shards. Since Su Mo had not died, it must have been Lindberg who had died. The high damage from Charged Shot had turned the situation around.

This definitely was not the strength of a Level 15 Mini Boss!

In actuality, Su Mo did not have sufficient understanding of the game. Rainham Town's normal Boss was the Bishop in the cathedral, whileNecromancer Lindberg was a Hidden Boss or Quest Boss.

This kind of Boss had to do with quests, and only by triggering a quest could one come to the underground area below the cathedral.

After killing a Hidden Boss, that quest would no longer exist, and the map of the cathedral in Rainham Town would no longer be like before; it would just be an ordinary cathedral filled with monsters.

After the Boss fell, before Su Mo could go and search its corpse, something unexpected happened.

A wave of green smoke came out of the corpse and turned into a humanoid creature. It wore a gray robe and had a pointy sorcerer's hat on its head. It held a bone staff and looked at Su Mo furiously.

"Stranger, why must you stop me?"

"Can you tell me your story, Sir Sorcerer?" Su Mo gulped; only now did he remember the rumors related to Sorcerer-type Bosses.

Sorcerer-type Bosses could curse the players who killed them, and the curses had all kinds of effects and lasted for differing times. The only way to escape from these curses was to talk to the souls that appeared afterwards.

This was the first time he had killed a Sorcerer-type Boss, and he had directly ran into a curse.

According to the victims on the forums, because they had not been able to make the Sorcerer Boss 'rest', the people who had participated in the battle had all been cursed. Some were afflicted by a Weakened curse, some were afflicted by a Slowness curse, and some were afflicted by a Cooldown curse.

It could last from a few minutes to eight hours; it was incredibly annoying.

In response to Su Mo's question, Necromancer Lindberg started to tell his story.

He and his wife and child lived in Rainham Town. Even though he secretly studied necromancy, on the surface, he was a sincere zealot. They were very happy with their peaceful life, until news that Archbishop Augustine was going to visit came.

In order to receive this major figure of the Papacy, the Bishop cleared out any abnormalities in the town. He discovered Lindberg's secret and wanted to bring people to capture him, but he ended up escaping.

As such, the Bishop killed Lindberg's wife and burned Lindberg's six year old daughter in front of the town's zealots as a warning to those who dared blaspheme against god.

"Lisa was only six years old, how could they do such a thing to a child," Lindberg said sorrowfully and angrily.

 "If I knew that this would happen, I definitely would not have run away. I wish I could give up my life so they could live…"

"Wait, are you sure the Papacy wanted to purify you, because according to my understanding, the Papacy no longer purifies Necromancers." Su Mo had briefly read through the game's lore before.

Players had entered the game in the First Year of Demon Blood, and history before that was calculated according to how many years it was before that. According to the official explanation, the Magic Assembly and Papacy had continuously been fighting, each with their own victories and losses. One day, demon blood bubbled out, and many creatures mutated because of the demon blood. Some races and monsters that only existed in ancient times once again stepped onto history's stage. In order to protect the supreme position of humanity in the continent, the Magic Assembly and Papacy had made a truce.

Even though Necromancers were still viewed with hostility, no one would be burned just because they were a Necromancer anymore.

Archbishop Augustine was unable to accept this and left furiously. He established a new religion in the Borivia Empire. Not only did they continue to hunt down magic-users, but they also viewed the Papacy as a heresy.

"This is impossible; how can this be possible? The Papacy said we blasphemed corpses and needed to be purified with fire." Necromancer Lindberg was unable to accept this.

"That's right, I saw some small flags in front of the cathedral, saying they were welcoming Archbishop Saint Zachary's arrival, when was that?" Su Mo asked.

"Saint Zachary…" Lindberg repeated this name, terror in his voice.

 "He will visit this place in two or three weeks. He is the most powerful Archbishop in the Papacy, and I was wondering if I should go out during this period of time."

"I don't think there's a need for that; ten years ago, Saint Zachary died at the Kers Mountain Range. The one who killed him was Dryad King Alfred. I'm sure you've heard of this name before."

"Why, what happened…" Necromancer Lindberg muttered.

"I think I understand." 

Su Mo closed the information that he had last-minute searched up and said sympathetically, "Roughly 30 years ago, back when the Papacy was hunting down heretics, your daughter was burned at the stake. You decided to set up an evil ritual beneath the cathedral, and while everyone was worshipping, you turned everyone above into Undead. Over the years, you repeated what happened that day, every day; only that way can you sate your hatred."

Necromancer Lindberg looked stunned. Only after a while did he slowly look up, and he looked at Su Mo with a hollow gaze.

 "Do they not deserve this?"

A dangerous atmosphere started to spread, and if Su Mo gave the wrong answer, a terrible curse would fall on him.

Of course, it was also possible for him to receive a blessing, if the Boss was satisfied with his answer.

"They indeed deserve this, and those Zealots who stood by and watched are not innocent either. There is nothing wrong with your revenge." 

Su Mo paused before sighing sympathetically, "But have you thought about how even though the Bishop and Zealots are repeatedly being punished, your cute little Lisa is also continuously suffering?"

"Lisa!" 

A bit of light could be seen in Lindberg's hollow gaze, as if he thought of the most wonderful thing in the world.

"I think that is the reason why I've come to stop you." 

Su Mo bent down and smiled as he said, "Respected Sorcerer, are you satisfied with my answer?"