Chapter 229: The Puppet

"Dark Knight!" Orianna looked in terror at a knight shrouded in black death aura, riding a skeleton warhorse burning with nether flames, descending step by step from the sky filled with the mist of the undead.

"Father!" But soon, the young girl recognized the familiar style of the armor on the Dark Knight, as well as the lance in his hand and the sword hanging at his waist, and cried out in shock.

"Daddy!" The girl's cry startled Balk, her little brother hiding in the carriage, trembling under the oppressive presence of the lich. He emerged from the carriage and also immediately recognized the armor and weapons worn by the Dark Knight – they belonged to their father.

"Gaa gaa gaa, little girl, so you have a brother too, how wonderful. A family reunion, how touching," the lich laughed even more joyously upon seeing the little boy, "Too bad, I'm no longer human."

"Daddy?" The little boy looked at the Dark Knight on the skeletal horse with a mix of doubt and fear. He felt the familiarity he had with his father from this knight, but more so, he felt a sense of strangeness.

The Dark Knight's aura, filled with death, despair, resentment, pain, and numerous negative emotions, was something his father would never have.

So, the little boy slowly shook his head, denying the identity of the person in front of him: "No, it's not right, you are not my dad."

Hearing the boy's words, the Dark Knight on the skeletal horse, whose body didn't waver at all, trembled slightly. Under his helmet, the flickering blue soul fire trembled for a moment, indicating his fluctuating emotions. He still possessed consciousness.

"Gaa gaa gaa, little guy, you are so heartless. Such words must deeply hurt my knight," said the lich. The soul fire enveloping its skull shook violently, excited by the interesting scene unfolding before it.

"He is indeed your father, your respected lord. His soul, body, weapons, and armor are all the same, just undergone a little change."

"What have you done to my father?" Orianna asked the lich with a calm gaze, unknowingly having cast the second-tier spell, Mechanical Mind, on herself.

"Can't you see? He has now become a Dark Knight, endowed with eternal life. But your father is stronger than an ordinary Dark Knight; he is special. Do you want to know why he is so special?"

"..." Silence fell, but an air of utter despair enveloped the fleeing group. Even their lord, with Golden-ranked strength, had now become a high-tier undead, which spelled a grim fate for them.

"Because he was personally refined by me. A mere Golden-ranked human knight dared to attack the great legendary lich, Barbosa, with a sword. Such courage impressed Lord Barbosa.

Therefore, to reward this knight's bravery, Lord Barbosa commanded me to refine him into a Dark Knight.

Gaa gaa gaa, honestly, it was an interesting experience. This was my first time refining a Dark Knight directly from a living person.

Your father truly was a worthy knight. Even as his body withered away completely in the undead flames, he did not scream in agony or beg for mercy. But the pain and wailing from his soul, he couldn't hold back. Gaa gaa gaa, it was so interesting."

"Father!" Orianna, in a state of absolute rationality, involuntarily shed tears, but her eyes remained indifferent, devoid of any excess emotion, like a machine.

"Daddy!" Balk wept bitterly, looking at the Dark Knight enshrouded in a thick black aura of death.

"Ah, such a heartbreaking scene," said the lich, whose every bone was inscribed with runes. It extended its bony arm, touching its polished jawbone as if in great distress.

"However, something is discordant. The father has obtained eternal life, but his daughter and little son are still short-lived mortals. This is too unfair."

The lich turned its head, looking at the Dark Knight it had personally refined, and issued a command that seemed merciful in its eyes: "As a qualified father, you cannot only care for yourself. My knight, since you have obtained immortality, go and bestow eternal life upon your children!"

The former lord of Ansel, now a Dark Knight, shook violently with the soul fire in his head, but ultimately, he rode his skeletal horse to the ground, blocking the city gate.

"My lord!" The Silver-ranked knight, who had lost an arm, looked at the Dark Knight shrouded in death aura. Despite being exhausted, both mentally and physically, he gripped his spear tightly.

Even though the Earl, now a Dark Knight, exerted greater pressure than when he was alive, the knight had no intention of surrendering his weapon...

"It seems I didn't erase the memories thoroughly enough," the lich, floating in mid-air, shook its head in dissatisfaction, watching the Dark Knight below impale the one-armed knight through the chest with his spear. "Even though I left a mark on his soul's core, he still resists my commands."

"But it doesn't matter now. As long as he kills his own children with his own hands, his obsession should vanish, and I will be able to fully control him.

This knight has great potential. With proper cultivation over a hundred years or so, he could become my third Soul Intent-level undead subordinate."

"Ah!" "Lord, please spare us!"... Shrill screams continuously echoed. Orianna watched the Dark Knight, shrouded in death aura, holding a spear and charging into the crowd like a tiger among sheep, slaughtering wildly.

The spear, which should have been surrounded by blazing red flames, was now enveloped in a chilling netherfire, its attributes completely changed to become a weapon of the undead.

Each swing claimed the lives of more than a dozen people. The former lord of Cecil, now a Golden-ranked Dark Knight refined by the lich, was unstoppable.

Civilians, adventurers, and guards in the fleeing group screamed, wailed, roared... and then met death in despair. Nearly eighty percent of the mid-tier undead born in Cecil City had been summoned by the lich, surrounding them, leaving them no escape.

"Step!" "Step!"... After slaughtering over a hundred people, including guards who once served under him, the Dark Knight, with his bloodied spear, rode his skeletal horse to the Land Dragon carriage in the center of the group.

"Do you want to kill me?" Orianna jumped down from the Land Dragon carriage, standing in front of the Cecil lord, now a puppet of the lich, and looked up at the helmet glowing with blue light, "Father!"

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