Within the Necromantic World, Lucian gathered his thoughts and prepared to find a room to stay in within the extremely monotonous and quiet Deadwood Castle, waiting until the matter of Count Veit, Kalilina, and Ivanovsky had blown over and the pursuit had begun to slacken before heading out to meet Leo.
By Lucian's estimation, this would take about three or four days, and the meeting he had arranged with Leo was a full week away — more than enough time to gain control over this abnormally expanded spiritual power.
"Fortunately, when I entered, I arrived at the projection of Deadwood Castle, and Mr. Rhein is here. Otherwise, according to Maskilin, the Necromantic World is teeming with undead creatures, and the deeper one ventures, the more dangerous it becomes..."
Lucian felt profoundly relieved not to have encountered any undead. Apart from the fact that he was no battle maniac — preferring quiet research and the enjoyment of life — he was also blessed with enough self-awareness to know that, at his current level of strength, he would be hard-pressed to contend with those well-known undead creatures: specters, wraiths, mummies, death knights, and the like. The best policy was simply to avoid them altogether. Who knew whether they might summon one another and come flooding in?
Just as he was about to ascend the gray, gloomy staircase, the entire Deadwood Castle suddenly began to shake — like a fishing vessel caught in a violent storm on the open sea.
Then the castle tore apart, splitting into countless shadows that slid away into the distance and vanished in the blink of an eye.
The entire process happened far too quickly for Lucian to react — he didn't even have time to activate his last Greater Flame Shield.
Exposed to the barren wilderness in an instant, Lucian felt the Necromantic World's air — stagnant and decayed, almost solidified — pressing against him, and he thought in some bewilderment, "What just happened?"
The faint white teardrop mark on his left hand suddenly became prominent, and Lucian immediately felt a fresh, gentle breeze envelop him. His spiritual power and bloodline force — suppressed by the Necromantic World's eerie death energy and oppressive monotony — recovered dramatically, like a cool, refreshing wind sweeping through the sweltering heat of midsummer.
"The little girl's blessing really is useful in an environment like this," Lucian thought with a pleasant lift in his spirits, while surveying his surroundings. He found himself in a black-white-gray landscape resembling the mining district west of Ural City, and then, somewhat puzzled, he murmured to himself, "So this is what a proper reflection of the primary material world looks like..."
As far as Lucian understood, although the Necromantic World reflected non-sentient objects from the primary material plane in a jumbled, disordered fashion — often projecting a building from the west side of a city to its northern quarter — this displacement and confusion seemed to have certain spatial limits, roughly confined within a single city or small town. The fact that he had entered the Necromantic World through the mine shaft rift and arrived directly at the projection of Ural City's Deadwood Castle had always puzzled him. "The degree of chaos and displacement seems far too great..."
Now, watching Deadwood Castle collapse and slide away of its own accord, Lucian finally gained some understanding: "Most likely, for some reason, when Mr. Rhein projected himself, he brought Deadwood Castle along with him. Once he disappeared, the castle quickly reverted to its original position under the Necromantic World's repulsive force."
"Still, this works out well. Ivanovsky's residual traces in Deadwood Castle — the ones that would have been nearly impossible to erase completely — are truly gone now, so there's no need to worry about anyone discovering them... Wait—!"
Lucian jolted with sudden alarm, realization crashing over him, and immediately sprinted toward the rift to the Necromantic World not far away.
If Ivanovsky had known about the Necromantic World and the rift to it deep within the mine shaft, what about his associates? Did that senior mage Nikanorov know about it as well? If he did, then it was highly likely he would also choose to enter the Necromantic World to lie low — and once he reached the bottom of the shaft, the traces of Lucian's battle with Ivanovsky that remained there would plainly reveal that an enemy had been through! The secret of the Necromantic World could already be exposed!
And the exposure of this secret — to Nikanorov, to Ivanovsky's associates, to the powerful figure behind Ivanovsky — would be a far graver development than the disruption of Count Veit's affairs. They would absolutely not spare anyone who might know the secret of the Necromantic World. This would bring a frenzied hunt crashing down upon him — and both Rhein's warnings and Lucian's own understanding pointed to that conclusion without any doubt.
If Nikanorov or anyone else were to discover that he was hiding within the Necromantic World, they would surely search the area thoroughly while setting up detection traps at the exit. He would either find himself in a situation far more perilous than before in Deadwood Castle, or be forced to flee deeper into the Necromantic World in search of another exit rift — but in doing so, he would very likely encounter powerful high-level undead!
"I have to clean up the traces at the bottom of the shaft before anyone else arrives! Then find somewhere else to hide."
Before stepping through the rift, Lucian used the Sun Crown to cautiously sense the environment outside. Only after confirming that no one was there did he activate his last Greater Flame Shield for the day, push through the thick, gloomy "veil," and return to the bottom of the mine shaft.
With no wind to clear it, the deep yellow-green "toxic miasma" had not yet fully dissipated, still corroding the rock and killing insects and rats.
With a mental command, Lucian — whose soul had been considerably strengthened — activated "Dissipate Fog" with considerably greater ease, the casting buffer marginally shorter than before.
After casting "Dissipate Fog" again and again, "Gaston's Toxic Miasma" finally vanished. Lucian then set about methodically disposing of the remains of rats and insects, repairing the miasma-corroded mine walls, and eliminating every trace of battle.
Although he knew Ivanovsky's associates could arrive at any moment, Lucian remained perfectly calm — no flustering, no panic. In less than ten minutes, he used several specialized spells to scrub every trace clean. As long as the other party did not conduct an especially thorough inspection, they would find it extremely difficult to detect anything. Moreover, the more time that passed, the smaller the chance of any clue being discovered. In the end, unless one already knew what to look for and employed the ninth-rank spell "Hindsight Vision," everything would appear perfectly normal.
After finishing everything, Lucian inspected the area one more time with meticulous care, then cast Invisibility and prepared to leave.
He had taken only a few steps when, on the path leading down to the bottom of the shaft, Nikanorov's aura suddenly appeared — making Lucian's blood run cold. "He's actually here!"