Chapter 171: The Spoils (First Update — Please Vote for Monthly Tickets!)

The longsword was plain and unremarkable, radiating a soft yet resolute glow. As the silver-purple light in Natasha's eyes intensified until they turned crystalline and translucent, two illusory rifts capable of splitting worlds materialized along the blade's edge. In the span of a single second, it had descended upon Congus's head.

A lich's vital point was no longer its heart or neck — only the skull that housed the soul could deal effective, devastating damage.

The monotonous palette of black, white, and gray that shrouded Congus cracked open beneath "Pale Justice," revealing two pinpricks of red light — the eyes of the demigod lich, still struggling to emerge from their frozen state.

With a wet thud, the longsword struck as though hacking into a piece of rotten wood. The triggered magical effects on Congus's body — "Spell Trigger," "Spell Sequencer," and the like — all failed to activate properly under the influence of the mysterious entity from the Netherworld.

"Ahhh!" A piercing, desolate howl erupted without warning. Natasha was flung backward, and threads of blood seeped from the corners of her eyes, her nose, her mouth, and her temples.

This was not the "Howl of the Demigod Lich," but rather a shockwave generated by Congus's psychic energy in the throes of extreme rage. So even with "Pale Justice" serving as a shield, Natasha had still taken a devastating blow — and Lucian fared far worse. His vision blurred, the world spinning before his eyes, and the coppery tang of blood flooded his nostrils.

"You've done well. Very well indeed!" Congus's voice drifted out, spectral and ethereal, clenched between phantom teeth.

Both Lucian and Natasha jolted in alarm — that still hadn't destroyed him?

Suddenly, Congus's pitch-black cloak split down the middle. His pristine skeleton clattered to the ground in pieces, rapidly decaying and yellowing, releasing a foul stench.

Two deep fissures had appeared across the skull. Within them, sacred and gentle light flickered.

*Crack.* The skull split apart, and inside, a small golden cranium bore wounds of indescribable, ethereal damage — as though it had already been shattered.

Without the protection and resistance of arcane magic, the damage Congus had sustained from this single strike was almost comparable to what he had suffered when Silver Moon Etna struck him last time.

"Pale Justice" — the bane of evil. In this moment, it was a true legendary weapon!

The Silver Moon's radiance contracted, firmly suppressing the frozen black-white-gray substance that clung to Congus's left hand, preventing it from spreading outward and affecting Lucian and Natasha.

"I will return! I hope you can come up with better little tricks!" Congus issued his declaration, thick with hatred. The golden skull split into three pieces, falling to the ground with a crisp, metallic clink, and his soul slowly faded away into nothing.

"He's still not dead! Liches — no, mages — are truly the most exasperating things!" Natasha's voice carried equal parts relief and dark humor as she complained.

Lucian lay on the ground, unable to move. The excruciating pain sent spasms shooting through his nerves, yet his mood was inexplicably buoyant. No matter how you looked at it, he and Natasha — relying on nothing more than the resources at hand and a flash of inspiration — had managed to kill a demigod lich once. Even if Congus had been stuck at the threshold of Legendary tier for several hundred years, he was still a genuine Legendary powerhouse! From every conceivable angle, he could crush the two of them without effort.

"Among all arcane — *cough* — mages, the necromantic ones are the hardest to kill, and we were facing a demigod lich!" His breathing ragged, pain lancing through his brain, Lucian's words came in halting fragments. But after he fished out the "Song of Water" potion and drank it down, his injuries finally stabilized. "Besides, the resurrection method he'd prepared in this world was already used up last time. Judging from what just happened, he'll have to reincarnate from his phylactery in the Material World. The round trip, plus the time needed to reconstruct his body — we have over a day of absolute safety."

Natasha rolled to her feet and carefully lifted Lucian by his left arm, bringing him back to her side. "Over a day — that's enough for us to make some preparations. As long as we can stall for another day after that, or as long as the Netherworld fragment doesn't lose control the way it did today, Hathaway and your teacher should arrive. And the longer we drag this out, the less likely the demigod lich will dare to keep pursuing us." She paused. "Uh, can your arm be reattached?"

"I'm not a Sky Knight," Lucian replied, though he slowly sat up anyway, taking his left arm with his right hand and pressing it against the severed wound. Flesh and sinew began to writhe together, and his bones emitted a faint pearly glow. Wearing the Ailes Holy Emblem, he possessed the physical constitution equivalent to a Great Knight. Combined with his Moonlight bloodline, the "Song of Water" potion, and the various blessings from Silver Moon Etna, he couldn't fully restore the limb, but a rough reattachment was possible. Yet the itching, searing pain at the wound forced him to clamp down hard on his lower lip to keep from rolling on the ground and howling in agony.

Suddenly, a cool hand touched his face, gently smoothing away his agony and conveying an unyielding resolve. Natasha furrowed her brow slightly but deliberately cracked a joke to divert his attention. "Now you finally understand the kind of pain I felt when that hole was punched through my abdomen, right? A Great Knight's healing ability is both a blessing and a curse."

Drops of cold sweat slid down Lucian's forehead, and Natasha wiped them clean. After several minutes, Lucian finally managed to squeeze out a smile. "You didn't look like it at the time at all. You were grinning like a complete psychopath, chatting about how to roast your own innards."

"Hehe, want me to grill you a piece right now? Does it really need to be reattached? How well is it healing?" Now that Lucian's prolonged ordeal had finally ended, Natasha voiced the questions that had been on her mind.