Chapter 21: Proving the Curse
The instant the fist connected, a bony armor materialized on Abyss’s face, shielding him from the blow.
The shockwave from the punch was so powerful that Flora’s robes were pressed tightly against her body, revealing her perfect curves. The resounding boom echoed throughout the hall, and the dust on the ground was swept away by a fierce wind, creating a large circle around Leona’s fist. Dust particles still hung in the air, and the coffin Leona had been sitting on was now covered in cracks, with fragments falling from the stone platform beneath it. Trivik, chanting nearby, stopped playing cards and clutched his hand to his chest, chanting louder and faster, fearing the activation of the magic circle from such a powerful impact.
Leona herself looked like a warrior emerging from hell, her entire body engulfed in dazzling orange Dou Qi flames. Her silver hair, originally styled in two braids, was freed as the shockwave snapped the hair ties that had held them for over forty years. Her beautiful, snow-white hair cascaded down, intertwining with the Dou Qi flames, adding a touch of wildness and unrestrainedness to her petite figure.
Abyss stood motionless. A cracking sound echoed, and a network of fissures suddenly appeared on his bone armor before it crumbled, revealing his surprised face.
“I was aiming to embed you into the wall, yet you withstood my punch without flinching?” Leona retracted her fist, the Dou Qi flames vanishing instantly. “I knew from the start that you were something special, but I didn’t expect you to be this special.”
“Likewise,” Abyss said calmly, shrugging his shoulders. The bone armor melted away like ice and snow. “This is the first time I’ve met someone who could break my bone armor.”
“I was right. After you resurrected me, I can control my power properly.”
Leona nudged Abyss away with her leather-shod foot and jumped down from the coffin. The poor coffin, having endured the previous shockwave, finally succumbed to this powerful leap, shattering into pieces.
“Ah… the plan to return her body if we fail is no longer feasible,” Flora sighed softly.
“At the end… when I died, I did feel the Dou Qi in my body break through some kind of barrier, and then all my organs suddenly felt stiff. Before I could call for help, I lost consciousness. What kind of curse could it be? Just making me eat a lot? I couldn’t have died from overeating, could I?” Leona frowned at Abyss. “ABC, I’m asking you. Explain this.”
“We still don’t have enough information. Instead of speculating… could you let me…”
“Don’t even think about it!” Leona slapped away Abyss’s hand, which was reaching for her abdomen. “You lecherous mage!”
“If that’s the case, I have a simpler method!” Flora suddenly interjected.
Abyss, whose mind was still preoccupied with Leona’s stomach, thought for a moment and then nodded in understanding.
“Let’s see what happens when you eat something!” they said in unison.
“Eat something?” Leona placed her hands on her hips and nodded with satisfaction. “That’s a much better idea. I’m hungry now anyway. Oh, you, Flora, can you cook? Make me something to eat. If it’s good, I’ll reward you with a purebred horse!”
Seeing that Flora was about to agree, Abyss quickly rushed forward and blocked her. “I’ll do it. I’m a good cook.”
Abyss knew that Flora couldn’t cook. The Saint of the Church received education in theology and arts, not life skills. She didn’t even know how to sweep the floor (without using Holy Light). To maintain her complexion and figure, the food served to the Saint was strictly supervised low-calorie food, often containing harmless alchemical ingredients. While beneficial for her health, the taste was definitely not something to write home about. This meant that the Saint had never experienced the pleasure of good food in her entire life. Asking her to cook was like asking a dwarf to write poetry, a halfling to guard a vault, or a drow to abstain from sex—it wouldn’t end well.
“Then hurry up and get to it!” Leona said excitedly. “Where’s the exit? Take me outside. I want to have a picnic!”
…
While the ancient creed of necromancers held great respect for both the living and the dead, it didn’t forbid its followers from interacting with the mortal world. Wanton slaughter of animals was prohibited, but killing for sustenance was acceptable. The food chain was also part of the cycle of life and death in nature, and Abyss was grateful that his ancestors had considered their appetites when establishing the creed—even though many necromancers had lost their sense of taste from constantly dealing with corpses.
Abyss avoided the villagers and hunted a medium-sized wild boar in the nearby forest, using magic to create a smokeless fire.
Leona, who had been hungry for forty-two years, couldn’t help but salivate at the sight of the fresh boar being dragged back by Abyss’s undead warhorse. She searched around, found a tree of suitable thickness, and chopped it in half with a single hand strike. Dou Qi above the fourth tier not only provided the body with powerful strength but also manifested various properties depending on the martial arts school. Leona’s Dou Qi clearly possessed a sharpness attribute, as befitting a noble child who had been trained from a young age in swordsmanship and mounted combat.
Leona was a ninth-tier Dou Warrior, but that didn’t mean her strength was the same as other ninth-tier warriors. She was classified as ninth-tier only because that was the highest level in the continental assessment system. The people who established the system probably never imagined that a mortal could reach even higher realms. The cut on the tree trunk from Leona’s hand strike was as smooth as if it had been polished.
This finally added a touch of grandeur befitting her princess status to the surrounding environment. She sat down on the tree stump with satisfaction. Seeing an empty space beside her, she patted the stump, beckoning Flora over.
“Flora, you were the Saint of the Church, so you’re qualified to sit on the same chair as me. Come here!”
“I can help Abyss with the cooking,” Flora said, glancing at Abyss.
Abyss, sending the boar’s soul to rest and contemplating the potential consequences of Flora assisting with the cooking, decisively rejected her offer. “No need. I can handle it myself. You can sit with Leona and rest for a bit.”
With that, he rubbed the ring on his finger, and a green catfish slowly swam out, twisting its body in mid-air. Without needing any commands, the catfish opened its mouth towards him, and Abyss reached in with one hand.
“What are you doing?!” Leona demanded, displeased.
“What else? Showing off my skills for you, of course,” Abyss said with a mysterious smile.
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