In the heart of this valley lies an ancient cemetery, where the high-ranking members of the Church of the Dead over thousands of years are buried, with the popes buried in the deepest part.
Led by Gustav, they walked through several black buildings and arrived directly at the residence of the successive popes.
This place is less a cemetery and more a vast underground palace.
"Your Majesty Bishop."
The two guards nodded slightly to Gustav and then opened the stone doors of the palace.
Gustav walked ahead and introduced, "Each of these tombs contains the coffin of one of my popes. May I ask which pope this gentleman wishes to meet?"
The skeleton elder held the mirror that Phil Gray had used to summon him, as if recalling something. As soon as he entered the cemetery, he made it clear that he wished to pay his respects to a certain pope of the Church of the Dead.
"The teacher's name is Nicole."
Gustav nodded. “Niccol? That should be the 125th pope I’ve ever taught. Follow me.”
They walked for a long time in the corridors of the underground palace and finally arrived at a tomb chamber.
The tomb exterior does indeed bear the inscription "Nicole Solomon, the 125th Pope".
Gustav took out a ring engraved with mysterious patterns from his pocket, aligned the ring with the groove on the doorway, and the tomb door opened.
Upon entering the tomb chamber, an ancient black coffin sits in the center, with some odds and ends piled on the ground.
The walls of the tomb chamber are covered with vivid murals, but they are quite old and covered in dust.
The skeleton looked at the coffin, raised his palm, and stroked the patterns on the coffin. He slowly shook his head: "It shouldn't be like this. Why, why isn't the teacher here?"
The eerie blue flame in his eyes suddenly dimmed, as if he had suffered a tremendous blow.
"Senior, are you looking for Pope Nicol's body?" Phil Gray couldn't help but ask.
Although he had agreed to let the skeleton take him to the cemetery of the Church of the Dead, he was actually quite apprehensive, because he didn't know what the skeleton was up to.
If this skeleton has ulterior motives, such as destroying the tomb of a pope, it would not only implicate itself but also Gustav, who brought them in.
"Not only his body, but also his soul..."
The skeleton continued, utterly disappointed, "My teacher didn't come to the Abyss. I don't know where he went. I thought his soul was still here..."
Gustav hesitated and said, "It is true that some popes' bodies were not buried in this cemetery for various reasons, but since this is Pope Nicol's coffin, how come there is no body inside?"
The skeleton did not answer. Instead, it gently tapped the coffin, and instantly, the hard wood turned into fragments, leaving the inside empty.
Gustav's expression was grave. "It seems we need to update the roster. We have to find another papal remains, but Pope Nicol's era was more than four thousand years ago, so it may not be easy to find."
"No, what we need to find is his soul! Do you understand? I've been searching in the Abyss for so long and haven't found his soul. It's very likely that he didn't even go to the Abyss! But how could the soul of such a beloved and powerful Pope dissipate so easily? Impossible... absolutely impossible!" The skeleton suddenly roared as if it had gone mad.
Phil Gray and Gustave exchanged a glance and both frowned.
Soon, the skeleton realized that this was the resting place of the past popes and quieted down, but he was clearly on the verge of collapse.
He picked up some dust-covered items from the ground and murmured, "These are my teacher's things. Why are they still here, but my teacher is gone?"
Phil Gray suddenly had a flash of inspiration. "Senior, I have an idea that might help you find Pope Nicol's trail."
"What?" The skeleton's sharp eyes fixed on them.
“You know I can summon a specific undead with a certain token…” Before Phil Gray could finish, the skeleton interrupted, “Yes, yes, you can try to summon him with something from my teacher!”
As he spoke, a broken iron bowl appeared on the skeleton's bony hand. The bowl was covered in rust and looked like it had been eroded over many years.
“This…is Pope Nicol’s relic? If it’s something that has special significance to him, the chances of a successful summoning are probably higher…” Phil Gray thought it would be better to use the items on the tomb floor, since this broken bowl looked too ordinary.
“Use this bowl. He always carried it with him when he was alive. It was made by the children he cared for and had been with him for over thirty years.” The skeleton’s voice was filled with the bitterness of reminiscing about the past.
“Alright, but my skill can only be summoned once a day. I can only summon it again during tomorrow’s competition.” Phil Gray did have some selfish motives.
If Pope Nicol were still in his undead form, he would be comparable to the divine undead summoned by Ilya.
I hope it will be successful.
“Alright… If you do summon him, remember to tell him I’ll be waiting for him in the City of Ten Thousand Bones in the Northern Region,” the skeleton said.
"Yes, I will definitely tell him that if the summoning is successful, I will summon you again later to let you know. If I don't summon you again, it means..."
"No problem. Let me stay here by myself for a while." The skeleton nodded, then focused intently on the blurred murals, recalling his memories of that time in the human world.
Phil Gray and his companions then left the tomb chamber and, led by Gustave, toured the rest of the cemetery.
...
After the skeleton returned to the abyss, Phil Gray said goodbye to Gustav and then rushed to the Cathedral of Death in the core area.
He was drowsy the whole way and really wanted to lie on the soft bed. After all, he had been engaged in nighttime activities for two consecutive nights and was really lacking in sleep.
For over twenty years, I've lived a life of working at sunrise and sleeping at sunset. Even those favored by the gods find it hard to resist the power of habit.
Perhaps only when one reaches the level of a god can one truly break free from the limitations of humanity.
They finally arrived at the cathedral, but they weren't even the last two; the Son of Marshall hadn't appeared yet.
However, the archbishop has already announced the start of today's competition.
“Isn’t there still one spot missing?” Eli asked.
"You mean the Holy Son Marshall? He's dead."
Yi Lai Zhe's expression was grave. He pulled them aside and whispered, "Last night, the Legion of the Dead rioted, stormed Marshall's manor, and killed him. It seems it's because Marshall imprisoned Saint Jaslin's child. Last night, Marshall tried to threaten the Saint, and a violent conflict ensued when they met. The child's soul was annihilated. The Saint has a close relationship with the Legion of the Dead; her mother was the former vice-captain, and her current husband is one of the Legion's eight knight commanders. So the knights of the Legion of the Dead were instantly enraged. They went and killed Marshall, shattering his soul as well. The others from Wollaston were at the church gate early this morning demanding an explanation from the Legion of the Dead. The Grand Elder, prioritizing the papal selection, temporarily sent them back."
Unexpectedly, such a big thing happened again that night. Phil Gray glanced at Saint Jaslin and found that she looked very haggard. However, she was still able to participate in the papal selection even though the child's soul had been annihilated. She seemed to be quite strong.
"Let's not talk about that anymore, boss. Have you figured out how to deal with the god-level undead I summoned today? If you want to seize the Pope's position by your own strength, your score in this round can't be lower than mine." Yi Lai Zhe chuckled. "My ancestors are still sitting there. I dare not withdraw voluntarily in this round."
“No need, I have my own way. But how did you manage to summon a god-level undead and keep it there for so long? Is it a talent of your bloodline?” Phil Gray asked curiously.
“No, I used the Spirit Summoning Candles passed down in my family, and I used a lot of them at once. The Spirit Summoning Candles allow me to summon my family’s ancestors, but my current stock is almost gone,” Yi Lai Zhe said with some heartache.
“That really shouldn’t be used for something like this.” Phil Gray was speechless. He had no intention of becoming Pope anyway, so why waste his time? He knew that divine-level followers were practically invincible on the continent of Ver, so it would be much better to summon them to fight.
Yi Lai Zhe smiled. "Isn't this just to show you my value?"
“I think you’re just provoking me, boss. You might as well not help him anymore,” Eli interjected.
"No, boss, you can't break your promise!" Yi Lai Zhe said hurriedly.
While they were gossiping, Jasmine had already taken the stage.
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