At the heart of the oasis, within the towering temple, EeDechi, dressed in black from head to toe, lay hidden on the rooftop.
"Why hasn't Barrett sent a message yet?" EeDechi wondered.
Her original plan had been to wait until the female leader fell asleep, then sneak into her chambers and "borrow" the crown. But she had never expected that the leader and her followers would seem to need no rest at all. The lights inside the building kept burning, bright and unwavering.
Not only that, but this temple in the city of the remnant people was holding a night banquet. Noblewomen in lavish dress came and went, while elegant aristocrats moved through the halls.
"Don't these people ever sleep?" EeDechi found the situation stranger by the minute.
She decided she could not wait any longer. Just then, in a garden inside the temple, a pair of young noble lovers were screwing out in the open.
EeDechi jumped down from the rooftop, knocked out the two indecent nobles, then took the male noble's clothes, disguised herself as one of the remnant people, and slipped into the temple to join the banquet.
The temple's reception hall was resplendent and crowded to capacity. All the remnant nobles held wine goblets as they gathered around the hall, listening to the female leader deliver her address.
The leader stood at the center of the crowd, with Elsa, her sister, by her side. Elsa held a plump, endearing infant in her arms; the baby blinked, looking eager and expectant.
EeDechi blended in, her gaze falling on the crown atop the leader's head. That was her target for the night.
"My friends, we have waited here for the return of the former emperors for centuries," the leader began slowly, her voice solemn. "Through these long years, time has worn away every last shred of our patience. Let the long-awaited banquet begin."
The hall doors swung wide open, and a group of maids pushed in three long, rectangular serving carts, each covered with white cloth.
Then the maids began handing out utensils: short silver daggers and palm-sized forks, an unsettling combination. EeDechi received a set as well, and could not help frowning.
The leader raised her arm and cried, "Feast upon the delicacy of fresh, living flesh. It is far more delicious than the blood squeezed from the Dragon Progenitor's corpse."
As her words ended, the maids lifted the white cloths from the serving carts, revealing the "food" laid upon them: Barrett, Franco, and Antilene. They lay there peacefully, their eyes shut tight, their faces calm and serene. It was impossible to tell whether they were dead or alive.
"One guest is still missing for the moment," the leader said with a faint smile. "Please enjoy yourselves quickly, lest delay bring trouble."
A corpulent noble stepped forward, licking his lips, his eyes gleaming green with anticipation. He gripped his silver dagger and thrust it toward Barrett's neck.
THUD!
Barrett's neck did not bleed. Instead, the corpulent noble's entire arm snapped clean off.
"What are you people?" EeDechi roared. She swung her sword again and slammed the corpulent noble into the wall, sending shattered stone flying everywhere.
It was like a cat had suddenly pounced into a nest of rats. In an instant, the remnant nobles scattered in panic, and the entire temple hall erupted into chaos.
"You were not put to sleep?" The leader gasped in shock. "How can that be? The sleeping potion in the dinner you shared with Barrett was enough to fell five dragons!"
"Five dragons?" EeDechi thought to herself. She had eaten dinner with Barrett that night, probably about three-fifths of the portion, but her body had not reacted at all.
"What terrifying magic resistance. It could rival the former emperors—no, it has surpassed them!" The leader's eyes were wide with astonishment.
But she quickly snapped back to her senses. A glowing longsword materialized in her hand, and she thrust it through the air toward EeDechi.
EeDechi parried the longsword with a backhand block, then swept her giant sword across, piercing straight through the leader's body.
EeDechi thought the female leader had taken that hit and died, but then she noticed something bizarre: not a single drop of blood flowed from the leader's wound. Through the gaping hole in her chest, EeDechi could clearly see pale white bones.
"What are you?" EeDechi gripped her giant sword and closed in on the leader step by step.
"I am the Skeleton Queen!"
The leader let out a hoarse roar. Her flesh rapidly aged and peeled away, transforming her into a skin-and-bones lich. Towering soul flames blazed within her skull, and necrotic energy wove through the hall like a dense web.
EeDechi's eyelids gave a sharp twitch as her figure shot forward like an arrow. In a flash, she was right in front of the leader, hacking her body to pieces and scattering bone shards everywhere. The leader who had been so imperious just moments ago was now reduced to an empty skull.
EeDechi snatched up the skull and growled fiercely, "How dare you lay hands on us!"
"Mommy, I want meat~" A childish voice rang out from the infant in Elsa's arms.
Elsa saw her sister's skull clutched in EeDechi's grip and found herself unable either to flee or remain where she was. She gritted her teeth, raised her hand to cast a spell, and Franco's body lifted into the air, floating right into her grasp.
Elsa tightened her right arm around the infant while long bone claws sprouted from the fingers of her left hand, seizing Franco by the neck. She shouted at EeDechi, "Let go of my sister, or I will kill him!"
"Hahaha, Elsa! Do it! Let this living fool taste death as well!" the leader howled madly from EeDechi's hand.
Elsa? EeDechi's heart skipped a beat as she recalled the Common inscription on the Constructs Storage Box:
[Imperial Year 1339, the Great Expedition began.
"I followed eight emperors, with no chance to turn back. Elsa, I leave this small toy for our child yet to be born.
"Goodbye, my love, do not wait for my return."]
Could it be that this Constructs Storage Box, crafted five hundred years ago, had been meant as a gift for the noblewoman standing right before her?
EeDechi shouted, "Elsa, wait! I have your beloved's magic item! The Constructs Storage Box!"
Elsa's fingers froze around Franco's throat, her eyes widening in shock. "What did you say?"
EeDechi pulled the Constructs Storage Box from her spatial ring and hurled it high toward Elsa.
"That's my husband's!" Elsa's gaze locked onto the box sailing through the air.
Taking advantage of her distraction, EeDechi flung her giant sword. The raging blade punched through Elsa's body, tearing her apart. Severed limbs writhed on the ground, but not a single drop of blood splashed out.
EeDechi summoned back her giant sword and hauled the unconscious Franco away from Elsa's reach.
"You... you're all liches wearing living human skin." EeDechi glared at Elsa, fury blazing in her eyes. Though reduced to only her upper half, Elsa was still clinging to life.
"We are liches, indeed," the leader's skull rasped from EeDechi's grip, her voice rising from the soul flames. "But our flesh is our own. Step one foot outside the oasis, and it sloughs off completely. As long as we remain inside, we are still among the living."
"Those skeleton soldiers in the desert—do they belong to you too?" EeDechi recalled the relentless undead crawling out of the sands, and a wave of disgust still churned in her gut.
"Yes, they are remnant people as well." The leader knew she had no options left, so she answered EeDechi's questions without holding anything back.
"Why attack us? Why slaughter travelers in the desert?" EeDechi demanded. With just a little more pressure from her hand, the leader's skull would burst.