The night was deep, and a cold wind howled through the Graveyard Area.
Helos and Julius stood frozen in place, staring straight at the “A-Piao” floating in mid-air.
The blurry afterimage seemed as if the night wind was tugging at the hem of its clothes, yet it remained perfectly still, suspended there as if silently observing them.
The air was terrifyingly quiet; even the sound of breathing seemed piercingly loud.
The two looked at each other, neither speaking first.
Time felt as if it were being stretched endlessly until Helos finally couldn’t help but cough softly, trying to break the frozen atmosphere.
“Ha… haha.”
She laughed dryly, her voice sounding extremely forced. “This thing definitely isn’t made of Mana, right? Otherwise, how could it appear so close to us? Even my Curse didn’t drive it back.”
She thought this would relieve the tension, but as soon as she spoke, it made the scene even more awkward.
Julius shivered, his lips twitching slightly as he slowly responded:
“If it’s not made of Mana, doesn’t that mean its Resentment is already strong enough to appear without relying on Mana?”
These words were like ice water being poured over her.
Helos’s smile froze on her face, her breath catching in her throat.
She jerked her head up, her gaze “meeting” the A-Piao’s eyes.
Of course, she wasn’t sure if the thing even had eyes.
But at that moment, she truly felt a cold sense of pressure locking onto her, as if she would be swallowed whole if she looked away.
In the next second, the A-Piao suddenly opened its mouth and let out a shriek that tore through the night sky.
The sound made their eardrums go numb and their hearts race.
Almost simultaneously, the A-Piao dove downward, plunging straight into the soil of the last grave!
“Oh no!”
Before Helos’s cry could leave her mouth, the grave soil exploded. A ghastly bone claw burst through the dirt like a tentacle from hell.
The claw was as sharp as a knife, pale and thick. Accompanied by the clicking and clattering of grinding bones, a massive Skeleton crawled out of the mound bit by bit.
It looked twice the height of a normal person, with a faint blue fire flickering in its hollow eye sockets, looking cold and deathly.
“Heiya!!!”
But Helos didn’t hesitate for a second.
Almost instinctively, she drew the Thin Sword at her waist. The blade sliced through the air with a piercing whistle as she slashed down.
“Clang—!”
The edge hit the Skeleton right in the collarbone. The massive impact stalled the Skeleton’s movement, forcing it to stop in a stiff, half-crawled-out state.
Helos’s movements were shockingly fast—so fast that Julius hadn’t even reacted.
“You—!”
The Squire’s pupils shrank, and his heart skipped a beat.
But Helos had no time to worry about his shock. She gripped the hilt with both hands, staring intently at the monster, and roared:
“What are you dazing for!! While it’s still stuck in its Wind-up, do something quickly! Do we have to wait for it to crawl out and have an Imperial City PK with us?!”
Julius blanked for half a breath before snapping out of it.
“Damn it! Get back!”
He shoved Helos’s shoulder, pushing her back several steps, and raised his right hand. The glow of Holy Light suddenly shone from his fingertips.
“Holy Light Bullet!”
The light condensed into a dazzling sphere, flashed in his hand, and whistled toward the Skeleton’s chest the next moment!
“Boom—!”
The first Holy Light Bullet hit. The faint blue fire trembled violently, and the Skeleton let out a low roar.
Julius gritted his teeth and swung his arm continuously.
“Holy Light Bullet! Holy Light Bullet! Holy Light Bullet!”
A series of light spheres exploded one after another, illuminating the entire Graveyard Area as if tearing a hole in the night.
The massive body of the Skeleton, not yet fully unearthed, kept reeling back under the impact of the Holy Light. Its bones were shattered into pieces, and fragments rustled to the ground.
“Roar—!”
A final, unwilling howl echoed in the night sky.
With a loud crash, the entire Skeleton collapsed, turning into countless shattered white bones scattered among the soil, eventually leaving behind nothing but a pile of grayish-white bone meal.
At the same time, the figure of that A-Piao flashed past the back of the Skeleton. It suddenly distorted in mid-air, melting away like snow under a blazing sun, vanishing without a trace in an instant.
The Graveyard Area fell silent again, leaving only the sound of the two’s heavy breathing.
“Phew—”
Julius’s arm trembled slightly, and his forehead was covered in cold sweat.
He let out a long breath, nearly collapsing to the ground.
“That scared me to death…”
Helos patted her chest, her legs feeling weak as she struggled to stand steady. “Luckily, this guy wasn’t very strong.”
However, after the initial fright, she quickly curled her lips and said:
“See? I was right, wasn’t I? If I hadn’t moved first, your pig brain wouldn’t have reacted!”
“Huh?”
Julius rolled his eyes at her and snorted, “Who says I didn’t react! I just couldn’t use magic with you right next to me! If I hadn’t used Holy Light Magic, your sword strike would have only stalled it for two or three seconds at most!”
“Two or three seconds are also important!”
Helos refused to back down, her hands on her hips and her chin tilted up. “If you’re not satisfied, you go first next time!”
“That’s not happening. I can’t do this job alone!”
“I’m the Second Young Lady of the Duke’s House!”
“You don’t look like a Duke’s Daughter at all!”
The two traded barbs as if the terrifying scene from before had never happened.
But as their laughter and bickering faded, the night wind blew again, scattering the dust on the grave mound.
Helos took a deep breath, her expression gradually turning serious.
“Let’s go. Dig this grave open and see.”
Julius was stunned and looked at her with a complicated gaze.
“Are you crazy? That ghost thing almost scared us to death just now, and you want to dig more?”
“Of course I want to dig.”
Helos looked like it was the most natural thing in the world. “Don’t you want to know why it appeared here? Don’t you want to know where those Will-o’-the-wisps came from? This place can even generate an A-Piao; there’s definitely something wrong inside!”
Julius fell silent for a moment before finally sighing and nodding:
“Fine, you have a point.”
Thus, the two picked up their shovels again. With the help of the flickering oil lamp, they continued to dig out the burial pit bit by bit.
The sound of shovels hitting soil echoed in the night. Layers of dirt were overturned, and the cold wind blew into the pit, carrying a deathly chill.
“That’s strange…”
Julius wiped the sweat from his forehead, his brow furrowed. “We’ve dug this deep, yet there’s nothing?”
Helos gritted her teeth. Her silver hair was slightly messy from the wind, but her eyes remained stubborn.
She swung the shovel down hard, sending soil flying.
“I don’t believe it!”
She muttered softly, “That thing definitely came out of here. How could there be nothing!”
With that, she swung the shovel again, slamming it into the soil and digging downward.
“Dong!”
A crisp striking sound suddenly rang out. Helos felt a jolt in her hands, and the force of the rebound nearly sent her flying.
What on earth is a Apiao
It’s a chinese term for a ghost or spirit