Chapter Eleven: The Truth

  I and Serene first came to Dapo's graveyard, at the foot of a small hill outside the village. Most people who died in the village were buried there. Dapo's graveyard was just below the hillside, his father was also buried there, only a tombstone. Dapo's father had died on the battlefield, and his body could not be found long ago. Dapo's mother had set up a tombstone for her husband here, to hold her thoughts. Now, Dapo's graveyard is tightly attached to his father's.

  We arrived at Dabo's grave, the cemetery was in disarray, the soil on the tomb had been newly dug up, the coffin was broken into pieces, and wooden fragments were scattered everywhere. Seeing this tragic scene, Serene couldn't help but burst into loud sobs, her crying voice sounded especially sorrowful in the dark of night, those who heard it couldn't help but intentionally leave a distance away, unable to bear seeing this sad girl.

  I held Serene steady, softly comforting her: "Serene, stop crying. What's most important now is finding Dapo. Crying here won't solve anything and will only delay our search. If you really can't bear the thought of something unnecessary happening to Dapo's body, let's muster up our spirits and hurry to find him. Come on, don't cry, it's so dark at night, your crying is also kind of scary."

  When she heard my words, Serene finally stopped crying and glared at me with a scowl. I chuckled dryly and carefully observed the destroyed grave site. The grave had obviously been dug up from the outside, but what was strange was that Dabo's coffin had been smashed open by some force from the inside outwards, with splintered wood radiating outwards in all directions, as if someone had dug up Dabo's tomb and somehow revived him, allowing him to smash his way out of the coffin!

  At the sight of this, I couldn't help but feel a chill run down my spine. Because Dapo was indeed dead, there's no doubt about that, and many villagers had witnessed his death at the time. The only explanation is that there must be a sorcerer who controls spirits wanting to use the strong Dapo as his zombie puppet!

  "This is too vicious! Who, who exactly?" I muttered.

  "What are you talking about, Ayrick?" Celine asked me in confusion beside me.

  "Nothing, I should be able to find Dabo, you go call my father and Uncle Locke, we're just worried about some small trouble, I'll follow these traces, you and them come after." I said softly to Serene.

  "No, I want to go with you!" Serene said stubbornly, shaking her head.

  "Listen, the enemies we're going to encounter aren't ordinary ones. I'm afraid the two of us won't be able to handle them." I patiently persuaded Serin, but she was determined to follow me without wavering.

  I looked around helplessly, everywhere was pitch black, everyone had already dispersed to search for Dabo. It wasn't very safe to let her go find people either, so I might as well bring her along! I made up my mind and said to Serene: "Then you must stick close to me, I'll leave the torch here, we'll grope in the dark to find Dabo, carrying a torch will be discovered by enemies lurking in the shadows, hopefully it's not too late..." Serene nodded vigorously.

  I stuck the torch into the ground beside Dapo's grave, tilting it in the direction we were heading, and then led Serene to the left. Dapo had a special smell on his body since he was young, and wherever he existed, there would be that smell. It seemed like a very special fragrance, which was very faint but lingering. This thing, except for his mother, probably only our close friends who often came into contact with him knew about it, and we even laughed at him for it before. Who would have thought that today it would become a clue to finding him?

  Following that faint breath, we fumbled forward in the dark night, and before I knew it, Serin and I had arrived at the mountain slope outside the village again. As we pushed through the dense thicket, just as we were about to walk out, suddenly a voice was heard cursing angrily.

  Cerine and I immediately stopped and quietly parted the trees in front of us to look out...

  Dabo sat motionless in the same place where he had met Serin last time, a thin figure kicking him hard and muttering in a low voice: "Damn pig, I pulled you out of your grave, now you have to listen to me. I've searched countless places to find a suitable body for an undead servant. What force interfered with this mindless thing? Get up quickly, or those villagers will discover us! My efforts will be in vain!"

  Then, the thin figure began to chant an incantation, driving Dabo. Dabo seemed unwilling to be driven by him, struggling painfully, but he seemed unable to resist those incantations, and after struggling for a while, he finally stood up and followed the black shadow, with the sound of the black shadow's triumphant laughter coming from afar.

  I felt Serene trembling all over beside me, I anticipated that she couldn't help but do something stupid, so I quickly grasped her hand tightly and signaled her not to act rashly. We had to think of a way to call the villagers who were searching everywhere. With just the two of us, we were no match for an evil lich wizard, especially with a strong undead guardian like Dabo by his side. Although, it seemed that the evil wizard couldn't fully control Dabo yet.

  But Serene didn't heed my warning, shaking off my hand and dashing towards Dapo. She ran towards him, shouting: "Dapo, Dapo, it's me, Dapo, I'm Serene!"

  The lich saw that someone had discovered them and was somewhat surprised, but he quickly regained his composure and began directing Daboo to attack Serene.

  Dabo grabbed Serin who was running towards him and, under the command of the Lich, tightly grasped her neck, intending to strangle her to death.

  Tears flowed from Serene's eyes, she was already speechless, she clearly did not resist, allowing Dapo to pinch her neck, she just sadly looked at the zombie-like Dapo, as if she had always hoped to die in his hands.

  However, Dabo suddenly stopped his attacking motion and stood still, maintaining that posture. No matter how the Lich urged him on with his incantations, he simply remained like that, grasping Serin.

  At the same time, I quickly picked up my bow and nocked an arrow. Originally, this arrow was meant to be shot at Dabo fifty steps away, disrupting the already zombie-like Dabo's actions, and then looking for an opportunity to rescue Serin. But when I saw that Serin didn't seem to be in danger for the time being, I immediately abandoned my original intention and aimed the feathered arrow at the undead necromancer beside Dabo instead.

  Unfortunately, due to Dabo and Serin's obstruction, the Lich only exposed a small part of his body, and I couldn't adjust my position to aim again. In that brief moment, I chose to shoot the Lich first and then find another chance to kill him.

  My arrow shot out under the cover of the dark night, pinning itself to the unsuspecting undead wizard's arm. He let out a mournful cry, clutching his injured arm and directing Dabo to attack in my direction.

  Dabao didn't attack Xue Lin, but under the command of the Lich, he put down Xue Lin and charged towards me without hesitation...