She'd better keep her eyes peeled.

Before sending them off, Carlos warned:

"If anything goes sideways, get the hell out of there."

In Carlos's memory,

this ruin was some ancient necromantic master's lab.

The manuscript containing necromantic secrets that he needed was buried inside.

But he only had a rough idea of what nasty surprises might be waiting in the ruins.

To play it safe, both retainers would go in together—better safe than sorry.

"Roar!"

"Master, expect good news from me!"

One purple, one gold, became two streaks of light, rapidly diving down,

In a heartbeat, braving the death-cold, they rushed through the portal.

At the same time,

Carlos waved his hand, and numerous Skeleton Shield Guards spread out around the perimeter for lookout duty, keeping any unwanted visitors from crashing the party.

Then,

he focused his mind on his retainers,

Through Purple Vortex's Vision Sharing, Carlos saw everything inside the ruins.

After the two retainers entered the portal, it was like stepping into another world.

The sky had no sun, no blood moon, only endless emptiness, gray and murky.

The earth was pitch-black, covered with bone-white remains piled like mountains, thick death energy choking the air,

If living beings entered here, their life flames would constantly get eaten away until they flickered dangerously, forcing them to bail or bite it.

But the two retainers who came here, despite two transformations, were essentially still skeletal creatures.

The death energy that life avoided was like coming home for them.

Their soul flames seemed to strengthen slightly, power continuously flowing through their bodies.

Through Purple Vortex's vision, Carlos immediately spotted the pure white tower reaching into the clouds.

Built entirely from unknown massive white bones with almost no gaps.

The white bone tower sat smack dab in the middle of a frigid bone forest, white bones stuck into the earth, sharp tips gleaming coldly, cutting straight to the soul.

"Necromantic Tower!"

Carlos's expression went dead serious.

In the distant past when psionic pathways weren't yet figured out,

Necromantic Towers were the calling cards of powerful necromantic masters.

Generally speaking, the taller and more badass the Necromantic Tower, the more powerful the necromantic master living inside.

Even without going in, just seeing it,

the Death Herald pathway power within Carlos was already stirring and getting fired up.

The necromantic way was one of the granddaddies of the current Death Herald pathway.

Actually,

most of the Death Heralds' skills were masterpieces cooked up and refined by former necromantic masters, burned into the world's laws.

In the distant past, the Material Realm went through some serious changes.

Maybe to keep the seeds of life alive,

as long as spirituality was strong enough, beings could tap into appropriate imprints in the world's laws—that is, choose to learn skills.

Getting started was just an instant, no longer requiring years of busting your ass like traditional extraordinaries before barely getting anywhere.

All major powerhouses grew at insane speeds in explosive development, standing firm against the black mist invasion.

Carlos figured

that the necromantic master manuscript he needed was most likely chilling in the Necromantic Tower.

"No telling what kind of nasty tricks this necromantic master rigged up in his crib.

And this is a necromantic master who knew his way around alchemy!"

Carlos stared at the pure white bone tower, lost in thought.

...

After chewing on it for a moment and piecing together the intel in his head, Carlos issued his first command.

"Fly low, don't get fancy."

The gray, murky sky gave off seriously oppressive vibes.

If you thought this was just because of thick death energy, you'd be dead wrong.

With careful observation, you could spot

that in the gray sky floated semi-transparent "gray clouds,"

their color almost blending with the sky, barely visible.

"Gray Spirit Monsters, rare as hen's teeth in the outside world, didn't expect them to still be hanging around here."

Gray Spirit Monsters—a type of ghostly creature with phantom bodies immune to physical attacks. Only scorching flames could hurt them.

Research showed that fire could damage them because high temperatures caused Gray Spirit Monsters' bodies to rapidly expand.

If not cooled in time, expanding to a certain point would cause Gray Spirit Monsters to kick the bucket.

"But this ruin suppresses all non-necromantic energies, naturally including flames."

This meant Gray Spirit Monsters' biggest weakness couldn't be exploited, letting them freely chow down on enemies entering the sky.

However,

Carlos ran the numbers in his head

that Dawn Flame, even in that hostile environment, could probably still wreck Gray Spirit Monsters.

After all, it was the companion flame of the Sun Emperor's Sword, packing the terrifying characteristic of never being snuffed out.

"Although I didn't go in with them,

Purple Vortex and Ginya, with their badass talents, shouldn't sweat them either."

Though Gray Spirit Monsters were a real pain in the ass, the two retainers should handle them without breaking a sweat.

However, better to err on the side of caution.

Carlos worried that stirring up this bunch of Gray Spirit Monsters might cause unexpected hell to break loose in the ruins.

Whoosh!

Under Carlos's careful orders, the two retainers

each surged with their respective powers, covering their entire bodies in preparation for whatever might come.

Ginya's Shadow Wings fluttered slightly, Purple Vortex dialed back its propellers,

dropping their altitude for low-altitude flight,

following their master's instructions to the letter as they flew toward the Necromantic Tower...

As Purple Vortex's vision shifted,

Carlos gradually got a clear view of the scenery around the Necromantic Tower.

White bones everywhere, countless bone spikes sticking out, frigid necromantic energy slowly rising then dissipating completely, melting into the air.

This area was the heart of the entire ruin—the Bone Forest!

"Watch your step."

Carlos's heads-up was beamed to both retainers' minds through their soul connection.

Step?

The two retainers had just entered the Bone Forest.

Suddenly,

a series of rustling, creaking sounds arose.

Squeak squeak!

A gray-white long shape suddenly burst from underground,

segments of short bones dancing like iron whips.

This was a bone snake, its triangular snake skull like a sharp arrowhead, ready to strike.

"Roar!"

Purple Vortex roared impatiently, terrible Dark Purple Force Field immediately condensing, slamming hard toward the bone snake on the ground.

"Crack crack!"

Instantly, before the bone snake could deliver its devastating strike, it got crushed to powder.

"The transformation is about to begin..."

Carlos watched silently.

This ruin

had its sky locked down by Gray Spirit Monster swarms, stopping all enemies attempting aerial assault.

The earth hid even nastier power.

Calling it hidden wasn't quite right, because it stood there bold as brass.

"This bone forest is all wrong!"

Ginya, packing human intelligence, keenly sensed that this bone forest was hiding deadly intent.

"Roar!"

Purple Vortex also instinctively sensed something was off.

"Rumble!"

Suddenly,

the entire bone forest began shaking.

The bone spike branches rooted in the earth sucked up necromantic energy from the air, growing like crazy.

In moments, the rapidly growing branches made contact.

But instead of colliding, they weirdly interwove and fused together, forming thick networks of white bone, like a giant arena platform.

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