The miasma of death was thicker than expected. Draven stood at the edge of the chasm, his brows deeply furrowed. He wasn't sure if the Hand of Death alone would be enough to handle what lay below.

  With a thought, he withdrew the thick, twisted arm. Now was not the time to charge in recklessly. He needed support—and full preparation.

  This time, he didn't restrain the Nightmare Horse, instead allowing it to leap into the depths of the fissure, wantonly absorbing the deathly aura. It hadn't had a proper meal in far too long.

  He felt a bit sorry for the creature. It had followed him for so many years, yet he had never really considered its need for sustenance.

  Usually, it had to scavenge the remnants of death energy during village hunts or sneak out into the forest at night to sniff out the corpses of wild beasts, searching for usable soul fragments by scent.

  Now, finally, it could feast without restraint.

  Another swarm of Violet Carpenter Bees had also been located, which eased Draven's concerns.

  He held Liliana's hand, strolling leisurely back toward the village. Along the way, he sent a signal to the Ghost-faced Owl via the beast ring, instructing it to rendezvous with them.

  Liliana skipped along, constantly distracted by the wildflowers growing beside the road. Every time she saw a flower of a different color, she would pick a handful, stuffing Draven's arms so full he could barely hold them all.

  When the Ghost-faced Owl finally arrived, Draven handed all the flowers to Liliana, then tore a piece of hide parchment from the roll he carried and scribbled a command onto it.

  He added a trace of his bloodline aura to the parchment—an authorization seal he had devised. Once complete, it served as his personal command.

  With this seal, his subordinates wouldn't have to worry about being deceived when receiving messages from the Ghost-faced Owl in the future.

  The order was simple: he marked the precise location of the fissure and instructed Green Serpent to bring Gregor and rendezvous there.

  In truth, he could have relayed the message directly through the mental network to the serpentman's avatar. But with time on his side, he preferred to establish this command-token system as a norm within the Black Flag Territory.

  Standardized, clear, and inheritable—this was the system he was working to build.

  Besides, necromancy wasn't exclusive to him. Gregor had his death knights, and Green Serpent had also mastered undead magic.

  Once they joined in, even if they couldn't completely cleanse the miasma, they could at least stabilize the situation and help extract both insect swarms safely.

  What Draven didn't know was that when the Hand of Death reached into the densest part of the death aura, far away in the world of the dead, in a silent and ancient temple, a tall shadow opened its eyes.

  All around it stood countless statues—each one different in shape, but nearly identical in appearance to the figure itself. They stood densely packed, like idols prepared for a ritual. One statue was missing its right arm. A flicker of black light ran over its surface.

  The tall figure glanced around briefly, then closed its eyes again, as if none of it concerned him. At his feet stretched a sea of white bones, an endless expanse of skulls stacked into mountains…

  Back in the land of the living, Draven and Liliana returned to the village.

  Liliana, accustomed to showing off, neatly distributed the wildflowers she had gathered along the way, earning lavish praise from Viola and Martha.

  But it was Draven who had picked and bundled the flowers—so why was Liliana the one getting all the compliments?

  Feeling a bit miffed, he pulled Viola and Martha close and kissed each on the cheek, one on the left and one on the right. Only then did his mood improve.

  Once Liliana had eaten her fill and declared she was no longer hungry, they set out again.

  This time, they weren't just here to eat or deliver flowers—they had come to retrieve the Queen Bee. Without the queen's control, moving the swarm in the rift would be impossible.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  Liliana cradled the Queen Bee carefully in her arms. Behind her followed a dense cloud of Violet Carpenter Bees, like an honor guard escorting their queen. She walked with her chest held high, her face beaming with smug satisfaction.

  It was a pity the Violet Carpenter Bees couldn't sing—otherwise, Liliana would have already taught them to chant"Liliana is our queen!" Then again, she could sing it herself.

  "Li-li-a-na is our queeeeen~!" she sang in a sweet, syrupy voice, humming as she rambled on about how cruel Draven was for abandoning the Nightmare Horse down there all alone.

  Draven grinned wickedly and coaxed her with a few playful words. She quickly burst into laughter, allowing him to gently take the Queen Bee from her arms.

  Liliana didn't mind. She plopped down onto the ground, lifted her butt, gave a little wiggle, and summoned a massive brown bear with a thump.

  Draven laughed aloud, leapt onto the bear's back, and gave it a hearty slap."Let's go!"

  With a cheer from Liliana, the brown bear took off at a gallop. Its heavy steps made the ground tremble beneath them, the thundering charge even more majestic than when she rode on Draven's back.

  Draven also released the forced contract on the low-tier Violet Carpenter Bee worker.

  He noticed that, even though the bee had a contract with the queen, it didn't bring any new abilities—perhaps because they belonged to the same hive. This gave him deeper insight into the mechanics of contract auras.

  By the time he reached the edge of the rift again, Gregor and Green Serpent had already arrived.

  Beside them stood a scaly horse—one of the rare domesticated mounts in the Black Flag Territory. Its skin was smooth, and its scales shimmered with a faint metallic luster.

  When Gregor saw Draven approaching on the brown bear, a rare smile appeared on his usually expressionless face.

  Green Serpent's feelings were more complicated. His first encounter with the leader had started with this very bear.

  After the three regrouped, Liliana shifted back from bear form. She glanced at Gregor and Green Serpent, pouting slightly with a light snort. She had never liked serpentfolk.

  Gregor didn't care in the slightest, while Green Serpent's smile turned a bit stiff. He wanted to say something pleasant but couldn't find the words, leaving a brief awkward silence.

  Draven paid no mind to this minor interlude. He briefly summarized the situation within the rift, omitting the details about the two special magical insect species. He only mentioned the heavy presence of death energy and the opportunity to grow stronger, which was why he brought them along.

  Of course, Green Serpent's clone already knew the truth, but he didn't press the matter.

  Gregor immediately summoned his Death Knight, clad in black armor and wielding a massive blade. It emerged silently from the shadows and stood beside him.

  Green Serpent drew out a staff embedded with a skull. As he chanted softly, an undead mage clad in tattered robes slowly materialized in front of him.

  Liliana wrinkled her delicate nose at the smell. She took the bee queen from Draven and led her swarm a few steps back to avoid the creeping aura of death.

  "Don't wander off. Just wait here," Draven instructed, then began descending the cliffside with Gregor and Green Serpent.

  Undead creatures couldn't stray too far from their summoners. To let them absorb death energy, the three had to venture into the depths of the rift themselves.

  Fortunately, all three were at lord level. With their bloodline powers activated, scaling cliffs posed no difficulty.

  Fingers wedged into cracks, feet steady on protruding stones, they moved nimbly through the crevice.

  To better observe the changes in the death energy, Draven led them downward until they reached the upper edge of the death aura layer. There, he stopped and summoned the Hand of Death.

  It was Green Serpent's first time seeing Draven's undead creature in person.

  At first glance, seeing only a disembodied arm, he didn't think much of it—he even believed his own undead mage was more impressive.

  But when he felt the oppressive force emanating from that arm, his expression changed instantly.

  The Hand of Death moved as if it were alive, fingers slowly unfurling, sending out suffocating waves of power from its tips. It was only then that Green Serpent realized—his master's strength was on a level no ordinary undead could hope to match.

  He stopped hesitating and resummoned his undead mage. Alongside Gregor's Death Knight, they began to help absorb the death energy.

  The three undead beings stood at the edge of the aura, dark runes glowing faintly across their forms.

  Off in the distance, the Nightmare Horse bathed in a soft black mist, as if soaking in a pool of thick necrotic essence, leisurely absorbing the death energy.

  With their efforts, the suffocating death aura finally began to dissipate.

  At first, the change was barely perceptible, a faint ripple. But as time passed, the death energy began to thin, layer after layer drawn out, broken down, and devoured.

  No one knew how long it took, but eventually, the final wisp of death energy was absorbed.

  A sudden breeze swept through the rift. The walls no longer felt cold and damp—instead, a refreshing sensation took hold, as if the death aura had never existed at all.

  Draven swung onto the Nightmare Horse and let out a short whistle.

  Gregor and Green Serpent followed suit, leaping onto their mounts. The Nightmare Horse, now full of vigor, looked visibly stronger—larger than it had been even before the injury from the Red Serpent.

  Draven estimated it could now easily carry three people if needed.

  They ascended the cliff wall and returned to the top of the rift.

  Upon arrival, Draven asked Gregor and Green Serpent to head back first, while he approached Liliana, who was toying with the bee swarm.

  She looked a bit bored, waving her hands as she directed the bees into various shapes, humming a tuneless melody.

  Draven patted her shoulder."Let's go. Time to head down."

  This time, he planned to bring both insect colonies up. If things went smoothly, he might even discover other valuable items in the nest.

  Thinking of the legends surrounding the Gold-Devouring Demon Ant, Draven felt a surge of excitement, as if he could already see the metallic sheen of the insect shells—and the mysterious materials and magic crystals buried deep within the hive.