This Lich is a Better Landlord Chapter 80

"What? That girl was snatched away?!"

Hearing this news, Dippel and Gustavo Flynn, the two remaining council members, were about to lose their minds.

Although they had guessed the ritual to become a god wouldn't go so smoothly, this was too ridiculous. Not only had the Lich run away, but even that crucial girl had run away. Furthermore, a massive number of undead were scurrying around the city, about to drown the entire [City of Alchemy].

Dippel was furious and opened his mouth to call Gustavo Flynn useless since this was all his job.

But Dippel also understood that arguing now wouldn't solve any problems. So he suppressed his anger and said to Gustavo Flynn, "We must solve the problem of these undead first. That girl must be snatched back. Once they kill her, the plan will completely fail."

Gustavo Flynn frowned and said, "How did he know that girl was related to the ritual?"

Up until now, Gustavo Flynn hadn't been able to figure out why Ambrose seemed to know everything, as if he understood every detail of the ritual in advance, striking at the most critical points every time.

It couldn't be a leak because very few people knew the full picture. The only ones who truly grasped all the details were the remaining three members of [The Alchemists' Council].

One was Dippel, one was himself, and the last one...

Gustavo Flynn turned his head to look at the location of the magic circle, just in time to see [Coin] stretching and waking up from the magic circle.

He woke up so fast? The potion's effect should have lasted much longer.

[Coin] yawned, then leisurely picked his ear. After spitting out all the lethargy of just waking up, he looked around. Finding that he had already been sent to the sacrifice position, [Coin] didn't show panic. Instead, across the magic circle, he said to Gustavo Flynn, "Flynn, Dippel, what's wrong with you two? You look terrible. Did the plan have problems again?"

These words were like a knife stabbing into their kidneys. Could this plan still proceed? If not, the two of them should prepare to flee.

Dippel asked in a gloomy tone, "[Coin], did you lead those undead into the city?"

Hearing this, [Coin] said in surprise, "What does that have to do with me? Do I know those undead?"

"Then tell me why the Undead Queen of [The Underdark] appeared in [The City of Alchemy] and secretly stayed in the city, waiting to attack just as our plan started? This Undead Queen has no enmity with us, and our ritual does her no harm. Opposing us brings her no benefit!

"Tell me, if not for a transaction with someone, why would she do this? Going so far as to leave [The Underdark] to come to the surface world personally! The only explanation is that you don't want to sacrifice yourself, so you deliberately brought in this Undead Queen, wanting to destroy the ritual!"

Dippel's repeated questioning made [Coin] laugh out loud.

"Hahaha, so even high and mighty legends throw tantrums like children. I don't want to waste my breath explaining such boring questions, so I'll become a child just like you.

"Dippel, if you suspect me, start the ritual and sacrifice me right now. See if I despair, see if I struggle. Wouldn't that make everything clear?"

[Coin] spoke as lightly as if discussing someone else's life and death, which actually made Dippel waver. It seemed it really wasn't him.

Gustavo Flynn also spoke up: "When we discussed the sacrifice, [Coin] voluntarily proposed to sacrifice himself. It doesn't look like he's going back on his word. Perhaps there was an oversight somewhere else, allowing that Lich to guess our plan. I'm afraid those undead have been preparing for a long time to strike at such a critical moment, making us one step too slow every time. Now isn't the time to discuss leaks; the key is how to regain the initiative."

Dippel frowned deeply. "Killing someone is easy, but saving someone back... the difficulty is too great."

Flesh is weak; any random spell could destroy it.

And if this Druid girl wasn't sacrificed at the right place and the right time, it would be meaningless.

Therefore, she must be saved alive first, and this was the biggest trouble.

Who could be confident in rescuing a living person from the hands of an Undead Queen?

Just as the two were at their wits' end, [Coin] spoke again: "We're already at the final juncture, so stop trying to solve it by yourselves, alright? [The City of Alchemy]'s greatest reliance has never been us. The Second Seat, the Sixth Seat, the One Hundred and Eightieth Seat... in reality, we are just apprentices helping the Chairman."

[Coin]'s words made both of them involuntarily raise their heads to look at the Chairman suspended in mid-air.

He still maintained the posture of suffering and the expression of fanaticism, but his consciousness seemed to be long gone from the shell.

Dippel said, "The Chairman has completely merged with the ritual magic circle. He cannot leave right now."

[Coin] shook his head. "You underestimate the Chairman too much. Actually, he knows about all the current troubles; it's just that since we didn't ask, he didn't want to bother. Isn't that right, Chairman?"

Just as [Coin] finished this sentence, a ball of translucent energy floated out of the Chairman's naked body, like an out-of-body soul.

However, compared to the hunched physical body, the Chairman in soul form looked very different. The soul-form Chairman was a tall, dignified old man with a faint halo radiating from his body, appearing incredibly holy.

This was the true Chairman of [The Alchemists' Council], the true legendary alchemist, [Gary Watts].

"Chairman!"

Dippel and Gustavo Flynn spoke in unison, but the old man's soul merely waved his hand with regret.

[Gary Watts] showed no emotional change toward these companions he had known for years. He simply said flatly, "I know everything. Let me handle it."

After saying this, regardless of what they thought, [Gary Watts] turned into a phantom, passed through the thick ceiling, and flew toward the surface.

Compared to the chaos and unease in the sewers, Ambrose appeared very relaxed.

He just needed to follow [Withered Rose]; he didn't have to do anything else.

What is a legend? A powerhouse that can only be dealt with by another legend. Following [Withered Rose] all the way, Ambrose truly experienced this feeling of invincibility.

Unlike a "watered-down" version like him, [Withered Rose] was a true master of necromancy. Along the way, not a single [Death Knight] by her side was lost; instead, a pile of shambling zombies and hundreds of [Automatons] were added.

The most terrifying thing about an undead siege is that their numbers grow as they fight; once the snowball starts rolling, no one can stop it.

[The City of Alchemy]'s biggest mistake was failing to drive [Withered Rose] out of the city, rendering more than half of that massive, precise city defense system useless.

The undead were already in the city; the city's fall was imminent.

But Ambrose wasn't here to siege the city; he was here to snatch the final fruit of the [Wish] ritual.

So Ambrose didn't waste time playing street fighting with those [Justicars] and [Automatons]. He occupied one of the seven towers of [The City of Alchemy], let [Withered Rose] set up defenses, and then hid in the tower with the Druid girl.

This was a tower created by [The God of Alchemy], a divine artifact used to pin those lunatics to the pillar of shame. It could be counted as indestructible. If anyone wanted to come in and snatch the person, they would have to fight their way up floor by floor.

The tower had long been empty. Ambrose carried Naomi to the top floor without obstruction.

As soon as Ambrose put her down, Naomi woke up from her coma.

Ambrose said awkwardly, "Tsk, magic power got weaker; didn't pay attention to the duration."

The strength of a spell is related to magic power. Ambrose, having been reborn once, had his power drastically reduced, so the effect of the [Sleep] spell was much worse.

As soon as Naomi woke up, she panicked and hid in the corner, rapidly transforming into a black panther form, growling and baring her teeth at Ambrose.

"Don't bark at me; I'm your savior," Ambrose said.

Naomi said angrily, "You! You killed my clansmen!"

"Correction: a group of clansmen who wanted to sacrifice you. Forget it, since you're awake, let your clansman explain it to you himself."

Ambrose snapped his fingers, and Van Jones, who had already turned into a zombie, walked expressionlessly in front of Naomi.

Naomi backed away vigilantly but found the wall behind her; there was nowhere to retreat. She could only shout with a sob, "Uncle Jones, wake up!"

Van Jones stood motionless, then said in an indifferent tone, "Naomi Watts, you must die!"

Naomi said in disbelief, "What did you say?!" But soon, Naomi turned to look at Ambrose and said angrily, "You are controlling Uncle Jones! I won't believe it."

Ambrose said indifferently, "Whether you believe it or not doesn't matter. Just treat it as listening to a story. Don't cause trouble for me at a time like this."

After saying this, Ambrose searched the room, found a pile of parchment, and began to draw on it.

Naomi didn't understand what Ambrose was doing, but Van Jones, now a zombie, would only obey Ambrose's commands.

"Naomi Watts, you must die. You are the blood relative of [The Alchemists' Council] Chairman, [Gary Watts]. Your sacrifice concerns a secret ritual of [The City of Alchemy]. If the ritual succeeds, [The City of Alchemy] will disappear completely, and this land will become the territory of us [Shadow Druids]."

"[Shadow Druids]?! No, that's impossible!"

[Shadow Druids] belonged to a very extreme circle, completely different from other Druid circles that advocated peaceful coexistence between humans and nature. They believed that the existence of any mortal was a destruction of nature.

Balance is but an illusion; where mortals tread, nature suffers.

Unity is a lie; mortals only seek to tame beasts and burn the wilds.

We are the thunder, we are the storm; we shall exterminate the ignorant and reckless mortals to clear a pure world for new life!

This was the oath of the [Shadow Druids]: exterminate mortals, return the world to nature, and the [Shadow Druids] themselves would return to nature's embrace at the final moment.

While drawing his draft, Ambrose found time to mock: "Racism again. Religious lunatics, academic lunatics, and now environmental lunatics... even more twisted than us undead."

"No, this isn't true! I was an abandoned baby picked up by you guys. If I were the child of some Alchemy City Chairman, how could I be abandoned?"

Naomi's voice revealed despair. She couldn't accept this truth. Did that mean the care and love she received growing up were all fake? Her memories with her foster parents, siblings, and clansmen were all fake? They raised her just to kill her?

Naomi trembled all over, wishing she could pounce on Van Jones and tear open his throat to stop him from speaking further.

But before she could attack, an old voice suddenly came to Naomi's ears.

"Child, what he said is true. Because back then, it was I who ordered you to be abandoned."

As the voice fell, a translucent figure passed through the indestructible outer wall of the tower and entered the room.

The Chairman of [The Alchemists' Council], [Gary Watts], had arrived.