Genshin Impacti: This Priest is Cringe, But She's Also Unbeatable — Chapter 58

Chapter 58: The Terrifying Necromancer

“It’s staggered! Hit it now!”

Zhao Shihao let out a ferocious howl, giving voice to the single thought blazing in everyone’s minds.

The entire team, having just endured the spiritual baptism of “Azure Dragon on the left, White Tiger on the right,” was now united by a common, burning hatred. They channeled their complex, indescribable emotions—mostly the internal damage from desperately suppressing their laughter—into a storm of pure, violent power. Every ounce of it was unleashed upon the smoking Death Knight as it struggled to its feet, its shield a mangled wreck.

Flashes of magic, arcs of sword qi, and the blurring shadows of axes descended in a chaotic display of destruction, punctuated by the cold glint of daggers finding their mark. Crowning the assault was the pillar of holy fire Selene had summoned with the last dregs of her power—a final, decisive Judgment.

Having lost its Anti-Magic Shell and with its defenses shattered, the dazed Death Knight was powerless to turn the tide. Its towering frame trembled violently under the concentrated barrage, its armor cracking and shattering piece by piece. The crimson soulfire burning in its eye sockets flickered wildly, a candle flame caught in a gale.

Finally, with a silent, resentful neigh that echoed with pure malice, it crashed to the ground.

Its heavy body slammed into the stone floor, kicking up a thick cloud of dust. The once-mighty skeletal behemoth was now miserably pinned against a stone pillar, a grotesque monument to its own defeat. A massive hole, still glowing with incandescent heat, had been punched clean through its chest. Menacing frost crept across its limbs, and its skull was charred black by crackling lightning of Order.

The pale blue soulfire in its sockets flared violently a few more times.

Then, it was extinguished completely.

Crack…

The sound of splintering bone echoed through the cathedral. The remains of the Death Knight slid down the stone pillar, collapsing into a mundane pile of osseous fragments, utterly devoid of magic.

The battle was over.

“Phew…”

Zhao Shihao’s taut nerves finally slackened, and his chest heaved with ragged breaths. He was about to say something, but a glimpse of Celeste out of the corner of his eye made him swallow the words.

As the last of the pink radiance faded, the shocking, heroic sword intent of the “Peerless Heroine” dissipated with it. Celeste reverted to her original appearance as a pink-haired priest. Her head was bowed low, long bangs obscuring her expression completely. Her entire being radiated a reclusive, almost hermit-like aura that screamed, ‘Don’t talk to me. I want to be alone.’

“Cough, Sis, you…”

Selene took a hesitant step forward, wanting to offer some comfort but having no idea where to even begin. She paused, and despite her best efforts, the corners of her mouth couldn’t help but twitch upward into a tiny, irrepressible smile.

“Selene,” Celeste’s voice was gloomy, a low murmur that still carried clearly to everyone’s ears. “From this moment on, the word ‘carbohydrate’ is forbidden between us.”

“Pfft…”

This time, it was Jiang Xue, the team’s resident ice queen, who couldn’t hold it in. She quickly turned away, her delicate shoulders trembling.

Nearby, Wang Lei was leaning against a wall while their team’s priest tended to his wounds. At Celeste’s declaration, his movements froze, and his face contorted into a pained mask of someone trying desperately not to laugh.

“Ahem! Be serious!” Zhao Shihao forced a stern expression. “We are in the middle of an assessment! Everyone, pay attention to your…”

His words died in his throat.

The silence that followed was terrifying. Everyone’s personal terminals remained utterly quiet.

There was no kill notification.

No points had been credited.

The atmosphere in the cathedral, which had just begun to relax, instantly solidified into ice.

“What’s going on?” Wang Lei was the first to voice the unease. “No points? Did the system bug out?”

“No,” Mo Chen analyzed calmly, his brow furrowed. “From the Undead Warhorse to the Death Knight, we haven’t received a single point. This isn’t normal.”

Zhao Shihao’s face darkened completely. A dreadful memory surfaced, and he immediately pulled up the detection data his wristband had provided when they first entered the cathedral.

【Death Knight · Lord · Lv.???】

【Undead Warhorse · Elite · Lv. 30】

The information was incredibly sparse. At the time, they had dismissed it as part of the boss’s mysterious flair. Looking back now, it revealed a fatal anomaly.

“There’s only one explanation,” Zhao Shihao’s voice was strained, each word a struggle. “Everything we’ve been fighting, from start to finish… it was just a bonus. An… add summoned by something else.”

The conclusion sent a chill down everyone’s spine.

If a creature could summon a Death Knight this powerful as a mere guard, just how terrifying was the master lying in the coffin?

In an instant, every eye in the room was drawn, as if by an unseen force, to the pitch-black stone coffin resting in the center of the cathedral. Intimidated by the Death Knight’s ferocious power, they had almost overlooked the most conspicuous object in the entire chamber. Now that the knight had fallen, the ominous, evil aura emanating from the sarcophagus—an aura that felt like it was dredged up from the deepest pits of the underworld—spread out, raw and unconcealed.

“Rest and reorganize first,” Zhao Shihao made the decisive call. “Everyone, recover your status. In ten minutes, whether we like it or not, we’ll have to face it.”

No one objected.

Everyone found a spot to sit, uncorking potions and meditating to restore their spent mana. With the Death Knight gone, the oppressive aura of death in the cathedral had indeed lessened, no longer making every breath a struggle.

Selene sidled up to her sister and whispered, “Sis, that ‘Peerless Heroine’ of yours… was seriously amazing.”

Celeste didn’t even bother to lift her eyelids. “Shut up.”

“Especially that slogan. I think it’s pretty good—very healthy and inspiring.”

“Selene.”

“Here, here,” Selene giggled, handing over a mana recovery potion. “Sis, for real, if you ever run out of carbs to eat, I’ll share half of mine with you.”

Celeste took a slow, deep breath and squeezed out a few words through clenched teeth. “Do you want me to pin you to the ground and let you experience what ‘Azure Dragon on the left, White Tiger on the right’ actually feels like?”

Selene immediately fell silent, making a zipping motion across her lips. Her sparkling eyes, however, were still brimming with uncontainable mirth.

Ten minutes later.

Having mostly recovered, the group rose to their feet. With solemn expressions, they formed a circle around the stone coffin. The closer they got, the more the cold seeped into their bones, a chilling sensation like countless icy insects gnawing at their very souls. The mages’ elemental senses were screaming warnings at them, and even Selene’s Holy Light felt sluggish and heavy, as if it had encountered its natural predator.

“I’ll open it,” Wang Lei said, taking a deep breath and holding his cracked shield before him like a prayer.

“Together,” Selene replied, standing by his side. Her Holy Light shield shimmered into existence again. Though its glow was far dimmer than before, it remained unwavering.

Zhao Shihao, Jiang Xue, and Mo Chen stood behind them in a triangular formation, the tips of their staves flickering with condensed power. Their strongest spells were primed and ready to be unleashed at a moment’s notice.

Celeste stood at the very back, clutching her pink staff.

‘Finally,’she thought, her eyes sizing up the stone coffin with a flicker of genuine interest.’Time to face the final boss of this dungeon.’

What kind of monster would be waiting inside?

“Three, two, one… Open!”

On Zhao Shihao’s command, Wang Lei and Selene heaved together, shoving the heavy coffin lid.

BOOM—

The lid crashed against the stone floor with a deafening bang.

In that same instant, a wave of dark green death energy, ten times denser than anything they had felt before, erupted from the sarcophagus like a volcanic blast.

“Ugh!”

Wang Lei, at the epicenter, bore the brunt of it. A muffled groan escaped his lips as he was sent flying, the aura slamming into him like a physical blow. His face turned ashen mid-air, the strength draining from his body in a single, terrifying moment.

Selene’s face also went pale. The Holy Light within her felt as if it were trapped in a quagmire, leaving her unable to even lift her arm.

The three mages in the back felt as if they had been struck by lightning. An invisible needle pierced their minds, unleashing a wave of sharp, debilitating psychic pain that caused their carefully prepared spells to collapse instantly. A pressure like a mountain slammed down on them, pinning them to the spot and making it difficult to even move a finger.

And this was merely the aura leaking from the coffin.

Horror-struck, everyone stared into the open sarcophagus, their eyes wide with dread.

What lay inside was not the withered skeleton or rotting zombie they had expected.

It was a woman.

A woman dressed in complex black robes, her face pale but still retaining the exquisite, sharp contours she must have possessed in life. Her eyes were shut tightly, and her skin had a lifeless, grayish-white hue, yet there was not a single sign of decay on her body.

Just as they took in her appearance, a line of blood-red data materialized on their wristbands.

【Necromancer · Leader · Farina】

【Level: Lv.???】

【Points:???】

【Trait: Secret Realm Core. Within this Domain, the death of any non-undead unit will be converted into the purest form of energy and absorbed by her. When the energy accumulation is complete, she will awaken from her slumber.】

【Remark: A powerful Necromancer will always prepare loyal guards for her mausoleum.】

The final sentence of the remark was a brutal confirmation of their worst fears. After all that effort, the Death Knight they had exhausted themselves to defeat wasn’t the boss at all. It was merely a guard dog, watching the house for the true final boss.

“She… she doesn’t seem to be awake yet!” Zhao Shihao stared, transfixed, at the woman in the coffin, his voice trembling.

“She hasn’t absorbed enough energy! We still have a chance!” Mo Chen roared with desperate urgency. “Before she wakes up, hit her with your strongest attacks and interrupt her!”

But the terrifying necromantic pressure shrouded everything. Forget unleashing their strongest attacks; even the simple act of raising a hand was an excruciatingly difficult struggle.

They were frozen in place, utterly unable to move.

Time and space themselves seemed to lose all meaning. All they could do was watch, helpless, as they became the final sacrifices to be offered to the slumbering queen.