The Lady Nun Vows Revenge

Feigning deep thought, Eliza raised her glass and took a silent sip, her eyes drifting sideways to steal another look at the grinning Prince Regent.

Hundreds of miles from Hasen City, at the very spot where the Nevill family was ambushed, the once-proud inn lay in ruins, reduced to charred ashes by a raging fire.

Two days had passed, yet bloodstains still remained in the area, the air heavy with the scent of violence.

The corpses of assassins and death warriors were left in the wilderness, abandoned and forgotten. No one paid them any mind.

The only ones who cared were the ravenous wild wolves.

The wolves crouched over the corpses, devouring this rare "delicacy" with savage relish.

Just as the wolves were feasting hungrily, the sudden crunch of approaching footsteps echoed through the air.

The pack of wolves raised their heads in unison, then bared their fangs in a menacing display as they sought to intimidate the uninvited intruder.

However, the very next second, an intense sense of danger struck the wolves. They yelped in terror and scattered in all directions, leaving behind only a heap of gruesomely mauled corpses.

Gazing at the pile of corpses, the newcomer let out a sigh of regret.

It was an old monk. He shook his head and sighed. "What a pity, what a pity."

A deep voice echoed through the trees, clear and resonant like temple bells. "Peace and light upon you." The sunlight shimmered on the forest floor as he stepped into view, a monk wrapped in stillness and grace.

"Alas, your lifetimes were steeped in sin. I had hoped to sanctify your corpses, to grant a final redemption. But now, you rest in the bellies of beasts, such is the cruel rhythm of fate," he added.

With a solemn shake of his bald head, the white-bearded monk donned a sorrowful expression, as if mourning the dead strewn before him.

His eyes snapped open without warning, the haze within them clearing to reveal a sharp, radiant focus aimed directly at a spot in the smoldering wreckage.

A low, thoughtful hum escaped the old monk as surprise flitted across his lined features. "Well now... still alive? How unexpected."

With a smile, he stepped forward. At the same moment, a "figure" swathed in bandages from head to toe, every inch crudely stitched, emerged from the

shadows behind him.

The old monk said, “Four, dig him out and let me take a look. Who knows, you might gain a new junior brother today."

The bandage-wrapped figure obediently followed the old monk's order. Moving with stiff, mechanical motions, it crouched down and dug through the rubble with its bare hands, unearthing a charred, human-shaped husk from beneath the ruins.

The old monk swung his staff down hard on the charred remains. A series of sharp cracks erupted in rapid succession, echoing through the air.

The charred husk of the human figure cracked and crumbled away rapidly, revealing the person beneath, looking as pristine as if reborn.

And this person was none other than Caleb, Dale's son, the very one his father had presumed dead in the inn explosion.

The old monk stroked his beard, a glint of curiosity in his eyes. “So this is... a Parasitic Nest Body? No wonder he survived the raging fire, the symbiotic parasites inside must have saved him. Intriguing."

He stroked his beard with a satisfied smile, clearly pleased with his latest acquisition.

In the old monk's eyes, Caleb was hardly alive, more a living corpse than a man.

His body, now little more than a nest for parasites, could no longer be called human.

Caleb was dead, just not all the way gone.

If refined with the Parasite Corpse Technique, his corpse could become the ultimate Ghoul.noveldrama

The more the old monk thought about it, the more his breathing quickened, excitement and greed written all over his face.

His eyes fixed hungrily on Caleb's body, the old monk's grin widened grotesquely, stretching nearly to his ears.

"Peace be with you. It seems destiny has brought us together. Allow me to... release your soul and send you on your way," he said,