The graveyard keeper was a man with a long history. He’d lived alone, guarding the world of the living, ensuring the dead rested peacefully, for decades. His whole life had been spent in the company of solitude, silence, and death – Selene knew she didn’t have that kind of fortitude.

She was a very ordinary person, who loved money and a life of pleasure. She didn’t have such strong aspirations and hopes, but that didn’t mean she didn’t respect those who deserved respect.

Because she couldn’t do what they did, she understood how much unwavering willpower it took to do such a thing.

The thumping sound from the coffin ceased. The graveyard keeper picked up his lantern again, dispelling the silence that had settled in, his voice remaining steady despite the slightly long pause.

“That’s the second restless dead tonight.”

“The second one?” Selene furrowed her brow. “Aren’t restless spirits only supposed to appear one in ten thousand? There haven’t been that many deaths recently…”

“Ever since the Saintess’s passing, there’s been a resurgence of these creatures from the shadows.” The graveyard keeper spoke in a low voice, then raised his lantern, heading toward the other coffins. “Let’s hope the work doesn’t increase tonight.”

Selene hadn’t caught the first part of his statement, but the last part clearly entered her ears. So, she followed behind the keeper, offering a consoling word.

“According to probability theory, we’ve already exceeded the probability of this event happening tonight. So, nothing else should happen…”

Before she could finish her sentence, she heard a rhythmic thumping.

“Thump, thump, thump.”

The two turned their heads silently, looking toward the last coffin in the arrangement.

The thumping grew louder and louder. The graveyard keeper finally said nothing, but walked forward, placing his lantern on the coffin just as he had done before.

The warm, bright glow of the lantern shone through the wooden planks, illuminating the body within.

The thumping subsided, but just as they thought it was going to end as it had before, a soft voice, as if whispering, reached their ears from within the coffin.

“Ellen… Windsor…”

The graveyard keeper’s already somber expression turned even darker at these words. This caused Selene to have a bad feeling, but she kept it to herself.

—— No way. Am I that much of a jinx?

A chilling gust of wind swept past. The graveyard keeper’s right hand was somehow holding a black staff, seemingly woven from intertwined vines. He placed the staff on the coffin and spoke in a low voice.

“The departed do not need to cling to the world of the living. The gates of the Night Lord are open to you. Beyond them, you will find eternal peace.”

Selene’s hand went to her hip. She stood silently, observing.

She saw that the graveyard keeper didn’t even try to negotiate or reason with the deceased. The voice, which had been vague and mumbled, became clearer and more articulate. It went from a whisper to a conversation. He… it… seemed to realize that it was standing in a coffin. It realized that the person outside was the graveyard keeper. Now, it was trying to persuade him to let it go. It thought it wasn’t dead, that the doctor had made a mistake…

It was picking up logic and memories.

A restless spirit transforming into an undead entity in a short period of time.

Selene’s instincts and reason began to scream a warning. The graveyard keeper seemed to sense that the situation was truly abnormal tonight. He took out some silver powder from his robe and sprinkled a little on the coffin, clearly entering a state of heightened awareness.

The cold night wind mixed with the undead’s whispers, making the already gloomy cemetery even more terrifying.

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Selene drew a pale blue potion from her left hip, deliberately making a noise that the graveyard keeper could hear, then opened the vial and drank it.

—— Concentration potion, enhancing reaction speed and spell casting speed. Duration: half an hour.

The graveyard keeper declined Selene’s offer of a potion. He circled the coffin several times, then sighed.

“It has fully transformed into undead…”

The undead’s voice was gradually becoming more frantic. The logic and morals it had inherited from its former life didn’t hold out for long against its own depraved nature. It was now threatening the two people outside, trying to persuade them to let it go. Though it wasn’t actively attacking, it was only a matter of time before it would.

“It seems it’s not one of those special undead that retain all the memories of the deceased…” The graveyard keeper pondered for a moment, raised the staff in front of him, drew a cross in the air, then poured the remaining powder onto the staff. The black staff immediately emitted a silver glow.

“May you, depraved soul, find peace in the realm of the lord.” He said calmly, raised the staff, and thrust it down into the coffin.

The dazzling silver staff passed straight through the coffin, piercing the undead’s chest under the graveyard keeper’s cold gaze. The silver glow around the staff, where it made contact with the undead, exploded, scorching the undead’s body as if by intense heat. It contorted in pain, letting out a soul-chilling shriek.

Selene, standing more than three meters away, was momentarily dazed by the scream. But the potion and the enhancement in spirit from her profession allowed her to quickly regain her composure. She caught sight of a cold, flashing blade flying from afar.

Her spellcasting materials instantly flew out. A crystal tube intercepted the incoming attack. It was shattered, the clay inside coming into contact with the outside environment, quickly expanding under the influence of mana, transforming into a sturdy earthen wall, blocking the projectile.

A few pebbles landed on the ground.

Pebbles?

Selene noticed the true nature of the projectile and abruptly turned her head toward the graveyard keeper.

A blurry, mosaic-like figure darted quickly through the trees surrounding the clearing, approaching the graveyard keeper and the undead in the blink of an eye. It's blurry right hand seemed to be holding something…

The undead was struggling fiercely. The graveyard keeper was completely focused on the struggle with it, his staff trembling continuously as their forces clashed. It was easy to imagine that the keeper had no spare energy to defend himself or counterattack.

In that crucial moment, Selene didn’t make a futile attempt to stop the attack. Instead, her two hands clapped together, so fast that the words almost overlapped. Then, her body’s mana was rapidly depleted.

“…. Envoy of the Eternal Cycle, Twin Mirror Butterflies – Flipping Glasses Miracle!”

Though she had only been a superhuman for a little over a year, she still knew a few tricks!

The sharp object in the attacker’s right hand pierced the graveyard keeper’s abdomen, as expected. Blood spurted out. Reaching its target, the attacker immediately let go and ignored the swaying keeper, grabbing onto the coffin and pressing down with force.

The heavy, thick coffin lid was lifted by the attacker as easily as if he were lifting a piece of paper. The long nails securing it flew out, taking a shower of splintered wood with them. The attacker looked down and saw not the familiar deceased person, but a tilted mirror reflecting his own blurry face back at him.

As if it were the incessant rain before, the surface of the mirror was fragmented into countless irregular segments by the flowing water. Then it expanded rapidly, spreading from the coffin and engulfing the surroundings, shattering everything within it, even though the attacker had recoiled in an instant, recognizing the danger, he couldn’t escape.

The mirror engulfed everything. After a brief pause, it shattered and spun.

The graveyard keeper was back to normal in an instant. The attacker, on the other hand, had gained an additional wound to his abdomen, stumbling momentarily.

Reach out your right hand to the mirror, and your left arm will return from the reflection. Everything in the reflection is reversed… And Selene’s use of this ritual was to turn what was reflected into reality!

Selene used the power of the Envoy of the Eternal Cycle, the Twin Mirror Butterflies, blessed by the God of Wisdom, to create a mirror that was the opposite of reality, then exchanged it with reality itself.

This was the only ritual she could prepare beforehand, ready to activate with a simple chant. The effect was obvious, and the cost equally immense. She lost all her mana for less than two seconds, and also had to withstand the tremendous weight of the swapped objects. Essentially, using this one move rendered her unable to fight and left her relying on her allies.

The graveyard keeper, clutching his staff, stood up. Even though he didn’t know exactly what had happened, he instinctively reacted correctly. The staff swept through the undead body in the coffin like a blade, splitting it in two, unceremoniously sending it on its way. But the keeper’s action didn’t end there. His right hand continued to exert force, swinging the staff towards the back.

The attacker, whose abdomen was stained with blood, barely managed to block this powerful attack with his right hand. He was knocked back, but thanks to the move, he put some distance between himself and the keeper. He disappeared into the darkness, gone without a trace.

The keeper didn’t pursue him further. After confirming that the undead was no longer active, he walked over to Selene.

She was now kneeling on the ground, veins bulging on her forehead. Her already pale skin had lost even more color… The graveyard keeper instantly made a connection to the dead resting in the coffins. He saw that the two of them now looked practically identical.

Selene waved away his hand, refusing his offer to help her up. She gasped for breath, then pulled herself up, searching the ground where the attacker had stepped.

After a while, she found a blood-stained pebble, and she picked it up with satisfaction.