The Paladin in the Abyss

"How about it, take me with you?" Eckmond, the talking skeleton, scanned everyone with hopeful eyes, "I don't consume your provisions, nor do I take up much space. If you need to fight, my forehead is much harder than it looks. And, although it's hard to believe, my bite is quite strong.

Occasionally, some corpses here get up again, and these guys usually don't like me, but now they've turned into shattered bones..."

"A strange talking skeleton." Kalalin turned to Lancelot, "But I've heard that Mimir is indeed very useful to adventurers. Shall we take him, Lancelot?" Continue your saga on empire

"Why not?" Lancelot shrugged, "I've heard talkative guys aren't usually that bad."

"Yahoo!!! That's great!" the skeleton rejoiced, spinning in midair, "You're called Lancelot, right? From now on, may I call you my boss?"

"Uh, sure."

"Hey, wait, that's not right! How come there was no reaction?" Eckmond, confused, swayed in midair, looking as if an invisible hand were slapping his skeleton head, "Could you please take off the Transformation Ring on your right finger, and let's do it again?"

"Do what again?" Lancelot cautiously asked, "Why should I take off the Transformation Ring?"

"Let me call you boss again." Eckmond seemed equally puzzled, "I... I don't understand why, but I'm quite sure it's important, and it's likely your Transformation Ring interfering."

Lancelot considered for a moment and took off the ring, but before doing so, he mobilized his True Qi to protect his entire body, enhanced his Spirit Perception to the maximum, and silently activated the Ice Heart Technique, which is particularly effective against psychic attacks, to guard against any unforeseen events.

A flash of magical light passed, and Lancelot's form changed back to that of a human knight.

"Hello, handsome! Um... So, may I call you boss from now on?"

"Sure."

As soon as Lancelot spoke, a clicking sound like gears turning came from inside the skeleton's head, and a golden light shot from his eye sockets. Their conversation seemed to have triggered some magical mechanism, and Eckmond appeared to be gripped by something, frozen in midair.

A familiar feeling of gratitude approached Lancelot, somewhat similar to when Dingke had handed over the Demon Essence to him—a bond was established between him and Eckmond, although it was very weak.

With heightened Spirit Perception, he sensed some information trying to pour directly into his Sea of Consciousness. Lancelot was not unfamiliar with this process, but the previous times it happened his mind became crowded with a lot of information before he could understand what was happening.

This time, however, a small bamboo slip in his Sea of Consciousness emitted a green radiance blocking the flow of information.

Lancelot sent out his Divine Sense to examine the information blocked outside his Sea of Consciousness.

The information pertained to Mimir, the talking skeletons like Eckmond. A master-servant contract had been established between him and this Mimir, and the moment it had addressed him as boss was Mimir's ceremony of acknowledging a master. Since he, as the recipient of the contract, could terminate it at any time, a mere verbal assurance was enough to make the contract effective.

Once the master-servant relationship was established, they could communicate telepathically. As a servant, the Mimir must loyally serve the master and attempt to execute any command issued by the master, but this should not exceed the Mimir's own capabilities. To achieve the objective, the Mimir could independently decide the method of execution.

The master must not engage in any act of malice that harms the Mimir, as that would immediately terminate the master-servant relationship. If he chose to trade away the Mimir for any benefit, or if his death occurred, the relationship would also dissolve, although the Mimir must not participate in (or permit) any actions that might lead to these outcomes.

In addition, he could also use a storage space similar to a dimensional bag that Mimir carried with him, the entrance of which was located in the skeleton's mouth.

Actually, this contract was quite lax, and it looked more like a sales agreement and warranty terms. A close look would reveal that although a long list of things Mimir 'should' do as a servant was listed, there were almost no binding clauses except that neither master nor servant could harm each other.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Looking at it, this thing probably really did originate from Barto Hell. All creatures from that plane had a fanatic penchant for making contracts and especially liked to be vague about some clauses to benefit themselves.

"Ah, alright, alright, let's get going." The golden light in the skeleton's eyes faded, and it could move again, while Lancelot felt a call from Eckmond in his heart, "Boss, boss, can you hear me?"

"I can."

"Um, boss, could you not mention this dang master-servant relationship to others?" Eckmond's voice carried a hint of embarrassment, "The term 'servant' sounds so ugly, spare me some dignity."

He had such requests too, Lancelot silently commented to himself, but he readily agreed.

Lancelot put on the transformation ring again, and so his wings, claws, and... other parts that a succubus would have grew out again.

Eckmond let out a whistle.

"Boss, I must say, you look absolutely stunning in your transformed state, if I didn't know you were actually a guy... no, why should I worry about these things..."

Lancelot decided to ignore this chatty fellow for the moment. He placed the dimensional bag on the ground, allowing everyone to re-enter it, so he could take them all to the platform at the edge of the pit of bones, where the secret passage's entrance was actually located.

"Uh, boss, I also have a dimensional space inside me, so I can't go into that bag," the skeletal head Eckmond circled above the dimensional bag, "How about you carry me instead?"

Lancelot realized this skeleton was not only talkative but also lecherous. He picked up the dimensional bag with one hand and the skeletal head with the other, and, flapping his wings, he flew upwards.

Leaving that pile of bones eased a very oppressive feeling in his heart. Although he didn't show any abnormalities, he always felt there was something not quite right about the bones beneath his feet, yet he couldn't pinpoint what was abnormal since he hadn't stood on other piles of bones.

Lancelot pulled his companions out of the dimensional bag one by one, and it seemed everyone felt much lighter. Bruto surveyed the surroundings and asked,

"Where's the entrance to the secret passage?"

"Right behind you." Old Reap lifted up a tarpaulin hanging on the rock wall, revealing a dark hole behind it.

"Uh, isn't this a bit too obvious?" The dwarf was a bit stunned, "Aren't the entrances to secret passages supposed to be very hidden, appearing only when you recite a spell or move a mechanism or something?"

"Ah, those kinds of things used to exist, but everyone found it simpler to break the mechanism than to learn the language of the jackals," the werewolf shrugged, "And who would come here for no reason, right?"