However, the moment the death energy touched the corpse, wisps of pale golden holy flame surged out from within it, fiercely clashing with Lynch’s death energy.

HSSSSSS...

The death energy was instantly and completely neutralized.

It failed.

Unwilling to give up, Lynch tried again.

The result was the same.

"I knew it wouldn’t work..." Lynch sighed, retracting his Magic Staff.

He had a good idea why.

First, his Skeleton Resurrection Skill was too low-level, making it difficult to convert a high-tier corpse to begin with. After all, the stronger a person was in life, the higher the level of energy contained within their body after death.

Second, the Holy Light System naturally countered death energy, which made the conversion process exceptionally difficult.

What a waste.

A prime piece of material, right in front of him, yet he couldn’t have it.

’My mentor might have the power to turn him into a Skeleton or a zombie, but his moral compass is too strong. He’d probably insist on taking the body back as evidence and would never agree to this.’

’The corpse can’t be moved, but the other items...’

Lynch glanced at the Holy Knight’s warhammer, the kite shield, and the Holy Knight Armor... The first two were fine, but the Armor was smashed up. Still, it was the equipment of a Tier Seven Holy Knight. Even dismantling it and selling the materials would bring in a hefty sum.

’Whatever. I’ll just strip it all off and toss it in my Space Ring for now.’

He immediately got to work, skillfully stripping the equipment.

After stripping the gear, Lynch noticed a silver, cross-shaped pendant hanging around the Viscount’s neck. It faintly radiated spatial fluctuations.

’Is this a piece of spatial equipment?’

A thought struck Lynch. He ripped the pendant off and sent his Spiritual Power probing inside.

Just as he suspected, inside was a storage space of about four or five cubic meters, roughly the same capacity as his own ring.

Delighted, he quickly took stock of his spoils.

In terms of cash, a quick count revealed five to six hundred Gold Coins and a stack of bearer checks with denominations ranging from tens to hundreds of Gold Coins. The total came to over six thousand Gold Coins.

’Not bad, not bad.’

’As expected of a Viscount. He was certainly loaded, carrying so much cash on him.’

Unlike those penniless adventurers, you couldn’t squeeze a drop out of them.

The spatial equipment and the cash alone were enough to lift Lynch’s somewhat dampened spirits.

In addition, there were over a dozen Light Energy Crystals.

This stuff was poison to a Necromancer, but it would fetch a good price on the market.

Then there was a large pile of miscellaneous items.

Several sets of well-made noble attire, some Gemstone-inlaid lapel pins and cufflinks, a few cases of fine wine, some exquisite food, and even a variety of delicate and ornate tableware...

It seemed this Viscount hadn’t forgotten to enjoy the finer things in life, even while plotting his evil ritual.

Furthermore, Lynch found a stack of letters.

He casually opened a few and glanced through them. As expected, they were all secret correspondences between Viscount Golding and the upper echelons of the Draenei Brotherhood. They involved matters of material transport, personnel deployment, and... information about the construction progress of "that ship."

This was all important evidence.

Finally, there was a large roll of parchment deeds, stamped with the Golding Clan’s crest and the official seal of the Empire’s Land Registry. They detailed the ownership of the Golding Clan’s various farmlands, forests, ore veins, and so on.

’Deeds...’ Lynch’s expression was full of disdain. ’This stuff is the most useless.’

It’s not like these deeds belonged to whoever happened to be holding them.

These deeds were all in Viscount Golding’s name. Even with the Viscount dead, he had legal heirs. Moreover, transferring real estate in the Empire required registration procedures and official certification. Without the signature of a legal heir or a mandatory ruling from a court, these deeds were just a pile of waste paper.

’I’ll hold onto them for now. They might be useful later.’

"Alright, I’ll be taking all your things," Lynch said, dusting off his hands as he spoke to Golding’s corpse. "After all, I have to raise your daughter for you now, don’t I? You wouldn’t want your precious girl to live a hard life, would you?!"

After speaking, he glanced at the newly-born loli Vampire.

She was still surrounded by the three girls. The little Vampire seemed a bit shy, keeping her head timidly lowered most of the time, her fingers twisting the hem of her dress. Only occasionally would she secretly raise her rose-Gemstone eyes to peek timidly at Lynch, her gaze filled with attachment.

Er...

’This is really turning into me raising a daughter, isn’t it?’

Lynch looked away and shook his head helplessly.

He then turned his attention to the next objective: the Sacrificial Array.

At this time, the dozens of young women who had been used as sacrifices were still unconscious, but their breathing was steady, and their vital signs were normal.

"Alright, stop chatting and get these people out of there," Lynch gestured to the three girls.

They hurried forward to help.

Meanwhile, Avril had somehow twisted her ankle again. This time, it seemed she had injured a tendon or bone, as even a healing Divine Art didn’t work. Lynch simply told her to stay on the sidelines and had his Skeleton Servants help instead.

In just a few moments, all the sacrificial victims were moved to the side. Avril used a Holy Light Skill to wake them one by one, then soothed them with gentle, soft-spoken words.

Lynch, on the other hand, began to study the Magic Array.

As a Tier One Necromancer, he had some basic knowledge of Magic Arrays, though it was rather superficial.

The core structure of this Sacrificial Array had been partially destroyed by the energy backlash, but many of the peripheral auxiliary runes and energy-conduction lines remained intact.