Well done!

Well, man proposes, God disposes, and sometimes you plant willows only for them to give shade unintentionally.

Herbert narrowed his eyes, sheathed his sword, and silently followed behind the Desecrator as it moved forward.

The events of this night were truly unpredictable.
In the first half of the night, he chatted with a hungry dragon; in the second half, he played in the water with a mermaid princess; right before dawn, he met a fanatical fish lover; and finally, he was invited by a lovely elf elder into her boudoir to play poker...

What a fulfilling night!
Though the process was a bit too turbulent, the result was decent enough, as he successfully managed to meet with Svanie.

He was actually quite interested in this prisoner who was competing with him for control over the Prison of No Light.
Was Valentina not powerful?
No, her strength was extremely formidable, and her destructive power ranked among the top tier of all prisoners.
Did Freme lack foundation?
No, possessing the bloodline of the Siren royalty, she commanded a vast array of arcane knowledge.
Yet both of them had fallen before the sealing formation, lacking any real capacity to resist.

As fellow prisoners, why was it precisely this dark elf archmage who possessed the power to resist and even turn the tables? Where exactly lay the gap between them?
Talent? Experience? Or... wisdom?
Perhaps, one could only say that even among prisoners, there are vast differences.

Silence returned to the darkness, broken only by Herbert's breathing and the faint sound of colliding bones.
Click-clack, click-clack, click-clack...
As time passed, the force enveloping the Desecrator grew stronger, and the flesh vanished at an increasing speed.
Within a mere ten minutes, it was completely gone, reducing the creature entirely to a walking skeleton.

Herbert had initially been somewhat puzzled as to where it had sustained its injuries.
But upon recalling the places this Desecrator had to pass through before reaching the third sector, he managed to guess the source of its gruesome wounds and the corrosive energy afflicting it.
First it got beaten up by Valentina, and then it had to listen to Freme singing, right?

"One is in charge of killing and arson, while the other takes care of destroying the corpses—such teamwork is simply marvelous!"
My, what terrifying women!
Well done, you two!
If not for them taking action, he would have had to go toe-to-toe with the Desecrator in a one-on-one duel, and he might not even have won.

"Still, I never expected Freme's singing to have such a terrifying effect; ordinary people certainly lack the blessing to endure that."
Herbert sighed with mixed emotions, finally understanding why Freme had been so excited upon realizing he was safe and sound.

Even if someone were lucky enough to hear it, they would likely not survive to the end, turning into a withered skeleton halfway through.
For all these years, he was probably her only listener.
And sirens possessed a natural affinity for singing; they used songs to lure passing ships and communicated with their own kind through melodies.
"She must have been holding back for a very long time... hmm?"

The Desecrator walking ahead of Herbert seemed to trip, stumbling forward and taking an unbalanced step that produced an unsettling, crisp snap.
Crack.
"Hoh, that little sound was quite crisp..."

Just as Herbert was wondering how much longer the Desecrator could possibly hold on, its halted body shuddered violently.
Clatter...
The entire skeleton collapsed with a resounding crash, shattering into pieces all over the ground.
The blackened bones looked as though they had decayed for countless years, with only a shred of vital energy lingering within the skull, while a pair of extremely faint blue-purple flames flickered within its empty eye sockets.

"Lord... Mo... re..."
The Desecrator tried to speak, but its jaw moved without producing any sound.
It could no longer speak.
Nor could it rely on sheer obsession to move forward any further.
This arduous journey had finally come to an end here.

The flames in its eye sockets slowly dimmed, destined to extinguish entirely within a few breaths.
Yet at that moment, it was gently picked up.
!!!

"I don't know who you are, nor what you intended to achieve by breaking in here. Strictly speaking, as the warden, I should banish you."
Herbert looked at the abruptly reignited soul fire, nodded, and unceremoniously tucked the skull under his arm like a basketball.
"However, considering that you wrecked this body for me, I'll reluctantly do you a favor."
"Let's go, I'll take you to meet her."

Herbert actually had some impression of this Desecrator, or rather, the "Crucian Carp Monk."
His background was tied to certain high nobility of the kingdom, serving as their chess piece planted within the monastery, and he had constantly worked against Herbert in secret ever since his arrival.
Now, watching him reduced to a pile of withered bones, Herbert felt not a single ripple in his heart. Far from feeling sad, he almost wanted to laugh.
Serves you right!

Unencumbered by dead weight slowing him down, Herbert took the lead and accelerated greatly, striding forward through the darkness.
He was not worried that Svanie would set a trap to harm him.
On one hand, Herbert believed Svanie could not possibly be that foolish.
Besides, if Svanie truly had the ability to kill him, why bother waiting until now?
She would have made her move long ago.

On the other hand, it was because his dear ally Nienasa, no matter how whimsical she usually was, would never sit idly by if true danger arose.
She would at least give some kind of warning—whether well-intentioned or malicious aside, she would definitely make some noise.
Not only had Nienasa not stopped him, but she was even urging him onward with keen interest.
"I'm probably not the only one interested in Svanie."

After walking a little further, Herbert suddenly saw light.
Wait, light?
This was the Prison of No Light; there shouldn't be any illumination here.
He raised an eyebrow, maintaining his pace, and soon caught sight of the true source of the light.
It was neither the flicker of candlelight nor the magical glow of magitech artifacts.
Radiating a faint radiance in the darkness were luminescent plants.

In this dark world, the glowing flora looked like countless pairs of shining eyes peering through the gloom.
It felt as though he had walked into a subterranean garden, or a kingdom of glowing plants.
Vines hung down from above, their slender tendrils bearing glowing nodes that emitted a soft blue light at regular intervals.
Beneath his feet grew verdant, glowing grass, alongside tiny mushrooms radiating various hues of light.

Rustle...
Before he knew it, Herbert found himself enveloped within a forest.
And at the end of the path, Herbert spotted a colossal tree radiating a deep blue luminescence.
As he drew closer, the center of the giant tree's trunk slowly parted, revealing an archaic wooden door.

"So, dark elves are also elves? They all seem to love living in trees."
This was very much in the elven style.
Herbert looked at the picturesque surroundings, about to step inside, when he suddenly blinked, struck by a thought worthy of a complaint.
"You set up such a luxurious place for yourself to live, yet you just stood by and watched your roommate cram herself into a rotting coffin?"
Well, that was certainly...
Well done!