Chapter 156. The Terrifying Hatred of a Thousand Souls
Deep within the Mine Pit of Magic Serpent Fortress, the damp air was thick with the sll of rust and blood.
The enormous runic cocoon floating in midair suddenly began to pulse without any warning.
At first, the rhythm was slow, like a heartbeat. Very soon, it grew faster and faster, so urgent that it seed to be trying to break free from so kind of restraint. The runes on the surface of the cocoon lit up with a strange red glow along with each pulse, flashing on and off and casting the surrounding rock walls into shifting bands of light and shadow.
The Archmages on guard all stopped maintaining their magic arrays and stared at the giant cocoon in alarm and uncertainty.
As the pulsing accelerated, an icy undead aura spread along the airflow. Wherever it passed, the moss on the rock walls withered instantly, and the standing water on the ground froze into a thin layer of black-tinged ice.
“Sothing’s wrong...”
Just as an older Archmage opened his mouth, a BOOM rang out, and the runic cocoon suddenly shattered.
The broken shell fragnts splattered outward with foul-slling sli, and an indescribable pressure instantly enveloped the entire Mine Pit.
The Archmages’ expressions changed drastically. Instinctively, they tried to activate the defensive magic array, only to find that the mana in their bodies seed to have frozen solid. They could not mobilize it at all.
Soone turned to run, but the mont he took his first step, his body stiffened. His skin visibly turned ashen, his pupils lost focus, and in the end, he toppled straight to the ground.
A few seconds later, those fallen Archmages actually stood up again, only their movents were rigid, ghostly blue flas flickered in their eye sockets, and dense undead aura poured from their bodies.
They turned in perfect unison, knelt toward the center of the shattered cocoon, and lowered their heads as if worshipping a king.
The Archmage responsible for communications scrambled out of the Mine Pit and ran like a madman to notify Liam.
After learning what had happened, Liam hurried toward the depths of the Mine Pit. Along the way, his heart pounded wildly for no apparent reason. He could clearly feel that a stronger and stronger connection was forming between himself and that newborn power deep within the Mine Pit.
It was the “sense of control” he had once longed for, yet now it carried a trace of eerie strangeness that made his spine go cold.
When he rushed into the depths of the Mine Pit, the sight before him instantly froze him where he stood, as if even his blood had solidified.
Standing where the giant cocoon had burst open was a young man.
He was bare-chested and wore a crown. His skin was so pale it was nearly transparent, and his entire body was covered in sticky fluid that had not yet dried. Wet black hair clung to his cheeks.
His eyes were pure black, without the slightest trace of white. He was looking down at the kneeling undead Archmages beneath him, the corners of his mouth curled into a cold and eerie arc.
And those Archmages who had once belonged to the Silver Oakleaf Kingdom had all beco undead devoid of self-awareness, offering him the most devout prostration.
“You...”
Liam’s throat tightened. He wanted to question him, but he discovered that under that invisible pressure, his voice had beco so weak it was almost pitiful.
The young man slowly lifted his gaze and looked at Liam. There was no emotion in those eyes, yet Liam felt fear rise from the depths of his soul.
This was not the Lich King he and his companions had wanted to control. This was a monster that had crawled out of the abyss and fed on the undead.
“Our ‘connection’ really is close.”
The young man spoke, and his voice sounded like countless undead whispering at once.
“My... ‘creator.’”
Liam abruptly took a step back. At last, he understood. They had never been the ones in control. From the very beginning, they had been prey, toys in the palm of this thing’s hand.
The undead aura in the depths of the Mine Pit grew heavier and heavier, and it had even begun to erode his will. He could feel the part of himself that had been corrupted by the Lich King’s power resonating madly.
It’s over.
The mont that thought flashed through his mind, Liam saw the young man raise a hand and point at him.
As the young man’s fingertip descended, an invisible force instantly pierced Liam’s protective Dou Qi and stabbed straight into the center of his brow.
Liam felt a violent pain explode through his head, as if countless icy threads were drilling into his mind and frantically tearing at his consciousness.
“No...”
He roared and tried to mobilize the Domain Force within his body to resist, but those powers seed to have been drained away, leaving only the portions corrupted by undead aura to thrash wildly.
He watched helplessly as his skin visibly turned ashen, his nails darkened into a bluish black, and black-tinged blood frothed from the corner of his mouth.
“You think... it was you who created ?”
The young man’s voice echoed through the Mine Pit, full of mockery.
“You rely provided a shell and enough ‘nourishnt.’”
He lowered his eyes and glanced at the kneeling undead Archmages.
“These people, at least, are more sensible than you.”
Liam’s consciousness was rapidly blurring. He could feel himself being assimilated, becoming the sa kind of undead as those Archmages.
The last remnant of his reason made him bite through the tip of his tongue. Using that burst of pain, he gathered the final shred of strength he had left, turned, and charged toward the mouth of the Mine Pit.
He had to send word out. The Silver Oakleaf Kingdom could not be destroyed just like this.
But before he had taken more than two steps, his body suddenly locked in place.
The young man had appeared behind him at so unknown mont. Cool fingers rested on his shoulder, and his voice was like the tongue of a venomous snake, licking at Liam’s ear.
“Why are you running? Shouldn’t we be ‘rging into one’? Those three Divine Artifact fragnts are still inside my body. Don’t you want to control anymore?”
“You... who exactly are you?” Liam asked with the last of his strength.
The young man let out a soft laugh, and that laughter carried an ancient chill.
“You can call ... Bolvar. Or you can call ... Hatred of a Thousand Souls.”
As his words fell, Liam’s pupils fully lost focus. The final trace of consciousness that belonged to “Liam” was completely devoured.
He slowly turned around, ghostly blue flas flickering in his eye sockets, then dropped to one knee before Bolvar, becoming yet another devout undead servant.
Bolvar lifted his eyes toward the outside of the Mine Pit, as if he could see through the heavy rock walls to the sky beyond the fortress.
He raised a hand, and a ball of black fla rose from his palm. Within the fla appeared a map of the Silver Oakleaf Royal Territory, where countless red dots were being swallowed by black.
That was the battlefield of the Kroll Legions and the Silver Oakleaf soldiers.
“The ga has only just begun.”
He murmured, and his figure gradually rged into the spreading undead aura.
At the sa ti, outside Magic Serpent Fortress, the Kroll Royal Family’s ancestors who were rushing toward it suddenly stopped in their tracks, their expressions changing drastically.
“What a powerful undead aura...”
Ancestor Fenlilan’s voice was grave.
“It woke at least three days earlier than we predicted.”
Ancestor Aksu coughed once, his face pale as paper.
“And... this aura is wrong. This is nothing like the power the Lich King should possess. This is... sothing purer, sothing far more terrifying.”
At so unknown point, the distant sky had already been swallowed by dark clouds. A suffocating pressure was spreading rapidly, and even the wind had begun carrying fine black ash.
Inside Iron Skull Fortress, William stared at the eastern sky, which had suddenly changed color, and clenched his fists. He knew the worst-case scenario had co to pass after all.
Without the slightest hesitation, William imdiately pulled out the dragon scale radiating an ancient aura from his robes and poured his mana into it.
The dragon scale suddenly blazed with dazzling golden light. The patterns on its surface seed to co alive, releasing a low Dragon’s Roar as a vast draconic might spread outward.
He gripped the dragon scale tightly, his eyes fixed on the direction of Magic Serpent Fortress, his face filled with worry.
Just then, a series of violent explosions ca from the direction of Magic Serpent Fortress. The energy fluctuations could be clearly felt even from Iron Skull Fortress. It was obvious that a brutal battle was taking place.
And yet, the sounds of battle were strangely brief and soon fell silent.
William’s heart suddenly sank.
In the next mont, two figures flew over from the east in a bedraggled state. They were Ancestor Fenlilan and the boy Lynn, who possessed Demigod Aptitude.
Fenlilan’s robe was stained with blood, and his aura was in disarray. On Lynn’s arm was a wound so deep that bone was visible, and his face was pale as paper.
When he saw William on the city wall, Fenlilan did not pause for even a mont. He brought Lynn straight down with him, and even staggered slightly when he landed.
“William, hurry.”
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