Chapter 286: An Undead Emperor’s Stubbornness

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav

The gigantic Bone Dragon whirled around in the air and crashed into the ground like a falling meteor. Dust plumes from the collision rose several dozen meters high.

However, the higher-ups of both sides knew that Gricasio was definitely pretending to have fallen. Still, neither side had the time to deal with him right now.

And what surprised and satisfied me was that he sent a message to me before he fell.

“Aso currently isn’t in his best condition. The method he used to descend in the mortal plane was to seal himself using magical insects. He forcefully used them to absorb his own power and decrease his power level, which will cause the mortal plane’s dimensional will to make a mistake in judging his power level. The moment the seal is broken, the mortal plane will immediately expel him. His personal seal should be located on his waist! Emperor Yongye, you’re the dark light for all us undead. Hurry up and kill Aso!”

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at this. To be honest, I had never seen such a proper traitor before. I didn’t even know how to get angry at him.

If my inference was correct, Gricasio probably gave some information on me over to Aso as well. This way, no matter who won in the end, he would still act as if he was really intending to help the victor.

Still, I quite welcomed his information. After all, from the very start, my target was Aso!

This Undead Emperor had already been exiled by the mortal plane itself, and his body had been changed by another dimension’s dimensional laws. The difficulty for him to return to the mortal plane was pretty much on the scale of a fish trying to fly in the sky or a bird trying to swim underwater.

Not to mention, his descent this time was obviously something irregular. The fact that the Dimensional Door suddenly disappeared was doubtlessly the best evidence that he had to pay a painful price in order to forcefully descend here.

As an analogy, it was as if rather than taking a normal transportation route, Aso rode here on a one-way rocket. Although he reached his destination in the end, he paid a tremendous price and probably wasn’t even his complete self anymore.

It was impossible for him to be at his full power level right now. Half? One-third? Maybe even one-tenth! If I counted the fact that he sealed himself here, perhaps it was even possible that he was only at one percent of his real power.

Perhaps only the True Gods knew just how difficult to deal with and powerful the Undead Emperors were. After all these years, all the killable Undead Emperors had basically died. Only the undying ones would end up being exiled… As for Aso, he ruled an entire plane by himself, which was the best explanation of all. He was doubtlessly the type that would be most difficult to deal with.

However, even the Undead Emperors had to obey certain natural laws. Just like Rex’s head currently attached to my waist, Aso was a lich as well. His phylactery wouldn’t be able to remain in a different dimension from his physical body. If Aso died here, it would probably be eternal.

Perhaps this was an opportunity before me to truly eliminate an Undead Emperor right here and now. If the creator and ruler of the Desecration Plane died here, then this connection point to the Desecration Plane would naturally collapse on its own, and the Undead Emperors would need to find some other method of coming to the mortal plane.

“Aso absolutely has to die here!”

No matter what Aso was thinking, I wouldn’t possibly let go of this chance since he was personally taking the risk by coming out here.

Gria, the Immemorial Bone Dragon, didn’t meet any undead that was her match. We were now close enough for me and Aso to be able to physically see each other’s facial expressions.

Even though he was the one that should have been in danger, Aso actually laughed, as if we were the ones in danger.

“Something’s wrong.”

Aso slowly lifted his head, and the soulfire in his eyes suddenly vanished. What remained were only two dark eye sockets. All the light around him suddenly distorted, as if a time-space distortion had appeared here.

The next instant, he started floating up as part of his body mysteriously vanished. Broken bones scattered in the air and kept vanishing, and it felt as if something was descending from the void. An endless void was devouring and consuming him. Aso was currently heading towards death of his own volition!

Many dimensional tears started appearing behind him. The entire sky trembled, as if some great demon was about to descend.

“Soul Sacrifice? He’s trading his very soul for power? What he wants is worth so much to him?”

Of course I was familiar with this ability. Back at Sulfur Mountain City, I merely used the lower-ranking ability Soul Immolation, which already caused me to approach death.

Soul Immolation was like a candle that would slowly burn out one’s own life force. Soul Sacrifice, on the other hand, was akin to a destructive, hellish fire. The end result of Soul Immolation would only be that one’s soul would be scattered, while Soul Sacrifice required using one’s own soul as food to trade for power from some unnamable existences in the void. The painful death of having one’s soul devoured by those existences would last for tens of millions of years.

Yes. Death. A true eternal death. Just like how I was destined to die when I used Soul Immolation on myself back in the day, Aso was destined to die right from the moment he used Soul Sacrifice.

A fiery soul was the most foundational source of power. As long as the soul remained uninjured, one would be capable of utilizing their full potential. Aso was an Undead Emperor. And now that he was using Soul Sacrifice, he would obtain temporary power several times that of his full power level!

Why? Why was he willing to pay such a price!? Just what did he intend to do with this power? Why would an undying like him be so willing to sacrifice everything? I truly didn’t understand.

“I said that death shall accompany us for eternity. Young junior of mine, let us taste the sweetness of death together.”

In the void, the manically laughing SemiGod lich placed his hands together. With an explosive magic power, he began destroying everything around him, utterly distorting the natural laws.

In the void around him, tens of figures appeared. One had the head of a minotaur and the face of a horse, another had the head of an eagle but a human body, while others resembled demonic asuras—some even looked like cute girls. All these faces spoke as one. “Everything ends with death; death shall always descend. Death shall accompany everything for eternity.”

“Death…”

The horse-faced soul messenger with the head of a minotaur chanted these words with a deafening voice. Yet the language of death surpassed any boundaries of language no matter the dimension.

“Shall accompany…”

“…everything for eternity.”

The eagle-headed, human-bodied God was able to control Time. The moment he spoke the word “eternity,” the entire battlefield froze.

I suddenly heard the chuckling a demonic asura sounded right in my ear and felt an icy breath right by my side. Chills ran down my spine—it felt as if death was literally descending right behind me. Perhaps this demonic asura was a type of Death God.

“I shall die, so you will die as well.”

Aso was calm as he proclaimed thus, as if he was telling a story about daily life. The resolution in his words, however, was as unshakable as a mountain.

Powerful magic started to distort the rules of time and space as endless amounts of undead vanished from the battlefield into the void. These undead were all Aso’s subordinates. Since he was willing to even sacrifice his own soul for greater power, why wouldn’t he sacrifice his own subordinates’ souls as well? All he needed to do was offer the souls connected to him to the void, and the existences in the void would naturally seek out the sacrifices on their own.

What happened next was the most abnormal scene of all. The vanishing of the undead meant that endless amounts of undead died, all because their master willed so. Both sides of the battle sunk into fear and panic.

“Emperor, no!!”

Feyman had signed a complete soul contract with the Undead Emperor Aso more than twenty years ago in order to obtain his trust. Although he received a large amount of magical knowledge because of the contract, he was now the highest-level subordinate present here. He was also not trusted by Aso—was there any chance at all of him not being sacrificed?

“Ahhhh!”

The answer was obvious. The old lich Feyman’s pitiful screams caused everyone who heard him to tremble in fear, yet Aso didn’t even glance over at him. Soon, all that remained of Feyman was a still burning soul torch.

The former highest authority of Xiluo was, in an instant, transformed into a soul sacrifice that Aso absorbed for his own power. Feyman’s unaccomplished ambitions and goals had all vanished into oblivion.

“I… I curse… this world…!”

Feyman, who was pitifully screaming, didn’t manage to finish his curse. However, it was easy to tell from the maniacal look in his eyes that he was cursing all lives to perish together with him.

Aso had made the decision to toss all these souls as nourishment for his Soul Sacrifice in order to power up his forbidden spell.

On the wide, open ground, the multitudinous soul runes had finished being inscribed, while the soul messengers were opening the doors to the gates of hell. A curse of death, with endless amounts of enmity for life, was about to arrive in the mortal plane. All the living would soon be the dead.

This forbidden spell that should have required another ten or so hours to complete was actually finished in an instant with the power of the Soul Sacrifice spell. With its completion, all that remained of Undead Emperor Aso was a manically laughing skeleton head.

“Hahaha, I’ve finally done it! I’ve finally done it! It was worth everything!”

Everyone else on the battlefield could only stare as all this unfolded.

“F***! All the Undead Emperors are insane!”

“Girls shouldn’t say dirty words.”

Although I was telling that to Harloys through our soul connection, I had no way to counter what she said. It would seem that Aso was truly, utterly insane. What was with him wanting to kill everything together with him!?

“The Song to End All Souls…”

“…has been completed.”

Even I could do nothing. Time had been frozen, and I was unable to move. How could I possibly prevent all this?

Aso finished the final incantation and completed his Song to End All Souls. Soon, the Dimensional Doors to the Undead Planes open, and the power of death would baptize this world. Not a single living creature would be spared, including even me.

“How is this possible!? Why has this happened!?”

I still had too many things I hadn’t accomplished yet. How could I possibly allow myself to re-enter the Cycle of Reincarnation just like this? Besides, if I died here, what would happen to our goals? I still had far too many things I wanted to do.

“I won’t stand for this! I definitely can’t be stopped here! If I die, what will happen to my country, my goals? This time, I’m no longer by myself.”

Silver flames tore through all the magic restraints on me, while freedom returned to me with the power of ice. Were Undead Emperors all insane? Could only the insane reach the peak? Fine then. Let’s have a competition to see who’s more insane.

“An eternal eon of ice shall arrive, which shall end everything…”

I began uttering the Ice Aeon forbidden spell which would bring eternal sleep. A world of snow and ice descended upon us. After all, only a forbidden spell would be able to fight against a forbidden spell, and since my mana was insufficient to pay the costs for this forbidden spell, I would simply have to do the same as Aso and pay with my life and soul.

Soulfire began burning in my eyes. Who cared? Wasn’t it just burning up my soul and competing in life force? Wasn’t it simply being devoured by the void for tens of thousands of years? I’ll play with you to the end! Until I reach my goal, I’ll always crawl back up from hell or the River Styx as many times as it takes!

“Hah, what an amusing junior. Alright then, I suppose I should stop joking around with you… Since you were respectful enough to address me as your Senior, then I’ll go ahead and give you this gift as a present from Senior to Junior.”

Just as I was about to use my own soul as fuel for my forbidden spell, I received an unexpected message from Aso. It contained vast amounts of valuable magical knowledge and even included the ultimate forbidden spell he was casting—the Song to End All Souls.

“This is…”

I was busy being astonished by the content of the message I just received and stopped attempting to exchange my soul for power. Meanwhile, the Song to End All Souls suddenly changed its form slightly. Numerous portals to all the Undead Planes opened wide. However, what came out weren’t souls filled with negative energy, nor did death arrive for everyone.

*Bzzzz.*

Along with a tremendous buzzing sound, six black pillars of light covered the skies. Indeed, they were the exact same as the earlier black pillar of light connecting the mortal plane to the Desecration Plane. These were six Dimensional Doors connected to the six Undead Planes that were invading the mortal plane!

All six Dimensional Doors were wide open, and untold amounts of undead swarmed into the battlefield. It was then that I understood everything that just happened thanks to the magical knowledge I received from Aso.

The Song to End All Souls was a siege battle-level forbidden spell. It would open a large dimensional portal to the Undead Planes, summoning countless souls and death magic to baptize the world. The moment this forbidden spell was finished casting, everything in a huge AOE around the caster would be transformed by death magic into a land filled with negative energy, and all the living would undergo repeated attacks by the most powerful instant death magic. Not a single living creature would be able to escape becoming yet another undead soul.

That was the understanding that Harloys had of this spell. Although she was close to the truth, she had actually been slightly off.

Just from the foundational workings of the Song to End All Souls, it was easy to tell that it was actually a mega AOE space-type magic spell. One of its foundational aspects was indeed to open up the Dimensional Doors leading to the Undead Planes that possessed immense amounts of negative energy and death. Typically, Aso would have connected his forbidden spell to the Requiem Plane, which was an Undead Plane filled with souls and the power of instant death. That was an Undead Plane in which even the undead that had physical bodies were incapable of surviving. As long as he connected his forbidden spell to the Requiem Plane, all the living would naturally meet their demise. However, this time, he connected his spell to the six more-normal Undead Planes.

Yes, the six Undead Planes that were planning on invading the mortal plane.

Corpse, Ice, Desecration, Blood, Darkness, and Deathmist. With the six Dimensional Doors to these planes ajar, toxins, frost, plague, and many more elements of death entered the mortal plane. Along with the undead armies, the Undead Calamity had arrived!

Aso finally closed his eyes for eternity, in satisfaction as he watched all this occur. His skull, which was all that remained of him, dropped to the ground. That was the only thing he left behind.

Undead Emperor Aso, an existence which anyone in the world would fear, had perished.

He had sacrificed his own soul to forcefully open all the Dimensional Doors to six Undead Planes. He borrowed the unsteady nature of this area to allow a forbidden spell that should have only been able to connect to one plane to connect to six planes instead!

Behind these six Dimensional Doors were twelve more Undead Emperors ready and eager to get into the action. Although they would still be unable to personally descend right away, most of the undead armies from the six combined Undead Planes were now able to directly descend. This was a huge problem for the mortal plane.

[The Undead Calamity has arrived. Your Legend-ranked Quest “Battle of Two Dragons” has failed. 20,000 Fate Points have been deducted from you as a punishment. Legend-ranked Quest “Infighting Amongst Three Snakes” has been activated. Please hurry to the Cloud Tower to continue the main storyline Quest as quickly as possible. System Notification: For once, things don’t seem to be your fault so there’s no punishment for you apart from a Fate Points deduction. But if you keep taking your time with this, you won’t need a punishment anymore.]

All I could see was an endless sea of undead. My feeling of depression and helplessness caused me to not know whether I should laugh or cry. Undead Emperor Aso gave me an incredible gift of knowledge. Not only did he give me all his magical knowledge as well as past experiences, I also learned why he made such a huge sacrifice. However, now wasn’t the time for me to be mulling over such things or feeling empathy for him.

“Damn it, he pulled one over me.”

Throughout the years, this was the first time I had lost so pitifully. The senior Undead Emperor taught me a painful lesson using his experience. From the very start, he had intended to sacrifice himself after descending to open up six Dimensional Doors connecting to the Undead Planes. No matter what I did, this would still have been the final result.

No, the only difference was that because I voluntarily came out and attacked, I actually trapped myself, heavily surrounding myself by undead. The senior used himself as bait to make the junior suffer incredibly so.

I could see nothing but an endless undead army. These were the elite undead soldiers from six combined Undead Planes. These ancient undead warriors that swore to take back everything they had lost had no sympathy, no strategy, no pity, or even anger. All they had left was loathing for the living and a desire to slaughter.

Their black battle flag was right before me. At this instant, I understood the Undead Emperor’s final action.

“He didn’t want everything he had ever learned to be lost, so he gave all his knowledge to me, the only possible recipient who could accept it. And if I can survive this gigantic army’s onslaught, I’ll be a passable successor in his eyes? Oh man, what a strict senior he is.”

I slowly raised my battle hammer and gathered Holy Light. I opened up my golden angel wings, giving me limitless power. This was no time to be giving up.

I was forced to the brink? That was something I had long since gotten used to. Besides, this situation was still much better than the one I was just in where I couldn’t even do anything other than attempt to cast a forbidden spell.

Death? I’d already faced death countless times. No, I should say that I’d even experienced it several times.

“…I shall live on! I swear it!”

I decided to skip over any big words. Since I was burning up passionately, all I needed was my iron resolve to be unwilling to die here like this.

“Gather into the defensive formations! We still have reinforcements on the way! We haven’t lost yet!”

I shouted as I gathered the wood spirits into solid defensive formations. As for whether or not we really had reinforcements? I wouldn’t know. Perhaps the Bardi Empire’s security forces would come here to take a look, so I wasn’t completely lying. After all, I first had to raise our morale for us to have hope in persisting. However…

*Boom!*

*Boom!*

There was the sound of cannons in the distance that caused large amounts of the undead army to go up in smoke. This could only have been caused by more than one hundred heavy cannons.

“There really were reinforcements after all?”

“There really were reinforcements after all!!”

Only when Harloys’ retort overlapped with my astonishment did I deepen my understanding of just how well this silly cat understood me.

I turned around to look and felt incredibly moved. Before my eyes was the Borealis’s familiar blue and white paint, while the Mizar, too, was such a reassuring sight with its cannons that were firing upon the undead.

“They’re finally here.”

Weren’t they our reinforcements that came from far away? When I calculated the time, they should have arrived long ago.

However, they weren’t our only reinforcements. There was a welcome surprise, too. A Bone Dragon was struck down by those gigantic figures in the sky that were displaying their outstanding slaughtering skills.

With one spewing of dragon breath, a large patch of undead would be cleared. More than ten dragons using dragon breath together caused the entire ground to fissure, with everything both living and non-living transformed into nothing more than scorched earth.

“Dragon knights? Halent is here as well?”

Those dragons of an assortment of colors began attacking this visiting undead army from the Undead Planes. The dragon knights had made their decision.

Perhaps it was the mana waves sent out by the forbidden spell that drew them here. Regardless, the dragon knights were currently fighting with their backs to their own home city. They were following ancient knightly traditions, and at this moment, they had the resolution to pay any price necessary.

“Your Highness!”

Not only that, but a red dragon landed next to me, bringing my companions Krose, Eaglestorm, Yawen, Cohen, Lilith, and the others. They had all arrived!

They all unsheathed their sharp swords. Even if the number of opponents we were facing were endless to the point of despair, my companions were all filled with combat fervor while retaining calm expressions.

Yes, just like me, they had also experienced brinks far too many times. Be it Sulfur Mountain City, Red Maple Castle, or Antuen, we had experienced such things together. How could this type of battle possibly cause them to lose their calm?

“Wait a moment! Boss, why is everyone calling me Wait-Wait?”

Alright then, even at such a time, Beifeng sharply detected that there was something different about his treatment and immediately protested.

“Stop wasting everyone’s time, Wait-Wait.”

“Wait-Wait, get out of the way!”

“Wait-Wait, remember not to drag us down!”

“Wait-Wait, stop intentionally changing the mood of the scene. Be a little more serious; we’re in the midst of a battle here.”

Alright then. Should I be delighted here? Even when facing such opponents, they still had the mood to joke around. Only this type of warrior would always perform at their one hundred percent in any situation.

Only that unfortunate Wait-Wait, who apparently picked up a new nickname somehow, could only grit his teeth and swallow down his anger as he prepared to vent it on the enemies, instead. When he implored me with an innocent-seeming expression for assistance, I ignored him and charged at the forefront as the vanguard with my battle hammer.

“For the Holy Light! That enemy is worthy of a fight! Wait-Wait, if you dare to make a mess of things, be careful of my hammer’s might!”

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