Chapter 660: The Second Half of the Diary
"Let me crack this damned alchemical array—just brilliant, only this bastard could think of something so insane..."
Anderson's heart ached as he worked. Even after stuffing the Arcane Wheel with mana and slotting in the Alchemical Mana Vortex, it could still function, but how could the vortex compare to Elemental Amber? The Arcane Wheel's power was cut by more than half.
Despite his bitter expression, Anderson wasted no time. He conjured a hand, gripped the Crystal Quill, and began scribbling runes with Star Ink near the Crystal Wheel.
Leon had explained the placement of every single rune to Anderson no less than three times. Only after confirming there were no mistakes did they start the plan.
Most of the time wasted was spent on this step. With four Half-Liches lurking nearby, Leon had absolutely no chance of cracking the alchemical arrays around the Crystal Wheel himself.
Those alchemical arrays were all set up by the four Half-Liches to guard the Crystal Wheel. Only by breaking these arrays could one get close enough to the wheel, then attempt to break the life-bound runes on it. If successful, they'd finally have a shot at unraveling the Half-Liches' true souls.
Leon knew this was a job he'd never get to do himself. Just approaching the Crystal Wheel would make the four Half-Liches go berserk. With no way to kill them, this was the only plan that made sense.
Once the Arcane Wheel was trashed and lost its mana source, Anderson was as good as dead—if not literally, then at least useless. No threat at all.
The four Half-Liches would never pay attention to a broken Arcane Wheel.
This was their only chance...
Anderson gripped the Crystal Quill, quickly inscribing the break-runes.
Meanwhile, the crisis Leon was facing grew more dire by the second.
Hubert had already suffered serious wounds. His body, impossibly tough, was now covered in bloody gashes. Reina didn't dare transform into the Frost Dragon—she could only stay in human form and fight back with frost magic...
Even the surface of the Alchemical Golem was covered in scars. If it hadn't been a Sky Rank Alchemical Golem to begin with, it would have fallen apart by now.
But even so, plenty of replacement parts had already broken...
Leon looked pale, his mana nearly spent. Losing an Alchemical Mana Vortex had drained a third of his power in an instant. If Anderson couldn't unravel the souls bound to the four Half-Liches before Leon ran dry, they'd all be dead...
Ten minutes later, Anderson finally broke through the defensive alchemical arrays around the Crystal Wheel. The moment he inscribed the first break-rune on the Crystal Helm, the four Half-Liches sensed it.
With furious howls, the four Half-Liches immediately turned and charged the Crystal Wheel.
Gritting his teeth, Leon dashed in front of the Half-Liches, casting spells recklessly to block their advance.
The other undead around them were no longer much of a threat. But the four Half-Liches absolutely had to be stopped before Anderson unraveled their souls.
Mad Half-Liches were terrifying beyond belief. Leon even unleashed the Dragonstaff's magical avatar, and Lord Shaun—the infamous three-strike trump card—was summoned yet again.
Every ounce of power was spent just to hold the four Half-Liches for a few fleeting moments.
Hubert was the first to fall, his body pierced by a dozen jet-black arrows like shards of obsidian. The instant he hit the ground, three Gates of Eskrym slammed down on him. Though badly wounded, Hubert wasn't crushed—he could only use all his strength to bear the weight.
Reina was struck by Garcia's enhanced Fear spell, wreathed in spectral resentment. She couldn't help but flee, sprinting out of Leon's undead-slaying aura, only to be swallowed by a horde of undead...
The Alchemical Golem's instant-cast spells dropped by nearly half, and most of its replacement parts were wrecked. It could still move only because the Hydra Heart powering it was monstrously strong...
As for Leon, a layer of frost had crept over his left arm, freezing his hand solid. His right leg was impaled by a black arrow, dark magic seeping into the wound, keeping it from healing—blood poured out, and the flesh around it was starting to rot...
Across the way, the frenzied Arnold was summoning something even more powerful. A colossal vortex of death spun in midair, and even before it materialized, waves of necrotic power were surging like a tide...
Just then, the four Liches suddenly stopped, their bodies trembling violently, their howls a mix of rage and terror.
Thick clouds of death magic poured from the four Half-Liches, their power dissipating at a frightening speed as the necrotic energy dispersed into mist.
Two seconds later, the power inside the four Half-Liches started to unravel. Dark energy surged from Frost Emissary Kirk, and sorcerous waves spilled out from the Dark Left Hand...
Five seconds after that, the four Half-Liches let out a final, unwilling roar. Their flesh and tattered robes dissolved in an instant, leaving four stark-white skeletons collapsed on the deck.
The massive vortex of death in midair vanished just as suddenly, and countless undead in the captain’s quarters faded away in a single burst of light.
Leon slumped to the floor, gasping for breath, and downed three bottles of Life Elixir in one go.
Hubert staggered over, coughing up blood, and reached out to Leon for a Life Elixir.
Reina collapsed on the deck in a heap, all traces of elegance gone.
In the distance, Anderson finally stopped flinging spells to keep the Crystal Wheel spinning...
Leon glanced back at the Crystal Wheel and let out a long, shaky breath.
Ever since discovering the Half-Liches’ secret, Leon knew exactly how to kill them.
Too bad knowing wasn’t enough—he couldn’t pull it off himself. All he could do was trick the Half-Liches and let Anderson handle it. Once the alchemical arrays were cracked, the rest was easy.
The four Half-Liches had anchored their souls to the Crystal Wheel—a brilliant move. All four souls tied to a single artifact, even snuffing out the Crystal Wheel’s magical avatar so their fused souls could take its place.
It gave them a huge advantage, but until the ritual was complete, it left a fatal weakness wide open.
The life-binding runes on the Crystal Wheel belonged to all four of them, not just one.
Leon had guessed it before—the trick to unraveling their souls was turning the Crystal Wheel. Now he was sure.
Until the soul-binding ritual was finished, the direction and position of their souls and runes on the Crystal Wheel couldn’t be changed.
Fusing all four souls brought benefits—and risks. Just a single spin of the Crystal Wheel would throw everything into chaos.
That chaos was deadly. If their souls unraveled, no matter how strong the Half-Liches were, they’d die horribly.
Anderson hammered away with the Arcane Wheel, forcing the Crystal Wheel to turn. It became the Half-Liches’ death knell.
Lucky for them, Anderson had memorized every step of the solution—otherwise, they’d have been doomed...
Leon gulped down three bottles of Life Elixir before finally flushing out the lingering dark, frost, and death magic. His wounds began to heal at last.
Hubert and Reina recovered fast—a single Life Elixir was enough for them.
When they reached the Crystal Wheel, the Arcane Wheel had fallen to the floor, and Anderson was sprawled out like a dead dog, tongue lolling.
"Merlin, you really screwed me over this time..."
Just thinking about that shattered Elemental Amber made Anderson’s heart ache—and that didn’t even count the minor damage to the Arcane Wheel...
"Alright, next time I’ll get you something better. That Elemental Amber was big enough, but it was already holding the Arcane Wheel back..."
Leon muttered offhandedly.
Anderson, of course, wasn’t feeling much gratitude...
Still, Anderson knew deep down that, given the situation, this was the only way. Without destroying the Elemental Amber, there was no way to fool the four Half-Liches...
Anderson shook his head bitterly, pointing at the Crystal Wheel: "Forget it... I found something else when I cracked the arrays. Take a look yourself..."
Leon circled around to the back of the Crystal Wheel and found a hidden compartment, sealed by a protective alchemical array.
The array had been added later—a True Spirit-level alchemical array. Leon immediately took out his crystal pen and started to crack it.
Once the array was undone and the compartment opened, Leon found two items inside.
One was none other than the other half of the First Mate’s Journal!
Leon carefully picked up the half-journal—the very first page held a major clue.
"One time, when the captain was drunk, I got an important lead. Supposedly, this monster might have been left behind by Sanders the Nightmare Lord..."
He flipped to the second page.
"I once heard that after Sanders died, he left behind a massive grudge. The monster really appeared after we encountered that dreadful maelstrom at sea. There were rumors that after the maelstrom, something evil came aboard. I suspect the monster is a fusion of that evil and Sanders’s resentment—a creature born of a nightmare and something unknown..."
"I suddenly remembered the captain once saying there’s a passage in the captain’s quarters leading to the bottom. Opening it would trigger disaster—I wonder if it’s related to the monster..."
Leon flipped through a few more pages—mostly the First Mate gathering intelligence in roundabout ways. But there were clues about the monster.
"Today, while the captain was out, I found that passage and saw the monster. It was terrifying—its power keeps growing, and it split off another avatar. I can’t even tell which is the real body anymore..."