Chapter 456: Lich Barton
This transformation is just too bizarre...
He had clearly thrown the Necrotic Essence into the Death Tome, hoping it would absorb its power. So how did it end up like this?
This just doesn't make sense...
Leon stood there, dazed, clutching the Death Tome. His expression was unusually grave. The changes in the Death Tome this time were entirely unexpected. He'd often used it to absorb Necrotic Essence before, but nothing this strange had ever happened. Even in the vast, decaying library, in the notes left by Bain, there was no record of anything like this.
Wait a minute...
He suddenly remembered that before coming to the Turin Mountains, his Death Tome only had the Sage's Chapter and the Chapter of Truth. Now, there was also the Elemental Chapter. The changes in the Death Tome were probably related to the addition of the Elemental Chapter. Realizing this, he finally felt a little relieved—maybe this change was a good thing...
Taking a deep breath, he tried channeling a strand of magic into the image of the Death Knight. The magic was quickly absorbed, and then...
"Roar..."
A deafening roar erupted. A towering Death Knight, over three meters tall and radiating a terrifying aura, appeared out of thin air beside Leon.
"Damn..."
Leon was clearly startled, but didn't hesitate. Three ice walls erupted instantly, and the Rune Shield shimmered into existence. Only after all this did he realize that the resurrected Death Knight didn't seem interested in attacking him.
What on earth is going on...?
He looked down and saw that the image on the Death Tome had vanished completely. Then he glanced at the Death Knight standing nearby, and his face twisted with surprise. In that moment, he realized he'd formed a mental link with the resurrected Death Knight.
This meant the Death Knight now existed as a summoned creature, completely obeying his commands...
But a summoned creature of level thirty-six... that's a bit much. Even in the golden age of magic, countless mages would have gone mad for something like this.
He was almost certain that this Death Knight's strength rivaled that of a sixth-rank Sword Saint.
"Return..."
Leon reluctantly severed the mental link. The Death Knight's form blurred, dissolving into a cloud of death energy that flowed back into the Death Tome, where its image reappeared. During those few dozen seconds the Death Knight was summoned, Leon could feel the tremendous drain from controlling such a powerful undead.
"Looks like I'll have to speed up progress in the Bone Plane..." Leon gave a bitter smile. With a flash of flame, clutching the Death Tome, he charged into the undead horde. Fireballs exploded one after another, each blast reducing swathes of skeleton warriors to ash...
Now that the Death Tome had changed, the consumption of death energy had risen by several levels. Just one Necrotic Essence from the Black Wasteland was far from enough.
As waves of skeleton warriors fell, each one released a Necrotic Essence, seemingly drawn by a mysterious force. But the Death Tome was even more domineering—each essence was instantly absorbed, refined into pure death energy, and stored away.
With a muttered incantation, a faint glow flared to life. Blazing flames formed a rocket, streaking toward the last Bone Demon. With a muffled boom, sparks flew; fragments of bone scattered across the ground. The Bone Demon hadn't even managed a roar before its soul fire flickered out completely.
Whew...
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. After more than three hours, the battle was finally over. Nearly ten thousand skeleton warriors and hundreds of Bone Demons had been destroyed. Everywhere you looked, piles of white bones lay scattered, the scene eerily sinister, saturated with death energy.
"Damn it, why were there so many undead..." Councilor Weiss cursed, then collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath. Even as a fifth-rank Title Archmage, three hours of battle had pushed him to his limit.
His case was special—he constantly had to summon vast amounts of mana to resist the corrosion of the two Grayfires.
Actually, the others weren't much better off—well, except for Leon...
Weiss thought back to that ferocious battle. He was still a little shaken, especially toward the end, when that terrifying ring fired a black beam that nearly scared him to death.
He could tell at a glance that the power of that black beam was enough to seriously injure a sixth-rank Title Archmage. He truly couldn't imagine how such a terrifying artifact ended up in the hands of a young mage...
Glancing over, the young mage was sitting not far away. After a moment's thought, Councilor Weiss got up and cautiously walked over, forcing a smile. "Um... Archmage Merlin, sorry to bother you, but that Death Knight just now—was his name Ragulin?"
"That's right..."
Leon frowned, casting Weiss a cool glance and nodding lightly. "He seems to be from the era of the Third Dynasty, once followed Barris, and died in the Turin Mountains."
"Oh..."
After hearing Leon's answer, Weiss frowned deeply. "Then it must be him. I remember back in the Long-Legged Emperor's time, there was a famous Sword Saint named Ragulin. He held a high position in the Third Dynasty, served as Captain of the Imperial Guard, and was even personally instructed by the Long-Legged Emperor..."
After hearing this, Leon secretly shook his head. No wonder the Long-Legged Emperor died just ten years after returning from the Turin Mountains—guess heartbreak played a part. Not only was he betrayed by his son, but even those he'd helped turned on him without hesitation...
(Irrelevant system message, skip translation.)
"Were you the ones who killed Ragulin?"
While Weiss and Leon were talking, black mist began to fill the air. Suddenly, a sharp voice rang out—high-pitched yet oddly deep and ethereal, carrying a chilling aura of death...
As the voice faded, the black mist thickened, and a wave of immense death energy surged forth. Then everyone saw a gaunt, skeletal figure step out of the darkness, twin flames of phosphorescence burning like eyes, fixed intently on Leon and his companions.
The newcomer was saturated with death energy, draped in black mage robes and clutching an ancient white staff. Strangely, his face was stripped of flesh, pure bone, with soul fire flickering in his eye sockets.
It was an undead creature.
"A Lich... It's really a Lich!"
The moment the Lich appeared, everyone froze, cold sweat breaking out from the death energy radiating off it. Even Leon frowned.
The creation of undead creatures is a complex process. Liches like this are extremely rare in Northend World—a mage of Title Archmage rank must die to have a chance of becoming a Lich. Ragulin, the Death Knight they encountered hours ago, had been a Sword Saint in life, so his transformation made him a high-tier Death Knight.
In fact, an undead creature's power is determined by its strength in life.
Take Barris, for example. He was a Sky Rank mage in life, so after death, his body became an undead creature of tremendous power. That's why, on the eighth layer, the Three-Eyed Shadow Wolf warned us not to provoke him on the second layer...
"Answer my question! Was Ragulin killed by you?" The twin phosphorescent flames in the Lich's eyes flared violently as it spoke, black mist pouring into its body. That's the terrifying thing about high-tier undead—they absorb death energy, growing stronger with every bit they consume. "Humans, you have some nerve, trespassing in His Highness Barris's resting place and killing Ragulin. I, Barton, will see you all dead..."
With that, the twin flames swept over the group like eyes, radiating a powerful force. Suddenly, it raised its bone staff, wreathed in black mist, and pale light flashed. In an instant, endless death energy surged toward them.
"Barton... Even he has become an undead."