Chapter 801: Resurrection
Yes, that's right. Leon didn't want things to get too tense, nor did he want to completely abandon his friendship with the Black Tower.
No, I have to step in—I need to persuade them. If Leon is this powerful without even lifting a finger, and I remember he still has several terrifying True Relic artifacts, just how strong is his full power?
Back when I arrived, even Archmage Felton probably wasn't much stronger than Leon is now. Trying to monopolize the benefits here is absolutely impossible. If we go head-to-head, the Black Tower will suffer even greater losses—we have to cooperate. I believe Archmage Felton will agree with me.
At this thought, Councilor Weiss couldn't wait any longer. General Gaskor's death was unfortunate, but technically he died by Weiss's own hand. Leon had already shown mercy. Those Forgefire Dwarves are elite—he couldn't let them be wiped out here.
"Archmage Leon, please wait a moment!"
Councilor Weiss wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and hurried out, calling out.
When Leon's brows furrowed slightly, Weiss was instantly alarmed and quickly raised both hands.
"Archmage Leon, please don't act—I mean no harm. I absolutely won't fight you."
Only when Weiss saw the phantom of the wheel behind Leon slowly fade away did he finally let out a sigh of relief.
"Archmage Leon, I deeply regret what happened earlier. General Gaskor wasn't someone I could command, and the orders he mentioned were real. But none of us knew you were here, Archmage Leon.
Please allow me, on behalf of the Black Tower, to offer you our sincerest apologies."
Councilor Weiss bowed slightly, expressing his goodwill.
Seeing the battle was over, Anderson drifted over, all three of his faces twisted into a mocking grin as he looked at Weiss.
"In the end, it's just whoever has the biggest fist that gets to be right. You still want to play both sides, huh? If it were up to me, I'd take out the most annoying one first—and that's you."
Weiss gave an awkward smile, ignored Anderson, and instead looked earnestly at Leon.
"Archmage Leon, that fool Gaskor brought his own death upon himself, but these Forgefire Dwarf warriors know nothing of it. Could you spare them? I promise, they won't seek revenge against you. This was all Gaskor's reckless doing."
Weiss dumped all the blame onto the now-dead Gaskor, while subtly probing Leon's intentions.
Leon glanced at the Forgefire Dwarves lying on the ground and nodded slowly. They'd lost all fighting strength and couldn't cause any more trouble. Besides, he'd promised Harris to bring these dwarves to the Northend World—it wouldn't do to wipe them out before even leaving this place.
A hint of joy flashed across Weiss's face as he couldn't help but rub his hands together.
Excellent—Archmage Leon truly does value his friendship with the Black Tower. That little misunderstanding from before can finally be resolved.
"Archmage Leon, you see, we didn't know you were in the God-Demon Dominion before. Now that you're here, how about this—weren't we all on the same team?
As teammates, let's keep exploring together like we did before. This God-Demon Dominion is enormous—there are countless ruins and remnants here, and they're all incredibly valuable.
These ruins are extremely dangerous, but with you here, Archmage Leon, things will go much smoother. Let's keep cooperating to explore this God-Demon Dominion. You know, the Black Tower has accumulated precious records over countless years, and with our recent expeditions, we've already found quite a few valuable sites.
Of course, we'll split the spoils evenly. For the first batch, Archmage Leon, you get first pick. How does that sound?
I'm looking forward to exploring the greatest secrets of this world with you..."
After Weiss finished speaking, he looked nervously at Leon. This was the best offer he could make. With Leon, their exploration would be much faster and safer. In the end, they wouldn't lose much and could avoid conflict—truly the perfect solution.
Leon frowned slightly, deep in thought.
The Black Tower had already taken control of the Forgefire Clan, and the Forgefire Clan had always been the strongest of the three great races in the God-Demon Dominion. The Dark Elves had been devastated, their strength plummeting, and the Ashen Orcs weren't much better. Combined, those two races probably only matched the Forgefire Clan, maybe even less.
And the Black Tower itself had grown terrifyingly stronger in recent days. Weiss said he was the weakest, and he was probably telling the truth—after all, even Gaskor hadn't bothered to show him any respect just now.
On the right side, the soulfire flickering in its eye socket radiated an immense force of death—this, too, was the power of a ninth-rank Title Archmage.
Whenever the magic from its left side flowed into the right, it instantly transformed into death energy. When the death energy from the right shifted to the left, it would turn back into magic in a heartbeat.
You could even see the blood constantly circulating through the left half of its body, but as it reached the skeletal right side, the blood would vanish in a grotesque, unnatural way...
Leon frowned, unable to make sense of this creature. It was a true half-human, half-undead monster, its aura far too bizarre—nothing like an ordinary living corpse. Both sides of its body were far too extreme.
What mattered most was that Leon recognized that half-human face—this was the part he couldn't understand at all.
At this moment, the human side of the face was twisted and feral, eyes bulging with bloodshot hatred and malice—anyone could see the raw, naked animosity there.
The monster glared at Leon, howling like a rabid beast gone mad.
"Leon! Archmage Leon! Bet you didn't expect this—didn't expect me to still be alive! From the moment I opened my eyes, I've been waiting to see you again. I couldn't wait, truly couldn't wait to tear you to pieces, to seal your soul inside a magical artifact and torment you day and night..."
Councilor Weiss, standing nearby, was stunned by the monster's appearance and blurted out a warning.
"Suville, calm down..."
Suville suddenly turned his head, that eye full of venom and madness glaring daggers at Weiss, and unleashed a furious roar.
"Weiss, you idiot! Don't think I don't know you and Leon are in cahoots. You've already betrayed the Black Tower, haven't you? If Felton hadn't stopped me, I would've killed you the moment I woke up! Just wait—when we're back at the Black Tower, you'll face judgment, and you're as good as dead!"
Weiss's face turned ashen with anger. He stood his ground, silent, but after glancing at Suville and then at Leon, Weiss let out a quiet sigh.
Last time they encountered Oracis, this fool had repeatedly provoked Leon's patience. Did he really think being part of the Black Tower would make Leon go easy on him?
And he kept going after Leon, even when they were supposed to be a team. In the end, Leon killed him—no one could blame Leon for it. They'd just have to wait until they got back to the Black Tower to sort things out.
It was well known that Suville had powerful connections in the Black Tower—even Chairman Heron was wary of him. But when everyone thought Suville was truly dead, Felton suddenly produced a Soul Vessel.
Damn it, the Soul Vessel was rumored to exist in the Black Tower, but no one expected it to be real—let alone in Felton's possession. Wasn't it said that even the Chairman couldn't use it lightly?
It must've been Suville's backers pulling strings. Damn it—the Soul Vessel is a rare artifact that can perfectly store a soul after death, keeping it alive and preventing it from turning into an undead. With a suitable body, you could be resurrected again!
But after one use, it needed a huge amount of rare materials to recharge before it could be used again.
Fifty years ago, a mighty mage whose strength rivaled the current Chairman died at the Black Tower's gates, but even he never got to use the Soul Vessel. This time, it was actually used on that idiot Suville.
Hmph. So what if you used the Soul Vessel? Suville still hoped to be revived again once they returned to the Black Tower, but things went sideways in that ruin.
If not for that disaster, Suville would've been brought back to the Black Tower and revived again. But for some reason, he was resurrected right there in the ruin.
And he came back as this half-human, half-undead monster—stronger than he ever was alive.
Now he's nothing but a mad dog, denied a normal resurrection and driven insane. Somehow, he even found out about Leon's presence in the Dark Elf tribe.