Chapter 1420
Powerful liches—nobody knows their weaknesses, or where their souls are hidden. Destroy their bodies, and they'll simply swap into a backup they've stashed away. To truly kill a lich, you have to destroy their phylactery.
For Vampire Progenitors, it's basically the same conclusion—the stronger they are, the harder they are to kill...
A weapon capable of killing a Vampire Progenitor traded away so easily? That's only because Lilith couldn't resist the lure of that Kelingon Incantation.
The Kelingon Incantation is a very special kind of spell—its power is inherent in the incantation itself. Once a Kelingon Incantation is used, it vanishes completely. Even if it's recorded, it becomes a powerless shell, and sometimes, after losing its power, it mutates into an ordinary spell.
For a creature like Lilith, Kelingon Incantations are exactly what she craves. They can enhance her soul's power—or rather, increase its capacity—allowing her to store more contracts, more knowledge.
Infernal Scribes can sign contracts almost without limit, simply because they keep expanding the 'space' for contracts with Kelingon Incantations. For them, it's basically a shortcut—or the best method—to level up.
Lilith couldn't refuse this deal. For her, she was getting the better end of the bargain. But watching Leon's departing figure, she still couldn't help but grit her teeth.
"Huh? Why do I feel like I've seen that infuriating guy before..."
Lilith shook her head in confusion, then hurriedly flipped open the Tome of Oblivion and pulled out that Kelingon Incantation...
Leon descended the stairs. The auction below had already ended, and the undead and dark creatures had long since left. Only the original residents—undead native to this place—remained.
Stepping out of the Obsidian Citadel's gate, he spotted Gimble squatting at the entrance, a pile of Mourning Vulture corpses at his feet. At the sight of Leon, Gimble's eyes lit up...
"Hey, Bodey! Where'd you run off to? Why couldn't I find you? Damn it, you must not want to avenge me. Burn these filthy creatures' corpses—make sure even the great Pluto can't bring them back!"
Leon could only look helplessly at Gimble—this dim-witted gnome ghoul reaching Transcendence was a miracle in itself. The only thing he seemed able to remember was his grudge against Mourning Vultures. Everything else, he'd probably forget within days.
With a snap of his fingers, Leon burned the Mourning Vulture remains. Only then did Gimble finally shut up. Honestly, who knows why a ghoul would call a vulture a filthy creature...
Leaving the Obsidian Citadel, Leon didn't rush off. The area was still teeming with undead and dark creatures. His main goal this time was to gather information—especially anything about the Leviathan Realm within the Undead Plane.
Attending the auction was never part of the plan, but stumbling into a gathering of so many undead and dark creatures made information-gathering a breeze.
At least he wouldn't have to pay a steep price for it. Lilith surely knew all the details, but getting information from her would cost much, much more.
A dark creature and a gnome ghoul walking side by side—that was enough to stand out in a place like this.
Thanks to the Obsidian Citadel, this place was always crowded with intelligent beings. There were even more mindless undead, who instinctively gathered here, only to offer up their soul fire to a host of terrifying monsters. The flow never stopped.
Walking through this refugee-camp-like settlement, Leon saw scattered, makeshift buildings—some stacked from stones, others from bones.
The largest structure was a tavern, built from countless skulls fused together by magic—this was the Graveyard Tavern of the Undead Plane.
As Leon and Gimble approached the tavern doors, the skulls forming the entrance rolled and cackled, swinging the doors open. Sensing the aura of power from the two, their laughter even took on a fawning tone.
When Leon and Gimble entered, a thirty-something level dark werewolf tried to follow, but the skulls forming the door instantly enveloped him.
Within seconds, the werewolf's body vanished. The skulls turned crimson, and a few even crawled along the floor, greedily trying to slurp up every last drop of blood seeping into the earth.
After devouring the werewolf, the skulls once again piled up to form the door, their eye sockets fixed on the outside, waiting for the next guest—or the next prey...
The undead and dark creatures nearby seemed unfazed by all this, each minding their own business. Inside, Leon and Gimble saw scattered undead and dark beings sitting on bone-made chairs and tables, engaged in strange exchanges.
Waves of soul energy rippled through the tavern, and the voices of undead creatures conversing could be faintly heard.
"I devoured a soul fire from a green one—felt weird. Lately, I've been remembering things from when I was alive..."
"The drinks in this tavern keep getting worse. That greedy John is a real devil..."
Listening to the undead chatter, Leon couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.
He found a secluded corner to sit in, and soon a skeleton clad in Banshee Hide stomped over, roughly plunking half a skull onto the table before Leon, then silently waiting beside him.
[Irrelevant system message skipped.]
Gimble spat out a ball of soul fire for the skeleton, then grinned and picked up the half-skull.
The skeleton in Banshee Hide walked away, while Gimble gazed longingly at the liquid inside the skull.
"Hey, Bodey, listen up—this one's mine, damn it! I traded for this Bloody Mary, so don't even think about stealing it!"
Leon glanced at the liquid in the half-skull. It looked like thick, blackened blood, rippling as if a twisted face was struggling to break free from it. Faint wails echoed in his ears, growing more miserable as the ripples intensified, until the face became clear.
Eyes shut, Gimble hugged the skull and gulped down the blood. He eyed the last drops left inside, then shoved the whole container into his mouth.
"Oh, mighty Pluto, the Bloody Mary brewed here tastes even richer than before. What a drink—if only it weren't so expensive..."
Leon twitched, ignoring Gimble. Drinks in the Undead Plane—now that's what you call exotic...
Leon sat quietly, listening to the conversations between undead and dark creatures in the tavern. Soul waves from the undead and the dark whispers of the creatures echoed through the Graveyard Tavern. Clearly, none of them cared about keeping secrets here.
Or maybe, they figured everything discussed here was already common knowledge.
After sitting quietly for three days, Leon had picked up plenty of clues. Luckily, the undead had no concept of time, so no one thought it odd for Leon and Gimble to sit there for days.
Word had spread about the collision between the Leviathan Realm and the Undead Plane, but given how slowly news travels here, it could take years for the story to reach the entire Undead Plane—and that's considered fast, since these immortal beings have no sense of time.
That was good news; if the mages of Northend World acted quickly, a few years would be enough to resolve things. By the time hordes of undead arrived, the Leviathan Realm would have already disconnected from the Undead Plane.
This place wasn't far from the territory overlapping with the Leviathan Realm. The news had only just reached here, and that territory wasn't ruled by a powerful Undead Lord. Within a week of the realms overlapping, the poor lord had been killed by someone.
Now the area was in chaos—at least thirty Undead Lords and dark creature lords were fighting over it. Most undead wanted to use it as a gateway to invade the Leviathan Realm and seize its land.
The strongest undead there was only level forty-seven, and the strongest dark creature was also level forty-seven. Both sides kept attacking the Leviathan Realm—and each other. Rumor had it, the level forty-seven zombie and the level forty-seven Dark Night Werewolf had been fighting for over a month, and the battle still raged on.
For these tireless creatures, a month was probably just a warm-up...
Thinking about these unruly, undisciplined beings bashing each other's brains out for territory, Leon suddenly had another idea.