Chapter 1479
Feeling the five rings begin to bind his body as he was dragged away by Dekrise, Giovanni shut his eyes in despair. The powerful vitality of a vampire meant he couldn't even manage suicide; all he could do was become a puppet, utterly controlled. He didn't need to imagine how miserable his fate would be.
Reduced to a human-shaped key, stripped of all freedom and wishing for death, Giovanni's only purpose would be to serve when the Blood Lich wanted to enter the Realm of Nightmares. Dekrise hadn't lied—so long as he didn't die, nothing else mattered. Whether his tongue was ripped out or his limbs severed, it made no difference...
With the Blood Lich's power, as long as Giovanni was alive, Dekrise could freely use the Vampire Progenitor's abilities to enter and exit the Realm of Nightmares.
Of the Thirteen Progenitors, nine had fallen in just one year. Including the one who died recently, only three remained, and two of those hadn't been seen in ages. Aside from sensing they were still alive, no one had heard from them in a long time.
Now, seeing the Blood Lich, Giovanni understood completely—this was all Dekrise's scheme. Every Vampire Progenitor had been either killed or captured and brought under control.
No one could freely enter or leave the Realm of Nightmares. His phylactery was now utterly indestructible...
Thinking of everything inside the Realm of Nightmares, Giovanni realized it was a flawless plan. No one could escape, and even those who entered would face the Nightmare Leotail. Within that realm, no one could defeat the Nightmare Leotail—not even the Vampire Progenitors, who would rather avoid those parasites capable of wielding the realm's powers.
If the phylactery was hidden deep within the Realm of Nightmares, it would be even more perfect. At that point, only the Undead King could destroy Dekrise's soul. But even if the Undead King tried, he would be trapped forever in that place. There was no way the Undead King would ever go there himself.
Thinking about all this, Giovanni sank deeper into despair. He understood that while the Undead King might be able to tear Dekrise's body apart, he would never be able to truly kill the Blood Lich. Once the soul was hidden, Dekrise's body was just a disposable shell. If destroyed, he could simply resurrect in a new one prepared ahead of time.
And if worst comes to worst, with so many undead in the Undead Plane, finding a host for resurrection isn't difficult. As long as he doesn't expose himself, the endless lands of the Undead Plane are impossible to search, even for the Undead King. Who could ever find the Blood Lich?
After launching a war, with the lich's eternal life and far greater power than ordinary undead, he could continue his revenge for thousands of years without difficulty.
Most powerful liches were learned and formidable individuals in life. After death, when their undead wisdom and memories awaken, they transform themselves into liches.
Some were terrifying mages who, at the end of life, sought to pursue the truth of magic and the world by becoming immortal liches. With the terrifying knowledge accumulated over ages, each one is extremely powerful.
That's why liches are always so formidable. Each lich is at least a transcendent undead, and the Blood Lich, who has existed for countless years, has knowledge that cannot be measured.
Dekrise was also quite satisfied with his arrangements. Although the traps he set earlier were cracked, they still yielded plenty of information.
Using all the written and magical systems from the Nesser Dynasty to the present human era, he meticulously constructed a transformation trap, turning a sacrificial ritual into a seemingly flawless lich transformation ritual. It took considerable time to perfect.
Starting from the Nesser Dynasty in the Northend World, Dekrise continuously absorbed everything developed in that world. In the current age of mages, he kept absorbing knowledge, but still couldn't advance to level fifty, forever stuck at forty-nine.
No matter how much knowledge he gained, he couldn't advance further. To do so, he would have to recover his soul first. For a lich, if the soul cannot be perfectly hidden, death is near.
This is the paradox.
But then an opportunity arose: the Leviathan Plane and the Undead Plane suddenly collided. Dekrise didn't know why this happened—there had been no warning, not even for him.
Still, it was a rare and excellent opportunity. The Leviathan Plane borders the Northend World and is its most important resource-rich plane—the largest colonial plane at present.
The connection between the two worlds was extremely close. Opening a planar passage was almost too easy; they could even use teleportation arrays for transport.
Normally, only planar roads could be built to connect the two planes. But if a massive teleportation array could be used, it meant the barrier between worlds was thin and even partially overlapping.
The Leviathan Plane itself didn't matter much—it was just another plane. But using it as a springboard to reach the Northend World, the main material plane, was a completely different matter.
With a slight provocation, the undead began frantically attacking the Leviathan Plane, fighting for a new territory.
Combined with the information gathered from the humans, Dekrise spread the news. No awakened undead or dark creature would ignore it—not even the Undead King could pass up such a chance.
The chance to invade the main material plane!
Long ago, Dekrise didn't know why the Undead King wanted to invade the main material plane. Even the demons of the Abyss, the great devils of Purgatory, and the strongest of the elite all shared that desire.
Now he finally understood...
The Undead Plane may be one of the supreme planes, but its rules are ultimately incomplete—death and darkness are its main themes, with countless sub-rules branching from darkness. There is no rule of light, nor any power of light here.
When this deficiency reaches its extreme, it becomes truly fatal...
Ever since he first appeared in the Undead Plane, the Undead King has been the Undead King. After countless years passed, Dekrise finally understood why the Undead King rarely showed himself—not because he wasn't there, but because he was always searching for a way to advance.
After all those years, the Undead King still maintained the same rank and power. For any sentient being, especially one so powerful, this was a torment.
Losing hope is the most terrifying thing. The Undead King's immortal life meant time lost all meaning, but to live forever without gaining even a tiny bit of power—that was the worst torment.
So the Undead King spent almost all his time in slumber, just to pass the endless years.
But if the main material plane could be conquered, and its source power awakened, there would be a chance for further advancement.
Unfortunately, these powerful supreme planes—or the Abyss, or Purgatory—find it almost impossible to invade the Northend World. The powerful restrictions and terrifying constraints make it nearly impossible for them to appear there.
Demon Overlords, Devil Overlords, the Undead King—creatures of this level can never appear in the Northend World. If they tried to force their true bodies through, they'd be crushed between the powers of the two worlds before they even arrived. Even at the Overlord level, they couldn't withstand the pressure of the main material plane and the supreme planes.
With such a rare opportunity, neither the Undead King nor Dekrise would give up. For Dekrise, it was the best—and perhaps the last—chance to advance to level fifty.
The Realm of Nightmares was such a perfect place to store a soul—it couldn't be wasted. After killing all the Vampire Progenitors, even if someone found out later, it wouldn't matter; at this level, no one would risk themselves just to kill him.
Dekrise floated slowly in midair, feeling elated—he hadn't felt this way in at least ten thousand years. With Giovanni in tow, he drifted leisurely into the distance.
Thinking about how easily he had killed two equally powerful beings this time, plus three more at level forty-eight—all five were Grandmaster Alchemists—Dekrise felt very pleased.
Although his previous schemes were exposed and the trap lost its effect, he still gained some information. Of the six Grandmaster Alchemists, five had died inside. The humans would never be able to stop the Undead Plane from devouring the Leviathan Plane.
The last Grandmaster Alchemist hadn't arrived, but a Skeleton King had—apparently Fergus had awakened. It didn't matter, though; once Dekrise advanced to level fifty, even Fergus wouldn't be a concern.
After all, that guy was just a damned foolish undead with power. Knowledge is true power; wisdom is the best way to solve problems. If not for my intelligence, I wouldn't have so easily tricked that terrifying human into the Realm of Nightmares.
Even if Fergus came personally, he couldn't do what I have done...
Dekrise couldn't help but feel a bit proud. For countless years, he'd quietly conducted his research in the Undead Plane, rarely showing his intelligence to the outside world. One move, and he'd achieved a near-perfect result. Dekrise couldn't help but feel proud.
He hadn't used brute force to fight, but relied on wisdom. That was why, even as an undead, Dekrise looked down on other undead...