Chapter 459: Royal Crown
Suddenly, a surge of black smoke roared forth, carrying a bone-chilling, icy aura. The moment this presence was felt, everyone’s expression changed at once. From within the thick haze, a gaunt black figure stepped out...
"Damn..."
Seeing this, cold sweat broke out across the group—The Lich wasn’t dead after all!
Leon shook his head quietly. He’d only meant to try summoning the Lich, never expecting such a big reaction from the others. As he severed the mental link, the figures of the Death Knight and the Lich gradually blurred, dissolving into black mist and returning to the Death Tome. Instantly, he saw two icons appear on the Death Tome—one for the Death Knight, one for the Lich.
After this grueling battle, everyone but Leon was severely depleted of mana, their strength diminished, exhaustion written on their faces. Some even suffered minor injuries. If they were to encounter another undead creature like the Lich, things could turn ugly...
"This undead domain is far more dangerous than we imagined, and there must be plenty of high-tier undead lurking here. The Lich was probably drawn in by the dense necrotic power. We should keep moving—staying here is too risky..."
Leon greeted the others and pressed on. He’d only been in the undead domain for less than a day, but had already experienced its deadly nature firsthand. Though it wasn’t quite as brutal as the eighth layer’s monster domain, running into two elite undead in a single day—even for him—was almost too much.
He was now almost certain that the people Barris brought here years ago had all perished and been turned into undead. Ragulin and Barton were only two among them; there were likely more high-tier undead slumbering in the corners of this domain.
He couldn’t help but worry...
Among the group Barris brought here years ago—were there any Sky Rank powerhouses? If there were, the undead they became would be far beyond anything they could handle.
All the way, Leon pushed his Mana Harness to its absolute limit.
Two hours passed quickly. As they ventured deeper, Leon and the group noticed dramatic changes in the surroundings—thick black mist swirling everywhere, fragments of bone littering the ground, and a biting, icy chill in the air...
Even the undead creatures here grew stronger. When they first entered the undead domain, they might not see a Bone Demon for half an hour. Now, one would leap out every few minutes.
Fortunately, it was only Bone Demons—they posed no real threat to Leon’s group. In these two hours, no high-tier undead appeared.
"Oh my god, look over there..."
Countless wind spells erupted, engulfing a charging Bone Demon. Councilor Weiss, catching something out of the corner of his eye, suddenly widened his gaze and pointed in shock.
"Is that..."
Leon frowned, following Weiss’s direction. With black mist everywhere, only a pale outline could be seen—like a hill a hundred meters tall. As he kept watching, his expression suddenly changed. It wasn’t a hill at all, but a massive mound made entirely of bones!
The sight was utterly overwhelming...
How many bones would it take to pile up a hundred meters high?
And there’s no way this could have formed naturally!
Then...
Everyone exchanged glances, as if the same realization struck them at once—a look of excitement spread across their faces.
Boom...
The Bone Demon, engulfed by countless wind spells, let out a shriek as its bones scattered. Its soul fire flickered out, turning into a Necrotic Essence that shot toward the bone mound and disappeared within.
"If I’m not mistaken, this should be the place we’re looking for..." Dalson gazed into the distance, his voice trembling with excitement. "This is where Barris is buried. If I’m right, the Royal Crown should be here too."
"Wait..."
Just as everyone was about to move, a discordant voice rang out.
"Wait for what?" Dean’s face darkened instantly. Getting that Royal Crown meant not only escaping this hellhole, but also claiming a massive reward.
Only after speaking did Dean realize the voice was familiar—it was Leon. Instantly, Dean’s face went pale. He shrank back, turning apologetically to Leon, "Magister Merlin, um, you..."
Dean was about to ask what Leon meant, but swallowed his words. At that moment, he understood exactly what Leon’s "Wait" had meant.
Ahead, the ground was black with movement and the sound of earth being torn open—a horde of skeleton warriors clawed their way up from below, their numbers beyond imagination.
"Oh my god, how can there be so many undead..." Dean gasped, panic-stricken as he stared ahead. The sheer scale was more terrifying than any undead army they’d faced before.
"There must be tens of thousands..." Watching the endless skeleton warriors crawl out, everyone felt a chill run down their spine. Dalson swallowed hard before he managed to speak.
"Let’s put the Royal Crown on hold for now. We’ll deal with these undead first..." Leon’s face was grim as he looked out at the undead sea. Everywhere he looked, ghostly blue flames flickered, and the skeleton warriors were shrouded in black mist, unaffected by the usual Bane of the Undead.
No sooner had he spoken than Leon moved, swinging the Doombringer Staff. Waves of fiery magic rippled out, and a rain of fire engulfed the undead army, scorching a hundred-meter radius. Dozens of skeleton warriors saw their soul flames snuffed out in an instant.
Skeleton warriors are the lowest tier of undead, usually on par with mages or master mages. Packed so densely, Leon’s wide-area spell wiped out entire clusters at once.
The rest of the party joined the slaughter, firelight blazing as countless skeleton warriors were blasted apart.
At that moment, no one noticed the crack in the pitch-black earth...
Suddenly, a terrifying aura surged from the fissure, followed by a deafening boom. The ground shook violently—the crack widened, and a bone-white finger emerged from within...
"Damn, what kind of monster is that..." Leon spun around in shock, just in time to see the skeletal finger break through the earth. If it were a normal skeleton’s finger, it wouldn’t be so terrifying, but this one was as thick as a man’s waist—and the part above ground was several meters long.
As seconds ticked by, more than a finger emerged—a skeletal arm, over ten meters long, slammed down on the earth with a thunderous crash. The crack widened again, sending countless skeleton warriors flying, many tumbling into the fissure.
Large beads of sweat rolled down Leon’s forehead. The aura from that arm was so terrifying, his heart raced. He didn’t doubt for a second that just the arm alone could kill a Title Magister or Sword Saint.
What kind of being was this?
Not only did Leon stop casting, but nearly everyone in the party stared in shock at the massive arm, deeply shaken.
The hordes of skeleton warriors scattered in panic at the sight of the arm, completely forgetting to attack Leon and the others.
Seconds later, the fissure trembled again—another bone-white arm emerged. Suddenly, both arms slammed down on the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. The Royal Crown slowly rose from the crack, followed by an enormous skull. In its eye sockets, twin ghostly blue flames flickered as it stared motionless at the group.
"Wh-what... what is that thing?"
For a few seconds, everyone was silent, stunned by the sight. Dalson finally broke the silence, staring at the Royal Crown atop the skull in shock and doubt: "Could that be Barris?"
If it had been just an impossibly huge humanoid skeleton, Dalson would never have thought of Barris. But that Royal Crown...
Not just Dalson—everyone’s eyes were locked on the Royal Crown.
They all knew the Royal Crown’s extraordinary significance. When Emperor Charles shattered the Throne of All Things and founded the Third Dynasty, he gathered the finest Ironborn Dwarves and spent decades forging the Royal Crown.
Over time, the Royal Crown became the imperial symbol of succession. But since the era of the Long-Legged Emperor, it had been lost; later royal heirs never even saw the Royal Crown.
"How could this happen... How could this happen! Dalson, didn’t you say Barris was asleep? Why did it come out? Are you trying to deceive us?" Dean glared at Dalson, his face pale. He’d always resented how Dalson kept so many secrets from the other mercenary groups.
Now, faced with this terrifying being that might be Barris, Dean could no longer contain his anger and let it all out.
A Sky Rank mage’s body, turned into an undead—just how powerful would that be...
Barton was a Title Magister at level nine before death. As a Lich, he’d reached level thirty-seven, and even that was almost too much for the party to handle. But a Sky Rank mage? That was a problem they simply couldn’t solve!
"If we’d known it was like this, our Apocalypse Mercenary Company would never have accepted this damned job..." Dalson gave a bitter laugh. Back then, a royal descendant from Odin Kingdom had offered them a fortune to come to the Turin Mountains and recover the lost crown...