Chapter 657: Life Anchor Rune
The totem pole, made of countless skulls, radiated visible waves of death. All the undead not only recovered faster, but their strength increased as well.
Anderson’s face was twisted in conflict, but he had to admit Leon was right. They were fighting desperately, always on the verge of being swallowed by the sea of undead, yet their enemies weren’t even trying to hunt them down with full force. All the Half-Liches cared about was protecting their own phylacteries…
Before long, a second totem pole appeared, formed from swirling blood. The blood seemed to churn and flow, casting a red glow. Undead affected by it saw their soul flames shift from blue to boiling crimson.
Leon summoned the Arcane Wheel into his hand and murmured to Anderson, "I have an idea—worth a try. If it works, we could take out all four Half-Liches. But you’ll have to put up with a little discomfort…"
The four Death Vortexes controlled by Arnold spun even faster, and the flow of undead pouring out increased.
At this point, Anderson didn’t really have any other options. Still, after hearing Leon’s explanation, his face remained tangled with anxiety.
The first coordinated attack by all four Half-Liches instantly negated Leon’s hard-won advantage with the Arcane Wheel.
"Just… just be careful, alright? Try not to get me killed in the process…"
Leon didn’t hesitate to abandon the charge. Without a second thought, he led Xuban, Reina, and the Alchemy Golem in a retreat.
Anderson relinquished control of the Arcane Wheel, leaving it entirely in Leon’s hands.
Leon kept his distance from the Crystal Wheel. The four Half-Liches only attacked once, but then did something that made Leon’s heart sink.
The Arcane Wheel was crafted by Leon himself—a true spirit artifact, perfectly attuned to his will. Now, with the Elemental Heart fused into it, controlling the Arcane Wheel felt as natural as moving his own fingers.
The four Half-Liches floated, hovering just above the ground as they drifted toward the Crystal Wheel.
Leon guided the Arcane Wheel through the air, its intricate constructs spinning wildly. This simulated magi-tech spirit artifact was now merging spells at a speed he’d never achieved before.
The four Half-Liches lined up, three hundred meters in front of the Crystal Wheel, surrounded by a mass of undead guards. For the first time, the Half-Liches were taking Leon’s group seriously.
A torrent of fire spells poured out—so fast, Leon’s own casting couldn’t keep up.
After retreating over a thousand meters, the pressure eased considerably. Leon glanced back at the Crystal Wheel, and many of his doubts were finally resolved.
And now, Leon was going all out—driving the Arcane Wheel to its absolute limit. Overclocked, it unleashed a flood of spells twice as fierce as anything Anderson could manage.
Why hadn’t the four Half-Liches cared about them? Why, despite knowing the phylacteries were near the Crystal Wheel, couldn’t they find anything resembling a phylactery?
Flaming spears, dark crimson Blastfire, and wide-area spells like Fire Rain—
Those dozen Wizard’s Eyes, even the longest-lasting one, survived for only a second.
A deluge of fire spells blanketed everything. Leon was careful to avoid the direction of the Crystal Wheel, so the four Half-Liches simply stood there, not even bothering to pay attention to him.
Taken together, these clues revealed something astonishing to Leon.
Only now did Leon feel certain—their phylacteries were definitely hidden near the Crystal Wheel. He’d watched for ages, but still couldn’t figure out what form their phylacteries actually took.
The four Half-Liches didn’t have phylacteries at all!
That spot was nearly bare—just a platform with the Crystal Wheel, almost two meters across. Within a radius of four or five meters, there was nothing else at all.
Through the Wizard’s Eyes, Leon saw runes on the Crystal Wheel that shocked him—runes long lost to legend.
Without knowing what the four Half-Liches’ phylacteries actually were, Leon couldn’t set his plan in motion.
Only at Northend’s peak, after the first conquest of the Undead Plane, were these runes rediscovered after countless years lost to history.
Gambling everything on a complete unknown wasn’t Leon’s style—and he knew he’d only get one shot at this.
These were the Life Anchor Runes that countless restless mages had coveted.
If he angered the four Half-Liches, there’d be no second chances.
A power even greater than the phylactery.
Right now, none of the four Half-Liches were facing Leon and his group directly. He could see it clearly—their eyes kept drifting around the Crystal Wheel.
A phylactery stores a lich’s soul. As long as it’s hidden well, the lich is immortal—eternity itself cannot kill them.
After circling the captain’s quarters, Leon’s group passed by the Crystal Wheel again—this time, the four Half-Liches finally shifted their gaze toward them.
But if a phylactery is exposed, even the weakest lich can fall to a mere Rank 1 mage.
Leon pushed the Arcane Wheel to its limits. Anderson’s face twisted in agony; he could feel the magic inside the artifact draining away, the runes nearly squeezed dry.
Destroy the phylactery and the lich perishes instantly.
Driven recklessly, even the Arcane Wheel—a true spirit artifact—was starting to buckle under the strain.
"Leon..."
Anderson called out, but Leon didn’t respond—his focus remained fixed on the four Half-Liches and the Crystal Wheel.
When they got within fifty meters of the Crystal Wheel, Leon suddenly drove the Arcane Wheel to clear out a huge swath of undead creatures in front of the Crystal Wheel.
As they closed to within thirty meters, Leon tossed out over a dozen Wizard’s Eyes. Unfortunately, even the longest-lasting one shattered after just a second.
At last, the four Half-Liches made their move—all at once!
Kirk, the Frost Emissary, let out a low growl. With a wave of his hand, three massive ice walls—ten meters tall, several meters thick—appeared before Leon.
In Kirk’s hands, even a simple ice wall spell became a work of art. Deep blue ice walls adorned with dazzling runic markings formed the shapes of two lifelike frost dragons, their eyes fixed ahead. The edges of the walls were studded with statues of frost beasts.
These features made the ice wall look like a massive Gate of Eskrym—far beyond the limits of ordinary ice wall magic.
Three nearly instant-cast Gates of Eskrym appeared in a row. Just the first one managed to hold back the raging torrent of spells from Leon’s Arcane Wheel for a full three seconds!
At this point, no attack could get within thirty meters of the Crystal Wheel.
Hall, the Dark Left Hand, raised the Dark Covenant. A black rune appeared in the sky, melting silently into a ripple of darkness that spread outward.
Within dozens of meters in front of the Crystal Wheel, all undead below level twenty froze. A black rune appeared on each of their foreheads—mark of the Dark Covenant.
Instantly, all undead below level twenty within dozens of meters dropped dead. Their soul flames vanished. Whether skeleton or zombie, their bodies were shrouded in darkness and melted away, just like the rune.
Then, beams of dark light rose from the ground. Every undead above level twenty, no matter how badly injured, was instantly restored—even those reduced to bone fragments by the spell torrent were revived.
Over a thousand low-level undead died, but at least five hundred elite undead in peak condition were revived. The weakest among them was level twenty-five!
Death Pact...
Looking up at the untouched bone dragons in the sky, Leon’s face darkened. Hall’s Dark Covenant, after becoming a Half-Lich, now possessed the power of the Death Pact—sacrificing lesser undead to resurrect fallen elites, and healing wounded ones.
It wasn’t over yet. After Garcia made his move, a totem pole radiating a heavy aura of death plummeted from the sky.