End of the Magic Era

Immediately, a tremendous number of sparks burst out from Lin Yun's bones. He didn't have a chance to swing the scythe of death until a dozen seconds after he was attacked. The shadow behind him then disappeared.

Lin Yun extended his claw, and touched his skull. There was not any damage, and just a shallow dent that he could feel, but when he touched it again, even the dent was gone.

Undead creatures didn't have any feeling of pain. At the very least, they couldn't feel pain when their bones were attacked or even shattered. Touching his skull, Lin Yun chuckled.

The upside of turning into a skeleton was that his bones themselves were the best defense. He didn't need any shield at all. If he turned into a skeleton king, he would be a level-47 skeleton king who had extremely sturdy bones that could recover quickly. At least, even if he hadn't done anything when the vampire lord attacked him, he wouldn't have been hurt at all…

Yes, the guy who attacked him was the level-45 vampire lord, who was floating in midair, and staring at Lin Yun in surprise. He didn't expect Lin Yun to be so sturdy as not to resist his sharp claws at all. When his joints, which were supposed to be vulnerable, were attacked, only some insignificant marks were left on them, and they quickly disappeared.

How could he possibly be defeated?

The vampire lord thought that he was a lone skeleton king who had been defeated by another skeleton king and deprived of his command of skeletons. Even his abilities might have been taken away from him. He was lucky to be still alive. He looked level-47, but he was probably not even as strong as level 46…

If he killed the skeleton king and received a level-47 soul fire, he would get a huge fortune. At least, in the Plane of the Undead, the soul fire would be enough to make his territory twice as big.

However, out of the vampire lord's expectation, the skeleton king was not one who had been defeated and exiled at all. He was much stronger than other skeleton kings of his level…

The vampire lord, whose face was pale and bloodless, looked at Lin Yun with fear in his eyes. Then, he quickly turned into a swarm of bats, trying to split apart and escape…

Lin Yun scratched his head, wondering why the vampire lord was running off after attacking him so vehemently. The guy was even stupid enough to run away as countless bats. Was he asking to be killed?

If he had escaped as a vampire, there was a chance, though slim, that he could run away with his advantage in speed. How could he possibly escape as a group of vulnerable bats that could be killed easily?

That was the vampires' life-saving skill, which allowed them to turn into countless bats and split up. They wouldn't die as long as any of the bats lived. They might be heavily wounded if most of the bats got killed, but they would still survive.

Facing this skeleton king, it was indeed the best way of escape. When he turned into thousands of bats and escaped in different directions, an ordinary skeleton king could only kill hundreds of them at most.

Unfortunately, he had met a skeleton king in disguise…

Lin Yun scratched his head in confusion, but he didn't slow down his attack at all. He poured the power of death into the scythe.

Immediately, the scythe of death turned into blurry shadows around Lin Yun. Gray, crescent aura attacks spun and dashed out. Then, they exploded and covered a wider range as smaller crescent auras.

In only a second, Lin Yun's attack had covered a radius of a dozen kilometers. The enormous crescent aura split up into smaller crescent auras, and the smaller crescent auras further split up into even smaller ones.

In the end, every crescent aura was only the size of a hand, but there were too many of them to count. It was like a rain of crescent auras had taken place in this range. Those crescent auras were not nearly as powerful as before, but they covered a much wider range…

In only a few seconds, the bats that had dispersed and run off were all torn into shreds like pieces of cloth. 10 seconds later, half of the bats had already been eliminated.

The remaining half were dumbfounded. The panicked bats flew randomly in the sky like headless flies. When they saw that the crescent auras gathered into an enormous circle that pressed towards the center, the poor vampire lord realized that the one he met was not an ordinary stupid undead creature, and certainly not an exiled skeleton king…

Was any other skeleton king capable of launching such an exquisite attack? He had never seen one. Or rather, he had never seen any undead creatures do this except the lich kings.

The remaining bats gathered in the sky, forming the pale vampire lord again. This time, he looked even paler than before.

Hardly had he gathered his body when the vampire lord landed on the ground, and fell on all his fours.

"Great skeleton king, I admire you for your strength. My name is Geoconie. I pledge my loyalty to you…"

Lin Yun retracted his scythe of death, and slowly walked towards the vampire lord. He found those guys' posture of submission, which was falling on all fours, impossible to understand. But on second thought, for the creatures of the Plane of the Undead, lying on all fours did seem to be the least threatening posture.

Lin Yun stood in front of Geoconie, and just gazed at him in silence. Geoconie, on the other hand, was feeling desperate.

Dear ancestors, why am I so unlucky? Why did I have to offend this terrifying skeleton king?

Who told me that there are only two types of skeleton kings who are alone?

The first type are those who just become skeleton kings, and the second type are those who have been unfortunately defeated by other skeleton kings and deprived of their abilities…

Damn it, who told me that? This horrifying guy is already level-47. He couldn't have just become a skeleton king. So, he can only belong to the second type.

But damn it, who can tell me what's going on here? He's a skeleton king who mastered more power than a lich. Ancestors, I must've slept too long to know what's new in the world. That must be the case.

This terrifying skeleton king hasn't killed me yet. He doesn't look like a normal stupid undead creature, either. He will surely accept my submission, right?

Geoconie was lying on all fours, not daring to use any of his power. He would be killed anyway even if he were to put up a fight. If he didn't resist, there was a chance that he might survive.

He knew that vampires were living creatures, and all the vampires, except their 13 ancestors, were as eye-catching as the power of light in the eyes of undead creatures. It would be seen easily if he used any of his power…

Geoconie lay still on the ground. Lin Yun, however, thought of something else.

It wouldn't be difficult for him to interrogate the vampire lord and elicit the information about vampire ancestors from him. However, the truthfulness of the information would be questionable. Besides, if the vampire delivered a message at the cost of his life when he thought he was doomed, then it would be a huge problem.

In that case, Lin Yun would be facing an army of vampires and the joint forces of a couple of vampire ancestors. He didn't think he could resist them as a level-47 skeleton king.

Even the weakest vampire ancestor was still in level 47. Also, it was obvious that only the three vampire ancestors who ranked last were level-47. The others were generally level-48 and even level-49.

He needed to find one of the weakest vampire ancestors without alarming them, so it was best not to kill the vampire lord here. He was aware of at least three methods of communication that he couldn't stop.

One of the methods was for a vampire to blow himself up, and send a message to his ancestor via the bloodline connection. There was no way that Lin Yun could stop that.

Geoconie looked like someone who didn't have a backbone, so Lin Yun didn't think he should kill him.

The best choice was probably to ask the guy to lead him to the vampire ancestor.

Lin Yun extended his hand, and lifted the hood on Geoconie's head. He saw a bloody mark that was four interconnected wings on the vampire's nape. The mark seemed hard and cold. Seeing that, Lin Yun couldn't help but grin.

The mark belonged to Jophany, the 13th ancestor of vampires. Considering the information that the mark carried, Geoconie was definitely a second-generation vampire that was thought highly of.

After all, Jophany was one of the weakest of the 13 vampire ancestors. In this age, a level-45 descendant would surely receive the attention of a level-47 vampire.

Lin Yun's laughter spread out as soul waves. The cold laughter filled into Geoconie's head, and made him even more obedient. He lay on the ground without doing anything.

"Take me to Jophany."

The cold soul wave was sent into Geoconie's head, making him shiver. He had been thinking of some tricks, but at this moment, he completely abandoned the idea of escaping…

Ancestors, how unlucky am I? I attacked a skeleton king who knows my father's real name. Was this terrifying guy my father's enemy in the past?

But how come I don't remember that my father had a skeleton king enemy? He carries a bloody scythe of death. I've never seen a bloody scythe of death before. But colors don't really matter for the undead creatures, right?

Damn it. Why do I feel that the aura on his scythe of death is very familiar? What a terrifying man.

What does he want from my father? If he's my father's old nemesis, how can he not find my father? What does he want?

Fine. Never mind. This guy may be very strong, but it's just for me. As soon as we find my father, whatever this goddamn skeleton king wants to do, it won't be my business. I'll be free again.

If he's coming to my father for trouble, my father is definitely strong enough to kill him. I can't remember how many level-47 undead creatures my father has killed over the years. He's even killed five level-48 undead creatures, and preserved their skulls as trophies. I'm sure my father wouldn't mind having another collectible…

Thinking about that, Geoconie gradually let go of his fear. He slowly rose from the ground, and looked at Lin Yun cautiously. Next, he looked at the soul fire in Lin Yun's skull through his empty eye sockets. He then immediately lowered his head, not daring to watch any longer.

He's certainly not an ordinary skeleton king. I cannot feel any of his thoughts over such a short distance. How did he do it? Aren't undead creatures incapable of hiding their thoughts? We're so close to each other. He should be emitting soul waves about what he was thinking.

What a weird undead creature. But that's fine. The weirder, the better. Surely my father will love this trophy. There's his scythe of death too. It will become part of my father's collection along with his skull.

Geoconie actually hated Lin Yun's guts, but he appeared quite respectful on the surface. If skeletons were able to enjoy food, Geoconie would've offered Lin Yun the delicious foods that he picked up from other worlds.

Although he couldn't offer any food, Geoconie was able to offer a new cloak, which was made of the second skin of a special beast in the Plane of the Undead that was half an undead creature and half a dark creature.

The cloak was red and glamorous, with golden patterns on the surface. It was definitely much better than the ragged cloak that Lin Yun was wearing.

It was not until he turned into a skeleton king that Lin Yun finally realized why all skeleton kings' cloaks were ragged. Skeleton kings' aura of death was too powerful, and very few cloaks that could endure the aura of death could be made in the Plane of the Undead. It was not bad that they had a cloak…

The cloak that Geoconie offered could resist the corruption of the power of death. It was a rare item even in the Plane of the Undead.

"Sir Buddy, the Bloody Lich personally made this cloak. You should know that very few of the Bloody Lich's items ever came out. It wasn't easy for me to obtain this cloak."

Taking Geoconie's bone car, which was dragged by 18 Heaven Rank gargoyles, Lin Yun flew quickly in the sky. The bone car was five meters wide, and looked like a shabby shed made of bones. There was a cushion made of beast hide in the car, and the power of death was constantly absorbed and poured into the vehicle.

The 18 Heaven Rank gargoyles were pulling the car fast and stably. Seated on the cushion, Lin Yun listened to Geoconie bragging about how great the cloak was. Then, he heard about the Bloody Lich's name.

"The Bloody Lich? Tell me, what's he up to recently?"

Geoconie was slightly stunned. He couldn't tell whether Lin Yun was angry, delighted, or just curious. However, he had made up his mind that he would obey Lin Yun dutifully until he reached his father Jophany's territory.

Temperament was a talent of undead creatures. If anyone said anything wrong, they could fight a war for hundreds of years. Only undead creatures would do that…

"The Bloody Lich? He's been keeping a low profile for many years. It's said that he's been working on something on the Silence Hill. You know that liches often hide themselves for a long time when they do research.

"But the Bloody Lich emerged from his castle recently. There's no telling what he wants. My father said that the Bloody Lich instigated a war between undead creatures and dark creatures a long time ago. 17 big territories were destroyed in the 100 years of war. In the end, the legendary King of the Undead showed up.

"The Bloody Lich finally stopped the war. Vampires and the Bloody Lich were never close. My father said that the Bloody Lich caught one of our ancestors for his research. Then, the ancestor died. Nobody is certain of his death, but my father said he couldn't feel his ancestor's aura anymore.

"Recently, another ancestor perished. These are truly troubled times…"

Geoconie divulged things that Lin Yun already knew. Lin Yun simply listened in silence.

He was slightly surprised at the news that the Bloody Lich left the Silence Hill, but not very much. He had spotted the traces of the Bloody Lich back in the Leviathan Plane. The perfect lich transformation ritual he made up had tricked a few Heaven Rank undead mages.

There weren't many Heaven Rank undead mages. Undead mages weren't really liked in Noscent. There weren't many of them, and even fewer were in the Heaven Rank. The deaths of five of them were a huge loss.

The Bloody Lich's scheme fell through, so Lin Yun wasn't too surprised that the former left his territory. Still, he became vigilant. Unfortunately, Geoconie didn't know what the Bloody Lich was up to. He only heard that the Bloody Lich left his home.

He knew that because a Heaven Rank dark creature entered the Silence Hill and returned alive. Another few dark creatures snuck into the Silence Hill, and returned alive too.

That was impossible to happen in the past. The Silence Hill was a forbidden land to dark creatures. Every Heaven Rank dark creature would've been caught as an experimental subject when they entered the Silence Hill. None had returned alive.

The Bloody Lich was causing trouble, and the King of the Undead seemed to be causing trouble too. Lin Yun scratched his skull, and felt a headache.

Good thing he could pretend to be an undead creature. Otherwise, it would've been impossible to rescue Agalon and the others.

However, the situation didn't look very good. The Bloody Lich wouldn't show up on the battlefield, and the King of the Undead was even less likely to appear, but it would be terrible if they fixed their eyes on him.

Lin Yun felt a strong headache at the thought of that. Unfortunately, he was the only one who could carry out this task. The Chapter of the Dead couldn't disguise anyone else as an undead creature.

After Lin Yun met Jophany, he had to capture the latter alive, which could be a problem too. If things got too huge or it took too much trouble, then the problem would be even more serious.

He would die a miserable death whether he caught the Bloody Lich's attention or the King of the Undead's. No, he would wish that he were dead.

Geoconie was still rambling on about the things he knew, but most of it was worthless. It was just rumors that he overheard. The information in the Plane of the Undead was like the performances of the ballads of Noscent.

A brawl in a village, after being exaggerated and spread out, might end up as a piece of news where two super forces had a war over precious resources they discovered at the border.

That was how the stories that Geoconie said felt. Lin Yun found that everything he said was unreliable except those related to vampires.

However, Lin Yun keenly realized that Geoconie had reiterated the death of an ancestor a while back. Unsurprisingly, he had to be the unlucky guy that Lin Yun killed after the auction.

However, Geoconie didn't know that at least seven vampire ancestors died even more recently. He didn't know or even hear about what those vampire ancestors did. He never detected the passing of those vampire ancestors.

Geoconie was Jophany's direct descendant, and Jophany was alive. It was understandable that he couldn't feel the passing of other ancestors, but those ancestors' descendants should've felt the passing of their fathers. Such bloodline connection couldn't be blocked.

But Geoconie didn't know any of that. Considering how talkative he was, he probably liked communicating with his own kind. Many of the stories he told came from other people.

It was impossible that none of the descendants of the dead ancestors informed Geoconie.

The death of eight ancestors, including the one that Lin Yun had killed earlier, meant that more than half of the vampires' 13 ancestors were killed in a year. It was almost like doom for vampires. Yet, the news never spread out. That was perplexing.

After considering for a moment, Lin Yun realized that there was only one last possibility.

It was possible that all the seven ancestors who lured Agalon and the others into the Kingdom of Nightmares were alive. Only one unlucky guy was heavily wounded and then killed by Lin Yun.

If they were alive, they would be still in the Kingdom of Nightmares…

After figuring it out, Lin Yun felt that he was in serious trouble…

As far as he knew, the Kingdom of Nightmares was different from regular planes. It didn't even have a fixed appearance. In a way, it was a combination of countless planes.

Although Agalon and the others were in the plane too, it would be difficult to track them down.

He would be in serious trouble if he ran into a living vampire ancestor…

While Lin Yun was pondering, the bone car landed behind the 18 Heaven Rank gargoyles. Passing through the gray clouds, he saw a boundless black forest. In the center of the black forest, there was a triangular rock that was at least 20 kilometers long. On the top of the rock, a black castle was located.

The bone car slowly landed on the castle.

At the bottom of the rock, a black serpent that was dozens of meters thick craned its head, and glanced at the bone car that was landing. Instantly, the 18 gargoyles floated in the sky, and didn't dare to come any closer.

Geoconie quickly craned out of the window, and waved at the giant serpent.

"Sir George, it's me, Geoconie. There's something important that I need to discuss with my father."

After Geoconie showed his face, the serpent glanced at him coldly, and then disappeared into the forest.

Geoconie wiped his cold sweat.

"Sir Buddy. That was my father's friend. It's said that he carries the bloodline of the Dynson Clan…"