End of the Magic Era

Chapter 1471: Mired

Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

When the two groups of experts confronted each other, their auras collided. Also, a lot of waves had been caused by the previous collision, so the space here began to shiver. In the center of the confrontation, even the space seemed to be illusionary, as if someone was seeing something flashing in the dark.

As the flashing got more and more frequent, thunder rumbled in the air, and a long, narrow space crevice appeared. Inside the crevice, countless lightning bolts were glittering.

Instantly, the rumbling noise became louder, as if the channel itself was moaning and screaming. The narrow, long crevice was expanding quickly, and it stretched a dozen kilometers in length in only a few seconds. Also, the crevice was still expanding farther and more quickly. A destructive aura began to spread out in the channel.

Sensing the trend, the experts on both sides withdrew their auras. Without the boost, the space crevice stopped expanding, and gradually closed. The destructive aura roared in the enormous space crevice, but could not make it expand again.

Half an hour later, the space crevice completely vanished, and the space stopped trembling too.

The experts on Noscent’s side were all solemn and cold. They seemed determined to fight back as long as the four horsemen dared to attack.

The Plague Horseman, shrouded in a dark green smoke, stared at Agalon and the others coldly from the sky.

“You may live another couple of days. The Bloody Lich woke up the great King of the Undead before he died. Our king has woken up, and will soon come. Your souls will be reserved for our king.”

Mist arose from the ground outside Dirty Blood like a wall, and quickly connected to the sky, consuming all the places beyond Dirty Blood. The end of the channel seemed to have been blocked by the mist.

The four horsemen gradually retreated into the mist of death and disappeared, and so did all the roaring undead creatures.

The four horsemen didn’t do anything else only because the channel couldn’t accommodate the battle of so many level-9 Heaven Rank experts yet. If the space had completely stabilized, they wouldn’t have feared anything. Another reason was that the King of the Undead had woken up.

Now that the four horsemen were here, Lin Yun knew that it was impossible for him to sneak around as an undead creature. The Chapter of the Dead used to be the Plague Horseman’s scepter, so the Plague Horseman could surely sense it.

The undead creatures backed off, so the establishment of the Hexagonal Array became quite smooth. A lot of iron fortresses were set up in the entire channel in a week. They were all important nodes of the Hexagonal Array. When the space here became stable enough to accommodate the power of level-9 Heaven Rank experts, the Hexagonal Array could be activated.

The Hexagonal Array that was activated bit by bit had already covered the entire channel, and was good enough to protect it. There was no way that the army of the undead could cross it.

The super massive Hexagonal Array was essentially a gargantuan group of alchemy arrays. They wouldn’t unleash their real power until they were activated as a whole.

However, those modules of the Hexagonal Array could hardly stop the four horsemen, not to mention the King of the Undead.

The final stage of the war was about to begin, and the space was getting more and more stable. 10 days later, the level-9 Heaven Rank experts would be able to take action, but they couldn’t do anything until the place completely stabilized.

Noscent’s troops had quit the channel, leaving only Agalon, Alonzo, the deans of the Starry Sky College, and Lin Yun here. Even the Lionheart Prince and the forest elves’ king had left too.

The six of them would activate the Hexagonal Array immediately when the space stabilized.

The wait was painful. Agalon and Alonzo were no longer in the mood for bickering. Lin Yun considered how to make the best use of the spot of the ultimate level-9 spell.

He would probably face the King of the Undead, who was a terrifying expert beyond the Heaven Rank, next. If he were to copy an offensive spell, it would hardly be able to eliminate the King of the Undead even if it was as powerful as a level-11 spell. Copying a defensive spell wouldn’t help, either. He only had one spot anyway.

The King of the Undead’s body was almost immortal. It was too difficult to kill him. It wouldn’t help even if all the people here attacked him together. Even 10 Agalons might be no match for the King of the Undead.

That was why the Lionheart Prince and the forest elves’ king were asked to leave.

Floating in the sky, Lin Yun stared at the earth below his feet, and thought of a level-9 spell that probably suited the situation very well. However, it was still a problem how to let the spell hit the target. It would be useless if the spell couldn’t hit him.

It might not be possible to infer where the King of the Undead was even with the help of the King of the Undead[a] and the Magic Array. There was no guarantee that the spell could hit the King of the Undead.

After considering for a moment, Lin Yun hurriedly entered his alchemy lab, and began to make a bottle of special potion that only Saint Alchemists could make. Without the Saint Alchemists’ power of creation, even an Artisan might get killed if they tried to make this bottle of potion.

All materials had been prepared in the warehouse. He had never encountered this kind of difficulty in the past. Besides, he didn’t have the courage to make the potion until he became a Saint Alchemist.

The making of the potion required the vitality and soul power of an alchemist. Even a level-9 Heaven Rank Saint Alchemist would be badly worn out after making the potion, not to mention the lesser alchemists.

Lin Yun took out the materials that he had prepared in advance. The most important material was the essence of Agalon’s blood that was mixed with his vitality and soul power.

Three days later, a pale Lin Yun walked out of the lab, and drank almost eight bottles of Health Potion in a row. Finally, he looked slightly better than before. In addition, he drank almost 10 bottles of potion to nurture his soul and make up for the loss of soul power.

Even so, Lin Yun was still in bad shape after a few days of rest. He was unable to display his full strength at all. Originally, he was a level-9 Heaven Rank expert, but he could only unleash the strength of an ordinary level-8 Heaven Rank mage at best1.

1

Exactly on this day, the space trembled, and everything felt somehow different. The space here had completely stabilized. It meant that the laws here were completed. It was like a real big plane. The space here wouldn’t be destroyed at all no matter who fought here.

In the center of the channel, there were six iron fortresses in the shape of a hexagon. Underneath every fortress, countless branches that were mixed with rare magic metals connected them. They were all part of the alchemy array.

Those six iron fortresses were the strongest ones here. They were mainly built with the Abyssal Magic Iron that Lin Yun had offered instead of common steel.

Also, as they planned, the six fortresses had been combined with the land. It was impossible to destroy the six fortresses without destroying the channel.

Agalon and the others each occupied a fortress, ready to activate the Hexagonal Array. Exactly at this moment, everybody realized that someone passed the barrier on the undead creatures’ side, and entered the channel.

The activation ritual, which hadn’t begun yet, couldn’t possibly start…

The six Saint Alchemists soared to the sky, and looked in the distance, where a mist of gray power of death was approaching like a sandstorm. In front of the sandstorm, a plain-looking skeleton was slowly walking to the center of the channel.

In the eye sockets of the skeleton, the burning soul fire was not bluish, but as black as oil. Looking at the skeleton in the eyes from hundreds of kilometers away, Lin Yun felt as if countless undead creatures were jumping at him, and his soul was being dragged into the abyss of death.

Lin Yun was quite pale. That was undoubtedly the King of the Undead.

As a skeleton, he had unleashed irresistible, horrifying soul power even though he was hundreds of kilometers away, and he was not attacking Lin Yun on purpose.

It was said that the King of the Undead had risen to the peak of the Plane of the Undead from the lowliest skeleton. His throne was exactly made of the bones of the undead creatures he had personally killed.

Since the gods of Noscent had perished, the King of the Undead had embarked on his path of rising. He reached level 50 with a shocking speed and momentum. Then, he fought and subdued the four horsemen. He eliminated all who disobeyed him. In the end, even those who were unwilling to see him on the throne had to express their submission.

The Bloody Lich was unique. The King of the Undead could constantly destroy his body, but couldn’t kill him. Nevertheless, the Bloody Lich had to show submission to him on the surface.

Lin Yun had every reason to feel pressured when he saw the King of the Undead in the flesh. The seemingly plain skeleton was the greatest legend of the Plane of the Undead.

His body had already returned to the most original form. For Lin Yun and the others, the King of the Undead’s body was indestructible. None of their methods could possibly kill the King of the Undead.

The King of the Undead’s soul fire had already turned black, which suggested that he had acquired the core of the Plane of the Undead. It was impossible for someone else on his level to kill him.

“Surrender the Book of Death and kill yourselves. I allow you to become my subjects.”

A cold and condescending voice appeared in all their heads. It was absolutely emotionless, and sounded like a great monarch’s gift for his humble subjects. It would seem disloyal to refuse the gift.

Uncontrollably, all the six of them thought of killing themselves immediately. They wanted to embrace death, and become humble subjects under the King of the Undead’s feet.

In the blink of an eye, all six of them got rid of the terrible thought, but they were all appalled.

Lin Yun had been in poor shape since the beginning. He was the weakest of all in this place. His soul power was damaged, so it was very difficult for him to get rid of the idea of breaking his own neck. He was already exhausted after he did that.

Lin Yun slowly closed his eyes and sealed his soul power, not giving his soul an opportunity to touch the outside world. It prevented himself from getting hurt.

But even if his soul were closed, Lin Yun could still feel everything in the outside world, except that the range was narrowed down to a radius of a dozen kilometers. A mage’s mana was their other eye.

As the King of the Undead approached, the pressure of an entire world drawing close became even stronger. When the King of the Undead was 10 kilometers away, Lin Yun detected an empty area when he scanned with mana. As the King of the Undead proceeded, there were more and more empty areas that he detected.

At this moment, Lin Yun opened his eyes again. When he looked only with his eyes, the King of the Undead seemed to be shrouded in laws. He seemed to be living in a different world.

Lin Yun had never felt so helpless. It was just like how he watched the world fall apart in doomsday before.

Holding back his negative feelings, Lin Yun set up mental defenses around his soul with his soul power. This was the King of the Undead’s innate ability. Even if he didn’t do anything, he could still invoke countless negative emotions. Those who were weak would completely fall and embrace death if they glanced at the King of the Undead.

The King of the Undead approached the six of them unhurriedly, with the black soul fire shivering in his eye sockets. He glanced at them casually, and then fixed his eyes upon Lin Yun.

“Surrender the Book of Death, and I will allow you to choose the way you die.”

As if an entire world were awakened and laid on the top of his head, Lin Yun found it impossible to breathe. Cold sweat dripped from his forehead. He cast 100 mental defense spells, and even activated a few ultimate spells that were stored in the Sage Chapter. Finally, he was able to resist the overwhelming pressure.

That was pure mental pressure. Even though he had been prepared, he didn’t expect the gap between them to be so huge. He thought that the King of the Undead wouldn’t be too strong, even if he was above the Heaven Rank.

It seemed that he was much stronger than Lin Yun had ever expected. He could’ve been killed instantly even if he had been in his best shape.

Ever since the King of the Undead showed up, everybody had been sweating. However, he seemed to have ignored all the other people, and simply gazed at Lin Yun. Alonzo couldn’t allow that.

“Damn you, undead creature, go to hell…”

Alonzo’s face was twisted. The tattoo on his cheek seemed to be slithering. He took out a rod, to which a dry rind was stuck. Weird waves spread out of the rod. Everybody heard the screams and roars of souls.

Lin Yun glanced at Alonzo’s rod, and narrowed his eyes. The dry rind, the ugly rod, and the strange soul waves allowed Lin Yun to recognize that it was a famous soul conducting magic tool in real history. It was one of the top 10 most powerful weapons.

It was a strange tree that grew at the bottom of the sea. As a special plant, it fed on the countless souls in the sea. It grew very slowly, and could only grow one meter in 100 years, provided that there was an incessant supply of souls.

The strange tree couldn’t really be used as a material for a soul conducting magic tool until its trunk was 100 meters tall. The best part of the tree was its core. What Alonzo was holding was exactly a soul conducting magic tool made of the tree’s core. It boasted the ability of ignoring physical defense, and just shattering the soul.

There couldn’t have been a more suitable weapon to deal with the King of the Undead, whose sturdy body would be useless in front of the magic tool. The weapon would attack his soul directly.

Lin Yun was not sure whether the soul conducting magic tool could heavily wound the King of the Undead, but it could surely cause some damage.

Agalon’s eyes cramped when he saw the rod that Alonzo was holding. He knew Alonzo very well, and realized that Alonzo was truly trying his best by taking out his ultimate weapon.

Alonzo swung the rod, but the next second, his rod disappeared. He was stunned for a moment. Instantly, everybody’s expression changed as they didn’t see what happened at all.

Alonzo’s rod somehow ended up in the hands of the King of the Undead.

The King of the Undead lowered his head, and looked at the rod. He then put it in his mouth, and bit a large piece of the wood off. The piece of wood then disappeared in his mouth, and its power was swallowed.

The wooden rod was definitely as hard as the best alloy in Noscent. That was exactly the reason why the rod couldn’t be fashioned. It could only be kept in its original primitive form.

Yet, the King of the Undead was biting and chewing it like a snack. Lin Yun even saw that the piece of wood which was bitten off vanished the moment the black soul fire in the King of the Undead’s skull licked it. There was not even ash left.

Seeing the scene, Alonzo, who was flying into a rage, suddenly calmed down. He gloomily watched the King of the Undead eat the rod as if it were a snack. He remembered that when he built the wood into a magic tool, it took him more than a year to process the material, and he could only keep the rod in the ugly appearance without being able to further change it…

Alonzo glanced at the King of the Undead again and calmed down. He glanced at Lin Yun, and the latter nodded.

Receiving Lin Yun’s confirmation, Agalon took action first. Endless starlight broke the mist apart, and smashed the King of the Undead as a twisted thick pillar of light.

Surprisingly, the King of the Undead’s body shivered a little bit, and his back was slightly bent. But nothing else happened. He weathered Agalon’s perishing starlight with his seemingly unremarkable body of bones as if he were taking a shower in the light.

The King of the Undead raised his leg, and walked forward. He seemed to be walking in water, which only slowed him down a little bit, but didn’t cause any damage.

When the King of the Undead’s foot landed again, the thick pillar of starlight that shrouded him exploded. Agalon grunted, and was flung backwards, vomiting blood, as if he had been smashed heavily.

Agalon’s sudden attack initiated the battle. Alonzo and the three deans all attacked at the same time.

An assortment of spells, mixed with the power of magic tools, twisted the laws of this place. The power of laws was almost glowing around the King of the Undead like dazzling light.

The King of the Undead went through all the attacks without dodging at all. He continued walking toward Lin Yun at exactly the same pace, as if the attacks were nothing but tickling for him.

Lin Yun’s back was already wet with cold sweat. He stood in the center of the six iron fortresses steadily, with the Book of Death in his hand. He stared at the King of the Undead, and observed all of his movements.

The Ten Thousand Spell Wheel and the Magic Array were also fully activated, capturing all of the King of the Undead’s actions, and making preparations.

The Book of Ten Thousand Mantras floated next to Lin Yun. There was also an enormous illusion of a purple dragon that was providing a rain of mental protections, which helped him resist the mental pressure from the King of the Undead.

Semalion, as a skull that didn’t have any aura of death, floated on the Book of Death, and gazed at the King of the Undead solemnly.

It was fine for Lin Yun to keep the Book of Death, but if the King of the Undead, who had swallowed part of the Plane of the Undead’s core, obtained it, nothing good would happen.

The Book of Death was born in the Plane of the Undead. If the King of the Undead obtained it, it wouldn’t matter whether Semalion surrendered, because the King of the Undead would swallow the Book of Death to strengthen himself either way.

“Semalion, if your plan doesn’t work out, both of us will be dead. Neither of us can get away…”

Semalion nodded.

“It will work. This undead creature has only absorbed some of the core power of the Plane of the Undead. He cannot represent the Plane of the Undead yet!”

Cold sweat was dripping from his eyes, but Lin Yun didn’t dare to bat an eye. He saw that Agalon and Alonzo were like harmless kids in front of the King of the Undead, who only slapped them away when he ran out of patience. Otherwise, he simply considered all their attacks nonexistent.

The King of the Undead never changed his pace at all, and his eyes were fixed upon Lin Yun the whole time, or rather they were fixed upon the Book of Death that Lin Yun was holding.

[a]typo, no idea what’s supposed to be here

another of those omegat term typos, so you can also replace directly and delete the comment