Chapter 343: Choice
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav
Amid the chaos, the sudden changes, and the emergence of many powerful existences, the original big boss was forgotten.
Upon detecting Undead Emperor Zero’s pressure and presence Davey felt both delighted and afraid. It was apparent that she had no intentions of even telling him of her arrival, and there was also the question of how long she had hidden herself among his army.
“I might have lost the Emperors’ trust…”
Yet Davey didn’t even have the time to be depressed. He needed to first think of something to overcome the trial before him. As he gazed at the battle between the Titan Giants and the True Gods from afar, he was well aware that the energy waves emanating from their fight alone could decimate a Myth-rank individual to pieces. Davey was filled with indecision at the sight.
Should he go help the two Titan Giants? The way the battle was heading there looked to be no thought of sending his subordinates. Even Davey himself would be torn to pieces by the shockwaves from their battle. Even if he was able to help, he would be utterly suppressed by the True Gods. Perhaps his own allied Titan Giants would get annoyed with him and stomp him to death first.
Go help Zero? First of all, he had no way to explain to her just why it was that he had failed to catch the culprit behind the disappearances in his army. Zero was also very famous for AOE attacks that harmed both enemies and allies. There would be no time for him to regret if he accidentally got too close and transformed into an eternal sculpture of ice. And likely nobody would be willing to help unfreeze him.
Davey was filled with inner turmoil. But it seemed worse to not do anything. What about circling around the two battles and forcefully attacking Oak Town’s castle walls, instead? That sounded nice, but where did those two Immemorial Red Dragons fighting at the castle gate come from?
The giant Red Dragons were biting and angrily roaring at each other. Their bodies crashed into and crushed large portions of the castle walls, while dragonbreath scorched the earth into seas of fire. Their dragon magic ran rampant and destroyed the attacking undead armies. The fiercest fight of all the fights was actually happening here.
On the other side of the castle walls, the rampaging dwarf Goddess Mary was currently battling against the thunder Titan Giant Hatley. Her war hammer would repeatedly clash against his thunder spear. Bystanders caught in the middle would not be able to survive unscathed, no matter the individual.
But the most dangerous battle was still the battle between the two Undead Emperors. Although neither of them were at their most powerful states, just the natural power level suppression of these two veterans caused Davey to not even dare approach.
“…This was supposed to be my battle, but I’ve become nothing more than a side character. The powerful ones are so willful.”
Many seemingly coincidental events were actually deliberate in design. Davey hadn’t seen through to the true nature of things. At such a time, any large-scale battle was actually very likely to cause powerful existences to personally take part.
The Contract Heroes system was introduced, a new Silver Species was born, the immemorial Titan Giants were awakening, and the undead Tark Republic was returning. Any one of them were capable of attracting the entire world’s attention on its own. It was only natural for the simultaneous occurrence of these events to attract the attention of the major powers.
Davey’s army’s attack on the wood spirits was only a catalyst. The Holy War was underway, and the situation, time, and place were all too sensitive by far. The eyes of numerous factions lay on the Bardi Empire. The state of affairs was similar to an international situation where the countries were in highly sensitive states—major incidents might erupt at any moment.
This battle was the catalyst that ignited the flames, and numerous powerful existences would leap forwards for the sake of their personal benefits—either to gain advantages or to protect what’s theirs. Some might not even have a goal and only want to flaunt their existence to everyone, all to be more well-known and pave a way to obtain future benefits. Yet, for ordinary mortals, they were all irresistible calamities.
“How about I first return back to the main base and try to control the undead armies?”
From a certain standpoint, this was actually a wise decision. An Undead Lord without his own undead army would only be at one-third of his peak combat strength. Moreover, leaving here meant he wouldn’t have to worry about getting unknowingly dragged into any of these powerful battles.
Unfortunately for Davey, that choice served only to activate the final time bomb waiting for him. When he returned and placed his entire consciousness into his army to better control it…
The individual who would lead him to his end came for him.
“Edwin? Didn’t you go missing?”
From the shadows out stepped a lich—his old friend, one of Davey’s closest allies. Edwin. However, didn’t Edwin disappear two weeks ago? Why did he appear in front of Davey now? Had the disappearing incident been resolved? Did Edwin manage to find out the truth?
The floating lich didn’t answer his old friend, who was also his direct boss. Edwin strode closer; his skeletal face was expressionless and his soulfire seemed unmoving. No trace of emotion was revealed at all.
It was at that moment that Davey discovered that he could no longer control his physical body. He suddenly jerked into motion and started walking towards Edwin, too.
As he walked, Edwin lost his form, transforming into nothing but a black shadowy whirlwind.
“This—why can’t I move!? Why do I even feel delighted?!”
His soul’s screams were soundless. Davey was forced to open up his arms and hug the dark shadow.
This black whirlwind instantly swallowed him up. Even though Davey’s soul was still strong enough—he retained the will to resist—he was unable to do anything but watch the black shadow devour him bit by bit.
“It’s time to combine.”…Ah, so this was how everyone disappeared.
It was only now that he understood everything. Davey obtained much knowledge, and saw many old friends. However, this was his final thought. From the very start, when “Mars of War” had decided to make this entire undead army into his food, Davey, who was the highest leader of this army, had become one of the most important factors for Mars to consume. It was practically set in stone for him to end up just as an addition to Mars’ knowledge banks and cores.
Other Myth-ranked undead would still have a chance to escape, but for Davey, the concept of this entire army being a part of him ended up becoming a heavy chain that restrained him. Once all the “effects” were confirmed, the “causes” that were affected by karma would naturally be unable to escape.
The entire earth began to roar, as if some monster was piercing through it. Once the undead army’s leader was devoured, Mars’ true master began summoning him, and the vicious beast known as “Mars of War” had finally awakened.
I flicked off the specks of snow upon me as I jokingly glanced at the ghost Undead Emperor before me.
As an expert in ice magic… fine, just pretend that I am an expert in ice magic. At the very least, I count as half an ice magic master, right? Even someone like me understood this Undead Emperor’s strategy the moment I came into contact with her icy snow.
“Life absorbing, or to use a more accurate term, heat draining.”
Ghosts themselves were filled with negative energy. Any contact with them would cause weakness, heat to be drained, and various other effects. An easy, low-level undead magic like “Ghostly Touch” was an imitation of what a ghost could really do when it touched you with its negative energy.
Normal people only considered that a ghost’s touch would harm the living but rarely thought about how it would also steal the living’s body heat. This was apparently one of a ghost’s natural talents as well. But since it took effect very slowly, required physical contact, and needed to persist for a long time before it could cause death, only the weakest ghosts would use this incredibly useless natural talent. Even I basically ignored this ability.
But, today, my senior taught me a lesson: there was no such thing as a weak ability. There were only weak users.
In just an instant, she robbed all the heat in this entire area and forcefully caused mega-low temperatures to descend. As for the icy mist and snow, that was only to conceal her true weapon.
If a person treated her attack as just some regular but powerful ice magic, thinking they would be fine as long as they didn’t touch it, then that would be the biggest mistake of their life. Her ice mist wasn’t her true ultimate attack. Her true most powerful attack of all was the invisible, mega-low temperature that would descend around her.
“Truly amazing. In just an instant, the temperature is now below -80 degrees Celsius. Anyone that doesn’t understand the logic behind this attack and only paid attention to the ice mist and snow would probably be frozen solid before they even realized it. And this isn’t even Zero’s complete power level. As expected of a senior, but…”
The snowflakes on me were already transforming into water. A light layer of ice armor separated me from her mega-low temperatures. My ice armor possessed the Concept of the [Coldest Ice.] Even if it was -80 degrees Celsius outside, my Absolute Zero ice armor would forever maintain its temperature of absolute zero.
When I was facing Emordilorcan, this armor had helped protect me from the effects of the Cold Flames of Despair. It could obviously block this low-temperature attack that Zero was using.
“…This type of low temperature is meaningless against me! Ha! Why don’t you take a look at my world of snow and ice, instead?”
I inserted my magic sword into the ground and unveiled my silver wings. Underneath my ice armor was skin that seemed like magma. Once my Arbiter bloodline descended and I summoned my Frigidwinter Earth, Zero felt as if her Soul World had been stolen away even though this was simply another world where only snow and ice existed.
However, she wasn’t shaken by this; she only smiled in interest. If I wasn’t capable of at least this much, she would have been disappointed.
*Clap!*
She clapped her hands and lit up countless lights among the mist. It would seem that clapping was an action she incorporated into her magic casting. The essence of ice started gathering around her, and various beasts started awakening into the snow and ice mist around her. There were all sorts of undead creatures, but the most fearsome of them were two types of Legend-ranked undead: the Winter Demon and the Shadowy Wings.
The first undead type was the incarnation of a blizzard, and its very appearance would bring about calamitous weather. The latter type was a Legendary undead mage that could easily cross any distance without regards to time and space, and it was also immune to magic at the eight circle level and under—truly the most dangerous undead shadow mage of all.
There were more than thirty Winter Demons and Shadowy Wings. Among them were many that had even evolved once or even twice, which made them into giant monsters that were at the Myth or even Saint rank. The fact that Zero was able to casually carry such a level of an undead army on her was truly impressive. I could only exclaim at how rich she was.
When meeting an opponent that was difficult to deal with, summoning a large amount of undead creatures to keep that opponent busy so that one could think up a strategy was quite a common strategy for any undead mage. And if an Undead Emperor didn’t personally carry some top-level undead troops, then that would be considered quite embarrassing.
This type of small army consisting of only top-level undead was quite a force to be reckoned with. They glared at me murderously as they marched over. If I were a normal undead mage, I would be hurriedly summoning a large force of my own undead to deal with them. After all, this was the most classical method that undead mages dueled each other by—using meat shields in the front to fight each other while the undead mage used spell attacks on the enemies and buff spells on their own undead troops.
It was like a game of chess. Both sides summoned their own pieces and tested each other out before one side would finally eke out an advantage and obtain victory.
I indeed carried some top-level undead on me, but I had no intentions of summoning them.
“Apart from the Winter Demons and Shadowy Wings in this army, all the other undead are much weaker. And the special traits of these two types of undead are that the first is completely immune to ice magic, while the second is capable of eating negative energy…”
Add on the fact that Zero possessed the ability to rob the heat and how she was skilled at ice magic, I came to the conclusion that Zero’s fighting style was probably quite similar to mine. If I summoned a large amount of undead to deal with her undead army, she would likely use a large AOE forbidden spell to attack everything in sight, without regards to enemy or ally. And that forbidden spell of hers would most likely be a mix of both ice magic and negative energy. If she used such a forbidden spell, only these two types of undead would be able to survive the indiscriminate AOE onslaught.
But if I didn’t summon any meat shield at all, I would be encircled and it would be too late for me.
Attack, attack, and attack, forcing the enemy into one’s own tempo. This was an open plot for all to see, but it was not so easy to deal with.
“Hah, how interesting. In that case, I might as well summon an undead that’s impossible to freeze. Come, ‘War’! Come meet your little friends!”
When I summoned Mars of War, I paused in surprise the very next instant. It wasn’t because War had any problems. When I discovered that I was facing an unexpectedly strong opponent, I ordered War to finish its final feeding and entirely awaken, but…
“System, the hell with you suddenly making your existence known at such a time!”
[You have achieved the peak of Gold. You have activated more than three bloodline abilities. The combination of your soul and physical body has reached 100%. Soul Imprints have been activated. SemiGod-level undead, Order, and divine powered items detected in the nearby area. Bloodline activation hunting quest has been activated. System Notification: It’s time to show off the true value of your physical body and make those Titan Giants that think they’re physical perfection see what a true Double Diamond Bloodline is.]
[A choice of Quests has been activated. You can pick any of the following three, and your bloodline will evolve based on how well you complete them. Remember, your bloodline can currently withstand undergoing only one evolution.]
[After you complete this bloodline evolution Quest, the path for you to become a Legend shall open. Your War Angel and Original Sin Demon forms shall evolve together with your bloodline.]
[Hunting Quest 1: “I’m the real Cat… Lich King, and my butt definitely isn’t stuck on that throne of ice! That’s nothing but a rumor!” Destroy Zero’s incarnation that’s before you and steal her knowledge and the key to the Ice Plane. Reward: You will advance in progress in your undead and ice magic. System notification: Go, oh youth, the Cat King’s beautiful future is waiting for you! Quest Difficulty Level: Myth. Since this isn’t Zero’s full power before you, you have a chance at victory. Use all your devious plots and unscrupulous tricks to steal away your senior’s essence.]
[Hunting Quest 2: “I’m the legendary dragonslaying hero who bathes in dragon blood and fears no sword or spear. Yet unlike my unfortunate senior that I won’t mention, I remembered to wash my feet!” Defeat Molly Ein Mezus and obtain an amount of fresh Immemorial Dragon blood that exceeds half the blood in a dragon’s body. Reward: Complete the dragon blood bathing ritual and increase the base stats of your physical body. System Notification: If you choose this path, then go and keep striving for the peak as a physical fighter barbarian. Quest Difficulty Level: Legend rank. Considering that Little Red will help you in this fight, the difficulty level is much easier than the others. But you’ll probably have to call her Sister or Mother afterwards… oh, that sounds wonderful now that I think about it. You should choose this one!]
[Hunting Quest 3: “My dear distant relatives, could you help me out a little… Don’t slam the door on me! I’m really not here to borrow money, I’m just here to borrow some blood!” Hunt the Titan Giants’ incarnations and obtain a Titan Giant’s heart and blood. Reward: Washing in their blood and completing a ritual will greatly improve your basic stats and bloodline’s power. System Notification: If you choose this evolution path and successfully complete it, the next step of your evolution will require blood from a Titan Giant’s physical body, not an incarnation. Quest Difficulty Level: SemiGod, and even True God for what comes after. Still, the highest difficulty grants the highest rewards. You understand how it is.]
Alright then. No matter my choice, from this moment onward, my expression towards Zero had changed. Rather than viewing her as my senior, I now saw her as a delicious cake.