Chapter 424 - A Terrifying Enemy
Chapter 424: A Terrifying Enemy
With Lady Assassin Walker’s masking techniques, Baiyi’s group reached the black castle undetected. They planned to go around a group of skeleton knights, who were playing a game that vividly resembled soccer, in front of the castle.
As the senses of skeletons were impaired, compared to humans, it was nigh impossible for them to see through the Assassin Walker’s techniques. The group crept, one after the other, past the playing skeletons. Everything was going good until the Hitman Walker’s turn.
He had only taken a few steps forward before a skull, which was being used as a soccer ball by the skeletons, struck the Hitman Walker’s body and bounced away.
Facing the others, the Hitman Walker spread his arms open helplessly, with an expression that said, “Guys, I think I effed up.” Two polearms appeared in his hands, and he used them to slay the skeletons he had been trying to flank.
Baiyi was not sure whether to laugh or cry. There just had to a bastard on a plane of existence outside their reach, who insists on giving them crappy character traits. For example, the Hitman Walker’s inability to sneak up on his enemies, the Fairy Walker’s bad luck, Baiyi’s inability to attend a festival without a crisis breaking out, and Mia being seen as cute, no matter how much she wanted to be seen as mature; and for some reason, they could not get rid of these strange attributes.
“Take a leaf from my book and discard stealth,” the Hitman Walker said before charging towards the enemies with his weapons raised. The Lich Walker dashed forward whilst waving his green stuff. This caused its army of undead to rush forward towards the enemies.
“Aha! Now,* this is* more like it!” The Blacksmith Walker laughed out loud. With his guns in hand, he leaped atop the skeletal mammoth, which he had now made a mouth. Lady Assassin Walker clambered atop it after him. Baiyi and the Scholar Walker flew up into the air, ready to bombard the enemies from above and cover their allies.
“If we’re going for a direct confrontation, then we have to be quick. Their reinforcement can arrive at any time,” Baiyi announced in midair. The Book of Servitude appeared in front of him, and its pages began to flip on its own.
A large fiery red formation appeared in front of Baiyi, who had already begun chanting, “With Arcana known only to me… Thus, I invoke myself… Drawn from deep within… Voidal Pyroclasm! Fire, thunder, and fire! A celestial inferno!”
A fiery ball of mana began to condense outside the castle, and soon, it had grown into an enormous fireball. Strands of fiery miasma burst out of it continuously. The gigantic fireball crashed down to the ground, causing a mighty explosion. The enemies in its path were instantly incinerated. Upon collision with the ground, the gigantic fireball split into smaller fireballs that scattered in different directions, leaving streams of lava in their wake. Every time the fireballs collide with something, they would split into much smaller fireballs, which wreaked havoc and bred disaster.
From high above, the castle grounds originally resembled an ashen grey canvas, but after Baiyi’s spell, red scribbles appeared and spread throughout the canvas; and in minutes, the entire canvas was completely red.
“Gallaron’s Abyssal Carnesphere?!” The Scholar Walker exclaimed, instantly recognizing the spell. “A forbidden spell that is infamous for the arduous amount of preparation and rare materials that is needed to cast it. It has been eons since anyone has cast this spell, let alone casting it in seconds. The Book of Servitude is, indeed, overwhelmingly powerful.”
Gallaron’s Abyssal Carnesphere was not the deadliest forbidden fire spell in existence; it dealt most fire damage. However, this spell’s area of effect was the largest of all flame spells, and its fireballs were hard to contain or eradicate. Whenever the spell dissipates, the streams of lava it created would be left behind, making the area inhabitable afterward.
As a spell with destructive capabilities that resembled that of a volcano, Gallaron’s Abyssal Carnesphere was deemed one of the most malicious forbidden spells in existence. The damage that it caused to the environment was cataclysmic.
Nevertheless, Baiyi considered it the best spell he could cast at the moment. With the sea of lava that it creates, he would not have to worry about the enemies hiding underground.
With this spell alone, Baiyi had cleared out every enemy just outside the castle. The Scholar Walker followed up with a large ice spell, which formed a chilling bridge over the sea of lava, allowing the other Voidwalkers to safely arrive at the gate of the black castle.
“Wow, thanks for being a buzzkill. What’s the fun in a battle where one doesn’t get to fight?” The Blacksmith Walker grumbled bitterly to the Assassin Walker, who was seated behind him atop the enormous skeletal mammoth.
She said nothing in reply, though. Looking up, her focus was on Baiyi, who she thought resembled a K-drama Oppa. “Look at my Dum-Dum! He’s so* haaawttt*.”
The Voidwalkers had just begun to relax — nursing the belief that victory was already theirs — when the unexpected happened. The craters that littered the castle grounds, as well as the sea of lava, all disappeared like a dispersing illusion.
The Voidwalkers stopped in their tracks, and looks of shock appeared on their faces. Even they, existences who had witnessed many events in their lifetime, were flabbergasted by what had happened. Only a moment ago, the area around them had been a hellscape! How had everything vanished so suddenly?
Only Baiyi, who had come in contact with the Laws, understood what had happened. “The enemy just used some sort of Law power to transport the sea of flames elsewhere!” Baiyi said in a low voice.
“What?! That’s impossible!” The Lich Walker exclaimed. That was quickly followed the Scholar Walker’s shout of disbelief. “Inconceivable! Our senses were actually hoodwinked; its effect cannot possibly be this rudimentary!”
“But it* is*,” Baiyi replied. “The War God told me that we shouldn’t mystify the Laws too much, as the effect of channeling reality-warping powers like them is surprisingly simple.”
“Aren’t Gods the only beings who control the Laws? How is possible that someone here has Arbiter Rights to a Natural Law?” The Blacksmith Walker asked, aghast. “Unless… we’re dealing with a God here. Could the Space God had teamed up with these bags of bones here?”
“No. The real Space God is the blabbermouth who gifted me the Kitty Cat Maid, as our proof of friendship, and he most definitely does now own this black castle. Yes, his taste is laughable and somewhat dirty, but he’s not thisdirty,” Baiyi replied. “It seems he only wanted me to come here to pick up one of his lost Arbiter Rights. Goddamned it. The dude acted like a moron, but he played me like I was a bloody foo—”
Baiyi complaint was brought to an abrupt end by the occurrence of another shocking event. The other Voidwalkers were no longer beside him.
He had been transported to a new location: a wide grey-white hall. In front of him was a huge throne made of bones, on which a strange being, who was green from head to toe, sat.
“Welcome, my most anticipated guest!” The green being said. “Our humble abode has not had the pleasure of entertaining visitors such as yourself in a long time. Allow me to introduce myself; I’m your host — the Grandruler of the Undead. You may just call me ‘Your Majesty’.”
“Where are my teammates?” Baiyi directly asked, his eyes fixed on the Grandruler of Forgiveness.
“Being lavishly entertained by my subjects — a welcome fit for a hero. Heh! They are a lively bunch, so don’t you worry. However, you deserve my personal greeting, Hope,” the Grandruler of Forgiveness replied.
“You know me?” Baiyi asked in shock. Had his fame spread this far already? ‘Not bad. Not bad at all.’
“A new servant of mine told me about you. He is, dare I say, fixated on you,” the Grandruler replied, and a skeleton mage slowly walked out from behind the high throne.
Green flames flickered within the skeleton mage’s sockets as it exclaimed, “Nice to meet you, Hope. I bet you did not expect to see me in a place like this, yes? I’m Pyganon — Third High Reverend Pyganon of Godsfall.”
“Godsfall? Color me surprised.” Baiyi shook his head sideways helplessly. “There is a question I must ask, though: how did Godsfall, a great organization for you villains, deteriorate this much? The First High Reverend was a demonic Abyss Lord; the Second Reverend was the Fairy King — ruling over a species whose might greatly benefited Godsfall — and the last High Reverend is… you, a skeleton mage that thrives on eating scraps thrown at you by the guy on the throne? Man, now I feel sorry for you guys…”
“With all due respect, you really need to work on your taunts,” the skeleton mage replied, chuckling. “Have you already forgotten that it was you who threw a wrench in our plans? Our members have now been proscribed as terrorists by the Church and the Empire. However, I should thank you; it was because of this proscription that I fled and arrived here at random. This allowed me the honor of meeting my new master — the invincible Grandruler of the Undead! And, here you are, faced with your death. This must be the gift from the One True God! Hahahahahahahaha!”
“Whoa, whoa. Calm down, skull face. There is a woman called Harlotte who was a member of your cult. Is she still alive?”
“Oh, Grand Butler Harllotte? Yes, she’s alive, in a human sense anyways. Haha, I see that you still remember her. I knew that I made the right choice sparing her life! Are you concerned about her wellbeing? Do you want to know where she is?” The skeleton mage grinned grotesquely, looking pleased with itself. “No problem; I’ll kindly grant this wish of yours before I destroy your soul completely. I’ll let you watch as her exquisite flesh is peeled from her bones, after which she will be made an undead. Trust me; her screams will make you wet yourself.”
“Did you hear me right? I just asked if she was alive; that’s all. I can take care of the rest by myself,” Baiyi dismissed the skeleton mage with a wave of his hand. “Oh, and I presume that you know a lot about me.”
“Of course. I’m probably the person who knows the most about you. You see, hatred is a strong motivation. It is this hatred that compelled me to find out everything there is to know about you,” the skeletal mage replied through gritted teeth.
“Then, surely, you must know that I really,* really* hate unnecessary conversations,” Baiyi said as he raised his hand and grasped at thin air.
“Heh heh! Are you threatening to kill me with that black flame of yours?” The skeleton mage sneered. “Do you actually think you’ll be able to kill the Grandruler’s most loyal servant right in front of him? How optimistic— W-wait. Your Majesty? You M-Majesty—?!”
The skeleton mage was incinerated to ashes by Baiyi’s Void Flames. In its last moments, it had called out to its master, flabbergasted that it had died there and then.
Although Pyganon had once been a mighty human leader, who commanded both fierce loyalty from the cultists, he lost his value the moment he forewent his pride and became a lapdog for someone else. He certainly was not worth Baiyi’s time. Baiyi considered Pyganon a shadow of his past self, and killing him now was no different from killing a flea.
As one would require a single slap to slay a flea, so had Baiyi required a snap of his finger to exterminate the disgraced skeleton mage.
The Grandruler silently watched everything play out; it never seemed intent on interfering. After Pyganon was burned to cinders, the Grandruler nodded in admiration and said, “An interesting power.”
Baiyi was somewhat puzzled. He looked up at the throne and asked, “I’m surprised you didn’t help him.”
“He has already outlived his use. I have no room for a purposeless tool,” the Grandruler replied nonchalantly. “Furthermore, he talked too much. But you… I’m interested in you.”
It was not surprising that the ruler of the dead did not value things like loyalty, unlike humans.
“Nice. I’m just as interested in you as you are in me,” Baiyi said, wiping his hands. “How about this: we take turns asking each other questions, and we each answer honestly. Quid pro quo; how does that sound?”
“Sounds fair. As the guest, you go first.”
“Where are my teammates?” Baiyi asked again.
“You have wasted your chance, asking a question I have already answered. As I told you, they are being warmly welcomed by my men.”
‘Looks like they’re in hot water. I wonder if they can weather it on their own,’ Baiyi thought to himself.
“My turn. Who are you?” The Grandruler’s question was surprisingly simple.
“A Voidwalker. A survivor from the world of the abandoned and forsaken.”
“Ah, the Void. Anyone who can survive there is surely not of the living. It’s no wonder you can freely roam this realm,” the Grandruler said. “Your turn.”
“Are you holding onto a Law Fragment?” Baiyi asked. This question had been on his mind since his sea of lava mysteriously vanished. “Or, have you somehow come to possess the Arbiter Right over a Law?”
“Are you referring to this?” The Grandruler said, opening its palm. There was nothing on it.
However, Baiyi’s expression immediately changed, turning solemn. As someone who had touched a Law Fragment before, he could clearly sense a similar object atop the Grandruler’s palm! Unlike the heavily damaged Law Fragments that the War God had led him to in the past, the Law Fragment on the Grandruler’s palm was undamaged and possessed the power of the Law that it was a fragment of!
This answered all the questions he had had previously. With this Spatial Law Fragment, the Grandruler had exerted a certain amount of control over space. This explained how Matt’s village had been transported to Duat and back. It also explained how Baiyi was mysteriously transported to this hall, without his teammates.
If a single Law Fragment could already grant someone this much power, why would the War God act like an idiot when he was a powerful deity who controlled space?! Other than temporarily lifting the limiter on his powers, during the fight with Molocchus, the War God had done nothing else for him! With Attie, the War God only shoved the responsibility of caring for his messenger to someone else!
*’I find it funny that the God of Space had not even noticed that one of his Arbiter Rights is missing! I bet he had not realized it until I mentioned it! Even after that, he had dared to use me as his errand boy while he took it easy up there, resting on some divine couch. What are you even doing up there? Licking a gorgeous maiden who you plan to make your *next messenger?’
Baiyi bellowed in his mind. He was not eager to fight a being who could control a part of the Natural Laws. How was he supposed to defeat an opponent who needed only snap his fingers to move his forbidden spells elsewhere? The opponent could just as easily transport Baiyi wherever it wished. There was simply no way of defeating someone with such a cheat-like ability!
The enemy may be as green as the color of Forgiveness, but its strength was several leagues above that of the kaiju-sized Molocchus that Baiyi had fought before!