Chapter 477: The Underworld Guide
Underworld, Mitna Lachen.
Mordekaiser sat atop the throne, listening to the ever-present whispers of pain. In his fortress, the throne absorbed the most souls, and the wails from it were music to his ears.
He raised his head and looked across the magnificent hall. The generals who were worthy of being killed by him when he was alive were now waiting for his orders. No one flinched and did not move without his order.
His kingdom is ready to go.
However, Mordekaiser is in no rush to return to the world of the living just yet.
He is the eternal King. Time is always on His side.
The horrific invasion from the underworld a thousand years ago has left the existence of Mitna Lachen deeply imprinted in the minds of every Valoran.
People kept dying, and kept following their beliefs in the afterlife, coming to this world belonging to Modkaiser.
His power has been growing continuously from thousands of years ago until now.
One day, Mordekaiser will reign supreme over the material world, unstoppable. Even the reclusive demigods of the Freljord and the remaining darkin of Shurima will be powerless to stop him.
And now, he was only one step away from realizing his ambition. All he needed was a little patience and a few years.
"This year's sacrifice has arrived, Your Majesty." An undead knight slowly stepped into the hall and reminded in a cold tone.
Like other undead warriors who had been enslaved for thousands of years, his appearance, temperament, and even his words and deeds were completely devoid of human vitality.
They are like cold machines that will and can only be loyal to their masters.
"Yeah." Modkaiser happily appreciated the numb expressions of his subordinates who couldn't even express pain, and finally he picked up his Nightfall Hammer and slowly left the throne.
He walked out of the hall, crossed the corridor, stepped onto the high fortress wall, and overlooked the vast empty wasteland below.
This wasteland is usually lifeless, but now, the land under the city wall is full of people.
These figures crowded outside the Immortal Fortress, and it seemed endless at a glance.
They are all weak souls who are not even qualified to enter the Immortal Fortress and can only wander aimlessly in the wasteland.
They were all the "lucky ones" who met Modkaiser's Undead Knights soon after arriving in the underworld. It was the magic of the Undead Knights that gave them a second life, allowing them to maintain their immortality in this underworld wasteland.
But souls will soon discover that such eternal life is not a gift, but a shackle that cannot be escaped forever.
They can only wander forever in the empty wasteland, enduring Mordekaiser's soul slavery and the endless, bone-piercing underworld winds.
There is only one way to escape, and that is to voluntarily become a sacrifice to Mordekaiser.
Therefore, every time when Mordekaiser finished "digesting" and needed to "eat" again, the undead would spontaneously gather outside the Immortal Bastion, vying to wait for the "reward" from this tyrant.
Today is not much different from countless other todays over the past thousand years.
But Modkaiser still vaguely sensed the subtle change: "Are there fewer people coming to offer sacrifices to me?"
He looked out over the city. The wandering souls waiting for sacrifice outside the city still seemed endless. But compared to the past, there seemed to be fewer souls coming here to seek salvation.
why is that?
Is it a normal fluctuation caused by him eating more in the past few years?
The intensity of the war in Runeterra has decreased, and fewer people have died.
Or has the work efficiency of the Undead Knights declined over the years, resulting in fewer souls being captured in the wasteland?
Or... these wandering souls have suddenly found some hope for a comeback, and they no longer need to be liberated?
"Heh..." Modkaiser thought of several possibilities in succession, only the last one was the most ridiculous.
This is Mitna Lachen, his world. These wandering souls can never turn over, ever.
"Let's begin." Modkaiser didn't intend to delve into this subtle change.
He held up Nightfall high, and with his cold eyes burning with ghostly lights, he looked down at the poor wandering souls begging for release: "Hand over your souls, slaves!"
"Yes! Your Majesty!" Deadly magical fluctuations were already emanating from Modkaiser's Nightfall Hammer, but the wandering souls were still shouting words of prayer and praise, scrambling to squeeze forward.
Modkaiser admired it all with a sneer.
At the same time, a magical storm filled with terrifying undead power was slowly covering the sky.
"Desperate place in reincarnation!" Shrouded in grey fog, this wasteland instantly turned into an absolute realm of the dead.
The biting wind of death hit everything violently, and even the soul could not survive here.
“Ahhh——” The wandering souls that were caught up in the death storm suddenly let out heart-wrenching wails.
Their souls were being torn apart inch by inch, and shattered bit by bit by the storm, and finally, along with the converging vortex of magic, they flowed into Modkaiser's iron armor.
Will-o'-the-wisp sparkled in Modkaiser's eyes, and his power rose again.
He devoured these poor souls unscrupulously like a whale swallowing a cow, stealing their strength.
When the wandering souls saw this horrifying scene, they did not flee away. Instead, with a look of happiness as if they were finally liberated, they rushed out of the deadly death storm regardless of anything.
What ordinary people consider to be the “dead end of reincarnation” seems to be the paradise they finally reach in their eyes.
However, at this moment...
"Wait! Wait!" An exception appeared.
"Your Majesty Modkaiser! Don't kill me! I have important information to bring you!!" A wandering soul shouted to him from under the city, hiding in fear from the expanding death storm.
"Oh?" Modkaiser was really curious.
So he waved his hand to disperse the death storm, and then he fixed the special wandering soul far away in the air, and pulled it in front of him.
It was only then that Modkaiser saw the guy clearly.
This is a woman.
Her soul still retains the image of her last moments:
He was wearing the uniform of a Noxian general, but his hands and feet were shackled with heavy shackles.
"The general of Noxus." Mordekaiser was a little dissatisfied.
He did not like Noxus. Those ignorant traitors picked up his legacy and began to claim immortality and greatness for themselves.
However... putting aside her origins, this female general herself does have some merits:
She was not a wandering soul captured and preserved by the Undead Knight, but a free soul that had retained its form in this wasteland with her own will.
This shows the strength of her soul.
But she was far from strong enough. Her soul had become shaky under the long-term destruction of the wind of the underworld, and it seemed that it might dissipate and perish at any time.
"Are you here to seek refuge from me?" Modkaiser saw through her intentions at a glance.
The woman's soul was almost gone. Without his protection, she would soon die.
In the past thousand years, there have occasionally been such strong people from the mortal world - they were unwilling to accept the end of extinction, and were unable to survive in the underworld for a long time by their own strength, so they simply took the initiative to offer their freedom and loyalty to him in exchange for the power of eternal life.
"Yes, Your Majesty." The woman said piously and respectfully, "I don't want to die. I hope to be your loyal servant and serve you forever."
"I can fulfill your wish." Modkaiser was quite happy to have an additional powerful servant.
But the woman immediately added: "I have important information to bring you, Your Majesty Mordekaiser."
"In the world of the living, a powerful force is rising up against you. You must return to the material realm as soon as possible and defeat them..."
"Heh." Modkaiser once again saw through the woman's thoughts.
He could tell from the woman's barely concealed resentful expression, "Are those people you mentioned your enemies? You want to lead the way for me and let me avenge them for you?"
"Yes!" The woman did not hide it: "It was those damn leaders who killed me."
"The Leader?" Modkaiser had never heard of this name.
He also rarely pays close attention to changes in the material world.
For him, two years was just a short period of time that could be spent in seclusion studying a magic and taking a nap.
He didn't know and couldn't imagine what earth-shaking changes could happen in Runeterra in such a short period of time.
In the past thousand years, the news that Mordekaiser received from the mortal world was nothing more than news such as "the rise of Noxus" and "the establishment of Demacia".
These news were earth-shattering events for ordinary people, but they were of no consequence to him.
After all, no matter how much trouble these human kingdoms cause, they are nothing more than a group of mortals playing house.
“Your Majesty, those leaders are different.” Modkaiser was not very interested, but the woman insisted, “They are believers of the goddess Janna, and they have the support of real gods behind them!”
"Moreover, at least when I died, the Wind Leader had already secretly controlled the country of Noxus."
"Your enemy back then, Leblanc, and the Fire Demon and Shadow Demon under her control, as well as the Secret Demon and the Desire Demon, are now under the control of the Wind Leader!"
"This..." A ghostly light flashed in Modkaiser's eyes.
Janna, Leblanc, Fire Demon, Shadow Demon, Secret Demon, Desire Demon...
After hearing this series of names, he finally began to take the news about the woman in front of him seriously.
A demigod, a lich, and four demons, this new force called the Wind Leader is indeed not weak.
“But…” Mordekaiser still remembered that Janna was only worshipped by some residents in the coastal areas of Zaun and Shurima, a demigod whose heritage had gradually been cut off.
How could such a benevolent god who had lived in peace with the world for thousands of years end up getting involved with Leblanc and the four demons?
"Your Majesty, the situation here is very complicated..." The woman was about to explain in detail.
Modkaiser held her head impatiently with one hand and said, "I'll see for myself."
As soon as she finished speaking, a deadly magic of silence froze her soul.
And all the memories deep in her soul were clearly presented to Modkaiser's eyes.
"Jana, the leader, Jana's thoughts..."
"Levi, Swain, Darius..."
Modkaiser was fully aware of all the major events that had occurred in the past two years and the rapid wind of change that had come.
"Amystan..." Modkaiser also knew the origin of this woman.
She is Amystan, a warlord of Noxus. Because she stood on the wrong side when Swain was cleaning up the remnants of the Black Rose, she was ruthlessly sent to the Noxian guillotine by the Leader.
"You..." Modkaiser sorted out everything Amystan knew.
Then, he instantly realized the seriousness of the problem.
This goddess Janna was no longer the last-place demigod whose heritage was gradually lost that he knew back then.
This goddess seized the new trend, found the new track, and was reborn from the ashes in this new era with the majestic posture of the wind of change.
Just as Mordekaiser occupied the realm of the dead, turning all souls into his slaves and food.
Janna is also rapidly taking over the world of the living, turning almost everyone into her followers and the source of her power.
"You idiot...coward!" Modkaiser looked at Amistan coldly.
This woman, and those foolish Noxians, were terrified by the might of the goddess Janna descending upon the Twin Cities.
Modkaiser could tell from her memory that the original Goddess Janna only borrowed the power of the natural hurricane and was not that strong. It was just that Amistan and others were afraid of death and failed to expose the true identity of the Wind Leader.
But now, with the growth of Leader, everything is uncertain.
"Your Majesty, I deserve to die!" Amystan also regretted it deeply.
She was the first imperial general to come into contact with the Leader, and she even had many joint ventures with the Leader under her name.
If she had known that she would end up on the wrong side of Swain, the traitor with thick eyebrows and big eyes, she should have drawn a clear line with the past and surrendered before Swain... ahem.
It's too late to say anything now.
She only hated Swain for colluding with the Leader to conduct a sting operation, which prevented her from becoming the Leader's "old friend".
Since we are not friends, then we can only be enemies until death... until death.
"Your Majesty Modkaiser." Amys said frankly, "The Wind Leader has almost ruled the world of the living. Please lead the royal army to counterattack as soon as possible..."
"You don't have to tell me that, fool." Modkaiser interrupted her coldly.
The potential of a person who believes in God is infinite. He certainly knew that he could not delay any longer.
He could no longer sit back and wait, slowly accumulating strength. He had to return to the world of the living as soon as possible and kill the reborn goddess as soon as possible.
But the barrier between the material and spiritual realms is not so easy to break.
He still has to make final preparations before he can lead his army of billions of undead to launch a full-scale counterattack on the mortal world.
"Amistan." After some thought, Modkaiser looked at her deeply.
"Hmm?" Amystan was slightly stunned.
Then, in the next second, she felt an astonishingly powerful magical force surge into her body.
This magical power instantly stabilized her soul, and she was no longer afraid of the constant wind from the underworld.
It was a generous gift. At this moment, she felt as powerful as a god.
"Your Majesty..." Amystan quickly knelt down in front of her new master: "What do you need me to do for you?"
"Yes." Modkaiser calmly looked at the new slave who had received his gift and was also wearing the shackles of slavery.
He said: "To completely open the door to the plane, someone must cooperate from the material world."
Back then, he used Ouchenyu magic to project his thoughts into the material realm, bewitching a group of mages who were casting spells to seek forbidden powers, and asking them to help open the plane channel.
But now, Modkaiser no longer has time to prepare slowly like this.
To completely break down the barrier between the two worlds and open up a dimensional channel that is large enough for the army of the underworld to invade, it is not something that can be done by just a few bewitched wizards.
Fortunately, compared to the past when he could only use his mind to penetrate across boundaries, he now has more powerful means.
“I can return your soul to the world of the living,” Mordekaiser said. “Amistan, that task is left to you.”
"I..." Amystan didn't hesitate at all.
Because she was shocked to find that once she accepted Mordekaiser's power, she no longer had any right to question Mordekaiser's orders.
So she knelt down devoutly: "Yes, my majesty!"
