Volume 1: Stranger in a Strange Land Chapter 52 Opening
"Contractor, now that all elements are in place, we can begin the ceremony."
Hearing the voice of his third contracted spirit, the Shambler, Simon looked at the dying tower keeper and nodded.
Has this moment finally come?
After so many years of preparation, is this moment finally here?
Simon's hands trembled slightly.
Although there were some twists and turns in the middle, the plan is finally on track now.
Soon, his dream of more than 20 years will be realized, and the Wald family’s long-cherished wish of more than a thousand years will also be fulfilled.
It was done by his hands.
Under Simon's will, the magic power was stripped from the tower keeper's body for the last time and gradually turned into a black sphere floating in the air.
Simon raised his hand towards the black sphere.
"Simon...are you really crazy? Even if you finally complete the ritual, what will happen? Do you have the power to control so many undead souls? The Black Water King who had already reached the divine realm was driven crazy by the will of those countless undead souls. How can you do it..."
The tower keeper, sensing that his death was approaching, screamed at Simon in despair.
But before he could finish his words, Simon made a sudden grabbing motion.
This action is the final trigger to unlock the Eternal Gift.
The black sphere exploded with a "pop" sound, turning into the third shock wave that spread out.
"No matter what happens to me in the end, it's not something you, a firewood, should care about."
Simon said coldly.
The ignition of the secret ritual was now completely completed.
With three rhythmic strikes of soul and magic, the remaining soul marks in all the corpses in the cemetery resonated strongly with the tower keeper's etheric domain.
Or, in other words, the two gradually merged into one.
Originally, according to the tower keeper's calculations, during the Eternal Gift, he only needed to resonate with about three thousand soul imprints to raise his mental power to the legendary level.
But Simon directly included all the corpses in the entire cemetery into the range of resonance, instantly forcibly increasing the tower keeper's mental power to an incredible level.
Of course, as a price to pay, the wails of hundreds of millions of dead also echoed in his etheric domain at the same time. If he could hold on and not be driven crazy, then through this secret ritual, the scale of his power would be able to step from the peak of the master level to the peak of the divine realm in one step.
But obviously, he didn't hold on.
In less than a second, the tower keeper's personality was washed away like a blank sheet of paper by the wave of resentment gathered from tens of millions of undead souls.
Only a body was left floating in the air.
And this is exactly what Duke Simon wants, a giant magic transit station connecting the astral world and the real world.
The vast necromancy magic power continuously flows from the astral plane into the tower keeper's etheric domain, and is then transmitted to every undead through the soul imprint that resonates with him.
In the cemetery, blazing soul fire began to burn in the eyes of every undead. Their movements began to become smoother and their strength began to grow stronger.
The bone fragments that had been shattered and knocked down by Kas and Nezemal began to piece themselves together under the tremendous magic power.
Never tired, everlasting.
This is the Corrupted Moon Undead Tide that almost destroyed the entire Blackwater Kingdom and ravaged most of the Wick Continent.
Simon looked fanatically at the tower keeper who was floating in the air and whose personality had disappeared.
The tower keeper at this moment is the crown who can control this army of the dead!
It's a pity that Simon can't seize the crown for the time being. As the tower keeper said before his death, he is not powerful enough to control the will of tens of millions of undead.
He needed power that would allow him to reach the divine realm.
"Gray Rash, it's almost time to open."
Simon turned around and said to the shambling demon named "Gray Rash".
The fat, sickly Gray Rash said in a slow, low voice:
"All the offerings are ready, and the King's Ceremony can begin soon."
As it spoke, it waved the rusty knife in its hand, and the thick necromancy magic in the air began to flow along with its movement.
All ritual magic that mirrors myths and legends requires a huge amount of magic power to recreate the magical environment of the mythological era.
The skull temple previously in the Silver Stream Mine was the magic furnace that would provide energy for the entire ceremony.
But at this moment, those things are completely unnecessary in this tomb. Under the effect of the Eternal Gift, a steady stream of magic power is flowing in through the "crown". At this moment, the magic power concentration in the entire tomb is as rich as the underworld in mythology.
The magical environment required for the ceremony is also ready.
As the followers of Lady Hungry and Corrupted, the Shamblers were able to channel the magic of the undead as easily as breathing. A huge amount of magic flowed into the patterns inlaid with source silver carved out of the walls of the tomb as Gray Rash moved.
A complete pattern of a dragon and a snake swallowing each other was outlined by the dark magic.
The dragon represents Oka, the king of the sky, and the snake represents Vera, the god of death in the underworld.
In the ancient philosophy of the Blackwater Swamp region, one thing will always transform into its opposite.
Just like the God King and the God of Death in the story, they devour each other eternally and turn each other into themselves.
The essence of the Wang Kou ritual is to transform oneself by recreating the events in this myth.
Become king by killing the king.
Become a god by killing gods.
At this moment, Duke Simon, who was seeking the independence of Blackwater Province, was undoubtedly a real rebel.
What about the king he was going to overthrow?
The door of a side hall opened, and dozens of demons with abnormally long hands and feet, huge heads, and skinny bodies filed out.
The four demons in the lead were struggling to lift a gorgeous throne, and sitting on the throne, or rather tied up, was a young man with gray hair.
The boy was dressed in a purple royal robe, his entire body ablaze with lightning, but his face had a blank expression.
The hands and shoulders of the demons who were carrying the throne were charred and smoking by the flashing thunder, but they still gritted their teeth and carried the throne to the front of the sarcophagus with steady steps, and slowly put it down.
Simon jumped off the sarcophagus and walked to the throne with a solemn expression.
The gray-haired boy looked up at Simon with a confused look on his face.
"Is today the day I will be crowned king?"
The boy asked carefully.
Ever since he could remember, the man before him had always promised him that one day he would lead him out of that dungeon and crown him king.
Although he did not understand what it meant to be crowned king, he was still looking forward to the day when he could walk out of that narrow dungeon.
Simon nodded, then raised his hand, and the demon next to him lowered his head and held up a simple bronze headband.
It was a bronze crown representing the supreme power of the Emperor of the Riel Empire, or in other words, a fake with the same material and shape as the bronze crown worn on Queen Irene's head today.
It is said that the real bronze crown contains the soul fragments of the previous emperors of the Riel Empire, which has enabled every generation of emperors of the empire in the past 800 years to be guided by the wisdom of their ancestors.
This is something that the fake in Simon's hand cannot do.
But if it's just to complete the ritual, that's enough.
Simon held up the fake with both hands, and slowly put it on the boy through the lightning around his body. During this time, his body was left with countless burn marks from the electric shock, but he didn't care at all.
In the Black Water Mythology, the God of Death was repeatedly wounded by the God King with thunderbolts during his rebellion. Simon himself was also restoring part of the mythology by leaving scars on his body.
If the mere fact of having the royal blood of Riel is not enough to be a symbol of a powerful "king", then continue to give this sacrifice the characteristics of the God-King Oka.
The Holy Spirit Church of later generations has confirmed that the God King Oka in the ancient Black Water mythology is the same as the Father God worshipped in various beliefs on the Wick Continent before the Platinum Calendar. He is the silhouette of the Holy Spirit "Father", symbolizing concepts such as sky, thunder, power, and destiny.
So, he asked Vincent to teach the child only lightning spells from a young age, and spent a large sum of money to invite a magician from the Emerald Province to tattoo the child with rune tattoos .
The thunder that seemed to be roaring loudly around the young man at this moment was another key node in his role as the God King Oka.
Simon silently drew the sword from his waist.
All the preparations before the Wang Kou ceremony were just to pave the way for this final step.
The rebel thrust into the king's heart, completing the final transformation.
The young man looked at the sword in Simon's hand and asked curiously:
"Does this mean the coronation is complete? Can I go out and see the outside world now?"
Simon nodded and said:
"The coronation is complete. I will show you the outside world."
After saying this, he stabbed the boy in the chest with a sword.
…………
Dazzling thunder erupted from the center of the tomb. Kas and Nezemal, who were using the sarcophagus as cover and slowly approaching the center of the tomb, covered their eyes at the same time.
After Duke Simon stabbed the young man's chest with his sword, the dragon and snake patterns around him suddenly lit up, and countless thunders were transmitted from the young man's body along the sword to Simon's body. A powerful and majestic aura began to emerge around him.
Kas and Nezemal immediately hid behind a sarcophagus to discuss their next strategy.
"What was that just now?"
Cas asked quietly.
"I don't know, it seems like some kind of ritual magic."
Nezemar picked up the crossbow and answered.
"What should I do next?"
Cas continued to ask.
Nezemar answered decisively:
"Whatever Duke Simon is doing, we must stop him before he finishes it."
Nezemar said, adjusting the string on the crossbow in his hand and continued:
"I will use Storm Boost to increase the power of the next arrow and shoot it directly through the Duke's head."
"What about the big guy?"
Kas was referring to the shambling demon that was guarding Duke Simon. At this moment, it was blocking Duke Simon like a mountain of flesh.
"You go and lead it away."
Nezemare answered, then she looked at Cas and added:
"Then go pull out Judgment Four and kill it. That monster is a Moon Realm monster. Only that weapon can truly kill it."
Cass nodded and continued to ask: "What about those little monsters around it? There are too many of them, so it may not be easy to deal with them..."
"I'll let them sleep."
Liz flew over to Cas and said.
Cass turned to look at her and said hesitantly:
"Why don't you just hide here first..."
"No, this is the last battle anyway, right? Don't underestimate the true power of a witch."
Liz also looked at Cass seriously.
"All right……"
Cass finally nodded and agreed. It wasn't because he really thought it would be a better idea to do so, but because he knew that even if he didn't agree to Liz, she would go over on her own.
Seeing that they had already discussed it, Nazemar simply held up three fingers to indicate the time.
three……
Cass tightly grasped the black iron giant sword in his hand.
two……
Liz leaned over Cas's shoulders and clutched onto his shirt.
one……
Kas directly turned the rune mechanism on the hilt of the sword, and the [Dawn] spell previously sealed in the giant sword had already charged Nezemal.
This is the last battle, and we must try our best from the beginning.
zero……
Cass turned over and rushed out. The staggering demon gray rash guarding in front of Duke Simon looked at the swordsman rushing towards it with a flaming sword and a cruel smile appeared on his face.
It did not move, but raised its rusty dagger and pointed it at Kas. The dozen or so demons surrounding it rushed towards him in a huge crowd.
The first demon, who was a little out of touch because he rushed too fast, was cut into two pieces by Kas's sword. The scorching flames on the giant sword burned the two pieces of the body to ashes before they hit the ground.
But behind it came more demons.
Cass suddenly felt a sweet and sticky scent coming from his shoulder.
Liz puffed up her cheeks, cupped her hands and blew a breath at the group of demons.
The purple-black dust suddenly spread to the front. All the demons who smelled the dust stopped charging instantly, stood there in confusion, and then fell limply to the ground.
The witch's innate magic, sleeping dust.
Kas dragged the knife on the ground and burned the fallen demons into ashes as he rushed forward.
God knows when they will wake up, so it’s better to repair the knife first.
But the shambling demon still stood there without moving, as if he didn't care at all about the death of his minions.
After Kas had finished killing all the sleeping demons, he stood in front of the shambling demon.
"You made a mistake coming here, mortal."
Gray Rash spoke to Cass patiently, like an elder.
"I should be the one saying this to you."
As he said that, Cass chopped directly at the opponent's fat head with his knife.
"clang!"
Gray Rash casually waved the rusty dagger in his hand to block it.
"Believe it or not, I can stand here and let you chop me for ten minutes and you won't be able to do anything to me. Instead, you will die here."
Gray Rash said slowly.
But this was exactly the opportunity that Cass wanted. He simply pressed the rune on the hilt of the sword, and the flames on the entire black iron sword instantly spread along the dagger in Gray Rash's hand to its entire body.
Taking advantage of the opportunity when the opponent's vision was blocked by the flames, he bypassed the staggering demon in front of him and ran to the "Judgment Four".
After Gray Rash extinguished the flames on his body, he saw the other party coming to the side of Judgment Square, and rushed over with a knife in hand in horror.
As the Shambler left the Duke's side, Nezemar, who was lying on the sarcophagus and aiming at the Duke, launched the [Storm Buff] spell.
With a sharp whistling sound, an extremely strong storm gathered on the crossbow in her hand.
“Whoosh!”
A bright silver crossbow arrow swept up a whirlwind and shot towards the Duke's defenseless head.
Then……
The Duke raised his hand and caught the crossbow arrow.
Nezemar was stunned when he saw the arrow in the Duke's hand, the tail of which was still trembling slightly.
The Duke looked at her and smiled, as if he had seen a friend he hadn't seen for a long time, then raised his hand and pointed at her.
The next second, a bolt of lightning as thick as a bucket shot out from the Duke's hand, turning Nezemar into charcoal.
