Volume 4: The End of the World Chapter 25 Lich
Time goes back to not long ago.
After leaving the refuge in the underground roots, William asked Ebony to go back to the Temple of the Holy Mother Tree and wait for his news.
Playing with the rough obsidian dagger in his hand, William fell into deep thought along the way.
"Judgment Three, huh..."
He threw the dagger in his hand high up, and a tiny space crack opened up on the dagger's falling path, swallowing it accurately.
There is no doubt that this weapon of judgment, which the other party claimed once belonged to Neh and was said to be a supernatural weapon capable of actually harming a certain Void King, is undoubtedly just a fake.
After all, the Ironhearted Widow El had just told me in Black Crow not long ago that the current "Judgment III" was in the hands of the Takma Cult. Since the Riddler regarded it as a bond and bargaining chip to maintain contact with the Void King, there was no reason to send it to Ravenwood for nothing.
However, William did not intend to tell the other party that the dagger was a fake. In fact, as a gain, getting the Neh Life Box was already an unexpected surprise.
What I should figure out next is why these things appear here.
When he got the dagger earlier, he asked Ebony:
"Since you already know who I am, you should also tell me where these things came from, right? Whether it's the phylactery or the Judgment Armor."
"This... I've said it before. I signed a confidentiality agreement and cannot tell you..."
Ebony replied with difficulty at that time.
In response to this answer, William continued to ask:
"Who is the secret contract with? Which magic chanter? Or is it the Great Mother of the Sacred Tree or the Great Spirit of the Wilderness, or perhaps a being from the Moon Realm?"
The reason for asking this question is that the punishment mechanism for breaking the oath will be very different depending on the object of the "oath".
The contract signed with the magic caster through summoning spells is essentially just a spell based on specific keywords or behaviors. With his ability, he can completely help the other party weaken or even offset the backlash penalty when breaking the oath.
And if a contract is signed with the Moon Realm, as long as the one who swore the oath is not the Void King, he can also use physical (or magical) persuasion to make the contract partner "voluntarily" give up the right to exercise punishment for breaking the oath.
The real problem is the oath that believers make to God...
"I can't reveal this either..."
The other party shook his head.
The reply "cannot be disclosed" itself is also an answer. William, who had roughly guessed the object of the contract, sighed in his heart.
I'm in trouble...
If the object of the oath is a god, no matter whether it is an old god, a holy spirit or a void king, once the believer breaks his oath, the punishment for breaking the oath will befall him like an inevitable fate, and even he cannot stop it.
What's even more strange is that the trigger for the oath-breaking effect is not like contract magic, but is established through the specific behavior or keywords of the oath-taker.
The trigger for breaking an oath is something that is supposed to be very subjective, such as "I feel like I have betrayed God."
It was as if God had sent a prosecutor to infiltrate one's brain and monitor one's thoughts at all times.
This is also the most essential difference between magic and faith as supernatural powers - are you the master of the power, or just the agent of a higher being?
But then again, this is too weird...
When William thought about this problem deeply for the first time, he suddenly felt something was wrong.
Is this really possible? Not by testing the behavior or language of the oath-taker, but simply based on the subjective will of the oath-taker.
After all, the free will of mortals is the ultimate mystery similar to creation itself, and in theory it should be a sacred domain that cannot be violated.
Even the divine-level illusions cannot read minds or directly control thoughts; even the Void King cannot directly read or change a person's mind; even using spells such as [Law of the Dead] to search the soul only works on ghosts, which are memories that remain in the world, and will not work on living people.
Why... can those gods see into the innermost thoughts of their believers?
These doubts passed by in a flash. After all, it was not the time to think about these questions in detail, so William opened his mouth and asked another question.
"I heard that Nieh once returned to the Holy Tree City more than a thousand years ago, hoping to regain the title of Forest Druid. After being rejected, he left secretly... What happened at that time? Could this also be a clause in the confidentiality contract?"
After all, the [Anti-Entropy] barrier in the tree hole was most likely set up by Neh. William didn't think the truth at that time would be as simple as the rumors outside.
This question made the other party hesitate for a long time, and finally he spoke very tangledly:
"This is a history that can only be told to the listeners of the Holy Tree Mother, and it is also a scar that Ravenwood Forest never wants to mention. But since you are the savior who will save Ravenwood again in the prophecy, and you are also the leader of the Judgment Seat of the End Watcher, I think you are indeed qualified to know this matter and the truth of that year..."
So, on the winding road leading to the surface, Ebony told William about the incident that happened in Ravenwood Forest in the year 880 of the Platinum Calendar, two years after William disappeared, which had never left any clues in any official records...
…………
"Nehe's legacy..."
Back to the present, after hearing the other party's question, William recalled the history that Ebony had told him before, and shook his head with a wry smile.
"I knew that guy would definitely leave some tricks for himself... It's impossible for him to leave Vic Continent in such a shameful way after being used by those bastards..."
William murmured to himself in a low voice, then he looked up at the man in front of him and said:
"Although I have noticed it before, you are not actually a living person, right?"
The woman who was still sitting on the Kuruo throne did not say anything. After a moment's silence, she slowly took off her veil and carefully placed it on the armrest beside her.
As the veil fell off, the other person's pale face was reflected in William's eyes, and along with it was the breath of "death" on the other person that could not be covered up like thick smoke.
Floral Cain, the Duke of the Holy Tree recognized by the Empire, the Lord of the Holy Tree City, the Watcher of Ravenwood Forest, the Chosen One of the Great Mother, the Lady of the Wilderness...
The supreme ruler of the Jade Province, who holds countless prestigious titles, is actually an immortal lich.
This has to be said to be a huge irony.
The lich conversion spell - a forbidden secret spell that originated from the Blackwater Swamp. Even the Mage Guild, which was the most open-minded towards necromancy, listed it as an illegal spell because of its extreme evil.
The caster separates his soul from his body and seals it in an object called a "life box", thereby gaining false immortality through the body controlled by the life box.
Why is it false immortality? It is because from the moment the body and soul are separated, the soul of the caster loses the possibility of reincarnation, and can only survive in a deformed way by constantly plundering other lives in the world and mending his increasingly tattered body and soul.
The lich's body and soul will inevitably decay - the decay of the body needs to be replenished by devouring fresh flesh, and the decay of the soul needs to be repaired by tearing up and absorbing the soul that has not yet dissipated.
As time goes by, the decay of both will become faster and faster, which means that the liches will need to plunder more and more flesh and souls, and their desire for the living will become stronger and stronger. Unless they enter an eternal sleep, they will completely wear out all their rationality over a long period of time, and eventually become the undead lords who only plunder flesh and souls.
Even more than a thousand years ago, when people were very open to necromancy, liches were considered absolutely evil. But now, in the Emerald Province, which hates necromancy the most, the Duke of the Holy Tree, the supreme leader, is actually a lich?
This is as ridiculous as an underground party member lurking around and finally becoming the boss of a hostile organization.
To feel that something is funny is to imply that it should not be possible.
Even if a thousand years later, the Holy Tree City added a rule to the selection criteria for Forest Druids, that is, only blind people would be recruited, it would be impossible for those Druids to fail to discover that the person sitting on the Withered Throne was a lich.
At least that's the theory.
but……
"The spell you used to transform into a lich is a modified version of what Nehe left behind, right?"
William continued to ask.
Now that things had come to this, the other party nodded in agreement and said:
"I didn't expect that in addition to Ravenwood, Mr. Frost Witch also left his research results in Blackwater Swamp. So you are the one behind Vincent and Nezemar, the one who truly controls the situation in Blackwater Province? No wonder you dare to rely on your own power to oppose the Empire..."
As she spoke, she looked up and down at the accessories on William's body, as if she was waiting for him to take something off and reveal his true nature.
It seemed that the other party had mistaken him for a fellow student from the same school.
Actually, there is nothing wrong with this idea. After all, in history, the only people who have used [Anti-Entropy], besides William himself, seem to be Nieher, who earned the title of "Frost Witch" by using this spell, and Yeats, who claimed to have understood all the top spells. Of course, because there is no real eyewitness record, the last one is generally considered to be a boast in the academic community.
Flora scanned William several times, and even used the "Pseudo-God Eyes" again, but could not find any trace of the aura of death in the other party. She asked in confusion:
"Since you are the successor of Mr. Frost Witch, why are you not a lich?"
In response to this, William said:
" Let's put aside what I am for now. Since it has been confirmed that you are the one who has inherited the Nehe legacy, I would like to ask you something, or give you another chance."
"What chance?"
The other party asked.
"What would it cost me to buy everything outright, including your loyalty?"
