Chapter 209
Chapter 209
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 209
Chapter Title: The Creeping Ossuary
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Kwaaaang!
Pauli's siege fortress ground through the underground wall like a massive drill.
Soon after, a colossal plaza came into view.
The altar of the ossuary.
The Transcendent Revival Site.
Stuck to the ceiling and floor were countless things that resembled human torsos.
Devoid of hair, eyes hollow voids, only gaping mouths.
They filled the ceiling and floor endlessly, a grotesque sight beyond imagining.
It was like a vision of hell, countless humans plunged into its depths.
Yet Leyzon didn't so much as blink at the horror.
He had prior knowledge of this place.
These were the preparations for turning the Transcendent Being into an undead.
Statues crafted by necromancers through their undead magic.
"Doesn't seem like any ossuary nearby."
Syria constantly scanned the ossuary's presence within.
There were none inside.
Leyzon knew why.
The true unsung hero of this operation was elsewhere.
Leyzon locked eyes with Narmeok.
"Just as the Sword Saint reported."
A feral grin soon curled his lips.
The ossuary's current location was the imperial palace.
With the emperor recently absent, foxes were running rampant in his stead.
That chaos had entangled the ossuary in complications.
A situation where even the ossuary couldn't abandon the palace.
The Sword Saint, having infiltrated the palace, had uncovered this fact.
"That guy's no ordinary madman."
To infiltrate for revenge, he'd bowed his head to his marquis father.
And passed the imperial knight order's trials with flying colors.
True to his title of Sword Saint, he earned high regard even there.
Besides, this era belonged not to tigers, but to foxes.
Noble factions scheming to carve up the palace.
They'd gathered fangs for their own gain.
Then, like a timely hidden card, the Sword Saint appeared.
The firstborn of Marquis Fernando's house.
A prime heir even the marquis himself would pass the title to.
The nobles, desperate to claim him, vied to build ties.
Major powers among them competed to support him.
Securing him a palace position and elevating him to the knight order.
By now, they were probably crowing about it.
Claiming they, not the palace, had placed him there.
Maids playing mistress while the lady was away.
Leyzon reaped the benefits of their foolish maneuvers.
Everything happening in the palace flowed straight to his ears.
The Sword Saint trusted Leyzon.
He'd devoted his life to the Bluebird Knights' demise.
Yet even a lifetime yielded no solid leads.
Leyzon had dragged it into the light.
A mutually beneficial alliance.
Leyzon's gaze flicked to Narmeok.
She held her face steady, as if to prove she wasn't scared.
But when their eyes met, her lips twitched upward in a tremble.
Leyzon nodded.
"Well then."
He drew an Abyss Crystal from his pocket.
He'd prepared plenty for this day.
"Time to loot the empty house."
A wicked smile spread across his face.
After all, the best time in the world was explosion time.
The Abyss Crystal slipped from Leyzon's grasp, plummeting to the plaza floor.
As it passed between the statues, each one began to glow.
Purple light flickered in their hollow eyes.
Flames erupted across the Abyss Crystals in unison.
The altar blazed with light.
Kwaaaaaaaaang!
A deafening roar followed, shaking the altar with violent tremors.
The unbearable explosion crumbled the altar, shattering the statues to dust.
Leyzon's eyes widened briefly.
Narmeok beside him let out a gasp of awe.
"Such power..."
As Leyzon composed himself, Narmeok couldn't stop marveling.
What Leyzon had done was simple.
Tossed prepared crystals, and they blew.
But what kind of explosive force was this?
Not even a hero-grade mage could match it with repeated casts.
Her understanding of magic shattered.
She'd never seen anything like it.
"What in the..."
Staring at the ruined plaza, Narmeok's face went slack.
As if questioning why she'd even come here.
Leyzon glanced silently at her, then turned away.
In that instant, the undead observers reacted in unison.
Leyzon's demeanor shifted too.
"Battle stations."
In the wrecked plaza.
Dust piled high, parting to reveal a massive maw.
Unseen breeds of monsters poured out in droves.
Horns sprouting from heads, grotesque masks.
Long arms wrapped in iron chains gripped various weapons.
And not just that.
Among them, some wielded dark magic.
Black magic prepared instantly to bombard Pauli's fortress.
Beings distinct from the surface dark legions.
"Apostles!"
Narmeok identified them.
Leathery wings unfurled from the apostles' backs.
Black magic surged toward the fortress as apostles took flight.
A trap activating to eliminate intruders.
Syria's shadow surged, blocking the black magic.
The fortress shook slightly, but took no damage.
"Estelle."
Leyzon called out, eyes on the apostles.
"Tear them apart."
"Yes."
Sa-ryong, Estelle Aragon.
Under Leyzon's command, he exited the fortress.
His form transformed in a heartbeat.
Ashen scales enveloped him as his body swelled massively.
His elongated dragon-like frame whipped through the air.
The altar's ceiling filled with the now-dragon Estelle.
Overwhelming malice poured from him, spreading across the altar.
Even death-transcending apostles froze.
His killing intent was that crushing.
But that wasn't all.
Estelle was Leyzon's largest undead.
Yet separate from his bulk, he boasted the highest speed.
Just before the apostles' black magic activated.
Estelle had already reached the ground.
In his claws, several apostles lay crushed.
Apostles unable to track him showed bewilderment.
They hurriedly aimed black magic anew, but it was too late.
Estelle's maw gaped to its limit.
Piiiing!
Black beams from his mouth swept the apostles.
The one prepping black magic lost its upper body and collapsed.
"In Lord Leyzon's presence."
Estelle high-speed dashed again, smashing another apostle into the wall.
"Silence."
Massacre unfolded, belying his prior stillness.
As Narmeok barely tracked his movements in shock.
Leyzon issued the next order.
"Pauli, next altar."
Ten such altars lay underground for the Transcendent Being.
Even for the ossuary, undead-ifying it wasn't easy.
Hence the separate ten altars.
This intel came straight from the lizardman.
Before re-infiltrating, he'd relayed everything he knew.
All info on this prison he'd endured.
Not a scrap withheld.
Leyzon's plan built entirely on that.
Trusting the lizardman's will and words.
And that judgment proved right.
Kwaaaang!
Leyzon arrived at the next altar with Pauli's fortress.
Another identical scene.
Necromancers' handiwork.
Leyzon unhesitatingly tossed Abyss Crystals from his pocket.
Narmeok marveled each time.
Even looked amused at points.
Might as well loot thoroughly.
Time to smash it proper.
Scatter the Abyss Crystals.
Ignite and detonate them all at once.
The ossuary's prepared traps triggered in sequence.
But Leyzon hadn't brought undead for show.
They held the edge against the traps.
One by one, altars fell.
On the opposite side, Flamehead Rockrodt swiftly destroyed his share.
Soon, eight altars lay in ruins.
As Leyzon advanced to the next.
Kwaaaaaang!
Bursting through the altar wall, presences multiplied.
Shifting gaze: prisoners huddled in fear.
Terrified by the vibrations and blasts echoing around.
"Necromancers, huh."
Leyzon pierced their identities.
Forced laborers dragged to the altars.
That was them.
All in the lizardman's predicament.
Couldn't just let them die.
Leyzon gestured to Pauli.
The fortress thudded down before them.
Necromancers recoiled in horror.
Sensitive to undead power as they were.
They instantly grasped the threat before them.
"Hey, you're necromancers, right?"
"Wh-who are you?"
"It's the Abyss you all love so much."
Best way to convince necromancers.
At "Abyss," their faces lit up.
"The Abyss!"
"The Abyss Lord came to save us!"
"We're saved! Alive!"
Necromancers clasped hands in emotion.
The Abyss was their idol.
Of course they'd react this way to personal rescue.
Leyzon had just cleared obstacles, but yeah, he was saving them.
"Pauli, make another fortress and send these guys to the surface."
"Got it!"
Pauli sprang into action on Leyzon's order.
Meanwhile, necromancers swarmed the fortress.
"Abyss Lord, we thank you truly. How shall we repay this grace?"
"For real. Saved by the Abyss Lord—greatest honor ever!"
Necromancers showered Leyzon in praise.
He waved lazily, telling them not to worry.
"Sure, worship me for life from now on."
Not your average guy.
"Lord Leyzon, it's ready!"
Pauli had built a new fortress.
Leyzon turned to it, addressing the necromancers.
"Alright, hop on."
"Yes!"
"Let's go, quick!"
Necromancers rushed aboard.
One paused to bow deeply to Leyzon.
"Truly grateful. I'll never forget you saving my life."
"Yeah, yeah, get on already."
Typical necromancer—over-the-top thanks.
As Leyzon shooed him, the necromancer looked up.
Dust-caked, beaming innocently.
Puuk!
A black spear pierced Leyzon's heart.
Silence hung briefly.
All eyes creaked toward Leyzon.
The black spear protruding from the necromancer's gaping mouth.
It had cleanly skewered Leyzon's heart.
Piercing all defenses and skills.
The necromancer retracted the spear from his mouth.
Leyzon's body slowly tilted downward.
Shadows and darkness surged.
Insects appeared; winds howled.
Undead charged at the necromancer and Leyzon alike.
"Daring to bare fangs before me, you vermin."
But the necromancer casually swung his hand.
Kwagagagagagak!
Jet-black currents blasted the undead away.
The swirling aura endlessly repelled approaches.
The situation flipped in seconds.
"Lord Leyzon!"
Hanok roared in fury.
The necromancer's form shifted.
Jet-black hair whipped, tinged blue.
Deep-toned pureblood dark elf skin emerged.
Within ash-gray eyes, a scythe shape gleamed.
His uniform fluttered as he stood before Leyzon.
The one who should be at the palace had appeared here.
Disguised among necromancers, no less.
The necromancers' bodies swelled in unison.
Kwaaaaaaaaang!
Their flesh exploded, collapsing Pauli's fortress.
And that wasn't all.
Shadows draped across the altar parted mouths.
Undead and apostles clawed up from the darkness.
In moments, uncountable hordes filled the altar.
Their screams echoed like wails.
"Invade another's lair, and this is what you get."
Fallen Leyzon reflected in the ossuary's eyes.
The scythe in them now aimed at his head.
"You've been a thorn far too long."
To erase him from the world, it sharpened its gaze.
"Begone. Abyss."
As the ossuary declared Leyzon's end.
A voice echoed from somewhere.
The ossuary froze, head snapping around.
There stood Narmeok.
The Mimic Witch, Narmeok.
For some reason, wielding the Staff of Abundance.
Narmeok grinned cheekily.
The ossuary's eyes flicked back to Leyzon.
Pong—
Ears sprouted from his head, a cat tail swishing.
The prime reason she was called Mimic Witch.
Why Leyzon brought her along.
Perfect Mimicry [EX].
Her unique skill to perfectly copy foes.
Leyzon had combined Fusion Magic and Landscape Painting [C] to mimic her.
Not even the undead knew.
Degurururu—
Hundreds of Abyss Crystals rolled from the real Narmeok's body.
The Leyzon-mimicking Narmeok beamed.
The crystals already glowed in unison.
The ossuary sensed danger, but too late.
The explosion obliterated the entire altar.