"Disappeared again? How could this be? "
Although it was hard for him to express any surprise with his skeletal face, Edwin still couldn't believe what he'd just heard.
It was now midnight of the second day since Great Lord Davey's army had started gathering. What was unbelievable was that more and more people had gone missing in the camp.
If it was just an ordinary low-level undead that had gone missing, then perhaps they would naturally fall apart as they walked. It wouldn't be a big deal. If it was a mid-level undead that had gone missing, then perhaps there were strong hunters hunting in the dark. That was understandable, but it was …
"Yes, one side of Great Lord Caben's camp in the southwest district is empty. The tents are there, the equipment is there, and even everyone's personal belongings are there, but there's no one there."
The informant was a ghost. His expression was indistinct, but the flickering shadow shell showed his agitated heart.
"How is this possible?! This is the 37th time that the army has gone missing. High level undead are patrolling the area, but they're still missing. Right, does Great Lord Caben know? "
This was a wonderful irony. The undead had actually encountered a ghost story. They couldn't understand how their comrades had disappeared without a trace.
If they'd been ambushed, how could they just disappear without any reaction? There weren't even any signs of battle. If it was any other race, it might have been a large scale psychic attack, but the undead were immune to psychic magic. How could they just disappear without a trace?
"Great Lord Caben … Great Lord Caben was in the camp at the time. He's also gone missing!"
The Lich stood up abruptly, and the soul fire in his eye sockets flickered continuously. A low-level Undead that suddenly disappeared was nothing, but how could an Undead Lord that was at least a Legendary-rank or above disappear just like that? Cabourn's strength was definitely not below his. If Cabourn could suddenly disappear, how could he be considered safe?
To be able to instantly kill an Undead Lord while he was on guard? And not leave any traces? And now that several important figures were repeatedly scanning the camp? Even though he hadn't felt the threat of death for a long time, Edwin still felt a chill run down his spine, as if something was spying on him in the dark night.
"Actually, I do have some clues, but I'm not sure …"
The ripples of the shadow grew stronger, as if the secret contained within made him unable to control his agitated emotions.
"What did you find?! Tell me! "
The Lich's anxious emotions made it so that it took the initiative to face the specter. It grabbed the specter's incorporeal body and asked urgently.
"That, that is …"
Before he could finish his sentence, the Lich noticed that the shadows were beginning to dissipate. The dark wind filled the room with smoke, and the soundless wails were the screams of the souls. It seemed that some curse had been triggered, and the souls were beginning to die.
"Speak! I order you to speak! "
The Lich Edwin hurriedly moved closer to the specter, pouring large amounts of negative energy into his arm to protect his dissipating body. However, he soon discovered that something was wrong.
The negative energy he sent out was like a stone sinking into the ocean. He found that he was unable to retract his outstretched arm, and the shadow completely transformed into black mist. The black mist once again transformed into distorted faces, and some of those faces were so familiar.
The hoarse voice of the soul reverberated in the room, devoid of any emotion.
"Join us …"
"… Why is it you! Caben! "
The most attention-grabbing face was the Undead Lord who had just disappeared. Feeling that the situation was bad, Edwin immediately tried to cast a defensive spell, but there was no response at all. When the black mist completely dissipated, the Lich's tent was completely empty. As long as the window was open, there would be the night wind blowing, and the pages of the diary on the desk would flip as if the owner of the tent had just been here.
…
"Did you hear? So many undead are disappearing tonight. How scary. This time, there's actually a Lich. I heard that not only is he gone, even his phylactery is empty. It's actually possible to make a Lich with a phylactery disappear so mysteriously. How scary. "
"What are you afraid of? You're not an undead."
It was obvious that the dwarf "Big Sister" Mary wasn't interested in Betty's exclamation. She had already stopped drinking for two days after being trapped in the campsite, and her face was filled with fatigue and depression. She said that this was a dwarves' habit, and that she would be fine in two days. But I knew that this was simply alcohol poisoning caused by excessive drinking, and she would be fine in two days … Or, she wasn't wrong, and it was just the habitual alcohol poisoning of her entire tribe.
"… I just finished setting up a trading channel. Those undead really do have a lot of goods, especially those intelligent undead. As long as they have some outdated journals and books, they can be exchanged for a lot of valuable magical information and gold. That Lich promised to introduce me to a big boss, a Lich, but that boss directly disappeared and canceled the meeting. Ahhh! That bastard still owes me two silver coins, and he intends to use an enchanted cursed skull to exchange for it! "
"… First of all, enchanted cursed skulls are precious undead magic materials. You're a True God's priest, and you're no different from blaspheming a God by wearing one. That thing costs at least tens of thousands of gold coins, and you intend to buy it for only two silver coins? Aren't you being too unscrupulous? "
How should I say this? As expected of the Goddess of Wealth's priest, you're even able to earn money from the dead!
"Right, I can sell amulets that have been blessed by a True God! Everyone's in a panic right now … Ghosts are in a panic, so I'll definitely sell them! "
"Just don't go overboard and get discovered. Right, have you noticed that many undead have become sluggish recently? It seems like they're quite lost …"
Alright then, not only could I earn money, but I could also spread my teachings. Perhaps I might even be able to poach a few believers from the undead. Let's not talk about how greedy the Goddess of Wealth was, and my research was already on the right track.
In the center of the room, there was a decaying stone tombstone. There were all sorts of spell formations around it, and the silly cat was writing and drawing around it to maintain it.
"How inconceivable. Such a small tombstone is the core of a Grave Earth Demon?"
Grave Earth Demons were one of my harvests from the Cloud Tower. They were super undead creatures created according to ancient techniques.
Grave Earth Demons were mystical magical creatures that were usually the incarnation of a graveyard. Once they awakened, they would be at least a Saint-ranked super undead war machine. Their combat strength and abilities would be determined by the size and history of the graveyard they were in.
If it was a normal graveyard … well, it would be impossible to create a Grave Earth Demon. Typically, only a graveyard with sufficient negative energy would be able to create a Grave Earth Demon after more than a hundred years of decay. And, if a Grave Earth Demon appeared on a battlefield that was at least a hundred meters tall, then it would be a gigantic war machine that was over a hundred meters tall. If a Grave Earth Demon was created for a battle between Gods, then it would have the corpses of SemiGods or SemiGods. That would be an existence that even a True God would have a headache over. Actually, one of the Demon Lords in the Endless Abyss of Demons was a Grave Earth Demon. However, it was said that this Grave Earth Demon was naturally created.
Ordinary undead mages viewed Grave Earth Demons as undead magic creations. However, they didn't investigate the Grave Earth Demon's origins. This was a common problem for most mages. They were used to the miracles of various mysterious creations, so they would never ask why. This was a type of calmness and calmness that came from an overly developed magical civilization. However, due to the extravagant colors before them, they would also miss out on many hidden sceneries.
The most inconceivable part about a Grave Earth Demon was its structure. It was created from graveyard soil that had an incredibly high amount of negative energy. This meant that although its body contained negative energy and corpses, 99% of its body was still made of the earth element.
In that case, according to the most basic elemental theory, a Grave Earth Demon should be an earth elemental creature. However, no matter which category it was, it would always be viewed as a pure undead creature.
Without a doubt, this went against the current mainstream undead research theory.
Unlike my research method, which was based on the essence and foundation, most undead mages would start from the undead materials that they could see and touch. They were inclined to use better undead materials to create stronger undead creatures. According to my personal theory, this wasn't wrong. A strong soul must have a strong physical body in order to unleash its full potential. A gentleman … a positive soul must have a healthy body to sustain it, otherwise, there would most likely be problems. However, this definitely wasn't everything about undead creations!
The corpses of Legend-rank experts could often be used to create Legend-rank undead. However, this didn't mean that all Legend-rank undead needed to be created from the corpses of Legend-rank experts and above. In the eyes of most undead mages, this was an unquestionable truth.
If one were to follow the classic undead creation model, it would be impossible to explain how a Grave Earth Demon, which was 99% made of soil, could be so strong. Not only would it possess an unimaginably powerful Desecration Aura, it would also be able to become the undead's supply and nurturing ground. Not to mention, it would be impossible to explain the source of its supernatural abilities.
Perhaps, they would say that the corpses within the Grave Earth Demon played an important role. However, the corpses buried in the soil were undoubtedly a random combination of natural formations.
If any random combination of materials could be used to create a magical creation, then it would be possible to create top-tier undead with large amounts of supernatural abilities. Why would there be a need for undead magic formations and undead mages? This in itself was a mockery of the classic undead creation theory.
However, using my undead structure theory, I could explain it clearly. This was also the reason why I was so interested in Grave Earth Demons.
"Only a sufficiently strong soul could drive such a powerful undead creature. Through research, it was confirmed that the soul didn't possess much intelligence … No, it should be said that it didn't have any memories or knowledge. It was like a newborn baby. Its soul was basically a blank space. For it to possess a soul of Legend-rank and above just after birth, this was simply inexplicable."
This naturally reminded me of the River Styx that was able to reincarnate souls. After several experiments, I came to the conclusion that was closest to the truth.
This soul wasn't a single individual in the Grave Earth. Instead, it was the amalgamation of countless individual remnant souls. The entire Grave Earth was its physical body and the soul that came with it was born from this physical body.
Perhaps the final conclusion was a little unorthodox, but I personally felt that it made some sense.
Under the long-term corrosion of negative energy, the transformation from life to death was reversed. The bones of the deceased became the catalyst for the transformation. The sludge filled with bones completed the transformation from death to life. All the remnant souls combined (devouring each other to give birth to a collective consciousness). He was a newborn, so he was completely blank. He needed time and knowledge to help him mature into an adult.
Alright, since I now knew the theory behind how Grave Earth Demons were created, was there any practical meaning to it? It wasn't like there were Graves that were more than a hundred years old everywhere. There were still many unknowns in the creation of a collective consciousness. Even if I wanted to mass produce one, it would be impossible.
However, only a third-rate technician would be able to create a finished product based on the blueprint and process. A true researcher would be able to modify the original design based on the theory behind it. If the materials were insufficient, they could find substitutes and even create a product that far surpassed the original.
"… The formation of a Grave Earth Demon requires two basic conditions. First, a large amount of negative energy must gather into a relatively independent individual. Second, there must be many relatively independent souls. From a certain standpoint, an undead army that gathers together meets these two basic conditions. They're a whole (an army), but they have countless independent soul shards (the undead themselves). "
Of course, just this alone wasn't enough. There were still many unsolved mysteries about how Grave Earth Demons were created. Simply gathering the undead together wouldn't be enough to create a collective consciousness. That was why I made some modifications.
"Is the soul of that newborn Grave Earth Demon inside this tombstone?"
"No, no, he's only a soul shard of 'Little Three.' He's a part that I split off for research purposes. A complete Little Three would be useless since he already has his own physical body. However, this incomplete soul shard in front of me desires a complete one. Only then will I be able to accomplish my goal. He'll become the seed of this soul giant! "
The undead were connected to each other. The Undead Emperors controlled the Undead Lords, the Undead Lords used soul contracts to control the high-level undead, and the high-level undead controlled large numbers of the low-level undead. This was a conceptually established soul network, and the undead were the backbone of the undead army.
If you looked at an undead army as an individual, then every member would be a cell. It was just that each cell would have its own independent consciousness. If one day, the collective consciousness awakened and ordered all its cells to listen to its commands, destroying the individual cells' consciousness, what would happen?
Right now, Little Three was the collective consciousness. What I needed to do was quite simple. All I needed to do was tell Little Three that the entire undead army was his physical body, and that the soul network between the undead was his blood vessels and meridians. It was time for Little Three to wake up!
"He's awakened. He needs a physical body. He needs the power of death gathered together. He needs all his cells to rearrange themselves according to his will. He's a prematurely born child with a congenital deficiency. He wants … to be born!"
I didn't know what miraculous changes had occurred here, just like how no one knew how infants obtained their own consciousness and soul. Just how many miraculous processes were involved? All I did was satisfy the conditions for this phenomenon to occur, and then the phenomenon naturally occurred. However …
"… To be honest, I don't know what the results of doing this will be. But don't you feel that it's more interesting because you don't know? An experiment that's destined to succeed is meaningless. The unknown is the most attractive. And if I succeed, I'll have a new understanding of undead structure! "
And now, my experiment had shown results. This entire camp and undead army had come to life. Little Three cleansed the impurities in their bodies and perfected their souls and physical bodies. Little Three ordered his blood vessels, torso, limbs, and organs to listen to his commands in order to create the most perfect body for himself.
The undead gathered together with confusion in their eyes as they fused and devoured each other. They were unable to resist, nor would they resist, just like how a physical body was unable to resist the soul's command. Only the powerful individuals who had used their Soul Imprints to prove themselves to the world would be able to temporarily maintain their independence. However, the undead army's will would automatically seek them out and transform them into nutrients. Since they were still a part of this undead army, it was only natural that they would be devoured without any resistance.
A new soul was on the way to being born. As I was the leader of this experiment, I couldn't even finish recording my daily experiments. Countless inspirations flashed through my mind. It seemed that I was about to witness the birth of yet another excellent work. And this time, since this was an army that brought about war, I intended to call it Mars.
Perhaps only a Saint rank who used their own Soul World to create their own Soul World would be able to avoid being defined as a part of the undead army. Judging from the fact that a Saint rank Undead Lord had already been unlucky, even such a standard wouldn't necessarily be enough.
Of course, it was quite easy to refuse Mars' summons. All you had to do was tell yourself that you weren't a part of the undead army, but rather an outsider. And then, Mars would naturally be unable to define you as a part of his physical body.
But unfortunately, as long as I didn't say anything, not a single undead would be able to think of this.
This was indeed quite unreasonable. But based on the beliefs of the Middle Ages, if someone prophesied that even metal creations could float and fly on water, that person would definitely be treated as a lunatic. Many seemingly unreasonable phenomena were simply the result of insufficient research. However, the results of my experiments could be used to deduce the underlying theory. If this experiment was truly successful, I would probably have to deduce the entire process in reverse, which would definitely yield many benefits.
"Um … have you thought about how you're going to end this? This thing is giving me the creeps. Aren't you afraid that you won't be able to control him? "
"Relax, I've already thought about it."
"You've already made preparations to control him? How did you do it? When did you do it? "
"… I should say that since I can't think of how to control him, I don't intend on controlling him at all. Will parents ever properly plan their newborn child's future? Let him grow up happily and freely. Yep, judging from his appetite, he's going to be a healthy and good child. "
[He'll definitely be very healthy, but everyone else will definitely be very unhealthy! Don't make it sound like you're an idiot parent who's proud of your naughty child's excessive vigor. Can't you reflect on yourself a little? While he's still pregnant, he even ate a Saint-ranked creature as nourishment. Have you ever thought about what kind of monster he'll become? High-level undead's physical body composition is obviously much better than negative energy soil. Have you ever thought about how powerful the Undead Lords' collective souls will be in the end? Both the soul and the physical body will have an exponential increase in power! Have you ever thought about how that thing basically has no upper limit? Have you ever thought about the fact that there's a ninety-nine percent chance that you'll die? I told you before that if you don't stop creating undead, you'll destroy the world sooner or later! System Notification: Five Justice Points have been deducted from your retort fee. No need to thank me. Right, what do you think about me using my roaring form next time?]
Harloys had a calm expression as she nodded. She was already used to it.
"… Your Majesty, you'll destroy the world sooner or later, really."
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