Asolivis, or "Aso's Land of Eternal Rest" in undead language. This area was famous for being the place where the first Undead Emperor Aso had perished. Eight years later, this place gained another name: the Undead Capital.
That year, Aso decisively sacrificed himself, and this place became a place connected to the Undead Planes. During the past eight years, the Undead Planes — Bone Plane, Ice Plane, Desecration Plane, Blood Plane, Darkness Plane, and Death Mist Plane — kept sending reinforcements to this place, gradually transforming it into the largest undead capital in the world.
The entire area was now covered in the dimensional laws of death. Bone giants that were several hundred meters tall walked slowly on the plains, while gargoyles and bone dragons fought against each other in the sky. But actually, people didn't view this place as the most dangerous forbidden zone. In fact, from a certain standpoint, this place had even become a famous tourist attraction.
That was because Asolivis had a lush green forest as far as the eye could see. That forest was the main headquarters of the Silver Sons, the wood spirits, who were incredibly popular in the mortal plane.
Even outside of the forest, there were mountain-like twin-headed treants patrolling the area. They wielded heaven-reaching sticks, and in the sky, there were also bizarrely styled wooden battleships constantly flying back and forth.
From a certain standpoint, these seemingly idle "wild monsters" were actually all at least at the Master or Legend rank. Both sides had fought against each other for so many years, but this battlefield had always been jokingly referred to as the newbie's village. Very few veteran Contract Heroes would choose to train here.
The reason? Even though the intensity of the battle here wasn't that high, and it was rather suspicious that the battle was rigged … Actually, both sides were still hostile toward each other. It was just that no matter how many resources were invested in a battle that was impossible to win, it would be a waste.
After the previous major battles, the situation had changed greatly. The wood spirits had already matured, and the Forest of Dreams was now impossible to break through. Asolivis was the most important entrance to the Six Undead Planes, so the Tark Republic's powerful Undead Lords were willing to pay any price to protect it.
It wasn't that no hero had tried to threaten Asolivis's safety, but in times of real danger, a tremendous number of high-level undead and powerful spells would be thrown out of the Dimensional Door. Since the Undead Emperors were determined to protect this Dimensional Door at all costs, forceful invasions were viewed as impossible. And even if they managed to clear out all the undead and undead in the Dimensional Door, it would be impossible to close the Dimensional Door with Asolivis's life.
Naturally, nobody wanted to fight a battle where there was no progress. The Tark Republic would never be able to recover before the Day of Destiny. The undead were also patiently waiting.
Most of the wood spirits' combat strength was gathered at Nightrain Fortress, where Bardi was fighting. After all, compared to the wood spirits, who had no ability to expand, the humans in the mortal plane were the wood spirits' true enemies.
But as the Bardi Empire continued to grow stronger, especially with the addition of the dragons and the rise of the Southern Sect, the undead, who lacked top-level combat strength, were actually gradually being suppressed.
The Bardi Empire was only able to firmly block the undead from advancing north. That was because everyone knew that before the Undead Emperors truly descended, fighting the undead to the death would be meaningless. There was no limit to the undead in the Undead Planes.
But on the other hand, the Bardi Empire was having quite a headache. In the "Second Battlefield", the undead achieved a series of accomplishments.
The Death Council and other evil cultists spread like wildfire. The allure of "eternal life" was not only effective on nobles who feared death, it was also very attractive to commoners who were in pain and despair due to war, poverty, and other reasons.
"Do you fear death? Do you feel pain for life? Do you feel pain for your lack of power? Join us, and you'll receive a chance to change your fate … "
The Death Council's believers were probably experts in marketing. Nowadays, it was common to see such advertisements on the streets of every major city in the Bardi Empire.
It had to be said that the Death Council was quite honest compared to the Gods' untruthful preaching.
Fear? The undead didn't know fear? Hunger? The undead didn't know hunger? Couldn't find a wife? The undead didn't need a wife … cough, cough, that last one didn't count. It should be — the person they loved was already dead? Let's change the method and let her live again.
In an era of war, the most pitiful were the powerless commoners. When the strong lost their restraints, and when society's peaceful atmosphere was broken, powerlessness became a type of sin … Victims desired the power to take revenge, ambitious people desired the power to improve themselves, and even ordinary commoners desired the power to protect themselves.
But obtaining power wasn't so easy.
Not to mention the fact that cultivating magic was basically a money-burning endeavor, even cultivating martial arts required the teachings of a famous teacher and sufficient nutrition. And cultivating the path of the undead required only corpses to be used as raw materials and the bottom line of a normal person. And in an era of war, these two things were probably the least valuable of all.
The reason why the Death Council was able to spread itself so quickly was because it had indeed given those who desired power a chance to quickly become powerful. In fact, in some places, commoners who used undead or dark magic to quickly become powerful received the same treatment as other powerful individuals. The path of undead, which had extremely low requirements for talent and wealth, actually began to become mainstream.
Of course, it was impossible for Roland to escape responsibility for how things had developed to this point.
The Northlands undead did everything they could to whitewash the undead's name and spread propaganda. Undead magic became more and more commonplace, and the fact that the undead and the living coexisted together. The Southern Sect also did everything they could to smear the original Holy Light Church's teachings (this was one of the main reasons why the undead viewed the undead as enemies). Of course, there was also the Tark Republic and the Death Council's propaganda. All of these helped to dispel many people's resistance to the undead.
On the other hand, with the establishment of the Hades, the new Four Main Elemental Planes met with great opportunities for development. Ice magic began to mutate, and the Ice Elemental Plane was being constructed. Meanwhile, the power of death was also developing.
At any rate … all of this more or less had something to do with Roland.
Cough, getting back to the main topic, on the day that the demon wave arrived, the dimensional restrictions on certain exiled families were lifted. The Bardi Empire finally had a chance to get rid of a major threat. Or, it would be more accurate to say that the "major threat" had been gotten rid of.
"Hmm? Is this the taste of home? It's really … "
The person who sighed was a white-haired boy who had just walked out of a teleportation portal. He looked similar to a human in his infancy, but the moment he arrived in this world, he lowered his head and licked the ground. He then bit off a sturdy stone slab, making the sound of crushed stones being stirred.
"… I'm so disgusted. There's the smell of the living everywhere. The strong aura of life is so close to me. Just what have you all been doing all these years? "
The white-haired boy spat out all the crushed stones in his mouth and raised his head. His white hair was as dull as fading snow. There was no black in his eyes, only a white cross burning fiercely in them.
Even though this was the Undead Palace, and even though all the guests in the room were powerful Undead Lords, not a single person dared to directly look at the life-threatening soulfire.
"Your Majesty Shupnus, your arrival has …"
A Blood Tribe prince went up to greet Shupnus, but before he could finish, he was interrupted by the impatient ruler of the Death Fog Dimension.
"Where are the others? Don't tell me they're not here yet."
The Blood Tribe prince hurriedly gestured for Shupnus to lead the way when he considered the fact that Shupnus was infamous for his impatience.
"No, their Majesties have all arrived. They're all waiting for your arrival."
Shupnus chuckled upon hearing this. All the Undead Lords knew that the Undead Witch Emperor of the Death Fog Dimension hated waiting and being late. What he loved the most was having others wait for him.
The Blood Tribe prince who was supposed to receive Shupnus secretly rejoiced. Fortunately, he had informed the Undead Witch Emperor of the Death Fog Dimension that the Undead Witch Emperor was supposed to arrive one day later than the actual gathering time. Shupnus, who was impatient and was used to arriving early, wouldn't have to wait for anyone. As the Blood Tribe prince who was supposed to receive Shupnus, the Blood Tribe prince wouldn't be angered by this hot-tempered Undead Emperor.
Soon, in a small conference room, only one of the five seats at the table was empty. As Shupnus arrived, the five Undead Emperors at the peak of the power of death gathered together in Asolivis.
There was a sleepy old man, a white-haired boy who looked like he was still in elementary school, a white skeleton that was completely indistinguishable from an ordinary skeleton soldier, a young girl who was enjoying a red liquid in small mouthfuls, and a seemingly ordinary human.
If I had to find something common about all the Undead Emperors, it would probably be that they all looked quite ordinary.
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