With the 10,000 undead in Glory City, Xiu now has enough manpower to attack any number of cities. The undead are not timid; they do not tire and they obediently follow commands. All generals would agree that they are the ideal soldiers. Assisted by Muir, Old John, and others, the army of the undead immediately stormed the second city of the Light Empire.
That was just the beginning. As more and more cities and towns were destroyed, the number of undead increased exponentially. The greater the number of undead, the higher their commander's rank. Even if Xiu is not with them, they have enough power to destroy a city. Under Xiu's command, the undead army was divided into several parts and the frontlines extended as they advanced, encroaching upon the Light Empire's territory.
In the city, wraiths were wandering here and there. The death knight, riding a zombie horse, was cleaning up the streets. The Lich waved its staff and commanded the undead abominations to rush into the crowd; the undead's bodies were stitched up and filled with a virus that easily infected the living. Someone, no one knows who, kindled a fire. Its scarlet glow lit up the terrified and despairing faces of the humans. Not even in death could they escape the Undead Scourge. The undead desecrated the bodies of the deceased, both civilians and soldiers, which rose again after they fell and mercilessly slaughtered their former companions.
Even though he had seen it many times, Du Ze still felt uncomfortable watching this scene. He turned away and looked up into the distant sky that was shrouded in mysterious dark clouds. This is the undead shroud. Compared to the shroud that covered the sky above the forest when they arrived in this place, the current shroud is quite large. It is a manifestation of the Undead Scourge. The undead shroud indicates that the land under it is devoid of life and only the undead exist there.
After cleaning the city the skeleton mage, as always, reported to Xiu: [Lord General, please lead us to the Chaos Continent.]
When Xiu had 100,000 undead under his command, the skeleton mage changed his rank, but it didn't seem like the end of this trial. By now Xiu has conquered nearly half of the Light Empire. His army of the undead if 700,000 strong but the skeleton mage still calls Xiu "Lord General." It seems that they needed even more undead to finish this trial.
Xiu stared at a map. As they pushed deeper into the Light Empire's heartland, the Temple of Light had stepped up their efforts to stop the Undead Scourge. The Temple of Light is truly the nemesis of the undead. When they fight, the undead's power is greatly suppressed. Xiu had expected their resistance when he chose to invade the Light Empire, but he hadn't realized that the people from the Temple of Light could not be converted into the undead. Because of this, the road towards fighting the Temple of Light then using their dead as raw materials is completely blocked.
Xiu believes that although he can advance further, it would be pointless as the army's casualties would exceed the number of new undead they will get. Xiu's goal is to complete this trial, and for that he needs more numbers. Completely taking over the Light Empire's territory is a tempting thought but is not necessary.
Xiu's fingertips slid across the Light Empire on the map then stopped at the Moonlight Empire. Of the three human Empires, the Moonlight Empire is the weakest and has the smallest population and territory.
Ant meat is still meat. The army of the undead turned their attention to the Moonlight Empire. As they neared its border, the ghoul scouts reported that a tower climber with his undead army was headed in their direction. On the way to the Light Empire, Du Ze and the others had previously met other tower climbers who were also in command of their own undead army. They were also destroying village and towns, so it looks like all of the tower climbers were given the same task of taking on the role of the leader of the Undead Scourge. The undead commanded by various tower climbers could differentiate themselves from others, and the tower climbers all kept a careful distance from each other.
Xiu commanded the undead to eliminate the pursuing human army. Unexpectedly, the news came that the retreating tower climber wanted to meet to exchange information. The mighty army of the undead split their ranks and opened up a path for the tower climber and his undead army to meet Xiu. Du Ze was surprised to see that it was a voluptuous Banshee with an unusually eye-catching figure.
"Thank you for sparing me." The Banshee looked around her and immediately identified Xiu as the leader. "You are also a tower climber, perhaps we can try working together?"
The Banshee bent her upper body slightly. A sweet smell diffused into the air as she intentionally or unintentionally showed off her sexy body. Because Du Ze was always near Xiu, he could see it all. After receiving this unearned reward, some silly, cute person began to wonder exactly how deep this female's cleavage is.
"What are you looking at?" Xiu's voice sounded dangerously in his ear. Du Ze, with an impassive face, diverted his line of sight elsewhere, maintaining an honest face and showing that he is a gentleman.
They had been together so long that naturally, Xiu cannot be deceived by his own silly, cute person. He grasped the back of Du Ze's neck and said, in a soft, gentle voice like a lover speaking sweetly to his beloved: "Which part of her do you like? I'll help you by gouging it out."
... Moe Lord, I was wrong!
The Banshee stared hard at Xiu who was sorting out the suddenly docile Du Ze. The demon opposite her smiled faintly and she could not tell if the look in his purple eyes was a happy expression or a killing intent.
"If you try any more tricks, I'll kill you."
She was caught ...!
The Banshee started shrieking and took out a sweet-smelling pill from her cleavage. The Banshee never got to use the pill, however, because as she was about to crush it, her hands were neatly cut off by Old John's katar.
"That was too dangerous." Old John laughed and threw away the pill. "The little master''s injury has not healed yet."
The demon sisters grabbed hold of the Banshee from the left and right side. The Banshee kept on screaming but this time it was because of pain. Muir glanced at the undead that the Banshee had brought over; even though the she screamed, the undead were indifferent. It seems that the Tower of God doesn't interfere when it's a battle between tower climbers.
Violet placed her sword on the Banshee's neck and ask: "Why do you want to kill us?"
The Banshee didn't answer and just continued screaming. Du Ze had to take off his headphones because the shrill cries were really hard on his ears. Xiu also found the screaming was too irritating so he waved at Violet, signaling her to kill the Banshee.
Seeing that Xiu really did want to kill her, the Banshee panicked. She stopped screaming and started shouting. Du Ze put his headphones back on and heard the Banshee say: "... if you kill me my companions will avenge me. They are not people you can afford to offend!"
A tedious declaration of one's important background just won't work. Du Ze silently lit a candle for the Banshee. The old "you can't kill me because of the relationship between me and XXX" might work on others, but once you face the protagonist and say that... well, it's a death flag similar to the old "showing your comrades a picture of a pretty girl and telling them you are going to marry her when you go home after the war."
Xiu laughed softly as the sound of flapping wings filled the air. The Banshee's expression suddenly showed pleasant surprise and she shouted up to the sky: "Rachel, I'm here!"
... what?
Three demons came flying down, Rachel in the lead. The demon sisters were shocked and accidentally let go of the Banshee. She rushed to Rachel's side. Glaring venomously at Du Ze and the others, she wept tears of blood and said: "They almost killed me. Rachel, you can't let them off!"
Du Ze and others' expressions became difficult to describe. Rachel glanced at the Banshee then looked at Xiu. She took off her monocle and said to the Banshee: "He wants to kill you?"
The Banshee nodded vehemently, anticipation in her eyes. Rachel smiled very gently.
"Then go to hell."
The Banshee's head fell and rolled down on the ground. The final image that was reflected in her dead eyes that still looked aggrieved by unredressed injustice was that of her savior bowing down to that demon.
"Your Highness, we have finally met again." Rachel finished her salute and noticed Xiu's bandages. "You're injured..."
"It's almost healed." Xiu glanced at the dead Banshee. "What's your relationship with that Banshee?"
"We were working with each other. She lured the other tower climbers out then we killed them." Rachel added: "When a tower climber dies, everything they damaged will be restored to their original condition and the undead will return to life and go back to their cities."
So that's how it is. With more and more tower climbers undergoing the trials, this simulation will soon be strained. This mechanic not only reduces the number of competitors, it can also clear a big piece of the map that had been occupied by other tower climbers.
Hearing Rachel say that the cities would be restored, Du Ze suddenly feared that once they saw that this was just an illusion created by the tower, they would feel numb when they invaded the realistic-looking cities. After returning to the Chaos Continent, will the tower climbers who have endured all this still look at real people the same way?
The Tower of God was slowly transforming the minds of the tower climbers. According to "Mixed Blood," the tower climbers are being carefully carved into the shape that the tower wants. The Demons gave away their mercy, received destruction; The Undead gave away their kindness, received deathlessness – In the beginning, the God of Creation told the eight races: "As long as you pay a price and give me something of yourself, you can trade a gift for it."
Du Ze stood frozen in place. Why didn't he realize this earlier? The dead god of light isn't the ultimate BOSS. The only person who can pose a threat to Xiu now is the extremely mysterious God of Creation – the creator of this world, the one who was there when "Mixed Blood" began and the one who will be there when "Mixed Blood" ends. Du Ze thought of the murals that he saw at the Time and Space Corridor then thought of the Tower of God that was slowly, step by step, executing its plan. He curled his hands into fists.
Building the Tower of God, setting these rules, inducing Xiu to destroy the world... is it you, the God of Creation?
"Are you feeling unwell?"
Du Ze snapped back to his senses and looked up into Xiu's eyes. This man always stares at Du Ze so intently that he notices even the slightest trace of discomfort.
"Do you know ... the God of Creation?"
Xiu was a little surprised by the sudden change in topic but he still seriously replied: "I've only heard a few legends. What's the matter?"
Due to the invisible force, Du Ze could not tell Xiu everything he had guessed. He could only say vaguely: "... Nothing, I was just a little curious about him."
Xiu grasped the back of Du Ze's neck in a comforting manner then went to Rachel to find out what happened to her team. After their separation, Rachel and the others entered the door of light and, unlike Du Ze and the others, found themselves in a huge steel city. The streets were full of machinery and mechanical puppets. Hearing Rachel's description, Du Ze felt that it was similar to the Gnome Ruins that he and Xiu had been to.
"There were a lot of circular plazas and each plaza required a mechanical part to activate. Those parts could be found in the bodies of six-star mechanical puppets. We spent half a month activating the plazas. In the center plaza we met the gnome god. The final part we needed was in his seven-star mechanical puppet. After some casualties, we were able to activate the final square," said Rachel.
Du Ze looked at Rachel's Thunder Regiment team. It was originally a six-man team and but now there were only three of them left.
After activating the final square, an eight-star mechanical puppet appeared. Rachel took a deep breath before she continued; even after all this time her heart still raced when she thought of that event: "That city was a huge mechanical puppet that we had activated. A portal appeared at the same time so we fled while the mechanical puppet pursued us. We returned to the hall."
Just listening to Rachel's story was frightening enough for Du Ze. The place they went to was clearly a copy of the Gnome Ruins.
"We did not wait for your Highness in Hall. We decided to enter the light door again to look for you." Rachel gave her ticket to Xiu. "Luckily, we really did meet you here again."
Rachel's black flame melted into Xiu's black flame. Rachel's undead army was added to Xiu's and his total number of undead soldiers rose to 1.1 million.
The skeleton mage went to Xiu and this time it did not call him Lord General. It said respectfully: [Lord Field Marshal, His Majesty Louis is very pleased. He will personally commend your performance.]
The skeleton mage raised his staff and all the undead turned into black dust that swirled together before transforming into a huge black doorway. There was a multicolored veil over the doorway; it seems to be a portal to where Lich Louis was presently located.
****! Is it time for the BOSS to appear? Du Ze looked at Xiu who was beside him. The Moe Lord's injury hasn't healed yet.
As the undead all turned to black dust, the undead shroud above them began to scatter a little. The sunlight shone down on the black doorway which emitted a sizzling sound as it gradually began to melt due to the sun's corrosive effect. It seemed that if they hesitated too long, the portal would collapse.
Give me a break, tower!
"Let's go."
Du Ze was pulled into the portal by Xiu. He became dizzy and his vision darkened. When he regained his sight, they were in a hall made of bones with a dark red carpet –like the color of blood– extending in both directions. The hall was illuminated by a dark blue light from will-o'-the-wisps. Du Ze looked down at the carpet and followed it with his eyes until he saw, at the very end, a withered-looking person sitting on a chair made of bones. He was wearing a black robe and his skin was very dry; he looked like a corpse.
Du Ze could tell from just one glance that it was a Lich. Some silly, cute person thought that this is the standard appearance of a Lich. Ah wait, the Moe Lord's Lich form was so handsome that he didn't even recognize him as a Lich at first
The Lich sitting on the bone chair should be the famous god of death, Louis. When he saw Du Ze and the others, the two soul flames in the Lich's eyes lit up. Xiu was on his guard and automatically took out Qian Bian, protectively pushing Du Ze behind him.
Louis soul flames jumped up a bit when he saw Qian Bian in Xiu's hands. His hoarse voice echoed in the gloomy hall when he spoke: "I thought that I had lost my Magic Codex."
Louis shifted his gaze from Qian Bian to Xiu: "The fact that you can use it tells me that you and I are related. I can smell my breath in you."
Xiu smiled mysteriously; it was clear as to who was mocking whom.
"Did you ever experimented on a gnome?"
"... You're his descendant?" Louis rattled out a laugh: "That's so funny. In that form, that person could still have offspring."
Louis stood up from the bone seat and walked down the steps.
"I've done a lot of experiments. The half undead gnome was one of my most satisfying creations," he said. "However, due to my negligence, that person ran away after one of my experiments exploded."
Louis stopped before he reached the perimeter of the crowd and his deep-set eyes stared at Xiu: "But now that I have met you, I can make up for that disappointment a little bit."
A huge death scythe appeared in Louis' hand and the undead said in a hoarse voice: "Give me your body."
Muir turned into a black dragon to block Louis' attack. Louis rattled a laugh then summoned a bone dragon to knock back the black dragon. Old John and the others were kept busy fighting the undead that Louis summoned. Xiu's eyes narrowed. His undead form was that of a Lich and none knew better than him how difficult it was to fight one. So long as his life box was not destroyed, a Lich is immortal.
"Boom-"
A purple arc jumped to Louis. It was not very strong since Xiu just wanted to capture the Lich. However, the moment the lightning hit Louis, it was as though he had pricked a balloon with a needle. With a "pop" sound, the Lich exploded into black powder. Xiu took Du Ze in his arms and wrapped both of them up with his wings. The powder fell on his wings then melted like snow, bringing with it a coldness that penetrated down to the center of his bones.
It was already too late for Xiu to retreat. His entire body was frozen. Something seeped into his body and slowly began to spread until it reached his head; even his thoughts seemed to be frozen.
[Your body is mine.]
Xiu heard Louis' voice ringing in his mind before he lost consciousness.