Chapter 144
After arriving somewhere, I looked around.
Was this really the Necropolis I knew?
The Necropolis I returned to looked completely different from before.
I raised my head and looked toward the sky.
The artificial night sky created from Lord Biden’s dense Demonic Energy and magic had completely vanished.
All that remained visible now was a ceiling covered in countless stalactites.
And that wasn’t the only change within Necropolis.
As befitting its name, Fortress of the Dead, it had once been overflowing with the dead—
But now, the countless Undead were nowhere to be seen, and even the endless gravestones had nearly disappeared without a trace.
Could that half-collapsed ruin in the distance actually be Lord Biden’s fortress?
The fortress in my memories once possessed a majestic appearance visible from afar.
But now it had crumbled so badly that it was barely recognizable.
“What the hell happened here?”
I had expected conflict between the Heavenly Demon, who declared she would seize authority, and Lord Biden.
But apparently, the battle had been far fiercer than I imagined.
So that’s why Lord Biden was in such a foul mood last week.
If he lost to the Heavenly Demon in a battle of this scale, then this wasn’t simply a matter of pride.
His forces must have suffered tremendous damage.
And right now—
I was enjoying the aftermath of it.
Things are going to be easier than I expected.
To think I’d be able to deal with one of Pandemonium’s High-ranking Executives this easily.
The Heavenly Demon is the best.
Maybe I should buy her something delicious later when I visit.
But what did the Heavenly Demon even like?
I took out my cellphone and checked the time.
Things over there should be pretty hectic by now.
At this point, the experiment to complete No. 66 was probably already underway.
It wasn’t a simple process, so it would take quite a while.
And afterward, Lord Biden would probably attempt to seize control of No. 66’s body immediately.
I wasn’t too worried.
I had already made every preparation possible.
Thinking about it, Solis hidden inside No. 66’s stomach came to mind.
Surely they didn’t discover it, right?
At first, it was merely a clever trick I came up with to avoid the Vampire Butler’s senses.
Because the Power of Predation weakened the power of anything consumed.
Then, after realizing Lord Biden had weakened and obtaining Chun Ga-eun’s cooperation, I decided to continue leaving Solis inside her.
The sudden eruption of the sun’s power would melt away the countless Undead within the laboratory while also delivering a massive shock to Lord Biden himself.
Lord Biden was also a Lich.
In other words—
An Undead.
His level was high enough that ordinary sunlight wouldn’t affect him, but there was no way he could endure an overwhelming burst of light exploding directly in front of him without warning.
And above all else, Solis was the signal flare that would announce the beginning of the operation to Chun Ga-eun and the Academy bastards.
A dagger that would completely destroy the Avatar Project in my place and expose every unethical experiment conducted within the laboratory.
Those guys would definitely fulfill the role of destroying the laboratory perfectly.
After all, Chun Ga-eun, a top-tier Hero, was with them.
All I needed to do was perform my part properly.
I looked over the vast landscape of Necropolis.
“So where the hell is the Life Vessel?”
What I needed to do was locate and destroy the Life Vessel, which was effectively Lord Biden’s heart, before No. 66’s experiment ended.
The one problem was—
I had no idea where Lord Biden’s Life Vessel was hidden.
Originally, in the game, players had to force him through four phases under unfavorable conditions until he personally revealed the Life Vessel himself.
Thanks to that, I now had to wander around the fortress like an idiot searching every corner.
What if the Life Vessel is somewhere else?
I was certain Lord Biden’s Life Vessel existed here.
If not within his home ground where all his armies and fortress were stationed, then where else would he store his heart?
Rather than creating a separate hideout to conceal it, keeping it in the place he stayed most often was safer.
Unlike before, I walked through the empty Necropolis.
This feeling of my feet sticking to the ground is something I’ll never get used to.
How long had I walked?
The ruined fortress that once appeared faint in the distance gradually grew closer.
Once I approached the fortress, Undead finally started appearing again.
I wondered why there were barely any Undead near the entrance of Necropolis, but it seemed they had all concentrated around Lord Biden’s fortress.
There were a huge number of them.
If I fought them directly, it would waste too much time.
Using the Mask of the Deceiver, I transformed my appearance into that of an Undead and blended into their ranks.
The quality of these Undead seems much higher than before.
Previously, all kinds of dead things wandered around regardless of type or ability—Zombies, Skeletons, Ghouls, and more.
But now, there weren’t any low-level mobs like Zombies or Skeletons left within Necropolis.
Did he remove all the useless cannon fodder during the battle against the Heavenly Demon and keep only the stronger Undead?
Judging by how heavily guarded this place is with Undead, the Life Vessel is definitely here.
Maintaining the appearance of an Undead, I wandered throughout the fortress.
No one particularly suspected me.
Undead were fundamentally stupid.
To begin with, they were creatures whose brains had long since rotted away.
They could distinguish friend from foe, but they weren’t intelligent enough to recognize spies among their own ranks.
Of course, exceptions existed.
Such as high-ranking Undead like the Vampire Butler.
Even Death Knights were capable of fluent communication.
And as I explored the fortress, I searched specifically for high-ranking Undead.
The stronger the bastard, the more likely they were guarding something valuable.
After searching the fortress for a long time, I let out a sigh.
This bastard, where the hell did he hide the Life Vessel?
I expected finding it wouldn’t be easy, but even after searching throughout the fortress, there wasn’t the slightest trace of the Life Vessel.
At this point, I had already personally dealt with more than ten Death Knights.
Yet none of the places they guarded contained the Life Vessel.
Deep inside my heart, impatience slowly began to rise.
Fortunately, there still hadn’t been any contact from the Academy side, but a significant amount of time had already passed since I entered Necropolis.
And I had already taken out a considerable number of Lord Biden’s Death Knights.
He probably hadn’t reacted yet because he was focused on the experiment, but once it ended, it was obvious he’d notice something was wrong sooner or later.
At that point, disguising myself among the Undead would no longer work.
I needed to find Lord Biden’s Life Vessel quickly.
Then suddenly, a certain scene surfaced in my mind.
Could it be in a separate dimension like during the Sandalphon incident?
A passage connected to that place might exist somewhere inside the fortress.
A magician on Lord Biden’s level could easily do something like that.
Thinking about it, several suspicious locations came to mind.
All of them were heavily secured rooms containing strange objects.
The first was a book located in the library.
Specifically, a sinister-looking book prominently placed deep within the library.
The second was a massive mirror inside the bedroom.
To begin with, he’s Undead, so why the hell does he even need a bedroom?
There was no need to 고민 which location to visit first.
The library was closer to my current position.
Since I had already dealt with the Death Knights guarding the entrance, getting inside wasn’t difficult.
I shoved the library doors open.
Countless books beyond estimation greeted me.
But I ignored all of them and walked toward a specific location.
My footsteps never hesitated.
Because what I was searching for was the suspicious book anyone would notice immediately.
How long had I walked?
After reaching the deepest part of the library, I finally found what I was looking for.
The grimoire dwarfed every other magic book around it in size.
It was almost as large as my upper body.
And it rested neatly upon a book stand as if Lord Biden had been reading it moments earlier.
Even the first time I saw it, I thought it looked like some strange black magic tome.
But no matter how I thought about it, my instincts told me this thing was connected to the Life Vessel.
And unlike the other rooms, the library had contained a total of four Death Knights.
One at the entrance.
Three inside the library itself.
At this point, it was suspicious enough.
I raised my Demonic Energy and reached my hand toward the grimoire.
Crackle!
The moment my Demonic Energy touched the book, black sparks erupted and my hand was violently repelled.
Does it recognize its owner’s Mana?
My suspicion began turning into certainty.
Well, I never expected it to open so easily anyway.
If that’s the case—
Then I’ll just break it by force.
I removed the grimoire from the stand and placed it on the floor before creating the Jet-Black Sword.
“Haa….”
I steadied my breathing lightly and focused my mind on the skill 【Lamb】.
The SS-rank skill 【Lamb】 was both the prison of the Demon of the End and the vessel sealing its power.
I slowly began drawing out the Demonic Energy hidden deep within that vessel.
I didn’t need the Demonic Energy existing in the abyss where the Demon of the End resided.
The level I could currently use was roughly second-rate Demonic Energy.
I intertwined that power repeatedly and manifested it in the form of Sword Aura.
Soon, the Jet-Black Sword emitted a sinister black glow.
“Hup!”
With a short shout, I slammed the sword down into the book.
Craaaack!
Along with the sound of something shattering, blood began pouring out from the grimoire.
Immediately afterward, a black Magic Circle emerged from the book.
I recognized instantly what kind of Magic Circle it was.
An alarm spell notifying Lord Biden of danger.
That absolutely couldn’t be allowed.
Crimson flames ignited from the sword piercing the grimoire.
The important thing was precise control.
I needed to burn only the magic itself, not the book.
Fwoosh!
Suppressing the violently burning flames, I carefully circulated my Mana and burned away only the alarm spell.
“Whew.”
After confirming I had overcome the first hurdle, I struck the book with my sword even harder than before.
At that moment, commotion echoed from outside.
The eerie low voices of the Undead reverberated through the area.
It seemed they had finally noticed my intrusion.
But it was already too late.
The grimoire, vomiting blood endlessly, suddenly produced a gigantic door.
I immediately realized that the space beyond that door was where the Life Vessel slept.
Found it.
Releasing my grip on the sword, I stood before the door.
An immense killing intent seeped through from beyond it.
Finding the passage leading to the Life Vessel had been easier than expected.
Part of it was probably because Lord Biden never imagined anyone would invade his fortress without permission.
But more than that—
It was confidence.
Confidence that even if someone discovered the passage, they would never be able to pass through it carelessly.
Proof of that confidence was the overwhelming killing intent emanating from beyond the door.
A gatekeeper existed to guard the heart.
I wanted to conserve as much strength as possible before fighting Lord Biden.
But Lord Biden wasn’t stupid enough to leave his heart unprotected.
Crossing this door was where the real battle began.
Discarding any further hesitation, I forcefully pushed open the massive blood-soaked door.
Dense killing intent and Demonic Energy burst forth from the door and swallowed me whole.
And within it—
I confirmed the identity of the gatekeeper protecting Lord Biden’s Life Vessel.
The moment I saw it, a hollow laugh escaped me.
“Lord Biden, you insane bastard.”
A Death Knight clad in black armor stood there.
But its appearance was far from human.
Goat horns protruded from its head, and bat wings spread from its back.
No matter what, for people claiming to worship Demons, turning a Demon’s corpse into a Death Knight was completely insane.
That’s right.
The Guardian protecting Lord Biden’s Life Vessel—
Was a Death Knight created from the corpse of a Demon.
Its murky eyes, long devoid of life, slowly turned toward me.