Chapter 1 The Beginning

“Souls are immortal, which means I can be like that guy, even if my body dies, my soul won't collapse? And the expanded brain domain means I've integrated a higher-quality [Isaac the Blasphemer].”

Suren looked at the [Descartes Crystal Skull], and so many thoughts flashed through his mind.

His previously planned path to becoming a Necromantic Marionette Master was only missing one final piece of colonization equipment, the [Isaac the Blasphemer] that he planned to integrate at the eighth rank.

But based on the feedback from Dora and her teacher, Grandmaster Lucien Pepys, after their integrations, this colonization equipment required a very high level of brain domain development and thinking ability.

Suren originally estimated that if he advanced to the eighth rank normally, he would only be able to integrate a [Blasphemer] colonization device of the same rank with silver quality at most.

He was thinking of finding a way to acquire professional advancement materials to improve the conditions for colonization integration. He wanted to find some professional materials that could improve the integration conditions of the colonization equipment.

But the quality of the existing materials in the small void realm warehouse didn't meet expectations, so he had no clue.

He never expected to encounter it in this cursed space by chance.

Moreover, the effect of the skull far exceeded his previous expectations!

The Skeleton Swordsman was none other than the necromancer Yale Robbins. Old enemies meeting are always especially hostile.

His hollow eye sockets, burning with soul fire, stared at Suren as if he could truly see, locking onto him directly.

One side was an ambush, the other was waiting to be ambushed, both were prepared.

In the instant their eyes met, both of them acted almost simultaneously.

Suren flipped his hand, and a bronze ancient lamp with iron chains appeared in his palm.

As soon as spiritual power was poured into it, the ancient lamp immediately lit up, emitting a beam of green light.

The skeleton in the temple also conjured a hook that appeared to be made of bronze, also releasing a slightly weaker green beam of light.

The two of them took out their treasures at the same time, attacked at the same time, and were hit by the beams of light released by each other at the same time.

"Oh? This iron hook is actually a part of the Soul Lamp!"

However, in that instant, Suren exclaimed softly in his heart, because at this moment he had already identified what the iron hook in the skeleton's hand was.

Its name was actually [Tartarus Soul Shackles]?

And coincidentally, the bronze lamp in his own hand was the [Tartarus Soul Lamp] he had obtained from the people of the Celestial Plane who were blown up in Silver Dragon King’s capital, Aclanza.

Because it had been damaged in the previous explosion, he had thrown it into the small void realm. Together with his original iron chain components, he had the mountain dwarves repair it.

It had only been fully repaired a few days ago, and most of the effects of this cursed object had been restored.

The greatest use of this thing was to lock the target's soul within a certain range.

The necromancer Yale Robbins had escaped once before, and Suren didn't want that guy to escape again, so his plan before coming here was to first confine the opponent's soul within range as soon as they met.

The effect was also ideal, locking him down as soon as they met.

However, what Suren didn't expect was that this guy actually used the same method!

Even the means used were exactly the same.

The iron hook was a fragment of the Soul Lamp, which not only had the effect of locking the soul, but also had the special effect of "hooking the soul". Suren was hit by the beam of light, and a soul lock status appeared on his panel. Moreover, at that instant, he immediately felt as if his soul was about to be hooked out of his body by a force.

With domineering aura lingering around his body, this feeling immediately dissipated.

"Heh... this is quite a coincidence."

Suren frowned slightly and murmured in his heart.

The current situation was that neither of them could escape.

They had to kill each other to have a chance to leave.

However, because the Dawn Mercenary Group's ambush this time was determined to get rid of this guy, Suren felt that being locked down was not a big deal.

On the contrary, the skeleton was shocked to find that his soul was locked.

Since things had come to this, both sides knew that they had no choice but to fight to the death.

However, at this moment, Chihiro was faster.

She had been waiting for this guy for a long time!

In the instant when Suren and the skeleton attacked, a series of explosions suddenly erupted in the air.

"Pa", "Pa", "Pa"...

With multiple afterimages, Chihiro had already charged towards the temple.

Before the skeleton swordsman could put down the bronze iron hook in his hand, a lightning sword aura had already appeared less than a meter in front of him.

"Clang!"

A sharp metallic sound rang out.

The famous sword [Butsu] had already been unsheathed, held horizontally in front, blocking the sword aura.

Although it was blocked, the soul fire in the skeleton swordsman's eye sockets trembled, obviously greatly surprised.

He didn't seem to understand why this woman had become so much stronger in just half a month.

Without waiting for him to think more, Chihiro had already appeared in the temple. The Asura golden body phantom behind her had already condensed into a solid form, dispelling the thick necromantic curse around her, and another lightning sword aura slashed down.

With a "clang", the domineering aura-covered [Onimaru Hyakume] and the soul fire [Butsu] blades collided, sparks flying.

The skeleton was forced back dozens of meters by the sword aura.

Chihiro also retreated sharply. Having already learned the power of the soul fire last time, she retreated as soon as they touched. She cleverly avoided the splashing soul fire, and while creating distance, she slashed out another lightning sword aura.

Three consecutive slashes, all in one go.

At the same time, the skeleton, knowing that it was no match, instantly calmed the soul fire in its eye sockets, with no more emotional fluctuations.

Outside the temple, Suren's pupils shrank slightly when he saw this.

Others couldn't detect the abnormality, but he clearly sensed that the guy's soul had been transferred away from the skeleton swordsman.

He instantly shifted his gaze to the crystal skull on the ground, and thought to himself, "Being able to change soul carriers at any time, this guy's [Death God's Fire] secret technique has been cultivated to the point of mastery. I'm afraid he already has the strength to advance to the ninth rank..."

But this was also a good thing.

After the harvest, it would all be his!

Suren didn't idle either, raising his hand and taking Tani and the others into the small void realm.

Low-level professionals who had not comprehended domineering aura could not participate in the battlefield here.

Almost in that instant, countless bizarre ghost-type monsters surged out from all directions of the temple: ghost tentacle monsters, ghost whales, ghost dragons, ghost giants...

However, these ghost monsters were not in normal forms, but in strange, deformed forms. Tens of thousands of them.

These tidal ghost monsters seemed to be driven by some kind of power, and surged towards Suren with incomparable ferocity.

As soon as they appeared, pale blue silver light instantly illuminated the entire city.

Gathering into a torrent, a majestic soul shockwave surged like a collapsing dam.

However, Suren's expression did not panic at all. The rune black umbrella in his hand "swished" open, and he whispered, "Night Domain - Open!"

In an instant, night fell.

A strange domain as black as asphalt rapidly expanded to a radius of several hundred meters, centered on Suren.

An astonishing scene instantly unfolded.

Those surging ghost monsters that could easily defeat a top professional's soul, but after falling into the dark domain, they were like falling into a quagmire, and disappeared one after another.

[The Goddess Hel's Rune Soul Umbrella] was a curse aimed at souls. It had a very powerful function of capturing and imprisoning souls to amplify itself.

The more souls in the umbrella, the more powerful its effect would be.

After all, the number of ghosts in the normal world was very small. Before, when he was outside, Suren could hardly encounter a few ghost monsters.

But in this cursed space, ghosts were as numerous as other deformed monsters, endless!

Originally, there were more than 100,000 ghosts in the rune umbrella, but now that these ghosts rushed in, the number instantly exceeded 200,000, and its power increased by two or three times.

And Suren, as the holder, was not impacted by the ghost tide, but his soul power fluctuations became stronger and stronger.

At the same time, not only did he not want to avoid the monster tide, but he also poured all his spiritual power into the [Tartarus Soul Lamp].

In the blink of an eye, the green light of the ancient lamp shone brightly, instantly illuminating the area within a few kilometers around the temple.

Those ghost types illuminated by the ancient lamp soul light could no longer escape this range.

The bronze lamp restricted escape, and the black umbrella imprisoned souls. This was the confidence in Suren's plan this time!

With two soul-targeted cursed objects in hand, even tens of millions of ghost monsters could not do anything to him.

Before, Suren was worried that there would be super-level soul monsters here, but seeing that the necromancer Yale Robbins chose to ambush here, he dispelled this last bit of fatal risk.

This guy only had his soul left, and he dared to come here, which meant that most of the monsters here were not higher than him.

Chihiro had already fought the skeleton swordsman out of the temple, and the battle was very fierce.

The last time these two fought, she was slightly at a disadvantage. But after her rapid progress in cultivation in the past half month, she, who had established herself as a half-step Sword God, was not weak in momentum at all.

When the swords collided, the void resounded with ear-piercing and sharp sounds.

Suren glanced at it and saw that Chihiro was using the skeleton swordsman as a whetstone. Her lightning sword intent was gradually transforming in the battle, and she could now collide with the skeleton swordsman's Demonic Buddha sword intent without retreating.

Suren glanced at it and didn't look any further.

He stood outside the temple holding the black umbrella, constantly devouring those attacking monsters.

This was also helping Chihiro attract the attention of these evil spirit monsters, creating a better combat environment for her.

Now that both sides were soul-locked, there was no need to consider the issue of escape. They could only fight to the death. So Suren was not in a hurry at all, and waited for the enemy to come out and attack.

It would be even better if the opponent didn't come out.

When the rune black umbrella absorbed all the low-level ghosts in this area, and its soul power reached its limit, Suren was afraid that he could kill seventh-level ghosts with a single tap of this umbrella.

The enemy's chances of winning would become lower and lower.

Obviously, the necromancer Yale Robbins was not stupid either.

As someone who had mastered soul secret techniques, how could he not sense that the rune black umbrella in Suren's hand was getting stronger and stronger?

Seeing that the numerical advantage of the ghosts had no effect at all, this guy panicked.

The crystal skull he was residing in suddenly moved, chanting a magic spell, and the phosphorescent green light shone brightly: "Forbidden Technique - Heroic Spirits Crossing!"

Looking again, the main hall of the temple seemed to have opened a gate to hell.

He was unleashing his ultimate move.

As the incantation still echoed in his ears, he suddenly heard the sound of neat military marching, "clatter," "clatter."

Suren looked over, and a necromantic army holding spears and wearing armor and helmets marched out of the gate opened by magic in neat steps.

If the ghost monsters that rushed out before were a pile of loose sand, then this was a regular army.

Tens of thousands of them, condensed into a terrifying soul power pressure.

And this batch of undead army was also interspersed with a dozen siege beasts whose soul fluctuations were comparable to those of eighth-level professionals.

Hellhounds, war behemoths, nightmares, hydras, hell wolves...

These ghost-type monsters should all be top-level deformed monsters that died in this cursed space over the years. Their souls were attracted by the crystal skull and preserved until now.

And Robbins didn't know what means he used to master the crystal skull, and thus controlled these ghost monsters enslaved by the skull.

Tens of thousands of ghost legions, a dozen seventh and eighth-level ghost types. This was almost a dead end for others.

After all, ghost types had 100% physical and magical immunity, and also had mental attack methods, which was almost unsolvable.

Even professionals who had comprehended domineering aura had very limited damage.

But Suren looked as usual, and muttered in his heart: "Heh, they really came to deliver themselves."

Now he was sure that that guy knew about the [s-004 - Death Reaper] talent. But he obviously didn't know all the abilities after the second evolution of this talent. Otherwise, he wouldn't have used this trick.

The S-rank talent, Death Reaper, after the second evolution, has a super powerful ability to deal true damage to spirits!

The wandering soul bodies were the best tonic for Suren.

As the group of ghost monsters attacked, the phantom of the Death God suddenly appeared behind Suren, and his eyes sharpened. The phantom behind him also shone with black light.

These necromantic legions probably wanted to use legion techniques, but Suren didn't give them a chance to use legion techniques. He teleported and appeared in the middle of the ghost legion.

The phantom of the Death God behind him flourished, and as soon as he landed, a large area of the nearby ghost legion was instantly cleared.

To Suren, these ghosts were like biting into a cloud in the sky, easily and without the slightest bit of resistance.

He charged back and forth in the ghost crowd, disrupting the battle formation.

Wherever he passed, everything was destroyed. These ghosts were either devoured or taken into the rune black umbrella.

[You stripped the soul of a 'Ghost Sergeant', Spirit +14]

[You stripped the soul of a 'Ghost Legion Commander', Spirit +254]

[You stripped the soul of a 'Ghost General', Spirit +1136]

[.]

The ghost legion was not weak, and even eighth-level professionals would avoid it.

Now they were being harvested like wheat because Suren was too special.

His soul strength was no weaker than any of the ghosts here, so mental influences, illusions, whispers, etc., had little effect on him.

And those seventh and eighth-level ghost bosses did pose a certain threat to Suren, but he didn't clash with them head-on, and frequently teleported to avoid them.

Suren only plundered and killed various small ghosts, and also absorbed them with the black umbrella.

The fewer the number of ghosts, the smaller the threat.

He just rampaged near the temple.

The battle was so smooth that it felt like a crushing victory.

But in reality, it was not because Suren had absolute strength stronger than that of Robbins.

But because he was prepared.

These days, he and Mr. Black had almost turned over all the books of the previous spoils, and had a very thorough understanding of the necromantic magic of the "Holy Soul Fire" lineage.

It could be said that they had mastered every spell that Yale Robbins knew.

Suren and Mr. Black had also deduced various combat situations based on this, such as: what secret techniques would this guy use in what situations, and what killing moves would he use when forced into a desperate situation.

Almost all of them had been deduced.

Now it seemed that from the beginning of the battle until now, there was nothing unexpected.

Necromancer's methods were just a few, controlling the dead and ghosts.

This guy's body had been killed, which made him lose the ability to cast other magic.

The remaining means that could be used could also be predicted.

He couldn't do anything to Suren when he was in his full strength, let alone now.

However, the Death God's Fire of that guy's body was very tricky.

Suren was not in a hurry to confront it head-on either.

He planned to slowly harvest souls to strengthen himself, anyway, the enemy was the one who was anxious.

As expected.

Suren slaughtered in the ghost legion, and Robbins, who was hiding in the crystal skull, became more and more anxious.

When he found that all his methods could not kill the opponent, the situation immediately became a dead end.

Robbins looked at the figure who was still frantically harvesting ghosts, and muttered in his heart with resentment: "The Death Reaper talent actually has the effect of suppressing high-level spirits, and that black umbrella is also a high-level treasure that restrains ghosts... This native's opportunities are really envy-inducing! Eh, this is terrible."

He didn't know why the situation had become so bad.

It seemed that all his methods were restrained by others.

But

It shouldn't be!

Before, he used divination to predict that the native fleet would pass through this route.

And there were countless ghosts in this ruin, which happened to be his home field.

Robbins also guessed that there must be soul treasures in this ruin with so many ghosts.

He also unexpectedly found the soul treasure, [Descartes Crystal Skull], and obtained the ability to control the ghosts of the entire ruin.

All of this was originally a great benefit to him.

But why was he retreating steadily?

But now that the souls of both sides were locked, there was only the result of you dying or me living.

And the ghost legion he placed high hopes on not only did not harm the enemy, but was devoured more and more.

When the ghost legion was cleared, there would be no chance of turning the tables.

He couldn't delay any longer.

Robbins' eyes flashed decisively when he saw this.

At this time, he chanted an incomparably mysterious incantation: "Great God of Death, please grant your most loyal servant strength."

As soon as a long incantation fell, Robbins murmured in his heart: "Divine Spell - Death Gaze!"

As soon as the incantation began, Suren sensed that a divine will had descended in the temple.

Without guessing what magic the incantation was pointing to, he had already guessed: "Is this guy finally going to use the power of the gods to cast a curse?"

Suren knew the spells that Robbins knew like the back of his hand.

Now that various methods could not harm him, and he would not be able to do anything if he continued to fight.

Therefore, at the very beginning, Suren and Mr. Black deduced that the only means this guy would have after being forced into a desperate situation was to borrow the power of the gods.

And Suren now also knew that the means used by the divine will were inherently limited by the ability of the descending body itself.

A spirit body could only use a few methods, nothing more than soul attacks, mental illusions, etc.

And if he wanted to kill with one blow, Suren and Mr. Black had always believed that that guy would use "Curse Magic."

After all, this was one of the secret arts that the "Holy Soul Fire" necromancers were best at.

Another point was that Curse Magic required a directional mark.

The enemy's plan was actually very well considered. Suren had just killed so many ghosts, how could he not see that a "Soul Mark" status had been added to his attribute panel.

This was the hidden hand that the enemy had arranged in advance.

Now, it really came!

Seeing this, Suren also felt that it was time to decide the outcome.

Divine-level curse magic was unreasonable, and once it was marked, it could not be avoided.

But fortunately, he had experience.

At this time, the temperament on Suren's body became feminine, "Pestoya, I'll have to trouble you again this time."

(End of this chapter).

Mang Hou reminds you: Remember to collect after reading.