Chapter 7: Dreadlord

One side had already suffered heavy casualties, losing one meant one less; the other side, however, received a steady stream of reinforcements right on the spot. As one side weakened and the other strengthened, soon, Saratos felt heavy pressure.

Exhausted from the fighting, he was originally prepared to rout the remaining troops of the Lich Legion in one go, but unexpectedly, in the blink of an eye, he was once again surrounded by the enemy. Looking at a skeleton not far away that had just been his personal guard, and had fallen not long ago only to join the enemy’s side and pounce on him, a strong sense of power lessness could not help but rise in his heart.

“Is this the true strength of a Lich King?”

Looking at Hu Feng standing on the chariot like a god of war, Saratos, who had exhausted his Magic Power and was on the verge of running dry, let out a long sigh. He threw away the Magic Staff in his hand and ordered his subordinate Skeleton Soldiers to surrender on the spot; continuing to fight like this was already meaningless. Although unwilling, he had foreseen this ending even before the battle started.

A generation of Lich King, legends said he had cultivated to the Peak of Tier 9 of the Saint Domain thousands of years ago; with a casual move of his wrist, he easily turned the tide of the battle. Such a supreme Stronger, how could a mere Little Skeleton like himself contend with him?

“Saratos, you have stayed at the realm of an Undead Magician for more than a hundred years. If you continue to cultivate like this, let alone advancing to the Saint Domain realm, I’m afraid it will be impossible for you to even break through to become a Great Magician!” Hu Feng paused, then continued indifferently: “Follow my footsteps, join my Lich Legion, this can be said to be the greatest, and only, opportunity for you to break through to the Saint Domain realm in this life. As long as you perform enough military exploits, I will let you see what true power is, and what the true source of Magic is!”

Seeing Saratos give up resistance, Hu Feng understood that he had successfully broken through his psychological defense. Using the stick and the carrot, he naturally coerced and lured him, seizing the opportunity to bewitch this old fellow. Sure enough, hearing him say this, the old Skeleton, who had been unable to break through the bottleneck for a long time, lit up, and even trembled with excitement.

Peak of Tier 9 of the Saint Domain, this meant that he had already comprehended a trace of the laws of heaven and earth, and touched the Origin Power of the world. If he could get personal guidance from such a Stronger, it would be hard not to break through during cultivation; such an opportunity could not be exchanged for any amount of Crystals!

“Lord, the Lich Legion has so many powerful Liches and Dark Knights, how… how come they are all…” An old ginger is spicier; although extremely excited, Saratos, the old Skeleton, quickly suppressed his excitement and stammered, raising his last doubt.

The Lich Legion of the Lich Castle had always been full of experts. Although the troops in front of him were well-trained, they were almost all Tier 1 Skeletons with weak strength, and there was not a single high-level Undead, which made him instinctively feel a trace of unease.

“Saratos, this world is far vaster than you imagine. Unifying the Sunset Wasteland, or even unifying the entire Dallas Continent, counts for nothing!” Hu Feng shook his head pretendingly, then continued: “A few days ago, I set up a massive ancient Magic Array and sent all the elites of the Lich Castle into the Undead Plane, arranging for them to execute a difficult task. Right now, knowing too much is of no benefit to you; in the future, you will suddenly realize how important their task is!”

Hu Feng said this without blushing or his heart beating fast, quickly finding an excuse.

The Atlanta Plane where the Dallas Continent was located was known as the origin place of all races. Besides the Atlanta Plane, there were countless large and small Planes in the endless Void, including the mysterious Undead Plane. After every creature died, the Soul would begin to dissipate; some would drift between heaven and earth and become an Undead, while more would enter the distant Undead Plane.

The Lich Castle was full of experts, and their Souls had indeed entered the Undead Plane, but this had nothing to do with Hu Feng, and there was no so-called difficult task. However, to those who didn’t know, it sounded completely different.

Sure enough, hearing him say this, Saratos suddenly realized, and finally understood what the changes in the Lich Castle these past two days were about. After pondering for a while, he sincerely prostrated himself in front of Hu Feng and released the Soul defense in his mind.

“Saratos, in the near future, you will discover how wise this decision is!”

Looking at the old Skeleton willingly prostrating before him, Hu Feng finally let out a sigh of relief. The Dark Magic Pen in his hand drew mysterious Runes in the air, leaving an indelible Soul Imprint deep in the latter’s mind. With this Soul Imprint, he could clearly know every move of this old Skeleton.

“Being able to serve the great Master is the greatest honor of Saratos’ life!”

At Hu Feng’s signal, Saratos stood up and bowed respectfully. A powerful Skeleton Mage had thus willingly become the first Stronger Hu Feng had recruited in the true sense. With this experienced old fellow, the next step of building a Skeleton Mage legion would be much faster.

Successfully recruiting the powerful figure Saratos brought far greater gains than Hu Feng had expected.

After incorporating his subordinate Skeleton Soldiers, the scale of the Lich Legion quickly expanded to about five thousand. Besides a part of Skeleton Archers, there was also a team of powerful Skeleton Mages. To facilitate command and the coordinated operations of the various arms, Hu Feng divided the entire legion into three, establishing a Melee Legion, a Ranged Archer Legion, and a Mage Legion, led by Arnold, Yisu, and Saratos respectively. The three major legions fought in coordination, and their combat power quickly increased, initially restoring the former structure of the Lich Legion.

Although it was just an insignificant small mineral vein, after occupying it for thousands of years, Saratos, this miser, had also accumulated a large number of Crystals of varying quality, which just happened to solve Hu Feng’s urgent need. After killing the Skeleton King and exhausting the Top-grade Crystal left by Ovisis, he was worried that he didn’t have enough Crystals to drive the Soul Summoning Banner, but unexpectedly, he quickly obtained a sizable amount of supplies from Saratos. Although these low and mid-grade Crystals were difficult to truly bring out the power of the Soul Summoning Banner, it was better than nothing.

“Lord, these are the slaves we have captured over the years.” After presenting a large amount of wealth, Saratos brought a large group of slaves before Hu Feng. “These Cave Dwellers are hardworking one by one, and can serve as labor for mining and building the city. It’s a pity that their combat power is too poor, and they have to consume a lot of food every day!”

Underground Cave Dwellers?

Hu Feng neither agreed nor disagreed, looking indifferently at the large mass of black Cave Dwellers.

These fellows, regardless of age or gender, were naturally hunchbacked, and their dark green skin looked strange, as if they were wearing a tight green coat. Although the number was huge, as many as over ten thousand, they were as docile as a flock of lambs, standing tremblingly in front of him, waiting for an unknown judgment. Although extremely nervous and scared, they all tried their best to hold back and not cry out, for fear of angering this legendary, incomparably evil Lich King.

“L… Lord, I… I am Elder Navia.” After a short silence, seeing Hu Feng standing on the Ferrari Chariot looking down without saying a word, a white-bearded old man walked out in fear. “Lord, I beg you, please do not give our people as prey to the Vampire King to become dried corpses. I beg you, we can mine for you, we can build tall city walls for you.”

Given to the Vampire King as food?

Looking at the many Cave Dwellers with pale faces from fright, Hu Feng smiled silently.

There was not a single Vampire Warrior in the Lich Castle right now, and even if a Vampire Squad was formed in the future, they wouldn’t necessarily have to take blood from living people, let alone massacre so many ordinary people at once. Rumors were rumors; it seemed that Lich King Ovisis was a Great Demon Head in the eyes of many people before, his evil name spreading far and wide.

“Sorry, the meat of you Cave Dwellers is too tough and the blood too fishy; I’m afraid our Vampire Legion warriors have no interest in you.” Hu Feng paused, then continued: “However, our Lich Castle does not keep useless trash either. The Castle has endless manpower; ordinary Little Skeletons can mine and build city walls, and they don’t consume food like you.”

“Lord, as long as you give us a little food every day, that’s enough. We can build Magic buildings, we can farm, and even… even lead the way for you, deep into the underground palace in the depths of the Cursed Valley, to find the legendary imprisoned Dreadlord and countless treasures!” Seeing that Hu Feng seemed a little impatient, the Cave Dweller Elder Navia became even more anxious, gritted his teeth, and took out a mottled, broken sheepskin parchment from his bosom.

Leaving the familiar underground environment, the Cave Dwellers who had no combat ability could not establish a foothold in the dangerous Wasteland at all, and could only rely on a powerful force. Even if Hu Feng showed mercy, this group of Cave Dwellers would not live long. For the survival of the tribe, Navia did not hesitate to bring out the tribe’s greatest secret.

According to the legend passed down from generation to generation in the tribe, their ancestors built a massive underground palace deep in the canyon millions of years ago, storing a large amount of treasure and imprisoning a terrifying Ancient Demon God—the Dreadlord. It was said that if an ordinary person was breathed on by him, they would never be reborn; if they heard his roar, their Soul would be annihilated. No one knew the true face of this Demon God, and no one knew how terrifying he was! After escaping from the underground palace, the ancestors of the Cave Dwellers wandered in the canyon, never daring to return to their hometown deep in the canyon.

Dreadlord?

Hu Feng’s heart moved, and he took the ancient, mottled sheepskin parchment.

Every time his cultivation broke through a bottleneck, he would further merge with Ovisis’s Soul Imprint and gain more memories. According to the current memory fragments, the powerful mental fear Magic originated from a trace of the will of the legendary Dreadlord. If he could experience the Dreadlord’s roar up close and devour his intent, it was very likely he would comprehend the Great Fear Art, which was hundreds or thousands of times more powerful!

“Cursed Valley, ancient underground palace, Ancient Demon God… what exactly happened here millions of years ago?” Looking at the unfathomable grand canyon, Hu Feng pondered silently. After a long while, he led the massive Lich Legion and sped away. Behind him, many Cave Dwellers followed from afar under the protection of a squad of Skeleton Soldiers.