Volume 2, Chapter 76 – Sargus’ Unusual Behavior

“About the Graveyard players’ situation… I believe that this incident, where players are turning into undead, is absolutely not a coincidence. There is no way this game is as simple as it appears on the surface. I think this game hides secrets that no one knows. Although this is only my speculation, I suggest everyone think twice before deleting their accounts and restarting…”

At first glance, it only seemed like a message meant to persuade the Graveyard players who were in the middle of deleting their accounts.

Of course, by this point, nearly everyone affected by the undead transformation wasn’t in the right state of mind to care about what Yunchou said. On the contrary, even more players hastened the process of deleting and remaking their accounts.

Still, most players quietly remembered Yunchou’s words about the game.

After all, from what had already happened, it was clear that this game was anything but simple. A game that could directly affect players’ physical bodies in the real world, how could that possibly be “just a game”?

And when combined with how the world government had refused to intervene, brushing everything off and shirking responsibility, it only further proved that there was something strange about this game.

But the players in reality were not the only ones affected by this incident. The impact had also reached deep into the game world itself, into the Graveyard.

When the Grand Duke of the Undead, Sargus, returned to the Graveyard’s main fortress, he had barely sat down before one of the Death Knights responsible for relaying orders came rushing in.

“My lord… urgent report.”

Once Sargus was seated upon the throne of the grand hall, the Death Knight knelt on one knee, bowing his head respectfully as he spoke.

Sargus, who had once again donned his helmet, sat motionless. Only the faint, eerie blue glow shining through the eye slits revealed that there was still something alive, or perhaps unalive, beneath it.

“What is it?”

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The Death Knight’s voice trembled slightly.

“Urgent news from the front. The outsiders we were using to command the mindless undead forces have suddenly all disappeared.”

“All disappeared?”

“Yes, my lord. For reasons unknown, those outsiders began committing suicide one after another, and then… vanished completely from our faction.”

“They suddenly committed suicide…”

Hearing that, Sargus fell silent.

Even though the Death Knight kept his head lowered while reporting, he could still feel the suffocating pressure radiating from the undead Grand Duke seated before him.

After a long silence, that oppressive aura around Sargus only grew stronger, colder, like death itself was leaking into the air.

“I understand. You may leave. Also, relay my command, summon all the Legendaries and withdraw our offensive forces. From this day forth, without my direct order, no undead is to launch any attack against the Strongholds or the Kingdom. Not even once.”

“Yes, my lord…”

The Death Knight rose, bowed deeply, and hurried out of the grand hall to carry out the command.

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After he left, the young woman who had been standing silently behind Sargus all this time, the True Ancestor of Vampires, Lilith, watched his back with a complicated expression.

“Is this really alright, Sargus?”

With no outsiders around, Lilith, the one known as the legendary True Ancestor of Vampires, addressing him by name was a rare thing.

What was even stranger, though, was that Sargus didn’t seem to mind her casual tone at all. Instead, he let out a soft sigh before answering.

“What must come will come, Lilith. Right now, I only want to save as many of them as I can.”

His words were difficult to understand.

“Save them”?

At this stage, with the Graveyard at the height of its power, such words sounded absurd.

After all, whether it was the Strongholds or the Kingdoms, they were both on the verge of collapse under the endless tide of Skeleton Soldiers.

That was why Lilith couldn’t understand.

“Sargus, haven’t we already secured a firm foothold in the Main World? As long as we follow the plan step by step, won’t the entire Main World soon belong to us?”

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She wasn’t wrong. According to Sargus’s original plan, the Graveyard’s invasion of the Main World was divided into stages.

At first, they only targeted two factions: the Kingdom and the Strongholds. Once those two fell, they would establish the Undead Empire, a nation belonging solely to the Graveyard.

That was to be the first step.

And the purpose of that plan was to make it seem to the other seven factions that the Graveyard only wished to create a foothold in the Main World, not to unify it.

Sargus knew all too well that this was the only way to avoid provoking all seven factions into uniting against them before the Graveyard could fully deploy its forces.

After all, in the Main Plane, every major faction already had its affiliated powers:

The Sanctuary had the Church.

Nature had the Elven Kingdom.

The Academy had the Magus Empire.

And Inferno controlled nearly all the underground dungeons.

Only the Graveyard had no such foothold.

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So as long as the Graveyard’s invasion appeared to be merely an attempt to establish a nation of their own, the Undead Empire, the other factions would tolerate it.

Of course, the Kingdom and the Strongholds being attacked were far from happy about it, but the others were content to sit back and watch, since the Graveyard’s war did not harm their interests. In fact, by fighting those two factions to the death, the Graveyard was also wearing itself down.

Thus, the other factions were more than happy to spectate.

“Yes, according to my plan, the Graveyard will soon establish an Undead Empire here in the Main World. I can wait. But… they can’t.”

Sargus sighed again.

“Eh? Sargus, what do you mean by that?”

“What do I mean?”

He raised his head slightly, his voice echoing faintly through the empty hall.

“This time, by calling them back, I just want to take them… home.”

“Let’s go back. If we stay here any longer, I have a bad feeling… that we will lose. Lose miserably. And the Graveyard… may never rise again.”