Chapter 295: Undead Plane; Old Bones

"The fee to open a planar portal is 50,000 credits. Are you certain you wish to proceed?"

The magician standing before the enormous iron ring adjusted his glasses and cast a questioning glance at the four individuals in front of him.

Ordinarily, this question would be routine, but it was rare for such a small group to pay that steep a price. 50,000 credits was hardly pocket change.

"We're sure. Bring us to the undead plane."

Sieg nodded firmly. That was their goal. In the vast expanse of Skyborne City, there were only two places where planar portals could be opened.

One was their current location: the Beacon Bridge, freely accessible to all. The other lay within the tower of the Central Assembly, which was off-limits to most.

"The undead plane, eh? All right. Wait here—I'll initiate the connection."

The magician in charge nodded, headed toward the tower right next to the eponymous Beacon Bridge, a gigantic iron ring which allowed for transportation to extraplanar locales.

A surge of magic gathered and began flowing into the structure. The enormous iron ring buzzed to life, glowing as magical circuits within it lit up in sequence. Like a drill, the structure began to bore through the interplanar veil. As energy spiraled into the ring, the incessant hum of its vibration grew louder and louder.

A pitch-black sphere formed at the center of the ring. It slowly collapsed inward, releasing waves of pressure as a dizzying array of alien colors spread out around it.

The collapsing sphere seemed to transform into a curtain of iridescent fluid, filling the inner ring with a shimmering film of rainbow light. Its surface rippled like a restless sea in a strange, hypnotic pattern.

Opening a planar corridor was no easy feat. The barriers between the different planes were thick and resistant to penetration. Immense power was required to pierce through—so much so that draining all of a legendary mage's mana might not provide even a tenth of what was needed. The technical specialists of Skyborne City had devised a brilliant solution to this: synchronization.

They would first generate a massive spatial bubble, then push it against the barrier between realms. From there, they would gradually tune the bubble's properties—its spatial frequency, magic signature, and internal resonance—until it matched that of the target plane.

When the two aligned perfectly, the bubble could slip through like soap merging with water. The travelers would remain within the bubble and be carried safely across.

On their return, the travelers would enter another bubble to guide them back. These bubbles formed the bridge between planes that gave the iron ring its name.

The mathematics and calculations involved were nearly unfathomable, but luckily for Wang Yu, he didn't have to worry about any of that.

The swirling colors in the iron ring stilled. The curtain of rainbow light turned a deep, translucent blue. The portal had opened up.

"All right, the usual disclaimer," the magician said as he returned from the tower. "The undead plane is hostile to the living. Your powers will be suppressed.

"Do not antagonize any liches. They're not like the liches of our world—they're something else entirely. And don't provoke any skeletal serpents. Those exist solely to hunt the living..."

It was a standard briefing, and Wang Yu's group had heard it all before. But the last part was crucial.

"This is your return device. You have one month. Be sure to return to your entry point in the undead plane before activating this. The Beacon Bridge will then pull you back."

He handed Sieg a crystal sphere—their one-way ticket home.

With no further delay, the four stepped through the planar gate and vanished.

Within the bubble, Wang Yu could feel their spatial coordinates changing. Though none of them moved a step, their bubble was currently rocketing forward under the power of the Beacon Bridge.

"I'm losing sensitivity to magic—and my attunement to the void is weakening. Synchronization has begun."

Avia's voice echoed in the space. She could feel the bubble aligning with the undead plane, as well as the subtle yet growing pressure of its rejection settling onto her.

"Same here," Sieg added. "My physical strength and the fighting spirit in my draconic body are being suppressed. I don't know how much will remain after we arrive... but the magitech circuits inscribed in my flesh still seem stable."

The nature of the bubble was shifting to mirror that of their target plane—and the effects they would face once they arrived.

"Ah. My fire's gone out."

Noelle raised her hand and tried to ignite her cursed fire. A spark of viridescent flame flared briefly in her palm—only to vanish at once.

"That's normal," Sieg reassured her, patting her on the head. "The undead plane is highly resistant to vitality. Cursed Fire relies on burning life force, so it'll suffer the strongest suppression."

He and Avia then turned toward the last member of their group, Wang Yu. They'd already speculated about what would happen to him.

"I'm unaffected," Wang Yu said calmly. "All of my abilities are intact. Cursed fire, fighting spirit, my physical strength, even the Chariot—everything functions as usual, so long as it stays within my body."

He demonstrated by summoning a vibrant green flame in his hand. But when he flicked it away, it was snuffed out the instant it left his palm.

He, it seemed, was an exception. Sieg and Avia had anticipated this. Even their primary plane had shown no signs of rejecting Wang Yu's existence. The undead plane, strange as it was, clearly followed suit.

"It's a good thing," Avia said. "This means you'll be at full strength there, and likely the strongest among us.

"The undead plane's power level is far below our own. That's mostly due to the suppression. Even a legend would be brought down to the level of a grand knight. So you, Wang Yu, who are already a grand knight, should be more than capable of handling most threats."

Sieg didn't seem particularly surprised. After all, Wang Yu's body could even brave the void without any repercussions whatsoever.

"And alchemical tools won't be affected either..."

As they conversed and got used to their suppressed powers, the spatial bubble began to slow. The transition was complete.

Before them appeared a portal—an opening to a new world. Through it, they glimpsed a land of bleak decay. Ashen skies hung low over rotting plains, and a pale, wan light illuminated the crumbling ruins of a lifeless realm.

Wang Yu was the first to step through, planting his feet firmly on the soil of this deathly realm. He turned to scan the strange, unfamiliar land that now lay before them.

The bubble had deposited them in a mountain valley—an area that Skyborne City's Beacon Bridge had pre-identified as a low-risk region with minimal undead activity. That said, the absence of wandering spirits only made the place feel all the more devoid of life—if the undead counted as "life" at all.

Wang Yu looked up, seeking the source of the pallid light that bathed this world. Suspended in the sky was this realm's "sun."

The sun of the undead plane looked as though it were about to wink out. Its core had already turned pitch black, leaving only a faint rim of fire glowing around its edge, like a burning ring on the verge of collapse. It gave the impression that this world, too, teetered on the brink of utter extinction alongside its fading star.

Wang Yu swept his gaze around once more. There were withered trees scattered throughout the valley, their dry limbs clawing upward from lifeless earth—a sign that this land once bore life. Perhaps the plane had transformed into the undead plane as the sun dimmed and its warmth faded. It hardly seemed coincidental.

Behind him, Avia, Sieg, and Noelle emerged through the gate. Unlike Wang Yu, who felt nothing amiss, they were all visibly uncomfortable—the plane rejected them as the living, and as foreigners from another plane.

𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"My strength feels like... that of a novice magician at best," Avia murmured, gauging her diminished magic. Her mage-level power had been reduced to a fraction of its usual strength.

"Same here," Sieg said. "In full dragon form, I'd say I'd only be about as strong as a novice grand knight."

The stronger one was, the heavier the suppression—and Sieg, a legendary dragon, felt it worst.

"No matter," Wang Yu said. "We didn't come to fight. Our objective is to reach the location your sister's scale pointed to. Once we meet Aurelian, we can reassess our situation."

He glanced toward a distant ridge. There, hovering above the peak, were faint, ethereal figures—banshees, their forms half-glimpsed in the drifting gloom.

The ghostly women were out hunting. Below them, blue soulfire flickered within the sockets of skeletal undead. One by one, the banshees shrieked and shattered the skeletons, absorbing their soulfire with greedy wails.

Even in a land without the living, the cycle of predator and prey persisted—only now, the prize was soulfire, the essence that animated the dead.

Avia opened a gate to the Seed of Eden's pocket space, from which she summoned two alchemical motorbikes that they had prepared in advance. As purely alchemical constructs, they were immune to the realm's suppression.

The alchemical engines roared to life as the four of them sped off across the barren expanse.

The land was bone-dry, devoid of plant life and likely any microbial life as well. The wheels kicked up clouds of dust as they tore across the wasteland.

Prepared stealth enchantments and "Breath of the Dead" scrolls concealed their noise and presence, ensuring they wouldn't draw the attention of the realm's true denizens.

They weaved through desolate plains and rotting forests, avoiding ominous castles swarmed with low-level undead and graveyards from which zombies and skeletons ceaselessly clawed their way forth, clear signs of high-tier undead lords' territory.

Skeletal vultures circled in the skies. Corpsevine creepers slithered beneath the soil. All manner of undead pursued anything that moved. But none could match the motorcycles' speed. Wang Yu's group left them behind with ease.

One death knight gave chase atop an undead warhorse, leaving a trail of soulfire in his wake. He nearly caught up—until Avia dropped a third-tier spell, Crushing Boulder, directly onto the mount, toppling it. Before the death knight could even react, Wang Yu was already upon him, tearing into his soulbound armor with raw brute strength and dismantling it piece by piece.

Now, what remained of the death knight's gear was stashed safely inside the Seed of Eden as alchemical research material.

In this realm where his powers were untouched, Wang Yu was nearly unstoppable—as long as he didn't provoke the truly apocalyptic powers that reigned at the very top.

Even the infamous Abominations, dread beasts known for their overwhelming might, virulent toxins, and berserker rage, would likely meet a grisly end if they crossed his path. He'd probably tear straight through their bloated guts and burn them up from within with his regenerative, corrosion-resistant body.

After roughly a full day of travel, the group arrived at a secluded basin ringed by mountains. Strangely, no undead roamed the area, neither low-level stragglers nor elite sentinels. Not a soul stirred.

"This should be the place," Sieg said, dismounting. "Somewhere around here is a being who can contact Aurelian. We just need to invoke the secret phrase she left me."

He strode to the edge of the basin, his body swelling and transforming. Scales unfurled and wings extended as his draconic form emerged in full. Then, he released a deafening roar in the ancient language of dragons.

The basin trembled with a low, echoing rumble. An overwhelming aura swept out from the depths, so intense that Avia, Sieg, and Noelle felt their hearts seize. This pressure was that of a legend. Could a high-level undead lord have awoken?

Then, the ground cracked open. A massive skeletal form burst from beneath the soil. Torn, decaying wings flapped as it ascended into the air. Its bony frame bristled with jagged spurs, its eye sockets ablaze with brilliant soulfire.

It was a dragon, or rather, what remained of one. Its entire body glowed with an eerie, viridescent flame. The soulfire had fully merged with its bones, animating the entire frame.

This legendary bone dragon's name was, purportedly, Old Bones.