Chapter 325: The Usurped Vessel

Wang Yu and Sieg trudged across the desolate land of the undead plane, guided by the Crimson Mark curio. They were headed toward the corpse of the dead lich Varma, whom they had slain.

Varma's attack had been little more than a ripple in the vast lake that was Skyborne City. Given its teeming population, the city could hardly prevent all those who had grudges against its citizenry from boarding and stirring up trouble. Their only concern was ensuring that any such troublemaker would be swiftly pulverized by the city's alchemical golems.

Explosions caused by lab mishaps were hardly rare in the research sector. Even the structure Wang Yu had destroyed with a single dragonbreath had earned him no more than a symbolic fine.

The only incident that caused any real alarm was Varma's invocation of the Void Realm. A delegation from the Central Assembly had come knocking on their doors shortly thereafter, announcing that there would be heightened suppression against extraplanar incursion even in the outskirts of the city. They even offered Wang Yu and his companions compensation for not having prevented the attack.

All in all, the group had come out ahead in terms of funds, but that wasn't the point. The ambush from the Church of Dragonkind had served as another wake-up call—despite all their precautions, their safeguards were still lacking. Chief among their concerns was improving their ease of communication with each other.

Wang Yu and his allies had begun using the Prayer Network granted by the Lady of the Night. Unlike magical communications, communication via the Prayer Network was nearly impossible to intercept or detect. It was a secure channel for dialogue.

But there was still a flaw. Distance posed a problem. The Lady's power, stretched thin across such a vast expanse of space, could not maintain a stable connection to Skyborne City. They could only access the Prayer Network when her projection personally descended upon the city.

Hence, they had struck a bargain with her: she would appear once a week for half a day, allowing them to contact the Church of Nightfall and old comrades from the Nightblades.

But this too was proving inadequate. The inability to communicate at will was a critical flaw. That was why Avia had remained behind rather than head into the undead plane with Wang Yu and Sieg—she was working to find a solution.

Using "void-coding," she was developing a mechanism for direct communication with the Lady of the Night. A statue infused with divine power, much like what Noelle had used, could be crushed to instantly alert the goddess, who would then project her presence toward Skyborne City immediately.

Meanwhile, the Lady of the Night, having picked up a fair bit of related knowledge herself, was collaborating with Avia on optimizing the Tree of the Night. Wang Yu found himself quite curious to see what they would come up with.

"Almost there. Two or three more kilometers," Wang Yu said, narrowing his eyes. "Be cautious. That lich may be dead, but I suspect she laid plenty of traps to ensure the safety of her vessel."

He gauged the remaining distance by observing the glow and thickness of the red threads in his vision that came from the Crimson Mark.

Sieg nodded. "With your Chariot and this alchemical device, we should be able to dismantle whatever protections she left behind."

He set down the cloth bundle he was carrying, revealing a gleaming piece of alchemical machinery that he promptly activated.

A surge of chaotic magical turbulence erupted from the machine, rippling outward and disrupting all mana in the area.

Wang Yu summoned the power of the Chariot, scanning the space ahead for traces of defensive magic arrays. Sieg followed closely behind, the machine in his hands sending disruptive energy into the ether.

When Wang Yu's power detected a defensive array floating invisibly in the air, both of them halted. Sieg's device dismantled the outermost layer of the enchantment as they moved forward.

Arrays etched directly into space were susceptible to such interference: turbulent mana could cause their circuits to collapse swiftly. But this was only the outermost layer of defenses. Deeper in, the magic would be engraved on physical matter, which would require a different approach.

A few hundred meters later, Wang Yu halted again. Something felt wrong. A more careful examination revealed fragments of skeletal remains buried beneath their feet—common enough in the undead plane, but these had runes etched into them.

It was a clever disguise. Most would have missed it.

Fortunately, Wang Yu had ways to deal with such tricks. He extended the power of the Chariot and snapped the carved bone fragments apart with a series of sharp cracks. Without a medium to anchor them, the runes fizzled away.

They pressed onward. Varma soon abandoned any attempt at subtlety. Anyone who had made it this far, past two layers of magical barriers, was clearly here for one thing: her corpse.

They tore through an illusory veil to reveal their final destination: a grotesque altar assembled from the body parts of countless undead. Upon this grisly throne stood a withered corpse, silent and unmoving.

"That's it," Wang Yu muttered. "Doesn't look much different from a typical zombie, but it possesses a legend's power. This corpse is Varma's final layer of defense."

He examined the body more closely. Though it lacked any outward signs of grandeur, the lich's vessel exuded tendrils of frost thick enough to be seen with the naked eye.

Black smoke coiled around the bone altar, funneling into the corpse through its orifices. Without its phylactery, this was what kept the lich's body animated—a legendary husk sustained purely by the magic woven into its form.

"Keep it busy for me. I think I can deal with the vessel."

Wang Yu gave Sieg a brief glance before stepping forward, placing one foot into the area governed by the final defensive array. At the same time, he invoked Extrasensory Convergence.

The moment Wang Yu crossed the threshold, the array flared to life. The corpse lunged toward him.

Trailing black smoke and cloaked in a freezing mist, the lich's withered but still formidable frame closed the distance in an instant.

A withered arm lunged for Wang Yu's chest—only to be seized mid-thrust by Sieg's hand from the side. Dragon scales shimmered into view as fighting spirit surged through his veins. He had intercepted the lich's killing blow.

Unlike humans, the undead could alter their bodies far more freely. This body clearly possessed the durability of a legend. But in terms of raw strength, despite being powered by a magical array powering it, it couldn't hope to best Sieg.

Although Sieg's power was suppressed by the undead plane, the enhancement from his living armor allowed him to parry the lich's attacks without needing to assume his full draconic form.

The lich's skull twisted sharply toward Sieg. From its hollow sockets blazed black flames that churned with necromantic mana. A deathly, suffocating killing intent locked onto him. Its jaw creaked open, ready to unleash a torrent of breath thick with decay straight into Sieg's face.

The very next instant, the lich's jaw snapped shut with a jolt. Foul smoke hissed violently from its nose and eye sockets instead.

Sieg gaped at the corpse before him, which was billowing necrotic vapor from every facial orifice. It was absurd. This legendary body was behaving like a startled puppet. He nearly burst out laughing.

"Got it. I've taken over the body."

Wang Yu waved casually as he emerged from the state of Extrasensory Convergence. The lich's shell, now his puppet, copied the gesture and gave Sieg a little wave.

Without the lich's soul contained in its phylactery, the body had become a lifeless construct—which Wang Yu's Chariot could easily infiltrate and claim. And that was exactly what he'd done.

"It's powerful, no doubt about it. If that lich had brought it into the Void Realm with her, I'm not sure Avia and I could've held her off."

He made the corpse go through a few motions. Dry, skeletal limbs sliced through the air with explosive strength. Each punch cracked the air like a cannon blast. The shell's defense was likely that of a newly minted legend, while its power and speed rivaled that of a high-ranking grand knight.

"This is a fine piece of work... I'm almost reluctant to turn it into alchemical material," Wang Yu muttered, half to himself.

He had once commandeered the orc Emmon's body, but this was something else altogether—pure necromantic machinery, a vessel devoid of life. Easier to pilot, and there was no need to worry about harming the body's original owner.

"Well, don't get too attached."

Sieg grinned, watching Wang Yu tinker with the corpse.

"True. There's no way I could use it in a real battle anyway."

Wang Yu sighed and began walking the lich's body out of the magical array. The moment they crossed its boundary, the shell lost its supply of necrotic mana and crumpled lifelessly to the ground.

He could still drag the corpse around with the Chariot's power, but without ambient mana flowing through it, it was just dead weight. The shell's true strength required a constant influx of necromantic mana to function.

And that was something Wang Yu didn't have, especially not in combat. He'd have to recycle it. A pity, really.

After securing Varma's lich body inside a reinforced iron coffin, Sieg and Wang Yu left the undead plane. Without the pocket dimension of the Seed of Eden, they wouldn't be able to bring much back with them anyway.

The magician manning the Beacon Bridge stared in mild surprise as the two stepped out from the planar rift. He had never seen anyone use planar travel this often. Considering how expensive the process was, it wasn't something magicians did lightly.

"I'm planning to take the advancement exam at the Tower of the Scholar," Wang Yu said as they walked, "so I can get access to the library more easily—"

He suddenly stopped mid-sentence. Something had caught the edge of his vision.

High above, a burning fireball hurtled downward from the heavens at incredible speed. It crashed into the mountain range far below with a deafening roar. The impact carved out a massive crater. Sound waves echoed across the land; Wang Yu could hear the sound of impact even from afar.

Was that... a meteor?