Chapter 325: Usurping the Body, Meteor

In the Plane of the Undead, Wang Yu and Zig walked across the desolate, silent earth, following the guidance of the curious object—the Blood-Red Marker—toward their destination: the remains of the lich Malwana, whom they had already dispatched.

The attack from Valma had caused little stir in the Sky Mechanical City. The city was teeming with residents, and the Central Council could hardly guarantee that the enemies of every inhabitant wouldn't try to cause trouble; they simply ensured that anyone who boarded the city to commit sabotage was crushed by the alchemical mechanical legions.

Explosions caused by experimental accidents in the research district were frequent, and the building Wang Yu had destroyed with his dragon roar had ultimately only cost him a symbolic fine.

The only incident of any real consequence was the Ring of Gloom that Valma had used to summon the Void Spirit Realm. The Central Council staff who came to see them indicated that they would significantly tighten spatial restrictions in the suburbs, and because they had failed to prevent the opening of the Void Spirit Realm, they had even paid Wang Yu and his group a sum of money.

Between the expenses and the compensation, Wang Yu and his team had actually made a small profit, but that was not the point. The attack from the Dragon Cult served as a reminder that their current defensive measures were still inadequate; they needed to optimize their means of communication.

Wang Yu and his team could now use the prayer communication network through the Lady of the Night. Unlike magic-guided communication, this form was almost impossible to block and difficult to detect, making it an excellent means of contact.

However, there was a problem: due to the distance, the Lady of the Night’s power was greatly weakened when it reached this location. Wang Yu and his team could not use the prayer network directly; they required the Lady of the Night’s projection to arrive at the Sky Mechanical City before they could utilize it.

They had made an agreement with the Lady of the Night to visit for half a day each week, during which time they could contact old friends in the Church of Night and the Blades of Night.

As it stood, this was still unsatisfactory; the inability to communicate at any time was a major issue. Avia had not accompanied Wang Yu and Zig to the Undead Plane precisely because she was working on this.

By utilizing "Void Programming" to create a unique feedback loop directed at the Lady of the Night, and then crushing a statue used for releasing divine arts—much like Noelle had done—the Lady of the Night would immediately know something had gone wrong and quickly project herself over.

At the same time, the Lady of the Night, who had self-studied much in this field, was working with Avia to optimize the Tree of the Night Sky. Wang Yu was quite looking forward to seeing what they might produce.

"It should be around here. Another two or three kilometers, I'd guess. We must be careful; although this lich is dead, it likely set up quite a few defenses to protect its shell."

Wang Yu judged the distance to the lich's burial site based on the brightness and thickness of the red thread in his vision and warned Zig.

"Understood. Using your Chariot Force in conjunction with this alchemical instrument should be enough to crack the defenses the lich set up."

Zig nodded, set down the cloth bag he had been carrying, and took out the alchemical device to activate it.

Turbulent magical currents were released from the machine, spreading outward and throwing all stable mana within its range into chaos.

Wang Yu released his Chariot Force to probe for potential defensive magic circles in the space ahead, while Zig followed behind, using the alchemical device to create magical interference.

When the Chariot Force sensed the magical circuits laid out in the air, the two stopped. Zig used his instrument to dismantle the outermost defensive array before they proceeded.

Magic circles fixed in open space using solidified mana were highly susceptible to magical interference; once affected by turbulent currents, they would rapidly lose their efficacy. However, this was only the outermost layer; further in, arrays inscribed on physical matter could not be handled so easily.

After advancing several hundred meters, they stopped again. Wang Yu sensed something different. Upon closer inspection, there was indeed a problem: numerous scattered skeletal fragments were buried underground.

In the Undead Plane, this was nothing unusual, but the carvings on these bones were not normal. A clever disguise; it would be easy to overlook if one weren't careful.

This was easy for Wang Yu to handle. He extended his Chariot Force and snapped the bone fragments inscribed with the arrays. Once the carrier was destroyed, the arrays naturally lost their effect.

As they continued, the defensive measures left by Valma were no longer concealed. Breaking through the two outer layers of defense to reach this point was proof enough that their target was indeed the lich's shell.

They dispelled the illusory barrier, and the scene pointed to by the curious object appeared before Zig and Wang Yu: a pedestal piled and spliced together from the body parts of numerous undead creatures, upon which stood a withered corpse in silence.

"This is it. It looks no different from an ordinary zombie, but its inherent strength is already at the legendary level. The final layer of defense is the shell itself."

Wang Yu observed the corpse standing still on the pedestal of bones, confirming it was indeed Valma’s lich body. From its appearance, there was nothing particularly legendary about it, save for the visible, freezing mist constantly emanating from it.

Black smoke swirled incessantly over the bone pedestal, pouring into the corpse's seven orifices to maintain its operation in the absence of a phylactery. It was the final defense itself—a legendary-grade shell driven by magic arrays.

"Help me hold it off; I should be able to deal with this shell."

Entrusting the task of assistance to Zig, Wang Yu focused his attention as much as possible on his own body. As he stepped into the range of the final defensive array, he activated Focused Convergence.

"Whoosh!"

The moment Wang Yu entered, the array, sensing his presence, drove the corpse to charge forward with a roar. Trailing black smoke and radiating extreme icy mist, the lich shell was upon Wang Yu in an instant, its withered yet incredibly durable arm stabbing viciously toward his heart.

The icy mist rose with the shell's movement, climbing onto Wang Yu’s body and spreading rapidly, with frozen crystals coating his joints and hindering his movements.

"Bang!"

The withered arm stabbing at Wang Yu’s chest was suddenly caught by a hand reaching out from the side. It was Zig; dragon scales emerged, battle qi flowed, and he blocked the lich shell’s lethal strike for Wang Yu.

Compared to humans, the undead could modify their bodies more freely. The hardness of this shell had truly reached the legendary level, but as for output, it was somewhat lacking under the drive of the array.

Although Zig’s strength was suppressed by the Undead Plane, with the enhancement of the Nameless Magic Armor, he could block the lich shell’s attacks with relative ease without having to transform into a dragon.

"Heh heh heh!"

Blocked by Zig, the lich shell immediately turned its head toward him. In its withered, hollow eye sockets burned black flames formed from boiling undead mana. Dead, silent killing intent locked onto Zig, and its mouth opened, ready to spew corrosive undead breath into his face.

"Click!"

But the next moment, the lich shell abruptly clamped its mouth shut. The discharge of undead breath could not be stopped in time, and forced by the closure, it found another exit, streaming out through the nostrils and eyes.

Zig stared with a strange expression at the lich shell, which was frantically venting black gas from its eyes and nose. It was truly comical; for a legendary-grade body to behave in such a way, he almost couldn't keep a straight face.

"Done. I’ve taken over this corpse. These arrays are still providing it with power."

Exiting the state of Focused Convergence, Wang Yu waved his hand, and the lich shell mimicked the motion, waving at Zig as well.

Without the soul from the lich’s phylactery, this body was a dead object. To Wang Yu’s Chariot Force, it was an ownerless vessel that could be easily infiltrated and taken over, which was exactly what he had done.

"This body is indeed very powerful. If this lich had brought this shell along, I’m afraid Avia and I wouldn't have been able to hold out in the Void Spirit Realm."

Controlling the lich shell to perform a few movements, the withered corpse punched and kicked the air; the speed and force were astonishing. A casual straight punch could shatter the air with a sonic boom. Its defensive power was roughly early legendary, and its strength and speed were comparable to a high-level Great Knight.

"Good stuff. I’m almost reluctant to use this thing as alchemical material. If I could control this body in battle, it would definitely provide great assistance."

Wang Yu muttered to himself. Although he had tried taking over the body of the orc Emon, this shell, maintained entirely by magic and thoroughly dead, was easier to control without reservations—at least he didn't have to worry about hurting the owner, as they were already dead.

"Then you might be disappointed."

Zig said with a smile as he watched Wang Yu manipulate the lich shell.

"True. Even if I keep it, I have no way to use it."

Shaking his head, Wang Yu controlled the lich shell to walk out of the array's range with him. As the array no longer provided the shell with undead mana for power, it collapsed after only two steps.

The Chariot Force could forcibly keep the lich body moving, but it would have no combat effectiveness that way. The shell required a constant infusion of undead mana to exert its true power.

Wang Yu had no way to find that much undead mana for use in battle, so this thing could only be turned into alchemical material, which was a bit of a pity.

Having recovered Valma’s lich body and placed it into a specially made iron coffin, Zig and Wang Yu did not linger in the Undead Plane. Lacking the Eden Seed space, they could not collect many alchemical materials.

The mage responsible for operating the Beacon Bridge looked with surprise at Zig and Wang Yu as they emerged from the planar passage. It was his first time seeing someone use the passage so frequently; one had to know that opening it once was not cheap.

"I plan to participate in the identity upgrade assessment at the Tower of Seekers, which will make it easier for me to go to the library..."

Wang Yu mentioned his next plans, but stopped abruptly mid-sentence. His peripheral vision caught something, causing him to turn his gaze.

In the distant sky, a fireball trailing a tail of flame streaked across, falling at high speed and crashing into the ground, blasting a huge crater into the mountain below. The booming sound traveled across the vast distance and reached Wang Yu’s ears.

That was... a falling star?