Chapter 26: Frank Encounter
There were no stars or moon in the night sky.
Linley, the undead archmage ‘Sesslar’, the Blackstriped Cloud Leopard ‘Blackcloud’, and Bebe moved through the dark alleys. Linley had also reverted to human form.
“Sssss –”
The tattered remnants of Linley’s pants were burned to ashes by flames. With a flip of his hand, a new pair of pants and a black close-fitting shirt appeared, and Linley quickly pulled them on.
“Hmm, this kid named Linley is more extraordinary than I thought,” Sesslar said, his green-tinged eyes fixed on Linley. He couldn’t miss what had just happened—Linley possessed a spatial ring.
Sesslar himself had one too.
He had obtained it over four hundred years ago while performing ‘undead enslavement’ in the Magical Beast Mountain Range. He had managed to make a long-dead skeleton tear through the earth and crawl out, and on that skeleton’s finger was a spatial ring.
Sesslar had been ecstatic at the time.
Based on his examination of the surroundings, he guessed that the owner of that corpse had likely fought a magical beast thousands of years ago, been severely wounded, fallen into a deep valley, and died there. Over the millennia, the terrain had shifted, and the valley had completely closed up.
For him, an undead archmage over eight hundred years old, having a spatial ring was understandable. But this young man before him was clearly not old—where did he get his spatial ring?
“Let’s move,” Linley said, dressed now, and gave a low command.
“Linley, I’m getting more and more curious about you,” Sesslar said, his smile as sinister as ever.
Linley turned his head and glanced at him. “Sesslar, remember this. From now on, without my permission, you are not allowed to call me by my real name. Just call me ‘Ray’.”
Sesslar raised an eyebrow. “I understand. You’re worried about exposing your identity.”
In truth, Linley’s name was somewhat known in other empires, but that fame came from the world of stone carving. Those who loved stone carving admired Linley greatly. A sixteen-year-old who could produce a work comparable to a master stone carver—how could stone carving enthusiasts not respect him?
Unfortunately, Sesslar, that old stick-in-the-mud, had no interest in stone carving.
They moved swiftly.
“Where are we going?” Sesslar asked in a low voice while maintaining a fast pace.
“Outside the city,” Linley replied calmly.
“But this isn’t the way to the city gate,” Sesslar said, puzzled.
“Do you have to leave the city through the gate?” Linley gave Sesslar a dismissive glance. Sesslar immediately understood Linley’s intention.
“But it’s not yet ten at night, and the gates aren’t closed. We could just walk out through the gate,” Sesslar quickly pointed out.
“I don’t know the strength of the Radiant Church in Cherd County City. There might be Church agents at the gate. If you go that way, they could recognize you. Remember, besides the six experts from the Church’s headquarters, there were others who saw you when you were taken to that courtyard today,” Linley said coldly.
Sesslar nodded.
When he had been escorted there, there was indeed a group of people in the courtyard, clearly the Radiant Church’s stationed forces in Cherd County City. There had even been servants attending to Lamperson and the others.
But Lamperson had been very cautious, worried that enemy agents might have infiltrated, so he had dismissed all the servants.
…
Linley and Sesslar soon reached the towering city wall. The wall, over twenty meters high, left Sesslar speechless.
“I can’t get over that,” Sesslar said bluntly.
As an undead archmage, his body was equivalent to that of a third-rank warrior. Jumping over a twenty-meter-high wall was impossible.
“Blackcloud,” Linley said, looking at the Blackstriped Cloud Leopard beside him.
“Roar~~” The two-meter-tall, four-meter-long, handsome black leopard ‘Blackcloud’ fixed its cold eyes on the undead archmage ‘Sesslar’.
“Get on Blackcloud’s back,” Linley ordered.
Sesslar didn’t hesitate and climbed onto the leopard’s back. Bebe, standing on Blackcloud’s back, shot Sesslar a challenging look, but Sesslar dared not provoke these two magical beasts.
He had seen their fighting earlier. With his judgment, this black leopard and the black shadow rat were definitely ninth-rank magical beasts. As an undead archmage who hadn’t summoned any undead, he wouldn’t dare provoke ninth-rank beasts.
“Let’s go.”
Linley pushed off the ground with his feet, shooting into the air like an arrow from a bowstring, leaping over thirty meters high. He easily cleared the wall and landed outside.
“Whoosh.” Blackcloud’s four legs pushed hard, turning into a black blur as it swiftly cleared the twenty-meter wall.
Outside the city, on the overgrown grass.
“Whew, this leopard is really fast,” Sesslar exclaimed, clutching his chest. He started to dismount.
“Don’t get off yet,” Linley said immediately. “Blackcloud, let’s hurry back.”
Linley cast the ‘Swiftness’ auxiliary magic on himself. He moved like a gust of wind, speeding toward the valley, with Blackcloud keeping pace beside him.
In just a few minutes, Sesslar and Linley arrived at the valley.
“From today on, you’ll live here. If you need to go out, it’s best to alter your appearance slightly,” Linley said calmly. Sesslar looked around at the scenery and nodded with satisfaction. “I love quiet environments. This place is perfect for my training.”
That night, Linley built a new wooden cabin for Sesslar.
Late at night, as Linley sat cross-legged on the grass in meditation, he noticed a thick aura of death emanating from Sesslar’s cabin. No wonder Sesslar liked secluded places—in crowded areas, he wouldn’t dare train so freely.
“Undead magic,” Linley thought, recalling what he had read about it, and couldn’t help but feel a chill of fear.
Undead mages generally grew more terrifying with age, as their spiritual energy became stronger. With enough time, they could subdue vast numbers of undead creatures.
“Back in that courtyard, Sesslar summoned only ninth-rank undead, but he probably has a sea of low- and mid-rank undead too,” Linley mused. He had heard that an undead archmage was equivalent to a terrifying army.
An undead archmage could directly summon hundreds of thousands of undead to fight.
On a battlefield, once enemies were killed, the undead mage could use ‘undead enslavement’ to control the corpses of the fallen soldiers, turning them against their former comrades. The undead mage’s forces grew the more they fought.
Of course, this was only possible if the undead mage had sufficient spiritual energy.
“And I’ve heard that undead mages don’t just rely on summoning and enslavement. They have other sinister and insidious undead spells too.”
The most infamous of these was ‘Plague’.
History recorded cases where a single undead mage had caused plagues that killed tens of millions. That was why, when Linley had discovered Holmer using poison mist, he had suspected Holmer might be an undead mage.
********
Early morning, just before dawn.
The undead archmage ‘Sesslar’ withdrew his spiritual energy from the undead he had attached to in the ‘Undead Realm’ and opened his eyes. A smile spread across his face. “Yesterday was truly my lucky day.”
“Not only did I regain my freedom, but I also subdued a Black Knight Captain in the Undead Realm. Losing a Golden-Haired Zombie was a fair trade.” Sesslar was very pleased.
A Golden-Haired Zombie was considered a ninth-rank undead.
But compared to that Black Knight Captain, it was much weaker. That Black Knight Captain’s strength was close to that of a Corpse Dragon—a peak ninth-rank undead.
Now, under Sesslar’s command, he had three peak ninth-rank undead creatures: a Corpse Dragon, an ancient Corpse Demon, and a Black Knight Captain. He also had two Golden Skeleton Archers and two Golden-Haired Zombies.
Three peak ninth-rank undead and four ordinary ninth-rank undead.
That was Sesslar’s strongest force, and the number of eighth-rank and seventh-rank undead was even greater. In the Undead Realm, a high-rank undead could enslave large numbers of low-rank undead.
For example, the two Golden Skeleton Archers controlled over five hundred thousand skeleton soldiers.
The Black Knight Captain also had some eighth-rank Black Knights under his command.
An undead archmage, especially one over eight hundred years old, was truly equivalent to a terrifying legion. That was no exaggeration.
“Hmm?” Stepping out of his cabin, Sesslar’s eyes went wide.
At that moment, Linley stood with his eyes closed, calmly treading on the surface of the emerald lake. He was as light as a feather, not sinking at all.
“What is this?” Sesslar was deeply shocked.
He knew Linley wasn’t a Saint-level powerhouse. Even in his transformed state, he was only at peak ninth-rank, and in human form, he was even weaker. Yet Linley stood on the water as if weightless.
“Mr. Sesslar,” Linley suddenly opened his eyes, a rare smile on his face. He walked across the lake as if on flat ground and stepped onto the shore.
“Now that we’re working together, I’d like to know some things about the Radiant Church,” Linley said directly.
Sesslar smiled and nodded. “I would have told you even if you hadn’t asked. But before that, shouldn’t we be frank with each other? I don’t know much about you.”
“Linley, full name Linley Baruch. Twenty-one years old. In human form, I’m an eighth-rank warrior. When I transform, I’m a peak ninth-rank Dragonblood Warrior. Below the Saint level, no one should be my match,” Linley said calmly, but his words were full of confidence.
A peak ninth-rank Dragonblood Warrior could already be considered invincible below the Saint level, especially with the Black Heavy Sword having reached the peak of ‘force’. Most importantly… Linley was also an eighth-rank dual-element magister. With magical enhancements, his combat power was terrifying.
“Dragonblood Warrior, no wonder,” Sesslar said, finally understanding that Linley wasn’t a dragonman. Suddenly, Sesslar’s eyes widened. “What did you say? You’re twenty-one?”
“What of it?” Linley looked at Sesslar.
Linley knew well that an undead archmage was an extremely proud figure. If he couldn’t fully win him over, their cooperation would likely be fraught with problems.
“How is that possible?” Sesslar was stunned, then burst out laughing. “Haha, unlike you, undead mages grow stronger with age. This year, I am eight hundred and sixty-six years old.” Sesslar proudly stated his age.
“Linley, you say you’re invincible below the Saint level, but I’m not so sure,” Sesslar said coolly. “My undead army numbers nearly a million, and I have three peak ninth-rank undead.”
At this moment, both were trying to assert dominance over the other. In truth, this was also a way of revealing their strength before cooperation, so they could work together better.
“Sesslar,” Linley gave him a cold look. “I admit that if I had to fight your undead army head-on, I couldn’t win. But I also have two peak ninth-rank magical beasts. And I forgot to mention… I’m not just a Dragonblood Warrior; I’m also an eighth-rank dual-element magister. Your human wave tactics won’t work on me.”
Sesslar was completely stunned.
A twenty-one-year-old reaching peak ninth-rank through the Dragonblood Warrior bloodline was somewhat acceptable.
But a twenty-one-year-old eighth-rank dual-element archmage was terrifying. Spiritual energy, the hardest thing for mages to train, couldn’t be faked. For Linley to have such powerful spiritual energy at twenty-one was beyond Sesslar’s imagination.
“Eighth-rank dual-element magister, at twenty-one?” Sesslar muttered. “Is this the greatest magical genius in history?”
Linley had become a seventh-rank mage at seventeen, the second-greatest genius in history.
But a twenty-one-year-old eighth-rank dual-element magister was the first in history.
“I became an eighth-rank undead magister when I was over four hundred years old,” Sesslar thought, comparing their ages, and was left utterly speechless.