Translator:imperfectluckEditor:Kurisu
Saint rank, meaning entering the realm of the divine. Since it was called Saint, this
was a realm that the great majority of mortals would never manage to achieve.
Iron Bloodline, Copper Body, Silver Might, Gold Will, Legend Master, Mortal Saint,
Undying Myth, and Indestructible SemiGod. Those were the nicknames given to each
power rank for the mortal plane, as well as a way to separate how much personal
potential each person had developed.
Since the great majority of humans in the mortal plane were far too weak, this
power level ranking system was far too detailed in the weaker ranks, but overly
vague for the higher power levels. As the Elemental Tide increased at a furious pace
and average power levels rapidly rose, this power level ranking system would start
showing its outdatedness.
It was said that the fairies were in the process of creating a new power ranking
system. It was also rumored that the previously well-known Three Heavy Doors of
Myth, the hardest barriers to surpass in order to reach SemiGod, were each
becoming their own individual rank. But as for the Saint rank, the fairies only
separated this rank into True Saint and Almost Saint. And, the difference between
these was whether the Saint rank could create their own realm or not.
Indeed, just their own realm, not a Soul World. Even in the past, when the
highest-power-level individuals had far stronger foundations, only a minority of
Saint-ranked individuals would have Soul Worlds.
Legend rank was all about finding one’s personal path. And in the Saint rank, the
personal path had already been determined. One’s chosen personal path would now
have the power to influence the surrounding environment. Those with the strongest
will and belief in their personal path would even be able to create their Soul
Worlds.
Saints were far stronger than Legends at controlling the surrounding environment
and themselves. Perhaps a Saint wouldn’t have a large increase in mana or strength
compared to Legends, but the greater control over little details would allow them to
do three tasks simultaneously for the same amount of concentration as a Legend.
And, more importantly, Saints were finally getting into contact with ‘Concepts’, and
would become capable of performing deeds that went against physical or even
magical laws. And, the best example of this would be the most powerful Saint ranks,
who were capable of using their very willpower to change the world around them.
But in the current generation, as power levels were easier to achieve, so-called True
Saints’ personal realms were only much weaker editions of Soul Worlds. These Saints
were probably capable of no more than forcibly changing the four elements within a
limited radius around themselves in order to buff their personal spells and
techniques.
Using one’s willpower to directly change the world was massively different from
using willpower over the elements to change the surrounding environment. Since
they were so different, it was only natural that the former was far stronger than the
latter. It would seem that even though it became slightly easier to reach the
standard of Saint rank, the foundational natural law that “hard work pays off” would
never change.
Of course, there would still be new Saint ranks in this generation that could utilize
personal Soul Worlds. There would always be a few geniuses out there in any
generation. But, the great majority of new Saint ranks in this generation would likely
never create a personal Soul World in their lives.
“So, it’s quite normal that I don’t have a Soul World anymore.”
Indeed, my Soul World had now transformed into the bugged personal world of
Hell. Even though I had now reached Saint ranked, if you only looked at my personal
mana pool, the change wasn’t that big.
“But, don’t tell me that you don’t have a Soul World, Harloys.”
If it really wouldn’t improve my power significantly, there would have been no need
for me to forcibly improve my power level before the next big battle. Although it was
impossible for me to obtain another Soul World as I had my personal Hell world, my
magical pet could have her own Soul World!
Harloys, a former undead at the peak of Myth rank. Although I had never seen her
Soul World before, with her powerful will (due to her incredibly deep grudge against
the Elf Gods) and millennium of experience, it would be inconceivable for her not to
have a Soul World.
The magical pet contract would limit the pet, making her unable to be stronger than
the master. This ironclad law of magical contracts limited Harloys’ personal
development. But now that I had become Saint rank, she naturally entered Saint
rank together with me.
“...Yeah, I have one that can be used. But, I’ll be able to summon it one time at most
in this battle.”
I was immediately delighted to hear this. After all, a Soul World would be the
representation of an individual’s greatest desire and ideal. There were also plenty of
Soul Worlds that would be unsuitable for direct combat, such as Beifeng’s ideal of
all-encompassing love. Harloys’ personal Soul World’s information had never been
leaked. I had thought that it was because her Soul World was also unsuitable for
combat.
But, before I got a chance to ask what it was, a huge commotion started outside.
“The undead, the undead are coming!”
The undead arrived earlier than expected—on noon of the second day after their
vanguard was eradicated. As always, the undead flying units were the first to arrive.
They circled the air as if they were vultures heartlessly following people in the
desert—just waiting to enjoy your corroded flesh once you died, yet not intending to
directly attack you.
“Undead Winged Tribe, phantoms, bone dragons, flying zombies, undead aerial
knights, gargoyles, and so on. There’s really such a wide variety. It would seem that
Conservation brought the full forces of her Death Plane.”
The undead in the skies seemed like they could fill a museum. Of course, their power
level would also vary wildly. There were low levels like level 2 or level 3 gargoyles, all
the way to level 5 Legend rank bone dragons. And, there were also plenty of
powerful undead individuals that were Undead Thanes or Undead Lords.
I even saw a Desecrating Beholder amongst the undead. This was a gigantic undead
monster that possessed its own aura of despair, and it resembled a giant brain with a
single eye. It also had several hundred smaller eyes on the tips of each of its
tentacles, and each eye was glowing with a black light. These Beholders were almost
completely extinct in the mortal plane, and could only be evolved from the corpse of
a SemiGod individual.
It was said that each and every one of its smaller eyes was capable of casting magic
spells. Perhaps the smaller eyes would be unable to cast stronger magic spells, but
just one Desecrating Beholder would have the strength of an entire mage
squadron. And, the large eye right in the center was rumored to possess true vision,
curse, death beam magic, and all other sorts of powerful abilities. This one Beholder alone
would already be like a super mega cannon turret.
“Tsk, there’s even a divine mummy created from a God’s corpse? What generation
did this ancient artifact come out from?”
A divine mummy would easily reach the Calamity Rankings in the mortal plane if it
was set loose. But here, it seemed to be nothing more than an ordinary member of
the undead aerial forces. As Conservation was an Undead Emperor who ruled over
her Death Plane for a millennium already, the combat potential of her entire plane
now that she finally used her full forces was astonishing indeed.
“I shall share the world with all undead. The living in that world have beautiful souls
and delicious flesh. That world doesn’t have the despairing ice storms that don’t
adhere to any Concepts. That world only has lazy pigs that waste the gifts that they
have. Come, pass through this Dimensional Door and enjoy fresh blood and souls.”
Back in the despairing snow-white Death Plane, Conservation’s ethereal figure stated
her wish. Although she sounded emotionless as if she was reading a prepared
speech, the countless undead all rushed to enter the tremendous bone
Dimensional Door.
Although the undead there included subordinates under the Undead Emperor’s
direct control, there were far more free undead in the Death Plane. There were even
plenty of Undead Lords that ruled their personal little domains.
But, in order to pass through the Dimensional Door, they would all have to agree to
Conservation’s contract. These undead naturally all became Conservation’s slaves
and cannon fodder.
A black jade gargoyle was knocked out of the skies by one of Timlad’s modified
cannons. I immediately destroyed the black jade gargoyle’s soul and recorded its
demise in a memory crystal scene to play for all the defenders on the city walls. This
would help to improve the living’s morale.
Obviously, the unexpected Seeds of Holy Light spell had a far stronger effect against
bit weaker than expected. That was why there were so many assorted forces rather
than a focused army here.
“Maybe she values the top-level strength in her army and only sent a few strong
ones here as cannon fodder. That’s because she doesn’t know yet that you’re
incapable of using Seeds of Holy Light again. All she has to do is give a few verbal
promises, and she pulled so many undead over to be her shields and cannon fodder.
Such a great deal for her!”
“...Can’t you think a little more positively, Harloys?”
“I was worried that you would underestimate the enemy and suffer because of it.”
“Relax, you also know about my luck rating of E. I always consider the worst possible
outcome with every plan I make. Unlucky coincidences aren’t something that I
enjoy.”
As we chatted, I was asking Harloys if there was any method to directly win. But of
course, she denied this possibility.
The undead aerial forces’ arrival naturally raised the living’s vigilance. But, their
strange and assorted appearances were actually a type of disguise in and of itself.
Only experts on the undead would know that it wasn’t meaningful at all to judge
undead by physical appearance. Liches would barely appear different from a normal
skeleton soldier, and even Elite Abominations would be nothing more than ugly
corpses. Only the newest-born undead would look the neatest and most orderly.
And, this army that seemed like a random assortment would actually be much
stronger than the previous army of identical gargoyles and bone dragons.
The only part worth celebrating was that the undead seemed to be worried about
something. They hadn’t started their attack yet.
I understood Undead Lords’ personalities very well as I had to deal with so many
Undead Lords back when I was the overlord of Yongye’s Army. The great majority of
Undead Lords would be filled with negative emotions. Slaughter and bloodlust were
in their very natures. It would be natural instinct for them to rebel against orders.
The only reason that the Undead Lords here weren’t immediately attacking the fresh
blood and souls here would be because of Conservation having direct control over
this entire army.
“Since the undead army’s on guard and not attacking yet, it’s perfect because we
also need more time. Let’s put them even more on guard. Snap!”
I immediately acted on what I’d said. With a snap of my fingers, the floating fortress
Yongye City appeared once again. This time, it appeared right above Starwood City.
Although Yongye City’s current energy level was only just sufficient to keep it
floating, the undead wouldn’t know its current energy level. The moment that
Yongye City appeared, all the aerial undead immediately scattered and retreated
several kilometers. It was evident that their master, Conservation, had commanded
the aerial undead to temporarily retreat.
Seeing this situation, I heaved a sigh of relief as well. I was actually quite worried
that the aerial undead would constantly harass Starwood City. If that happened,
then the living would suffer quite some losses before the big battle even started.
“Come, take a look at this eternal and undefeatable Naxxramas!”
“I feel like you’re subtly jinxing yourself. Is that just my mistaken impression?”
“Cough, cough, aren’t I stalling for time here?”
And right now, I wasn’t stalling for time just for the sake of the reinforcements that
were coming. Right now, above the clouds, an adventuring team of roughly thirty
members was riding on top of a gigantic dragon lich’s back. This adventuring team’s
goal was the ruins from the treasure map!
It could be seen from the adventuring team’s appearance and equipment that all of
them were powerful warriors. However, there was an ordinary girl sitting on the
dragon lich’s head. Judging from how all the other members had her surrounded,
she was the most vital target for all the other members to protect.
Although the dragon lich was also undead, and although Winlair had already used death magic to conceal the scent of the living, he still carefully avoided all the aerial undead in the skies. However, Winlair’s constant changing of altitudes made the trip rather unpleasant for the passengers.
A certain Legend-ranked mercenary was already dizzy to the point of hugging a
dragon bone and holding on for dear life. A certain dark elf completely disregarded
her image as a beauty and threw up everywhere. A certain female human mercenary
screamed the entire way. There was only a certain baldie that stood on Winlair’s
head, looking more and more relaxed as he observed what was before him. His
boiling blood seemed to be a prediction of his future fate.
But, what was surprising was that the ordinary girl was quite clear-minded. Her
adopted father helped her to get used to the jarring ride on the dragon lich, as
images of the past scholars’ generation kept flashing in her eyes. And, Katerina, who
had zero combat ability, was the most critical key for this trip!

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