Above The Sky
Chapter 635 - 635 598 I Have Teammates!

635: Chapter 598 I Have Teammates!

(2/3) 635: Chapter 598 I Have Teammates!

(2/3) Within ten seconds of the rapid exchange, Ian had slain Viscount Avak twice, but he was far from relieved.

Because he had already guessed the principle of the Viscount’s resurrection, he also knew that the number of times the opponent could be resurrected was probably in the hundreds, if not thousands…

What’s more, as the Viscount’s mastery of the Dead River Armament deepened, along with the full recovery of his strength, his power only grew greater.

There was now a bloody gash on the palm of Ian’s sword-wielding hand, and both his shoulders and spine felt numb, only for the Ghostly Regeneration Core to mend the wounds…

If it weren’t for his foundation as a Rock Cast Knight, he might have fallen into disadvantage during those few seconds and hundreds of full-force sword clashes.

Of course, in the end, it was his superior skills that prevailed, albeit by a narrow margin.

“What power?!”

At this moment, however, it was Viscount Awak, resurrected for the second time, whose heart was filled with terror: “I used the Dead River Armament, and even raised my fusion control rate to 78%, yet I still can’t defeat him in direct combat?”

“The Deceased Monarch can’t possibly be this powerful!”

Or could it be that this second Deceased Monarch was inherently in perfect harmony with the Dao of the Deceased?

With this thought, the rage in his heart began to swell abnormally.

Cursed Adalbert, if it weren’t for that soft-hearted fool’s imprudent rescue of the souls of those nameless subjects, the people of Avak Domain would not have died so tragically…

As the pilot domain, the plan was for everyone in Avak Domain to die peacefully in their sleep, their souls entering the Domain of Void and becoming his subjects—the true first Deceased Monarch!

He had been so good to the people of Avak Domain for decades, also to help them avoid an impending doom, the Lost Souls would surely understand him…

It was all Adalbert’s fault, that damn bastard!

Now, he couldn’t even become the second Deceased Monarch, unable to compete?!

Just now, it was just that the Dead River Armament had not yet fully integrated, soon, very soon, he would be able to wield the power of this final plan…

Dead River Unification, the power of the Lord of Lost Souls!

“Indeed, abandoning one’s own body to turn the souls of other living beings into ‘nourishment’ and ‘material’ for repairing one’s own soul…”

And at that moment, as Ian raised his hand, the cold light flickering along his blade and the Spirit Energy Radiance in the Ghost Valley Knight’s eyes reflected off each other.

He spoke solemnly, “The Dead River Armament…

is a war weapon activated by using people’s souls and tears as fuel, a most vile armament!”

Although he said this, Ian was actually relieved in his heart.

He had thought that a design based on the ‘Deceased Monarch’ as a framework would not be short of selfishness—Fiery Flame Land’s sense of morality had finally returned to the level he was familiar with.

Clearly, the principle of the Dead River Armament was also realized through the special structure of Artificial Souls.

It could turn the souls of all the deceased into a part of its own strength, and even make those souls the currency of its own life.

As long as there was a quantity of Lost Souls, the pilot of the armament would never die, only consuming the souls stored within the armament to resurrect the pilot once again.

Since the Spirit Substance and Origin Quality are essentially one and the same, the Dead River Armament can convert Spirit Substance into Origin Quality, repairing the soul as simply as if fixing an inanimate object, easily achieving ‘resurrection’!

Compared to the ‘Deceased Monarch,’ which turns itself into a refuge for protecting the Lost Souls, the essence of the Blood River Armament is to use countless Lost Souls as its armor of resurrection to protect itself from harm!

Even, it’s not just that…

because of the fundamental unity of Spirit Substance and Origin Quality, the Dead River Armament does not require the pilot to be strong or to have any ideological consensus in order to easily meet the basic conditions for a ‘Heartlight Body’ and condense the Primal Aether.

Every time the pilot is resurrected, they merge with the strength of other souls, becoming stronger themselves!

The same framework, but two different designs.

And it must be admitted that, in terms of sheer tenacity, the Dead River Armament is stronger than the Deceased Monarch…

At least, the Deceased Monarch doesn’t have a second life.

And Ian had seen that the most dangerous time for the Dead River Armament would probably be when the pilot was down to their last life…

At that time, the pilot, having merged all the Lost Souls’ fuel, would likely far surpass the Deceased Monarch in sheer strength!

“”

But no matter what equipment or inheritance, the most important thing is the person operating it.

“—Who exactly is this person?!”

On the other side, Viscount Awak’s heart was filled with shock.

He couldn’t figure out where such a nameless, unknown master had come from, and how he managed to guess the core principle of the highly classified Dead River Armament project in an instant.

If it were possible that Adalbert could still obtain a pardon from the Duke based on his own abilities and be just imprisoned in the Shadow Prison, then this kind of person must be eliminated at all costs!

But for Viscount Awak, who had already died twice, to continue fighting hand-to-hand with Ian was not something he had the courage for at the moment.

After reviving once more, he retreated rapidly, raising his hand in the process, and instantly, a dense blood-colored fog appeared on both the ground and the sky.

The crimson fog covered the sky and the earth, the light refracted and twisted by the haze, giving rise to eerie and terrifying colors.

And in such a nearly impenetrable fog, fully armed knights and soldiers’ phantasms began to emerge, an apparently infinite number of blood-colored phantasms coalesced into form in the blink of an eye.

In just a single breath, Ian’s eyes could see nothing but the Phantom Legion!

“What is this?”

Just as he was preparing to readjust the controls and charge back to tangle with Viscount Awak, Ian was startled, “You can summon a Phantom Legion too?

Well, it’d be weird if you couldn’t.”

Not only that, but from the fortress beneath Viscount Awak, suddenly windows flew open, and several dark muzzles of cannons were aimed at the Ghost Valley Knight, then unleashed several meters long arcs of lightning—Sorin Duke’s researchers and guards had also joined the fight!

Only a fool would take them head-on.

Ian’s form flickered as he used ‘Phantom’ to dodge the Alchemy Cannon’s attacks.

But the bombardment didn’t stop.

Alchemic Cannonballs crashed to the ground and erupted into large dish-shaped lightning arcs that shattered rocks and dirt, flinging debris and dust into the air and forcing Ian to constantly reposition himself, keeping him away from Viscount Awak and protecting the summoning of more blood-colored phantasms.

With the sky and the earth filled with various knights and soldiers’ phantasms, the situation turned in an instant; even with Ian’s abilities, it was impossible to pose a threat to Viscount Awak amidst the fortress’s defenders and the blood-colored phantasms, let alone kill him.

But.

Ian’s ability to overcome powerful enemies never just relied on himself, certainly not just on the Prophet and the Silver Chip!

But on the most powerful and formidable ability he learned in Terra World.

—He had teammates!

In the midst of the blood-colored fog, a faint blue light suddenly flared up.

In that moment when the light, like lightning from the netherworld, shone upon the land, Viscount Awak saw Ian cease his evasive movements.

Behind him, similarly, all sorts of figures densely packed the area.

Some were farmers, some were soldiers, some were carpenters and butchers, some were scholars and laborers…

They were the victims sent to the laboratories from the Avak Domain, or possibly from the entire West Frontier Plains.

Some were refugees, while others were volunteers who stepped onto the experimental platform for money.

They were ignorant of everything, their souls tumultuous, not knowing who their enemies were, who they hated, just mindlessly pouring out their destructive desires.

But when they learned that the root of all their suffering was actually these people conducting experiments on them, an emotion called ‘hatred’ and ‘resentment’ erupted from the depths of their souls.

This was their consensus, and it had been calculated from the beginning, to allow them to breed the Deceased Monarch.

But what of it?

Hatred is the oldest emotion, irrelevant of truth or fiction, especially when someone directs that hatred in the right direction.

All phantasms shared a common hatred towards the direction of the blood-colored phantasms, becoming Ian’s most solid support.