The witch thought I am a Demon God
Chapter 759 - 401: The Origin of the Soul of Darkness_2

Chapter 759: Chapter 401: The Origin of the Soul of Darkness_2

"King of the Ancient Tomb, you seem worried about something. I always enjoy helping others, especially great individuals like yourself."

The King of the Ancient Tomb turned his head and found that the words were, shockingly, from a puppet in the mountains.

The puppet had hundreds of invisible silver strings on its back. The strings pierced into the void, as if someone was manipulating the puppet through space.

Turning to face the puppet, the King of the Ancient Tomb said, "So, you’re the one who assassinated the Duke of Lombardy and a dozen of his successors, right?"

"Indeed," the puppet replied. "But I consider it as doing you a favor."

"You’re a foreigner with ill intentions, yet you had the audacity to come to me without showing your true face. What is it you want?" the King of Ancient Tomb asked.

"I’m conducting an experiment that requires sufficient chaos. So far, your performance has satisfied me," said the puppet.

"Moreover, our temporary goals are aligned."

"Let’s collaborate."

"I’ll lend you enough power to deal with those Iron Crown inheritor candidates!"

Instead of directly refusing or accepting, the King of the Ancient Tomb asked, "And how would you lend me such power?"

"Judging by your laughable little puppet?"

"Don’t underestimate it," the puppet asserted mechanically. "If needed, it can stay here, loaned to you. Its importance is far greater than you think."

"That being said, I can give you enough living people to turn into zombies, thereby increasing the size of your zombie army. I already protected several cities for you at the beginning of this national chaos. I can share their coordinates with you."

The King of the Ancient Tomb asked, "If that is the case, it would indeed be of help to me. What do I need to give in return?"

"Nothing," the puppet answered. "I am not concerned with what you do. But I need to know, what are your thoughts on the Iron Crown inheritors, aside from your determination to prevent anyone from inheriting the Iron Crown?"

After some consideration, the King of the Ancient Tomb said, "Even without conflicts of interest, I despise them. They are merely a bunch of outsiders invading our nation greedily in search of their own personal gains."

"Allowing them to inherit the Iron Crown would be the most disgusting decision."

The puppet fell to the ground. "That’s excellent. We now share a common topic. Do as you wish. The coordinates you need are inside the mechanical box in the puppet’s abdomen."

The King of the Ancient Tomb bent down, suspiciously looking at the puppet that was no longer manipulated by anyone.

Why was it helping him?

If he were to gain zombies from a few more cities, he would undoubtedly seize this country.

If he were to seize the country, he would certainly expel every foreign invader, including the puppet-master who had just fallen.

The question it asked confirmed his extreme xenophobia.

Yet it was more pleased by it.

The King of the Ancient Tomb thought for a moment and decided to stop overthinking.

His primary goal right now was to kill the Iron Crown’s heir candidates.

...

Two hundred meters away, Duravin exhaled, "Phew~ It’s a good thing we didn’t fly directly up the mountain. The whole place is swarming with zombies."

"It’s such a hassle. The mountains are filled with zombies and the desert is crowded with monsters and god children of the three-headed black sheep. Inheriting the Iron Crown is quite the pain. The biggest problem is, we don’t know if it’s even possible for nobody to inherit the Iron Crown."

"Those who invade this land will die."

"Cheer up, sir," a knight riding on a griffon next to him said. "You are the third son of the Emperor of the Holy Empire. You have the power to mobilize resources. We can seek support from the Empire or form alliances. The lad in that Elephant Divine Weapon seems like a disposable pawn we could use."

Duravin responded, "We need to find more scapegoats. Let’s go; we will retreat to the desert for now."

...

In the second basement level of the ancient library, Ivita had spent another month. Finally, she had finished reading one thousand spell books on the second floor.

The portal to the third floor had been opened.

It was a blue gateway brimming with powerful magic energy.

The Treasure Chest Monster was trembling as it watched Ivita. In this past month, she astonishingly finished reading the best few hundred books on the second floor.

It watched Ivita disappear into the portal, as if an anomaly had left its side, pacifying it and returning it to calm.

And on the third floor.

Ivita swept her gaze across her surroundings, discovering that the third floor was much larger than the two above. But most importantly, the bookshelves on the third floor were no longer made of wood, but iron.

All of the books were locked with iron chains and locks.

An Iron Maiden placed at the center of the library painted a picture of chilling horror. One could not help but wonder who had been imprisoned here for a millennium.

Ivita glanced and confirmed, indeed, there was a corpse inside the Iron Maiden.

The Sect Hierarch of the Sun God Sect, not knowing about Ivita’s disposition, tentatively suggested, "Master, would you like me to get the books from the shelf? There might be some defensive magic spells on them."

Ivita gave her a look. "There’s no need for such trouble."

Having read tens of thousands of magic books, Ivita’s understanding of the Light Soul was much deeper, and her overall strength had greatly increased from before she entered the library.

She used the Light Soul to scan the rows of bookshelves, testing for all potential defensive magic but without disrupting any of it.

Ivita floated over with the Cloak of Destruction, picking up one of the magic books. "The Defects of Ancient Magic."

Upon opening this book, Ivita immediately felt dizzy, her head heavy and clouded.

She used the Light Soul to swipe over herself and soon recovered.

"This is a book only for the Witch Marquis and the Queen."

"You, close your eyes. From now on, no matter what you hear, do not open your eyes, otherwise you will be in mortal danger."

The Sect Hierarch of the Sun God Sect hastily covered her eyes with her hands.

She had stolen a peek at the magic book in Ivita’s hand. And then it felt like the heavens and earth were turning upside down, spinning chaotically.

Ivita didn’t have time to pay her any mind. She concentrated on the magic book in her hand. This book was actually discussing the common flaws of all ancient magic and predicted that in the future, Black Magic with fewer side effects, but also less power, would appear.

Just like the Sun Magic, which the Sun God Sect had cobbled together from various ancient magic books, its essence was actually ancient magic.

That’s why, in the end, a three-headed Black Sheep was summoned.

Ivita began to ponder, "So that’s how it is. Ancient magic is more prone to attract beings from the void that are even more terrifying than demons."

"After being reformed by the three great Witch Kings, Black Magic lost many such dangers. However, there is still risk, which is why the Hearthstone Witch mistook my identity."

A voice emanated from the Iron Maiden. "Is this really okay? The other inheritance candidates have already made their way to the Iron Crown Mountain range. Perhaps by now, they’ve already decided who will be the successor. Yet here you are, still in this library, wasting your time among these old papers."

"Time here on the third floor isn’t frozen. The passage of time here is now the same as outside."

Ivita didn’t turn around.

The moment she arrived at the third floor, her extraordinarily strong soul of light sensed the presence of demonic power inside the Iron Maiden.

It appeared that this demon had been treated like a criminal, nailed into the Iron Maiden, and had been there for a millennium.

All this time, it had remained on the very bottom floor of the library, with no one coming to see it. Its movements restricted, it stayed in the cold Iron Maiden, waiting in the library for the arrival of an heir.

Ivita picked up the second book, whose title blatantly read, "The Origin of the Soul of Darkness."

"More haste, less speed. The more you want something, the less you should rush to go after it. The number of heir candidates is too high, the situation too complex. I’d rather sit here and read."