Novel Bin Chapter 252 - 252 Phylactery
The Lich, who was commanding the dead to collect the remaining Void Dust after the Lunar Monsters had dissipated, turned to William with his empty eyes. “How can you still be so optimistic when the difference between friend and foe is so great?”
The Seven Calamities had just been defeated, but the damage they had caused had shaken the foundation of Currere. The World Shell that protected Currere was now unstable, causing the worst Moon Realm crisis in the history of Vic Continent.
Anyone who knew the true extent of this crisis would not be optimistic enough to consider matters after the crisis was resolved.
“It’s because of this huge disparity between friend and foe that despair will consume us first,” William replied. “I know very well what terrifying choices people who fall into despair will make in the end,” William replied.
Nehe, also known as Frost Lich and the third Judge of Judgment, twitched his face muscles and gave a bitter smile.
The Void Sovereign’s probing attack was enough to make the already large-scale Doomsday Watchers find it difficult to resist. At the same time, the many kingdoms on the Vic Continent were still fighting over petty benefits and suffering from internal strife, completely unaware that a storm of destruction was imminent. Some even believed the Void Sovereigns’ bewitchment and publicly spread Moon Realm worship in their territory, choosing to side with the Moon Realm.
No matter how optimistic the Presiding Judge was, he had to consider more realistic problems.
However, after a moment of silence, Nehe replied, “If… I can eventually live until the Moon Realm crisis is resolved, I hope to return to Ravenwood’s Holy Tree City and become a druid priest to Matriarch again. However, I don’t think this will be possible even if I can live until then.”
The Forest Elves loathed the undead that straddled between life and death, and the thought of a lich serving as a priest to their Matriarch was unbearable.
As Nehe spoke, he froze his undead with ice crystals, storing them in his inventory.
Nehe was a necromancer unlike any other. He didn’t just take whatever corpses were available in battle, like many of his peers. No, he was meticulous in his choices, carefully selecting the undead he controlled. And once he was finished using them, he would freeze and preserve the corpses, using life spells to keep them from rotting until they were needed again.
Some might say this was a waste of time and resources. After all, necromancy spells were cheap and easy to replenish with large quantities of raw materials. But Nehe didn’t care what the others thought. He had his own way of doing things. Even some magic chanters among the Judges complained about him. They said it was better to focus on summoning spells than to use necromancy spells like Nehe’s.
William understood why the other party did so.
After all, Nehe was once a Forest Druid, a champion of life and circulation. How could he stomach the corruption of constantly reanimating the dead?
As Nehe finished his work and let out a sigh, William, the Presiding Judge, couldn’t help but understand. Even though Nehe was now a lich and no longer needed to breathe, he still held onto his past habits.
Nehe said, turning to William, “Presiding Judge, if I am not fortunate enough to live until the end, I have one request of you. When I die, please do not revive me through my phylactery. Instead, scatter my ashes at the feet of the World Tree.”
…
William’s body reacted before his mind could process the last few words. He stood up, staring at the towering Forest Elf with a livid expression.
“That phylactery… where did you get it?”
Nehe’s phylactery was the final quest in his personal quest line in-game.
A group of necromancers had stolen it, using its power to commit a series of terrifying crimes that nearly caused the Rotten Moon Tide of the Undead 2.0.
At the end of the quest, the Judges had destroyed the contemptible Necromancer Association and recovered Nehe’s phylactery.
As a player, William had a choice. He could return the phylactery to Nehe, causing the other party to destroy it and commit suicide a week later as atonement. Or, he could throw it into the sea without Nehe’s knowledge, leaving him to live with guilt for the rest of his life.
William had wanted to keep Judgment complete after the game ended, so he had chosen the latter.
If he had known he would transmigrate to this world, he would have respected Nehe’s will and chosen the former.
Ever since he transmigrated, William felt he had let Nehe down the most among the 12 Judges. His selfish choice had caused Nehe to suffer in guilt and pain.
So, when he learned Nehe had been killed in battle with the Tacma Church hundreds of years ago, he had secretly sentenced the oldest magical research parish to death.
No matter the Tacma Church’s noble reasons, no matter how valuable their research was, no matter if they could have been his partner, the fact that they had killed Nehe was enough for William to want to destroy them completely and leave no one alive.
He wasn’t sure if this desire for revenge stemmed from his regret and dissatisfaction with his former actions.
Before the phylactery was destroyed, Nehe’s will would be imprisoned and suffer eternal loneliness if it was destroyed.
William tried not to think about how many years Nehe had already suffered, or how many more to come if he couldn’t recover the phylactery.
William’s excitement hit new heights when the person in front of him revealed that he had Nehe’s phylactery.
The surge of mana and his elevated emotions ignited supernatural phenomena around him,
with lightning dancing and crackling on his fingertips and a small cyclone forming, blowing away nearby decorations. If not for the barrier blocking fire magic, the entire temple may have gone up in flames.
Ebony felt a dangerous aura emanating from the thin human in front of him, activating the tattoo of the Beast Spirit on his body.
It sent shivers down his spine, as if he could hear the sound of a wild beast sharpening its claws in the night. His muscles tensed and his back straightened, ready to fight or flee at a moment’s notice.
What’s going on? The conditions I offered should be generous enough… why is he turning hostile after I spoke?
The souls of several wild beasts began to take shape around his body, with the power of the World Tree also connecting to his ether domain, constantly filling his life force.
Fighting the Matriarch’s Listener in the Holy Tree Matriarch Temple was a death wish, no matter how you looked at it. Ebony knew that if he fought at full strength, even several Divine Realm powerhouses wouldn’t be able to defeat him, blessed as he was by the Matriarch Herself.
But his gut told him that if the other party truly attacked him, he would most likely die.
“I’ll ask again. Where did you get the phylactery you mentioned?” the terrifying man in front of him growled, completely ignoring the beast spirits surrounding them.
“I can’t say where it came from because of a confidentiality contract… But as long as this thing is real, you don’t care about its origins, right?”
Ebony struggled to speak under the man’s powerful pressure.
William seemed to calm down slightly at Ebony’s words. He consciously suppressed the magical phenomenon caused by his emotions and took a deep breath.
“Show me the reward you promised first,” he said. “If those are true… I can have you sitting on the throne of Holy Tree City by next week.”