Where Did This Undead Archmage Come From?!

An Officer who was at least a Level 3 Extraordinary, one of the top six figures in the base.

A tactical squad of Sword Bearers, armed to the teeth and born specifically to deal with Extraordinaries.

Plus, the Commissioners brought by the dozens of officers, and a Sword Bearer Captain of unfathomable depth.

--Accompanying the carpet-style search, their Heavenly Net had already been unfurled.

The lineup was luxurious, suffocatingly so.

One had to admit, Bai Zhou did not have the strength to deal with them.

He was even vaguely trapped in the shrubbery, not daring to act rashly.

Under their encirclement, unless he remained hidden until they left on their own...

Otherwise, Bai Zhou did not even have much confidence in escaping from here.

--But, he had no intention of running either.

These people were coming for him; there was no reason for innocent people to be implicated because of him.

At this moment, Bai Zhou was actually willing for Old Qiao to tell them everything about his affairs.

In any case, they were just casual acquaintances; it was no big deal.

But the problem did not lie there--

Because Bai Zhou saw the undisguised arrogance of the Officer, and he also saw the Sword Bearer Captain's attitude shift from concern to indifference.

A familiar feeling surged into his heart--

Bai Zhou immediately understood that if these people could not find him today, everyone would likely be taken away as collateral.

Therefore, even though it completely contradicted his usual cautious style of doing things...

He knew he had to stand up.

After all, he was an Adventurer.

--There had always only been stories of Adventurers accepting quests from villagers to eliminate Demonic Beasts.

There were no records of Adventurers sitting idly by while Demonic Beasts slaughtered villagers.

Even if the Adventurer held only the rustiest sword in the village, or a tattered, dull lance... even if the opponent was a roaring dragon.

...Fortunately, he was not without a chance of victory.

--Before a battle, leveling up on the spot was quite common for an Adventurer, right?

"Rustle..."

Taking advantage of the conversation between Old Qiao and the Officer, the shrubbery swayed imperceptibly.

Bai Zhou lowered his head to glance at the time on his Wristwatch.

"23:59:57."

Midnight was approaching.

Through the shrubbery, Bai Zhou took one last deep look at the crowd in front of the Unfinished Building.

He pulled out the Dead Sea Scrolls with one hand and the Jurassic Pass with the other...

"See you in a bit."

He silently dropped this line in his heart as he injected Spirituality into the pass.

In the next instant, Bai Zhou vanished from the shrubbery at 00:00.

--He would return at 00:00:01.

"Hum!!!"

In the distance, the Mysterious Compass suddenly flared with light, vibrating incessantly.

The Sword Bearer Captain jerked his head up to look around, his eyes filled with horror.

"Someone nearby just used Spirituality!"

"It is..."

He whispered in shock and uncertainty, surprised and confused, "It seems like someone... went to the Reflection Ruins Realm?"

A crimson crescent moon hung high in the sky.

An inverted Giant City floated beneath the moon.

"Rumble--"

Above the boundless Battlefield Ruins, The Skeleton Great General, along with his Thousand Armies, thundered past with great fanfare.

The Skeleton General, who rode his flying horse daily to lead his army back and forth between Heaven and Earth, had turned this into a fixed routine.

--It was as if even he was about to forget the meaning behind it.

"Crack, crack."

He scratched his finger bones against his smooth, bald skull.

The Skeleton Great General reined in his horse and raised his sword.

His jawbone opened and closed, emitting a crisp "click-clack" sound.

With a solemn tone, as if immersed in some glorious fantasy he couldn't escape...

This mad skeleton, whose mind was ninety percent unsound, exceptionally skillfully shouted his 108,000th slogan:

"My Undying Legion--"

"Follow behind me, step by step, my army advances!"

Behind him, densely packed were skeletons and zombies, clad in armor, holding swords and spears.

This was his "army."

But this army was crooked and askew. Upon closer inspection, they were strung together by a whip that seemed to stretch endlessly. They stood crookedly, missing limbs.

A few heads dangled on the collarbones of their "comrades," their discipline utterly lacking.

When the wind blew, their bones creaked as if about to fall apart.

"..."

Everyone remained silent, clearly finding no resonance with the General's grand aspirations.

But the Skeleton General was quite pleased.

"Slap"--

He suddenly cracked his whip.

He hadn't controlled his strength well.

"Crack!"

A crisp sound came from his right side.

A young skeleton, strung at the front of the line, whose neck was already unstable, had its head knocked off.

The skull rolled down the dirt slope like a ball, its empty eye sockets blankly gazing at the shattered sky illuminated by the Blood Moon.

"...?"

The Skeleton General's speech came to an Abrupt Stop.

Immediately, he covered his embarrassment with an even louder voice, "Hahaha! Fearless Vanguard! So eager to charge into battle?"

"What valor! All generals should take him as an example!"

Saying this, he rode closer, attempting to casually hook the head back with his long saber--

He didn't reach it.

Just as he was considering whether to condescend to dismount...

"Huh?"

A wisp of Black Qi, without any warning, emerged from between his finger bones.

Then came more.

These strands of Black Qi, light as mist, yet deathly cold and filled with ill omen.

They seeped out from every crack in his bones, rising upwards.

"What is...?"

Something was draining away from him.

--Undead Death Qi!

The Skeleton General turned his head and found it wasn't just him.

More, and denser, Black Qi was emerging from every skeleton and zombie.

Each corpse was like a chimney, emitting large plumes of black smoke.

The endless Black Qi rolled and surged towards the sky.

"Who is collecting the Undead Death Qi?"

What could this stuff... be used for?

The Skeleton General looked up in shock.

The black qi swirled as it flew into the high sky, converging together.

"Hoo—"

The wind had risen.

Beneath the Blood Moon, upon the desolate plain, a massive, sky-obscuring black vortex was taking shape!

The hurricane, formed by the gathering of Undead Death Qi, dimmed the blood-colored Sky Light.

Sand and stones flew, ghosts wailed and wolves howled; the gale blew so hard that the Skeleton General's bone frame creaked and rattled.

In the distance, at the edge of the blurred horizon—

a figure appeared, walking within the eye of the black hurricane.

That Person seemed to be holding a book, looking like a scholar at first glance.

Yet, vast billows of black smoke covered the sky and earth, and in a trance, one could even hear sinister, cackling laughter.

—He didn't look like a good person no matter how you viewed him.

"That is...?!"

The Skeleton General raised a hand to shield himself from the black wind, peering at the newcomer.

Feeling deeply puzzled, he couldn't help but exclaim aloud:

"—Where did such an Undead Archmage come from!"

As the wind grew stronger and the terrifying suction intensified, the man surrounded by rolling, Pitch Black death qi drew ever closer.

—Death qi was leaking out; the visitor meant no good!

When he finally saw that delicate face hidden by the black smoke...

Suddenly, the ghostly green flames in the Skeleton General's Eye Sockets began to flicker violently.

They were like candles swaying in a hurricane.

"Is it..."

"That kid from last time?"

That kid named Bai Zhou was the center of the black qi hurricane?

Was he absorbing and refining the Undead Death Qi from his own body?

—How could that be possible?!

He thought he had seen wrong.

But soon, he had no more doubts about the newcomer's identity.

Because that person was actually standing in the center of the howling black smoke, waving at him from afar!

...As if an Old Acquaintance were reuniting.

In the distance, the moment Bai Zhou saw that familiar, greenish skull, he revealed an exceptionally pleasant and brilliant smile.

It was as if he had seen a treasure waiting to be unlocked.

That look in his eyes clearly said—

[Finally found you!]

Amidst the atmosphere perfectly set by the death qi hurricane, his clear eyes blinked brightly.

Bai Zhou even enthusiastically greeted this familiar general.

"Good evening, General!"

He said, "—Long time no see!"