Chapter 454 An Undead Angel (2/2)

Rhode didn't search in the Lich's ashes as he knew that there was nothing left of it. Nothing could survive the pure flames of a Fire Elemental Lord, which was also something that Rhode was depressed about. From a living human's perspective, this grand victory was an encouraging one. However, from a player's point of view, losing two-thirds of his EXP and facing the threat of dropping a single level while being unable to obtain any equipment from the BOSS was an utter tragedy.

The worst thing was that, in future, he would lose much more if he wished to summon the Fire Elemental Lord again as he had utilized the two privileges granted to him. However, he was glad that the battle with the Country of Darkness would only happen next year and he had more time to reset the summoning cooldown. If not, he would be grieving badly now.

The group passed through the corridor in the central area and arrived at the palace located in the deepest area of the city ruins. This once glorious palace had lost its grandeur and sobriety, but was later redecorated with the Lich's strange sense of beauty. Fortunately, almost all of the odd furnishings had been swept away by Gillian's flames.

Celia and Celestina had returned into their cards. The former was recuperating after suffering a fatal blow from the Lich while the latter returned into her card instantly after the battle ended as she was extremely dissatisfied with Rhode's rude actions. She continued to ignore him no matter how hard he called for her.

The mission wasn't complete yet.

Rhode entered the palace and witnessed the filthy corridor under the bright, burning flame. There were bones, dilapidated putrid limbs, and revolting shoddy creatures soaked in crystal bottles scattered all over the place like a low budget, third-rate, sci-fi horror movie. Every Lich had a research field which they were experts in, and it seemed that this Lich was interested in the manipulation of creatures. If it were born in Rhode's human world, perhaps it would have been a promising madman in the scientific research of genetic modification.

Rhode turned his gaze to the mission details interface before him and the Castel Plateau Ruins Mission was still incomplete, unsurprisingly. This 5 Star Mission would require an item to prove its 100% completeness. Rhode would need the Necromancer's skull and teeth; however, as the BOSS had become a Lich that eventually burned into ashes, there was nothing for Rhode to obtain. In this case, Rhode had to obtain something else: the phylactery.

The phylactery was a necessity for a Lich on a journey as it would retain the Lich's soul forcefully in this world even if the Lich were annihilated. Given enough time to regenerate its soul, the Lich could revive and seek revenge on its murderers.

However, this Lich wasn't that fortunate because its soul had vanished in Gillian's scorching flames entirely before it had the chance to be reclaimed by the phylactery. This phylactery was now just a meaningless artifact and perhaps it would still have a chance to be used in explaining the spells of the undead creatures.

But…

”Hmm?” Anne stopped walking and pricked her ears with a puzzled frown. ”Leader, Anne hears something.”

”From?” Rhode questioned.

Everyone stopped moving as soon as they heard Anne's report. Although Anne was usually carefree about many matters, her hearing was much more sensitive than Rhode's and Gillian's. Gillian twitched her mouth with a look of disapproval before regaining her usual expression.

Rhode turned towards the direction Anne pointed to.

It was a room with a sealed wooden door smeared with vicious, profane patterns. A putrid smell assailed their nostrils through the cracks of the filthy, broken door. Rhode pondered for a moment before approaching the wooden door and pushed it open.

Then, Rhode twitched his brows.

As expected.

A naked Battle Angel stripped of all her majesty presented herself before them in a shameful posture with her four limbs bound and hung up by steel chains. A pair of shriveled bones expanded in place of the flawless, feathered wings and her ashen complexion made clear that she was no longer alive. However, her faint breathing seemed to deny this speculation.

Rhode scanned the Battle Angel and paused his gaze on her stomach.

Her smooth belly was bulging as though she were pregnant. Leaving the question about how Angels got pregnant to later, the strange lines slithering beneath this swelling skin surface proved that it was definitely not an adorable infant hidden within.

”Master, what did you find out?” Anne peeked her head out from behind Rhode's arm and exclaimed when she witnessed the Angel. ”Woah! What's that?”

”T-that's…” Metzel's group were flabbergasted as soon as they recognized the Battle Angel that they were so familiar with. Rhode stepped forward and stroked the bulging belly that felt ice-cold to the touch and had some strange 'fetal' movements.

”This is the Lich's phylactery,” explained Rhode.

Rhode finally understood how the Lich had the powers of an Angel despite being an undead creature. Although it was true that Angels possessed sufficient powers to fulfill the requirements for the evolution of a Lich, the conflict between their negative and positive energy was definitely unavoidable.

However, this Lich came up with a genius move. It didn't purely borrow the Angel's powers. Instead, it came up with an unknown method to create an embryo that lived between life and death and forced it into the Angel's body. This way, since the embryo wasn't a pure undead creature, the holy powers that the Angel possessed couldn't cause enough harm to eliminate it. Then, the Lich could receive the filtered powers through the embryo to execute its evolution. However, there was a flaw in this almost perfect scheme: the Lich's most powerful undead powers had been weakened after mixing with the additional holy attribute. However, at the same time, the Lich received a certain extent of resistance against attacks of the holy attribute. Perhaps this Lich would have become a disastrous monster if it managed to reincarnate.

However, it had lost this chance forever.