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Chapter 73 - CHAPTER 73

Lich — The End Returns!

With the completion of the magic circle, a massive black barrier, bounded by auxiliary runes, enveloped the entire city. From the Dark Book at its center, endless gray energy spread outward like a storm, drowning everything within.

Outside the city walls, three women stood in stunned silence. From their vantage point, all they could see was the gray dome of light — impenetrable, hiding everything within. Only the faintest silhouettes could be made out: wandering zombies that strayed too close to the barrier. The moment they touched the gray mist, their flesh melted like ice under the sun, leaving only bones behind.

Jenny's face paled with worry.

"Is the boss… okay in there?"

After forming their contract, they had wanted to call Xu Mo Master, but he had refused. He insisted they call him Boss instead.

"Call me Master and I'll just look like some kind of degenerate," he'd said — though, in truth, there wasn't much difference. Only Alyssa, in her mischievous way, still used the forbidden title now and then.

"Don't worry." Alyssa smirked with sultry confidence, patting Jenny reassuringly. "From my personal experience these past few days, Master is… truly amazing."

Jenny flushed crimson at the implication, while Kim Tae-hee shot Alyssa a withering glare. But she said nothing. After these days together, she understood Alyssa's personality well enough: perverted barely covered even a fraction of it. Compared to the stunts Alyssa had pulled aboard the ship, this was her being restrained.

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Inside the barrier, the city had gone silent.

The gray energy devoured everything. Zombies collapsed one by one, their flesh dissolving until only skeletons remained. The streets became rivers of bone, the air heavy with death. From each corpse, faint threads of essence drifted upward, gathering in the sky into a growing, rolling gray sphere.

Xu Mo floated at the center, his body trembling under the strain. His mind ached with cold as the energy pressed against his consciousness. He had overestimated his mental strength. This torrent of undead energy was far beyond his ability to fully control.

If not for the Dark Book guiding the current, he would already have been consumed. Even so, energy leaked beyond his control, gnawing away at his body. It was inevitable — the curse of all necromancers. Without immense willpower, the undead energy corroded flesh until the body resembled nothing but a dried husk. This was why most necromancers looked like withered mummies.

But once the arrow is loosed, it cannot be recalled. Xu Mo clenched his teeth and endured.

On the ground, the bones stirred. Soul-fire flickered in empty sockets as skeletal warriors rose from the piles. Nearly half of the remains reformed into armed skeleton soldiers, marching toward the city's edge. The others broke apart entirely, reshaping into greater monstrosities: towering Skeleton Kings, armored Undead Knights, and massive Bone Dragons unfurling membranous wings.

Though some forms of undead required souls to manifest — wraiths, banshees, corpse-witches — the soulless zombies were perfect fodder for skeletal constructs. And against such enemies, physical undead were more than sufficient.

The gray sphere in the sky swelled with stolen energy. Soon it fractured into ten equal orbs, each reshaping into a humanoid form. Their bodies were insubstantial, forged from pure energy, with two burning scarlet eyes set into each head.

They floated before Xu Mo and bowed.

"Master!"

The word echoed in his mind. He knew them instantly — Liches.

The Dark Book's records spoke of two kinds of liches. The first: necromancers who transformed themselves into undead. The second: those born entirely from resentment and death. These were the latter — natural-born necromancers, with an affinity for undead magic surpassing any self-made lich. They could wield every form of necromancy, endlessly raising and strengthening the undead horde.

As the ten liches took shape, the city-wide magic circle faded and finally dissipated. Xu Mo's strength gave out. His body, shriveled like parchment, collapsed from the sky. When it struck the ground, it crumbled into ash, scattered by the wind.

Moments later, a gate opened. Jenny, Alyssa, and Kim Tae-hee rushed inside. Their eyes widened in horror.

"Boss!"

But instead of his ruined body, a soul of blue light shimmered before them — Xu Mo's spirit. He hadn't expected the ritual to cost him this vessel entirely. Yet the spell was complete. The liches and undead legions would serve in his stead.

His counterpart in this parallel world was gone, but through the contract and his bond with the women, he could descend into any host body if necessary. It would not be perfect — the body might reject some of his strength — but with an army like this, he would rarely need to act himself.

Xu Mo's glowing form turned, giving final instructions to the three women. Then, slowly, his soul faded from view, leaving behind a city now ruled by death.

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