Imperial Crown.

Chapter 518 Slaying a Fifth-Rank 2 Warrior
Many thanks to QQ Reading's author [秋、殇] for the 100-coin reward!

……

The sheer number of scenes made Rudolf's eyes twitch.

What kind of genius is this? To be able to condense magic into bone spears originally intended for ranged attacks and use them as melee weapons?!
"Demon! Raven! You're the real demon on earth!" Rudolph roared inwardly. Compared to him, Rudolph suddenly had a strange illusion—that he and Fedora were the normal people present! "Damn it, I've become a good guy?" Rudolph murmured irresistibly in his heart.

"It hurts! It hurts so much—"

Despite being sent flying a considerable distance by Raven's bone spear, Feltotti was still screaming like a pig being slaughtered. Raven shook his head regretfully; he couldn't help but admire the tenacious vitality of the undead, whether mages or warriors! It would be a lie to say he wasn't envious! This kind of injury would have been fatal to a sixth-tier Silvermane! But Feltotti was only fifth-tier; even a bone spear piercing his chest couldn't kill him completely!
Keep in mind, that bone spear was thicker than an adult's arm and definitely covered his heart! Even so, Fe Zhuoti didn't look like he was on the verge of death; on the contrary, his wails were full of energy and deafening!

But Raven had no time to finish him off, because after so long, Rudolph's "Gate of Immortality" had finally opened.

It was a pitch-black opening, like a black hole, completely dark inside, with only a series of chaotic roars echoing from within! The next moment, countless corpses poured out like a flood! There were human corpses, skeleton warriors riding skeletal warhorses, orc corpses, various stitched-together deformed abominations, and even several witch and vampire corpses... Without exception, these corpses emitted a strong, pungent stench, each one as if just squeezed out of some kind of slimy sac, swarming towards Raven!

Too many! Absolutely too many!
It was as if a thousand troops were roaring and charging towards Raven! Raven stared intently, his heart filled with shock. Some of the corpses' clothing looked to be at least a hundred years old! They had been dead for so long, their souls had been captured by Rudolf, and their bodies were being kept as weapons! How tragic! No wonder it was called the "Gate of Immortality"! In a sense, this could indeed be considered a kind of "immortality".

Raven got into position, raising his rapier, Stars, high in the air.

If this scene could be recorded, it would be another soul-stirring sight!

In the vast, empty underground palace, amidst ruins and desolation, Raven stood alone, longsword in hand, his body and the sword radiating a crimson aura of battle, his eyes gleaming with golden light, before the door of a small room. Behind him stood Thor, Chirp, Linga, and seventeen others, lost in a delusional fantasy, their minds racing. If Raven retreated, they would have no chance of survival. So Raven would not retreat! He couldn't retreat! He didn't want to retreat! But before Raven, corpses poured forth madly from the black hole-like "Gate of Immortality"! These corpses came from different eras, different races, and perhaps even different worlds… but now they were all controlled by Rudolph, their eyes rolled back, roaring with intense resentment as they charged towards Raven! It seemed that Raven was the one who imprisoned them! If Raven were in an anime or game at this moment, magnificent and epic CG music should have already filled the air.

"call"

Raven took a deep breath.

Unfortunately, no such random music would play in reality, and even if it did, he might not be able to hear it! He had even blocked out the irritating screams of the corpses. His mind was completely focused and calm! When the corpses rushed towards him, Raven pulled out another bottle of Light Oil, his last one. He tossed it aside and then shattered it with a sword beam fueled by his battle aura. With a bang, the glass bottle exploded, and the Light Oil rained down on the oncoming corpses like a downpour.

The sounds of "sizzling" and "sizzling" were incessant. These corpses were different from Fei Zhuoti, a fifth-level expert. If they were even slightly touched, they would be like dry wood meeting a raging fire, instantly turning into puffs of green flames and falling on the way to the charge.

"kill!"

Without further hesitation, Raven drew his sword and charged forward! Though the number of these corpses was countless, they were no match for Raven, who cleaved them all in a single blow! His rapiers danced back and forth, and the limbs and severed bodies of the corpses flew out like rain.

Time passed slowly. Fedor lay on the ground, still groaning. The loss of his right arm and the pierced chest, while not fatal, had rendered him incapable of fighting. He could only whine like a paralyzed old dog. As for Rudolf, beads of sweat glistened on his forehead. He not only had to maintain the necromancy spell "Gate of Immortality," but also cast another necromancy spell to trap Thor and the others in an illusion. The consumption of mana was secondary; after all, he was a genuine fifth-tier mage! But the drain on his mental energy was terrifying, leaving him somewhat stretched thin.

Who could blame Raven for being an absolute monster! Even a fifth-tier Fetishist couldn't withstand a single blow from Raven, and Rudolph didn't dare let Raven get close! Although magical spells consume terrifying amounts of energy, they were perfect for wearing down Raven's stamina! Luckily, Raven was only a third-tier transcendent! He hadn't activated his martial soul yet and couldn't fly! Otherwise, this magical spell wouldn't have had any effect on him!
“Earl Raven! You’re a smart man. Let me tell you, there are at least tens of thousands of corpses inside my Gate of Immortality! If you surrender now and are willing to sever your own tendons, I can spare your life! And those people behind you too!” Rudolf’s voice echoed eerily.

Another half hour passed, and Rudolf's expression grew increasingly grim, because Raven was now completely silent, ignoring him entirely!

The Starry Night Rapier, as a fourth-tier enchanted weapon, was indeed sharp enough to sever any corpse or weapon it touched, sending them flying with a mere graze! However, this also meant that the slime and bodily fluids from the corpses were splattered everywhere! The entire hall was filled with a stench strong enough to cause fainting and suffocation. Fortunately, Raven was already at the third tier, able to condense a battle aura armor, similar to a battle aura shield, preventing the slime and bodily fluids from dripping onto his body, head, and face… In the past hour, Raven had slain at least several hundred corpses! This left him feeling hot and refreshed, his mind clear and focused.

With a swift swing of his rapier, he severed the witch's head, who had launched a sneak attack. Raven finally spoke, chanting in a long, drawn-out voice, "Once a soul transmigrates, who can know?"

Raven unleashed the bloody combat technique [Bone Removal], a technique that the second-generation transcendent from another region, Hengchiton, had learned from him! If Hengchiton hadn't been trapped in the illusion, he would have witnessed firsthand the same technique with completely different power! In a mere instant, the crimson aura emanating from Raven exploded, covering an area of ​​two meters in radius! Any corpses within it, perfectly fine one second, were neatly torn apart the next, as if sliced ​​by nanowires, instantly shattering into seven or eight pieces! This is the biggest difference between mages and transcendents. As their rank increases, mages can only accelerate the speed of casting spells, not increase their power! Transcendents, however, are different. The same combat technique used by transcendents of different ranks has an utterly vast difference! This can be seen in the way Eric and Thor, father and son, used the Mirror Shield!
"Starting from scratch, every step is fraught with danger!"

Clearing away the surrounding corpses, Raven strode to a Tier 3 Abomination! The terrifying power of Abominations is undeniable. While other corpses relied solely on Rudolf's control and instinct to kill, these deformed, stitched-together creations possessed independent consciousness, almost like living beings! Because their bodies were stitched together, Abominations were enormous. In his previous life, a single-story building was only 3 meters tall, but an Abomination was taller than a story! Furthermore, their strength was directly proportional to their size; the larger they were, the more terrifying their power!
"With true eyes, I can pierce through even the most vengeful spirits!"

Raven let out a low shout, and as the bone club in Abomination's hand came crashing down on his head, his body suddenly split into four Ravens—the second-tier magic Mirror Image! This stumped Abomination! Although Abomination possessed its own consciousness, it was ultimately just a corpse, its intelligence not very high. Staring at the suddenly appearing Ravens, it didn't know which one was its true form. A look of confusion appeared in its eyes, and it began to utter incoherent "uh uh uh" sounds.

"Walking on thin ice, yet aspiring to great heights!"

Before the Abomination could raise its bone club to sweep again, it suddenly lurched to the side and collapsed to the ground! Looking down, it saw that its left leg had been severed at some unknown time, the cut clean and smooth like a mirror! "Thud!" Stars pierced the Abomination's skull, ending its sinful life! A third-tier Abomination, possessing sentience and requiring seven or eight second-generation transcendents to kill, couldn't even last five seconds in Raven's hands!

"Through meticulous planning, a magnificent history has been forged!"

Raven continued walking, advancing instead of retreating, strolling leisurely towards Rudolph's direction! A vampire charged forward! This vampire looked quite old, bearing a resemblance to William; perhaps William would even affectionately call him "Uncle." The bloody combat technique [Violent] erupted from Raven's hand, stars flashing with dazzling brilliance, swiftly slashing four times at the vampire! This was actually a complementary technique to the Bone Removal, but Raven had kept it a secret, not teaching it to Henchton.

Others may not understand the purity of my heart!

With a series of swift, rapid sword strikes, even a living fourth-tier vampire would struggle to withstand such a devastating attack, let alone a mere fourth-tier vampire corpse! Without a doubt, the vampire was reduced to four pieces of minced meat before Raven, collapsing limply to the ground. "With stars in hand, today I slay corpses!"

Raven let out a long howl, and when he was only two zhang away from Rudolph, he suddenly raised his left hand. A lifelike python head suddenly appeared, its scales clearly defined, its eyes glowing red, and it opened its blood-red maw, spewing out dark green fangs at the surrounding corpses! It was a second-tier magic spell stored in the Nether Serpent Ring, "Poison Fang Throwing Spikes"! However, this low-tier magic wasn't very powerful, let alone effective against corpses! But Raven's original purpose in using it wasn't to kill the corpses, but simply to hold off the surrounding dead bodies!

Taking advantage of the moment, Raven shouted "Kill!" and charged towards Rudolf with his sword in one hand!

Wherever he went, corpses fell one after another, unable to stop him even a step!

One foot!
Raven was now only a foot away from Rudolph! That distance was enough for Raven to see every wrinkle on Rudolph's face!
"Surrender now, Raven! I'm serious! Surrender now!" Rudolf's face showed visibly panic, his voice filled with an eerie...pleading tone? In less than two hours, Raven had slaughtered seven or eight hundred corpses, and that was bad enough! But why didn't he show any signs of fatigue? Why did he still have battle aura within him?! Wasn't he a third-tier transcendent? During the final battle, if Rudolf hadn't arrived in time, even the fourth-tier Eric would have been beaten to death by the cannon fodder orcs! Why was Raven's battle aura and power inexhaustible?! Rudolf was utterly baffled!
"Surrender! Shouldn't you be the one surrendering?"

Raven smiled contemptuously, then suddenly crouched down and leaped forward like a monster, appearing right in front of Rudolf! His rapier slashed fiercely towards Rudolf's face!
"Go to hell!" Rudolf's face contorted with rage as he cursed, his body suddenly transforming into a chilling gray mist that enveloped Fezzotti on the ground and carried her out of the underground palace.

Without the supply of magic, the "Gate of Immortality" closed instantly and vanished into thin air.

"I knew you'd pull this trick!" Raven muttered, having anticipated it. Then, with a flick of his finger, the spell he had been secretly preparing all along was instantly unleashed.

Three fireballs shot towards Rudolf's gray mist!

"Ha ha!" Rudolf's loud laughter suddenly echoed in the empty underground palace. "Raven, did you think I wasn't prepared at all for your Primal Wildfire?!" "You're finished!" "You're dead, Raven!" "All your painstaking disguise will be known to the nobles of Keynes! I'd like to see if Keynes XVI will tolerate someone like you... Aaaaaaahhhhh—"

Rudolf's voice suddenly became extremely distorted, and he screamed in utter horror, "No! This isn't the Primordial Wildfire! This, this... this is the Desolate Death Fire fused with the essence of laws! How is this possible! You're only at the fourth rank! How could you possibly devour the essence of laws?!"

In the void, Rudolf's figure suddenly fell, and Fedorti also fell out.

Raven walked over step by step. "Do you know why I didn't kill Feltauti? It's because I was afraid he'd die too quickly and scare you away!" Otherwise, he would have had Sicot, who was hiding in the shadows, take care of Feltauti long ago.

Rudolph's lower body was burning fiercely as he rolled around on the spot and howled loudly, not even having time to hear what Raven was saying.

click
Raven arrived in front of Rudolph and cut him in half at the waist with a single sword strike, finally ending Rudolph's suffering.

"It hurts, my butt hurts..." Rudolf cried out intermittently, blood spurting from his mouth.

Raven glanced at Rudolph's still-burning lower body next to him, then kicked him away. "It doesn't hurt anymore, your ass has flown away."

Rudolf's mouth was still opening and closing on its own, as if he wanted to say something.

Raven could only squat down and say, "Go on."

"Missing," Rudolf said slowly, his eyes widening. "One sentence is missing."

"One sentence is missing?" Raven asked, puzzled.

But he quickly exclaimed "Oh!" and understood. He stood up and murmured, "Ten thousand years is too long, seize this life!" After saying that, he swung his sword down and beheaded Rudolf before Rudolf's very eyes.

Arriving in front of Fei Zhuoti, who was either feigning unconsciousness or truly unconscious, he also beheaded him with a single sword stroke.

After taking their storage rings, he began chanting a spell, releasing streams of purple, desolate death fire that began to burn away all traces on the battlefield.

Back in the small room, Thor and the others, though out of the illusion, all fell unconscious.

"Huh? Poisoned?" Raven checked and found that these people were not simply unconscious, but had been poisoned by corpse poison, their faces turning bluish-black. It seemed that they had inhaled the stench released by the corpses earlier.

"It should be fine if it takes a little while, right?" Raven said, rubbing his chin.

After saying that, he raised his eyebrows, plucked off the Heart of Mash, and began to slowly absorb the energy within it with the Eye of Truth.

……

(End of this chapter)