Full health is the kill threshold, no matter if you're a god or a demon!

The Temple of Eternal Sleep.

This pyramid-shaped building, constructed of dark gold stone bricks, stands quietly on the southernmost wasteland of the Netherworld.

The wind and sand have eroded its edges, and the years have smoothed its reliefs, but the ancient runes carved on the stone bricks are still clearly visible—they are the last words of the Pharaoh's civilization, the sealed curses, waiting to be awakened.

The top floor of the temple.

"This is it," Wu Zhan said.

Liu Nian pushed open the door to the top floor of the temple.

The door hinges creaked gratingly, as if something was awakening in the darkness. A dry, stale, hot wind wafted out from the crack in the door.

"Walk!"

Led by Liu Nian, the players of the Divine Dragon Guild filed in.

Yun Xiangrong, Kal'tsit, Wang Mian, Wu Zhan, Shi Ri, Wang Mu—all the core members were present, followed by hundreds of elite players.

The space here is even more magnificent than it appears from the outside. The walls are covered with reliefs that seem to record the great achievements of the pharaoh's life: conquest, sacrifice, coronation, and dialogue with the gods. Each relief is so lifelike that it seems as if the soldiers will step out of the walls at any moment.

In the very center of the hall stands a circular altar.

The altar was not large, about three meters in diameter, but it gave people an indescribable sense of oppression.

Its edge is engraved with a ring of fine hieroglyphs, each stroke as sharp as if carved by a knife. The characters were not carved with a chisel, but "written" by some ancient and mysterious force—the bottom of the characters glowed with a dark red light, as if blood was flowing in the veins of the stone.

In the center of the altar was an irregular groove in which lay a mutilated, dried corpse.

Liu Nian stepped forward and examined it carefully. He found that the missing parts of the dried corpse in the groove matched the seven pharaoh parts perfectly—the pharaoh's hand, foot, arm, body, heart, eye, and skull. Seven parts, seven gaps.

"This is it." Liu Nian took a deep breath and took out the first component from his backpack—the Hand of the Pharaoh.

It was a withered hand with a dark golden sheen, its five fingers slightly curled, as if it were holding something unseen.

He placed the Pharaoh's hand into the groove, and it fit perfectly.

"Click".

A crisp sound, like a key being inserted into a lock, rang out, and a circle of hieroglyphs near the Pharaoh's hand lit up.

Without pausing, Liu Nian continued to take out the second component—the Pharaoh's Foot.

"Click".

Another area of ​​runes lit up.

As body parts were continuously inserted, the runes on the altar became brighter and more numerous. Dark red light surged from the edges of the grooves, flowing like blood along the patterns on the altar's surface, awakening those characters that had been dormant for countless years, one by one.

When the last component—the Pharaoh's skull—was placed into the slot, the entire altar seemed to come alive.

"Click—!!!"

The crisp sound was louder than any before, like some huge lock being snapped open.

The center of the altar suddenly trembled, and a blinding beam of blood-red light shot into the sky, illuminating the entire top floor of the temple!

The hieroglyphs lit up one after another, like dominoes, spreading outward from the center of the altar in concentric circles, like ripples on water.

Each time a character lit up, it emitted a deep, muffled sound, like a heartbeat—"thump, thump, thump"—the sound echoed in the empty temple, causing dust to fall from the dome and resonating in the chests of the players.

Liu took a step back and squinted at the changes on the altar.

The pharaoh's corpse on the altar suddenly disappeared, and then a huge, semi-transparent phantom of the pharaoh appeared in mid-air.

It was over ten meters tall, wore a crown, and had blood-like, viscous flames burning in its eye sockets.

[LV? ? ? Amenhotep IV (Heretical Pharaoh)]

A question mark indicating the level.

Liu Nian frowned slightly.

Every encounter with an enemy of this caliber signifies something extraordinary!

The enormous phantom of the pharaoh looked down at the crowd, a cryptic smile slowly spreading across his face.

"Are you ready to welcome me back?"

After a moment of silence following his words, he suddenly exploded.

It burst open like fireworks, illuminating the entire temple.

Where the light touched, the reliefs on the wall began to "come alive".

The war scenes carved on the stone bricks began to move—soldiers ran, warhorses neighed, archers drew their bows and shot arrows that flew out of the walls and disappeared into the air as streaks of light; the wheels of chariots began to spin, stirring up dust; the pharaoh's scepter pointed into the distance, as if commanding a vast army.

They came out of the wall.

This isn't a metaphor; it's a real breakthrough.

One by one, the soldiers in the reliefs peeled away from the stone bricks, turning into streaks of blood-red light that surged into the pillar of light in the center of the altar.

A beam of light pierced the dome of the Temple of Eternal Slumber and soared into the sky!

This crimson pillar of light was extremely conspicuous, visible for hundreds of miles around. It resembled a pillar connecting heaven and earth, re-injecting some ancient, sealed, and powerful force into this world.

[Global Announcement (Major Event): The Pharaoh Awakens, a Curse Descends, and a World Boss Appears!]

[The Divine Dragon Guild has gathered all seven Pharaoh remains, successfully breaking the ancient seal and awakening the world boss—Pharaoh Amenhote!]

This event directly triggers the major event "The Return of the Pharaoh," where the Pharaoh's army will appear as a brand-new NPC faction and launch a full-scale invasion of the Netherworld!

The Pharaoh has brought a new threat: all players in the Abyss have been cursed for three months with a debuff called "The Curse of the Dead!" Undead creatures will randomly spawn around them, and any monsters killed will be transformed into undead and attacked by them.

The Pharaoh has brought new opportunities; new dungeons, realms, legendary sets, and new Pharaoh faction classes and skills will appear in the Abyss.

If players in the Abyss fail to defeat Amenhot within three months, the Pharaoh's Army will permanently exist as a new NPC faction in the Abyss, and will establish its fifth system-controlled city there.

[If players in the Abyss kill Amenhotep within three months, all players in the Abyss who have not joined the Pharaoh's faction will receive a permanent, powerful buff.]

The moment the announcement popped up, the players of the Divine Dragon Guild on the top floor of the temple looked at each other in bewilderment.

"World Boss?! We summoned a world boss?!" Wu Zhan shouted first, startling the people next to him who covered their ears.

"I thought it would be just a regional boss at most, how did it go straight to world level?" Devourer of the Sun stroked his chin, the expression on his bear face changing from shock to excitement.

Wang Mian pointed at the system notification in front of him, frowning, and said, "The Pharaoh's army has launched a full-scale invasion of the Naraku Realm? This isn't a boss; it's a completely new force!"

Liu Nian hadn't expected that the final BOSS would be a world BOSS. He had originally thought that he would be fighting a BOSS this time, which would be a good opportunity to test his newly acquired Eternal-grade gauntlets, the Starbreaker... Now it seems that he won't be able to fight one for the time being.

We don't even know where the BOSS is. The phantom of Amenhotep IV has exploded, the pillar of light is still there, but the BOSS himself doesn't seem to be here.