Chapter 63: Finally Converging Paths

Liliya’s offensive led by her wasn’t going particularly smoothly.

The strength of the forces stationed at the Throne of Immortality was far stronger than she had anticipated. Although Plakaka had already surveyed the approximate strength of the members, actual engagements revealed many variables.

It wasn’t that her predictions about their strength were inaccurate, but… how to say it? The undead here were somewhat different from those in the Tapeya Basin of the Beast Kingdom.

Most of them were indeed around the gold level, but they were extremely cunning and even employed some strange contraptions to aid in combat.

For example, they all carried special drugs that could exponentially enhance their power for a short period. Whenever the tide of battle turned against them, they would unhesitatingly use these to try and turn the situation around.

Going from gold level directly to ink steel, then further boosting their strength to rival that of the earth itself—this could make them even stronger after several doses.

Sure, at a certain point, these undead would explode like grenades, leaving little more than shredded bits, but even their self-destruct mechanism dealt significant damage. The desperate counterattacks of these mad fellows undeniably brought Liliya and the others considerable trouble.

Some cultists had even grotesquely transformed their bodies beyond recognition.

For instance, they had limbs transplanted from the strong, refined to be more resilient, while others had simply replaced theirs with special metal-made bodies.

Even more absurdly, Liliya witnessed a bizarre woman who, by unknown means, had fused with plants, wielding her many giant branches to attack simultaneously.

However, that oddity was shot through by Miss Fiery Blossom, who couldn’t stand by and let it continue.

What in the world? Back in the Beast Kingdom, the undead didn’t pull such stunts. Could it be that members of the same organization had such varied behaviors in different countries?

A guy who suddenly starts sprouting hair and muscles bulging, ripping his clothes apart, and even pouncing on her like a dog—Princess couldn’t hold back, her eye twitching as she signaled a few shadow guards and Huā, Nickles, and others to pause their advance.

“Plakaka! What the hell are these things? Explain yourself!”

Liliya whispered to the empty side; that was where the opponent currently was positioned.

After all, this was a battlefield with many eyes around, and the princess couldn’t let the formerly known as the ratman ‘Mister’ follow her openly.

Naturally, she couldn’t see the invisible Plakaka, but this guy had stolen a treasure from Third Prince Patrick that allowed two parties to wear and sense each other’s position while also granting attribute boosts.

The other half of that treasure was currently worn by Liliya, making her the only one on the field who knew the legendary ratman assassin’s exact location.

“Uh… Your Highness, while the Throne of Immortality is insane, they aren’t perverts; regular members wouldn’t behave like this. Those from the Beast Kingdom are the normal ones.”

“These guys should be Leopold’s subordinates; they are the craziest bunch in the organization.”

Plakaka replied, lowering his voice as well. He had been following Liliya’s team invisibly but had not engaged. Vilyric intended for him to stay close to protect the princess from accidents, and truth be told, this ratman was definitely not suitable for frequent showings.

“Leopold? Who is that, the Throne?”

“Not quite, but this guy is more trouble than the Throne. He’s a genius, a mad researcher. He joined the Throne of Immortality, seemingly because human lifespans were too short for his needs, looking to research more valuable things. Although his personal strength is average, the devices he puts out would even give supers a headache.”

“A mad… researcher?”

The princess couldn’t help but twitch her mouth several times. Just hearing that title made her scalp tingle, and she began to understand why the members of the Throne of Immortality were such oddities.

“Right, like attracts like. Those who willingly follow Leopold are not exactly normal either, so it’s no surprise they exhibit such behaviors. I underestimated this situation; I didn’t expect him to infiltrate the royal capital, as he’s always been active at the imperial headquarters.”

“So what kinds of experiments are they doing?”

“…You wouldn’t want to know, Your Highness.”

With Plakaka, who was particularly familiar with the Throne of Immortality guiding them, after a brief talk, Liliya got a general idea of what was going on.

Ban really was pushing it, inviting such dangerous characters to the City of Courage; wasn’t he afraid of monumental disasters in case things went wrong?

It’s hard to imagine what those experiments, which even Plakaka hesitated to mention, could be like—definitely terrifying and inhumane.

It seemed he would be a formidable opponent.

“Nickles.”

“Here, Your Highness.”

“Let’s proceed as per plan. Don’t hold back; the abnormality level here is likely beyond what we imagined.”

“Understood.”

Liliya had already heard of Ost Empire’s Sword Saint; a truly legendary figure who surpassed legends with pure human might, one of the strongest humans in the world, the empire’s stalwart.

Though Nickles, this swift pupil, might not match his master Bivis Bernard in all respects, his swordsmanship was nonetheless honed to perfection.

Using the wind as his senses, he was the most perceptive presence in the area. Even the legendary Fiery Blossom and Plakaka couldn’t compete with Nickles in terms of perception.

Thus, Liliya had specifically made him the vanguard to minimize casualties.

The group continued forward, experiencing several skirmishes and ambushes, all sensed in advance by Nickles, who tackled them head-on without giving the opponents any chance to pull off flashy moves, until…

“Wait, Your Highness, there’s a fight happening up ahead.”

Nickles conveyed the message coming through the wind to the princess beside him, adding, “The attacked side is the living.”

Liliya, who had already taken a step forward, suddenly paused, turning her head in surprise.

“Up ahead? But we should be the fastest advancing team; how could anyone be ahead of us… Vilyric?”

“…Doesn’t seem like Miss Vilyric. To be honest, if it were her, she wouldn’t be caught in a situation where she couldn’t escape. Also, they’re using standard belief-based powers, more like the followers of the Temple.”

At those words, the princess was even more astonished.

“Why is the Temple involved again? Wasn’t the leader of the Temple in the City of Courage, the Archbishop Vider Haywood, reported to have died unexpectedly a while back? The newly appointed successor hasn’t arrived yet; could it be they… free believers?”

Speaking of Archbishop Vider’s sudden death was indeed strange; not to mention that he was an incredibly powerful cleric on par with sky-level strength. How could he suddenly just die?

Something must be going on behind the scenes.

Though sensing something odd, during the ceremony of the late King’s death, Liliya couldn’t directly approach the politically sensitive figures of the Temple to investigate, so she had to allow them to handle their internal matters.

Now… suddenly, there were combatants related to the Church of the Goddess popping up right inside the Throne of Immortality’s stronghold.

What a coincidence?

“Liliya, do you want to help?”

Seeing the princess remain hesitant, the red-haired ranger urged her on.

As if that needed saying.

The enemy’s enemy is a friend. Regardless of who they might be, since they were fighting against the Throne of Immortality, Liliya couldn’t just ignore it.

In fact, it was as if those two were gathering the enemies together, making it easier to wipe them all out at once.

“Of course we help! Quickly signal the other searching teams to converge here, ignore those scattered small fry!”

   

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