CHAPTER 59

A day had passed, and it could be said that whether in the north or the south of Hazard's domain, his last enemies had perished. In the north, the great Undead General pulled his sword from the chest of a sixth-rank hero leader and looked around, still unable to believe how these heroes could be so arrogant in their power and step into his trap willingly. However, losing more than half of his army left him feeling humiliated, and he attributed much of the victory to Hezhna's area-damage spells and her witches, who, with their rare flying ability, had disrupted the heroes' army.

Nevertheless, he began issuing orders: separating usable items for sale from broken ones meant for melting in the forge, and entrusting the bodies of heroes who could not be resurrected to others to be taken to storage. Meanwhile, he wiped the blood from his new golden bracer with a cloth, lost in thought, as an oddly familiar but vague feeling crept over him—something reminiscent of a past he could not remember.

Meanwhile, in the south, Hazard stood before the corpses of the two Dark Princes and the King of the Dark Dwarves. Nearby, the King of Death, whose rank had fallen to Warlord, lay severely wounded.

"King of Death, what do you think now? Am I someone you can underestimate?"

The king didn't bother breaking his silence. He simply gazed at the sky, as he had for the past hour.

"Oh, old man, your potential in my army could have been so dazzling that even the stars would envy it! And yet, look at yourself now! With an army far greater than mine, you still couldn't stand against them! In the end, it was I who shattered even their legends!"

Finally, the King of Death turned his gaze to Hazard and broke his silence.

"The fate of using Abyssal power will only lead you to ruin! Killing the legends of this world will do nothing but weaken its defenses against the Abyss! In the end, when the Abyss launches its true invasion, you will see that you are nothing more than a small, empty pawn for the God of Destruction! Only then will you understand the true meaning of the Abyss!"

Hazard grew furious upon hearing this. He stepped closer, then soared above the King of Death, surrounded by an overwhelming aura of death mana.

"And so what, old man?! It was the Abyss and the God of Destruction that brought me here! All this power belongs to Him! Do you think I haven't understood His purpose by now? We are merely his small soldiers, and once we pass His test, we will become part of His army! And now, what do you expect from me? To stand against Him? To reject Him? When He saved me from death at the hands of a legend with nothing but His will alone?!"

At that moment, his mana flared, and an Abyssal summoning portal opened behind him—just one, but massive, towering three hundred meters high.

"I have made my choice, and I stand on the side that brings me the greatest benefit!"

From the portal emerged a colossal being, three hundred meters tall, its body composed of enormous skulls and wielding eight massive hands, each gripping a gigantic black hammer. But unlike before, when it had attacked Hazard on sight, it now acknowledged his power and accepted him as its summoner, standing calmly. However, upon witnessing the vast battlefield where tens of millions had fought, and sensing the overwhelming miasma mana, it appeared enraged—furious that it had missed such a war.

Yet, even with the giant's presence, the King of Death only stared at Hazard.

"You spared my life just to show me this?! Do you now seek to flaunt your power?"

In response, Hazard resurrected all three dead epic-ranked warriors, though they had now fallen to the lower epic rank. He didn't care much, for he himself was at that level.

"I know that even if I summon another King of Death, they won't be like you. And after considering what you said, I realized I need living beings to grow stronger—to climb the ladder of power. Faith or whatever else it may be, in the future, after conquering the other continents, I will rule this world. And when the time comes, I will be a far greater piece in the army of the God of Destruction, holding a much higher rank!"

The King of Death lowered his head in silence before finally speaking.

"What do you want from me?"

"I need faith from living beings to increase my power. But humans aren't my only option. Elves? Dwarves? Orcs and other creatures? They can all worship me—I don't necessarily have to keep humans alive..."

The flames in the King of Death's eyes burned intensely, for he knew where this conversation was heading.

"What do you want from me?!!!"

"The Dark Faction is leaderless! It is in complete chaos! Conquer the Dark Faction for me with these undead! Build the southern throne for me! And in return, I will not kill any humans—except those who attack me first!"

"You want me to—"

"You'd better make a wise decision! Because my army has never left a single living being alive on the battlefield!"

The King of Death remained silent but, after looking over the eighty-million-strong field of corpses, he struggled to his feet.

"How much time do I have?"

Hazard, knowing the vastness of the Dark Domain—nearly seven times the size of Asia—raised five fingers.

"You have five years. And if even one extra day passes, don't blame me for your own greed!"

The King of Death then turned toward the countless dead.

"And will these be my forces?"

Hazard turned his back to him.

"The dead are yours."

With that, Hazard and his companions, along with the colossal skull giant and the three resurrected epics, returned to the fortress, leaving the King of Death alone with eighty million undead at his command.

However, Hazard's actions did not go unnoticed by the powerful. In the Imperial Hall, the Ice Fortress, the United Giant Clan, and other places—even in the Demon Kings' chat server—one thing was clear:

The Undead Demon King had crushed the south and the Dark Faction.

Many Demon Kings—whether from the Dark Faction or the Empire—rushed to kneel before him upon hearing rumors that his army held dozens of epic ranks and that he had slain two legendary ranks with a mere gesture.

Even the Empire and the North sought friendly relations, for the Empire could not afford to manage two battlefronts of such high-caliber warfare. Meanwhile, the North, hoping to ally with the newly risen southern star, aimed to finally destroy the Empire and reclaim the continent that had once been ruled by their ancestors.