Mystery: The Undead Don't Die from Linking the Fire

As the first source material to break through the Celestial Venerable's seal, the River of Eternal Darkness has a very high degree of activation.

Therefore, He chose to "resurrect" Hades, hoping to use this former god of death to stop the embers.

Although this Underworld Emperor has been dead for over a thousand years, and what wanders in the River of Eternal Darkness is merely an ordinary dead being without any extraordinary characteristics, with the blessing of the River of Eternal Darkness's 'Source Essence,' he can still maintain strength close to Sequence 0.

But He was ultimately just a puppet controlled by the River of Eternal Darkness, not the Hades who won the final victory in the war of the Four Emperors thousands of years ago.

The Grim Reaper, Salinger, stood at the river's edge, his eyes, burning with pale flames, fixed on Ember, who stood at the top of the steps. In his eyes was not hatred, but a deep-seated obsession—he yearned for true resurrection, for true freedom, and to once again become the King of the Underworld!

Therefore, Ember must die!

"roar!"

A deep, guttural roar emanated from His rotting mouth, echoing above the river and causing the entire city of Calderon to tremble noticeably.

The river, sometimes surging, sometimes cascading, sometimes dark, sometimes pale, rose higher and higher, rushing madly toward Ember, who stood at the end of the stone steps. Wave after wave of pale torrents pounded against Ember's body, trying to drown him in the river.

No matter how the 'waves' crashed, the illusory river water could never truly touch Yu Jin's body.

The decaying body of "Death" Salinger approached the embers step by step, while countless blurry shadows lingered around him at the river's edge. At this moment, they seemed to have gained a portion of "freedom," no longer wandering eternally, but following in the footsteps of "Death," approaching the embers step by step, emitting unconscious, frantic roars.

This is an army made up of the dead!

At a glance, Ember saw many similar figures in that army of the dead—they all belonged to the same person, to Azik Aiger, whose skin was bronze and whose features were soft.

This "Death Archon" seemed to have split into multiple versions of himself, wandering aimlessly between the pale stone pillars on both sides of the "River of Eternal Darkness".

In reality, this "death governor," though not in good condition, is clearly still alive.

But since He has appeared here, it means that He has died, and more than once.

This reminded Ember of the "Undead" in Sequence 4 of the "Death" pathway. The "Undead" die and are resurrected every sixty years, forgetting most of their past memories, which they need to slowly recover later, just like starting a new life.

However, it's clear that this immortality isn't true immortality and carries significant risks. Each time they die, a 'shadow' is created and eternally wanders the River of Eternal Darkness. If they die too many times, the resulting 'shadow' might become larger than the original body, potentially drawing even the original body to the River of Eternal Darkness, making it a true 'dead'.

Although Azik's original body is still alive and well, those appearing here are merely "shadows." However, with the blessing of the River of Eternal Darkness, these "shadows" all possess strength at Sequence 4 or higher. A very few individuals even possess Sequence 2 strength, making them genuine angels whose power is equivalent to Azik's original body!

After all, for a given source essence, sharing some of its power with these 'shadows' is not a difficult task.

Beside the deceased governor were two pale shadows that did not belong to Him.

They all had black hair and brown eyes, ordinary features, and a somewhat scholarly air.

Their name is Klein, Klein Moretti.

Beside Klein stood a man in a black trench coat, his grey eyes appearing unusually deep against his pale skin.

His name is Dunn, Dunn Smith.

Compared to these "acquaintances," there are far more people you don't know!

The figures on both sides of the river converged into a rushing black river, densely packed and stretching as far as the eye could see!

These people are undoubtedly the dead, forever lingering on the edge of the River of Eternal Darkness. And in the past few thousand years, how many tens of millions of lives have perished? At least hundreds of billions, perhaps even trillions!

Even though many of them have already been swept into the middle of the river by the rising tide in their eternal wanderings, sinking irrevocably to the bottom and melting like frost, the number of figures still lingering on both sides of the river today is still in the hundreds of millions!

Although most of them were just ordinary people, and even the River of Eternal Darkness wouldn't grant them any extraordinary abilities, their hindering effect on the Embers was almost zero. Yet, their sheer number was still somewhat chilling at first glance.

Ember withdrew his gaze from the seemingly endless line of the dead; it appeared the River of Eternal Darkness was determined to stop him. But He couldn't possibly be unaware that no matter how many of these dead there were, they could only buy time, not truly stop him, even with the addition of 'Death' Salinger.

Unless... the River of Eternal Darkness's purpose is simply to buy time, who is it waiting for? Adam? Or someone else?

Ember did not try to find the answer, because whoever came would show up sooner or later.

There's no need to waste time on such trivial matters.

Similarly, the same goes for these dead; Ember has no intention of getting entangled with them.

and so……

With a flick of his wrist, Yu Jin conjured a bell from who-knows-where.

The bells are not particularly exquisite; rather, they are quite "simple" and look like they were carved from square stones.

Corresponding to this bell was a square box, identical in style to the bell, held in the palm of Yu Jin's right hand—an urn containing ashes.

Ring ring!

The clear sound of bells echoed above the River of Eternal Darkness, and from the swaying bells, a purple halo slowly rippled out, awakening the sleeping spirits—the Silver Knights—in the urns.

In later generations, the divine race under the rule of the cross-dresser gradually declined, and the Silver Knights, who served as the divine race's protectors, were no longer as powerful as before. Not only did their numbers decrease sharply, but their strength also diminished considerably. If judged by the standards of this world, most of those Silver Knights were only at the Sequence 5 level.

Only the Darkmoon Knights, whom the cross-dresser considers confidants, still maintain the strength of all four at Sequence 4. However, compared to the Silver Knights at the peak of the Protoss, their numbers are still negligible.

Ultimately, the Darkmoon Knights were wiped out by Sulyvahn's purge. Even among the remaining Silver Knights, some remained loyal to the gods, but their Sequence 5 level meant that even if they wanted to kill the traitors and support the gods, it was ultimately futile.

But the embers summoned were not the silver knights of later generations, spoiled by effeminate men. Instead, they were elite knights who had followed Gwyn in the Dragon Hunt, fighting against the undead ancient dragons. Each of them possessed strength equivalent to a Sequence 4 or even a Sequence 3, and each of them wielded the miracle that Gwyn had once taught them—the Lance of the Sun!

One after another, tall figures rose from the mists of history, standing in neat formation behind the embers, filling the gray-white steps, their silver armor gleaming in the dark light.

The most elite Silver Knights have followed Gwyn in linking the fire, but the remaining Silver Knights are still the bravest and most powerful warriors of the Protoss.

In their defense of Anor Londo, they bravely sacrificed their lives to protect the Sun Princess and fend off a powerful enemy.

Out of respect for them, Yu Jin chose to 'bury' their ashes together, so that their souls could meet in their dreams—although the urn doesn't look big, the interior space is actually quite large, and the scale in the dream is limitless.

And now, they have been reborn through the call.

Their swords remain sharp, their armor remains sturdy, and the noble silver knights once again throw themselves into war.

Even though they are no longer fighting for the gods this time, they are still noble demigod warriors!

Wow!

The silver knights stepped back with one foot and in unison drew a large bow from their backs, taller than a man, covered with inscriptions belonging to the gods—a great bow used for hunting dragons in the era of the gods!

As for the bow, it was enormous beyond reason, and therefore possessed extraordinary power.

clang!

With a heavy thud, the end of the Dragon Slayer Bow was 'fixed' to the ground.

The silver knights held bows in one hand and drew large arrows, like iron spears, from their waists with the other—the work of giants who were the blacksmiths of the gods!

Draw the bow, nock the arrow!

A dazzling golden miracle converged at the arrowheads, and the light emanating from thousands of dragon-hunting arrows dispelled the surrounding grayness, allowing this underground world, which no other light could reach, to shine with a light as bright as the sun for the first time!

boom!

The bowstring snapped, and the long arrow pierced the air, flashing with golden light as it streaked across the sky and pierced into the army composed of billions of dead!

Boom!

The arrows fell upon the army of the dead, and the dazzling sunlight exploded instantly, the golden sun expanding in a flash. Those undead touched by the 'sun's' rays twisted instantly, turning to ashes with screams, as easily as dust being stirred up by a breeze.

Rumble!

Thousands of arrows pierced the army of the dead, instantly obliterating millions. But compared to the hundreds of millions of the dead lingering on both sides of the River of Eternal Darkness, such a loss was utterly insignificant.

Even though a large number of the dead were instantly dissolved by the light, the remaining ones showed no fear, remaining in a blank state as they approached the steps where the embers were.

The vanguard of the army of the dead had almost reached the front of the steps.

Clang!

The silver knights in the front row sheathed their longbows, and golden lightning crackled around the sides of their swords as they were drawn.

The Silver Knights stood ready, shield in one hand and sword in the other.

boom!

War was imminent. At least a thousand silver knights charged down the steps and charged into the endless army of the dead. Their silver armor was like a wall of sighs, and their longswords, wreathed in golden sunlight, mercilessly slaughtered any dead that tried to get close. They pushed back the battle line step by step, carrying the corpses of the dead!

Meanwhile, the silver knight wielding the dragon-hunting bow remained completely unaffected atop the steps.

Time and again, they drew their dragon-hunting arrows from their waists and fired them at the tireless army of the dead!

"Death" Salinger stood at the edge of the River of Eternal Darkness, with the Silver Knight closing in on him and the dead spreading out beneath his feet.

But aside from that initial roar, He did nothing else.

He stood quietly among the army of the dead, watching it all unfold.

Finally, the River of Eternal Darkness seemed to realize His passive resistance.

The surging tide instantly submerged Salinger's feet, sweeping all the dead near him into the depths of the river, where they never emerged again.

The surging waves rose higher and higher until they covered Salinger's head.

The illusory tide lapped over Salinger's face, flowing down his decaying face into his body, circulating once before flowing out from another decaying hole and merging into the mainstream.

Even when submerged by the River of Eternal Darkness, the expression of "Death" Salinger remained unchanged.

But He finally stopped being passive and inactive, and like the dead who had returned to His feet, He finally raised His hands.

At this moment, He finally revealed the majesty that belonged to the God of Death, to that illusory deity who reigned above countless dead souls!

Extremely cold-blooded, extremely noble, descending upon the world with an intense sense of death.

The Silver Knights quickly wiped out the dead at the front, but the dead in the rear were swallowed up by the rising tide of the River of Eternal Darkness, which warned of the 'Grim Reaper'. This prevented the remaining dead from filling the gaps immediately, creating a slight opening in the battle.

The Silver Knights strode forward, charging towards the advancing army of the dead.

During this process, a silver knight suddenly looked up at the tall figure.

A dazzling golden miracle coalesced in his right hand as he attempted to interrupt Death's raised hand.

But the next second, the Silver Knight suddenly stood still, motionless.

Snapped!

In just a moment, the Silver Knight's armor lost its support and instantly turned into countless fragments scattered all over the ground.

The Silver Knight paid the ultimate price for merely exchanging glances with that "Grim Reaper".

Although his ashes are still well preserved, and although his soul is protected by flames and is not under the jurisdiction of the River of Eternal Darkness, he will not truly perish.

But this death will still cause irreversible damage to his soul.

It cannot be summoned a second time in a short period of time.

Witnessing the fate of their comrades, the other Silver Knights immediately reacted, lowering their heads and focusing their gaze on the army of the dead to avoid meeting the Grim Reaper's eyes. But even without eye contact, under the Grim Reaper's gaze, their movements became increasingly sluggish, as if they had instantly gone from being young and strong to old and frail, lacking even the strength to swing their swords, allowing the undead to crawl onto their bodies and gnaw on their armor.

Roar!

A resounding dragon roar echoed across the sky as the black dragon swooped down, its scorching dragon flames burning fiercely several meters in front of the Silver Knights' defensive line, creating an insurmountable sea of ​​fire that would incinerate everything within it!

The Grim Reaper suddenly raised his head and fixed his gaze on the black dragon that was swooping down.

At the same time, the Silver Knights felt a sense of lightness; their bodies no longer decayed, no longer bound as if crossing a river of death.

Death stared intently at the enormous black dragon, completely unaware of when it had appeared—just as he hadn't noticed when the embers had vanished.