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

Late at night, Emlyn White returned home after a long day of work, quickly washed up, and lay down on the bed.

As a high-ranking deacon of the Church of the Earth Mother in the Backlund diocese, and a clergyman in charge of vampire affairs, he carries a heavy burden.

After all, the Steam Church had just completely withdrawn from the Kingdom of Rune, and although the Fool Church had been tacitly approved by the Church of Night and the Church of Storms and could replace the Steam Church, they were currently mostly preaching in the overseas Roside Islands and could not spare the energy and manpower to preach in the Kingdom of Rune in the short term.

The Church of the Fools lacked the energy for proselytizing, and the Church of the Night and the Church of the Storm had the entire Fusak Empire to digest, so they weren't in a hurry to expand their influence within the Kingdom of Rune. Therefore, the heartland of the Kingdom of Rune was currently a vast blue ocean for the Church of the Earth Mother!

It is currently the rising period of missionary work for the Church of the Earth Mother Goddess. Every day, a steady stream of people come to the Harvest Church to pray, which keeps the vampires who work part-time at the Harvest Church extremely busy. They have to stay in the church all day, acting as temporary priests to answer the questions of the believers.

Even so, the number of people coming to pray is still too many to handle. So Emlyn is currently in talks with the Steam Church, preparing to buy their church and convert it into a church for the Church of Mother Earth.

Of course, the original architectural style of these churches was incompatible with the Church of the Earth Mother, requiring redesign and reconstruction. But this was not a difficult task, because Emlyn had mentioned this to "The World," hoping to "renovate" these former steam church churches through a "wish," and Mr. "The World" had expressed his strong support.

After all, the Church of the Earth Mother and the Church of the Fool are now staunch allies, and 'The World' wouldn't mind lending a hand.

After all, the Earth Mother Goddess Church had contributed a lot to the missionary work of the Fool's Church. For example, the food that the Fool's Church used to win people's hearts was all bought from the Earth Mother Goddess Church at a low price, which was mutually beneficial.

However, this has led to Emlyn's increasingly bizarre lifestyle lately. As a vampire, he should be nocturnal, but the opposite is true; he has been living a nocturnal lifestyle like a human lately.

Fortunately, Emlyn is already a demigod, so his irregular sleep schedule doesn't affect his energy levels. In fact, at the demigod level, he could go without sleep for months on end without any problems. The main reason he insists on sleeping every day is to enter the dream world.

After all, while believers wouldn't go to church to pray in the middle of the night, Emlyn couldn't be idle either.

He was only a Rank 4 Earl, with a lot of room for advancement. So every night, as usual, he would enter the dream world through sleep to challenge the dream bosses and hone his combat skills. And if he could successfully defeat the various dream bosses, the 'souls' he obtained could help him digest the potions.

Emlyn is not "The World", so he can't speedrun the Dream World. He has only reached Sulyvahn so far and is stuck on some parts. For the past two months, he has been blocked in front of Sulyvahn and has been unable to pass the game even with the guides provided by "The World".

Emlyn didn't think he was too weak; it was mainly because Sulyvahn was too strong! In Emlyn's eyes, this Pope had strength comparable to a Sequence 2, which was something he, a Sequence 4, could never defeat.

That's a Sequence 2 angel! On par with Grand Duke Olmer.

Even though the 'BOSSes' in the dream world generally lack intelligence and cannot fully exert the power of Sequence 2, and can only mechanically repeat those few fixed extraordinary abilities, they are still not easy for Emlyn to deal with—if he wants to kill Sulyvahn, he must slowly whittle down Sulyvahn's health, while Sulyvahn only needs one strike to kill him.

Sulyvahn can make countless mistakes, but Emlyn can only make one, and he clearly can't complete the game in one life.

Emlyn was not discouraged. After all, Sulyvahn was an angel. If he could be easily defeated, would he still be called an angel?

Although the Farron Undead Legion he defeated before also possessed angelic-level strength, the situation was completely different from the current one.

On the one hand, it is because each member of the Farron Undead Legion only has the strength of Sequence 3. Only when they share the blood of the wolf and unite can they be considered a complete Sequence 2 angel.

In Emlyn's understanding, this is somewhat similar to the extraordinary individuals of the 'Red Priest' pathway. In the past, under the command of the 'Red Angel' Medici, a Sequence 3 demigod could exert the strength equivalent to a Sequence 2 angel in the Red Legion of War.

On the other hand, the Farron Undead Legion that Emlin encountered had already turned on each other under the corruption of the Abyss. When Emlin finally saw the Farron Undead Legion, all he saw were corpses strewn across the ground. The only ones who actually appeared before him were three half-crippled Farron Undead Legion members, and even these three members were hostile to each other due to the corruption of the Abyss, making it difficult for them to even exert their Sequence 3 strength.

As for Overlord Wolnir, although He possesses angelic strength and is known to be more than just a Sequence 2 angel, possibly even a Sequence 1, He is ultimately bound by the Abyss, limiting His power. Furthermore, simply breaking His three bracelets would drag Wolnir into the Abyss, making a true defeat unnecessary.

Only Pope Saliham, whom we are currently encountering, is a true angel!

Tonight, Emlyn, having regrouped, decided to challenge Sulyvahn once more—over the past two months, Emlyn had gradually figured out the Pope's fighting style and grasped some patterns. He believed it wouldn't be long before he successfully killed a Sequence 2 angel!

Emlyn couldn't help but feel a little excited at the thought.

Even though it was just in a dream, it was still a genuine Sequence 2 angel!

However, when Emlyn finally fell asleep and entered that familiar yet strange dream world, he suddenly found that the situation was somewhat unexpected.

He was supposed to be "resurrected" in the Church of Yorshka in Irithyll, then kill all the enemies he encountered along the way, go through countless hardships to reach the door of Pope Sulyvahn, and finally die at Sulyvahn's hands.

But when he regained consciousness, he found himself no longer in Irithyll.

He couldn't even sense his own body; he was unable to move or speak.

It was pitch black all around, without a single ray of light. Emlyn even suspected that some angel was targeting him!

But this darkness did not last long; a warm and brilliant light shone forth in the darkness, offering a glimmer of hope. His 'body,' or rather his gaze, followed, arriving in that 'light.'

Finally, in the dark firelight, he saw a silver knight.

He had killed Silver Knights many times in Irithyll, and even made a point of killing one every time he resurrected.

I have to say, the Silver Knight's armor is really cool.

The dream world is not reality. Killing enemies doesn't guarantee you'll get all the equipment; it's based on probability.

The dropped equipment will be placed on your character in the dream world, but you can also use 'souls' to materialize this equipment into reality. The reason Emlyn repeatedly kills the Silver Knights is to collect a complete set of Silver Knight armor and then spend 'souls' to materialize the armor into reality.

According to Emlyn's assessment, the Silver Knight's armor is not only cool, but it can also be used in reality as a sealing artifact without any side effects, making it worthwhile to spend a certain amount of souls to exchange for it.

However, Emlyn's intuition told him that the Silver Knights he saw here were fundamentally different from those in Irithyll.

Emlyn was initially confused as to why he had such thoughts, but he soon found the answer—as his 'line of sight' moved forward, he finally saw more of the scene in the firelight.

That wasn't just one Silver Knight, but an entire army of Silver Knights!

They stood in neat rows in the darkness, with a tall figure at the very front of the formation, holding a cluster of burning flames in his hands—the only source of light in the darkness!

Emlyn didn't recognize the man, and couldn't even make out his features.

But one thing was clear in his mind—that person was Gwyn, the Sun King!

What is happening now is the "rally" before Gwyn, the Sun King, leads the Silver Knights to conquer the Elder Dragon!

This thought arose without any apparent reason, yet Emlyn had no doubt about it and instead became increasingly engrossed in it. His perspective followed Gwyn and the Silver Knight to the battlefield, where ancient dragons soared through the sky, unleashing their roars and venting their fury on the Silver Knight who dared to challenge them.

Under the leadership of the Sun King Gwyn, the Silver Knights used the Sun Lance to shoot down the rulers of the sky one by one!

Although the Silver Knights also suffered heavy losses, the war ultimately ended in victory for Gwyn, the Sun King. The immortal ancient dragons thus withdrew from the stage of history, but their offspring, the hybrid dragons, continue to roam throughout the world.

Thus began the Age of Fire.

The world is thriving, life is flourishing, and everything is getting better and better.

At that moment, Emlyn's heart was suddenly filled with boundless passion!

He followed Gwyn's perspective all the way, witnessing the rise of the gods, the fall of the ancient dragons, and the prosperity of the Age of Fire. He even foresaw the end of it all—the Age of Fire would eventually end, the world would be plunged into darkness, and humanity would begin its first era of struggle for survival: the Chaos Era!

This is the history of this world, this is the truth about the 'Creator'!

Such thoughts took root in Emlyn's heart like a seed, making him believe in it all without a doubt, firmly believing that this was the truth of the world, and he couldn't even find any reason to doubt it.

Even though he had already been exposed to everything in the dream world, even though he already knew that it was all a scheme by gods such as the Fool and the Lovers, even though he was a Sequence 4 demigod, he was still deeply trapped in the dream and could not extricate himself!

Finally, after who knows how much time had passed.

He woke up from his sleep, and the bright sunlight shone through the gap in the curtains onto Emlyn, making him frown.

Even though he was already a demigod, and even though he had to go out to work all day, he still didn't like the sun.

This is ingrained in the very bones of vampires.

He walked out of the room and glanced at the clock on the living room wall; it was 6:30 a.m.

The sunshine today came rather abruptly, as sunshine is a luxury in Backlund, especially in winter.

Emlyn frowned slightly. Last night's dream had made him realize something, so he now needed to confirm his guess.

He left the room, where the luxurious four-wheeled carriage that the vampires had bought for him was already parked in front of the door, and the coachman had been waiting for a long time.

"Mr. White," the coachman bowed respectfully.

Emlyn boarded the carriage and gave the instructions:

"Go to the Harvest Church."

Without questioning, the coachman quickly drove the carriage to the Harvest Church in the southern part of the bridge.

When the carriage arrived at Rose Street, Emlyn quickened his pace and eagerly entered the church.

He discovered that the other vampires had already arrived, and they were whispering among themselves, their expressions varied.

When they spotted Emlyn, they stood up one after another, reminding each other, and greeted each other somewhat haphazardly:

Good morning, Your Excellency.

"Your Excellency, Earl."

Emlyn nodded slightly, then asked:

"Did you have any dreams last night?"

"this……"

Kasimmi, Ernest, and the other vampires exchanged glances, their eyes filled with surprise and doubt. Finally, Kasimmi stepped forward and explained:

"Yes, Your Excellency. We both had the same dream last night, a dream of Gwyn, the Sun King, leading the Silver Knights to conquer the ancient dragons."

After a pause, Kasimi added:

"To be precise, we vampires who were summoned by Duke Olmer had the same dream. Before coming here, I asked the servants, and they also had a dream, but their dream was about the First Flame, which was the scene we saw when we first entered the dream world."

Emlyn White's eyes flickered slightly, and he asked without revealing his true feelings:

Do you believe that's real?

Kasimi gave him a strange look, seemingly puzzled as to why he asked that, but still answered:

"Of course, that is the true history of the Zeroth Era, recorded in both our vampire clan's and the sacred texts of the Earth Mother Goddess. We are just a little curious as to why we suddenly dreamt of this scene. Does Your Excellency know the reason?"

"really."

Emlyn realized with a thought that everything was just as he had guessed!

In his dream, he, like Kasimi and the others, had no doubts about that history. But once back in reality, he immediately realized something was amiss—because he knew it was all a scheme by "The Fool" and Mr. "The Lover," and that "history" had only recently been forcibly inserted into the scriptures of various religions. Although he wouldn't question it, how could he easily believe it was the true history?

Not only him, but also Kasimi and others had entered the dream world. Even if they dared not deny that it was real history, they would not easily believe it—at least not until yesterday.

But after last night's dream, they were now convinced that it was all true, and that it was definitely not a coincidence!

Perhaps last night's dream was deepening people's memory of that period of history, and perhaps it wasn't just them who were dreaming, but people all over the world!

Emlyn didn't know how this was done, but he knew it was just the beginning.