Academic gathering with Lich colleagues

Lyle gave an OK sign to Femma Black Abyss with the Claw of Vilimro, and his breathing gradually became shallower amidst the increasingly heavy drumbeats.

"Hellfire Invitational Tournament, begin!"

Accompanied by Bigbie's deafening scream.

The giant spinal wheel, supported by enormous bone claws and spinning rapidly in the air, finally gave the earth a hideous crack as it received the soothing friction of the ground.

A hurricane of speed roared through the lounge as the massive bone wheel, like a howling cannonball, slammed into the paper-thin portal to hell.

Lyle had a question on his mind.

The question was whether the portal would get stuck. He made a rough estimate; the diameter of the giant spinal wheel seemed to be slightly higher than the portal. Wouldn't that cause a problem? That would be so embarrassing.

Before the question could be answered, and while Lyle was still struggling with his inner turmoil, two Villimurro claws reached into the edge of the portal, gripped the red ring frame, and ripped it open violently.

boom!

The Wheel of the Spine, carrying paper-thin fragments of spatial rifts, arrived in another dimension.

The sky was black, an opaque, murky black. In the smog of sulfurous fumes, you couldn't even tell if the blackness was from clouds or the ceiling. Either way, watch your step.

After passing through the portal, the Spinal Wheel flew in the air for about a second, gliding for more than twenty meters, before crashing heavily into the dark, barren land like a depth charge.

The soil of the hellish plane cracked instantly under the immense force, far less solid than it appeared. He was like a clumsy conman, quickly revealing his malice.

Red lava erupted like waves crashing against rocks, and burning fragments of earth were blasted by the explosive force, striking the skeleton and flesh of the giant spinal wheel like bullets. Fortunately, the giant spinal wheel was fast enough to prevent Lyle from being subjected to a second baptism of boiling lava.

The spinal wheel sped forward, and behind it, the fragile land shattered instantly, exploding lava ejected into the air and falling like a torrent. Like a giant scalpel slicing open a hellish soft-boiled egg, it released the scalding liquid, turning it into a lava lake. This place, where even hope was burned away, was gradually expanding as Lyle moved.

Is this hell? Lyle felt a chill run down his spine; if he had been any slower, he would be gone.

It was like walking through a minefield, thankfully we were well-equipped.

Lyle, who had been galloping ahead, was followed by explosions and flames, unaware of the enormous bat wings flapping in the air. It was a Doomguard, hovering at the bottom of the smoke and dust, using a special device to perform live waveform switching.

The images of the hellish plane were projected onto a giant screen that rose in the center of the Black Abyss Arena.

It's called a screen, but it's actually made of leather. The huge, wide leather is supported by four hell nails, and it displays the scene of Lyle destroying the scene in hell.

"Oh, bad news. The Fallen Son, the Plague Doctor, started his journey above a layer of active lava crust, one of the most deadly terrains for us demons. I hope the young demon darlings still remember our lullabies..."

The little devils scouted ahead, laughing heartily as they watched the fireworks.

"Although my race is one of those little demons..."

Then, as if something forbidden to her heart had been touched, Bigby ignored the demon guards' attempts to stop her and loudly denounced the demons' bad habits over the loudspeaker.

The Andrei liches remained calm; they paid no attention to the lives or deaths of the demons, only finding the noise from watching the match too loud.

"What's wrong with that little devil?" Shiny didn't stop what he was doing, but the noise around him made it hard for him to concentrate.

"Using the historical advantages of their own race to obtain more rewards," the reporter shrugged, his eyes fixed on what the three members of the Necromancer Figurine Company were tinkering with. "Something like that. I heard that there's been a 'short life is precious' political movement among the demons lately, using their own disadvantages to gain sympathy from society."

"The results of it?"

"The demons don't care at all. They've killed far more of their own kind than the dwarf demons. And the dwarf demons reproduce like rats, they're endless. I heard that because of this event, many demons have transferred the harm they inflicted on their own kind to the dwarf demons."

"It's a win-win situation. The little demons gained social attention and a new sense of self-worth. Meanwhile, the demon race solved its population problem."

Without continuing that uninteresting topic, the gentleman pointed to the round device, about the size of a roulette wheel, and asked a question.

"This is the device that you and your delusions designed."

"Yes."

The gentleman turned his head and looked at Mr. Delusional.

"So, you actually created a so-called mechanized soul? You know, as far as I know, reshaping souls and altering personalities are the abilities of masters of soul studies. How did you do it, in a delusional way?"

"I didn't do it; that was to deceive the epidemic doctor. I did connect some control modules to the spinal giant wheel to compensate for the electron beam, but mechanical intelligence is impossible to create in this era. Trying to create a mechanical soul is simply a pipe dream."

"What is this device for?"

“Those control modules are outputs,” Shiny patted the circular device. “This is the input.”

"We made a remote control."

"The remote control of the spine wheel of the epidemic doctor boss."

Chapter 392 The Ruthless Substitute Fighter

It was a disc that conformed to the aesthetics of a lich in necromancy. The lower part, which was used for touching, was covered with thick fleshy skin, and there were slowly wriggling lumps of flesh inside the four corners, making it extremely pleasant to touch. As for the front, it was a mixture of metal wires and blood vessels, like the surface of a game console pieced together.

The gleaming hand gripped the protruding, circular handbone handle and swung it back and forth a few times within the fleshy groove. "It feels good, very flexible. But the handbone is still a bit too big, making it a little difficult to move."

He cleverly snatched the flesh-and-blood remote control away. "Be content, this is just an experiment."

That's right, all of this was just an experiment by the Necromancer Figure Company.

After obtaining Nia's "flesh" from Lyle's office, the Necromancer Figure Club was filled with curiosity and a desire to study this substance that possessed both soul and body characteristics. The flesh and blood of the evil god was indeed a top-tier forbidden substance, and even a brief and in-depth study of it greatly benefited the three members of Shining.

Their knowledge of séances accumulated rapidly, and finally, they discovered a new possibility for séances: remote control.

Here we must mention the drawbacks of traditional spirit possession—or rather, the limited range of knowledge sources.

Spirit possession is a major topic in mysticism, and it shares a characteristic of mysticism: impurity. The essence of any practitioner who studies spirit possession undergoes a transformation to some extent as their skill deepens. In transforming creations, they also transform themselves—their will, values, and most fundamentally, their soul.

The study of spirits is the most mysterious and important discipline within necromancy. Just as the name suggests, it involves using methods to bring spirits to a prepared or manufactured medium, blurring the lines between life and death. The study of spirits is extremely important, but its impact on necromancy practitioners is also the most terrifying.

A necromancer apprentice might begin by studying bones or flesh, but never the science of souls. Therefore, low-level necromancer creations are merely puppets without inner life. A puppet needs a master to control it, and the puppet strings cannot be too long, otherwise they will break. Only at higher levels can a necromancer imbue their creation with a spirit through soul inscription, thus achieving autonomy for the creation.

However, the truth is that the study of the soul is very difficult. Some necromancers may never achieve anything in the study of the soul in their entire lives, and can only manipulate their own creations. If they are even worse off, they may not even be able to modify their creations, and can only summon a few skeletons to scare people.

Now, the three of them have pioneered a new path: remote control.

My creations may not be able to move autonomously, but I can control them remotely. What's the difference between me staying at home and remotely controlling my creations and having a free-moving, autonomous creation? There is a difference: a soul-created being has the potential to betray and break free from enslavement, while a puppet does not.

The excitement of discovering a new research topic gave the three of them ample motivation to conduct experiments.

The first step is to determine the optimal experimental conditions.

The most universally applicable and widely used spirit-summoning artifact currently available is the Spine Wheel.

The best manipulator of the Spinal Wheel is, of course, the Plague Doctor, who is also its creator.

The experiment involved high-intensity manipulation, targeting the Asmodians and the Hellfire Invitational Tournament.

Everything was completed in one go, and all was ready.

For their own experimental purposes, the Necromancer's Figurine Club invited Mr. Miracle, who was interested in the flesh and blood of an evil god, and three members of the Literature Club who were interested in everything. Thus, a web of conspiracy against Lyle began to be woven.

"So, all the parameters are set."

The reporter rubbed his hands together. "Who wants to be the first to experience Andre's strongest newcomer role-playing game?"

He dodged the reporter's outstretched hand, saying, "This is a rare experiment, gentlemen. I hope you can maintain a rigorous research attitude."

The reporter nodded hurriedly, "So, can I go first?"

Miracle stood to the side, pressing buttons on the remote control. "It's not the right time yet, Mr. Reporter. If we take control of the Spinal Wheel now, the lie about the mechanized assisting soul will be exposed instantly. Do you want to be punished by the Plague Doctor later?"

Mr. Miracle's current display of rationality is truly commendable.

“I don’t know how you will react, but I know that if my academic advisor finds out that I’ve persecuted my junior, I believe my research will be fraught with difficulties.”

Everyone made a connection to the forces behind Lyle, but there was no need to make that connection, because those big shots from Andrei were sitting right next to them.

"The dragon mentor will probably turn us into a Frankenstein's monster..."

“Scholarly mentors are very strict…”

“Mr. Raymond… the current state of the literary society is bad enough, and although I can’t imagine how it could get any worse, I dare not test Mr. Raymond’s limits.”

"So, let's find a way to prevent the plague doctor from coming back?" A sudden voice appeared in the crowd. The eight people looked at each other, wondering which genius had come up with this idea.

"Don't even think about it. If the Plague Doctor dies in hell, we'll probably have no choice but to leave the arena as bone dust. You know we made that promise before."

After much deliberation, the group made their decision. While Lyle encountered the enemy, they would secretly seize control of the Spine Wheel and collect combat data.

This process didn't take too long.

The Hell Plane.

Lyle was driving the giant spinal wheel straight toward the central volcano.

After being attacked by Infernal Rock Worms and Molten Hounds, Lyle arrived at the edge of a mountain wall.

To the left was a lava swamp inhabited by lava creatures, and to the right was a sheer cliff with a vertical drop of about eighty degrees. Although the excellent properties of the Spinal Giant Wheel could help Lyle climb the wall, it wasn't necessary. A higher position meant a wider field of vision and easier detection.

However, reality sometimes goes against our wishes.

Lyle heard the rumbling sound of the Spine Wheel rushing by, right above him, on the mountainside. If Lyle could hear the sound of its movement, then he could naturally hear his own.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, a white bone wheel fell from the sky and headed straight for him.

That demon clearly wanted to kill him.

Lyle chose to accelerate, which was possible, but after Lyle gave the command, the Spine Wheel did not accelerate; in fact, its speed decreased sharply, as if it was waiting for the enemy to approach.

"What's going on? Nia, the Spinal Wheel is out of control!"

Black tentacles appeared on the inside of the bone wheel. After some testing and adjustments, Lyle found the answer.

They were the control clumps that were detected earlier; they manipulated the surrounding flesh and blood to prevent themselves from accelerating.

"Shining and the others said that this Spinal Wheel has a supporting soul... Does it think it's too cowardly for me to just leave like this?"

Regardless of the outcome, Lyle now has no choice but to fight.

The distance between the two sides was constantly closing, and they were still ten body lengths away from Vilimro's Claw.

Five.

Four.

Three.

Suddenly, the Spinal Wheel moved. The enormous Spinal Wheel suddenly spun around like a coin, dodging the attack from the demons behind it, and then slammed the enemy, along with the Spinal Wheel, against the wall.

Bone spurs sprout from the wide finger bones of Vilimro's Claw, completely fixing the demons and flesh inside.

Then, the giant bone claw pressed down on the demon's body and dragged it along the hard stone wall until the spinal wheel could no longer withstand the impact and collapsed. Dropping the unconscious demon from its claw, the spinal wheel sped away.

All of this happened in an instant. While Lyle was still stunned, the giant spinal wheel turned around gracefully and slammed the enemy against the mountain wall, forcing them to accept the intimate friction of the rocks. The demon was defeated instantly, along with the wheel.