Chapter 967 - The Undead King Relocates
The details of the Third Form legacy appeared before Han Wu. In this Form, he could transform into a Swordwind, wielding four greatswords simultaneously to attack. Swordwind were children of the wind and had an extremely strong affinity for the wind element.
Han Wu couldn’t hold back a grin when he saw this. He was extremely familiar with the race. In fact, the information recorded in the scroll wasn’t nearly as detailed as his existing knowledge. After all, one of his Saints, Steelcutter Swordwind, was of that race.
“Perfect. I’ll take this scroll!” Han Wu declared.
The equipment and skills that the legacy required were no problem for him either. Although he was only an amateur blacksmith, with the tutelage of the Scorching Dwarf, Divine Hammer, he could forge a set of Rank 3 equipment without issue. His resources were plentiful, and anything he crafted would be superior to monster drops.
Skills were even less of a concern. Whirlwind Slash, Gust Chop, and Hurricane Slash were all recorded in the legacy. Besides that, Han Wu could also produce higher-level techniques like Steelcutter and Gold Parter.
Preparing this legacy would be completely effortless for him. Han Wu took the legacy scroll back to Galewind City and found the minotaur’s smithy again. This time, the minotaur watched him forge with the reverence of a worshiper.
The minotaur only snapped out of his trance long after Han Wu finished and left. Letting out a long breath, he bellowed, “Brilliant!”
Afterward, Han Wu visited the city lord of Galewind City, explained the Undead King’s decision to relocate, and “borrowed” some White Soul Coins with no intention of paying them back.
The city lord didn’t believe Han Wu’s story and assumed Han Wu was feeding him fake information to swindle money. Out of respect for Han Wu’s contributions to the city, however, he didn’t call him out on it and handed over the coins without fuss. He also told Han Wu that if things ever got rough out there, he was welcome to come work for Galewind City. The pay would be generous.
Han Wu just smiled. With his kind of strength, selling the entire city wouldn’t cover his hiring fee.
This Swordwind legacy was considerably more powerful, and its attribute bonuses were substantial. Strength, Agility, Spirit, Defense, and Constitution each received +100 while Attack received +200.
Once activated, every attribute would double, with the wind attribute receiving an extra +100 on top of that.
The combination of those bonuses meant even Han Wu’s lowest base attribute sat at +155, while his highest, Agility, reached +255. Both his Attack and Defense saw equally impressive gains. His base stats alone were already on par with some ordinary Fourth Form fighters.
If he ran into the Undead General again, Han Wu wouldn’t even need the crystal greatsword to beat it. After ascending to the Third Form, Han Wu already had the Fourth Form Crystal Lich legacy prepared.
Crystal Lich was a mage-oriented Form focused on boosting spiritual attributes. He didn’t have the right materials for it, though, since he hadn’t fought the Undead King, so the Crystal Lich legacy would have to wait.
When the Undead King saw Han Wu’s strength, the spiritual fire in its eye sockets leaped in shock. While it had expected the Swordwind legacy’s attribute boosts to be impressive, it hadn’t expected them to be to this extent.
It was good that Han Wu was getting stronger, though. It would help tremendously with exploring Lingray’s tomb.
With everything prepared, the Undead King rallied every undead in the mass graves for a march. Over ten thousand armed skeletons filed out under the cover of night, leaving behind the home they’d occupied for a hundred years.
News didn’t reach Galewind City until noon the following day. The city lord was in the middle of lunch when he heard it. He was so shocked that the bowl slipped from his hands and shattered on the floor, but he didn’t even notice.
It took him a long moment to process it. Han Wu had told him the truth. The Undead King, who had threatened Galewind City for over a century, had actually left.
Then came the regret. He’d only given Han Wu a small amount of White Soul Coins. Hopefully, Han Wu didn’t think he was cheap. Han Wu, of course, knew nothing of the city lord’s worries.
Undead skeletons carried him in a palanquin as they traveled through the night. By dawn, they arrived at the mouth of a cave.
The Undead King stepped down from its own palanquin and said to Han Wu, “This is the entrance to Lingray’s tomb.”
Feeling skeptical, Han Wu preemptively had the Desolation Manifestation check it first. It pushed its senses deep into the cave and confirmed that there was indeed a tomb inside. A peculiar aura of authority surrounded it, blocking the Desolation Manifestation’s perception from penetrating further, so it would have to wait until Han Wu was inside to investigate further.
Han Wu relaxed slightly, reassured that there were no issues. Taking the lead, he said, “Let’s go in.”
The Undead King followed behind him, while the skeleton soldiers stayed outside. They were too weak to be of any help inside. Besides, the Undead King had powerful summoning skills. If the situation called for it, it could summon reinforcements on the spot.
Inside the cave, Han Wu shifted into his Second Form, Swift Shadow. In this state, his Agility rocketed to 765, fast enough to leave multiple afterimages when running. The various shadow skills also performed better in the dark.
The Undead King took precautions as well. It used bone magic to summon a layer of bones to shield both of them, then conjured five Third Form Undead Warriors to scout ahead.
These Undead Warriors were pathetically weak in Han Wu’s eyes, but they served their purpose as expendable scouts.
Their party didn’t get far before something attacked. A pitch-black humanoid creature lunged from the darkness and clawed at Han Wu’s head.
Han Wu reacted instantly, activating Shadow Meld and sinking his body into the shadows, leaving the creature to grab at empty air. Then, from within the shadows, he thrust out a black blade. This was a Swift Shadow skill, Shadow Blade.
The blade was forged from shadows, and its power increased in darker surroundings. Shadow Blade was at maximum strength within this pitch-black cave. A single strike pierced the humanoid creature clean through, pinning it to the stone wall.
The Undead King raised its fiery scepter and approached the creature. Its features were visible in the dim glow of the dark purple flames. The creature’s skin was entirely black, and its face featureless. There was a twisted, unsettling quality to it that sent chills down the spine.
“This is a Third Form Dark Shade. It can be troublesome to deal with,” the Undead King explained, jabbing its scepter into the creature.
The flame on the scepter ignited the Dark Shade’s body and burned it to ash, leaving only thirty White Soul Coins behind as proof it had ever existed.