Chapter 368: Angel
Jokes aside, once the squad recovered from the shock, everyone, including Harvey himself, began to wonder. Has the Gospel malfunctioned?
The inclusion of the Senheiser, Perskin, or Dolan families was understandable. After all, even if those individuals were currently single, or perhaps destined to remain so forever, they still retained some concept of love and family. By contrast, the phrase Harvey family sounded more like a corpse culinary study group.
It wasn't that corpses couldn't learn to cook. It was just that corpses had absolutely no need to eat things like Lala Fat, or anything else, for that matter. Harvey didn't need love, nor did he need a family.
While the nine other undead families on the Family Ranking were comprised of the dead, they still retained a fragment of love. They still knew how to preserve and protect their own kin, which barely allowed them to meet the criteria for the ranking.
Harvey was different. If the other undead families were living people acting like the dead, then Harvey was a dead man acting like he was alive. If Harvey were to ask one day, "Why has my heart stopped beating?", everyone would assume nothing was wrong with his heart itself. It was simply that he didn't feel like living, so his heart had gone on strike, and Harvey probably owed it double overtime compensation.
Harvey had long since gone insane. Perhaps he had already broken back during his time at the Shattered Lake, leaving him with severe obsessive tendencies and auditory hallucinations.
Harvey talked to Alice quite often, but no one really cared. The only reason he could speak so normally and naturally to others was that he had an endless stream of topics whenever he was alone with her.
Occasionally, when Ashe went to find him, he would hear Harvey laughing from outside the door. It wasn't an eerie, villainous cackle, but a bright, cheerful, open laugh, the kind that made one picture a handsome, blonde, curly-haired, dark-skinned man lounging in beach shorts. It was genuinely terrifying. Ashe was usually so startled he almost turned and ran. He was certain everyone had already used the Book of Gospel to ask, "Can Alice talk with Harvey?" and received an answer that left them all deeply unsettled.
Still, because Harvey kept his condition locked away like a coffin, no one interfered. Iger and Ashe both left him alone, Iger because he simply didn't care, and Ashe because he wasn't capable of intervening.
Harvey might be able to raise an army, build a faction, or even start a cult, but he could never create a family. Love and family were the exact antithesis of Archibald Harvey.
Harvey thought so too, which was why his claim that Ashe was dragging him down wasn't entirely a joke. He seriously suspected that Ashe's hormonal "heat" had somehow contaminated him.
At that moment, Pankey pulled a stack of emergency biscuits from his suitcase, offering the squad a snack while they continued to watch the rankings.
After reading through the Blood Moon Corpse King's traits, their immediate thought was. So, this is Harvey's rise to power as a zombie king!
1. Blood Devouring Aura: Within its range, all living beings are constantly tormented by reversed blood flow and may even tear open their own blood vessels to feed the Blood Moon Corpse King and mend its injuries.
2. Wargiant Corpse Transformation: The Blood Moon Corpse King can take on a werewolf form, vastly increasing its attack and movement speed.
3. Indestructibility: The Blood Moon Corpse King can heal itself by consuming the souls bound within its body. Its flesh is unbreakable and immune to most forms of damage.
4. Tombstone Soul Binding: The Blood Moon Corpse King can manifest a massive tombstone. Within its range, all corpses will randomly resurrect as Mist Spirits, Machina Spirits, Specter Spirits, Shadow Spirits, Wraith Knights, Dragon Liches, or other undead units until the tombstone is destroyed.
5. Immunity to Weaving Miracle: Immune to all negative effects inflicted by Weaving Miracles.
Each of these five traits was profoundly practical. Combined with the Blood Moon Corpse King's colossal size, it was a war machine on par with a Legendary sorcerer.
Based on the pattern of previous rewards, Harvey should have received an item allowing him to freely transform into the Blood Moon Corpse King. In other words, he could now be considered a Legendary-tier combat force.
The Book of Gospel continued to update. However, instead of displaying Harvey's reward, it unexpectedly projected a scene from some point in the future.
In the projection, two figures walked through a majestic, solemn golden hall. Along both sides of the corridor stood silver knight statues over ten meters tall, resembling enormous tombstones or fervent pilgrims deep in prayer. The golden floor was etched with intricate patterns, but a closer look revealed they were composed entirely of meticulously arranged bones. The scene was a striking paradox, both sacred and horrifying, and radiant yet eerie.
"So, this is Belldet's real tomb. To think he actually took his entire inheritance to the grave with him. For a sorcerer, that's just petty. He could have at least left something behind for his family."
"Do not try to interpret the thoughts of a necromancer with your weak-minded sentimentality. His descendants cannot even find his actual resting place, so what right do they have to inherit an angel's legacy? Still, they did provide the clues to this inheritance. As repayment, I will return and grant the Belldet family eternal rest."
"I'm sure the Belldet family will be moved to tears when they hear about your 'repayment.'"
Annan stared at the Book of Gospel in sheer shock. "An angel?!"
Lys seized the moment to escape and burrow back into Ashe's arms. She asked curiously, "An angel? Like the ones in fairy tales?"
Ashe, Iger, and Harvey all leaned in, equally intrigued. Annan glanced at Harvey with a complex expression. She explained, "No, not like the ones in fairy tales. To be honest, I don't know much either. I only know that the Dolan family once had a legendary sorcerer as an ancestor, and some of his journals mention angels. The Book of Gospel records nothing past the level of Four-Winged Legends. If you look up 'angels,' it refuses to give a proper answer, offering nothing but children's folklore. If you search for 'five wings,' it simply goes dead silent.
"Angels are beings far above Legends. They are attendants of the Divine Lords, entities who have completely transcended the mortal realm and stand just a single step away from divinity. A sorcerer who successfully condenses their fifth wing is essentially a Pseudo God.
"Originally, angel meant messenger of the Lord. It's a title, not a rank. But just as Three-Winged sorcerers are commonly called Sacred Realm sorcerers, most Pseudo God sorcerers serve as the Lord's messengers. Because of that, Angel became the universal term for a Five-Winged sorcerer."
A Pseudo God... a Five-Winged Angel.
Ashe cradled Lys, his imagination running wild as he pictured these god-like sorcerers commanding winds and reshaping storms at a whim. Iger and Harvey, however, remained relatively unfazed. They simply nodded, committing the piece of trivia to memory.
Their pragmatism was only natural. After all, they were currently just Two-Winged sorcerers, and they weren't even certain they would ever reach the Three-Winged level. Above that were the Four-Winged Legends. While they had never seen a Pseudo God, Four-Winged Legends did exist in the Blood Moon Kingdom. Without exception, those were mythical figures ordinary people could never hope to cross paths with, either top-tier researchers at elite institutes or cardinal archbishops of the Church. They were titans who existed on an entirely different societal plane.
Both Iger and Harvey were deeply grounded realists. Their loftiest ambition in life was merely to reach the Sacred Realm level. As for becoming a Legend standing at the apex of the mortal world? That was the kind of dream they stopped having the moment they became sorcerers and no longer required sleep.
As for a Five-Winged semi-divine being? That didn't even factor into their wildest calculations. They didn't dare to dream that big. After all, when normal people fantasize about winning the lottery, they might imagine a few million or even hundreds of millions, but never trillions. Even the central bank wouldn't print numbers that absurd.
Annan claimed this wasn't a fairy tale, but to them, it might as well have been.
Wait...
Suddenly, everyone turned their eyes to the Book of Gospel, a realization dawning on them.
If the prophecy is true, does that mean those two individuals are currently on their way to claim an angel's inheritance? Is a fairy tale actually coming to life?
A dangerous ambition gripped them. Even if it's an event meant for the future, if a trace of it could be found right now... does that mean we might have a chance to seize that divine treasure first?