Chapter 1327: Lich

Aside from Anthony, who was from the Null Sect, and the woman who used the rapier, who was from the Whispering Butterflies Sect, the five, who were three men and two women, were from the Universal Cauldron Pavilion, Dreaming Nightmare Organization, Runic Will Pavilion, Heaven Sealers Association, and the Sword Sect.

In total, they were seven people present, four men and three women.

The moment the five appeared, the woman from the Whispering Butterflies Sect narrowed her eyes for a moment, as she hadn’t exactly sensed these people. But she didn’t think much about it, as she herself had barely arrived here barely a minute ago.

Anthony gazed at them for a moment, then tore his eyes away as he looked at the surroundings. It was what appeared to be a graveyard, as various tombs seemed to stretch infinitely into the distance. The smell of decay was heavy in the air, as though the bodies of those who died were decaying.

Above, there were no clouds, but what happened to be a black sun hung there, painting the entire area in black light, giving it an eerie vibe that seemed to say anyone who entered here would surely die. Even the ground, the soil beneath their feet, seemed to be decaying too, as it was pitch black.

At this moment, no one was speaking as they simply stared at each other with calm expressions, as though they all believed they stood above the others in terms of pure power. Anthony could sense he was the most out of place here, as everyone seemed to know each other from the past. After all, they were geniuses from Organizations that stood at the top of the Sathor Grand Region. They had all clashed one or two times.

Anthony couldn’t help but give a faint smile. Although they were trying to read him, they didn’t look down on him, as everyone understood that underestimating an unknown opponent was the first sign of stupidity. Besides, he had effortlessly handled Li Xinyi’s attack from the Whispering Butterflies Sect and sensed them too when she hadn’t.

Anthony decided to break the silence.

"So, can anyone tell me what is happening?" His tone was calm as his hands remained behind his back. "You guys seem to know what is happening, which is why you all were hiding."

Nobody answered for a moment. A heartbeat later, a voice came as a woman who seemed to radiate nothing but pure sharpness spoke, "We’ve all explored this area for over an hour, but we neither found any enemies to fight, nor did we find any treasure or anything of the sort." She paused for a moment, then continued, "Only new people continue coming here as though this area needs a certain headcount to activate whatever challenges it wants to give." Her tone was analytical.

Her name was Su Ming, and she was from the Sword Sect. Anthony didn’t even need to guess, as merely looking in her direction would tell anyone that. It seemed as though if anyone just touched a strand of her hair, they would be cut to ribbons.

A man from the Universal Cauldron Pavilion followed up, "Our guess is that we need around ten people to begin, so we’ve been waiting here for a while."

His name was Luth Aleksandr.

Anthony stayed silent for a moment, then replied, "I see..."

Li Xinyi, who was standing a couple of meters away from Anthony, also fell into her thoughts, as she too had only heard this for the first time, since she had merely just arrived a minute before Anthony.

"I guess we just have to wait for three more people then." Another man spoke. He was from the Runic Will Pavilion, and his name was Maris Matis.

The rest nodded, as they were about to activate their concealment abilities and artifacts, as they had been hiding just in case anything happened to someone who was out in the open, when the entire black, cloudless sky shook.

Everyone’s head instantly snapped upwards, their eyes narrowing as they readied themselves to attack at a moment’s notice. But their guard against each other remained. After all, while they might be on a tactical, unspoken truce, it didn’t mean one person wasn’t going to break it just to gain the gains everyone had in their space rings.

From the sky, an enormous white maw appeared through empty space. The maw was made of nothing but pure white bones. As the maw appeared, the rest of the body appeared as well, as an enormous skeleton Behemoth appeared in the sky, its wingspan and body blotting out the entire black sun as it cast a huge dark shadow over everybody.

The next moment, the bones on its skeletal body shook as they tore out from its body in waves, and as though controlled by some telekinetic force, the bones formed a throne of bones as though another entity was meant to sit upon it. The moment the throne of bones was formed, the sky tore yet again as a rift formed. From the rift, a skeletal foot appeared as a figure floated downwards.

The figure appeared as an entire human-shaped skeleton, but no one knew if it had been of the Human race in the past. The Undead possessed green flaming eyes within its sockets, covered in a black robe, as its skeletal feet touched the spine of the skeleton Behemoth.

The spine seemed to rearrange into a staircase of bones as the Undead simply stepped towards his throne. Stepping upon the Behemoth’s head, the being sat down with calm ease, the skeleton Behemoth flying and positioning itself above the Undead.

Neither of the seven people gathered here spoke. They all stared at the Undead with narrowed eyes, as they knew whatever was meant to happen was not meant to be good. This was a graveyard, and what appeared to be a Lich floated above them.

Many of them couldn’t help but wonder if the Lich was going to summon the dead from the tombs, then have everyone fight some kind of battle of attrition. But alas, that was only their guess for now.

The Lich’s green eyes shifted towards them, its bony jaw opening as it spoke despite possessing no throat or tongue.

"It seems the number of participants has been reached." His tone was calm and indifferent. "I wonder which of you will live and which of you will die." His tone was almost amusing as he stared as though they were toys.

"You all would make perfect additions to my collection." As he spoke, he sighed for a moment, then added, "Too bad I can’t kill you all myself, nor can I add you all to my collection... a pity." A sad expression appeared on his face.

Although the Lich hadn’t given any rules of the event or whatever, everyone instantly understood that whatever was meant to happen needed seven people, and it meant that the chances of death in whatever game was about to begin were insanely high.

But they didn’t particularly care about the chances of death. They had all walked into the Sleeping Hollow knowing they could die, while also possessing the confidence that they would survive.

Anthony didn’t exactly care about the Lich’s words. He wondered if he should skip the opening scene and just attack the Lich head-on.

But after he thought about it, he dropped the idea. After all, the Lich might suggest something more interesting. With that, a smile appeared on his lips as he simply listened like an attentive student.