The Bone Tree embraced the sky and land and looked beautiful, except that a part of it was wholly corrupted and stained in black shade. The tree lifted its bone branches to the sky and seemed to be ordering the sun to turn back and let the darkness descend to the ground.
At that moment, seventeen humanoid figures stood at the summit of a tall mountain and stared at the monstrous Bone Tree in shock.
Thirteen of them were Undead Skeletons, while the remaining four were fleshy beings.
"We finally reached the Death Land Pillar region!" Grurdin said in a solemn tone. Even though he did not have flesh to show facial expression, the soul fire burning within his eye sockets became brighter, expressing his excitement.
At that moment, a Death Knight unsheathed his longsword and spoke while shaking his skull.
Let's wait for others to appear, Grurdin. Monsters and magical beasts seem to be surrounding the Bone Tree and protecting it. With our current strength, it is almost impossible to get near it."
As Grurdin was about to refuse his idea, he suddenly heard a wind rippling sound from behind and soon rolled up in the air.
No, his skull was decapitated by someone and flew up in the air!
The next instant, his soul fire dimmed, and he also noticed everything turned blank.
The Death Knight was also shocked by the sudden assassination and soon discovered that the assassin was none other than Abium!
"Why?" Before he could even mutter, a humanoid shadow arrived behind him, moved its sword at an incredible speed, and decapitated his skull too!
This time, it was Nicolaus!
As other undead skeletons were shocked by the sudden betrayal of the foreign guests, Abium enveloped his sword with an advanced sword aura and moved toward them at an incredible speed.
On the other hand, Fennelis, Nicolaus, and even Umi moved in different directions and started confronting other undead skeletons.
Clangs reverberated everywhere as Abium and others battled with full power and started massacring the other undead skeletons.
Two minutes later, only bones and skulls remained on the ground.
"Shall we get out of this plane now?" Nicolaus kicked Grurdin's skull and asked.
"I don't think it will be an easy job."
Once Abium said those words, he shifted towards the front and locked his gaze on the towering Bone Tree.
Then, he turned his gaze towards the ground and saw many undead magical beasts and some phantom killer-like undead skeletons wandering here and there.
He soon shifted his amber eyes to his left and noticed a large Magic Tower standing around 2 km away from the Bone Tree.
"It must be the Tower of Rebirth!" Fennelis said while grabbing Umi's hand.
"But how are we going to get there without getting noticed by the undead creatures? I'm damn sure some high-rank undead must be lurking somewhere near the Tower." Nicolaus said in an anxious tone.
"I think I have a solution for that." Abium suddenly spoke and cast the [Mirage] spell.
In the next instant, a strange illusionary power came out of Abium's body and covered the area around a 1-meter radius before making everything transparent.
No, it made everything around him appear greyish.
At that moment, Nicolaus, Fennelis, and Umi noticed that their bodies were covered by some strange power and making them invisible.
"As long as you guys stay closer to me, you'll remain invisible for the next 30 minutes." Abium gave them a short explanation.
"Illusion spell? Now that I think about it, you used this spell when we battled against the Undead Wyrm, right?" Nicolaus asked in a surprised tone.
"Something like that. But to make everyone transparent, I must concentrate fully on this spell. You guys have to do the surveillance job," Abium said while walking down from the summit.
Meanwhile, Fennelis, Umi, and Nicolaus hurriedly moved forward and followed after him closely.
After that, they did their finest to conceal their presence and moved towards the tall cylindrical magic tower situated around 3 to 4 km away from them.
By the time Abium felt that the [Mirage] spell was about to break down, he noticed that they had arrived much closer to the Tower's outer wall.
"I can't maintain the illusion spell any longer. Let's run." He instantly cut off the connection between his mind and the spell model and felt mentally exhausted.
He quickly touched his space ring, took out a water pouch from it, and started drinking water.
Simultaneously, he stepped forward and started running towards the Tower's entrance.
At that moment, Fennelis placed Umi on her shoulder, transformed into her Beastform, and ran madly after Abium.
Soon, she overtook him, rushing ahead like a fox and stopping only at the metallic entrance gate.
No, a transparent layer appeared before her and stopped her from entering!
Within a minute, Abium and Nicolaus also arrived at the invisible layer and noticed that this transparent layer encircled the whole Tower like a protective shield.
'The Tower is still active. Kid, raise your right hand and touch the invisible forcefield.' Azolla spoke in his mind.
Although Abium got confused by her words, he didn't say anything and did as she told him to do.
As his palm touched the invisible layer, a unique fire-breathing dragon symbol suddenly shone in red color and released a strange wave towards the Tower.
A moment later, a small door-like opening appeared on the forcefield and invited them inside.
'Wait, I got this imprint when I opened the metal case, didn't I? But how did you know about it?' Abium couldn't help but ask.
'I've long noticed this imprint on your wrist. Now, get inside before the Undead Beasts take notice of your presence.' Azolla said in a hurry.
Abium nodded his head in agreement, stepped into the newly opened door, and looked up at the tall Tower. Fennelis and others also stepped inside and looked around.
The Tower appeared to have survived there for eternity, shadowed in the twilight. It seemed to be around 400 to 500 meters tall and covered about a hundred-meter radius. A small stone wall enclosed the Magic Tower, leaving a single entry gate to access outside.
A stone statue of a middle-aged man was set in front of the Tower's entrance as Abium and others entered through the small entrance gate.
The man in the statue wore a crown on his head and carried a tiny golden dragon in his right hand like a baby. He had a round face, elongated eyebrows, and a muscular body.
'Ancient Mage Runeth!' Abium instantly identified him, then thought of something and asked in his mind.
'Do you know him, Azolla? Is he from the Ancient Era?'
'Yes. Runeth was in his prime during the final battle and even had the power to battle Demi-God in one on one battle. Runeth was one of the rare Tri-Elemental Mages, so everyone from that era knew about him.'
'Demi-Gods… What is Runeth's power level? Can he kill a God?' Abium asked while recalling when Goddess Nyara kidnapped them from the chamber.
In truth, he read that only Lawful Gods killed all the Evil Beings and stopped them from invading the Easica world in the storybooks. There was no mention of ancient mages, except in some places.
'Demi-God is above Legend Rank. So, Runeth can be considered a demi-god. You'll learn more about the power level later. As for killing a God? It's nearly impossible for any ancient mage, boy. Ancient mages are capable of fighting God's Avatar and could kill one in rare cases. But they aren't omnipotent beings. What would they do if that particular God decided to send multiple avatars and incarnations to kill them? They would have no choice but to run away.'
'What if the Ancient Mages manage to kill all the God's avatars and incarnations?'
'Indeed, God's avatars aren't endless. Still, one needs to enter his divine realm to kill a God.' Noticing the puzzlement on Abium's face, Azolla made a deep sigh inside his head and continued.
'Once a person ascends to godhood, their physical form won't be able to enter any plane. Although they will only stay inside their divine realm, their strength would rise exponentially and almost become omnipotent. So, even ancient mages look puny in front of those Gods.'
Azolla replied with a heavy sigh.
'It seems it's too early for me to learn about these gods.' Abium muttered solemnly and stepped forward near the Tower's entrance.
Soon, he arrived in front of the two-meter tall metallic gate and looked at the surroundings.
'It hasn't been maintained for a long time.'
He quietly looked up and noticed that it was a six-layer tower.
Nicolaus walked closer to him and asked in a hurry, "Shall we go in?".
"Yes."
Nodding, Abium walked towards the metal door, raised his hands, and pushed open the door.
He then took a step forward, entered the main hall, and began to look around.
'An empty hall?' He couldn't help but frown.
He also saw a spiral staircase on his left side and guessed that it must be leading to the second floor.
"Let's go upstairs," Abium spoke and hurriedly moved towards the staircase.
Unfortunately, even the second layer appeared empty. The group then moved towards the third layer and found only a handful of experimental instruments like empty glass jars, test tubes, flasks, etc.
Although they weren't much use for Abium, he decided to take them. After that, the group moved towards the fourth layer and soon noticed it was an armory!
Weapons were arranged on racks, tables, and glasses around the room and appeared in excellent condition. But as they checked them one by one, they were more disappointed.
"All of these weapons are normal ones. What a waste of time." Fennelis said as she threw a silver sword on the floor and walked towards the staircase.
"I expected there would be plenty of treasure in this tower," Nicolaus said disappointedly and then helped Umi climb the stairs.
On the other hand, Abium shook his head and followed after them quietly.
But as they entered the fifth layer, they saw a large magic circle formation inscribed on the concrete-like floor and got stunned by its beauty.