Chapter 2456

2456 - Creatures

"Ghhhaa..." An undead moved slowly in the middle of the street, its back hunched, but it was looking around with pride...

It was boasting that its body still retained some flesh, and that one of its eyes still existed. True, its color had turned white and worms were moving in it, but it existed.

But it suddenly collided with something, then heard: "Get lost!"

The undead fell hard to the side of the road, and its eye fell far away, "Oooh!!" Quickly, it extended its hand and began searching until it found the eye and returned it to its place, then turned toward whoever it had collided with, "Gaaaa!!" ready to fight until the— well, until one of them could no longer bear the losses and left.

But the undead's enthusiasm suddenly disappeared, and the expressions drawn on its simple skin-covered face changed to terror.

It had seen a human... a complete human with a complete body and a soul that seemed complete, a living human!

Someone like this should have been eaten the moment he arrived on the planet, yet he was moving in front of it as if walking in his own backyard.

And also... that aura?

Why was the aura of death in him so dense, like the aura of that Undead General it had seen 7621 years ago?

"…" The undead's mind stopped working entirely, and it stood in place until the human disappeared from sight, then it began moving again in the same swaggering manner, but this time in the opposite direction.

"Tsk~" Caesar walked through the dead city with annoyance, releasing the Aura of Death at a certain degree that cleared the path around him, and prevented any useless conversations before they could begin.

Then he heard a voice in his head: [You are on an adventure inside a city of the dead in the Middle Belt of the Fortress of Death, and instead of feeling terror, and instead of being overcome by greed, you move about annoyed? Even I have started to get annoyed by your attitude.]

"Mortix, I really am annoyed, but not by the adventure, but by you." Caesar spoke as he moved with his hands in his pockets, "Why did you ask me to land on this planet specifically? We barely moved from a planet in a nearby solar system a few weeks ago. Wouldn't it have been better to go deeper?"

Then he kicked the backside of a skeleton, "Get out of my way!" Then he continued, "This way I won't finish exploring the Galaxy before the deadline!!"

[The previous planet was the last important station for your evolution in the outer half of the galaxy. Don't you feel that you have changed during this short period more than you evolved on your own during the past few centuries?]

"…I won't deny it." Caesar raised his shoulders.

Mortix pushed him to land on the last planet and gave him a specific mission; he told him to fight a leader who had forced a herd of the Undead to follow him, take his place as the leader of the herd, and then roam with them for at least half a year.

At the end of that strange mission, after he destroyed the leader and moved with those things for half a year, watching them and sleeping in their midst… Caesar felt that the Death Half had reached 36% in his Integrated Law.

At the end of that period, Caesar was told to use a skill containing that percentage of the Major Death Law on his herd.

Caesar did it, waiting for their power to rise, for them to become excited, and for them to consider him their king.

But they died.

They truly died, and fell in their places as worn-out bones without a trace of movement or a whisper. Their matter ended and they returned to what they were supposed to be, a part of the ground.

Caesar stood that day watching them, reviewing the power he had just unleashed.

A mere attack from a Martial Emperor, it did not contain tremendous energy in any form… but Caesar had seen countless battles and led innumerable wars, and he knew with certainty that such an attack was enough to end the life of a World Calamity.

Ending it directly—not injuring it, not threatening it… but a quiet and swift death.

After that day, after Caesar felt his new power, he left the planet and moved toward the Inner Half of the Galaxy, optimistic and happy with what he had achieved.

In his imagination, he would pierce through space in his small vessel until he reached approximately The Last Quarter before Mortix told him to descend, as he had done with him previously, for he had not made him bother descending on the first planet or in the Outer Rings of the Galaxy as all visitors do.

But he, in truth, told him to stop at the first planet in the Inner Half!

Yes, the planet is large, and yes, its Aura of Death radiates from it into space… but is the difference between it and the previous one great enough to deserve landing on it?

[You are thinking too much, even though I asked you to leave your head to me and let me do with it what I see fit.] Mortix's voice returned, [I personally give you instructions and lead you, so who else would benefit you inside the Fortress of Death more than me?]

"Sorry, but I know nothing about you except your name, oh Voice." Caesar kicked two more out of his way, "Also, I'm a Marshal—I give orders, I don't take them."

Then he stopped in the middle of the street and crouched in front of a person in the process of transformation, a person whose heart beat once every few minutes, "Oh rag, where is the market?"

"....." The passerby raised his head slowly. His right eye was missing, and he had a clear bite mark on his neck. He focused on Caesar's face with a gray eye for a few seconds, then raised his left hand and pointed in a certain direction without uttering a word.

"Thanks. Go back to doing nothing." Caesar stood up forcefully and resumed moving, each step of his brimming with the vigor and vitality of youth—something that had been missing here for hundreds of thousands of years.

"....!!" The passerby quickly closed his eye and swallowed, then placed his hand over his heart to reassure himself.

He had come to the Galaxy 780,000 years ago, and this was the first time he felt true death staring into his eyes like this.

[When did I give you orders?] Mortix resumed speaking, [I gave you instructions about landing sites and ways to increase your lethality. Consider me a companion guide until you finish the journey safely.]

"Whatever." Caesar took the entire road and then turned, and there he smiled when he saw the new scene, "Think about the next mission at your leisure while I look for something good here, but keep it reasonable and quick, I must return before the deadline of the Upgrade."

[I don't know about your return on time, but...] Mortix's voice became deeper, [Your mission on this planet won't take long, it's only to introduce you to certain Creatures, Creatures you have likely never seen before, but you will see them often in the Inner Half of the Galaxy.]

"Oh?" Caesar's steps quickened toward the market, and his smile widened as he saw what was in it, "What are those Creatures?"

[...Jinn.]