Franklin’s jaw hung slack, his spectral eyes widening as Ethan did the unthinkable: he jammed the [Crown of Malediction] onto his head.
"Impossible! That relic is mine! It answers only to me!" Franklin shrieked, his voice a jagged scrape of bone on bone. He reached out, his will screaming for the crown to return, but the artifact remained seated firmly on Ethan’s brow, pulsing with a dark, rhythmic light.
Ethan’s eyes flared with a predatory coldness. "It’s in my hands now, Lich. That makes it mine."
With a sharp mental command, the Ossian Legion surged forward, a tide of white bone and cold steel closing in on the necromancer.
[Crown of Malediction]
Slot: Head
Level: 10–120 (Scalable)
Rarity: Legendary
Durability: 1000/1000
Equip Requirement: The Forsaken — Franklin
(Special: Death Sovereign can bypass this requirement and force-equip. After killing the target, requirements return to normal.)
Base Attributes (Level 15):
Physical Defense +100
Magic Defense +200
HP +2,000 / MP +4,000
All Stats +75
Traits:
1. Spirit +10%
2. Curse Resistance +30%
3. Miasma Feed: The wearer is continuously eroded by Death Miasma.
Skills:
[Cursed Empowerment] (Passive): All spells apply two random curses for 5s. (Cooldown: 5s).
[Aura of Malediction] (Aura): Reduces all enemy speeds (Attack, Movement, Casting) within 100m by 30%.
Cost: 200 MP/sec. (No cooldown).
“Cursing is not a spell; it is an art form.”
This was a piece of gear that no other player—at least not at this stage—could possibly touch. Franklin’s shock was justified; he was watching his birthright be usurped by a mortal.
"You thieving bastard!" Franklin roared. He slammed his staff into the ground, the wood groaning as a sickly grey light erupted.
Three massive, pale portals tore open in the air. From the void, Franklin’s personal guard marched forth. While Ethan had quantity, Franklin had the sheer, oppressive quality of an Epic-tier Boss.
Leading the charge was a squad of ten terrifying silhouettes—knights clad in interlocking plates of midnight steel, riding skeletal steeds wreathed in shadow.
[Shadow Knight]
Level: 20 (Summoned)
HP: 1,000,000 / 1,000,000
Attack: 9,800
Defense (P/M): 1,800 / 1,800
Skills: Shadow Surge, Shadow Force, Shadow Shroud.
These weren't mere fodder. Aside from their health pools, their raw stats rivaled Dark Gold-tier bosses of the same level. Franklin wasn't playing around.
"I will craft your soul into a puppet just like the rest!" Franklin’s soul-flame flickered violently. At his command, the ten Shadow Knights and a hundred Skeleton Warriors thundered toward Ethan.
The two undead legions collided with a deafening crash of shields.
But the result wasn't the slaughter Franklin expected. A ripple of translucent blue light erupted from beneath Ethan’s feet, sweeping across the battlefield for a hundred meters.
[Aura of Malediction]!
The charging Shadow Knights suddenly looked like they were galloping through waist-deep mud. Their momentum vanished. Ethan’s own hundred Skeleton Warriors stood their ground, their greatswords whistling through the air in a synchronized executioner’s strike.
Then came the backline. Arrows and fireballs blotted out the sky. Because of the aura’s casting speed debuff, Franklin’s units were too sluggish to retaliate.
[Crushing Blow]! [Double Shot]! [Fireball]!
The combat log became a blur of astronomical numbers.
`-83,594! -168,126! -43,985! -87,834!...`
In a single, unified volley, nearly a quarter of Franklin’s army evaporated. Even the million-HP Shadow Knights saw their health bars plummet, several of them collapsing into piles of scrap metal and dust.
Ethan’s power had scaled exponentially. At Level 15, his legendary gear and the [Death Codex] had evolved. The flat stat bonuses alone had doubled, and with the Soul Merge from Rhode and the new Crown, Ethan’s Spirit stat sat at a staggering 980 points.
His Ossian Legion didn't just have his backing; they carried double the power they’d had when he first entered the Reaches.
Franklin felt the tide turning and raised his staff to intervene, but Ethan’s eyes locked onto him first. The Lich felt a sudden, primal dread—an instinctual urge to fall to his knees and beg for mercy.
"This... no, this is impossible..."
[Death Gaze]!
Franklin’s soul-flame twisted into a scream. He dropped his staff, clutching his skull as he plummeted from the air, his body racking with tremors.
`[System: Death Gaze triggered. Your Vitality Tier is higher than the target's.]`
`-14,000,000!`
A massive, greyish-white number rose from Franklin’s head. His health pool was instantly gutted, leaving him with only 21 million. Every second, another 100,000 true damage ticked away, occasionally spiking to 300,000 on a crit.
`[System: Target afflicted with Curse of Agony (Shadow DoT) and Curse of Calamity (+30% Crit chance taken).]`
Franklin was helpless, stumbling like a blind man as the fear effect took hold. Ethan didn't even need to maintain his stare; the mark was set. He turned his gaze toward a fallen Shadow Knight’s corpse and snapped his fingers.
[Corpse Detonation: Enhanced]!
BOOM!
The explosion tore through the center of the battlefield, a 30-meter shockwave of bone shards and necrotic energy.
`-610,000! -1,525,000! -1,525,000!...`
Thanks to the Shadow Knight’s massive health pool, the blast was nuclear. Franklin’s army was reduced to less than fifty stragglers in an instant.
As the fear from Death Gaze finally wore off, Franklin scrambled backward, his breath coming in ragged gasps. He was alone. His army was gone, and his own health was down to 11 million.
[Franklin]
HP: 11,980,000 / 21,000,000
"Who... what the hell are you?" Franklin hissed, his soul-flame guttering. That power—that was the pure Essence of Death. How could a human wield a force more refined than a Lich?
"I'm your new god," Ethan countered, his voice cold. "Actually, never mind. I don't want a son as ugly as you."
The Legion didn't stop. A dozen Skeleton Warriors swarmed Franklin, pinning him down while the Marksmen and Mages rained hellfire upon him. Every volley stripped away another million health.
"Mortal! You dare mock a Master of the Grave?!"
Franklin’s rage boiled over. He summoned his staff back to his hand, a frost-blue barrier shimmering into existence around him.
[Glacial Fortress]
Shield Value: 5,000,000
It was a drop in the bucket, but it bought him the seconds he needed to chant. "I don't care who you are. You die here!"
Franklin began to levitate. The entire Forsaken Reaches began to tremble as he tapped into the very marrow of the earth. The millions of bone fragments Ethan had crushed earlier rose into the air, swirling into a gargantuan vortex of white calcium and black miasma.
From the heart of the bone-storm, a massive shape took form. A roar that shook the very foundations of the zone echoed through the valley.
[Undead Ossein Drake — Karcoss]
Tier: Epic Boss (Mid-tier Undead, weakened state)
HP: 80,000,000 / 80,000,000
Attack: 42,000
Defense (P/M): 10,000 / 6,000
`[System: Undead Ossein Drake Karcoss has appeared. Exploration Progress: 90%.]`
Ethan narrowed his eyes. So that was why the progress hadn't capped out. A twin-boss encounter.
"Kill him, Karcoss! His soul will be our feast!" Franklin shrieked.
The massive bone drake dove, its claws the size of carriage wheels aimed directly at Ethan's head. The air pressure alone was enough to crack the ground.
CLANG!
The impact didn't happen. A single Skeleton Warrior from Ethan’s ranks stepped forward, its body suddenly doubling in size as a dark, oily light flooded its bones. It swung its greatsword upward in a violent arc.
The sword met the dragon's claw, and to Franklin's horror, the massive drake was the one who recoiled.
[Crushing Blow]!
`-1,102,800!`
The bone dragon was knocked backward into the air, its massive frame skidding across the sky as if hit by a siege engine.
"What?! No!" Franklin’s voice hit a panicked octave. "A common skeleton... overpowering a Drake?!"
Ethan crossed his arms, a small smile playing on his lips. "Got any other tricks? Or was that the big finale?"
Behind the scenes, the combat logs were telling the real story.
`[System: Death Drain: Feedback activated. 640% Stat boost applied to target Skeleton Warrior.]`
`[System: You are being eroded by Death Miasma from "Crown of Malediction".]`
`[Death Miasma +10]`
`[Death Miasma +10]`
Ethan looked at the Crown’s "curse" and almost laughed. To any other player, the constant erosion of Miasma was a death sentence. To him? It was a wireless charger.
The crown was feeding him 10 Miasma points every second. In the 60 seconds the Feedback buff lasted, he would naturally regenerate 600 points—exactly enough to keep two Skeleton Warriors permanently buffed at 600% power.
With the 640% boost, that single Skeleton Warrior now possessed a Strength stat of over 75,000. Its raw Attack power had pierced 150,000.
Against a Drake? It wasn't even a fair fight anymore. It was an execution.