Necromancer Of The Shadows

Chapter 1407: Desmond

(A/N: Just in case you guys have forgotten, the Forbidden Zone is the place where Evan went to meet the Will of Utopia and was attacked by the stone man, forcing him to use his title, The Owner of Eldoria City to escape.) (Chap—1059)

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Forbidden Zone of Utopia...

A terrifying sandstorm filled with chaotic world essence raged across the land, grinding everything in its path into dust.

Yet even within this storm, which carried the power of annihilation, many powerful monsters moved seemingly unaffected.

These monsters were completely different from the creatures found in the other regions of Utopia.

Unlike ordinary monsters, most of the creatures living inside the Forbidden Zone had been corrupted by the chaotic world essence permeating the area, twisting them into grotesque and unnatural forms.

Some had tiny bodies barely one meter tall, yet possessed a single arm stretching over ten meters long, creating a horrifyingly mismatched appearance. Others had giant eyes that covered their entire faces, while some crawled on dozens of limbs that bent in impossible directions.

Other than the harsh environment itself, these monsters were also one of the primary reasons why very few people dared to live within the Forbidden Zone.

In one of the deeper regions of the Forbidden Zone, an area filled with rocky mountains stretched endlessly into the distance.

Even the raging sandstorms that swept across the Forbidden Zone began to calm the moment they approached this region, as though they were being suppressed by some mysterious force.

Amid the rocky mountains stood countless giant stone huts, with even the smallest exceeding ten meters in height.

Massive stone men moved throughout the area. Some carried enormous boulders across the mountains, while others casually devoured rocks as if they were ordinary food.

Unlike the small stone man Evan had encountered when he first entered the Forbidden Land, most of the stone men here were gigantic in size.

Some even reached over two hundred meters tall.

Each of their footsteps caused the earth to tremble violently, shaking the surrounding mountains.

At the center of the rocky mountain region stood a towering stone castle.

Although it was also made entirely of stone, unlike the crude huts outside, the castle looked majestic and refined. Every block used in its construction had been perfectly polished, resembling smooth marble.

At the entrance of the castle stood two enormous stone statues of griffin-like beasts, radiating an ancient and oppressive aura.

Suddenly, the ground around the castle began to shake slightly as heavy thumping sounds echoed from the distance.

A few seconds later, a gigantic stone man nearly two hundred and fifty meters tall appeared.

Without stopping, the giant strode directly toward the castle.

Although his body was enormous, the entrance had clearly been built while considering the size of the stone men. As such, he entered the castle without difficulty.

Within a few minutes, the giant stone man reached the deepest part of the castle and stopped before a closed stone door.

Just as he was about to push the door open, he suddenly sensed fluctuations coming from inside the room and his giant hand paused midway.

Pulling his hand back, the stone man silently stepped away and waited outside calmly.

Inside the room, a stone man barely five meters tall sat upon a massive throne, resting his face against one palm lazily.

Compared to the size of the throne room, which had clearly been built for gigantic stone men, the five-meter-tall figure looked tiny.

Yet the aura surrounding him was in no way weaker than Eldraker’s.

Meaning, he stood at the very peak of Rank Six.

The stone man was Desmond—the King of the Stone Men.

Unlike ordinary species, stone men were born directly from the essence of the earth itself.

They could not reproduce like normal races and could only come into existence naturally in places rich in earthly essence.

Because of this limitation, the number of stone men throughout Utopia was extremely small.

In their entire species, there were fewer than one thousand members.

As such, every single stone man was precious, and losing even one of them was considered a devastating loss to the entire race.

It was also the reason why, when the little stone man Evan encountered in the Forbidden Zone had been rescued earlier, the Rank Five stone man immediately attacked him, believing Evan to be working alongside kidnappers.

"Now do you understand why I did not wish to participate in this war?" Desmond spoke with a sigh as he looked at a blob of milky-white energy floating before him. "If you hadn’t told me to agree to that rude bastard’s request back then, I would never have let him leave so easily."

He narrowed his eyes slightly.

"It hasn’t even been long since he sent that message, yet now the entirety of Utopia already knows about him."

The blob of milky-white energy floated silently in front of Desmond.

Then an emotionless voice echoed from within it.

"Not only you. I want every single tribe living within the Forbidden Zone to participate in this war."

"What?!"

Desmond immediately stood up, shock flashing across his face.

"Are you insane?" He roared. "After what happened earlier, it is already obvious that every major power in Utopia will become involved in this upcoming war one way or another."

His rocky face darkened.

"If even the Forbidden Zone joins the battlefield, there won’t be a single place left in all of Utopia untouched by war."

"If all of you refuse to participate and end this war quickly..." The emotionless voice interrupted coldly, "...Then there may not be anything called Utopia left in the first place."

Desmond’s expression changed slightly upon hearing this.

"What do you mean?" He asked in a low voice, a bad premonition rising within his heart.

"Your brother is waiting outside," The voice replied calmly. "He has likely come because he received messages from the other tribes of the Forbidden Zone. Ask him yourself."

A moment later, the emotionless voice spoke once more.

"Make sure none of them chooses the wrong side."

Its tone remained completely indifferent, yet Desmond still felt an inexplicable chill run down his spine.

"I do not wish to see my children erased from this world merely because they were foolish enough to stand on the wrong side."

As soon as the voice finished speaking, the blob of milky-white energy slowly faded away and the room fell into eerie silence.

Desmond remained motionless for several seconds before finally letting out a deep sigh and leaning back against his throne.

"Graham, come in."

The next instant, the gigantic stone man waiting outside pushed open the door and entered the room with a solemn expression on his face.

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(A/N: Whenever I write about a plot point, I always make notes about it in a draft Chapter so that I can keep track of everything. But I do not know what kind of otherworldly power is messing with me, my draft Chapter somehow disappeared from my cloud storage on its own.

I wanted to clear up most of the plot points in this volume since the next volume will involve the Origin Universe. Because of that, I am currently rereading the novel from the beginning to make another draft, which is why there was no update yesterday and only one Chapter today. Updates should return to normal within a day or two.

By the way, I suspect it is that brat Elora’s power of the END that made my draft disappear because I messed with her in the recent Chapters.)