“Is it all over?”
Gerant stood at the Blackmoon Town entrance; he watched blankly as Watson summoned the Land of the Dead and sealed Moriarty inside the black hole. He wiped his cold sweat.
Moriarty had just morphed into a black hole when a powerful suction force came from the sky, almost dragging him into it. Moriarty’s might worried him, and what made him even more terrified was that Blackmoon Town faced a devastating attack that could destroy a city. However, Blackmoon Town was unscathed.
It was only then that he realized he had utterly misunderstood that business partner.
The residents of Blackmoon Town have a platinum-tier ring and a space hidden here full of dead individuals. Blackmoon Town, in Gerant’s opinion, was formerly a formidable group capable of fusing silver and gold-tier items. He had, however, changed his mind. That town was full of secrets, and the fusion item was just one of them.
He could not help but be concerned as a result.
After all, he was the one who brought Moriarty. Even if the black hole he released had done no harm, it had engulfed several houses built of giant rock golems and smashed them. Each of those giant rock golems was worth 1,000 gold coins. Blackmoon Town had lost at least a hundred thousand gold coins as a result of Moriarty’s attack. If Watson pursued the case, the blame would undoubtedly rest on him.
Gerant’s expression darkened. He could only take out so much money after he had emptied his pockets. While he was preoccupied with wins and losses, the residents of the other two towns looked like they had just survived a disaster. They panted and stroked their chests.
“That magical beast is far too strong. It is at least platinum-tier. I was surprised to see such a formidable beast near the border.”
“However, Young Master Watson of Blackmoon Castle remains the most powerful. He could deal with a platinum-tier magical beast. As one would expect from the disciple of the kingdom’s best mage! It is all because of him. We would have died if he had not been here today.”
They knew they were destined to perish the moment they saw Moriarty dissolve into an infinite black hole. Fortunately, there was a giant rock golem blocking their path, followed by the Land of the Dead, which Watson had called to seal the entrance to the black hole.
Many of them still thought about the amazing spectacle of the undead army travelling upstream on a massive ship. The effect of that scene was even greater than Moriarty’s transformation into a black hole. After all, the unknown was the most terrifying thing. The simplest notion of their presence, with so many unseen zombies that stared at them, made their hair stand on end.
Watson’s influence of fusing the innumerable goldbiter rats and transforming them into platinum-tier magical beasts had also diminished.
“It is all over.”
Watson stood there, listening to the sounds of explosions from the Land of the Dead, and casually snapped his fingers.
Bada!
He had fused a peculiar diamond-tier building to create the Land of the Dead. It would absorb the deceased and lock them in the land indefinitely. In exchange, the imprisoned souls would not get old or die there.
A massive black hole emerged in the sky as a result of the sound of snapping fingers. A shattered ship plummeted from the sky. There were pitch-black waves that suggested death along the way. On the ship, there were numerous skeletons or rotting zombies. They were attempting to repair their shattered arms and rotten eyeballs.
On the deck of the ship, a strange man in a tattered robe, half flesh and half bones, floated down. He knelt on one knee toward Watson. His purple hair was in a spiral shape, and it floated upward spontaneously in an anti-gravity posture.
“The 13th King of Death from the Land of the Dead, Moriarty. Greetings, Young Master Watson.”
[Platinum-tier King of Death, Moriarty]
[Abilities: possesses the strength of a peak platinum-tier mage. Excels in various elemental magic, especially in earth-elemental platinum-tier spells.]
[Additional abilities: Fanatical Research (proficient in research, possesses exceptional creativity), Undying and Indestructible (a characteristic bestowed by the Land of the Dead. Unless the Land of the Dead activates the Death Knell, one will never die), Memory Mastery (possesses photographic memory) and Soul Transfer (can freely possess any living being or even non-living being.)]
At the same time, the man’s information appeared in Watson’s eyes. The Land of the Dead had the ability to collect the souls of the departed. Moriarty had died in the Land of the Dead, so he had become Watson’s servant.
Moriarty was about to die, and his soul would have been imprisoned forever. That was the prediction made by the Pen of Truth, which was consistent with the situation. Of course, in addition to Moriarty, Watson had also fused a platinum-tier Heaven-devouring Rat King.
Whoosh!
There was a piercing sound, and Watson turned around to look. The Heaven-devouring Rat King that he had just fused floated in the sky; it had shrunk to the size of a palm. It turned into a stream of light and flew to his shoulder; its tiny claws grabbed onto the corner of his torn clothes. Its platinum-colored eyes looked around as they flickered with a clear light.
[Platinum-tier synthetic magical beast: the Heaven-devouring Rat King]
[Earth, fire, water, light, and darkness (as it is a man-made magical beast, the Heaven-devouring Rat King has all the attributes).]
[Abilities: Magic Duplication (able to use all the magic that has been devoured), Combat Skill Duplication (able to use all the combat aura of the devoured life form), Ultra Self Healing (able to revive as long as there is a little bit of body tissue left), Infinite Fission (after eating, an indefinite number of copies will be produced according to the energy in the body), Common Consciousness (all the goldbiter rats have the same thoughts).]
[Platinum-tier spells: Super Black Hole, Infinite Chain Devour, Long-distance Teleportation]
[Additional abilities: Super Magic Immunity, Super Physical Resistance, Transformation, Self-evolution]
“It seems that the Heaven-devouring Rat King is quite cute.”
Watson could not help but smile as he reached out to stroke the Heaven-devouring Rat King’s tiny head. That was his third platinum-tier magical beast fusion. The Heaven-devouring Rat King was weaker than the Diamond Stardust Dragon Golden Flash in terms of raw strength. It was also significantly inferior to Emperor Cluck in terms of production resources. It did, however, have its own benefit—it could divide into copies of itself indefinitely.
The Heaven-devouring Rat King could divide itself into many copies as long as it ate a sufficient amount of things. It would be ideal to disperse the goldbiter rat swarm across Blackmoon Town’s underground and serve as a surveillance team. A single Heaven-devouring Rat King could theoretically raise Blackmoon Town’s defensive strength by several orders of magnitude. The goldbiter rat swarm could also be sent out to harvest resources.
Previously, Watson had left a large amount of resources near the Dragonspine Snow Mountain after the fusion at the Misty Forest. It would take at least a few years to empty those resources. However, it was different with the goldbiter rats. They moved faster and more stealthily.
Watson turned his head and gestured at Moriarty, exclaiming, “Get up!.” He calculated the future usage of the Heaven-devouring Rat King.
Moriarty had died in the Land of the Dead partially because he intended to turn him into a slave and have him work for him forever to atone for his sins, and partly because he wanted to question the man.
“Moriarty, could you tell me why the King destroyed the Dragonspine Snow Mountain and released you with the dreadful goldbiter rats? Do you know why?”
“I might know something. The King had sent me to the border to repress the people at the border. He also wanted me to undertake an experiment called the Infinite Fission there! The goal of that experiment was to allow one person to reproduce when they have enough energy. However, that experiment did not proceed as planned, and it was not the only experiment that the King had ordered me to do.
“My first strategy was implemented around ten years ago in an aristocratic area known as the Broken Baron. It was part of a scheme to spread the plague. The basic idea behind that plan was to use the virus to resurrect the dead. The experiment was also a failure! The virus can boost the life of the human body, but it can also turn humans into brainless zombies. In addition, the virus is exceedingly contagious. I had no choice but to burn the territory.”
Moriarty was still outlining his purpose to Watson in great detail when an enraged shout cut him off.
“You’re the one! You were the one who murdered my wife and child. I am going to kill you, you scumbag!”
A dark figure surged from a group of Blackmoon Town’s residents, exposing a handsome face with jet-black hair. That was the same face as Sven’s, only younger. Sven had used the Wish for the World ring to transform his look during the previous three days, but that attractive face was warped by fury and hatred at the time.
“You—”
Moriarty turned around, surprised; he gazed at Sven’s expression. He widened his eyes after a long time, as if he had thought of something. “You! You were one of them!”
“That is correct, it is me. You didn’t think I’d survived, did you?”
Sven spoke with gritted teeth. He approached Moriarty with his black crow-like wings outstretched. Watson had fused a significant number of Shadow of the World Tree items over the past two days. Thousands of sun and moon diamonds dangled from them. Watson was generous enough to distribute the fruits to the first few thousand people who had joined Blackmoon Castle.
Aside from the refugees that arrived later, hundreds of people became gold-tier warriors. One fruit was presented to each of the maids and servants. Of course, he was handed one as well. He purposefully chose a moon diamond. He awoke a dark-attribute combat aura similar to that of a gold-tier warrior.
When Watson fought Moriarty, many people in the town had observed the scene, including him, because Moriarty had used the body of the Heaven-devouring Rat King. Therefore, he did not recognize him as the man who had spread the virus in his territory. In the end, Moriarty had set everyone on fire.
Moriarty had been free until he was imprisoned by the Land of the Dead and transformed into a soul.
Sven’s eyes were on fire as he watched his adversary get closer to him. He came to a halt alongside Watson unconsciously. He really wanted to tear the enemy in front of him into pieces, but he realized that he could not do it; Moriarty’s strength was at the peak of the platinum tier and Watson had already killed him.
His enemy was right in front of him, but he could not do anything. That feeling of powerlessness almost forced him to madness.
