Chapter 1632: Grand Shaman Malak (1)
Kent stood before the 24 Arcana Coffins, his gaze locked on the first one.
With the key in hand, he could sense it was the one he was meant to awaken. However, for the time being, he stood there, his gaze locked on it almost as if he wanted to see whether he would sense a resonance with it first.
"So, I am really going to do this. I am about to awaken an Ancient Evil."
Kent took a deep breath, Lady Kenzie standing beside him.
"If there was another way, I wouldn’t have recommended awakening whatever is hidden within any of these coffins. However, since we are here now, you might as well get it over with," Lady Kenzie said, showing that she, too, was afraid of what would soon emerge.
Even a True Evil like the Ruthless Bandit was feared by the entire universe during the Dark Era. So an Ancient Evil sure would bring horror.
"I suppose there is nothing to be afraid of then." Kent smiled and released the key, letting it fly toward the coffin.
He had already planned to leave this Shaman Elder in this Star Realm to conquer every aspect of it. Since, aside from the Tormented Chaos Abyss, there were other Banished Realms, he would first start from this stage and work his way toward conquering everything.
Kent knew with absolute certainty that no matter the rank of the shaman that would emerge from the coffin, conquering this realm would be very easy for them.
Considering what he knew about Ancient Evils, making this place their domain would be very simple, so he wanted that to be the case.
Had it not been for that, he would have waited until he was strong enough before awakening them.
The moment the key arrived before the first coffin, it merged with a key-shaped hole on the coffin, and the coffin released a powerful evil qi that spread throughout the soul sea and even outside, far and wide.
[Awakening process initiated. Time till complete awakening: 5 hours]
Kent opened his eyes on the outside, and with them, a large coffin also appeared, causing his beast companions to take several steps back.
"What is that?" Yggzrael asked, his expression pale as he stared at the black coffin decorated with several runes and symbols.
"It would be best if we wait for him to awaken and tell us himself. I have no idea who is inside this coffin, but I know he wouldn’t hurt me or any of you."
"That is reassuring. I was nearly freaked out to death."
Kent chuckled, finding the expressions on the faces of his demigod beast companions a bit funny. The moment the shaman awakened, they would plan to invade the Chaos Layer and perhaps meet the Vagabonds’ leader.
Unbeknownst to Kent, his arrival in the Vagabond Kingdom had already been foreseen by the Overlord of the Vagabonds, who ordered her people in the Chaos Layer to make sure nothing happened to him.
As to why she did what she did, Kent would find that out when he arrived in the Vagabond Kingdom.
That said, while Kent and everyone waited for the shaman to awaken, the Evil Army and its Soul Warriors had already conquered every last city in the first gateway.
With the kind of army they led into battle, Stone City fell within hours. Their leader was killed by the High Priestess, who later brought him back to life and turned him into a wraith.
It was one of the abilities she had awakened after her transformation.
Aside from that, she was able to march all the survivors to Skull City to earn the Mark of Evil, and the warriors were made to undergo the Trial of Evil.
While that was happening, Bello, the third Soul warrior and the strongest, had accumulated enough kills, so he summoned a Grim Reaper to aid in their conquest. Who would have expected the Grim Reaper to be someone extremely deadly?
The moment Stone City fell, the others started to form alliances, but Bello, Kenna, and Calix led the three Shadow Fiends and the Evil Army, which had now expanded to 800,000, to subjugate them all.
It took them two weeks, but they managed to conquer the last of them.
A week later, the army under their command numbered in the millions, 4.5 million to be exact.
However, after the first gateway was conquered, they knew they had to move on to the next. Already, Bello had sent the Grim Reaper, whom he named Ehubo, to the next gateway since he could travel back and forth between realms.
The moment he gathered intel on the next gateway, he returned to report.
"They have already sensed the change here and have started planning. Unlike this place, they have only four cities, but massive ones. Each has an army of 3 million capable soldiers. I counted 12 demigods in each army, but there may be a few hidden.
"In terms of combat power and demigods, we outnumber them. However, I wouldn’t be too relaxed until they are all under our control."
Bello and the others nodded.
"In that case, why don’t you go back and open the gateway for us? We will come over as soon as the gateway opens."
A day later, a massive gateway opened, and the three Soul Warriors led the Evil Army to the next gateway. Kent had already made them aware that he was after the people, so senseless killing wasn’t the approach they used.
Of course, a few tried to play the arrogant card, and they died, only to return as wraiths.
In the end, the second gateway also fell, and the Evil Army grew even more.
Calix, who was a True Immortal when they began, had already reached the peak of the Immortal Lord stage, with Kenna and Bello already ascending to the demigod stage.
Each breakthrough added to their strength and unlocked more powers.
Bello even summoned a second Grim Reaper and named him Gimick. With the two of them under his control, he sent them to the third and fourth gateways to pass the message of the Evil King to them.
Two gateways had now joined the Evil Army. This meant that in no time, the remaining five would be next. And since the gateways could not travel to each other, when the message reached them, three gateways surrendered.
However, the fifth and seventh gateways chose to resist.
Bello and his pals chose to beef up their Evil Army. Once done, they would pay them a visit and have a nice chat.
***
Kent and his beast companions had been waiting diligently for the five hours to pass. Every passing minute felt like a day to him.
Thankfully, the time for the awakening soon came, and the moment the timer struck zero, the entire Tormented Layer was plunged into absolute darkness.
Everyone except Kent was blinded.
Well, maybe he was also blinded, but from where he sat, he seemed to have appeared in the domain of the Grand Shaman, and staring back at him was an Ancient Evil, one that made Kent break into a cold sweat just by looking at it.
He knew he was staring at the Grand Shaman; however, he couldn’t help but tremble in sheer terror.
If he had the means, Kent would have bolted. After all, staring back at him was the most dangerous sight he had ever seen.
Suddenly, a voice entered his head, freezing him where he stood.
"We meet again, Child of Evil."
