Absolute Cheater - Chapter 545
Capítulo 545: Lich Emperor
She hesitated. “Most wouldn’t say that so lightly. His role there is simple. He rules the dead, and no one escapes death once they enter his domain.”
Asher shrugged. “So all I need to do is figure out who’s stealing souls in his area?”
She nodded. “Yes. Under normal circumstances, no one can hide there. He controls the domain itself.”
Her expression grew serious. “The problem is, he doesn’t tolerate interference. He doesn’t even allow the death of his own citizens without cause.”
Asher understood immediately. “So if someone is stealing souls and killing inside his territory…”
“He’s angry,” she said. “Very.”
She leaned back slightly. “He gave us some time to find the culprit. If we fail, he’ll handle it himself.”
Asher raised an eyebrow. “And when he moves…”
“The entire area becomes a land of death,” she said quietly. “Everything he walks through dies. No exceptions.”
Asher nodded. “So the Association wants this handled before that happens.”
“Yes,” she said. “There are a few more details in the file, but we’ll explain them later. Right now, this is a high-risk task.”
She looked at him carefully. “Are you still willing?”
Asher folded the paper and handed it back to her. “Yes.”
She let out a slow breath. “Alright. I’ll assign it to you.”
The task updated.
MISSION ACCEPTED.
She met his eyes. “Be careful. Even for someone like you, a lich emperor is not an easy presence to deal with.”
Asher turned toward the exit. “Good. I don’t like easy jobs.”
He left the desk and headed out, already preparing for the Grey Hermit Area and whatever was bold enough to steal souls under a ruler like that.
Asher didn’t waste time.
He left the Association building and headed straight for the transport gate. A few minutes later, the world shifted, and cold gray light replaced the sky.
The Grey Hermit Area.
The land looked dead in a different way than most places. No ruins. No chaos. Just endless stone, ash, and silent structures that looked like old mausoleums. Undead walked calmly through the area—skeletons, wraiths, armored revenants. None of them attacked him.
They all ignored him.
Asher noticed it immediately.
“This place is under control,” he said quietly.
As he moved forward, he felt it.
A pressure.
Not killing intent. Not hostility.
Authority.
Every soul here was being watched.
Asher stopped and focused.
“Absolute Appraisal.”
Information came back fast.
The domain itself was bound to a single core. Every undead was connected to it. Every death, every movement, every soul fluctuation was logged and controlled.
“This is his land,” Asher said. “No gaps.”
That made the problem clear.
If souls were being stolen, it meant one of two things.
Either someone had found a way to bypass the domain’s control.
Or the theft was happening in a way that didn’t trigger death.
Asher walked deeper.
The undead parted slightly as he passed, not out of fear, but recognition. The domain had marked him as an outsider, but not an enemy.
He reached a wide open area at the center of the domain.
A black throne stood there, carved from bone and dark crystal.
And on it sat the Lich Emperor.
Tall. Thin. Wrapped in dark robes. A crown of dull silver rested on his skull. Blue soul-fire burned in his eye sockets.
He was waiting.
“So,” the lich emperor said calmly, his voice echoing without emotion.
“The Association finally sent someone competent.”
Asher stopped a short distance away.
“I’m here to find who’s stealing souls in your domain.”
The lich emperor stared at him.
“You have limited time,” he said. “If you fail, I will cleanse my land myself.”
Asher nodded.
“Then tell me what you’ve noticed.”
The lich emperor raised one skeletal hand.
“Souls vanish,” he said. “No death signal. No transition. No release.”
Asher’s eyes narrowed.
“So they’re being taken while the body still lives.”
The lich emperor nodded once.
“That is why this offends me.”
Asher looked around the silent domain.
“Then whoever is doing this,” he said, “is hiding between life and death.”
The lich emperor leaned forward slightly.
“And that,” he said, “is why I allowed you to enter.”
Asher nodded, he didn’t refute as this guy is real deal, the one Asher can’t face against he is too powerful for his current self.
Asher nodded. He didn’t argue. He could feel it clearly—the lich emperor was far beyond him right now. Fighting him would be pointless.
“Where are the bodies?” Asher asked. “The ones missing their souls.”
The lich emperor’s blue flames flickered slightly.
“Follow,” he said.
He rose from the throne, the air around him chilling further. As he moved, the ground beneath his feet darkened, frost spreading across the stone. Asher stepped aside and followed a few paces behind, careful not to get too close.
They passed through the domain without obstruction. Undead bowed or froze in place as the lich emperor walked by. None dared move until he passed.
Soon, the structures around them changed. The mausoleums became broken. The ground was cracked, stained with old black residue.
The lich emperor stopped.
“This is where the first anomaly appeared,” he said.
Asher crouched and examined the ground. No blood. No signs of struggle.
“Clean,” Asher said. “Too clean.”
He focused his senses on the area.
“Wraiths,” the lich emperor continued. “Several of them were found intact. Bodies stable. Souls gone.”
Asher stood. “Wraith lords?”
“Yes.”
Asher frowned. “Those don’t lose their souls naturally. Someone had to force it.”
The lich emperor turned his skull slightly toward him.
“There is one place they all passed through.”
“Where?”
The lich emperor raised a hand and pointed toward the distant fog.
“The outer crypts,” he said. “Near the boundary between my domain and the living lands.”
Asher straightened. “A thin zone.”
“Exactly,” the lich emperor said. “Life still touches death there.”
Asher exhaled slowly.
“Then that’s where we start.”
The lich emperor turned and began walking again.
“I will take you,” he said. “But beyond that point, I will not intervene unless the thief reveals themselves.”
Asher nodded.
“That’s fair.”
He followed the lich emperor into the fog, toward the place where life and death overlapped—and where something was bold enough to steal souls under a ruler who did not forgive.