The inside of the castle was just as eerie as the outside.
Ancient tapestries lined the stone walls, depicting scenes of war, death, and endless decay.
They were faded with age, some torn beyond recognition.
The cold air carried a sense of abandonment, and a faint whispering sound echoed through the halls, though no one was in sight.
Alex stepped forward cautiously, his senses sharp.
Something was off.
There was no movement, no guards, no creatures lurking in the shadows.
Last time he came here, there were at least a few undead wandering the halls, a few skeletons or ghouls standing watch.
But now?
It was empty.
The silence made his instincts scream at him.
The lack of resistance wasn’t a relief, it was a warning.
His footsteps echoed against the cold stone as he moved deeper into the castle.
The deeper he went, the stronger the feeling of unease grew.
A castle ruled by an undead monarch should never be silent.
There should be movement, even if it was slow.
There should be whispers of the dead, sounds of bones rattling in the darkness.
But there was nothing.
And that was a problem.
After a while, he finally reached the massive doors of the throne room.
They were slightly ajar, with a dim, eerie glow seeping through the cracks.
Alex narrowed his eyes as he pushed forward, and stepped inside.
The throne room was as grand as he remembered, with towering pillars and a ceiling so high it disappeared into darkness.
Shadows flickered against the walls from the dim torchlight, casting ghostly shapes across the room.
And at the far end, sitting on a throne made of bones, was the Undead Lord.
Alex let out a quiet breath.
“Shit… thank god,” he muttered under his breath, “He’s still here.”
For a second, he had genuinely thought something terrible had happened, well, more terrible than usual.
He had been concerned after seeing the castle this empty, but the Undead Lord and Undead King had both mentioned that Undead Land was falling apart.
Maybe the undead had been killed, or maybe they had been sent somewhere else.
Regardless, none of that mattered now.
His goal was simple: eliminate the Undead Lord before Lich got to him.
“No hard feelings, yeah?” Alex said as he began walking forward.
His tone was casual, but there was a firm edge to his words.
“I just… need to do this.”
But the Undead Lord didn’t respond.
In fact, he wasn’t even looking at Alex.
The moment Alex noticed this, he felt something was wrong.
His steps slowed, his eyes narrowing as he studied the skeletal figure on the throne.
The Undead Lord was slumped forward, head hanging low.
His cracked bones and rusted armor told a story of weakness, exhaustion.
He looked… broken.
Alex clenched his fists.
“Undead Lord,” he called out, his voice echoing in the vast chamber.
No response.
The Undead Lord didn’t even twitch.
Alex’s instincts screamed at him.
He extended his left hand, letting it transform into the [Bleeding Dragon Claws].
The blood-red energy flickered like flames around his fingers as he stepped closer.
And that was when he noticed it.
The Undead Lord’s eyes, which should have been glowing with eerie, supernatural energy, were dark and empty.
That wasn’t normal.
Alex reached out cautiously.
His fingers brushed against the Undead Lord’s skeletal arm, and the body instantly crumbled into dust.
The entire throne room fell silent, the only sound being the faint rustling as the remains of the Undead Lord drifted to the cold floor.
Alex stood frozen, his mind processing what had just happened.
Then, his expression darkened.
“Lich got here first,” he muttered, his hands shaking.
His eyes flickered with rage.
“FUCK!”
This wasn’t supposed to happen.
Lich was the most unique necromancer in all of Universal Descent.
Unlike normal necromancers who reanimated the dead by using their corpses, Lich extracted the very essence of powerful beings, turning them into part of his army.
That meant Alex had been too late.
He clenched his fists.
Lich now had the Undead Lord.
Even with just the Undead Lord alone, Lich’s power had already increased dramatically.
He would be able to summon an even larger undead army, an army that could wipe out entire countries with sheer numbers.
If Alex had killed him first, that power would have disappeared forever.
But now?
Lich was one step closer to becoming unstoppable.
A voice spoke from within his [Space].
“So what now?” Alphox asked, his tone unreadable.
“Nothing. We’re fucked.”
Alex let out a bitter laugh, shaking his head.
“Or at least… more fucked than before.”
Even if he still had time before the [Chosen Games] ended, Lich was now a greater threat than ever.
If he wasn’t stopped soon, it wouldn’t matter what else Alex did: Lich alone could cause a disaster worse than anything Universal Descent had thrown at them so far.
“So are we leaving this place?” Alphox asked again.
“Yeah,” Alex sighed, “But before that… there’s one more thing I need.”
“Oh?” Alphox’s interest piqued, “Which is?”
“The [Token of the Undead], it should be here somewhere, if the names mean anything, then it has to be in this castle.”
Alphox hummed in agreement.
“Yeah, that makes sense.”
Alex had already acquired two tokens:
[Token of the Tower]
[Token of the Abyss]
That left three more:
[Token of the Undead]
[Token of Wrath]
[Token of Nightmares]
The first one was obvious: it had to be somewhere in this land.
But as for the other two?
He had no clue.
For a brief moment, doubt crept into his mind.
‘Maybe I should give up on them. It’s not like I know where they are anyway…’
But he quickly shook the thought away.
That door, the [Door of Destiny] in the basement of the [Church of the Dawn], he didn’t know why, but something inside him was screaming to open it.
He already had all the stats and skills he needed for the [Chosen Games], yet his instincts wouldn’t let it go.
‘Fine. I’ll try. No guarantees… but I’ll try.’
But first, he needed to find the [Token of the Undead].
If Astolf were here, maybe he could point him in the right direction.
But since he wasn’t, Alex had to rely on his instincts.
He took a deep breath and focused.
His gut feeling told him…
To search around the Undead Lord’s remains and the throne.
Alex moved carefully, kneeling beside the dust pile that had once been the Undead Lord.
His fingers sifted through it, brushing aside the remnants of armor and bones.
Then, his gaze shifted toward the throne.
Something felt off about it.
He placed a hand on its cold surface and pushed slightly.
The throne made a faint clicking sound as if something had shifted.
And then, something fell from the back of the throne, tumbling to the ground.
A black token.
Alex reached out and grabbed it.
The moment his fingers touched the surface, the token rotated in his palm, glowing with a faint, eerie light.
A skull icon was engraved on its surface.
Ding!
[You have acquired the “Token of the Undead.”]
[3/5 Tokens acquired for the Door of Destiny.]
Alex exhaled, rolling the token in his fingers.
Three down.
Two left.
But for now, there were more pressing matters.
“Alright,” he muttered.
“Time to train.”
Without wasting any more time, he activated his teleportation and returned to the [Garden of Destiny], where Kaelios was waiting.
It was time to spar.