The lich knelt on the ground, ghost lights flickering in his eye sockets, and his thin body wrapped in a rotten robe was shaking violently.

"Your Majesty, but I."

"Nothing but."

Cassius interrupted him again and exerted a little more force with his claws.

The wooden box actually deformed slightly and made a creaking sound, which made the lich feel shocked and his body tremble even more violently.

"Submit or die. You have no other choice."

"Honestly, I'd love to kill you."

Cassius's calm voice echoed in the messy hall. With every word he spoke, the atmosphere in the hall became more solemn.

"Just think about it. Your rotten soul that has been maintained for hundreds of years by the secret art of death - what kind of emotions will emerge at the moment I destroy it? How ugly will it be?"

The red dragon suddenly clenched his empty left claw.

"Wow!"

Along with crisp sounds, the crystal lamps in the Soul Cry Castle shattered one after another, and the wronged souls imprisoned in them fled crying.

"No!"

"I, I surrender!"

"Do not kill me!"

The lich's body shrank suddenly, looking a little funny. He really thought that his life box was crushed - there was no trace of the calm look he had on his face not long ago.

Those who seek eternal life fear death the most.

The last time Orestes felt this frightened was three hundred years ago, when he found himself dying of old age.

During that time, he sought a way to extend his life at all costs, and eventually discovered a way to transform himself into a lich from the tomb of the Elder Doom of Melkor.

He succeeded.

In order to live forever in this world, he gave up his life and turned to immortality to become a lich.

However, this is not true eternity after all. The lich's life box is their biggest weakness. Once the life box is destroyed, the lich's corrupt soul will also be destroyed - Orestes is very worried about this.

So, during these hundreds of years, he almost exhausted all his energy to protect his life box, and continued to collect souls to complete Melkor's mission.

But now, everything is shattered.

The Dragon Emperor who ruled the north, with his unstoppable force, easily destroyed everything he had and even held his most precious life in his claws.

The lich knelt on the ground, curled up into a ball, and kept muttering: "I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to die."

"Please, I don't want to die."

All the images of the past emerged in his soul, the high spirits when he became a wizard, the debauched days spent in the castle, the fear when he realized that he was about to die, and the cautiousness after transforming into a lich.
For him——

Existence is meaning.

Being alive is everything.

If we cannot exist in the world, then everything is meaningless.

In pursuit of eternal life, he can turn beautiful and kind elves into banshees, sacrifice his most loyal servants to the evil god, or even abandon his entire body and embrace the immortal lich.

That being the case.

Then surrendering to a dragon and devoting everything to him doesn't seem to be an unacceptable option.

In the face of existence, freedom is insignificant—at least for the lich Orestes.

He raised his head, and in his empty eye sockets there was still a flickering green flame, revealing endless pleading. He raised the [Mirkor's Skeleton Scepter] high in his hand, offering it like a believer offering a gift to the gods.

"Your Majesty, I am willing to submit to you."

"As long as you can let me continue to live in this world, I am willing to dedicate the Lost Valley, the Soul Crying Castle, and everything else to you."

Cassius smiled, took a step forward, and slightly spread his wings, casting a huge shadow that completely enveloped the lich.

"Very good, Orestes."

"You made the right choice." The scepter floated into the air and fell into Cassius's claws.

Against the backdrop of the huge size of the red dragon, the staff looks like a toothpick.

This is the "artifact" that the players in the previous life almost got. After the lich was killed by the players in the previous life, Melkor's bony hand reached out from the void and took back the scepter.

But now Anzeta has become Cassius' empire, and even the gods cannot easily interfere with it.

He looked at the scepter carefully and saw that it was pale white in color and was made up of sections of spine.

On the top of the scepter is a skull representing the holy emblem of Melkor. The skull has been dug out and a black magic stone of negative energy is embedded.

【Myrkul's Skeleton Scepter】

Quality: Legend

Creator: Feroze Bradford

"Know me, fear me. My embrace is open to all, patient and sure. Death will always find you. My hand is everywhere - there is no door I cannot enter, no guard that can resist me. - Melkor, Lord of Bones"

effect:

[Scourge of the Dead] [Awaken Higher Undead]

[Scourge of the Dead]

9th level necromancy

Unleash a powerful necromantic force, raising all skeletons in range to become skeletons under your control.

[Summon Higher Undead]

8th level necromancy

An advanced version of Raise the Dead that can create undead creatures of different ranks, such as Shadows, Wraiths, Ghosts, and Resurrected Corpses.

Cassius played with the scepter. He didn't understand necromancy, but he could feel the negative energy surging in it - this thing was definitely worth a lot of money.

"Orestes, I see your sincerity."

The lich breathed a sigh of relief. He asked cautiously, "Well, Your Majesty, since I have become your vassal."

"So. My phylactery?"

Cassius glanced at him, chuckled and said, "Since you are dedicating everything to me, doesn't 'everything' include your phylactery?"

"Or"

His voice suddenly turned cold.

"You want to break our contract?"

The lich was so frightened that he knocked his head to the ground again, saying repeatedly: "Misunderstanding! Your Majesty! I definitely didn't mean that!"

"That's good."

"Haha, you should feel honored. If it weren't for me, your ridiculous mausoleum would have been breached sooner or later, and your life box would have been destroyed."

"Don't worry, I have placed your life box in an absolutely safe place. It is under my personal control. No one can destroy it—"

Cassius deliberately slowed down his tone.

"Unless you disobey my orders and provoke me to take action personally."

The threat in these words was evident, but the lich did not dare to resist in the slightest.

Orestes could only force himself to put on a flattering smile on his sunken face that was uglier than crying, and responded:

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

"I will never forget your kindness."

His grave was dug up, his life box was taken away, and he was beaten into his lair, but in the end he still had to express his gratitude, and the "victim" was an extremely evil lich.

——I can only say that this is indeed a magical world. (End of this chapter)