Published at 13th of June 2026 7:06 am

Chapter 1801 Something Different

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

After forcing his way through the endless sea of dead, Adam finally arrived before the guardian of the Golden Bridge.

The moment he looked up at her, shock, awe, and fear surged through his entire body. A brief glance was enough for him to feel dizzy. Once again, he quickly looked away and tried to regain balance.

The maiden giantess towered above the bridge like an ancient deity standing watch over the boundary between life and death. Her pale blue skin seemed almost frozen beneath the dim golden light, while enormous armor covered her massive form from head to toe. Ancient runes glowed faintly across the dark metal.

A gigantic round shield rested upon her back, large enough to resemble a fortress wall. In her hands, she held an enormous sword with the tip pressed against the bridge beneath her feet.

Even standing silent and still, her presence alone felt overwhelming, as though she could split the entire bridge apart with a single swing.

Adam's pace came to a gradual halt. He wanted to move forward. He wanted to continue his journey. But the giantess' sheer aura was like a literal mountain weighing down on him.

The beings that he had come across just in the past hour alone — the mysterious lich, the bloodhound, and now the giantess — were all so powerful that he didn't even dare venture their true arcane ranks. They were existences who would be considered absolute powerhouses even in the Greater Universe!

And yet, in the span of a single journey through the Underworld, he had met them one after another. The thought alone made his scalp tingle.

He was slowly beginning to realize just how terrifying this realm of the dead truly was.

As Adam struggled to comprehend the true scale of everything around him, the giantess silently scanned him with an impassive expression. There was no fury or surprise in her eyes. Just cold and impartial judgment.

She was the guardian appointed by the Goddess of Death herself to stand watch over the threshold of Her divine kingdom. She was not a malicious being, but a sentinel bound completely by duty.

Her responsibility was simple.

No living soul was permitted to pass untested.

And no dead soul was allowed to return to the land of the living.

Yet the tiny human standing before her had done both impossible things. He had entered the realm of death while still alive. And now, he intended to leave it alive as well.

Of course, she could see the spell the lich had placed upon Adam and had no intention of stopping him from leaving the Underworld. Even so, she could not help but feel curious.

After all, the last person to accomplish something similar had been… A God.

Just as the raven-haired youth finally gathered the courage to take a step forward and silently slip past the towering guardian, the giantess suddenly spoke. Her voice boomed across the Golden Bridge like distant thunder.

"Adam… Son of Vincent."

Adam's eyes widened in shock. Hearing both his name and his father's from the guardian's mouth filled him with disbelief. He quickly turned toward the giantess and blurted out:

"You know me?!"

The giantess looked down at him with the same calm, impartial gaze.

"It is my duty to know all who set foot within the Underworld."

She also completely withdrew her aura, ensuring that the human was unaffected by it.

Adam was stunned and silent for a long time. He gulped subconsciously, then said, "My Lady… may I… may I leave?"

"Yes," said the giantess. "After you answer a question."

Adam instantly became wary. But it wasn't as though he had any other choice. So he silently nodded.

The giantess deeply studied the human. She could figure out how he had arrived in this realm. But what she couldn't understand was… why was he allowed to leave?

At last, she asked:

"How do you know Lazy Walker?"

Adam's brows creased into a frown.

"...Lazy Walker?"

His ignorance was answer enough. That alone told the giantess everything she needed to know. The boy did not know the lich, and yet the latter had granted him passage out of the queen's divine kingdom.

How strange…

"You may leave," she said as she turned her attention to the long procession of souls waiting to enter the realm of the dead.

There were so many questions Adam wanted to ask the giantess. But it was clear she had no desire to speak further with him. In the end, he could only reluctantly suppress the curiosity burning within his heart and continue his way out.

But then something strange happened…

The moment he passed through the endless procession of dead souls and stepped off the Golden Bridge, his vision instantly darkened. Even the Sphere of Resonance stopped functioning.

He instinctively knew that he had arrived at the Road of the Dead.

Terror gripped his heart as he was suddenly reminded of his days of darkness and madness. Not being able to even sense his surroundings caused a deep trauma to arise within him.

Before him stretched a long, winding path that disappeared into endless black valleys. Towering cliffs rose on both sides like walls separating the living world from the realm behind him.

The darkness there was so deep and unnatural that Adam could see absolutely nothing.

No light existed within those valleys.

Only endless blackness.

Cold winds howled through the winding path like distant whispers of the dead, while the sound of his own breathing echoed unnaturally loud in the darkness.

I need to move!

He roared inwardly. Yet the very next moment, his legs gave in, and he collapsed to the ground. The darkness was too much for him. It constantly reminded him of the days when he had lost his eyes and gone mad.

I need to… I need to move…

Home… I must return…

But the darkness crept up around him, reaching out with its cold hands and preventing him from leaving.

Adam gritted his teeth in unwillingness.

He felt scared.

He felt helpless.

But…

The faces of his friends, his allies, his soldiers flooded his mind. They all must be desperately fighting the devils and the cultists. They must be trying so hard to protect their homeworld.

The memories of Gerald Acadia and Marcus Blackwood surfaced in his mind, of how they had worked tirelessly to perfect Operation Constantine.

Valerian, Anna, Berger, Blackie, Eddie, Lisa, Lucian, Balthazar, Goro, the Hermit, their faces emerged. And many more. They were calling out to him. All of them said the same thing.

Get up.

Adam strangled the fear in his heart.

The lich's warning echoed thunderously in his mind:

You will be wise not to linger too long upon the Road of the Dead.

A guttural roar escaped his lips as he rose to his feet. Guided by his instincts, he took one step, then another, and another…

He ran.

His world was dying. He needed to return home.

And so he ran…

His friends needed him. The Allied Forces relied on him.

And so he ran…

Driven by his duty to protect his motherland, he ran without pause.

He ran till his feet bled. He ran till he found it impossible to breathe.

He ran without pause for nine days and nine nights.

At some point, he lost consciousness.

Adam floated in the depths of the spirit world. Wonderous scenery scattered endlessly around him, resembling an abstract painting brought to life. The space surrounding him shimmered with countless shifting colors, twisting and blending together in strange, dreamlike patterns.

His clothes were tattered, and his appearance looked utterly haggard, as though he had endured countless hardships in only a short time.

And there was something else different about him…

Near his temple, a patch of hair had turned completely pale white, as though all color and warmth had been drained from it.

His eyelids slowly opened, and his tenebrous eyes flashed with a sharp light. He looked around and noticed where he was.

He had done it…

He had escaped the Underworld.

And now, only one task remained.

With a determined look on his face, he brought both his hands together and formed a seal.

The space before him shuddered. Then it began to twist and fold inward, forming a giant arched gate. A second gate quickly formed within the first. Then another. And another still.

Layer after layer of gates appeared one after another, stretching endlessly into the distance. And at long last, the road back home was finally established.

The Dark King clenched his fists and shot straight through the gate.

It was time to return home.

It was time for round two.

Share