Transmigrated as a Ghost

Marcus carefully looked over the schematics he had received from Alaric that outlined how to produce an undead weapon.

Many of the techniques detailed were beyond horrid. The materials could not just be from slain beasts, monsters, and people, but those that were tortured for several weeks until their very souls were corrupted by an all-consuming malice.

Surely any weapon forged by following these directions would be incredibly powerful, but it would be one filled with malevolence and bring ruin to any who wielded it.

"Thabon told me that it was one of the three taboos of forging, but I never knew how truly abhorrent the creation of one was." Marcus murmured, a dour look on his face.

He had committed one of the taboos himself, but being a great spirit, he could not fail at creating a soul bound weapon.

And the practice of creating a soul bound weapon itself was not particularly odious, it was only in failure that killed or drove the crafter mad that had it deemed as a taboo.

However, the same could not be said for forging an undead weapon. From the first step to the last, Marcus could only view the entire process as truly wicked.

"Do you think that they really made this thing?" Alaric asked, his skin appearing paler than usual and looking sickly.

Even though he was not a forgemaster like Marcus, he was a highly experienced mage that knew death magic and had studied under some of the best minds at the Guilder Spire. This allowed him to understand many sections of the schematics. In fact, if he and Marcus worked together, they could probably successfully create a weapon following the steps that were detailed. Not that they ever would of course.

"I wish I could say no, but my intuition is telling me that they did. A desperate king looking for a way to turn the tide in a losing war could easily be swayed to pursue any method to win. Even one as abominable as creating an undead weapon." Marcus said, his tone grave.

From the clues that they had gathered, it seemed likely that the forging of an undead weapon was the cause of the entire city being plunged into a plague of undeath.

It would have started with the person that first tried to wield the weapon and spread out from there until everyone in Houten's former capital had been transformed.

"I suppose in some ways you could say that the former king was successful. The invaders that had besieged the city were wiped out and no other successful advances have been made since."

"But the price for that victory was far too high." Alaric said, looking around at the ghastly laboratory they were in.

"Your right, and it would have been far worse if the Great Spirit of Death had not gotten involved. The entire continent could have turned into a den of moving corpses."

After finishing his discussion with Alaric, Marcus stored the documents pertaining to the creation of an undead weapon into his item box. A part of him wanted to destroy them immediately, but there was a very real possibility that a terribly powerful undead weapon still existed within the city.

As much as he did not want to do so, studying the plans might allow him to find some sort of weakness in its construction.

"Now, let's get back to searching this place. We still don't know why the Revenant Witch ruling the sewers had them."

Marcus had looked around the lab, but nothing here gave any indication that the Witch was attempting to create her own undead weapon. There was also the fact that the schematics were locked away in a cabinet that looked like it had not been touched in years. It was all just one big mystery with more questions than answers so far.

Eventually, once they had torn the place apart, they found a few more enlightening books and journals.

One of which was a research log and diary of the Revenant Witch before she had become an undead monster.

Her name had been Zia Niem, and she was the top mage within Houten before the tragedy that had turned everyone into undead monsters.

"No wonder she had so much resentment." Mrazivý commented as they all crowded around and read the woman's notes.

While she had gone along with the creation of the undead weapon at first, when she realized exactly how horrid the process was, she attempted to put a stop to it. Unfortunately, the king at the time and the forgemaster that had appeared suddenly one day with the documents to forge the abominable item forced her to continue working with them.

In the end, the last entry she wrote looked almost like insane scribblings, but the message was very clear. She and the forgemaster succeeded in making the undead weapon.

With this information it was quite clear to Marcus and his companions why the Revenant Witch was down here. The animosity that had grown inside of her had continued to fuel her even after becoming an undead monster. All this time she had been fighting against the king that had destroyed her life.

"There was also this. Seems like she has been recording the forces that now undead king has at his disposal. And it is a lot more detailed than what Houten's military had." Lilia said, handing over another journal to Marcus.

The very first entry was about the king himself, and while the information they had found down here was truly horrible, Marcus could not help but smile.

"Ghost King Arriba Houten."

Up until now Marcus only had the intelligence he had obtained from Daniel to go on. There had been no guarantee that a ghost king resided in this city of the undead, only that it was the most likely place the lich ruling over the Chelmer Resort knew of.

However, Marcus now had undeniable proof that the monster he was searching for was here. All he needed to do was put the long since dead king to rest and obtain his magic core. Then he could finally evolve.