Undead Beast Master: Living Solely for My Desires-Chapter 372: The Strongest

In a matter of mere hours, the entire capital of the Graveborn had been obliterated. The Great Tree that had stood at its center—towering above everything in sight—once a symbol of their pride and power, had been burned, reduced to nothing but ash that stained the skies above.

The nearby castle fared no better. Its massive, firm structure had been shattered by the might of the magma serpent that had been battling Luna all this time.

And now, the mythical beast had been bested, its massive body riddled with countless injuries—deep claw and bite marks left by none other than Luna, and massive slash and stab wounds inflicted by the Unholy Judger, Eldros.

Lava was slowly seeping from the creature's wounds, filling the surroundings and burying anything unfortunate enough to lie in its path.

The few lucky—or perhaps unlucky—individuals who had survived the chaos were now fleeing in panic and shock, horror etched into their faces.

Mothers searched for their children. Men trampled over one another in a desperate attempt to escape the heart of the fallen capital.

With the death of the Great Tree, the undead creatures it had created collapsed. This only deepened the despair of the populace. They didn't know the one commanding them had been the tree itself all along, and so they arrived at other, more fantastical explanations.

The emperor—the greatest necromancer in history—was dead. Ironically, they had stumbled upon the truth by relying on the wrong information.

And in the chaos of it all, one person was slowly moving toward what most people were desperately fleeing.

The body of the magma serpent now lay defeated. Its blood, boiling hot magma spread, consuming everything in its wrath. It was only a matter of time. Due to the creature's enormous size and the enclosing walls of the capital, the entire interior would soon become a lake of death. A molten grave to erase the legacy of the once-great city as if it had never existed.

Zaroth, naturally, didn't care about any of that. Millions had died. Cities had burned. History had shifted. Power balances had been altered.

"So what?"

While he couldn't be blamed solely for the outcome, he had played a significant role in how things had turned out.

And still—

"So what?"

What choice did he have? Had he not acted, the Graveborn Empire would have turned the entire continent into an army of the undead. Had he not intervened in the war, the Draconian Empire would likely have fallen to the combined forces of the Graveborn and Crimson Sun.

But that was not what happened.

Both empires now lay broken, shattered, destroyed.

His own, though damaged and having lost a significant portion of its forces, was still standing.

And all of this had been triggered by a single death.

Had Solara not killed Althea, her empire wouldn't have fallen. Her citizens wouldn't have been slaughtered.

But that was the price of going against Zaroth.

The cost of defying a Godkiller.

His feet dragged, strength long since drained from his body, but he stubbornly pressed on.

He was too persistent to stop, even for a moment.

Eldros, seeing what his master was trying to accomplish, didn't hesitate. Walking up beside him, he leaned his shoulder under Zaroth's arm, easing his pain slightly.

Zaroth, too weak to speak, simply nodded in appreciation.

Eventually, they reached the lake of lava that had begun to form.

"Solara was able to control this lava, huh?" Zaroth mused, a sly smile creeping across his face.

"And yet she died by my blade," he growled, his eyes darkening with meaning.

Under his command—and through his mastery of fire control—the lava trembled and shifted. Not by much, but enough to carve out a path large enough for him to proceed.

"So this is what you look like up close." Coughing blood, Zaroth almost choked as he placed a hand on the corpse of the magma beast.

He closed his eyes and willed. freewēbnoveℓ.com

[Magma Serpent judges your soul]

[Magma Serpent doesn't respond to your call]

[Magma Serpent is looking at you with a wish for vengeance]

As expected, the message echoed in his mind again, just like so many times before. He had killed the beast—not directly, perhaps, but its death was caused by Luna, and Eldros, the undead tethered to his soul. Naturally, it didn't want to kneel before its killer.

"Hahaha," Zaroth's shoulders shook as laughter overtook him. He couldn't control himself. The situation was simply too absurd.

This beast...

It thought it had a choice?

"No," he spat coldly, eyes narrowing. "You will bow down to me. You will submit."

[Magma Serpent judges your soul]

[Magma Serpent doesn't respond to your call]

[Magma Serpent refuses to submit]

"How funny," Zaroth sneered. "I stand here offering you a deal—one that only a fool would turn down."

His hand, still resting on the mythical beast, tensed. A flicker of anger crossed his face.

"A chance at a second life… No, not just that. A transformation. An evolution into something greater. Look at yourself. Despite all your might and power, in the end, you were reduced to nothing more than rotting flesh and cooling blood."

A smirk spread across Zaroth's face.

"You didn't lose because you lacked strength. You lost because you stood against the unkillable. Tell me, don't you want to experience it? What it feels like to be undead? To endure anything, no matter the damage dealt? Doesn't that tempt you? Or would you really throw such a gift away?"

Silence

The system didn't respond, making one thing clear: the beast was hesitating.

On one hand, there was hate, Zaroth was the reason it lay dead. On the other… there was curiosity. What would it feel like to be unkillable? To become stronger than it ever had been?

The serpent craved one thing more than vengeance—power.

At last, it made its choice.

[Magma Serpent judges your soul]

[Magma Serpent responds to your call]

[Magma Serpent forms a pact with you]

[You have formed a contract with Magma Serpent]

[Power]

The great being's body shuddered. Its color began to shift—from molten gold to an eerie green, mimicking the hue of its new master's mana core.

The ground trembled. The beast's limbs twitched.

And then, it rose.

Raising its colossal form, the mythical creature cast a vast shadow over the ruined capital. It tilted its head, eyes locking onto Zaroth with unreadable intent.

This was its killer.

This was now its master.

Sensing its new bond, the massive beast lowered its head toward Zaroth. The ground shook with its movement.

The mighty serpent bowed before him.

"Ah…" A wide grin appeared on Zaroth's face before he burst into laughter.

He had done it. Another mythical beast now followed his command.

In the future, when despair came knocking, he wouldn't need to rely on Luna alone anymore.

Clutching his stomach, Zaroth struggled to stop laughing. Tears gathered in the corners of his eyes as he glanced at Eldros—once a man, now risen into undeath, loyal only to him.

And in this moment, as ash fell from the sky like snow, Zaroth knew one thing for certain.

He was the strongest being on the entire continent.