[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-evolving-my-undead-legion-in-a-game-like-world":3,"chapter-evolving-my-undead-legion-in-a-game-like-world-evolving-my-undead-legion-in-a-game-like-world-chapter-417":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Evolving My Undead Legion In A Game-Like World",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":20,"prevChapterSlug":21,"totalChapters":22,"novelImage":23},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":16,"volume":17,"translator":18,"content_hash":19},41191,69,"Chapter 417 Awakening [1]","evolving-my-undead-legion-in-a-game-like-world-chapter-417",417,"\u003Cp>Michael was careful to keep his stride measured and silent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even with the spell broken, he couldn’t quite convince himself he was safe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two women he carried were dead weight against his shoulders, their shallow breathing the only sign they still clung to life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soon he stepped into the parking lot, but the sight he was met with made him pause.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Michael brows drew together.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He’d expected to see people regaining their consciousness but this wasn’t it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Instead—\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What Michael was met with was bodies.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dozens of them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All lying motionless where they had stood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Michael’s lips compressed to a thin line.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He shifted the dark elf slightly over his shoulder and walked forward with deliberate caution, his boots whispering over the cobbles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Here and there, a low groan told him some still lived—trapped in the fog between sleep and waking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But not all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He stopped by a man in a fine green robe whose cheek was pressed flat to the ground. There was no blood. No visible open wound.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But his chest did not rise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Michael’s frown deepened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He turned his head and scanned the parking lot again, more carefully this time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And now he saw it: the subtle difference.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some of these people were merely unconscious.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But some were dead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A memory immediately came to him, one of the second prince.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"If you die in the illusion, you die in truth.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Michael’s gaze swept the scene again, lingering on the lifeless shapes scattered across the flagstones.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So that was what had happened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For a moment, Michael felt a twisted satisfaction that he had been right to force himself free—wrenching his mind back to reality with pain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And he’d survived because of it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A quiet exhale slipped past Michael’s lips.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Rest in peace,\" he murmured, though there was no particular emotion behind the words.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He looked down at the women in his arms.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At least these two were alive.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was something.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He turned away from the rows of bodies and resumed walking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Michael didn’t slow again until he reached the tall double doors of the auction house.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He shifted his grip on the women—adjusting Arianne’s weight in his arms and the dark elf across his shoulder—and stepped inside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The air in the hall was thick with the faint scent of candle wax and cold stone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Michael had barely taken three steps into the entry corridor when he felt it: a slight movement against his chest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Michael looked down, just as the Duke’s daughter stirred weakly in his arms.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Arianne’s lashes fluttered, her expression tightening with confusion before her eyes finally opened. Her eyes were clear and alert despite the pallor of her face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Michael could see the moment her thoughts caught up to reality.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>First, recognition.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then, realization—her gaze darted to the dark elf draped over his shoulder, then back up to meet his.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And finally, an unmistakable flicker of mortified outrage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"...why,\" she began, voice rough and soft all at once, \"are you carrying me?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Michael raised a brow, studying her calm but slightly flushed expression.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You were unconscious,\" he said evenly. \"Consider this a courtesy.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Arianne seemed about to argue, but she caught herself. Her eyes narrowed instead, searching his face for something she didn’t seem to find.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She exhaled shakily and turned her head away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was the first time she had been so close to a man aside from her father and brothers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Worst part was he still hadn’t let her go.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Michael had no idea of what was going through Arianne’s mind because he felt a second movement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This time, against his shoulder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Michael turned his head slightly to look at the dark elf woman—Lyra.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unlike Arianne, she did not stir or lift her head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But her breathing had changed—steady, deliberate, controlled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Michael studied her in silence, and he knew she’d been awake for longer than she let on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She was still pretending, her eyes closed, her body limp.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Strange woman,he thought.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He didn’t bother calling her out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It wasn’t as though she was a threat in her current state—and part of him suspected she simply didn’t know how to act yet.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, one day she’d been a free assassin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The next, she’d failed her mission, been captured, enslaved, and purchased by a stranger who carried her around like baggage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even for someone trained to adapt, that was probably a lot to digest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Michael resumed walking down the wide hall, boots echoing off the high ceilings.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It occurred to him, watching Arianne finally lift her head to take in their surroundings, that their gradual awakening told him something important.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That aside from pain, anyone freed from the illusion would, given time, regain consciousness naturally.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And judging by Lyra, it seemed the stronger someone was, the faster they woke—though there was clearly a limit to how much difference strength alone could make.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That was good to know.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He adjusted his grip one last time and made for the inner doors.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Michael had barely reached the threshold of the grand vestibule when Arianne drew a slow, steady breath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I’d...appreciate it,\" she said carefully, her voice cool and tight, \"if you wouldset me down now.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Michael halted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He looked down at her flushed face, her eyes fixed on the opposite wall rather than meeting his gaze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For a heartbeat, he simply stood there—struck by the belated realization that perhaps carrying a duke’s daughter around like a sack of flour wasn’t the most dignified arrangement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He felt a flicker of something embarrassingly close to awkwardness—though his expression, mercifully, remained as impassive as carved stone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"...Ah,\" he said finally. \"Understood.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He bent at the knee, lowering her carefully until her boots touched the polished marble.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Arianne adjusted her cloth with a prim efficiency that suggested she was determined not to think too hard about any of this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When she looked up, her gaze had sharpened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What happened, Sir Mic? I remember seeing myself in some sort of space. Wait, was that an illusion? Hmm. It must be, but...everything after that is a bit blank.\"\u003C\u002Fp>",1008,"2026-05-28T17:47:38.197Z","2026-06-01T04:28:28.562Z",1,"novelbin.me","770395e65af006f07714715807e4bb497f6648771f550f4cf4ae847cd7433963","evolving-my-undead-legion-in-a-game-like-world-chapter-418","evolving-my-undead-legion-in-a-game-like-world-chapter-416",970,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fevolving-my-undead-legion-in-a-game-like-world-cover.jpg"]