Chapter 93
After using the Rage Horn, the perfect illusion effect vanished. In the eyes of the undead, Ye Bai, who was fleeing rapidly, was no longer one of their kind. However, at that moment, they had no time to pay attention to Ye Bai; they were all affected by the skeletal dragon and the lich, gathering towards the altar.
Once the support of the Codex was lost, the skeletal domain that the dragon-kin lich had previously cast over the entire altar island also disappeared.
Ye Bai fled the vicinity of the altar without looking back. Staying behind to collect experience points was tantamount to waiting for death; the battle behind her was beyond her reach. The skeletal dragon had reached level 100, far beyond the dragon-kin lich, and even a slight brush with its power would result in her health bar vanishing in an instant.
At the same time, facing the swarm of dragon-kin undead, Ye Bai utilized the jumping power granted by the Featherlight skill, mimicking the recent actions of a donkey, and leaped onto their heads, sprinting across the skulls and shoulders of the dragon-kin undead.
In the center of the altar, upon hearing the sound emitted by Ye Bai's Rage Horn, the ancient dragon, which should have dismissed such a ‘dragon might’ effect, felt a flicker in the flames of its soul. It paused for a moment before turning its gaze back to the dragon-kin lich, who had been engulfed by dragon flames.
As the terrifying dragon flames dissipated, the demigod-level dragon-kin lich emerged, clutching the dark Codex, looking disheveled.
It was desperately trying to re-establish a connection with the Codex, hoping to regain control over the skeletal dragon.
However, when it looked down, it saw a paper figure, like a stubborn tenant, appearing in the Codex. Each page it turned revealed the same figure, though the actions of the figure subtly changed from page to page, making the lich feel as if it were watching an ‘animation’ of itself.
Looking up at the skeletal dragon, which had locked onto it as a target, the dragon-kin lich spoke urgently in Draconic:
“Damn it… Antito? Lusvine…” It called out the dragon's true name, trying to ‘wake’ it: “Look closely, I am your master!”
“Roar…”
Upon hearing its true name called in Draconic, the previously enraged skeletal dragon actually paused. The flames of its soul flickered as it regarded the dragon-kin lich, seemingly contemplating and judging something.
Seeing the dragon-kin lich stop, it immediately seized the moment, speaking in a soothing and coaxing tone: “Antito, I am the one who resurrected you; you should listen to me… Together, we will rebuild the Sky City, stop the undead army, and bring order to this world under the reign of death!”
The skeletal dragon indeed hesitated again, especially when the dragon-kin lich mentioned the Sky City; its soul flames visibly flickered.
But just then, a strange horn sound, imbued with dragon might, echoed from afar.
The skeletal dragon sensed something, tilting its head slightly to look over, and saw a small figure sprinting while stepping on the heads of the undead, blowing a horn.
Ye Bai was fleeing, but her escape route formed an outward arc. She had just blown the Rage Horn in the left area, and now she had moved to the right, taking a slight detour.
—She was pushing the limits, not being greedy for experience, but maximizing her safety!
The dragon might effect emanating from this distant, unknown bloodline was nothing but a display of skill before the ancient dragon, akin to a chick squawking before a phoenix.
However, the aura that was entirely different from that of the deceased made the skeletal dragon, which had been calmed by the dragon-kin lich, realize something. Two bursts of soul flames erupted from its eyes.
“Roar!!!”
It let out a roar filled with endless sorrow and rage, unleashing a torrent of dragon flames from its mouth.
The previously eerie green flames, which carried a strong corrosive quality, began to change color, transforming into a disturbing pale hue.
In the next moment, the skeletal dragon fully rose from the altar, its massive wings flapping twice, creating a terrifying whirlwind that swept towards the approaching dragon-kin undead.
“No, no… Soul Breath… Antito, are you insane?! You’ve just been resurrected!”
Upon seeing the pale dragon flames, the dragon-kin lich's voice turned sharp and terrified. Clutching the dark Codex tightly, it pleaded with the paper figure inside as if it were a lifeline: “Please, leave my Codex, get out of here—!!”
But the only response was the paper figure lying leisurely within the Codex.
“Boom!”
In the next instant, the pale flames of soul breath engulfed the dragon-kin lich.
The lich tried to escape, but it was futile.
While there were teleportation spells in the realm of necromancy, the lich, facing a god-level skeletal dragon of a higher tier, lost the suppressive effect of the Codex and, like other undead, faced level suppression. Most spells could not be cast or were severely weakened.
It was only because it was a demigod-level lich that it could maintain its independent consciousness in the face of the skeletal dragon. The other dragon-kin undead could only mechanically obey the dragon's will, charging forward even if it meant their demise, oblivious to their fate.
“Ah…”
The range of the dragon's breath was far too vast; even with the lich's speed, escaping was meaningless.
After a single breath of soul fire, the dragon-kin lich was reduced from a bag of bones to a true skeleton. The ghostly robe of necromantic spells it wore was consumed by the flames, leaving only the whistle around its neck and the Codex it clutched to its chest.
“Crash!”
The dragon's claw came down, and the lich's bones were reduced to dust.
Theoretically, liches were immortal; as long as their phylactery remained intact, they could wait for their power to restore and create a new body after death.
But that was under normal circumstances. Some soul-related damage could directly ignite the soul hidden within the phylactery through the lich's body. In this case, the lich faced such an attack, resulting in complete annihilation of its spirit, with the last remnants of ash swept away by the dragon's claw.
Compared to the lich, which still had a skeleton left, the surrounding dragon-kin undead fared even worse. Under the pale soul breath, they vanished completely, leaving not even a trace of ash behind.
At the same time, Ye Bai received a massive influx of experience feedback, her experience points skyrocketing into eight digits.
The dragon-kin lich had been killed!
Ye Bai had no time to examine the exact amount of experience in the pool, but a rough estimate showed that even a minuscule assist from a level 25 character in taking down an 80-level demigod would yield an explosive amount of experience.
Not to mention that this number was still climbing, thanks to the Rage Horn's area effect, with many dragon-kin undead between levels 40 and 60 also contributing experience to Ye Bai.
At that moment, the entire dungeon began to shake. The skeletal dragon seemed to have gone mad. Ye Bai glanced back and saw the ancient dragon's health bar plummeting at a visible rate.
Ye Bai was taken aback, then a realization dawned on her—
The earlier bite from the donkey might have consumed the original soul necessary for the dragon to transform into an undead creature. The lich had absorbed a large amount of dragon-kin undead soul flames to fill the void, but it was not the original. With the Codex going out of control and the lich's death, the power maintaining the dragon's undead state had also vanished.
In other words, the transformation ritual had not been fully completed; the skeletal dragon was only half-transformed into an undead creature and was now beginning to revert to its original form.
“Boom…”
The skeletal dragon, having just obliterated the dragon-kin lich, did not stop. Instead, it commanded the dragon-kin to charge forward, attacking them and the entire island in a frenzy. The ground beneath them trembled, and the stone dome above shook.
The skeletal dragon loathed all undead creatures that disturbed its slumber…
This thought flashed through Ye Bai's mind.
And just as she was lost in thought, a massive stone pillar fell from above, striking her squarely on the back.
‘-980’
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