A surge of intense Yin emerged, and the entire army of undead roared. Alm and Bruno looked at the necromancer, their minds working quickly. In a second, they turned to the skeleton with a bloody aura and advanced, giving quick commands.
"Corin, attack the necromancer with everything you’ve got. Ruri and the others block the army; this is a defensive fight, don’t advance."
Ruri narrowed her eyes, a little discontented, but remained silent. Meanwhile, Corin roared, with all his multicolored power emerging. It was the first opportunity he received, and he couldn’t disappoint. As soon as the leader’s words finished, Ervly and Leafar lit up, and two willows appeared united; a defensive fight favored them, and against undead, natural life forms were the most effective.
Everyone had to fight. Sesel, Oria, and Sayqi drew their swords and focused entirely on the army ahead. Unlike the fight on the third floating island, now the group had Faithlink at their disposal. They only had an hour to study it, but the whale gave them some tips, and unlike the abyssal half-demons, they were unparalleled geniuses in their universe. They could already feel each other completely, communicate easily, and, most importantly, transfer energies between them.
Leafar and Ervly focused entirely on using their roots to control the mob and, through Faithlink, internally protected everyone from the corrosive Yin of the undead. With everyone working together and communicating perfectly, they managed to keep things stable. But... clearly, it could only be sustained for a short time until their Qi ran out.
Ruri stood between the group, attacking and killing everything that moved. Then, looking up, the dark world was now covered by a ringed rainbow. Corin attacked the necromancer with everything, but, as Alm predicted, the dracolich moved to protect him.
That was a Yin creature with dragon blood in its veins, its body was extremely powerful. Even with Corin’s abnormal power, he was completely blocked. But he was managing to keep the necromancer and the dracolich occupied with him.
BOOM!
A bloody explosion made the entire ground tremble. On the other side of the battle, blood covered the whale; he fought fiercely and used his Yin tattoo to the maximum. They were in a head-to-head battle against the bloody skeleton and couldn’t let it join the other two. When Alm and Bruno focused on absorbing the bloody runes, they saw, unsurprisingly, the skeleton simply using the runes as an explosive source of power. Whenever they tried to absorb a rune, the skeleton didn’t hesitate to counterattack.
With each explosion, he lost a rune, having a total between twenty and thirty; which was much more than they had at that time. Along with this, each explosion caused intense damage to the whale’s body. They couldn’t waste all the power of faith to endure all the explosions.
Knowing the personality of their own reflection, when he was halfway, he would create an opportunity to detonate everything. But if it reached that point, they would have already used all the power of faith. Clearly, they had to corner him, making him use all the runes before.
’What a troublesome bloody skeleton... this is a war of attrition. It almost seems like the formation is intentionally cornering us to waste time here,’ Bruno said, focused on the fight, while Alm watched the battlefield attentively.
’We only have Ruri’s full power once because of the runic seal. After she uses it, her power drops to 70%, and that’s not enough to kill a dragon-blooded beast.’ Alm then spoke dryly but felt the opportunity arise. ’The necromancer is finally acting.’
Amidst Corin’s advances and the dracolich’s blockade, the necromancer turned completely black, raising a staff high. Among the army of undead, a mass of skeletons twisted, and their bones loosened. Then, a dark glue seemed to bind them together, and the dry and sinister sound of bones moving and recomposing lasted three seconds.
Rrrrrr-crec!
A light but chilling murmur accompanied the appearance of the Corpse Guardian. It was the same creature baptized by Bruno, the one they brought to life after making the necromancer’s army of skeletons fight among themselves to elevate it. The Corpse Guardian was a giant skeleton that seemed to be a fusion of several skeletons, and its power could rival the dracolich. (Chapter 13)
Immediately, countless roots sprouted around the Corpse Guardian, attempting to bind it; however, it made a powerful move, and a dense Yin emerged in its bones.
CRACK!
All the roots exploded... and in the same instant, black lines appeared on both willows. Its power was not only physical; its corrosive ability clearly surpassed those two natural life forms. Everyone who was fighting broke into a cold sweat, seeing that powerful creature.
’He finally came.’ Alm spoke, already expecting its obvious emergence, then sent the message to Ruri. ’This is your chance; you are the key to turning this around and ending it all.’
Ruri, who had been a bit frustrated before, finally understood the reason for being kept away. If she were fighting alongside Corin or the whale, she would be caught in that fight, having to use the runic seal. With the appearance of this monster, everyone in the group would die because only she had the power and speed to destroy it quickly, but she would have already lost her maximum capacity, and perhaps the remainder wouldn’t be enough. Ruri sighed, a bit embarrassed, but quickly responded positively.
’The necromancer had to use a lot of his power to summon the Corpse Guardian. If you destroy it at once, he will suffer a setback. If we can take the dracolich out of the equation, we can kill him.’ Alm said with determination, watching Corin’s determined but unskilled strike. ’Destroy the giant skeleton and then use your speed to attack the dracolich in the same second.’
Ruri listened attentively and gripped her katana tensely. She noticed a problem but quickly dismissed it from her mind; she trusted her master completely.
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’Are you crazy? When she destroys the Corpse Guardian, the sharpening runic seal won’t have the energy to cause damage to the dracolich.’ Bruno spoke, but soon understood Alm’s intentions. ’You... are really risking her safety like this?’
’Her life won’t be in danger. If it goes wrong, we’ll simply use all the power of faith and save her, even if we lose everything. But if we win this bet, Corin can kill both, and the situation will turn in our favor.’ Alm responded seriously.
Bruno just sighed. The way things were going, they would lose several hours, and even then, they would have to burn many resources. They were only halfway through the test, and things were already out of control.
Ruri’s eyes turned golden, and the rune on her forehead eclipsed the world. Her katana moved to the side, in complete focus. Soon, the three powers of life merged into her blade, and the runic sharpening seal was activated, resonating throughout the area.
Immediately, the Corpse Guardian turned towards the small human. Soon, a battle instinct surfaced, and it attacked with a wave of black Yin. The earth shattered in the same second, but only an afterimage was destroyed.
Slash.
A little distance away, Corin advanced with red eyes but was repelled back by the gigantic winged beast. He felt all along that his power could cause damage and perhaps kill the dracolich. However, this beast seemed capable of completely distributing all the damage across its body. The beast was experienced and had technique, while he had power but only knew how to attack with brute force; his frustration could not be described.
Amidst these thoughts, Corin felt blood being spilled and saw from afar the necromancer struggling to stay in the air. It seemed he had been seriously injured by a backlash.
Then, the mental message reached him. ’Prepare a full strike and attack; Ruri will clear the way.’
Corin snorted, and his whole body glowed. With his hair dancing in the wind, he raised his spear forward and roared, piercing the air towards the necromancer. The dracolich was a few meters away, and immediately, upon sensing the injured necromancer, it also roared with all its power, advancing and blocking him with full force.
A titanic clash between dark powers and vibrant colors covered the skies. When they were only five meters away from each other, Corin witnessed an afterimage pass swiftly by him.
The dracolich sensed an invasive approach, and instantly, a small figure, emanating a subtle heroic power, materialized in front of it with a blade pointed at its chest. Its programmed instinct kicked in; there could only be a single hero challenging it, and all the reflections were programmed to eliminate that hero. Soon, the draconic creature focused entirely on that ’hero’ before it.
ROAAAAR!
In the blink of an eye, the dracolich roared, and its jaws opened with brutal ferocity. The hero’s power and figure seemed to diminish in the face of the creature’s magnificence. With just its presence and full Yin power, it dispelled the golden energy, closing its mouth with dreadful eyes. The hero appeared insignificant and would be annihilated in the next second.
Ruri witnessed the mouth closing slowly, a sense of death enveloping her. Everything happened in a second, but then her eyes glowed, and a smile bloomed on her lips.
Suddenly, her spatial ring lit up, and something seemingly insignificant in front of the dracolich emerged from the void. Its serpentine form wrapped around its owner as if wanting to protect her with its body. Then, in the creature’s eyes, a divine and sovereign power emerged like the harbinger of the end times.
The skies trembled, and the Yin in the entire place froze. The colossal dracolich immediately felt its entire bloodline and power freeze; its dragon’s blood was completely suppressed, and with it, its whole body suffered an intense backlash. Then, without any mercy, a multicolored spear exploded into its chest.
BOOM!
Vibrant colors covered the world as Corin pierced through the colossal body completely. His eyes were still unsatisfied, so he continued advancing without slowing down. Before his spear, in the next second, the necromancer felt death approaching.
He tried to use all the power he could, but the tactic of preparing Ruri to instantly kill the Corpse Guardian wounded him deeply, and he had no time to recover.
CRASH!
Black blood exploded on both sides, and soon, two bodies crashed to the ground with a bang. Ruri’s every move and the death of the two lasted for five seconds. Her speed was crucial, but this time, Deryu and Corin contributed greatly. Not only did Ruri have deadly power, but now Corin... he just didn’t know how to use it, but Deryu provided the support.
The army immediately crumbled, and the whale chuckled sinisterly in front of the bloody skeleton. Now, only it remained, and upon realizing everything unfolding, all the bloody runes lit up on its skeletal body.
"Are you already using your last resort?" The whale said sarcastically, anticipating this move.
Suddenly, from the sky, a figure fell and latched onto the whale’s back. It was Ruri, who was summoned by them, and she squeezed her master’s neck tightly. She looked between the whale’s shoulders at the skeleton emitting a malevolent presence and nodded in satisfaction.
"Master, even when you weren’t soft and fluffy, still had your radiant charm. It really doesn’t matter the form." she murmured softly.
Upon hearing those words, the whale snorted, feeling something strange in its chest. Then, with its two tattoos glowing, Yin and Yang merged easily, appearing even stronger than usual.
This was a unique opportunity to win without losing much. The detonation technique was an incomplete Dao that united the runes in a kind of formation to detonate them together. Alm and Bruno had studied it, knowing exactly how it worked and where the ’incomplete’ point was.
As the air became dense with an explosive premonition, a slash from a saber fused with Yin and Yang crossed the space.
CRACK!
A single bloody rune cracked, and immediately, infinite power flowed out from that single crack. Then, the tattoos were activated to the maximum, sucking everything like a black hole. Two seconds later, all bloody power was gone. With another swing of the saber, the skeleton had its bones completely destroyed.
The group a bit behind approached slowly and sighed in admiration. They won again without any casualties, and this time, it lasted only a few minutes. Corin descended nearby and saw the skeleton being destroyed, feeling many things. The vision of the whale, however, slowly filled his mind. The skeletal figure that had been imprinted in his mind all his life was gradually being replaced.
Then, as if responding to everyone’s thoughts, the space warped, and they returned to the mountain.