Chapter 463: The True Power of the Soul Vase
The Soul Vase Ghost drifted through the air like a specter, the black jade vase in its hand, the Mythic Artifact Soul Vase, continuously releasing streams of gray, wailing ghost souls. They spread through the air in every direction for nearly thirty feet, creating a terrifying sight as countless spirits surged toward the exhausted warrior, Evan.
Evan could only rely on his Boomerang Wind Sword to send spinning gusts of wind through the swarm, desperately keeping the ghost souls at bay. His sword’s power had long since begun to fade. Forget attacking the Soul Vase Ghost, even protecting himself was becoming increasingly difficult.
Several ghost souls slipped through his defenses and struck him directly, steadily draining his health. At this rate, it would not be long before the traitorous warrior fell.
As Marcus approached, Evan’s expression visibly tightened. Earlier, he had seen Marcus speaking with the villagers of Millbrook Village for quite some time. Although he couldn’t hear the conversation, it was obvious there had been no hostility between them. If Marcus wasn’t the villagers’ enemy, then there was only one possibility left. That made him Evan’s enemy.
Evan understood that perfectly well, but under the relentless pressure of the Soul Vase Ghost, staying alive already demanded everything he had. He simply couldn’t spare any attention for Marcus.
The Soul Vase Ghost wasn’t concerned with Marcus either. Its focus remained entirely on killing Evan and obtaining the soul of the Twin-Winged Ice Owl. Even as Marcus drew closer, it barely reacted, continuing to drive the Soul Vase and unleash wave after wave of ghost souls at the struggling warrior.
Taking advantage of that, Marcus easily closed the distance to within thirty feet of both combatants and immediately cast Insight on Evan.
—
Evan: Level 60 Gray-Silver Humanoid
Health: 31,000 / 90,000
Class: Samurai
A wandering adventurer who traveled throughout the Dreamland Continent in search of wealth and shortcuts to power.
Skills: Standard Level 60 Samurai skills.
—
After reaching Level 50, warriors could advance into either Berserkers or Samurais. Berserkers specialized in raw offense, possessing devastating area attacks but often struggling when fighting alone due to weaker survivability. Samurais were more balanced, capable of both offense and defense, making them far more suitable for solo adventuring.
Evan was a Samurai. Just not a very impressive one.
There was also a significant difference between players and system NPCs. Players could constantly replenish themselves with health potions, while ordinary NPCs generally could not. Certain special NPCs were exceptions, but they faced strict limitations on potion use and usually had smaller health pools to compensate. Even after enduring such a long battle, Evan still had 31,000 health remaining.
Marcus couldn’t help wondering whether the Soul Vase Ghost was actually weaker than he had expected. Feeling encouraged, he immediately cast Insight on the ghost.
—
Soul Vase Ghost:
Level ???
Health ???
Skills ???
—
Nothing. The failed reading meant the creature was at least Level 70. That lined up perfectly with what Elder Lonely had told him—the Soul Vase Ghost’s offensive power wasn’t particularly threatening.
’Good. This is a huge opportunity.’
Excited, Marcus immediately summoned Pebble and the Seven-Colored Divine Eagle. Since the Soul Vase Ghost was occupied with Evan, he deliberately held back the two Sea Demon Souls to avoid creating unnecessary chaos. As for the rest of his pets, he wanted to test the ghost’s true strength first. While observing the battle, he noticed that Evan was losing roughly 1,500 health every second under the ghost swarm’s assault. That wasn’t exactly weak.
Marcus quickly activated his buffs. Shield Guard. Knight’s Prayer. One after another, he layered every enhancement available, all the way up to Wandering Corpse Souls and Dragon Soul Aegis. He intentionally saved The Ascendant’s Domain and the Adamant Shield’s artifact skill, Adamant Shield Wall, for later, but everything else was activated. Power flowed through his body. The time to fight had arrived.
"Desperate Strike!"
Marcus had no intention of easing into the battle. The spear in his hand was a Level 45 weapon with 450 attack power, one of the items dropped by Tactical Drunkard and his group. They had specifically saved it for Marcus because of how Desperate Strike worked. Without hesitation, he hurled it directly at the Soul Vase Ghost.
Bang! Bang!
Two heavy impacts landed almost simultaneously. One from Marcus. One from Pebble. Both attacks triggered critical hits.
-25,000!
-27,000!
The fivefold damage multiplier from Desperate Strike combined with critical hits produced two massive yellow damage numbers above the Soul Vase Ghost’s head. Judging by the result, Marcus estimated his ordinary attacks were already exceeding 2,000 damage.
’Easy.’
He couldn’t help feeling pleased. Elder Lonely had described the Soul Vase Ghost as extremely difficult to kill, but Marcus wasn’t seeing anything particularly alarming. Even if it was a Level 70 Golden Boss, it probably possessed around 500,000 health at most. Killing it would simply take time.
A grin spread across his face. He would soon know exactly how much health the ghost possessed. After all, he still had another card to play.
"The Ascendant’s Domain!"
The instant Desperate Strike left his hand, Marcus activated his most powerful enhancement skill. His own attributes increased by another ten percent, and at the same time, the Soul Vase Ghost’s attributes dropped by ten percent. Almost immediately, two new damage numbers appeared.
-9,000.
-35,000.
One came from Evan’s attack. The other came from the Soul Vase Ghost’s health reduction caused by The Ascendant’s Domain. The result gave Marcus a rough estimate—the ghost’s total health was probably somewhere between 300,000 and 500,000.
"Attack!"
With The Ascendant’s Domain active, Marcus and Pebble urged their mounts forward and charged directly at the Soul Vase Ghost. As he advanced, Marcus reached into his inventory and pulled something out.
"Summon Red Locust Bees!"
The red locust beehive in his hand spun rapidly as it expanded in size. A dense swarm of Level 39 Red Locust Bees poured out, filling the sky and rushing toward the Soul Vase Ghost like a living cloud. Marcus couldn’t help feeling amused.
’Let’s see how you deal with this.’
While charging, he switched weapons and equipped the Corpse Demon Dark Soul Sword. Both he and Pebble had already prepared Dragon-Roar Critical Strike and were ready to unleash it at any moment. At the same time, Marcus wanted to personally gauge the Soul Vase Ghost’s offensive strength. If the ghost truly lacked damage, he would immediately summon all his remaining pets and overwhelm it with numbers.
Unfortunately, just as his confidence reached its peak, the battle suddenly changed. After losing 87,000 health from Marcus’s opening attacks and seeing the massive swarm of Red Locust Bees descending upon it, the Soul Vase Ghost finally realized it could no longer afford to hold back.
"Swarm of Countless Ghost Souls!"
The ghost activated the Soul Vase’s ultimate ability.
Swarm of Countless Ghost Souls: The ultimate technique of the Mythic Artifact Soul Vase. It commands the ghost souls stored within the vase to protect the user. The strength and duration of the skill depend on the number of souls absorbed by the artifact.
A flood of additional ghost souls erupted from the Soul Vase. Far more than before. The spirits attacking Evan continued without interruption, but countless newly released souls began swirling around the Soul Vase Ghost itself, forming a dense protective barrier.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
The Red Locust Bees slammed into the barrier, and the result surprised Marcus. The Level 39 bees couldn’t get anywhere near the Soul Vase Ghost. Every charge was intercepted by the swirling spirits, and before long, the ghost souls began cutting down the bees one after another.
Marcus narrowed his eyes. ’Not bad.’ The defensive power of those ghost souls was far stronger than he had expected. Still, he had never intended for the Red Locust Bees to seriously threaten a Level 70-plus boss. Their purpose was to pressure the enemy and create opportunities. And now he was already in position.
"Dragon-Roar Critical Strike!"
Marcus and Pebble attacked simultaneously. Their Corpse Demon Dark Soul Swords pierced toward the Soul Vase Ghost as the powerful combination skill erupted with full force. The attack carried tremendous momentum. ’Let’s see you block this.’ Marcus was already expecting massive damage numbers to appear.
Both attacks landed critical hits. Two yellow numbers rose above the Soul Vase Ghost’s head. But Marcus’s expression instantly changed.
"Damn it. No stun effect?"
The missing stun was disappointing, but that wasn’t what shocked him. The damage was. Even with critical hits from both him and Pebble, each strike barely exceeded one thousand damage.
One thousand.
Marcus stared at the numbers. For a moment, he thought he had misread them.
’No way. You’re kidding me.’
Dragon-Roar Critical Strike already dealt triple damage. Combined with critical hits, the final result should have been roughly six times the damage of a normal attack. And after all that, it barely broke a thousand? A moment ago he had been dealing over twenty thousand damage, and now he was hitting for barely one thousand. The difference was absurd.
Marcus checked again. The numbers hadn’t changed. No missing digit. No mistake. Just over one thousand damage.
’What the hell is going on?’
Before he could figure it out, even more ghost souls burst from the Soul Vase. Gray figures twisted through the air in three separate streams. One group continued circling the Soul Vase Ghost as a defensive barrier. Another continued attacking Evan without pause. The final group surged directly toward Marcus, Pebble, and the remaining Red Locust Bees.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
As the ghost souls crashed into him, Marcus carefully observed the damage. His health was dropping by roughly seven hundred points per second. Elder Lonely had been right—the Soul Vase Ghost’s offensive power wasn’t especially high. A Super Health Potion combined with his regeneration easily kept his health full.
Pebble couldn’t use potions, but Marcus wasn’t worried. Even if Pebble died, he could simply summon him again. That wasn’t the real problem.
The real problem was damage.
"Dragon-Roar Critical Strike!"
Marcus ordered another synchronized attack. This time, he watched every detail carefully. If the damage remained this low, there was no chance he could burn through a third of the Soul Vase Ghost’s health before Evan died, the Twin-Winged Ice Owl’s soul was taken, and the ghost escaped.
And if that happened, his trial would be finished before it had truly begun.
