Chapter 209: Your Favorite Spirit Bean

"Ah!" Julian shrieked in fright, leaping back and drawing his sword with a clang.

"Oof!" Seeing Ange also jumped in fright, leaping back and summoning the Death God Scythe.

The bone horse's eyes lit up at once: "Death God's Scythe?! Is this a Golden Skeleton? Don't move, don't move, let me handle this!"

After the bone horse finished speaking, it stamped the ground hard, and blazing energy flames rose up on its body, rapidly armoring onto its bones. In the blink of an eye, the gaunt, deformed, thin bone horse transformed into a tall, sturdy soul warhorse with explosive 'muscles'.

This bone horse's soul armament was especially clever—it armors into whatever shape a living horse takes, vivid and lifelike. If not for the two flaming eye sockets, it really wouldn't be easy to tell it was a dead horse.

Seeing Ange tilted his head, took off the hat and little sapling on his head, and blazing soul flames rose up on his body, rapidly armoring into a soul armament shaped like a straw raincoat and grass hat.

"Pfft." The bone horse burst out laughing: "You're farming? This kind of look?"

Seeing Ange nodded and said honestly: "I farm, you get ridden."

He was originally a vegetable grower, and the bone horse was originally meant to be ridden. He stated a fact very seriously, but having spent too long around humans, the bone horse's context had changed accordingly. In human context, "getting ridden" is hardly a kind phrase, and it was immediately angered.

"Despicable! Die! Savage Charge!" The bone horse roared, following up with a soul shock, while sharp horns sprouted from its head and spikes jutted from its front knee joints, and it charged forward with explosive force.

Its head tilted forward, aiming at Seeing Ange's skull, while its forelegs bent and knees thrust ahead. If hit, three large holes would undoubtedly appear in the bones.

Soul Shock plus Savage Charge is a very useful combo of moves, especially when the opponent is a Golden Skeleton.

Human-shaped skeletons are inherently inferior to horse-shaped skeletons—their body sizes differ by several times. To drive the heavier horse-shaped bones, the soul naturally has to be far stronger.

During Soul Shock, the stronger the soul, the greater the advantage.

The bone horse had long since condensed a Soul Heart, and its bones were in the process of transforming toward Gold rank. Given time, it would become a Golden Skeleton Horse.

When facing a Golden Skeleton, the bone horse had a natural advantage—no Golden Skeleton had ever withstood its charge.

Soul Shock first dazes the opponent, then ram it, trample it, devour it.

It sounded wonderful in theory, but what if the opponent doesn't get stunned?

The tremendous explosive force made the bone horse's form almost leave an afterimage as it shot forward.

Seeing Ange sidestepped lightly, held the scythe horizontally, and let the bone horse crash into the blade. The moment the bone horse charged past and landed, its bones scattered all over the ground.

Julian was dumbfounded, taking a long while to react. Had his mount's soul been hooked away by the opponent? Or was this some new technique—first shatter into pieces, then suddenly counterattack?

Julian's head was a mess either way. At first he'd been so excited telling him not to move, and now in a single exchange it had fallen apart? Is this a joke?

Seeing Ange retracted the scythe, ran his other hand along the blade, and wiped off a vigorous soul flame.

A Gold-rank bone horse did indeed possess a powerful soul, but no matter how powerful the soul, it couldn't withstand the Death God Scythe of the God of the Undead.

"Don't touch my horse!" Julian finally reacted, letting out a great roar.

Seeing Ange instantly felt some force acting on his body, which made him tilt his head and look down at the ground in confusion.

This was already the third time he'd tilted his head—not acting cute, but genuinely puzzled. He wondered why Nai Ge Li Si wasn't speaking. Although Nai Ge Li Si hadn't caught up, it could project its soul onto him and answer his questions at any time.

But there was nothing. Without Nai Ge Li Si's pointing and prodding, he couldn't make sense of these new things—like that giant monster, and Julian's strange power.

Several hands condensed from death aura reached out from the ground, firmly gripping Seeing Ange's calves, and the entire ground seemed to melt, dragging Seeing Ange downward.

What was this thing? Wasn't the enemy a Holy Knight? Why was he riding a bone horse and using death power?

Unfortunately, no one was there to answer him. He could only break free first.

Ground Splitter activated repeatedly beneath his feet, quickly shattering the force on the ground into mush. The hands condensed from death aura couldn't maintain their form either and simply crumbled apart.

Julian's eyes went wide: "Ground Splitter? Breaking my Death-Stillness Swamp? That works too?"

Of course it worked, but it was too much effort—like wanting to cross a lake, just go around it, but insist on building a bridge.

"Wait, why does a Golden Skeleton know magic?" Julian reacted quickly. The moment he finished speaking, he realized the blind spot, then dropped into a sudden crouch, thrust his arms forward, and his vambraces sprang open to form a shield.

On top of the physical arm shield, another layer of Holy Shield condensed from holy light rose up.

Julian rested his two-handed sword on the shield, stepped forward, and from where his toes landed, two wraiths pounced out, shrieking as they split into two routes to flank Seeing Ange from left and right.

Good grief—death power and holy light power channeled into one body, and they don't conflict?

Julian's reaction couldn't be called slow; he had simply misjudged a few things. Just as he stepped forward to charge, a row of explosive fireballs swept in, blasting apart the two wraiths, then slamming into his shield.

Julian instantly felt as if he were facing a Category 18 hurricane at sea. The explosive fireballs kept detonating, generating tremendous impact force that made him barely able to stay on his feet.

It was like facing an entire wizard battalion before him. Julian let out a great roar, surging battle aura erupted all over his body, and he wielded his two-handed sword like a one-handed sword, hacking forward with all his might. A blade of qi slashed out.

Bang bang bang bang! A string of explosive fireballs was sliced apart, but more fireballs followed one after another, endless and unceasing.

Bang! The Holy Shield shattered. The fireballs slammed into Julian's physical arm shield, producing tremendous clanging crashes.

"Hah!" Julian roared again. All the battle aura and holy power on his body blazed together, surging into the shield, and he pushed against the shield to advance against the tide.

If the opponent were a wizard, Julian's choice was undoubtedly correct—close the distance as quickly as possible. But the problem was Seeing Ange wasn't a wizard.

Julian pushed through rows of explosive fireballs and charged up to Seeing Ange. His longsword swung out, only to be precisely hooked by a scythe.

The angle formed between the blade and the handle caught the two-handed sword. Julian found he couldn't pull it free.

He made a snap decision to abandon the sword, stepped forward, and chopped down with a palm: "Holy Judgment!"

A pillar of holy flame shot up from where Seeing Ange stood. At the same moment, a black long blade materialized in Julian's palm and came chopping down from above.

Holy flame was sacred fire, but the black long blade was soul armament. This mixed-and-matched style left Seeing Ange quite unaccustomed. He could only summon holy light, wrap himself in it to be swallowed by the holy flame, cross both arms to block the black long blade, and then kick out.

Julian only just managed to bring his arm shield up in front of him before Seeing Ange's big foot stamped right onto it, caving the arm shield inward.

Julian couldn't hold on. His arm slammed into his body, and he was sent flying backward.

But with his arm as a buffer, Julian didn't take the full damage. He landed, his feet alternating as he retreated over a dozen steps, then dug in and slid back some distance before coming to a stop.

Then he looked up at Seeing Ange and shouted in an expression and tone of disbelief: "Holy light? Skeleton? Magic?"

The Shadow Knight was already a hodgepodge—holy light power and death power in one body—but the one across from him was even more of a mess. A holy-light skeleton that knew magic? God, just saying it out loud felt awkward. What kind of monster was this?

Clip-clop clip-clop, hoofbeats came from behind. Lord Nai Ge and the little angel and little zombie rode Lightning as they rushed over, with Luther chasing on foot behind, nearly gasping his last.

From a distance, Lord Nai Ge saw the dimensional beast at first glance, and his heart skipped a beat. His little paw smacked Lightning hard: "Quick, quick, quick, run faster, that's a dimensional beast—dammit, why is there a dimensional beast here? I know why I couldn't project onto Seeing Ange—the dimensional beast's Tranquil Dimension has cut off all spatial projection and teleportation."

"Dimensional beast or not, why are you hitting me?" Lightning snarled, lowering its head a bit further, and its already fast speed increased once more.

After running closer and seeing Seeing Ange safe and sound, Lord Nai Ge breathed a sigh of relief: "Good, good, Seeing Ange is fine."

After a burst of galloping, Lightning arrived behind Seeing Ange. Everyone dismounted, fanned out to both sides, and glared furiously at the enemy with the air of "Boss, who do we cut down?"—their momentum swelled in an instant.

"Ange, what's going on? Who is this guy?" Lord Nai Ge asked.

Ange had been out of contact for half the night; even its mental projection couldn't reach Ange's body, which nearly drove Lord Nai Ge to despair. Fortunately, the Little Angel and the Little Zombie, who shared a soul bond with Ange, were unharmed, so it confirmed Ange was temporarily safe.

Who would have thought that after chasing over, they would not only see a Dimensional Beast but also an enemy dressed in the attire of the Church of Light.

Ange pointed at Julian and said, "Shadow Knight." Then he pointed to a pile of bones on the ground: "Mount, Bone Horse."

Then he pointed at the Dimensional Beast: "Shelter, Spatial Channel, Virus Zombie, transported over."

Lord Nai Ge immediately understood: "You mean, this pile of bones on the ground is a Bone Horse, the Shadow Knight's mount, and they used the Dimensional Beast's sheltering spatial channel to transport the virus-infected zombies over?"

Ange nodded.

"Good! You are the masterminds, actually poisoning people so treacherously! Chop him down, sever the source of the plague!" Lord Nai Ge roared, but while roaring, most of its attention remained on the Dimensional Beast. After finishing, it quickly asked Ange in a low voice, "Did you use your Ultimate Transformation Art?"

Ange shook his head, looking at the Dimensional Beast and saying, "Big Cat."

Lord Nai Ge immediately breathed a sigh of relief; the Vegetable-Growing Skeleton hadn't acted recklessly, knowing to hold back a move. It was truly afraid he would, like the Little Angel, unleash Holy Light Brilliance right away and waste his ultimate move.

Just as this thought arose, a beam of light flashed, shining forward onto Julian.

The Little Angel maintained the posture of pushing both hands outward, burped forcefully, finished the job, then turned to Ange with a smile, wearing an expression begging for praise.

Ange reached out and patted its head.

Lord Nai Ge sighed; as long as Ange continued to indulge it, the Little Angel's habit probably wouldn't be changed.

Helplessly looking at Julian, this Shadow Knight had not been annihilated, but the situation was rather miserable; the flesh and skin on the front half of his body had almost completely vanished, leaving only a skeleton standing there. The flesh on his back remained partially intact, but it was already riddled with holes.

Lord Nai Ge had roughly heard of the Shadow Knight's reputation. These knights, known as shadows beneath the Holy Light, were very mysterious; they could not only wield the power of Holy Light but also the power of heretics, such as demons and undead.

The power of heretics did not conflict with the Holy Light on their bodies; instead, it had a complementary effect, which was very miraculous.

But Lord Nai Ge's understanding of Shadow Knights was limited to this; its knowledge relied on believers to supplement it. What the believers didn't know, it could not add to its knowledge base.

Retaining a skeleton under Holy Light Brilliance was already quite good; let's help him gather the bones.

Just as this thought flashed through, the Shadow Knight, reduced to only bones, moved. He straightened his body and made a "Ho... ho... ho..." sound; he might be chanting some spell or prayer, but because his body had been smashed, he couldn't produce sound, so only his throat tremmed dryly.

But this did not affect his spellcasting effect. The Shadow Knight's tattered body rapidly grew and healed; the riddled flesh on his back grew quickly, passing through the skeleton and filling the empty space in front.

In no time, the Shadow Knight, who had been inhuman in form, forcibly grew back into a human shape.

Before the flesh closed, Lord Nai Ge noticed that the Shadow Knight's chest cavity was empty; the heart that should have been there had not grown back.

"How is this possible? A Lich's phylactery resurrection? No, it's different. Phylactery resurrection creates a new body; this is resurrecting the old body, but his heart is missing. Without finding his phylactery, it will be hard to kill him," Lord Nai Ge said.

Ange raised both hands, preparing to blast him into dust. A Lich's phylactery resurrection was not unlimited; otherwise, Feilin and Lan would be invincible.

But before Ange could raise his hand, Julian had already turned and run back, sprinting toward that Dimensional Beast, shouting loudly with his newly grown lungs, "Dimensional Beast, help me kill them! This is your favorite Elf Beans!"

Julian flipped his hand, somehow producing a small bag, and threw it forcefully at the Dimensional Beast.

Whoosh! Everyone felt as if their eyes were playing tricks; a huge claw shot out from the massive fur ball and pinned down the small bag.

Ange tilted his head, and Lord Nai Ge furrowed its brow scales; both felt simultaneously that this huge claw was very familiar.

The huge claw dexterously lifted the small bag, pouring out its contents: six or seven Elf Beans, each the size of a human little finger.

Compared to the Dimensional Beast's massive size, the Elf Beans were like dust, but the Dimensional Beast's eyes still happily squinted. A huge claw extended one toe and tapped near the Elf Beans; all the Elf Beans instantly vanished.

Having accepted the Elf Beans, the Dimensional Beast, which had always been indifferent to everyone, shifted its gaze to Ange and the others. In its round eyes, the pupils dangerously shrank several times over.

"Be careful, it's going to attack," Lord Nai Ge quickly warned everyone.

Ange suddenly reached into his pocket, pulled out a bag, and threw it forcefully at the Dimensional Beast.