"Right nearby?"
Through the Soul Crystal Sphere, Kurose Akira could clearly sense the aura of the little red dragon—it felt almost within arm's reach.
Yet confusion filled his mind.
He couldn't understand why the little red dragon would appear inside a demon cave of all places.
What was more, although he could perceive that faint presence, he still couldn't pinpoint its exact location. The aura drifted ambiguously through the cavern, forcing him to continue searching deeper inside the demon den.
"Let's keep moving," Akira said as he put away the Soul Crystal Sphere, preparing to lead the team forward.
At that moment, Lucia suddenly stopped.
She stood perfectly still.
The subtle change immediately caught Akira's attention.
"Did you sense something?" Akira asked, turning toward her.
"There's something watching us," Lucia replied quietly.
"How strong is it?"
"…Very weak," she said after a pause. "But it possesses a special kind of power."
"Special power?" Akira narrowed his eyes slightly, thoughtful.
In his mind, a conclusion quickly formed—it was likely the hidden boss Lu Bo had mentioned. Only a creature at a boss-tier level could draw Lucia's attention at all. Ordinary skeleton undead didn't even qualify to enter the holy maiden's field of awareness.
The party pressed onward, searching for their target while cutting down skeletons that clawed their way up from the earth.
An hour later, they reached a raised ridge. Beyond it lay a wide, open clearing.
There were no dense grave markers here—but standing guard in the center of the clearing was an undead knight mounted on a ghostly warhorse.
They weren't the only ones to arrive.
Another player guild had gotten there first.
That guild's adventurers had already surrounded the undead knight, weapons drawn, mana surging, poised to strike.
Boom—boom—
The ghostly warhorse stamped its hooves, letting out a low, hollow neigh.
The undead knight sat silently atop the saddle, surveying its surroundings. The longsword at its waist glimmered with eerie blue light, and the tattered cape behind it fluttered in the wind as it calmly awaited the adventurers' assault.
"A level 49 undead skeleton knight?"
Akira focused his gaze.
[Undead Skeleton Knight (Elite)]Level: 49 (0 / 24,500)Race: UndeadStrength: 800 / Agility: 824 / Mana: 596 / Constitution: 840Growth: 8 (All attributes +8 per level)Skills: (Expand)Status: [Phased]
Akira's eyes lingered on the status panel.
"Phased?"
This power didn't seem to originate from the undead knight itself—it felt as though it had been granted by some other mysterious force.
Before Akira could fully piece it together, the opposing guild's leader issued the attack order.
"Take it down!"
At the command, three adventurers around level forty charged forward.
One of them—a beastman warrior—unleashed terrifying strength. The massive axe in his hands seemed capable of splitting the heavens as he brought it crashing down toward the undead knight!
But at the instant the axe fell—
It struck nothing.
The blow slammed into the ground instead, kicking up a cloud of dust.
The undead skeleton knight's body flickered like a mirage, phasing aside as if it were a ghost.
"What—!?"
Before the beastman could even process what happened, the undead knight solidified again and slashed out, carving a deep wound across his left arm.
"AAAGH!"
The beastman staggered back, clutching his arm in agony.
The remaining adventurers rushed in, launching a coordinated assault.
But the Phased ability rendered their efforts futile.
Although there were fleeting gaps between the knight's shifts from intangible to solid, those openings were far too brief. With their level and reaction speed, they simply couldn't seize the moment to land a decisive blow.
"They can't defeat it," Loserine said quietly to Akira, already gripping her Vowbound Sword, battle-ready.
Akira nodded silently, choosing to observe a bit longer.
He was certain there were other demons nearby—ones responsible for granting the undead knight this unnatural power.
And if that buff truly originated from another entity…
Then perhaps Alice's Soul Cutter could sever the connection.
As that thought crossed his mind—
The battlefield turned grim.
"AAAAH—!"
A piercing scream echoed through the clearing.
The beastman warrior—the first to attack—collapsed into a pool of blood.
The rest of the adventurers were already gravely injured. It was painfully obvious they were no match.
"Damn it! Why is this thing so broken!?"
The guild leader cursed furiously and activated a teleportation array, preparing to escape.
But the undead skeleton knight sensed his intent.
Mounted on the ghostly warhorse, it charged straight at him.
"Stop it!"
The player shouted desperately.
His adventurers tried to intercept—but the knight's phased form made meaningful obstruction impossible.
In the blink of an eye, the undead knight appeared before the player.
Before the teleportation array could fully form—
Slash.
The longsword fell.
The player's head hit the ground.
Akira watched in silence, brows deeply furrowed. Even though players could revive using resurrection coins, the terror of being beheaded in that instant was unmistakably real.
As the leader fell, the remaining adventurers scattered in panic.
A few unlucky ones failed to escape in time and were cut down one by one.
In mere moments, the clearing was left with five or six lifeless bodies.
"A real pain in the ass," Red Lotus muttered, staring intently at the undead knight, the corner of her lips lifting in excitement.
"It's noticed us," Loserine warned.
Sure enough, the undead knight turned its gaze toward them. Cold killing intent burned within its eerie green eyes.
The ghostly warhorse surged forward, charging straight toward Akira's position, clearly intending to kill him in one strike.
"I'll block it! But if we want to kill it, we have to deal with that weird ability!" Red Lotus shouted.
She hoisted her blazing greatsword and sprinted forward.
At the instant they were about to clash, the undead knight phased out, attempting to slip past her defense.
But Red Lotus wasn't about to let that happen.
"Get back here!"
She drove her flaming greatsword into the ground.
BOOM—!
Deep crimson flames erupted outward, forming a massive ring of fire that sealed off the entire battlefield.
The undead knight attempted to break through—
Only to discover in horror that the crimson flames burned the soul itself.
Forced back, it turned and charged Red Lotus head-on.
The battle erupted in earnest.
Loserine spread her Soul Light Wings and flew into the ring, fighting alongside Red Lotus.
Through the raging inferno, Akira could barely make out the fight. Even with the two of them working together, they could only restrain the undead knight temporarily.
Soul-burning flames wouldn't last forever.
"Lucia, can you still sense that thing?" Akira asked.
Lucia closed her eyes, feeling the fluctuations of nearby souls.
After a moment, she spoke slowly.
"It's nearby—but it doesn't exist in a physical form. If it takes large-scale soul-type magic damage, it'll be forced to reveal itself."
"So it's not corporeal…" Akira's expression darkened. A ghost?
That wasn't a problem.
"Loserine," Akira ordered decisively, "absorb Red Lotus's flames—release Soul Light Annihilation Cannon!"
The name was something Akira had casually coined on the spot.
Soul Light Wings absorbed elemental damage and converted it into massive-area soul-based attacks—there was no way the target could hide.
"…Understood."
Loserine nodded.
Her wings unfurled, drawing in the surrounding flames released by Red Lotus.
"What kind of power is that!?" Red Lotus exclaimed mid-battle, shock flashing across her face. She hadn't expected Loserine to absorb her fire.
Energy rapidly gathered within Loserine's Soul Light Wings, radiating brilliance like stars scattered across the night sky.
"Soul… Light Annihilation Cannon."
She solemnly repeated the name Akira had given her.
In the next instant—
A tidal wave of soul energy burst outward from her wings, sweeping across the battlefield in all directions!
With her increased level, the coverage of her soul magic far exceeded anything she'd done before.
Centered on Loserine, a ten-kilometer radius was engulfed by overwhelming soul power.
Players fighting skeletons elsewhere in the demon cave were suddenly struck by the wave.
Since the attack wasn't targeted at them directly, they weren't seriously harmed.
But when they snapped back to awareness—
Every skeleton they'd been fighting had collapsed into inert piles of bones.
Silence.
Then—
Rage erupted.
"WHAT THE HELL!? WHO THE F*CK CLEARED THE MAP WITH AN AOE!?"
"That was almost a hundred contribution points! GONE!!"
"My Skeleton Knight—wake up! WAKE UP!!"
"I was this close to killing a Skeleton Commander! Who stole my kill!?"
"…!"
Their furious curses echoed through the cave.
Unfortunately for them—
Akira heard none of it.
As Loserine's soul power dissipated, the flames on the battlefield extinguished.
A thin blue strand of soul energy appeared on the undead skeleton knight's body, connecting upward into the phasing starry void.
"Alice!"
"At once!"
Alice instantly obeyed, manipulating the Soul Cutter to sever the blue soul-thread.
The moment the connection snapped—
The undead skeleton knight lost its [Phased] status.
"Nice!"
Red Lotus struck without hesitation.
At the same time, Ivsha's holy power condensed into a massive sword of radiant light that descended from the sky, piercing straight through the undead knight's chest.
BOOOOM—!
The undead skeleton knight exploded into ghostly green soul flames and vanished completely.
System messages flooded Akira's vision.
[Killed Undead Skeleton Knight, Contribution +70! EXP +10,000!][Killed Skeleton, Contribution +1!][Killed Skeleton, Contribution +1!][…]
"?"
Akira paused.
Why so much extra experience?
Then it hit him—Loserine's soul magic must have wiped out every skeleton within its range.
That's insane.
But compared to contribution gains, Akira was far more focused on the figure that fell from the phasing sky above once the soul-thread was severed.
"Ow—!"
A white figure drifted down and landed in front of Akira.
Since it existed only as a soul, it passed straight into the ground—
Then awkwardly popped back out.
Only then did Akira finally see it clearly.
…Wait.
His brows furrowed.
Standing before him was a female ghost.
Her upper body was tightly wrapped in white cloth, while her lower half revealed only two long, pale, strikingly white legs.
At the same moment, her information appeared.
[Soul of Lady Zhenbai (?)]Level: ? (?)Race: GhostStrength: ? / Agility: ? / Mana: ? / Constitution: ?Growth: ?Skills: (Expand)Trait: [Ghost] (Defeating this unit grants forced affix "Soul Tremor")
"Lady Zhenbai…?"
Akira studied the ghost carefully.
She really was… very white.
The stat panel was nothing but question marks, but Lucia had already said she was weak.
This was Alice's specialty.
"Alice. Do it."
"Yes, Master!"
Alice raised her giant scissors, ready to snip Lady Zhenbai apart.
"I-I'm warning you! Don't come any closer! I have a boss!" the ghost wailed, legs trembling.
"A boss?"
Akira looked puzzled.
Before he could ask—
Violent winds erupted.
A massive black shadow spiraled down from the phasing sky, rapidly approaching.
"That is—!?"
Akira's eyes widened.
A bone dragon.
A colossal bone dragon nearly a hundred meters long.
"Child—that's my child's aura!" the Red Dragon Mother's excited voice echoed in Akira's mind.
Akira raised an eyebrow.
That bone dragon was the little red dragon she'd been longing for?
Wait—
He noticed a crimson glow pulsing within the dragon's abdomen.
That was…
A red dragon egg.
[Corpse Bone Dragon (Legendary)]Level: 70 (55,000 / 56,000)Race: Red DragonGrowth: 12Traits: [Witch's Curse]
"A level 70 bone dragon?!"
Akira's expression tightened.
That was far beyond what they could handle.
"Oh no—!"
"Boss! Boss! Save me!" Lady Zhenbai screamed, waving frantically.
But the bone dragon ignored them entirely.
It flew straight overhead, heading toward the demon cave's exit.
The scene froze.
Silence fell.
Time itself seemed to stop.
Lady Zhenbai stiffened completely—
Turning into a ghostly statue on the spot.