Chapter 82 : Chapter 82
Chapter 82. Skeleton King
That streak of golden light did not attack the bishop himself.
Instead, it transformed into a lightning bolt that tore through the darkness and plunged directly into the core of the massive blood vortex.
The holy purification power carried by the Holy Sword was no different from the deadliest poison for this unstable sacrificial ritual.
BOOM!
Holy light and corrupt energy collided violently.
Within the blinding brilliance, the enormous blood vortex burst like a punctured balloon.
It released a silent shriek as its rotation abruptly stopped, then violently collapsed inward.
Together with the bishop’s agonized scream that no longer sounded human, it vanished into nothingness.
However, no trace of victory appeared on anyone’s face.
Not even for a single second.
An indescribable and terrifying pressure, as if descending from a higher dimension of life itself, suddenly spread across every inch of Rime Valley.
Whether it was Helena holding the Holy Sword, the battle-hardened Victor and Kane, or even the ever-composed Logaris West, all of them felt an oppressive force rising from the depths of their souls.
It was as if a higher lifeform was forcibly squeezing into this world.
At the very moment alarm bells exploded in everyone’s mind, the void space violently trembled.
A pitch-black crack suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
Immediately afterward, a massive skeletal hand clad in black armor, grotesquely disproportionate in size, extended out from the crack.
It grabbed the edge of space itself and tore violently.
With a piercing ripping sound, the fissure expanded into a hideous gateway.
A torrent composed of pitch-black polluted energy and twisted flesh burst outward.
Using the arm as a pivot, the torrent rapidly condensed, forming a gigantic body more than ten meters tall.
It wore a suit of black armor woven from solidified filth energy and distorted flesh.
Around its neck hung a string of grim human skulls, their hollow eye sockets seeming to wail silently.
On its head rested a crown made from countless pale bones piled together and stretching upward in a jagged structure.
“W-What… what kind of monster is that…”
A young Northern Territory soldier collapsed to the ground in terror, his teeth chattering uncontrollably.
“Its aura… my life force… it is draining it away!”
Beside him, a demi-human centurion turned pale with horror as he stared at his own hand, which was rapidly turning gray.
In the distance, the expressions of Kane and Ulzok immediately became extremely grim.
As seasoned sixth-tier warriors who had witnessed countless brutal battlefields, they had seen horrors beyond imagination.
Yet the existence before them, formed purely from filth and death, radiated an evil aura so intense that it filled them with instinctive disgust and nausea.
They subconsciously exchanged glances.
In each other’s eyes, they saw lingering fear.
The so-called “divine official” who had summoned such a monstrosity had been hiding inside their army all along.
At that moment, they no longer held the slightest doubt regarding Prince Alectos Huiyin’s claim that the Regent had colluded with the Corruption Cult.
“Damn it!”
“The ritual was not interrupted… it was forcibly completed!”
Helena’s face turned pale as she tightly gripped the Holy Sword.
The pressure emanating from the monster made it nearly impossible for her to breathe.
Its arrival plunged the entire battlefield into silence.
All warriors below the fifth tier, whether Northern Territory soldiers or demi-human soldiers, felt as though an icy hand had seized their hearts.
A chilling terror rose from the depths of their bones.
They could clearly feel their life force draining uncontrollably, invisibly drawn away by the monster and transformed into nourishment for it.
When this grotesque Skeleton King fully manifested in the world, it suddenly raised its other giant hand covered in black armor.
The surrounding blood mist, along with the scattered bone fragments of fallen cultists across the battlefield, responded to an invisible summons.
They frantically gathered toward its palm.
Accompanied by the nauseating sounds of bones grinding and flesh squirming, an enormous greatsword was forged out of thin air within its grasp.
Fresh pieces of flesh still writhed across the blade, as though the weapon itself possessed life.
Without any declaration, the moment the sword was formed, the grotesque Skeleton King raised it high.
Then it brought the blade crashing down.
A massive slash as black as ink, mixed with blood-red light, tore through the fabric of reality.
Carrying a destructive aura capable of annihilating everything, it split the sky and earth as it slashed toward the direction where life was most densely concentrated—the Northern Legion’s battle formation.
The speed of this strike reached an extreme.
A warning signal exploded inside Logaris West’s mind.
Almost by pure instinct, he raised his right hand.
His black robe whipped violently in the gale as the glove embedded with three gemstones erupted with dazzling magical radiance.
“Fixed-Point Translocation!”
A massive spatial gate instantly opened.
The slash capable of tearing apart heaven and earth plunged directly into the gate less than a hundred meters from the Northern Legion formation.
It vanished without a trace.
In the next second, far away on the distant horizon, a pitch-black pillar of light shot into the sky.
It silently shredded the clouds before slowly dissipating.
Only then did a drop of cold sweat seep from the corner of Logaris West’s forehead and slide down his cheek.
Beside him, Sylvia suddenly released a breath of relief.
Yet the hand gripping her sword trembled slightly from tension.
Everything that had happened within that split second placed unimaginable pressure on all the top-tier experts present.
Even the residual power alone made them feel the cold breath of death.
Logaris West’s expression had never been so grave.
Behind his lenses, icy blue eyes flickered with streams of data as he rapidly analyzed the monster before him.
Its power fluctuations had already approached the absolute peak allowed in this world.
Seventh tier.
Yet its aura was extremely unstable.
Its body constantly collapsed and reassembled, as if it could fall apart at any moment.
This was undoubtedly the result of Helena’s earlier strike.
And fortunately…
The creature seemed to possess no rational mind whatsoever.
“Power close to the seventh tier, yet no intelligence to match it…”
The devastating strike of the Skeleton King left the entire Rime Valley silent.
Even though the black slash had already been redirected to the far horizon by Logaris West’s spatial gate, the terrifying aura of annihilation still lingered in everyone’s hearts.
No one could shake it off.
“H-How are we supposed to fight that…”
The surviving Northern Territory soldiers’ legs trembled uncontrollably.
“All troops retreat!”
“Withdraw five kilometers immediately!”
Sylvia’s voice rang clearly into the ears of every officer through the Communication Crystal.
Her tone remained calm.
Yet no one knew that the palm gripping Moonfall was soaked with cold sweat.
“Your Highness, we—”
A centurion tried to speak.
“Execute the order!”
Sylvia’s voice was cold as ice.
“If you stay here, you will only become nourished.”
“This is not a battle you can participate in.”
The Northern Legion strictly obeyed orders.
The soldiers retreated like a receding tide.
On the other side, within the demi-human legion.
Kane and Ulzok exchanged a glance.
“Retreat!”
Ulzok roared roughly as the same command was issued to the Stonewall Legion.
Kane struggled internally.
Logically speaking, this battle had already gone beyond the agreement he made with Logaris West.
He should not intervene.
At the very least, he should not openly assist them.
But Prince Alectos Huiyin was still within the opposing formation.
And everything that had just happened indirectly proved part of the prince’s innocence.
The Regent truly regarded them as expendable tools.
Yet he was still a legion commander of the Demi-Human Empire.
An enemy of the human kingdom.
Damn it.
What a headache.
Kane took a deep breath.
A decision formed in his heart.
He glanced at Ulzok beside him.
The latter returned a look that clearly said, “Do whatever you think is right.”
Kane sighed.
In the next instant, Battle Energy erupted violently from his body.
A cyan storm shot into the sky.
He raised his sword high and condensed all his power into a single point.
Then he unleashed his strongest killing move toward the distant Skeleton King.
“Ultimate Technique—Sky Elegy!”