Reborn As A Ghost: Time To Build My Undead Army!-Chapter 1716: Intense Battle
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Arthur struggled to keep pace with Nyx, Lucifer, Partner, Jonathan, and Arachne as they soared through the sky. Using the Cloud Step technique he had only recently mastered, he stepped lightly on the air and ran across it as if it were solid ground.
With his Dream Weapon, the Yinyang Spear, he unleashed explosions that carried the perfect harmony of opposing elements.
While Lucifer battered the Vampire Vesperine had sent, the other nine cultivators and martial artists possessed by blood souls battled the rest of the group high above the ground.
The three Sunlight Mountain Sect members focused most of their attacks on Partner. They repeatedly tried to dive toward the people below, but Partner blocked them with raw strength. Dozens of crimson skeletal hands erupted from her back, hammering her enemies with relentless force.
The more she fought and embraced this ability, the more she discovered its potential. By accepting her original skeletal nature, the power continued to grow instead of fading away.
"Damn bitch, die already!"
The Golden Core expert roared in fury, swinging her blazing sword. With her temporary boost to the Nascent Soul realm, she sliced through Partner’s defenses and seared her arms with intense flames.
"Nnngghh! RAAAAHH!
Partner answered with a thunderous roar. A shockwave of pure energy burst from her body, slamming into the cultivator while her massive skeletal claws pummeled the woman without mercy.
"{Spectral Blood Skeleton Fist Barrage}!"
She fused Phantasmal Fist with her technique, wrapping every skeletal hand in crimson ghostly flames. The barrage began crushing the woman’s soul into fragments.
BAAM! BAAM! BAAM! BAAM!
"GAAAHHHHH!"
The cultivator screamed in agony, plummeting from the sky and crashing into the earth. Her two companions, now elevated to her former realm, unleashed flames from their swords that writhed like giant serpents.
They were weaker than the woman Partner had just overpowered. She kicked both in the face, then used her skeletal fists to rip through their bodies, shattering limbs and weapons alike and leaving their souls on the verge of collapse.
"U-ugh...! The great elder, is she all right?"
"Damn it... ugh...!"
The two servants crawled toward their unconscious leader. The elder gasped for air, slowly sitting up and looking around.
"You two, we must return to the fight and—"
She never finished. A pair of fox siblings stood behind them, dozens of paper talismans swirling in the air as a formation activated.
"{Wound Worsening Spell Formation}!"
The spell took hold. Melianna’s magic aggravated their injuries, forcing blood to pour from every wound in agonizing torrents.
Yet the trio rose anyway and attacked.
"Die!"
"How dare you, damn beasts!"
"Damned foreigners!"
Blazing swords of pure Ki swung toward the young foxes, intent on burning them to cinders.
However...
"Spirit Fox!"
Ferleen’s Dream Spirit materialized, absorbing the surrounding Ki and the enemies’ blazing Ki alike. It grew enormous and struck all three with flaming paws.
CRAAASH!
The trio spat blood and collapsed, seemingly knocked out cold.
Or so everyone thought.
"NGAAAAHHH!"
They suddenly leaped back to their feet, bodies twisting grotesquely. Fur sprouted across their skin as they lunged at the giant fox, claws tearing the spirit apart until it exploded.
BOOOM!
"W-What?!"
Ferleen panicked and immediately cast Spirit Magic. Wooden spears and stone spikes erupted from the ground, followed by beams of pure light.
"What’s wrong with them?!" Melianna cried, already painting fresh talismans with her brush.
"I don’t know, but they woke up right after passing out!" Ferleen shouted. "I think the Vampire’s power drove them completely mad!"
"{Barrier of Light Talisman Formation}!"
FLAAASH!
Melianna infused Light Runes into the papers and formed a protective dome around herself and her brother.
The three crazed, half-vampiric cultivators screamed and hammered the barrier. The holy light seared their flesh, yet they attacked without pause, showing no fear of their own weakness.
Crack... crack...!
"They’re not even afraid of light anymore!"
"They’ve completely lost their minds...!"
As fractures spread across the barrier, a rain of arrows fell from above. Each arrow transformed into massive trees of light the moment it struck, wrapping around the trio and draining their Spiritual Energy and Ki.
"GRAAAAHH!"
Emeraldine appeared, spheres of radiant light swirling around her Aura. She bombarded the vampiric martial artists, then fired ice spirit arrows to finish the job.
"Emeraldine!"
The twins cheered. Emeraldine gave them a quick smile, but she was not alone. Alma stepped forward, seizing the opening. A tremendous wave of freezing water surged from beneath the trio.
BOOOM!
The icy torrent swallowed them whole. Their flames died instantly, and their bodies froze solid.
Melianna let out a relieved sigh as her barrier vanished.
"Uuugh... thank you."
"That really saved us... We thought we could handle them alone."
"You both did well," Emeraldine said warmly. "But we can’t rest yet."
Dozens of demons materialized around them. Melianna’s talismans rose once more, Ferleen’s little fox reappeared, and Alma’s freezing aura spread wide.
"Damn beast, you think you can face my power? Die!"
Lucifer roared, swinging his scythe and cleaving the Vampire in half. White flames erupted across both pieces, exploding them into nothingness. The creature’s soul, unable to cling to its body, was consumed by the purifying fire and vanished forever. Lucifer wasn’t sure whether it had been cleansed or simply erased.
"And that’s one more down. Where next—Ah!"
A massive fist of crimson steel smashed into his face, hurling him downward with terrifying force.
TRUUUM!
Lucifer regained control mid-fall, halting just above the swarm of demons Vesperine had summoned, then rocketed back upward.
There stood the Golden Core expert from the Iron Fist Sect, his Aura surging as he unleashed the full might of a temporary Nascent Soul cultivator.
"Hahahaha!"
His Martial Soul flared alongside his cultivation, merging both paths into overwhelming power.
Lucifer charged. The muscular man punched the air, sending a shockwave of wind pressure that forced the Fallen Angel back.
"Damn... bastard!"
Lucifer’s roar carried no flames this time, only raw sonic force. The two shockwaves collided and exploded, shaking the very foundation of the battlefield.
The martial artist grinned wider, muscles swelling even further as he fully absorbed the Blood Soul Specters into his body.
"Not bad for a human."
"Hahahaha!"
The man had descended into pure madness, laughing like a maniac as he clashed with Lucifer.
And at that moment, Lucifer grew serious.
RUMBLE!
Explosions of white flame lit up the sky as the two titans collided again and again.
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