Chapter 140 – Harvest

The Great Serpent was furious!

Its massive hundred-meter-long body thrashed through the air, its tail smashing and shattering countless buildings.

Visible orange flames of rage burned in its mismatched eyes, yet…

No matter how swiftly it pursued, it seemed unable to catch up.

“This is…”

“A Domain!”

How could a subordinate of this human Lord, so young, already wield the power of a Domain?!

Though tribal chieftains like the Spider Woman and Minotaur were uncultured and ignorant, dying without understanding, how could the magnificent Great Serpent fail to recognize it? It could identify it at a glance.

Deadbone had reached the Elite Realm, far stronger than during their last encounter, but the Great Serpent hadn’t paid it much mind, merely considering it a tasty morsel to devour.

But now,

Amid its fury, the Great Serpent felt shock and astonishment.

“This general is terrifyingly formidable and must not be spared!”

However, only a Domain can counter a Domain, and the Great Serpent possessed no such ability.

No matter how powerful its body or vast its energy, once trapped in the mire of a Domain, it could not move freely.

It could only watch helplessly as the Spider Dancer, the Minotaur Chieftain… one after another, fell.

Like slaps resounding against its face.

The Great Serpent’s rage intensified!

Space itself trembled and rumbled.

Yet, under the Domain’s coverage, the pressure and imposing aura had no effect on the other soldiers. They continued to follow the Undead General, wreaking havoc with wild abandon.

Deadbone’s expression remained grave. Far from sharing Bone Two and Bone Three’s optimism, it was precisely because he recognized the Great Serpent as a formidable foe that he had chosen to eliminate the other powerful monsters first.

This way, whether advancing or retreating, he would have room to maneuver.

Having accomplished this, Deadbone turned his gaze back to the Great Serpent. His deep,幽-blue eyes, glowing with a profound light, locked onto the serpent’s large and small vertical pupils in the distance.

Sparks of energy crackled between them in mid-air.

Deadbone flew to a tall building, distancing himself from the main battlefield. As he ceased his intense suppression, the enraged Great Serpent surged forward, the space where its gaze fell becoming viscous and heavy.

Deadbone’s entire body sank.

“A gravity-like ability.”

Utilizing his Domain’s power, he shifted effortlessly, quickly breaking free. In the blink of an eye, he appeared at the Great Serpent’s side, unleashing wave after wave of Shadow Slash sword beams.

But then, the Great Serpent’s already massive body suddenly expanded. It swelled with the wind, transforming into a colossal being at least several hundred meters long, coiling around gigantic structures.

The shadowy sword beams Deadbone slashed indeed wounded the giant serpent, but the injuries were minuscule compared to its enormous form, and the wounds healed shortly after.

Boom—

After evading the Great Serpent’s seemingly cataclysmic attacks with his Domain, Deadbone pointed from a distance, releasing streams of invisible curse energy.

Slow, Weaken, Drain, Weaken Armor, and more!

Deadbone layered curse upon curse. They were effective, but not significantly so. The Great Serpent still radiated an intensely dense energy pressure that seemed to thicken the very space.

If not for his Domain and the suppression from his Realm, Deadbone wouldn’t even have the ability to skirmish with the Great Serpent.

He was still too weak, his power insufficient!

“Maybe I should let Dolai give it a try.”From afar, Dolai, now freed up, hurled thunder and fire from a distance, though it was even more underwhelming, merely scratching the surface throughout.

If the stalemate continued, Deadbone would undoubtedly be the first to falter.

Using a Domain with the body of an Elite—even with the hidden reserve energy Deadbone had accumulated for over a month—was unsustainable for long.

And once the Domain was gone, there would be no shackles left to restrain the Great Serpent.

Should they play it safe and make a strategic retreat, or…? The Great Serpent’s very existence kept the skeletons on edge.

The Undead General turned his gaze to the Lord.

This time,

Lord Mu had indeed devised a solution.

“The Great Serpent’s cross-space descent cannot be without weaknesses.”

Last time, Deadbone and the spirit intervened, destroying the totem to halt the Great Serpent’s descent.

This time, the Great Serpent had already descended, but…

By now, several War Falcons stored earlier in the Lord’s Mark had taken advantage of the Tribe’s elites being decimated and the lack of resistance, flying over the Ancient City to scan the area. Soon, they pinpointed the anchor point of the Great Serpent’s descent.

—The Giant Tree Totem within the Spider-Woman Tribe.

Most of the Giant Tree had already come to life, transforming into the Great Serpent’s body, but a base remained.

Surrounding the base were various Tribe monsters lying in self-inflicted death poses, their blood continuously flowing and converging toward the base.

“As expected, the Great Serpent’s massive form requires a constant energy supply.

“Dolai!”

“Captain Dolai has received the order!”

The Shapeshifting Badge transformed into a pair of pure white wings, attached to Dolai’s back. The next moment, it shot like a streak of light, leaving the pursuing monsters far behind, and soon arrived above the Spider-Woman Tribe.

Then came the part Dolai’s artillery was most adept at.

Bombardment!

The badge transformed into a staff, held in its hands.

A massive orange fireball descended from the sky, followed by a second, third, and fourth.

It adhered thoroughly to the principle of steady output.

Dazzling flames erupted, illuminating the dim underground space, and the entire cavern rumbled loudly, raising concerns about a potential collapse.

The Great Serpent roared in fury!

It let out a roar, but its body shrank continuously, returning to its hundred-meter norm, then kept shrinking until it stabilized at a few dozen meters.

Even so, the Great Serpent possessed strength and energy far surpassing that of the skeleton before it.

Just as it thought this,

the Undead General swung down a seemingly ordinary sword, merely wreathed in shadowy light.

Yet beneath the sword,

a forty-meter sword gleam;

shadow energy accumulated through nine layers of compression;

dozens of curses from the Sorrow of Decay converged simultaneously;

the super amplification from Death Lament, drawing on endless Death Qi from corpses;

and… the power gathered from countless skeletal, wraith, Abomination, and other undead creatures across the battlefield.

All of it, the transcendent power concealed within the Concept, hidden and unexpressed, manifested entirely upon impact.

The Great Serpent’s small eye widened in an instant.

Behind it, one sturdy black stone structure after another shattered abruptly.

Shattering along with them was the Great Serpent’s massive body.

Vanishing into a tide of mist-like black fog.

“Crack~”

…

「Prompt: You have slain the descent projection of the Fallen God’s Attendant, inflicting injury upon the Attendant ‘Great Serpent’.」

「Prompt: As you have slain the projection of the Fallen God’s Attendant, the Blood Totem has purified itself.」After Dolai’s earlier destruction, it had only shattered the totem and hadn’t yet used Hero power to purify it.

But with the Great Serpent’s demise, purification no longer mattered—the foundation of the totem had completely dissipated.

Strands of heavenly light descended, coalescing into a massive orb of radiance.

Simultaneously,

as the Great Serpent perished, the previously frenzied, fearless monsters gradually saw the crimson bloodlust fade from their eyes, and some began fleeing in all directions.

Even so, the great battle persisted for over two hours, lasting until many Skeleton Generals were utterly exhausted before barely concluding.

Within the Ancient City, the streets lay in ruins, carpeted with the corpses of various monsters.

Countless Soul Sand and Remnant Souls emerged.

Dolai gathered them until its mouth couldn’t stop grinning—even though it could only enjoy handling the Soul Sand briefly, wasn’t that still happiness?

Mu Yuan thought so.

Dolai gained happiness, and he saved the effort of collecting Soul Sand—this was double the joy.

Perhaps because the Soul Sand was too abundant and scattered, making collection difficult, Dolai actually squeezed out extra potential, instinctively mastering the subtle application of gravity talent.

Wherever it passed, fragments of Soul Sand floated up, occasionally mixed with dust and gravel that needed filtering, but this was still infinitely faster than searching with eyes and picking up by hand.

Soon, these Soul Sand and Remnant Souls gathered in Dolai’s hands and were ultimately delivered to Mu Yuan.

“Guji~?”

Dolai was asking how much these Remnant Souls were worth.

Mu Yuan glanced over, using arithmetic skills far superior to Dolai’s—countless times stronger—instantly estimating the value of this batch of Remnant Souls.

“Eight rare Remnant Souls, 65 Three-Star Remnant Souls, two-star Remnant Souls…”

“Total value must exceed one hundred units of Soul Crystal.”

“Just a pity, none of the rare Remnant Souls are what I want.”

Jackalwere Warriors, Lizardman Swordsmen, Snakemen Shamans—he expressed disdain, preferring to sell them for money.

As Lord Mu, without any investors, financial backers, or patrons, he could only rely on subduing monster tribes to earn a meager few hundred Soul Crystals through hard work.

“And these too!”

Dolai swiftly turned its pockets inside out, pulling out one trophy after another, piling them into a small hill before them.

Mu Yuan initially thought Dolai’s habit of picking up everything had acted up again, but upon closer inspection, he found…

There were some decent items!

Indeed, many humanoid monsters wore equipment that wasn’t bad, reaching about 80% of standard troop gear quality. Selling them would be troublesome, considering cross-border fees, transportation costs, etc., making profit difficult… but he had a Blacksmith here, so he could directly smelt and recycle usable Ore.

At the top of the trophy hill stood several weapons with exceptionally fine appearances.

Shadow Battleaxe, Phantom Dagger, Elemental Crossbow, Thorn Spear.

Four rare-grade equipment pieces in total!

These monsters actually had more luxurious gear than the generals of Tianyuan Territory—they truly died without injustice.

“And this!”

After emptying the trophies, Dolai brought out the most precious gift—the radiant orb.

Perhaps because the totem pillar shattered completely without purification by a Lord or Hero, the orb was somewhat different from before. There was only one, but its size was super-sized.

“Wonder what it’ll yield.”

“The totem pillar’s specifications don’t seem much different from the previous Snakefolk Tribe’s.”He had previously thought the Snakemen’s carvings were crude, but it turned out the Great Serpent himself was naturally rough-looking.

However, the Spider-Woman Tribe was, after all, the dominant power in this area, leagues ahead of the Snakefolk Tribe. Their gifts were bound to be somewhat stronger… right?

Under Dolai’s expectant gaze, Mu Yuan reached out and gently tapped.

Hum—

A halo of light spread out, and a half-meter-wide sphere of radiance dissolved like countless crystalline particles. In the next moment, bursts of shimmering light erupted.

Accompanying this was the sound of notifications chiming softly in his ears.

「Prompt: You have obtained Soul Crystal ×10.」

「Prompt: You have obtained Miracle Blueprint ‘Guiding Beacon (5/5) (Common).’」

「Prompt: You have obtained Miracle Blueprint ‘Breakthrough Dojo (Rare).’」

「Prompt: You have obtained complete structure ‘Spell Furnace (Excellent).’」

Feeling a bit under the weather, next chapter will be posted later (:з」∠)

(End of Chapter)