Chapter 197 – Bone Dragon: I Am Just a Humble Soldier

Resentment +1!

“Where exactly did I slip up?!”

Victor didn’t believe he had revealed any flaws, so he could only attribute it to the Bone Dragon’s extraordinary nature.

After all, this was one of the top-tier elite units.

Awakening some mysterious and extraordinary abilities wasn’t impossible.

He envied it.

He was jealous and resentful.

Resentment +6.6!

Invisible resentment drifted away, falling into the mouths of yearning wraiths and evil spirits lurking in the distant shadows.

They slurped it up, revealing expressions of pure enjoyment.

Sip high-quality resentment, taste the unwavering lives of wraiths.

But the joys and angers of the undead are not shared. At this moment, the soulfire in the Bone Dragon Sario’s eyes burned ever more fiercely with rage.

Even its Dragon’s Might underwent a Breakthrough at this instant, as if solidifying the very air around it.

It glared at the infiltrator before it.

Clad in a black cloak and form-fitting black combat suit, the figure blended completely into the twilight. Its form was slightly blurred, as if it might vanish at any moment.

If not for Dead Bone Boss’s warning, Sario would never have noticed the infiltrator’s presence.

This,

no matter the reason, would surely cause him to lose significant points in the eyes of the Boss and the Lord, affecting his ranking in the epic sequence.

How could the Bone Dragon not be enraged?

This was a grudge against his evolution!

“The great Bone Dragon Sario shall grant you death!”

Its voice boomed.

Undead energy surged from within its body, even drawing in surrounding black mist to converge. In the blink of an eye, it formed a black giant claw over ten meters long, descending as if blotting out the sky.

“So this is the Bone Dragon, even though it’s far from reaching its Peak.”

Victor’s expression turned serious.

Under the cover of the Dragon’s Might, he could no longer enter his ‘deep dive’ state, and even his energy flow felt slightly sluggish.

However, this Bone Dragon was still too green.

After all, it had been born at most a few months ago.

Victor merely shifted his stance, breaking free from the pressure of the giant claw, and dodged to the side, leaving a series of afterimages in his wake.

Boom—

Dust billowed, mud, stones, and sand spraying over ten meters high.

But by now, Victor had already evaded several dozen meters away, with no intention of engaging the Bone Dragon head-on. He sprinted straight toward the distant darkness.

His reasoning was simple.

The Bone Dragon was indeed troublesome, but why should he confront it directly?

He was an A-rank agent of the Eye of Divine Radiance, coming and going without a trace, elusive as a phantom! He had even slipped away right under the noses of some City Lords, let alone an underdeveloped Bone Dragon.

Just as Victor thought this, he noticed thick gray mist rising around him.

The gray mist was deeper than the black mist, not only blocking his vision but seemingly distorting his perception of space and direction.

“This is an area-of-effect skill.”

“Damn it, top-tier units are just too favored by nature.”

With the colossal figure closing in from behind, Victor stopped evading.

He reached out, drawing two swords that were merely hilts. With an energy surge, two sharp beams of light extended from the hilts.

He moved with extreme speed, leaving trails of afterimages around the Bone Dragon, repeatedly dodging its Dragon Claw, thrusts, and Dragon Breath attacks. He carved deep, bone-exposing gashes into the Bone Dragon’s skeletal armor.

After over a dozen intense exchanges, Victor finally deciphered the mechanics of the gray mist field.He shattered like a bubble, vanishing into nothingness, only to reappear hundreds of meters away the next moment.

Drifting away, he broke through the blockade of the dense fog field.

“Tianyuan Territory is indeed a bit prodigious.”

“But no matter how prodigious it is, it’s still just a small territory that’s only been established for a few months.”

He, Phantom Victor, could infiltrate and escape from cities of seasoned lords that were akin to dragon’s pools and tiger’s dens, let alone a small territory.

Of course, as a ranger player, he had no intention of confronting an entire territory head-on. That would be a death by attrition.

But if he wanted to leave, even a commander-level entity couldn’t stop him.

He said so himself.

“The most dangerous individuals in Tianyuan Territory are undoubtedly the Bone Dragon from earlier and the ‘Daughter of Stars’ recruited by Tianyuan Lord at the Festival Grounds. As long as I pay attention to these two, I can come and go freely within this territory.”

At that moment,

Thick, sharp arrows tore through the air with a piercing whistle, descending like a large net.

These were arrows from the Level 3 Arrow Towers.

In large numbers, even elites would be turned into pincushions.

But Victor danced through the rain of arrows, as leisurely as if he were strolling in a garden. His mindset was relaxed, far from the tension he had felt when his identity was exposed in a city-level territory.

He even had the leisure to glance toward the core area of Tianyuan Territory.

Mu Yuan was also watching him, with multiple angles meticulously capturing this figure.

Arrow Towers coordinated their shots.

Mage Towers launched massive homing spell missiles.

Thunder Coil Towers crackled with dazzling arcs of lightning.

Using this intruder, Mu Yuan tested various defensive structures, and the result was… not very effective!

The first two posed almost no threat. The Thunder Coil Tower was somewhat useful but far from sufficient to seriously injure, let alone kill, a general-level powerhouse.

Especially when this general-level powerhouse was particularly adept at survival.

Mu Yuan glanced elsewhere. The Domain Jammer was humming, operating at medium to low power, already intercepting the messages sent by the intruder.

Of course, outside the Domain Jammer, there was another layer of protection named Isloria.

The girl was inspecting the array formations at the edge of the territory using her Hero’s vision, muttering to herself about how to improve them.

Mu Yuan continued to focus his gaze on the intruder.

“Since the testing is almost done, it’s time to bring this to an end.”

…

At that moment,

Phantom Victor was retreating outward. Even though he had to constantly dodge arrows and thunder attacks, he was gradually widening the distance from the pursuing Bone Dragon.

As long as he broke the Bone Dragon’s line of sight and avoided being locked by its Dragon’s Might, he could enter the ‘Deep Dive state.’

If even the strongest Bone Dragon couldn’t catch him, where in this territory couldn’t he go?

Behind him, Bone Dragon Sario, realizing he truly couldn’t catch up, felt somewhat dejected. But as he watched the dark figure emerge from the depths of the graveyard and intercept the intruder, the Bone Dragon let out a sinister chuckle.

You might not believe it…

But this Bone Dragon is just a small fry.

…

A dark-skinned man stood blocking the path ahead, the only way forward.

Victor paid little attention at first.

He had already cut down no fewer than three or four Skeleton Generals with his lightsaber earlier.

However, as Victor and the dark-skinned man drew closer, his muscles involuntarily tensed, and the hairs on his body stood on end.

This was an instinctual warning from his body.

He took a closer look.

The burly man had bulging muscles and a face that seemed fierce at first glance but, upon closer inspection, appeared kind. He was filled with compassion.

“Patron, you carry sin within you.”The burly man with a mournful expression finished speaking and instantly appeared before Victor, throwing a punch.

This fist strike was majestic and righteous, burning with Karmic Flame capable of purifying all sins. Victor could only weave a dense net of silvery-white sword gleams through his blade dance.

But he was too hasty, with insufficient energy output.

The sword gleams shattered under the brilliant flaming fist, its residual force striking Victor with slightly diminished power.

His form shattered like a bubble, reappearing several meters away, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

“This man… is far from just being a master!”

His hurried defense was due to the burly man’s speed.

Faster than himself, who was known as ‘Phantom’!

How could someone so muscular be so fast? Was that reasonable?

When the white flaming fist was about to land on him, Victor felt a chill rushing to the crown of his head. His intuition told him that even weakened and seemingly unimpressive, he should never take this punch head-on.

Otherwise, the consequences would be unpredictable.

His intuition had always been accurate.

“Benefactor, your sins run deep and require purification.”

The burly man spoke again, his voice initially soft but gradually thundering into Victor’s eardrums.

Victor took a deep breath.

The Tianyuan Territory’s powerful experts had once again exceeded his expectations.

He might not be a match.

Of course, his greatest strength lay in survival abilities. He had only been caught off guard because he hadn’t anticipated such a powerhouse in the Tianyuan Territory.

“I need to leave quickly.”

But unlike the Bone Dragon, this burly man was faster and more agile.

How to break this deadlock?

Victor had long been prepared. His ability to traverse countless crucial strongholds didn’t rely solely on personal power.

From his shadow, a ghostly figure slowly rose.

It somewhat resembled spectral-type units, but its body wasn’t humanoid—instead, it looked like a massive black sphere.

This was the rare three-star grade unit ‘Netherworld Ghost’! Among rare units, it was one of the most expensive, something many Lords never had the chance to possess. Victor had paid a tremendous price to acquire one back in the day.

Through careful cultivation, the Netherworld Ghost had advanced to the Third-Order Warlord Tier.

It was one of his most vital survival tools.

The spherical ghost, upon appearing, immediately opened its mouth wide and swallowed its master in an instant. Then, the Netherworld Ghost rapidly shrank in size. It leaped lightly and descended swiftly, vanishing without a trace as if a fish diving into water.

This was the Netherworld Ghost’s ability!

Passing through walls and traversing shadows were as easy as breathing.

A Third-Order Netherworld Ghost could even enter the ‘Nether Realm’ existing between the seams of heaven and earth, using its power to traverse thousands or tens of thousands of meters in an instant.

Facing pursuit by a Fourth-Order Commander Tier, Victor had relied on this move to escape unscathed.

Once the Netherworld Ghost entered the Nether Realm, he was safe, free as the open sea.

Within the Skull Graveyard,

Rakshasa gazed at the spot where the ghost had vanished, about to give chase—he was originally from the spectral system, his muscular body actually a soul form. Tracking and pursuing the ghost was well within his capabilities.

Effortlessly.

Rakshasa searched and identified, then suddenly halted.

He seemed to hesitate, words caught in his throat.

And at that moment,

“Splash~”

Ripples layered upon ripples emerged from a shadowy spot, and the rotund-bodied ghost leaped out from within.

Inside the ghost, Victor was also observing.He wasn’t quite sure where he had escaped to, only that he had urged the ghost to flee as far as possible. They had probably already run dozens of kilometers away.

As he thought this, the surrounding environment gradually came into view.

It turned out to be a small town with ancient-style architecture. On both sides of the bluestone-paved streets stood shops and stalls. Inside the shops and on the stalls were various goods—oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, cloth, melons, fruits, and more—yet there was no one tending them. The emptiness made it feel like a ghost city.

No, this was Ghost City.

Black mist drifted about, and the sky was gloomy. A conspicuous red pavilion loomed faintly in the dark haze.

Victor was certain this was not Tianyuan Territory.

But then, where was this?

First update. Still not in great shape today—started writing at around 9 a.m. and only managed one chapter even with yesterday’s saved draft… But at least there will be a second update today.

Ah~

(End of Chapter)