Chapter 504 – Mysterious Undead Powerhouse, Corpse Giant Stands Between Heaven and Earth

Within the crimson river tearing open across the sky above the Shattered Isle Region.

Eyes resembling cold stars from the abyss gazed indifferently upon the vast land below.

His massive form rivaled mountains, his crystalline dragon bones forming ridge-like structures, while his outstretched wings seemed to crown the heavens, enveloping the world beneath.

The howling winds from all directions converged like soldiers gathering around this great existence, carrying within the chill an overwhelming aura of decay and demise that spread relentlessly across the land.

He was majestic, revered, icy, and terrifying.

Unlike those dragons composed of flesh and blood, his body showed no trace of such substance—only magnificent frost-silver bones and the ultracold, decaying azure dragon flames contained within his skeletal frame.

This was unmistakably a super-evolved frost dragon, an undead being bearing no resemblance to flesh-and-blood dragons.

Nor did it appear to be a fleshly creature walking the path of Heavenly Aberration Eternal Life.

Yet this was the Hunting Grand Duke.

For such an existence, flesh was no inconvenience.

All things could become flesh.

“This is an upper-rank Grand Duke, a top-tier powerhouse commanding authority within Dragon’s Slumber Valley, one who wields conceptual power.”

This fearsome being was positioned within the crimson river, at the closest point to the Taixuan Warzone.

And with slow yet unwavering steps, he advanced step by step.

His strides grew progressively larger, the terrifying aura emanating forward intensifying with each movement.

The Ice Burial Grand Duke was descending.

“Full retreat.”

Mu Yuan commanded.

Their strategic space had already diminished significantly, with remaining guard camps suffering varying degrees of damage. Most legendary heroes had sustained injuries, and the resonance of various Army Soul Legions had largely expired.

Legion skills, hero skills—all usable abilities had long been deployed, while countless survival and combat tools had been consumed beyond measure.

At this moment, with the Ice Burial Grand Duke’s imminent arrival.

Most legends would likely prove no more resilient than mortals before this Grand Duke.

When retreat was necessary, they must retreat.

Thanks to their previous substantial achievements, under Commander Mu’s guidance, the various units of the warzone withdrew in relatively orderly fashion.

They retreated successively into the core fortress.

“Boom—”

Above a certain guard camp, a blazing crimson sun erupted, engulfing several to over a dozen monster legends.

Similar blazing suns simultaneously rose above two other abandoned camps that still contained substantial supplies and war equipment.

Calculating timing and efficiency, Mu Yuan activated the hidden measures buried within them at this precise moment.

These measures were top-tier war tools supplied by the Pioneer Group headquarters. The suddenly erupting blazing suns were nearly comparable to his own ‘Nine-Headed Roaring Thunderflame Dragon’ in terms of destructive power and range.

As expected, the bloodthirsty monster legends immediately grew cautious. Not only did they carefully clear the various camps (which contained numerous Miracle defensive structures), but they also treated even abandoned positions with wariness.

This granted the warzone’s soldiers additional evacuation time.”But we don’t have that many war instruments of this level. The three we just detonated were practically all we had.”

By now, most elite troops and commanders had already withdrawn into the War Fortress, dispatched to various defensive positions according to plan, or resting to recover.

Only a handful of the strongest among Legendary Realm experts remained outside, fighting while retreating to snipe at the enemy.

Or those confident in their own abilities, still searching for opportunities outside.

“They’re coming!”

Whether frightened by human traps or due to heavy losses among Legendary Realm forces, the three to four hundred monster legends that had entered the Warzone gradually shifted to encircling without attacking.

They were waiting. Waiting for the invincible Ice Burial Grand Duke to descend upon this world.

Crack, crack—

Ice crystals spread across the earth.

In the distance, at the edge of vision, above the Crimson Mist.

Beneath that sky-obscuring, domain-enveloping colossal shadow, the true form of Ice Burial Grand Duke appeared.

His true form didn’t appear large, but that was only due to the immense distance.

As he flew forward at an unhurried pace, his towering dragon form, majestic as mountain ranges, came into view of the gathered experts.

Flanking the Grand Duke were hundreds of Legendary Realm powerhouses.

A two-hundred-meter-long Soul Realm dragon only reached the height of Ice Burial Grand Duke’s claws, appearing like mere playthings beside the giant claws of this ancient and powerful being.

Further away from Ice Burial Grand Duke stood four entities even more massive, their forms so colossal that clouds and mist only reached their waists.

These four terrifying beings stood guard around Ice Burial Grand Duke like the Four Heavenly Kings.

“Four Calamity Beasts!”

“A full four of them!”

A calamity dragon burning with black flames!

A calamity colossus wielding a blood-colored halberd!

Two bloated calamity giants continuously steaming with scorching blood mist!

In terms of threat to the War Fortress, these four Calamity Beasts might even surpass Ice Burial Grand Duke himself.

The Calamity Beasts moved sluggishly.

Compared to their previous hasty engagement, their Warzone had deployed more advanced weaponry this time.

Mounted on the War Fortress, a Divine Might Cannon was charging.

This was the most suitable weapon against target-like Calamity Beasts.

But, but!

“As long as Ice Burial Grand Duke is present, we cannot possibly destroy those Calamity Beasts.”

“Therefore, we must create an opportunity, even if only to distract this Grand Duke.”

Azure Mountain Lord transformed into a mountain giant, gazing at the distant figure.

He retrieved an object.

A spear over twenty meters long, wreathed in chilling black mist.

Merely holding this great spear caused deathly black patterns to spread upward from the mountain giant’s palm.

「Absolute Death Lance (1/3)」

This was one of Azure Mountain Lord’s foundational Treasures, having helped him defeat two powerful enemies before.

The spear contained conceptual power!

“Go!”

He roared.

The lance that guaranteed absolute hit and could impart absolute death disappeared from his hand.

It should have appeared directly before Ice Burial Grand Duke and pierced into his body.

That was what Azure Mountain Lord had envisioned.

However—

“Ants, how naive.”

The absolutely-hitting death spear halted before Ice Burial Grand Duke, as if gripped by an invisible hand.

Here, ice crystals began appearing particle by particle.

Ice Burial Grand Duke gently blew.

An icy wind carried the crystals forward. Frost-silver ice crackled as it condensed over the death spear.

“Bang—”

The black death spear, now encased in ice, clattered down onto the thickly frozen ground and shattered.

It broke.

Shattered completely.Azure Mountain Lord’s pupils constricted sharply. “How could this be…”

At that moment, following the plan, the Divine Might Cannon extended from the war fortress—charged and accumulated for a long time—unleashed a strike worthy of divine and demonic might.

A dazzling pillar of light tore through the sky, crossing thousands of miles in an instant—one thousand, two thousand, three thousand.

Its target was one of the calamity beasts.

The calamity beast was powerful, but its reaction speed and combat ability were weak, its movements sluggish. Before the Divine Might Cannon’s beam, it merely continued stepping forward blankly.

“BOOM——!!”

The Divine Might beam struck, sending visible ripples spreading outward in circles, hurling the legendary monsters flying around the area. The advancing monster army in the distance was also submerged by the sudden surge of colossal energy.

Dust surged into the heavens, rolling clouds of smoke spreading everywhere.

Majestic mountains rumbled as they collapsed, the earth crumbling and cracking section by section.

Whoosh—

The dust began to clear.

Behind the smoke, before the calamity beast, stood a crystalline ice wall several thousand meters high, seemingly not very thick at first glance.

At the center of the ice wall was a deep, spiral indentation.

This was the mark left by the Divine Might Cannon.

Yet, the Divine Might beam capable of annihilating calamity beasts and piercing through mountains lacked the power to shatter this seemingly thin ice wall.

“The concept of sturdiness.”

“This is a Law Realm expert.”

“This is… despair.”

Someone murmured.

Suddenly, the sound of cracking echoed through heaven and earth.

“It’s not over yet!”

Space shattered violently, dark chains dancing within the broken void like scythes that could cut through anything, slicing through the calamity giant steaming with blood mist.

“Thud—”

Blood mist sprayed, both knees severed.

“Thud—”

Blood mist sprayed, the torso severed.

“Thud—”

An X-shaped gash appeared on its chest, its massive head flying off.

In an instant, the calamity giant was chopped into several pieces. The blood mist steaming from its body slowly receded, its enormous form collapsing section by section with a thunderous crash.

Only a blue-haired, blue-robed figure remained standing there.

General Dolai, making a dazzling entrance…

In the howling frost and snow, a massive shadow appeared like a ghost before the petite blue-haired girl.

As cold gathered, a giant claw struck with an unstoppable, heaven-and-earth-like force.

In that moment, time seemed to freeze.

Dolai was enveloped in a ring-like domain.

The power of heaven and earth gathered in an instant, yet it stagnated and froze mid-air.

Along with its form.

“BANG—!”

Dolai’s delicate body was sent flying like a cannonball, shooting tens of thousands of meters away, crashing into one of the remaining distant mountains.

Ice Burial Grand Duke was too fast!

Despite his immense size, he possessed speed beyond Dolai’s reaction.

“It’s some kind of ability!”

“Some ability that uses the cold mist to shift positions, probably infused with conceptual power.”

Ice Burial Grand Duke stared at the figure he had sent flying.

He couldn’t help but feel that this figure shouldn’t be treated as an ant. He even vaguely sensed that the seemingly harmless blue-haired girl possessed power that could threaten him.

After all, that human girl had just instantly killed a calamity beast.

No matter the means, it was astonishing.

He wouldn’t be careless.

He would eliminate all risks in their cradle.The Ice Burial Grand Duke continued gathering frigid power, but suddenly turned his gaze elsewhere with an even graver expression.

“A human expert?”

“No, not human.”

The chill in the world grew more penetrating.

Yet it wasn’t the cold of ice, but a chill carrying the meaning of death, of extinguishing all existence.

The roars of monsters;

The tremors of calamity beasts;

The explosions of energy;

All sounds between heaven and earth seemed to be strangled, space appeared to congeal, time stood still. Only the majestic scene unfolding across the firmament spread out like a painted scroll.

It was a continuous range of silver-white mountains, piled with bleached bones, forests of skeletons stretching into the distance.

A bridge formed across the Heaven-Earth Realm, and a figure both minute yet towering as if connecting heaven and earth stepped forward slowly.

With his descent, the entire island domain shifted from stillness to clamor.

Countless souls between heaven and earth wailed in mourning.

The buried bones scattered throughout this land also rustled and trembled, as if welcoming the arrival of their king.

“Remnants of the Undead Clan?”

The Ice Burial Grand Duke gazed at the distant figure.

The small figure stood in the air, holding a black greatsword.

His gaze seemed to overlook everything – overlooking his domain, overlooking his subjects.

Somehow, the Ice Burial Grand Duke felt himself diminished in stature, as if he were a subject and the other was a king looking down upon him.

An inexplicable fear arose in his heart.

Yet according to his judgment, this Undead expert shouldn’t be particularly powerful.

The Ice Burial Grand Duke hesitated, then quickly regained his resolve.

“I have no path of retreat.”

“Besides, the Undead Clan has long been extinct, with only a handful of experts barely surviving.”

Back then, their Dragon’s Slumber Valley had been one of the main forces that destroyed the Undead Clan.

And among the few remaining Undead experts who could possibly inspire fear in him, this figure before him wasn’t one of them.

“Then perish.”

“Frost-Death Calamity Mist!”

An icy wind calamity mist carrying the dual concepts of frost and decay spread out in all directions.

The frost froze space, sealing heaven and earth.

The decay weakened all forms of power.

The wider the frost spread, the stronger the decay became; the stronger the decay grew, the further the frost would extend.

The two complemented each other, expanding like a snowball.

This ability was similar to Sario’s.

But it was thousands, tens of thousands of times more powerful than that certain Sario!

This power shook heaven and earth.

Under the influence of these concepts, areas beyond the Ice Burial Grand Duke’s power coverage gradually showed signs of frost and decay.

On the giant body of the Azure Mountain Lord, patches of frost spread, his vitality-filled and powerful form gradually decaying.

He retreated in horror.

Deadbone still stood firm above the vast clouds, quietly feeling the approaching power of frost and decay while watching the massive figure that had shifted positions within the icy mist and now appeared before him.

He showed no expression, merely extending his hand.

The giant claw descended.

Deadbone also struck out with his palm.

“BOOM—!”

A massive skeletal hand instantly materialized around Deadbone’s form, clashing directly with the Ice Burial Grand Duke’s claw.

Violent energy ripples spread out, cracking the surrounding space.

The skeletal hand manifesting high in the air firmly caught the Ice Burial Grand Duke’s claw.

No retreat.

No shattering.

The patches of frost covering the giant hand continuously withered and dissolved.

“Second stage.”

At the end of the massive arm, bones clattered as they constructed and extended.

A huge torso and both arms suddenly appeared.

“Third stage.”

Heaven and earth trembled in resonance.Countless silver-white bones materialized out of thin air.

The earth trembled violently as innumerable skeletal remains soared into the sky, continuously converging and intertwining.

A half-formed Corpse Giant stood towering amidst the clouds, gazing down upon the frost-wielding Dragon.

“Fourth Order.”

High above, the sprawling mountain range of white bones roared in unison.

Myriads of silver-white bones descended from it, transforming into components to construct the divine body of the giant.

A colossal deity, majestic as gods and demons, with feet planted firmly on the ground and head reaching the heavens, descended with earth-shattering presence—standing thousands of meters tall.

It cast a cold gaze upon the Frost Dragon, which barely reached its knees.

(End of Chapter)