Chapter 159: The Wiliest Opponent

How barbaric!

‘Aragon must be a disciple of an Evil Demon. He’s just using Gandalf’s name as a front…’

Geser’s neck was a little stiff. He swallowed hard, his mind a complete blank. “But they’re Undead! And why would a Bone Dragon Knight fall for his Bone Dragon?”

“Geser, don’t be prejudiced. In the eyes of a god, all creatures are equal…” Li Ye glanced back at him, his eyes full of mirth. Success had clearly put him in high spirits; he had finally awakened a powerful Attack Skill.

“…” Geser was speechless.

The soldiers on the fortress walls didn’t care about any of that. They were just watching the show, and today’s show was particularly spectacular.

Amidst the soldiers’ jeers and catcalls,

the game between the Bone Dragon, the Elf Archer, and the Bone Dragon Knight came to an end.

Then, the skill’s effects on them vanished.

“Aragon, what did you do?” Shabei roared furiously.

He couldn’t recall what he had just done, but even as an Undead, the mere thought of it filled him with a sense of humiliation.

HUFF!

The Bone Dragon Knight and his mount were equally enraged. Aragon had made them experience the joys of their past lives again, but this was not the kind of joy they wanted…

However, their anger soon dissipated.

Or to be precise, it was redirected.

Because a new life was now growing inside each of them.

That’s right.

In just that short amount of time, a new life had been conceived inside their bellies.

Because Li Ye had stripped the Undead Knight of his armor, there was nothing left of him but a skeleton.

Everyone could clearly see the process of life’s gestation.

In the Undead Knight’s abdominal region, a tiny, embryonic Bone Dragon had appeared atop his pelvis. The embryo then began to grow rapidly, gradually filling the entire pelvic cavity…

Inside the Bone Dragon’s belly, a skeleton was growing…

Shabei’s belly grew larger and larger. The rotting flesh on his stomach sloughed off and fell to the ground, revealing a small, elf-shaped skeleton taking form above his pelvis.

The soldiers on the city walls were dumbfounded.

‘What is happening?’

‘The Undead can actually have children?’

“Your Excellency, is this the new ability of the Purifying Cloth?” Geser stammered.

“Yes.” Li Ye was still observing the Undead who were gestating new life.

In just a short while,

the fetuses inside the Undead were at least three months along.

New life requires nutrients from the mother’s body. Normal gestation is a gradual process and usually doesn’t cause problems.

But because of Praise of Life, the new lives were growing far too quickly. They drew their nutrients from the mother’s body. If they were human, they could replenish themselves with food.

But the Undead were Undead Creatures; what external supplements could they possibly have?

As the fetus grew, the color of the Undead Knight’s bones quickly dulled…

‘And it seems Praise of Life has even broken the species barrier!’

Feeling his power draining away, Shabei was terrified. “Aragon, what have you done? How could I possibly be carrying a fetus?”

“Look, this is the power of new life. It draws nutrients from the Undead to nourish itself,” Li Ye said to Geser, ignoring Shabei and admiring his masterpiece.

“But the new life they’re gestating is also Undead!” Geser murmured.

“But it’s still new life, isn’t it?” Li Ye said with a grin.

Suddenly, his pupils contracted as he looked toward the Undead Mist.

The previously quiet Undead Mist abruptly began to churn, pressing down on the fortress.

“Damn it, what’s happening?” Geser’s expression changed instantly. He sounded the alarm bell. “Enemy attack!”

The fortress walls descended into chaos as everyone entered a state of combat readiness.

‘He’s been provoked!’

Li Ye knew exactly why the Undead Mist had suddenly erupted. The Skeleton Monarch had been monitoring the fortress all along. Seeing the pregnant Undead Knight must have made it feel threatened.

But now, Li Ye was no longer afraid of it.

Praise of Life had no usage limit. As long as he could bind the Skeleton Monarch, he could keep it perpetually pregnant.

‘If I can’t beat a whole Skeleton Monarch, can’t I at least beat a pregnant one?’

With no time to observe the birth process of the pregnant Undead, Li Ye flicked his hand, and the roll of paper flew out, ensnaring Fiona, who was just plotting her escape.

He used a normal binding on Fiona, one that wouldn’t trigger Praise of Life.

The last thing Li Ye wanted was to get his own teammate pregnant at a time like this.

The paper roll quickly yanked Fiona to his side.

Fiona thought her plot had been exposed. Her face was a mask of panic. “Aragon, that wasn’t my idea…”

“I know. But if you dare to run, I’ll kill you.” Li Ye knew Fiona had the Truth Discernment ability, so he didn’t waste words, threatening her directly. “Now, come with me to fight the Skeleton Monarch. It’s your only hope of survival.”

Only then did Fiona notice the roiling Undead Mist. She turned pale with fright. “What’s happening?”

A moment later, the Undead Mist had already surged to the base of the fortress.

Gigantic Skeleton Generals, hundred-meter-long black dragons, Witch Demons cloaked in hoods, and countless Undead Warriors poured out of the Undead Mist all at once.

They charged toward the fortress.

This time, the Skeleton Monarch wasn’t using low-level Undead as cannon fodder.

…

“Geser, the fortress is in your hands!” Li Ye shouted. Dragging Fiona along, he plunged into the horde of Undead. He couldn’t waste his energy and Demon Qi on these ordinary Undead.

He had to find the Skeleton Monarch and end this quickly.

Li Ye pushed his speed to the absolute limit.

The black dragons, Skeleton Generals, and Bone Dragon Knights were completely unable to stop Li Ye. Anything that dared to stand in his way was smashed into bone fragments.

Fiona swung the whips in her hands like a windmill, using her Spring of Joy and Whip of Freedom to free the Undead.

But there were simply too many Undead. Even though Fiona’s whips could extend up to a thousand meters, it was still just a drop in the bucket against the vast Sea of the Dead.

Li Ye and Fiona were like two small boats adrift in the Sea of the Dead, cutting a straight path toward the Skeleton Monarch’s throne.

The bone wings on the Skeleton Monarch’s back flapped, keeping it suspended in the air.

It raised its Magic Staff high, and one Teleportation Gate after another appeared beneath it. Towering zombies, vampires, and goblins streamed through the gates, all charging toward the fortress…

The Skeleton Monarch watched Li Ye rapidly approach. It raised its Magic Staff again, and a cloud of black gas billowed from the staff’s tip, passing through a Teleportation Gate.

The next second,

the Teleportation Gate abruptly appeared in front of Li Ye.

The black gas slammed head-on into him.

Cold, sinister evil!

The moment the black gas hit him, Li Ye felt as if something was being stripped from his body.

But just as quickly, his Divine Format activated, replenishing what had been stripped away.

“Damn it, Aragon, my skin is aging!” Fiona shrieked in terror. “It’s stripping away my Life Energy! Quick, wrap me up completely with the paper roll, don’t even leave my eyes exposed!”

Li Ye glanced at Fiona.

The parts of Fiona wrapped in the paper roll looked fine.

But her exposed head had already transformed into that of an old woman, with sunken eye sockets, sagging skin, and her hair turning significantly gray.

She had neither Divine Power nor Spiritual Power in her body, and Magic Power was incapable of resisting the loss of life.

The Demon Qi could have helped her repair her body, but the Little Leather Whip clearly had no intention of helping. Perhaps the whip wanted to save more Demon Qi for an escape, or to use against the Skeleton Monarch.

Only the Demon Qi within her own body was helping her recover her Life Energy, but the recovery speed was extremely slow…

Time Travelers could fight using their perception anyway. Besides, Fiona also had Auditory Enhancement, so she didn’t need her eyes at all. Li Ye simply wrapped her up completely.

Her Spring of Joy caused a paralysis effect, which was almost as good as time-stop. If she could land just one hit, he could deliver a heavy blow to the Skeleton Monarch.

The Skeleton Monarch unleashed its Breath of Aging for a second time.

Li Ye, prepared this time, dodged to the side the instant the Teleportation Gate appeared.

As a peak Harmonization Realm expert, he already had a lifespan of several thousand years. After absorbing Michael’s Divine Power, who knew how much longer it had become.

But even an immense lifespan couldn’t be wasted like this!

‘And who the hell knows what other skills the Skeleton Monarch has?’

Li Ye went all out, his speed incredible. In less than a minute, he had crossed hundreds of miles to arrive before the Skeleton Monarch.

But just as he was about to unleash his paper roll,

the Skeleton Monarch gave him a grin that said its scheme had succeeded. A Teleportation Gate suddenly appeared behind it, and with a single step back, it vanished from Li Ye’s sight.

When it reappeared, it was already at the base of the fortress.

The Skeleton Monarch raised its Magic Staff high.

Nearly a thousand streams of the Breath of Aging pierced through the Undead Mist and enveloped the soldiers on the fortress walls.

In the blink of an eye,

the once-strapping soldiers became decrepit old men, and the Undead Army they had been holding back easily broke through the fortress’s defenses…

FUCK!

‘This cowardly bastard!’

Li Ye cursed under his breath. He had no choice but to turn around and rush back to the fortress.

The human rear was his base of support. He couldn’t let the fortress fall. Otherwise, once his paper roll’s Demon Qi ran out, he would truly be unable to defeat the Skeleton Monarch.

But within the range of the Undead Mist, the Skeleton Monarch could open a Teleportation Gate at will. It was far too easy for it to evade him.

‘Son of a bitch!’

‘I’ve never faced such a cowardly opponent!’

Sure enough,

when Li Ye rushed back, the Skeleton Monarch opened another Teleportation Gate and sent itself back to its original position.

It was dead set on not fighting Li Ye head-on, determined to wear him down with its Undead Army.

Li Ye stopped paying attention to the Skeleton Monarch. Instead, he unleashed his paper roll and began binding the invading Undead.

Then he flung them back into the Undead Mist to run amok.

By now, the fetus inside the Bone Dragon Knight from before was bulging from its abdomen, stretching its ribs so high they were covered in cracks and on the verge of shattering.

It was truly a difficult task for one person to gestate the child of a Bone Dragon.

At this point, the nutrients in the Bone Dragon Knight’s entire skeleton had been sucked dry by the fetus. Its bones were gray and brittle, as if they had weathered a thousand years and would crumble to dust at the slightest breeze.