The Ghost Skeletons were much more troublesome to deal with than the normal Skeleton Soldiers. After Xi Ling destroyed the second wave of Ghost Skeletons, Ling Chen did not dare to linger any longer, and pressed forwards as fast as he could. The goal was to reach the heart of the forest; if he could avoid it, he would not engage in any battles with monsters anymore.
With Xiao Hui leading the way, Ling Chen did not lose his way at all, and followed a path straight towards the heart of the forest. Although the Ghost Skeletons could float, their speed was incredibly slow. Thus, whenever a wave of Ghost Skeletons appeared, it was not too hard for Ling Chen to shake them off. At the present time, Ling Chen had only covered about ¼ of the distance to the heart of the forest. This Quest was truly a bit too cruel.
Just as Ling Chen was about to leave the second district, a mass of white smoke rose in front of Ling Chen, causing him to abruptly stop. A sense of danger came rushing at him… inside the smoke, a creature that looked similar to the Ghost Skeleton, but was ten times larger and wearing a grey cloak appeared. Ling Chen frowned, and took a step back.
“Hahahaha~~~”
The arrogant and booming laughter was extremely unpleasant. The giant skeleton turned in the smoke, and a giant black scythe appeared in its hand. It then abruptly vanished, then appeared high up in the sky.
[Soul Reaper]: Type: Undead, Level: 20, Grade: Lord, HP: 200,000. A giant skeleton containing large amounts of darkness energy. Although it cannot physically attack, it can greatly disturb a living creature’s spirit, allowing it to steal the target’s life in a split second.
Abilities: Can float up to 10 metres high in the air, 50% resistance to Darkness attacks. Immune to Confusion, Sleep and Instant Death statuses.
Attack skills:
[Undead Teleportation]: Soul Reaper can blink to a location on the ground or in the air. The maximum distance is 5 metres, and has a cooldown of 3 seconds before it can be used again.
[Ghostly Echo]: Unleashes a ghostly echo, causing Undead monsters within a 30 metre radius to increase their Magic Attack Power and speed by 20%. It also causes the Magic Attack Power and speed of all living creatures within 30metres to decrease by 20%. The effects last for 30 seconds. Cooldown: 60 seconds.
[Soul Curse]: Using sounds filled with darkness energy, attacks the target’s soul. It causes a single target to have a 100% chance of falling into the Sleep status for at least 10 seconds. Cooldown: 10 seconds.
[Soul Reap]: Uses undead power to attempt to steal a single target’s life. Does no damage, but has a 30% chance to instantly kill the target. Cooldown: 10 seconds.
Covering such a large area, how would it be possible for the Forest of Bones to not have at least a Boss of the Lord grade? The gigantic skeleton with such a domineering aura in front of him was actually a Lord grade Undead monster! Although it did not have any physical attacks, it could buff its allies and debuff its enemies within a wide area. Moreover, it had a 100% chance to cause target to fall into the Sleep status, as well as a 30% chance to cause instant death!
It had to be immediately taken care of!
By the time Ling Chen had taken out his weapons, he found that the Soul Reaper was already floating 10 metres in the air. With this sort of distance, it was very difficult for him to hit it!
“Chatterchatter… hahahah…”
Ghostly laughter sounded out from around him. In just a moment, Ghost Skeletons began to appear one by one, slowly blocking out the sky. Soon, there were more than one hundred Ghost Skeletons in the sky!
Ling Chen remained calm. If he was completely surrounded by these Ghost Skeletons, it would be very difficult for him to escape, given that there was also the Lord Boss Soul Reaper. Moreover, these Ghost Skeletons had all appeared around Xi Ling, putting her in a very dangerous position.
“Xi Ling!! Immediately destroy them!!”
As Ling Chen shouted, Xi Ling was already unleashing a wave of Wild Flames. Within the flames, many Ghost Skeletons nearby were incinerated without even having the chance to attack. The Soul Reaper was also caught in the flames. After giving a pitiful cry, a “31,378” damage figure rose above its head.
The Soul Reaper was at once enraged, and its hatred was transferred from Ling Chen to Xi Ling. It gave a roar, and used its [Ghostly Echo] skill. Instantly, the nearby Ghost Skeletons burst into action, charging straight towards Xi Ling.
These Ghost Skeletons were all floating at least 10 metres high in the air, so Ling Chen could do nothing about them. Moreover, though he wanted to send Xi Ling back to the Pet Dimension, this was not possible, as pets could not be recalled while in battle. Thus, Ling Chen could only leave things to Xi Ling. Although she could not immediately use Wild Flames again, her normal fire attacks were still incredibly terrifying to these Ghost Skeletons. As she attacked, the number of surrounding Ghost Skeletons began to slowly diminish.
After flapping her wings twice, two fireballs caused ten or so nearby Ghost Skeletons to be burnt to crisp. Afterwards, Xi Ling gave a piercing cry and a red ray of light shot down from the sky, and precisely entered the Soul Reaper’s body.
Red Laser!
-83,490!
A damage number that nearly hit the hundred thousands reduced the Soul Reaper’s HP to less than half, causing it to let out another cry of rage. Under its cloak, its eyes glowed with a horrifying green light. A cluster of black fog gathered on its black scythe, and turned into a ball of darkness energy the size of a small fist. At this moment, Xi Ling’s cooldown for Wild Flames had also expired. She flapped her wings, and a large wave of flames burst forth, enveloping the Soul Reader and the remaining Ghost Skeletons… at the same time, the ball of darkness energy shot towards Xi Ling.
With Xiao Hui’s Eye of the Holy Spirit, the information regarding the ball of darkness energy was transmitted to Ling Chen’s mind. He immediately yelled, “Xi Ling, dodge it!”
The crimson flames enveloped the twenty or so Ghost Skeletons in the sky, destroying them instantly. It once again reduced by the Soul Reaper’s HP by more than 30,000. However, the ball of darkness passed through the flames, heading straight towards Xi Ling. Although the speed of the ball of darkness was not fast, Xi Ling had just finished releasing the Wild Flames, and could not move momentarily. Even if she heard Ling Chen’s shout, she had no way to dodge the attack, and was hit directly by the ball of darkness.
That ball of darkness was the Soul Reaper’s most terrifying skill- [Soul Reap], a move that had a 30% chance to instantly kill the target!
After Xi Ling had become a pet, she had not gained any resistance to any elements other than fire. Ling Chen could only watch as Xi Ling was hit by the Soul Reaper’s skill, and prayed that Xi Ling’s luck wasn’t that bad. However, what resulted, was what he did not want to see the most.
After hitting Xi Ling, the ball of darkness energy exploded, and a grey fog spread over Xi Ling’s body.
“Ding… your pet “Xi Ling” has been affected by the ‘instant death’ status, and is now dead.”
Ling Chen: “!!” (No way!! After being hit once?!!)
After Xi Ling’s last Wild Flames attack, a mass of bones rained down from the sky. Out of the hundred or so skeletons in the sky, only a Soul Reaper with ¼ of its HP remaining was left. Xi Ling’s body, covered by a dark grey light, also plummeted down from the sky. While falling, a crimson flame began to burn on her body. Within the flames, her HP, which had been reduced to ‘0’, slowly began to rise. Her body then became a red ray of light and returned to Ling Chen’s Pet Dimension.
“Ding… your pet “Xi Ling’s” ‘Nine Suns Rebirth’ has activated, and has been revived without any penalty. However, it cannot be summoned within the next hour.”
Although Xi Ling had very low Defence and HP, she had a powerful reviving skill- the Nine Suns Rebirth. This was an unbelievable skill that could allow her to revive an unlimited number of times. However, this was not as good as it sounded, as every time Xi Ling revived, she would not be able to fight for at least one hour.
Ling Chen looked up and stared at the Soul Reaper… Xi Ling, have a good rest. This is also good; I can’t always be relying on you.
The rest of this Forest of Bones Quest, I’ll rely on my own power!
The Soul Reaper now had around 50,000 HP. Without any allies, its power was reduced significantly, as its “Ghostly Echo” would not be as effective. Thus, the only way it could kill Ling Chen was through the instant death skill “Soul Reap”. As it hovered in the air, it let out eerie cries. Once the cooldown expired, a ball of darkness, similar to the one that had killed Xi Ling, once again appeared in its hands, and shot towards Ling Chen.
Although the ‘Soul Reap’ attack was able to hit Xi Ling, its speed was far from enough to hit Ling Chen. Despite this, Ling Chen did not even bother looking at it, and did not dodge, allowing the ball of darkness to hit him. If it was the [Soul Curse] skill that had a 100% chance to put him in the Sleep status, he would have dodged it, but the “Soul Reap” skill was useless on him. This was because his Lunar Scourge was fitted with a Darkness Crystal (Undead Crystal) from the Ghastly Grounds, which made him immune to Darkness, Curse and Instant Death status effects. [TLN: See Chapter 98]
Bang!
The ball of darkness exploded, and the grey light scattered, but Ling Chen was not affected at all. Ling Chen did not want to waste any time, and said in a low voice, “Alright, time for me to attack.”
He turned and raised his left hand, and used Soaring Cloud’s skill, [Shooting Soaring Cloud], sending the spear flying towards the Soul Reaper. With ten metres between them, as well as the spear’s speed of a meteor and Ling Chen’s precise aim, the Soul Reaper had no chance to dodge.
“Get down here!!”
Peng! -2,415!
As expected, Soaring Cloud pierced through the Soul Reaper, causing the Soul Reaper to fall down from the sky. Ling Chen charged forwards, and before it had even reached the ground, “Soul Sacrifice” was already activated. With his attack sharply raised, Ling Chen then activated “Moon Shadow”, locking the Soul Reaper’s body in place. He caught the Soaring Cloud spear as it fell from the Soul Reaper’s mouth, and continuously used “Ling Tian Slash”.
-7035，-7421，-7022，-14062……
The Soul Reaper’s Defence was far inferior to even the normal Skeleton Soldiers. Under Ling Chen’s enhanced attacks from both weapons, its HP had been completely cleared out before Moon Shadow’s effect expired. The corpse hit the ground, and became a pile of bones.