Chapter 330 Crimson Lotus State and Legendary Domain, Numerical Values ​​and Mechanics (Three chapters updated in a rush, please vote!)

Nearly a quarter of the undead army had been completely wiped out by the Red Iron Dragon's overwhelming offensive. The remaining bones and scattered soul fires covered the battlefield, resembling a gray-white carpet of death.

However, the colossal dragon, as majestic as a mountain and with scales as hard as iron, remained calm and composed, its fighting spirit high.

Its black and red dragon scales are covered with clear battle marks, as if they bear the memories and glory of countless battles, and its whole body exudes a powerful force that seems to never run dry.

"Damn it... how could we have encountered such an absurdly powerful dragon?"

The lich's eerie blue soulfire flickered violently in his eye sockets, and for a moment, he could barely suppress the tremor that originated from the depths of his soul.

He faced an unprecedentedly difficult choice.

Should we risk everything and continue the fight to the death, or cut our losses and withdraw from the battlefield?

Centuries of accumulated strength and an army of tens of thousands of undead have suffered heavy losses in this sudden encounter.

He couldn't bear to give up now.

Moreover, although his current life level has dropped to level 18, and he is still some distance away from returning to legendary status, his soul essence is still marked with the mark of legend.

With this lich body, he could completely overload his soul essence and briefly unleash a portion of the power truly belonging to the legendary realm.

But if even this fails to suppress the red iron dragon that seems to have been born for war... then he will lose more than just his legion.

His soul will be overdrawn and accelerate its descent into chaos, beginning its transformation into a dead soul. Hundreds of years of accumulation will be lost in an instant, and he may even lose his senses and be forced into eternal slumber.

At that time, all ambition and hatred will become nothing more than a joke in the void.

Ultimately, the calm and weighing of human time prevailed, temporarily overpowering the almost instinctive greed of the dead towards the living.

Phillips made up his mind: retreat, retreat is necessary.

Preserve the remaining forces, change targets, and wait for the day when you regain your legendary status to descend upon Riverwood and drag this red iron dragon and its territory into the realm of death.

"It's settled then."

"All troops, retreat!"

However, right at the edge of the undead legion's right flank, behind an ordinary skeleton warrior with a vacant stare and faltering steps, a barely perceptible ripple appeared in the space.

A cross-shaped sword, gleaming with holy silver light, silently emerged and pierced the back of the skull with deadly force.

Precise and ruthless, attempting to pierce through the core of its soul fire in one strike.

But just as the sword tip was about to touch the pale skull, it seemed to have crashed into an invisible yet indestructible cliff, and all its kinetic energy was instantly absorbed, making it impossible to advance any further.

Charles stepped out from the void, his brows furrowed.

He flicked his wrist, and the cross-shaped sword instantly transformed into a sky full of silver light and shadow, completely enveloping the skeleton like a storm.

The sword's edge whistled as it tore through the air, enough to shatter steel armor in an instant, yet when it struck its target, it couldn't even leave the slightest scratch.

Something's not right!

Charles's pupils contracted sharply, and alarm bells rang in his mind.

It wasn't that his attacks were incapable of breaking through the defenses, but rather that all his sword techniques were completely blocked by an invisible and absolute barrier before they even touched the opponent's body.

As if in response to his surprise and doubt.

The dim soul fire in the skull's eyes suddenly erupted with a terrifying dark light, and a dense, tangible flame of negative energy surged up from its body, instantly engulfing the fragile skeleton.

The next second, it shed all its disguise.

Dry, blackened flesh rapidly covered the bones, and the withered, hideous face twisted and deformed—revealing the true form of the lich Phillips.

—The touch of paralysis!

With a flick of his withered claws, countless invisible tentacles of negative energy, radiating a chilling aura, appeared out of thin air and coiled towards Charles like a swarm of snakes emerging from their dens.

At the same time, several elite skeletal guards and terrifying undead roared and surrounded Xiaer from all directions, instantly sealing off all of Xiaer's escape routes with the help of the lich's magic.

Charles retreated swiftly, his sword flashing like a silver screen as he narrowly avoided the erosion of the paralyzing touch, while simultaneously ducking to dodge the gargoyle's claws that lashed out with a vicious wind.

Without the slightest hesitation, he took a step back and disappeared into the void once more.

The next second, he appeared beneath the massive wings of the Red Iron Dragon, his aura slightly disordered.

"Sir, that fellow is extremely strange."

With an unprecedentedly solemn tone, Xia Er quickly said, "He can unleash an absolute defense similar to that of a legendary realm, but the actual energy intensity has not reached the true legendary threshold. I speculate that he may have been a legendary in life, but after death he transformed into a lich, causing his realm to drop. However, he still retains some of the characteristics and abilities of a legendary level."

Garros's dragon eyes remained as sharp as ever, locking onto the lich in the distance.

On the other end, Phillips was also staring intently back at the Red Iron Dragon with those two dark, ghostly flames, a cold smile seemingly curving his withered lips.

"Hehe... Amazing dragon, your strength far exceeds my initial expectations, and you deserve to be called a formidable opponent."

The lich's hoarse voice, as if grinding against bones, rang out.

"Just as your astute but overconfident human servant guessed, I, Phillips, have stood atop the mountain and glimpsed the scenery beyond the legends."

"We're just temporarily stuck in a slump right now."

He paused slightly, as if choosing his words carefully, before continuing, "You have proven your worth with your strength, therefore, I am willing to give you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

"Sacrifice all the creatures of your lands to help me reclaim my legendary status."

"I can swear on my primordial soul fire, and I can sign the most stringent contract—when I return to the legendary realm, I will use all my resources and knowledge to help you break through the legendary barrier of dragons!"

"Even for you immortal beings, the legendary status is an insurmountable barrier, requiring an unimaginable amount of time to accumulate and break through. However, if another legendary figure lends a helping hand, this process will be shortened to an unimaginable degree."

First a legend drives the next legend?

Galos felt no emotion whatsoever; in fact, he felt a slight sense of mockery.

He wouldn't believe a single syllable of such an empty promise.

The way the red iron dragon looked at the lich was as if it were examining an interesting collectible or a rare whetstone.

"Charles, you did a good job."

Garros's deep voice rang out. He did not respond directly to the lich, but first affirmed the performance of his familiar.

"Forcing him to reveal his true form is very important. Good. Now leave the rest to me."

Phillips's soul fire suddenly leaped.

The other party's completely disregarding attitude enraged him, and his hoarse voice suddenly turned sharp.

"Foolish dragon! Do you really want to fight to the death? I acknowledge your power, but even if I can only use a tiny bit of the power of a legendary domain, it will still form an insurmountable barrier in front of a mortal like you!"

"You simply don't understand that there is a fundamental difference between the legendary and the non-legendary."

Hong Tielong responded with an even deeper, yet seemingly thunderous laugh.

"A lose-lose situation? That's exactly what I want."

This former legend is a perfect opponent for the trial, allowing him to avoid the risk of being instantly crushed by a true legend, while personally experiencing the mystery and intensity of legendary power, thus more clearly measuring the distance between himself and that threshold.

Before the last syllable had even echoed in the air, Galus had already burst forth.

His enormous dragon wings unfurled with a roar, stirring up violent air currents, and he charged straight at the lich in the wildest and most direct manner.

"Utterly foolish!!"

Time seemed to slow down suddenly. Phillips's eyes burned with a frenzied rage, and his withered face was twisted into a hideous grimace by extreme emotions.

He slammed those withered, decaying, and thickly negative energy-filled bony hands hard into the ground.

Boom!!!

A torrent of negative energy, a hundred times more concentrated and a thousand times colder than before, suddenly erupted!

The eerie green runes spread from his palm like living things, and the undead around him fell in droves, their bones quickly turning gray and brittle, as if all their life force had been drained away in an instant.

Moreover, the mountain of undead remains on the battlefield—shattered bones, rotting flesh, cracked armor, and dissipated soul fire—as if drawn by an invisible hand, all transformed into grayish-white energy streams, surging madly toward Phillips.

The earth began to tremble violently.

Centered on the lich, a massive and complex magic circle instantly took shape, causing the ground to collapse like quicksand, forming a bottomless, dark abyss.

Immediately afterwards, an enormous bone hand suddenly emerged from the abyss and grabbed Phillips' body!

A torrent of negative energy surged and flowed like a tidal wave.

In the blink of an eye, a humanoid undead giant, whose size was in no way inferior to Garus, rose from the ground!

This is no ordinary skeletal behemoth.

Its back is jagged with countless sharp bone spurs pieced together from massive vertebrae, as ferocious and jagged as mountain peaks; each bone is as thick as a pillar, yet it gleams with a cold, jade-like light, its surface engraved with ancient and obscure runes, flowing with the aura of death that has settled for thousands of years; in the eye sockets of its skull, two balls of soul fire, burning as fiercely as miniature suns, are radiating a suffocating pressure.

Phillips's figure was embedded in the center of the undead giant's chest cavity, enveloped in thick, liquid-like negative energy.

The energy emitted a blinding, eerie blue light, pulsating ceaselessly like the heart of a giant.

He spared no expense, sacrificing all the remaining power of the entire undead legion, to barely condense this undead giant that could not be maintained for long.

This was his last gamble; he was determined to capture the red iron dragon, extract its dragon soul and power, and make up for his heavy losses.

At this moment, the Red Iron Dragon, carrying the force of wind and thunder, had already arrived before them. Its enormous dragon claws, wrapped in leaping lightning and solidified dragon energy, tore through the air, emitting a piercing sonic boom, and crashed down.

The undead giant neither dodged nor evaded, but instead raised its terrifying giant claw, made of countless sharp finger bones and resembling a battering ram, and slammed it straight at the red iron dragon's head.

The lich in its chest cavity took the opportunity to raise its withered claws and point them at the red iron dragon from a distance.

—Advanced Fragility Technique!

Without warning, the dragon scales all over Garos's body were instantly covered with a layer of grayish-white dull luster.

Thud! Thud!

Two muffled explosions rang out almost simultaneously! The heavy blow from the red iron dragon, wreathed in flames and dragon energy, slammed into the giant's chest. Although it shook the giant's body violently, it failed to leave the slightest crack.

A sensation as if striking an insurmountable wall returned from the dragon's claws.

"This is... the absolute defensive characteristic of the legendary realm?"

Galos felt a chill run down his spine.

Just as his mind raced and he slightly turned his head, the skeletal giant's bone claws, carrying terrifying kinetic energy, slammed heavily onto his shoulder.

The immense force crushed down, shattering the hard thorns on his shoulder. The dragon scales affected by the Brittleness spell caved in and cracked, and hot dragon blood splattered out.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The undead giant and the red iron dragon were fighting each other in their most ferocious form! No matter how fierce the red iron dragon's attacks were, even with the use of flames, lightning, and dragon energy, it was still unable to break through that invisible domain defense.

"It's useless! You fool! It's all in vain!"

The necromancer Phillips let out a sharp, triumphant laugh, his voice booming from the giant's chest: "I told you long ago—you have no idea what a legend is!"

"Even though I am in a sorry state now and can only use the domain characteristic of absolute defense, I am an unshakable wall in front of a mortal like you!"

"You know nothing about the power you are challenging!"

—The Death Finger!

He swung his claw again, and a jet-black ray, condensed to its extreme and exuding an aura of absolute stillness, was instantly unleashed, striking the Red Iron Dragon precisely in the chest.

Galos's massive body trembled slightly, and his life force weakened by a negligible amount, but it was far from achieving the instant death effect that the legendary Death Finger should have.

Phillips cursed the dragon's absurd vitality under his breath, then completely abandoned the inefficient offensive spells and began to chant and wave his hands frantically.

Weakness, Slowness, Mental Illness, Dizziness, Pain Curse, Power Drain.

All sorts of insidious and vicious negative status spells rained down on the Red Iron Dragon like a storm.

At the same time, the undead giants' attacks became even more frenzied, completely disregarding their own losses, only seeking to unleash more damage on their opponents!

Tear—!

The massive bone claws tore through the dragon scales once more, leaving a horrible, deep wound on the red iron dragon's forelimb, exposing the bone. The ashen death energy attempted to seep into the body through the wound.

"An excited state cannot break through absolute defense."

"Even the star's appearance reveals no weakness."

"Since that's the case, there's no point in continuing to probe. Use Blood Explosion and activate Crimson Lotus State directly!"

Galos's eyes sharpened, and the scorching energy stored in the Dragon Jade was released in an instant, activating the Blood Explosion state simultaneously, and the dragon blood in his body began to burn.

Thump!

Thump thump thump!

A heartbeat, like the thunder of war drums, resounded across the battlefield! His dragon body swelled once more, and all the scales on his body turned a dazzling crimson. Blazing lines of fire spread rapidly along the battle-worn patterns, weaving into a magnificent yet eerie red lotus pattern.

Like adding fuel to the fire, the immense power layered upon layer, and even the giant arms formed by the dragon energy ignited with tangible flames, transforming into visible, ferocious claws!

Before the lich could react, Garus in his crimson form roared and charged forward.

His four massive arms opened simultaneously, like an ancient Venus flytrap that preys on its prey, and slammed into the undead giant.

Under the shadow of countless fists, the undead giant was slammed to the ground by the sudden surge of terrifying power.

"Some kind of explosive state? Just survive it and you'll win!"

The lich sneered and manipulated the giant to curl up in defense, enduring the storm of attacks.

Crash! Crash, crash, crash!

Each heavy blow was like a meteorite hitting the earth, causing violent tremors and roars in the surrounding ground.

The undead giant was pinned down in the deep pit, and the ground beneath it continued to collapse and sink, forming an ever-deepening crater.

What splashed everywhere was no longer soil, but a glassy substance melted by the high temperature and boiling steam!

Watching the battle from a short distance away, Charles was terrified, his eyes twitching uncontrollably. He was incredibly grateful that he had been clear-headed enough not to be arrogant enough to challenge Garos's authority, otherwise the outcome would certainly not have been pleasant.

But even such a terrifying, catastrophe-like attack, could it really break through that legendary domain?

Charles gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, his palms sweating profusely.

He couldn't be sure.

Galos himself did not know the answer. He simply unleashed the surging power within him that was about to burst his dragon body, each strike exhilarating, as if he were hammering the hardest piece of wrought iron.

Finally, after hundreds of ultra-high-speed impacts.

Click.

A faint, yet sharp, sound, as clear as thunder at this moment, suddenly echoed amidst the continuous booming explosions.

Galos's incredibly sharp combat intuition instantly detected the unusual sound, and his gaze abruptly locked onto the source of the sound.

On one of the forearm bones of the undead giant that was blocking the attack, a tiny, hair-thin, yet real, crack suddenly appeared.

Inside his chest cavity, the lich's cold smile froze instantly.

"Impossible! This is absolutely impossible!!"

He screamed in despair.

Even though his current domain strength is far less than in its prime, how could it possibly be forcibly broken by the power of mortal objects?!

This means that the opponent's power was completely beyond his comprehension, allowing him to forcefully break through the characteristics of the absolute defensive domain constructed by cognition before his power was exhausted.

What an absurd and terrifying force this is!

Nothing is impossible.

The red iron dragon opened its massive jaws, revealing its menacing, sharp teeth.

Four massive, muscular arms, covered in fiery red lotus patterns and burning with intense flames, poured out their energy like pile drivers along the cracks.

The cracks spread rapidly, expanding like a spider web.

Thirty seconds later,

Buzz—!

The red iron dragon's two main arms suddenly overlapped and merged with the two giant dragon energy arms, and the thick dragon arms expanded again, with muscles bulging and bulging like twisted steel cables.

The next moment,

His right fist, branded with red lotus patterns, slammed down like a meteor!

boom!

An irresistible force slammed heavily against the domain wall, causing countless cracks to explode to their limit, followed by a shrill sound as if glass had shattered completely.

Phillips' legendary territory was shattered in response!

boom!

Another heavy punch followed, and another dragon arm instantly pierced through the chest of the undead giant, tearing apart the dense layer of negative energy, grabbing the lich's true form in its claws and violently pulling it out of its body.

"Even the legendary realm is nothing special."

Red Iron Dragon stood in the center of the huge depression that resembled a meteorite crater, shaking his head slightly in disappointment.

The necromancer struggled frantically in his claws, protesting, "My domain is less than a tenth of its former glory! If I were still a legend, no matter how strong you are, you could never break it!"

Garros tilted his head slightly, a hint of mockery flashing in his dragon eyes: "Then, what if I were also a legend?"

The lich paused for a moment.

He opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a single syllable; he was completely speechless.

The harsh reality was more devastating than any attack; Galos, with sheer force, shattered Phillips's last pride as a legend.

P.S.: I'm done for! Please vote for me! Please vote for me! Please vote for me!

(End of this chapter)