GDK 385 – Evolution of undead creatures
In this monochromatic world, Han Shuo was truly stunned when he first glanced at that vibrant color.
In the middle of the pitch-black spring, that sinister-looking plant’s lush network of withered branches propped up a hazy cloud of blue gas. Within the cloud, a drop of sapphire-shaped resplendent teardrop gave off an even more magnificent radiance.
Han Shuo was sure that the blue gas that had previously spread out from within the valley should have originated from the plant in the middle of the spring. From Han Shuo’s perspective, he could clearly see that the blue gas had originated from the revolving teardrop in the middle of the blue cloud.
The pitch-black spring was brimming with desolation and deathly stillness. Organisms being nurtured from this sort of weird spring would definitely be fierce undead creatures or plants and there certainly would not be any amicable existences.
Han Shuo carefully examined the black spring, realising that there were many seaweed-like black plants floating within the spring. These plants had blended into the spring, the tentacle like streamers spreading in the constant sway of the spring water, appearing like they want to capture something and pull it into the depths of the spring.
Once he had finished observing the layout of the center of the valley, Han Shuo’s line of sight started looking indiscriminately around the spring. Only now did he notice several undead creatures battling in the vicinity of the black spring.
A mummy lord, a floating apparition and a five to six meter tall knight that rode a large flaming horse and brandishing a broadsword. These three high ranked undead creatures surrounded the spring in the middle as they engaged one another in intense combat.
Han Shuo had only swept his eyes over, his attention concentrated on that huge knight that rode the large flaming horse. The huge knight held a gigantic broadsword which was full of rusted spots. The broadsword was over two meters in length and was brimming with a rotting aura. The huge knight’s appearance resembled that of an evil knight. However, there were barbs that grew from around its arms, knees and shoulders. Its build was also much taller than an evil knight’s.
Han Shuo had some impression of this huge knight. A long time ago when the little skeleton was still quite weak, Han Shuo had once received the little skeleton’s distress message. At that time, Han Shuo immediately summoned the little skeleton to the Profound Continent out of worry. However, through the strength of their contract, Han Shuo still faintly saw the formidable undead creature that was chasing the little skeleton. That formidable undead creature was precisely this huge knight.
For this peculiar knight to be able to force the little skeleton to flee the netherworld, its strength was naturally extremely valiant. Han Shuo would never have imagined that he would meet this formidable undead creature in the netherworld. The mummy lord and the floating apparition had joined hands in facing this huge knight. Han Shuo was incomparably familiar with a mummy lord. However, the floating apparition was rather unfamiliar to him.
What made Han Shuo extremely astonished was that this mummy lord carried a greyish white sarcophagus which was large enough to fit his entire body. This mummy lord clearly wielded that sarcophagus as a weapon, proficiently manipulating the sarcophagus to face the enemy. The majority of the strikes from the terrifying knight’s two meter long broadsword were blocked by the sarcophagus.
As for that floating apparition, Han Shuo did not know at all what undead creature it was. However, Han Shuo could sense from its body the aura of the most common undead creature in the netherworld, the wraith. Merely, the aura on the apparition was exponentially stronger than that of a wraith.
The floating apparition constantly hid behind the mummy lord, behaving like a magician in the Profound Continent, utilising profound magic to attack that huge knight. Ripples of grey magic shot out in waves from the apparition’s direction, attacking the huge knight’s body.
Under Han Shuo’s attentive gaze, the knight’s two meter long rusted broadsword suddenly thrusted. The carrion belt in the mummy lord’s hands moved, the sarcophagus floating above his head striking towards that broadsword. At this moment, there was a terrifying boom when the knight’s broadsword struck the sarcophagus and the sarcophagus suddenly flew up into the air.
The knight took the opportunity to urge the flaming horse toward the mummy lord. The flaming horse suddenly breathed out a spout of flames that rolled toward the mummy lord. The mummy lord was obviously a little frantic as the sarcophagus flying above his head couldn’t be moved so quickly.
At this moment, the floating apparition behind him suddenly transmitted a bizarre soul undulation. Countless wraiths suddenly swam out from within the apparition’s body, forming a tidy formation and blocking the flame breath. It simply utilised many wraiths to drown out the flames from the flaming horse.
The apparition had obstructed the flaming horse’s flame breath and the sarcophagus that flew into the sky had also been caught by the mummy lord, just in time to block the evil knight’s next attack. The three undead creatures continued fighting once again, being tangled in a stalemate.
The low ranked undead creatures were still fighting ferociously in Han Shuo’s surroundings. These undead creatures clearly felt the formidable aura from Han Shuo’s body, but all of them ignored Han Shuo’s existence. This allowed Han Shuo to peacefully watch the battle, taking in the whole scene of the battle between the three unusual undead creatures
Han Shuo stared at that floating apparition for a long time before he suddenly understood. To be able to control that many wraiths and also carry the aura of wraiths on its body, the apparition was surely a high ranked undead creature that had evolved from wraiths. That particularly queer huge knight was most likely an evolution from an evil knight.
In the netherworld where ranks were rigid, most higher ranked creatures possessed extremely large fighting strengths. However, this was not absolute. Lower ranked undead creatures had the possibility of undergoing evolution and become high ranked undead creatures as well. For example, the majority of skeleton kings that could be as strong as a bone dragon had fortuitous occurrences and were naturally produced. However, there were also skeleton kings which could have been the lowliest skeleton that underwent countless evolutions.
Although the probability was extremely small, it existed. Spirits in the netherworld could swallow each other. If low ranked undead creatures were able to swallow the spirit of a formidable bone dragon, they could substantially improve a few stages. Merely, this probability was extremely low. Typically, weaker undead creatures would only instinctively escape when facing someone higher ranked than them. They would never dare to attack unless they had a master and only under their master’s orders would they disregard their lives and attack.
However, even if they attacked, when facing a higher ranked undead creature, there would never be any flukes and would definitely be massacred, let alone being able to swallow the spiritual strength of a higher ranked undead creature. Most of the low ranked undead creatures that were able to evolve had coincidentally come across high ranked undead creatures that were almost killed by even stronger undead creatures. While the even stronger undead creature had not arrived, they were then able to conveniently swallow the spirit of the higher ranked undead creature.
Taking the formidable bone dragon as an example, it could kill or seriously injure a group of hate warriors with one breath. The spirits of these lower ranked undead creatures were of no interest to the bone dragon. If there just happened to be a skeleton or zombie warrior in the vicinity after the bone dragon left, they would be able to conveniently devour a higher ranked hate warrior’s spirit.
When such a low probability matter repeatedly happens on a low ranked undead creature, the low ranked undead creature that had swallowed the spirits of many high ranked undead creatures would be able to gradually evolve and become a high ranked undead creature that surpassed its birth restrictions. This apparition was perhaps an example of such an existence that had extremely astonishing luck.
Han Shuo looked at the alliance of the apparition and the mummy lord withstanding the knight’s assault and then looked at the sapphire-like teardrop which contained bizarre energy that was being propped in the middle of the spring by sinister-looking plants network of branches. His thoughts were filled with indecision, not knowing if he should take advantage of the situation to obtain the teardrop.
The three formidable undead creatures appeared to also be fighting over that drop of liquid in the middle of the spring. The huge knight’s strength was incredibly astonishing with Han Shuo’s condensed body of the skeleton king probably unable to withstand a strike of that knight’s broadsword. Furthermore, that apparition and mummy lord were also enemies. Han Shuo wasn’t confident in handling them without having his true body.
However, Han Shuo knew that the sapphire-like liquid in the middle of the spring was able to improve his mental strength. Such miraculous items were unheard of in the Profound Continent. To have reached this place after much difficulty, the greed in his heart simply couldn’t be contained. While Han Shuo was hesitating again and again, he sensed that little skeleton was closing in on his location.
Suddenly, the knight that was in the midst of chasing the mummy lord and the apparition appeared extremely irritated. After continuously attacking frantically to no avail, the knight suddenly gave up and urged the flaming horse toward the plant in the middle of the spring. The mummy lord and the apparition paused for a moment before hastily attacking the knight. The mummy lord’s sarcophagus descended toward the knight with a loud rumble, while the apparition produced numerous wraiths that charged towards the huge knight.
The huge knight did a sweep with his rusted broadsword. An earth-shattering rotting aura rippled out, abruptly annihilating the numerous wraiths while the sarcophagus was struck into the air with his fist. After that, an imposing consciousness spread out from the huge knight, “You two cowardly and despicable existences, that fellow from the Thousand Meter Dead Mountain Palace is coming over. If you cooperate with me in getting rid of him, the luster gem within the dead water is yours. I only want that fellow’s spiritual energy. What do you think?”
When the mummy lord and the apparition saw the evil knight give up and transmit such an intention, they were obviously slightly unsettled. The two of them discussed for a while, before the apparition transmitted a faint message, “Alright, the three of us shall make a vow to abide by this promise.”
Han Shuo looked at the interaction between the three formidable undead creatures from afar. From their conversations, Han Shuo understood that the large knight sensed the little skeleton’s existence and their tone indicated their fear of the little skeleton. Han Shuo couldn’t have imagined that in this netherworld, the little skeleton of the Thousand Meter Dead Mountain Palace was actually such a huge power.
The huge knight, the mummy lord and the apparition intended to ally due to their apprehension toward the little skeleton’s existence. As these three fellows dared to stay behind and face the little skeleton, that showed that they should have some confidence. Han Shuo who had already been watching for a while from afar thought for a moment before walking out from within the crowd of low ranked undead creatures.
“Count me in as well.” Han Shuo sent a message through his consciousness, expressing his opinion to the three undead creatures.
At the start, Han Shuo had only stood among the crowd of low ranked undead creatures in the surroundings of the valley. Having deliberately hidden as he watched, the three undead creatures that were constantly battling did not notice Han Shuo. When Han Shuo slowly walked out from the distance, he immediately caused the three undead creatures to panic.
At first, the three undead creatures clearly lost their heads out of fear, being intimidated by Han Shuo’s appearance as a skeleton king. However, these three formidable undead creatures were different from the low ranked undead creatures that gave way to Han Shuo. They could sense from the aura on Han Shuo’s body that it wasn’t identical to a skeleton king’s aura as well as the aura on Han Shuo’s body wasn’t as frightening as that of a skeleton king’s.
After being startled, the huge knight reacted, sending Han Shuo a message, “Cowardly voyeur, what can you contribute and what do you wish to obtain?”
“I want a third of the serene luster gem. I can aid you in dealing with that fellow.” Han Shuo replied through his consciousness.
“That would depend on your ability!” The knight sent an irascible message, driving the flaming horse toward Han Shuo. The earth-shattering rotting aura spread out from his body, converging on the broadsword as it stabbed toward Han Shuo.
Han Shuo was stunned, frantically chanting spells, on one hand sending a spray of bone spears to attack the huge knight, on the other hand, using his consciousness to condense the rich death qi, forming a gigantic saber to smash toward the charging knight. When the spray of bone spears landed on the huge knight’s body, it only resulted in clanking sounds, unable to harm the formidable knight. Only when that saber condensed from rich death qi smashed on the knight’s broadsword did he obstruct his attack.
Just as the knight avoided the spray of bone spears and had almost arrived in front of Han Shuo, he suddenly reined his horse, turning his head to look at the apparition and the mummy lord, transmitting, “He has the qualifications to share a third of the luster gem, do the two of you have any opinion? The fellow from the Thousand Meter Death Mountain Palace is extremely frightening, there is more hope with an additional helper.”
The two other undead creatures hesitated for a moment. But when considering the little skeleton’s frightening deterrence and their interest of the serene luster gem, they ultimately agreed completely with the huge knight’s proposal, considering Han Shuo as an ally.