Chapter 148: Skeleton Dragon

About a minute later, we were teleported to a bizarre place that resembled the bottom of a gigantic chimney. Looking up, nothing could be seen except for a pitch-black void.

"Where is this place?" Xiao Xi asked.

I shook my head to indicate I had no idea either. Where on earth had that alien teleported us? At that moment, Long Zhan spoke up, "Master, something is coming." With those words, it raised its head.

The rest of us also looked upward in succession, but all we could see was still impenetrable darkness. Then, a strange "clack-clack-clack" sound echoed all around. Feng Xiao Yue said, "What is this sound? Could it be the footsteps of a monster?!"

Huan Yue remarked, "It seems to be coming from above."

I commanded, "Long Zhan, unleash Flame Dragon Breath straight up!"

"Yes, Master!" Just as it replied, Feng Xiao Yue protested, "Wait, Long Ling, that's too reckless..." "Fire!" I ignored her and directly ordered Long Zhan to attack. The next second, a scorching torrent of flames spewed from Long Zhan's maw, turning the previously pitch-black expanse as bright as day, yet there still appeared to be nothing there.

"You idiot, you don't even know where the enemy is, how are you supposed to hit them!" Feng Xiao Yue scolded.

Huan Yue then chimed in, "Indeed, that strike missed, but even a miss has its purpose."

A sudden realization dawned upon Feng Xiao Yue, who gasped, "Deliberately exposing our location."

"Come out, monster!" I shouted toward the upper heights.

"Roar!" A roar resembling that of a human resounded, and a colossal beast over twenty meters in length emerged. Its physique looked somewhat like that of a dragon, but it was not a true dragon; rather, it was a sub-dragon, as only its hind limbs ended in claws, while its forelimb claws were fused together with its wings. Its eyes were completely pitch-black, entirely devoid of pupils, resembling two large, dark hollows. It clung to the wall, glaring down at us with hostility. Xiao Xi gasped in astonishment, "Why is that thing covered entirely in bones? Could it be a skeletal dragon?!"

Huan Yue corrected her, "No, look closely; that's not a skeletal dragon, and those aren't bones on its body—they are muscles. However, its musculature is excessively lean, making its skeleton stand out with startling prominence."

I activated my Fiery Eyes skill to scan it: Corpse Dragon, Level 65 Boss, Description: ?????. What... what kind of creature is this? Aside from its name, there was not a single line of description. Still, a Level 65 opponent shouldn't be entirely unmanageable, but this was undoubtedly going to be a hard-fought battle.

I immediately summoned the Sonic Werewolf and Amaterasu, and everyone took their stances, preparing to challenge this Level 65 boss, the Corpse Dragon! "Roar!" With a roar, the Corpse Dragon leaped down from the wall, the impact of its massive body causing the ground to shake violently. We instantly lost our footing, stumbling about in disarray. Seizing the opportunity, the Corpse Dragon lashed out at me with a claw. Long Zhan reacted the fastest, immediately stepping in front of me with its black greatsword to block the strike. Though it successfully intercepted the blow, Long Zhan's sword vibrated intensely from the impact.

"Long Zhan, fall back!" Amaterasu let out a sharp cry and lunged forward, delivering a slash directly to the Corpse Dragon's neck—a damage figure of -1435 popped up. No way! I stared in disbelief. Amaterasu's attack power exceeded four thousand, yet it only dealt a little over a thousand damage. If that was the case, wouldn't the rest of us be completely incapable of even piercing its defense?

However, the Corpse Dragon did not launch any counterattack; instead, it straightened its torso and let out a resounding roar.

The sound of the Corpse Dragon's roar was exceedingly bizarre. I felt as though a needle had been stabbed directly into my brain, causing a sharp, stinging pain. The piercing shriek penetrated our eardrums and struck straight into our minds, utterly impossible to defend against!

"Aah! This is agonizing!" Feng Xiao Yue squatted down, covering her ears while opening her mouth wide. The rest of us instinctively mirrored her posture.

"Damn it, what is this thing?!"

"My head feels like it's going to split open."

"This is completely different from the roars of ordinary monsters," Huan Yue managed to say with great difficulty.

"Ding! You have been subjected to an infrasound attack, losing 200 HP per second for a duration of 10 seconds!"

"Ding! You have been subjected to an infrasound attack, entering a state of hearing loss for a duration of 20 seconds!"

Damn it! True to Huan Yue's words, this roar was indeed extraordinary, and the system notifications proved it all.

In the Second World, monster roars were typically used to intimidate enemies or summon allies, but this creature's roar was blatantly harvesting our life force. Just as the roar finally ended—though I was completely deaf to all sound and my head was buzzing incessantly—I saw the Corpse Dragon swallow the Sonic Werewolf whole in a single gulp. Then came another roar; this time, the sonic blast whipped up a violent gale that instantly knocked us all flat on our backs, even Long Zhan being no exception.

Immediately afterward, the Corpse Dragon thrust out a claw, striking me directly and slamming us hard against the rear wall. A damage value of -3455 floated above my head. I coughed up a mouthful of blood as the wall caved inward, and the Corpse Dragon's ugly head drew close to me, clearly intending to swallow me whole as well.

"Long Ling!" Huan Yue screamed.

"Damn it, are we really going to die in a place like this..." I muttered under my breath. But at that instant—Boom! Boom! Boom! Three successive explosions erupted across the left side of the Corpse Dragon's face! Damage values of -43, -45, and -65 appeared. Long Zhan seized the Corpse Dragon by its tail and hurled it to the ground, sending a -434 damage figure drifting up. Following that, Long Zhan drove its sword straight into the Corpse Dragon's belly for another -923.

"Aaaaaah! Everyone who dares to hurt Long-ge, go to hell!" Amaterasu roared as she charged forward, closely followed by Huan Yue and Feng Xiao Yue.

-1534
-1460
-1945
...
-320
-310
-322
...
-56
-74
... Various damage numbers floated up from the Corpse Dragon's body.

Aside from Amaterasu's attacks, even Huan Yue's damage output had shrunk, and Feng Xiao Yue's damage was simply too dismal to look at. However, the Corpse Dragon recovered swiftly, lashing out with a claw that stirred up a blinding cloud of dust and nearly blew us away. Long Zhan flapped its wings to clear the dust, only for us to discover that the Corpse Dragon had vanished!

"Above us!" Long Zhan shouted. We looked up to see the Corpse Dragon clinging flat against the ceiling. It then executed a mid-air flip, its massive tail smashing down from above. We scrambled out of the way just in time as the tail carved a deep trench into the ground.

Xiao Xi drew her bow and unleashed a barrage of arrows at the Corpse Dragon, but none of the attacks exceeded 50 damage; it was practically just scratching an itch for the monster. "Everyone, let's attack together!"

"Understood." After gulping down a handful of potions and hefting my Ruyi Jingu Bang to charge forward, I noticed the Corpse Dragon opening its jaws as if drawing in a breath. "It's inhaling!"

"Is it about to unleash an ultimate move?!"

"Then we'll take it down before that happens!" I let out a fierce roar. But before I had even covered half the distance, the Corpse Dragon snapped its jaws wide and spewed a cloud of black mist. In an instant, the miasma enveloped every single one of us, turning into black flames that filled the entire space and consumed us all.

"Ah!" everyone cried out in alarm. To my horror, I discovered that my health was plummeting rapidly at a rate of 500 HP per second, and everyone else was suffering the exact same fate. Clearly, this skill was an indiscriminate area-of-effect attack that ignored defense entirely.

If this continued, it would spell disaster. Amaterasu only had a total of 2,300 health points, which meant she would be forced back into slumber in about four seconds. Once Amaterasu, our primary DPS, went down, our chances of defeating this boss would dwindle to near zero.

I instantly recalled Amaterasu, slammed both hands against the ground, and triggered Lightning Storm. A surge of electrical energy burst forth beneath the Corpse Dragon, enveloping it within a cage of lightning. The boss's skill was instantly interrupted, leaving it howling and roaring amidst crackling arcs of electricity. Suddenly, the creature opened its jaws and inhaled forcefully; astonishingly, the entire Lightning Storm spell was sucked directly into its mouth and vanished without a trace.

"Oh no!" The thought had barely formed in my mind when the Corpse Dragon opened its mouth once more, glaring at us before spewing a torrent of flames. These flames were pitch black and searingly hot, scorching every inch of our skin. This time, our health plummeted by a terrifying 1,000 points per second!

In this critical moment, Huan Yue pulled out a pale blue, rectangular sheet of paper. The paper instantly radiated a blinding brilliance, and a gush of crystalline spring water surged forth, extinguishing the surrounding black flames and granting us an immediate sensation of cool relief.

"What is this? What on earth is that item?" I asked, thoroughly mystified.

Huan Yue explained, "This is something crafted by a friend of mine. It's called a talisman. What I just used is a Purification Talisman, designed specifically to counter fire-type magic. The Freezing Talisman you saw last time can freeze a target for a considerable duration. However, these items are single-use consumables; once they're used up, they're gone."

I said, "Next time, take me to meet your friend. I'm quite interested in these things."

Huan Yue replied, "Sure thing."

"Alright then, let's press the attack and finish off this monster!" With a sharp shout, I summoned Amaterasu back to the fray, and everyone rushed forward together. Long Zhan first dragged the Corpse Dragon down from the wall, after which we swarmed it with a relentless flurry of blows. The Corpse Dragon had already sustained countless strikes, but they felt no more significant than an itch, prompting the boss not to even deign us with a reaction.