His hair was gray-white, his skin rotten and decayed, with pink muscle exposed across his arms and chest. He was lean, wiry, and full of strength.
In his pitch-black eyes, ghostly pupils gave off a cold green glow.
He looked vicious and terrifying, hideous enough to make any ordinary person's heart tremble.
[Soulcatcher: A member of the Ormerow species from the Anur Star System, possessing a zombie-like appearance. It can absorb life energy and temporarily turn its target into a zombie, controlling its actions.]
[It cannot absorb the energy of the Ghostfreak species, because Ectonurites are not conventional life forms but are closer to undead beings. However, Ghostfreak also cannot possess Soulcatcher, so the relationship between the two species is extremely tense.]
[Weakness: Fears aliens with holy attributes, such as angels...]
Ben was completely stunned. He could hardly believe the creature in front of him was what Lucian had transformed into.
"Ben, don't panic. This is my new hero. You can call it Soulcatcher," Soulcatcher said with a smile.
That smile, however, was genuinely creepy. Just imagine a zombie smiling at you.
Ben could not help swallowing.
"Then... Cuz, what do we do now?"
"Stay back and watch. Just make sure to protect yourself."
As soon as Soulcatcher finished speaking, a cold green light flared in his eyes. He kicked off with both legs and shot forward like a cannonball.
The moment he charged into the swarm, Soulcatcher was surrounded by a mass of Havoc Beasts.
Countless sharp fangs and claws rained down on him in a frenzy.
Unfortunately for them, Soulcatcher barely felt a thing. As an Ormerow, he practically had no sense of pain.
Still, if he did not fight back, those little monsters would tear him to pieces sooner or later.
Soulcatcher opened his mouth full of fangs and bit into one of the Havoc Beasts.
His razor-sharp teeth pierced the creature's body with ease.
Then Soulcatcher began draining its life energy.
At first, the Havoc Beast struggled desperately, but as time passed, the life energy inside its body kept dropping.
Soon, it fell below fifty percent.
Seeing that it was enough, Soulcatcher let it go.
At that very moment, the Havoc Beast's skin began to rot and peel away. Its blood-red hide turned deathly pale, like something that had been soaked in water for far too long.
"Roar!"
The Havoc Beast let out a furious howl, completely frenzied now, with its claws and fangs growing to twice their original size.
A zombified Havoc Beast!
Soulcatcher smiled faintly and ordered the zombie Havoc Beast to attack the others.
"Roar!"
With scarlet eyes and a heavy stench of decay around it, the zombie Havoc Beast went wild, ripping into its own kind.
Any target it caught would zombify in a short time and become Soulcatcher's puppet.
That was Soulcatcher's power.
As long as he drained a target's life energy below fifty percent, he could temporarily turn it into a zombie.
And once zombified, that target could infect others, making the ability perfect for group battles.
Of course, the length of zombification depended on the target's physical condition. The stronger the enemy, the shorter the duration, and in some cases it might not work at all.
Ben, hiding behind a rock, was completely stunned by the scene.
"Oh my God, this is literally real-life Resident Evil!" Ben exclaimed, his mouth hanging open.
If all these infected targets were zombies, then Soulcatcher was the corpse king ruling over them all.
More than ten minutes later, every Havoc Beast had turned into a zombie.
The Havoc Beasts were not especially tough, so Soulcatcher estimated the zombified state would last about half an hour.
But they were fast, and half an hour was enough for them to cover a lot of ground.
Soulcatcher let out a roar and ordered the "zombies" to search for Vilgax and Kevin.
Also Gwen, and the Null Void portal.
Naturally, the Havoc Beasts did not know what any of that was, so Soulcatcher gave them a rough description of their appearances.
He also told them that if they found anything resembling a golden ring of light, they had to report back immediately.
After receiving the order, more than thirty Havoc Beasts split up and dashed off in different directions, searching for the targets their corpse king wanted.
Soulcatcher nodded in satisfaction, then turned around and tapped the Omnitrix on his chest.
After changing back, Lucian and Ben returned to the wrecked ship.
Once the Havoc Beasts came back, he could turn into Soulcatcher again. That way he could conserve transformation time.
...
About five or six minutes later, movement sounded outside the ship.
Lucian focused and saw two or three zombie Havoc Beasts.
He immediately turned back into Soulcatcher to avoid getting attacked by mistake.
There was no helping it. Zombified targets only obeyed Soulcatcher.
Soulcatcher jumped out through the window. After listening to the zombie Havoc Beasts' report, he nodded thoughtfully.
"Looks like it's Vilgax and Kevin."
"Heh, then what are we waiting for? Let's go beat them up already." Ben cracked his knuckles, itching to start.
"Alright!"
Once they decided, they set off immediately.
To save transformation time, Lucian reverted to normal and had Ben turn into Stinkfly and carry him toward the target.
Now that Ben had no time limit, they had to make full use of that advantage.
Three minutes later, Lucian spotted something new.
On a huge rock in the distance, Vilgax and Kevin were fighting more than a dozen Havoc Beasts.
Oddly enough, mixed in among them were two Null Guardians, which were also attacking the Havoc Beasts like mad.
"Looks like Vilgax has taken control of those two Null Guardians," Lucian said calmly.
"Hey! Hero coming through!" Stinkfly shouted.
By the time they reached the rock, the Havoc Beasts had already been wiped out.
Vilgax and Kevin were both extremely strong, and with the Null Guardians helping them, the Havoc Beasts had stood no chance.
Still, the two of them had not come away unscathed.
The Havoc Beasts' claws and fangs were incredibly sharp, enough to slice through steel plating with ease.
By now, both Vilgax and Kevin had a few minor wounds, with thin streaks of blood visible on their bodies.
Enemies always burn hottest on sight.
The instant Kevin saw Ben and Lucian, he clenched his fists and sneered.
"Heh. Did you two come here to walk right into our trap?"
"Hey, Kevin, you're still just as foul-mouthed as ever," Stinkfly said with a laugh.
"Enough nonsense. Hand over the Omnitrix!" Vilgax roared.
"If you've got what it takes, come take it yourself."
Lucian pressed the Omnitrix, switched heroes, and slammed it down.
Thunk!
A dark green flash burst out.
Technorg appeared holding a meteor hammer, his powerful body as savage as a prehistoric beast and radiating danger.
"Hero time!"
Stinkfly dropped to the ground and turned into Four Arms.
Vilgax and Kevin exchanged a glance, then roared and charged forward together.
One wanted revenge. The other wanted the Omnitrix.
The enemy of my enemy was a friend.
Just as both sides were about to clash, a massive shadow suddenly descended from above.
The four of them sensed the danger at once, their bodies stiffening as they all leaped backward.
In the next instant, the shadow slammed down.
Boom!
A gigantic crimson-and-purple serpent with bared fangs, at least five meters thick, drilled straight through the enormous rock like some colossal boring machine, tearing between the two sides with terrifying force.
When that strike missed, the giant serpent changed direction, wove around countless boulders, and appeared overhead again.
Technorg looked up, golden eyes flashing.
That serpent was easily over a hundred meters long.
An absolute behemoth.
After all, the Thunder Dragon Phil had unleashed earlier had only been around twenty meters long.
"This is bad. It's Barbarian Dragon!" Vilgax's face changed in shock.
This creature was one of the overlords of the Null Void. Even at full strength, he would not have dared provoke it lightly.
"Roar!"
While everyone was still reacting, Barbarian Dragon attacked again...