Nearly one-quarter of the Undead Legion had been completely annihilated under the Red-Iron Dragon's overwhelming offensive, with remaining bones and dissipating Soul fires covering the battlefield like a grayish-white carpet of death.
Yet, that massive dragon, as imposing as a mountain with scales like iron, still appeared composed and high in Battle Intent.
On its black and red intertwined dragon scales, the battle-scarred patterns were as clear as if carved, seemingly carrying the memories and glory of countless battles, its entire body exuding a majestic power that seemed inexhaustible.
"Damn it... how could I encounter such an outrageously strong dragon?"
The ghostly blue Soul fire in the Lich's eye sockets flickered violently, and for a moment, he could barely suppress the trembling emanating from the depths of his Soul.
He was caught in an unprecedentedly difficult dilemma.
Should he stake everything on continuing the fight to the death, or cut his losses and retreat from the battlefield?
Centuries of accumulation and an Undead Legion numbering in the tens of thousands had already suffered heavy losses in this sudden encounter.
To give up now, he could not be reconciled.
Moreover, although his current Life Level had fallen to Rank 18, and he was still some distance from returning to the Legendary Realm, the essence of his Soul still bore the mark of the Legendary Realm.
Relying on this Lich body, he could fully overload his Soul Origin to briefly unleash a portion of power that truly belonged to the Legendary Domain.
But if even that failed to suppress this Red-Iron Dragon, which seemed born for battle... then he would lose more than just his legion.
His Soul would accelerate its fall into Chaos due to excessive overdraw and begin to transform into an undead, his centuries of accumulation would be lost in an instant, and he might even lose his sanity and be forced into an eternal slumber.
By then, all ambition and hatred would become a joke in the Void Realm.
In the end, the calmness and calculation from his time as a human finally gained the upper hand, temporarily suppressing the undead's almost instinctive greed for the living.
Phillips made up his mind: retreat, he must retreat.
Preserve the remaining forces, change targets, and wait for the day he returns to the Legendary Rank, then descend upon Ximu Territory and drag this Red-Iron Dragon and its territory into the kingdom of death.
"That is decided."
"All forces, retreat—!"
However, right at the edge of the Undead Legion's right flank, behind an ordinary skeleton warrior with dull eyes and a stumbling gait, the space rippled imperceptibly.
A knight's cross sword, shimmering with holy silver light, silently emerged and thrust with unmatched sharpness toward the back of the skeleton's skull.
Precise and ruthless, it attempted to pierce its Soul fire core in one strike.
But just as the tip of the sword was about to touch the pale skull, it seemed to hit an invisible yet indestructible wall, all kinetic energy was instantly absorbed, and it could not advance any further.
Charles stepped out from the void, his brows tightly locked.
He flicked his wrist rapidly, and the cross sword instantly turned into a sky full of silver light and shadows, completely enveloping the skeleton like a storm.
The blade tore through the air with a sharp whistle, powerful enough to instantly shatter steel armor, yet when it landed on the target, it could not even leave the slightest scratch.
"Something is wrong!"
Charles's pupils suddenly constricted, and alarm bells rang in his heart.
It was not that his attacks could not break the defense, but rather that all his sword moves were completely blocked by an invisible and absolute barrier before they could touch the opponent's body.
It was as if in response to his astonishment.
The dull Soul fire in the skeleton's eyes suddenly erupted with a terrifying, pitch-black glow, and flames of negative energy, thick as substance, surged up from its entire body, instantly engulfing the fragile skeleton.
The next second, it shed all its disguises.
Withered, blackened flesh rapidly covered the bones, and the gaunt, hideous face twisted and deformed—revealing the true form of the Lich Phillips.
—Touch of Paralysis!
Phillips waved his withered claw, and countless invisible tentacles of negative energy, radiating a bone-chilling cold, appeared out of thin air, coiling toward Charles like a nest of snakes emerging from their lair.
At the same time, several elite skeleton guards and terrifying ghouls nearby roared simultaneously, closing in from all directions, coordinating with the Lich's Spell to instantly seal off all of Charles's evasion space.
Charles retreated rapidly, his sword light dancing into a silver screen, narrowly avoiding the erosion of the Touch of Paralysis, while simultaneously ducking to dodge the pounce of a gargoyle's claw that carried a foul wind.
He did not hesitate in the slightest, taking a step back and vanishing into the void once more.
The next second, he appeared under the Red-Iron Dragon's massive wing shadow, his breathing slightly ragged.
"My Lord, that guy is extremely strange."
Charles spoke with unprecedented gravity, saying quickly: "He is able to display an absolute defense similar to a Legendary Domain, but his actual energy intensity has not reached the true Legendary threshold. I speculate that he may have been a Legendary entity before his death, and after transforming into a Lich, his Realm fell, but he still retains some of the traits and abilities of a Legendary Rank."
Garros's dragon eyes were as sharp as ever, locking onto the Lich in the distance.
On the other side, Phillips was also staring back at the Red-Iron Dragon with those two deep, dark Soul fires, his withered mouth seeming to pull into a cold arc.
"Hehe... an amazing dragon, your strength far exceeds my initial expectations; you are worthy of being called a formidable foe."
The Lich's hoarse voice, sounding like grinding bones, rang out.
"Just as your sharp yet overreaching human servant guessed, I, Phillips, once stood at the summit and glimpsed the scenery above the Legendary Rank."
"Now, I am merely temporarily trapped in a low valley."
He paused slightly, as if weighing his words, and then continued: "You have proven your value with your strength, therefore, I am willing to give you a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
"Sacrifice all the living beings in your territory to me and help me return to the Legendary Rank."
"I can swear by my Origin Soul fire, and I can also sign the strictest contract—once I return to the Legendary Realm, I will certainly use all resources and knowledge to help you break through the Legendary barrier of the Dragonkin!"
"Even for you long-lived species, the Legendary Rank is a chasm that requires unimaginable time to accumulate and break through, but if another Legendary entity assists with all their might, this process will be shortened to an extent you cannot imagine."
A former Legendary leading a future Legendary?
Garros felt no ripples in his heart, even feeling a trace of mockery.
He would not believe a single syllable of such hollow promises.
The Red-Iron Dragon's gaze toward the Lich was already like examining an interesting collectible or a rare whetstone.
"Charles, you did well."
Garros's deep voice rang out; he did not respond directly to the Lich but first affirmed his subordinate's performance.
"Forcing him to reveal his true form is important; very good, leave the rest to me."
Phillips's Soul fire jumped violently.
The opponent's completely dismissive attitude thoroughly enraged him, and his hoarse voice suddenly turned shrill.
"Stupid dragon! Do you really want to fight until both sides are severely injured? I admit your strength, but even if I can only use a tiny, insignificant bit of Legendary Domain power, in front of a mortal like you, it can still form an insurmountable barrier!"
"You simply don't understand that there is a fundamental difference between Legendary and non-Legendary."
The Red-Iron Dragon responded to him with a dragon laugh that was even deeper, yet seemingly brewing with a thunderous storm.
"Severely injured on both sides? That is exactly what I am hoping for."
This former Legendary entity was a perfect sparring opponent, allowing him to avoid the risk of being instantly crushed by a true Legendary, while still being able to personally experience the mysteries and intensity of Legendary power, thereby more clearly measuring the distance between himself and that threshold.
The last syllable was still echoing in the air when Garros suddenly erupted.
His massive dragon wings unfurled with a boom, whipping up violent air currents, as he charged straight toward the Lich in the wildest and most direct manner.
"Utterly foolish!!"
The flow of time seemed to suddenly slow down, the Soul fire in Phillips's eyes burned crazily, and his withered face appeared exceptionally hideous due to the distortion of extreme emotions.
He slammed his skeletal hands, withered, decayed, and entwined with thick negative energy, hard against the ground.
Boom!!!
A torrent of negative energy, a hundred times denser and a thousand times colder than before, erupted with a roar!
Ghostly green runes spread like living things from beneath his palms, surrounding undead fell in droves, their bones rapidly turning gray and brittle, as if all their Origin had been instantly drained.
Not only that, the piles of undead remains on the battlefield—shattered bones, decayed flesh, broken armor, dissipating Soul fires... as if guided by an invisible hand, all turned into grayish-white energy streams, madly surging toward Phillips.
The earth began to tremble violently.
With the Lich as the center, a huge and complex magic circle formed in an instant, the ground collapsed like quicksand, forming a bottomless, dark abyss.
Immediately following this, an incomparably huge bone hand suddenly reached out from the abyss and gripped Phillips's body!
Monstrous negative energy surged and flowed like a tide,
In the blink of an eye, a humanoid undead giant, whose size was in no way inferior to Garros, rose from the ground!
This was by no means an ordinary skeletal behemoth.
Countless sharp bone spines, pieced together from massive vertebrae, stood jaggedly upon its back, as menacing and uneven as mountain peaks.
Each bone was as thick as a pillar yet emitted a cold, jade-like luster; their surfaces were inscribed with ancient and obscure runes, flowing with a death aura that had accumulated over a millennium.
In the eye sockets of its skull, two balls of Soul fire, burning as fiercely as small suns, radiated a suffocating pressure.
Phillips's figure was prominently embedded in the center of the Undead Giant's chest cavity, enveloped by thick, liquid-like negative energy.
Those energies emitted a blinding, eerie blue light, pulsing ceaselessly like the giant's heart.
He spared no expense, sacrificing all the remaining strength of the entire Undead Legion, to barely manifest this Undead Giant that could not be maintained for long.
This was his final gamble; he swore to take down this Red-Iron Dragon, extract its dragon jade and Dragon Soul, and recoup his heavy losses.
At this moment, the Red-Iron Dragon had arrived before him, carrying the momentum of wind and thunder.
Its massive dragon claws, wreathed in leaping lightning and solidified Dragon Qi, tore through the air with ear-piercing sonic booms as they swung down violently.
The Undead Giant did not dodge or evade, instead raising its terrifying giant claws—composed of countless sharp finger bones and resembling siege hammers—to strike directly at the Red-Iron Dragon's head.
The Lich located in its chest cavity seized the opportunity to raise a withered claw, pointing it at the Red-Iron Dragon from afar.
"Greater Brittle Spell!"
Without any warning, the dragon scales covering Garros's entire body were instantly covered in a dull, grayish-white sheen.
Bang! Bang!
Two dull, thunderous sounds exploded almost simultaneously!
The Red-Iron Dragon's heavy blow, wrapped in flame, lightning, and Dragon Qi, slammed fiercely into the giant's chest.
Although it caused the opponent's body to shake violently, it failed to leave a single crack.
A sensation, as if striking an insurmountable wall, was fed back from the dragon claws.
"Is this... the absolute defense characteristic of a Legendary Domain?"
Garros felt a chill in his heart.
In the split second his mind raced and he tilted his head slightly, the Undead Giant's bone claw, carrying terrifying kinetic energy, slammed heavily onto his shoulder.
A massive, crushing force descended, shattering the hard spines on his shoulder.
The dragon scales affected by the Brittle Spell caved in and fractured upon impact, causing hot dragon blood to splatter out.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The Undead Giant and the Red-Iron Dragon were brawling frantically in the most violent manner!
Yet, no matter how fierce the Red-Iron Dragon's offensive was, even after unleashing flame, lightning, and Dragon Qi, it could not break through that layer of invisible Domain defense.
"Useless! Idiot! It's all in vain!"
The Necromancer Phillips let out a sharp, smug, and strange laugh, his voice buzzing from the giant's chest cavity: "I already told you—you simply do not understand what it means to be Legendary!"
"Even though I am in a sorry state now and can only manifest this one Domain characteristic of absolute defense, before a mortal creature like you, I am an unshakeable wall!"
"You know nothing of the power you are challenging!"
"Finger of Death!"
He swung his claw again, and a jet-black beam, condensed to the extreme and exuding an aura of absolute deathly silence, struck instantly and precisely at the Red-Iron Dragon's chest.
Garros's massive body shuddered slightly, and his life aura weakened by a negligible amount, but it was far from the instant-death effect that a Legendary Finger of Death should have.
Phillips cursed the dragon's absurd vitality under his breath, then completely abandoned the inefficient attack-type Spells, turning instead to chant frantically and wave his hands.
Weakness, Slow, Feeblemind, Daze, Curse of Agony, Strength Drain.
All sorts of insidious and vicious negative status Spells rained down upon the Red-Iron Dragon like a sudden storm.
At the same time, the Undead Giant's attacks became even more frenzied, disregarding its own depletion, solely seeking to pour more damage onto its opponent!
Rip—!
The massive bone claw tore through the dragon scales again, leaving a terrifying wound deep enough to see bone on the Red-Iron Dragon's forelimb, while grey, decaying death energy attempted to erode into his body along the wound.
"Frenzied State cannot break through the absolute defense."
"Visage of the Astral Self also cannot glimpse any weaknesses."
"Since that's the case, continuing to probe is meaningless. Use Blood Burst—no, activate Crimson Lotus State directly!"
Garros's gaze sharpened. The scorching energy stored within his dragon jade was instantly released in its entirety, and Blood Burst State was activated simultaneously, causing the dragon blood within his body to burn.
Thump! Thump-thump-thump!!
A heartbeat as loud as roaring war drums resonated across the battlefield!
His dragon body expanded once more, and the scales all over his body turned a scorching, glowing red.
Streams of intense fire rapidly spread along the battle-scarred patterns, weaving into magnificent and eerie Crimson Lotus motifs.
It was like adding fuel to the fire; vast and mighty power stacked layer upon layer.
Even the giant arms constructed of Dragon Qi ignited with tangible flames, transforming into visible claws of fury!
Before the Lich could react, Garros, in his Crimson Lotus State, roared and charged forward.
His four giant arms opened simultaneously, like an ancient Venus flytrap waiting to devour its prey, and slammed toward the Undead Giant.
Under the shroud of countless fist shadows, the Undead Giant was smashed violently to the ground by this suddenly surging, terrifying power.
"Some kind of burst state? If I endure, I win!"
The Lich sneered continuously, maneuvering the giant to curl up in defense, hard-tanking the storm-like attacks.
Boom! Boom-boom-boom!!
Every heavy blow was like a meteorite striking the earth, triggering violent tremors and roars in the surrounding ground.
The Undead Giant was suppressed firmly within a deep pit, and the ground beneath it constantly collapsed and sank, forming an ever-deepening crater.
What splattered out was no longer soil, but glass-like substances melted by high temperatures and boiling steam!
Charles, watching from not far away, was terrified; his eye twitched uncontrollably.
He felt incomparably fortunate that he had been clear-headed enough back then not to be arrogant enough to challenge Garros's majesty, otherwise, the outcome would surely not have been pleasant.
But even with such terrifying, natural disaster-like attacks, could it really break that Legendary Domain?
Charles gripped his sword hilt tightly, his palms covered in cold sweat.
He could not be sure.
Garros himself did not know the answer; he was simply unleashing, to his heart's content and without reservation, the surging Great Strength within his body that was nearly bursting his dragon form.
Every strike was exhilarating, as if he were hammering the hardest piece of forged iron.
Finally, after hundreds of ultra-high-speed heavy strikes.
Crack.
A faint, yet at this moment as clear as a thunderclap, crisp sound suddenly echoed amidst the continuous, roaring explosions.
Garros's extremely keen battle instinct instantly captured this slight anomaly, and his gaze locked onto the source of the sound.
There, on one of the Undead Giant's forearm bones that was crossed in defense, a hair-thin yet very real crack had emerged.
And inside its chest cavity, the sneer on the Lich's face instantly froze.
"Impossible, this is absolutely impossible!!"
He shrieked.
Even if the strength of his Domain now was far from its prime, how could it be forcibly broken by the power of a mortal creature?!
This meant that the opponent's power had completely exceeded his cognitive scope, allowing it to forcibly smash through the absolute defense Domain characteristic constructed from cognition before his power was exhausted.
What kind of absurd and terrifying power was this?!
"Nothing is impossible."
The Red-Iron Dragon bared his massive mouth, revealing terrifying sharp teeth.
His four muscular giant arms, covered in scorching Crimson Lotus patterns and burning with raging flames, acted like pile drivers, pouring out output frantically along the cracks.
The cracks spread rapidly, expanding like a spider web.
Thirty seconds later, Hum—!
The Red-Iron Dragon's own two arms and the two Dragon Qi giant arms suddenly overlapped and fused.
The thick dragon arms expanded once more, muscles bulging and rising like twisted steel cables.
The next instant, the right fist, branded with Crimson Lotus patterns, slammed down as fiercely as a meteorite!
Boom!
An irresistible, massive force slammed heavily against the Domain wall.
Countless cracks instantly shattered to the limit, followed by a sharp sound as if glass had completely disintegrated.
Phillips's Legendary Domain shattered in response!
Boom!
Another heavy blow followed immediately.
The other dragon arm instantly pierced through the Undead Giant's chest, tearing through the dense negative energy layer, grabbed the Lich's true body in its claw, and dragged it out from within.
"A Legendary Domain is nothing more than this."
The Red-Iron Dragon stood in the center of the massive, crater-like depression, shaking his head with slight disappointment.
The Necromancer struggled frantically in his claw, unwilling to accept it: "My Domain is not even one-tenth of its prime! If I were still Legendary, no matter how strong your power is, it would be absolutely impossible to break!"
Garros tilted his head slightly, a trace of mockery flashing in his dragon pupils: "Then, what if I were also Legendary?"
The Lich's tone faltered.
He opened his mouth but could not utter a single syllable, becoming completely speechless.
The cruel reality was more devastating than any attack; Garros, with pure power, shattered the last pride Phillips once held as a Legendary.