The chilling cold wind sweeping across the entire barren Dune seemed to awaken the endless white bones silently buried beneath the earth, as broken and incomplete skeletons broke free from the shackles of death within the sand, swaying as they stood up.
Bang!
A massive bony claw burst from the ground, its grotesque form adorned with many long bone spurs, pressing onto the earth, followed by three pairs of huge bone wings that suddenly unfurled from beneath the barren sand, one after another, revealing a skull split in half, cradled by the bone wings.
With a booming sound, barren sand shot into the sky, and a huge white bone creature with a single bone horn on its skull sat up from beneath the barren sand, its time-rusted, broken long bladed war axe raised high in its hand.
The fractured hole in its chest was almost as large as an entire human head, but on this white bone giant, it was merely a hole that had pierced and broken its entire heart.
At this moment, almost infinite, immeasurable bone undead rose from their respective places of slumber, one after another, stepping out from the shadows of death, holding broken, rusted weapons.
There were countless humanoid white bones, and also countless strangely shaped, indescribable bone undead.
These bone undead, moments before emerging from the barren Dune, seemed oblivious, just like their appearance—lifeless husks with extinguished souls.
The next moment, the sighing cold wind that swept from the deepest parts of the barren Dune, almost solidifying into a deep black aura, infused these ignorant white bones with its own soul.
Whoosh!
At this instant, wisps of ghostly fire suddenly emerged from the hollow eye sockets of these white bones, and layers of calling voices, summoning souls back, echoed in the ears of these white bones from within the sighing cold wind.
That voice, seemingly resonating directly within their souls, reverberated with shrill, maniacal laughter, "Awaken, awaken! My warriors, my servants!"
"Go, carve out the hearts of those lives you crave and resent, drink their hot blood, offer their bones as sacrifice, and I shall grant you eternal liberation!"
At this moment, the entire earth resounded with the cries of countless souls—the cries of souls that had died in battles of the past, leaping forth from every corner of the earth to inhabit their lifeless bone bodies.
The eerie, cold green ghostly fire in the hollow eye sockets of all the white bones suddenly flared, and then the endless white bones collectively turned, staring blankly towards the only place on this earth where life existed.
Gurr" Gurr ,Grr" the urgent growls of the Kobold Soldiers echoed through the deep night camp. It had discovered the unusual movement of the white bones and shouted at the top of its lungs: "Enemies! Undead! Bones attacking!"
The Kobold's screams startled the quiet camp, and eyes flashing with unusual light immediately lit up in the camp, which was on the dark side of the Dune. These were the eyes of the Gnolls and Kobolds opening; these warriors had woken up.
A pair of pupils like red lanterns also opened, and Kalon slowly stood up, looking out at the vast world.
Squinty-eyed Mage Hsiusir and those High-level Mages unaccustomed to sleeping on sand were also instantly startled awake.
Rustle, rustle, rustle.
The next moment, countless bone undead, holding rusted and broken weapons, had already rushed forward in silence. Those white bones closer to the camp even crashed head-on into the magical barrier that was hidden in the air, emitting invisible fluctuations.
Bang, bang, bang!
The collisions of these bone undead with the magical barrier stirred up transparent ripples—the fluctuations triggered by the magical barrier.
The first bone undead to charge crashed into the magical barrier, their fragile bone bodies shattering, sending white bones flying everywhere, scattered across the ground.
The subsequent undead stopped before the barrier. Bone undead with weapons swung their weapons, hacking at the thin, transparent magical barrier in the air, stirring up waves of fluctuations.
Bone undead without weapons picked up the bones of the previously scattered bone undead from the ground and hurled them at the magical barrier. The remaining white bones either clawed with their bone claws, producing a sound like fingernails scraping across a metal plate on the magical barrier.
Even the bone undead whose bodies had shattered earlier, if only a skull remained, rolled their heads and charged towards the magical barrier, driven by the chilling ghostly fire in their empty eye sockets.
In this short time, the area around the camp had been heavily surrounded by bone undead, as far as the eye could see. These bone undead were doing everything in their power to deplete the magical barrier.
"How long can the barrier last, Hsiusir?" the Red Dragon asked, looking at the Squinty-eyed mage who had approached. His tone was calm and steady, unaffected by being heavily surrounded.
The Squinty-eyed mage's expression, however, was quite serious. Although these Mages could easily shatter the bone undead before them, using magic would consume mana.
The Mages' mana was limited, while the white bones before them, at least for now, seemed almost infinite. Even if Mages could replenish consumed mana with mana crystals, if they consumed too much, it was highly possible that replenishment would not keep up with consumption.
"If the magical barrier is not instantly shattered by a powerful force, then the duration of the magical barrier only depends on the consumption rate of the mana gems in the magic array," Hsiusir replied, narrowing his eyes, then looked at the vast, overwhelming sea of bone undead outside, which almost filled every visible space.
Kalon nodded slightly. It seemed the magical barrier would not be broken in a short time. Although the dragon blood within his body urged him to breathe Dragonfire and burn these defiled creatures who dared to offend a giant dragon to ashes.
But he was not in a hurry to act. Such a large-scale resurgence of bone undead must have a mastermind behind it, either some peculiar life form or some peculiar rule phenomenon. He was searching for that mastermind hidden behind the scenes.
As long as the mastermind behind the scenes was dealt with, it would be a permanent solution. Otherwise, with such a number of bone undead, even he would have to expend a great deal of effort to deal with them, and he did not want to waste his energy.
Kalon's perception rapidly spread out. His vision passed over these ordinary monsters, searching for his target.
Magician Hiusier saw that Kalon had stopped speaking, so he sent two Mages to inspect the mana gems in the magic array for timely replacement. The rest of the Mages gathered together, ready to act.
And those Gnoll Warriors, under the command of the Gnoll leader Yug, had already erected tall tower shields behind the single-wheeled carts surrounding the camp, gripping their weapons tightly, eager to move.
The remaining Kobold Soldiers also guarded the Mages and Kalon, ready to support the Gnoll Warriors at any time.
For a moment, the entire battlefield fell into a strange silence, with only the sounds of the bone undead colliding with the magical barrier.
Kalon's true vision scanned the bone undead. The source of power and core of these bone undead were almost entirely in the ghostly fire within their eye sockets.
In Kalon's vision, the auras of these bone undead were mixed yet independent, with no special connection between them, simply a gathering of similar auras.
But Kalon knew that even flying geese leave traces; as long as there had been a connection, then an imprint would definitely be left in the world. If he didn't find it, perhaps it proved that this place was driven by a special rule.
Conversely, if he found some traces, then he could learn from the actions of a great existence who created the Analects: if he heard the path to the opponent's home in the morning, the enemy could die by evening.
Kalon's powerful mind, aided by his sub-brain, rapidly analyzed every trace seen in his true vision. Countless souls, laid bare within the bone bodies, were completely visible in his sight, and the trajectories of strong or weak soul auras emerged one by one in his eyes.
Those intersecting flowing trajectories appeared as rapidly scrolling data in Kalon's eyes. Finally, Kalon discovered a dozen of the most powerful souls among these countless white bones.
The trajectories of those powerful soul auras subtly pointed towards the direction of a certain existence—a place where a soul-powered spell had once left its soul aura and traces in the real world.
This soul aura was cold and eerie. While Kalon noted this soul aura, he also vaguely sensed the location of the owner of this soul aura, which was somewhere hundreds of miles away from Kalon and his group.
The Red Dragon's face, adorned with sharp spines, twisted into a ferocious grin, revealing his stark white fangs. His tone was chilling and filled with murderous intent, "I found you, little mouse!"
At the same moment, the dozen or so most powerful souls hidden among the endless bones, seemingly impatient with the prolonged siege, stepped forward one after another.
Clap, clap, clap,
A giant bone warrior with a single bone horn growing on its skull strode forward, crushing the bone undead in its path, and swung a massive broken blade, bringing it down fiercely on the still impregnable magic barrier.
Bang,
As the massive broken blade swung down, a layer of cold, white ghostly flame suddenly surged, striking heavily against the magic barrier.
The immense force and the corrosive ghostly flame caused the entire magic barrier to fluctuate violently, and the giant blade, repelled by this force, smashed the bone undead beside the bone giant into fragments on the ground.
A bone undead with three pairs of bone wings and only half a skull flapped its leaky wings, wobbling as it took to the air, a single eerie green ghost fire eye flickering incessantly.
A powerful death aura and yin energy were transformed into an ethereal green flame, erupting from the bones of this bone undead and colliding with the constantly swaying magic barrier.
The collision and reaction between the energies produced a sizzling sound in the air, like water dropping into hot oil.
Another bone undead resembling a giant snake's skeleton quietly darted out from the tide of bone undead, its massive bone tail suddenly lashing out like a siege ram, creating a sharp explosive sound in the air, and pulverizing the bones surrounding the barrier.
Then, with immense force, it struck heavily against the tottering magic barrier.
In this short time, the seemingly indestructible magic barrier had fallen into a precarious state, looking as if it could shatter at any moment.
The two mages, seeing the rapidly depleting magic gems, changed their expressions and quickly extended their hands, injecting their magic into the gems to barely maintain the barrier's stability.
The rest of the mages also drew their staves and scrolls, or other casting items, from their magic rings, looking seriously at Kalon, awaiting the Red Dragon's decision.
Yug, the Gnoll leader, stepped out even more menacingly, asking with high morale, "My King, should we launch an offensive?!"
In the distance, in a land of blood-colored sand, under a dense, lingering fog, through the pale moonlight, one could vaguely discern deep within this fog-shrouded area.
A gigantic golden divine spear was obliquely embedded in the ground, like an ancient, towering peak, firmly pinning the corpse of a monster with six wings, six arms, and three heads to the seemingly loose blood-colored sand.
The spear pierced through the chest of this corpse, and its entire heart was impaled by the golden divine spear; the drained blood had transformed the entire land into blood-colored sand, and countless dried traces of blood flow remained on its body.
But strangely, even after countless years of erosion and the draining of all blood from its body, this corpse still appeared vibrant, without any sign of desiccation.
Just as Kalon uttered those words, the pinned corpse suddenly opened its eyes; its black eyes, like constantly swirling chaos, had no pupils.
At this moment, a thick bolt of lightning suddenly struck down from the sky, flashing across the golden divine spear and disappearing into the corpse that had opened its eyes.
Rumble,
Kalon extended his claws to either side, his palms slightly raised upwards, and under the Red Dragon's control, the earth and Dune slowly rose, the ground churning and swelling, lifting around the edges and sinking in the middle.
The sand beneath the feet of countless bone undead attacking the magic barrier gave way, making them lose their footing and fall to the ground.
And endless Dune gathered into towers, sand towers connected into walls, and sand walls enclosed into a city. In an instant, a low city solidified from Dune suddenly rose around the camp.
Only one tall, wide city gate faced Kalon.
Even facing the impending battle, those mages couldn't help but marvel at the power wielded by the Red Dragon before them.
Even with their excellent talent, these High-level Mages all needed diligent study and hard work to possess their current power.
However, the Red Dragon before them had not cast any spells; merely by virtue of his innate talent, he had raised a small city from the ground.
Seeing this scene, the mages, even though their minds and wills were among the best of ordinary people, couldn't help but lament the unfairness of the world.
The Squinty-eyed mage also sighed in his heart; in the Red Dragon's infancy, he still felt he was stronger than him, but now that this Red Dragon had entered his adolescence for only a few years, his strength was already enough that he could only see the tip of his tail.
Only the Red Dragon's kin had long been accustomed to it; until Kalon completely failed, the Red Dragon would forever be the supreme deity in their hearts.
So the Gnoll Warriors and Kobold only looked excitedly at their master, howling and barking, wanting to launch an offensive and smash those tasteless bones.
"Leave fifty Gnoll Warriors and two hundred Kobold Soldiers to guard the camp, Yug, take the other warriors and charge with me!" The Red Dragon's crimson pupils flickered with excitement, "First, let's clean up these little mouse's offspring!"
Awoooo, woof woof woof,
The Gnoll Warriors threw down their tower shields and gathered with the Kobold Soldiers in front of the Red Dragon; spells and shamanic magic rained down from the mages and Gnoll Spellcaster onto these warriors.
Strength, agility, speed, courage, recovery—various buffs and enhancements flickered on the warriors, making them fearless.
Crash,
The constantly swaying magic barrier finally shattered under the continuous attack, but before the bone undead could rush into the low-lying small city, the living, iron-armored warriors, led by Yug, the Gnoll, charged out.
"Dragon Legion, attack!"
Yug, the Gnoll, roared, leading the charge like a single dog, his iron armor like a sturdy can smashing into the pile of bones.
He wielded the sturdy iron spear in his hand like a club, swinging it with a great whistling sound, sweeping horizontally and smashing the bone undead crowded at the forefront into fragments.
Hundreds of warriors followed closely, fearless, charging through the tide of bones, smashing one bone after another, and stomping the ghost fires in their eye sockets into pieces.
Kalon, meanwhile, leaped into the sky, transforming into his original form.
The massive Red Dragon spread his wings, soaring low over the desert; the depleted magic in the desert was forcibly extracted and gathered by him, flowing into his deep breath.
His eyes flickered with boiling flames, and a bright line of fire instantly shot from his abdomen to his chest, then through his throat.
Whoosh,
A torrent of destructive, all-consuming Dragonfire erupted from Kalon's mouth, a towering inferno infused with rolling magical currents.
The two converged and reacted, scorching the air into distortion, bringing with them a sharp, explosive wind roar, descending upon the endless tide of bone undead.
Rumble, extreme high temperature and terrifying, all-consuming flames descended simultaneously, and Kalon's domain also unfurled at the same time.
At this instant, all souls within the bones covered by Dragonfire seemed to see a corner of the sun fall to the earth; the scorching flames and high temperature instantly burned all bones into charcoal, which then scattered into ash amidst the distorted air.
These flames spread along with the air and magic; the cold negative energy was like grease and dry wood fueling the raging fire, exploding within the flames, and a line of fire, following the scent of energy, swept across, instantly engulfing an area.
The Red Dragon in the sky was like the grim reaper harvesting these bone undead, wantonly spreading destructive flames, flying and breathing his fire, again and again, round after round.
In less than fifteen minutes, flames spread everywhere across this land. The bone undead instantly turned to ashes, not even having time to conceive the thought of escape.
And the distant bone undead, seeing this scene, scattered across this Dune like terrified rabbits chased by hounds, carrying the lingering warmth of the flames.
Countless souls also found release among the bones; many souls smiled in the air before being burned into nothingness by Dragonfire, and many strange souls, at the moment the bones turned to ash, drifted away with the wind, as if they had originally been attached to the bones.
The land was a fiery hell, everywhere reduced to ash.