Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Death was never the end, but rather a new beginning for some.
Yang Ku saw a fallen familiar trembling uncontrollably on the ground as if it was having a seizure. Blood began seeping out of the cracks on its peeling skin, then bones burrowed out of the carcass through its wounds one after another, with tendons still firmly stuck on them.
The familiar’s bones began stacking themselves up on top of one another into the shape it had originally assumed when it was still alive.
The skeletal creature’s teeth glistened like pearls. Flames burned brightly in its empty eye sockets. It let out a heavy snort through its nostrils.
A sea of bones now stretched before Yang Ku as far as the eye could see.
“What’s going on?” someone asked, trembling.
Skeletons now emerged from the ground and bared their fangs and claws at the aquatic invaders.
One of the trainers had just witnessed the death of his familiar and was still mourning it when suddenly, his familiar sprang back to life and lunged at one of the sea monsters without any care for its own wellbeing, slashing at it with its fangs and claws.
All the familiars that had fallen on the battlefield were granted a new lease on life as part of an undead army of monsters. Most of the sea monsters were caught off guard and pinned to the ground by the undead monsters before they could even react.
The battlefield was filled with the sickening crunching sounds of flesh and bone being chewed on by the undead army. The skeletons’ inscrutable faces were splattered with blood as they feasted on their aquatic assailants.
Yang Ku, who was in charge of the entire operation, gazed at the skeletons and said to one of his men, “I want a record of these monster’s current stats. Compare them to their original stats when they were still alive.”
“Understood,” said his aide.
“How did these creatures come back to life?” asked one of the high-ranking officers. At first, most of the soldiers were a bit apprehensive about the undead monsters, but when they saw that they were all targeting the sea monsters, they let out a collective sigh of relief. They didn’t really care how it had come about. The only important thing was that the skeletons were on their side.
“This must be the Skeleton Tyrant’s doing,” muttered Yang Ku solemnly.
“You mean Gao Peng’s skeleton?”
Most of them had been wondering if Gao Peng’s skeleton familiar possessed the ability to bring the dead back to life. Now, they were more than sure that the Skeleton Tyrant had to be pulling the strings behind the undead army. It would also seem that its ability didn’t have a time limit…
Gao Peng had anticipated that Dumby’s abilities would become the talk of the town, with everyone wondering if they were just as inhumane as its appearance. However, he wasn’t too bothered by it. There was no way he could keep Dumby’s abilities a secret forever. He had to reveal them eventually. Incidentally, this was the perfect chance to do so.
This was a battle between humans and monsters. Fortunately, Gao Peng and his familiars were fighting on the same side as the humans.
It was no secret that the resurrection of the dead had always been a taboo in most societies.
Gao Peng decided to just get it over with before anyone started writing slanderous articles about Dumby.
“General, should we call in an airstrike on the coral monster?”
“No, that’s too risky,” said Yang Ku, waving his hand. A bomb’s explosion would be mitigated considerably out in the ocean. It wouldn’t have much effect on the creatures there.
If a bomb was dropped amid the chaos of the war between the sea monsters and their familiars, there would most certainly be casualties on both sides.
Yang Ku wouldn’t resort to deploying any weapons of mass destruction unless it was absolutely necessary.
The humans were slowly gaining the upper hand on the battlefield with the aid of the undead army.
A huge yellow creature began turning around in the water. Waves sloshed around its body until it disappeared into the ocean without a trace.
On a huge rock near the shore, a huge sabertooth tiger spewed flames at the water, setting it on fire. This had absolutely no effect on the yellow creature.
Suddenly, a tail collided with the Savage Sabertooth Tiger, smacking it into the water. The tiger tried to swipe at the yellow creature with its claws, but the creature nimbly evaded the attack and slammed its massive body against the tiger, causing it to spin about uncontrollably in the water.
The Savage Sabertooth Tiger tried to regain its balance. It madly flailed its limbs about, hoping to swim back to the shore before its assailant struck again.
The sea was where the yellow creature reigned supreme. The Savage Sabertooth Tiger thrashed helplessly in the water. When it had already paddled some distance towards the shore, a huge wave pushed it even further away. The tiger’s desperate yelping could be heard in the confusion of the waves.
In the next second, the Savage Sabertooth Tiger was pulled into the sea by its attacker.
A 16-foot-tall black tortoise leaped into the water upon seeing what had just happened. It belonged to a famous Southeast Asian trainer named the Black Saint.
This was his and his familiar’s codename.
The Sandshadow Carpet Shark had sunk its fangs into the Savage Sabertooth Tiger’s leg and was now dragging it down into the ocean’s depths.
This is such an effective way of dealing with landlubbers, thought the Sandshadow Carpet Shark gleefully.
Suddenly, there was a sharp pang of pain on its tail, as if something had stung it. Its tail hurt a few more times…
Turning around, it could see a strange-looking creature behind it, all white from tip to toe. It looked like an octopus, but there was a strange spectral flame burning in its eye sockets. Its tentacles lashed out at the carpet shark like whips.
At first, the Sandshadow Carpet Shark didn’t wish to engage it. However, its tail was now hurting so badly that it couldn’t help but release the Savage Sabertooth Tiger’s leg from its jaws. Upon feeling the carpet shark’s jaws loosen around its leg, the tiger quickly turned around and rammed into its assailant.
The tortoise named Black Saint reached the tiger at that moment. Even in its domain, there was no way the Sandshadow Carpet Shark would be able to take on two Lord-tier monsters on its own.
Reluctantly, it turned around and swam back into the ocean.
It decided not to waste any more of its time fighting such difficult prey.
The Lord-tier sea monsters began to pull back. In contrast with other lower-tiered monsters, their relationship with the King Coral Monster wasn’t unlike that between an aircraft carrier and a cruiser.
While capable of working in tandem, both parties weren’t symbiotically dependent on each other to survive.
A Lord-tier sea monster rarely had any concept of sacrificing oneself for the “greater good.” When threatened, they would run away faster than any Commander-tier monster.
With the Lord-tier monsters pulling back, the rest of the Commander and Elite-tier monsters had no choice but to retreat as well, knowing that they wouldn’t be able to keep up the offense on their own.
They were now entering the final stages of the battle. Soon, it was time for the humans to reap the fruits of their victory.
“It’s finally over,” breathed some of the trainers.
“That island-looking monster is swimming away!”
Some were pointing at the King Coral Monster, which was gradually sinking beneath the waves in the distance.
“Take the King Eel’s carcass back. That will be all,” said Gao Peng. Someone had invited him to a victory feast, which he politely declined.
The King Eel’s carcass was the only thing that had any value. Everything else was simply not worth Gao Peng’s attention. However, the real prize was the three-year tax exemption policy that the Yangcheng government had promised them.
Goldie didn’t follow Gao Peng back home. Instead, it decided to stay behind and pick up all the fish carcasses left behind on the battlefield. It was using a pair of tweezers to facilitate the process.
“Five hundred, one thousand, fifteen hundred, two thousand…” counted Goldie happily as it gathered up all the fish lying on the ground.
