Translator: AtlasStudios Editor: AtlasStudios
Rhode had his reasons to be extremely vigilant against this Undead Keeper. Ordinary undead creatures were mainly weak in their defenses as their bones were usually hidden under a thin layer of skin. Although some of the zombies had thicker fleshes and were tougher, this Undead Keeper was on a whole new level. It had an extremely thick and hard body that consisted of countless corpses. Ordinary blades would get stuck and couldn’t be retrieved after slashing into it. Furthermore, fire attacks wouldn’t be effective against it due to repulsive green blood flowing under the disgusting flesh. The Undead Keeper would squirt the venomous blood from its body to extinguish the flames. However, this would make matters worse as once the blood evaporated in the flames, the venomous fluid would turn into mist instantly.
Apart from these features, the Undead Keeper possessed great strength. Although its four arms seemed large and clumsy, the sharp blades it held were huge threats. The only flaw this Undead Keeper had was its slow movement speed. However, the Undead Keeper had a magical steel chain which would capture its prey as soon as it sensed an enemy taking advantage of his slow movement. Not only that, its twin heads could spurt ice breaths and it had strong magical resistance.
In the game, Rhode’s formidable group failed a few attempts in this Castel Plateau Ruins. One of the attempts failed miserably under the hands of this damned monster. As soon as Rhode’s group faced this monster, he subconsciously laid out a perfect anti-undead creature formation. However, instead of blasting this monster to bits, its blood evaporated into a mist that enveloped everyone. The venomous mist defeated a large portion of Rhode’s men in the blink of an eye. Then, before Rhode noticed, this monster had lashed its steel chain at their Healer and devoured her entirely. Yes, if Mini Bubble Gum were beside Rhode right now, perhaps she would be as eager as Rhode to seek revenge.
The Undead Keeper’s strange abilities and characteristics along with the powerful venomous mist exceeded the expectations of Rhode’s group. Other than these, the Undead Keeper had a ruthless, earth-shattering move. Not only could it deal physical damage to the enemies around it, the giant, black sunken ground it left would release a never-ending swarm of undead creatures that even Rhode wasn’t able to defend against. Their first attempt ended in tragedy. But this one mistake was definitely enough. For their second attempt, everyone utilized freezing and lightning spells to curb the Undead Keeper’s movements before blasting it entirely with everything they had.
Due to this, this monster left a deep impression on Rhode’s mind. To be frank, if the Country of Darkness had such a monster in their army, perhaps Rhode would have a difficult time dealing with them. However, apart from the Castel Plateau Ruins, Rhode had never met a monster similar to this. Rhode suspected that this might possibly be a monster that was created by the Necromancer.
However, this Undead Keeper was much easier to deal with now because Rhode couldn’t sense the mightiness it had from the game. Its miserable body was filled with fresh wounds. Furthermore, judging from the metal blades and pikes stuck in the Undead Keeper’s body and the remains of Construct Guards scattered across the ground, it wasn’t hard to guess how badly it had been damaged.
This was a great opportunity for Rhode. The reason why he didn’t want Anne to attack was because this monster was truly a troublesome one. Rhode didn’t have the time to explain the strategies in detail because the Necromancer was bound to be aware of their whereabouts. While Rhode would be dealing with the Undead Keeper, Anne would be responsible for the critters that would appear from the Undead Keeper’s tricky ‘earth-shattering attack’.
“Anne, take note that once the Undead Keeper raises its arms high, you must retreat instantly. Also, you must be careful because many undead creatures will emerge from the sunken ground it smashes. I’ll leave those undead creatures to you. Remember to keep a distance from it.” Rhode spoke from his rich experience.
In the game, many of his men had forgotten that this underground city was actually hovering in midair and falling in the sunken hole of the abyss eventually led to their utter defeat. Although Rhode wasn’t worried about Anne’s reflexes in battle, he was worried that this young lady would charge forward blindly.
“Okay, Leader.” Anne nodded and got into position.
Although Anne didn’t experience everything Rhode had, she felt that this situation was rather unusual from Rhode’s tone. As for Celia and Celestina, Rhode had notified them using their spiritual connections of the critters that would appear later. Then, Rhode focused his attention on the Undead Keeper before him.
At this moment, the Undead Keeper discovered Rhode’s group. It turned around and howled furiously while taking slow, wide steps.
After its battle with the Construct Guards, the Undead Keeper’s staggering movement was even slower than usual. However, Rhode continued to stay watchful because he knew that it wasn’t its speed that dominated.
It was its strength.
In a blink of an eye, Rhode darted forward in a string of afterimages and arrived at the Undead Keeper’s feet. Rhode sprung into mid-air while the slow-moving Undead Keeper just lifted his swords and crushed the ground.
But the Undead Keeper’s dominance in strength proved itself because Rhode felt a powerful stream of air sweeping towards him as the sword brandished downwards, which forced him off his balance and blew him away.
“Ahh!” The group screamed in fear.
However, Rhode was ready for this. As he was swept away by the powerful stream of air, he extended his arm with a card in his hand. Rhode crushed the card and held the fragments to his chest.
A pair of translucent spiritual wings emerged on his back and forcefully flapped against the powerful stream of air. Then, Rhode turned into a bolt of lightning and darted towards the Undead Keeper.
“What’s that?” Delno widened his eyes in astonishment.
As an Angel who could see through someone’s spirit, Delno discovered that there were two spirits in Rhode’s body! Furthermore, these two spirits were fused perfectly as though they were one!
How is this possible? Why would such a silly thing happen?
As these questions popped up in Delno’s mind, Rhode had arrived at the Under Keeper’s side while gripping his daggers. Perhaps since the Undead Keeper had detected the holy powers of the Spirit Bird that had fused with Rhode, it reacted much quicker this time. The Undead Keeper snarled furiously and brandished its sword upwards. Rhode dodged the whizzing sword blade like a nimble bird and pierced his daggers into the Undead Keeper’s arm. Then, Rhode fluttered his wings and soared, dragging two deep gashes across the Undead Keeper’s body.
Perhaps any living creature would have collapsed from this pain, but undead creatures had lost their ability to sense these things. The Undead Keeper twisted its body and slashed its other three swords.
Rhodes’s expression sunk slightly because he knew what it was up to. Sometimes, keeping things simple was the best solution. Although the Undead Keeper’s slow reactions gave Rhode space to maneuver, its powerful strength could crush any armored knight, not to mention a Spirit Swordsman like Rhode.
Rhode rolled to dodge its attack and retreated swiftly. At the same time, the other three swords smashed the ground.
Boom! The powerful crash shook everyone’s feet while filthy dust dispersed and enveloped everyone. At this moment, a thick arm extended out of the smoke towards Rhode.
But all of a sudden, a shadow whizzed and bound the Undead Keeper’s arm tightly.
