Rorona took the magic stone with her left hand, took a deep breath, and gripped it tightly.
Then, blood continuously seeped from her palm into the magic stone.
The heart-shaped magic stone also began to beat slowly, just like a real heart.
Rorona grit her teeth, enduring the pain.
She began to contemplate whether she should take this opportunity to fuse the magic stone into her entire body and then jump into the lava.
“Trust me,” Li Xiuman said calmly, looking at Rorona's hesitant expression. “Fuse the magic stone into your arm, and we can both survive.”
At this moment, the fire crocodiles and Firewing Beasts were already making their way up against the lava waterfall, drawing closer and closer to this floor.
“...Yes, Lord Skeleton.”
Rorona ultimately decided to trust Li Xiuman. She began to absorb the energy within the magic stone, channeling all of it into her arm bone.
The skin on her left arm began to dissolve bit by bit, followed by her muscles.
It felt as if her entire arm had been submerged in concentrated sulfuric acid.
Rorona couldn't help but cry out in pain.
The magic stone shrank in size with every beat, gradually piercing through flesh and blood to seep into Rorona's arm bone.
Li Xiuman held his breath, encouraging Rorona.
As the magic stone completely vanished, the flesh on Rorona's arm dissolved entirely, leaving behind an arm bone that resembled a ruby.
The energy within the arm bone began to spread toward Rorona's shoulder, continuing to corrode the flesh there.
Without hesitation, Li Xiuman swung his bone sword, lopping off the arm bone with a clean swoosh.
“Lord... Lord Skeleton, did I do well?” Rorona's breathing grew even weaker as she looked at Li Xiuman imploringly.
“Mhm, you did great.”
“That... That is good then.” Rorona let out a sigh of relief, appearing highly anxious that she might not have done well.
“Leave the rest to me,” Li Xiuman said, looking at the left arm bone in his hand.
Success or failure rested entirely on this next move.
With a wrench, he ripped off his own left arm bone and pressed the ruby-like left arm bone against his shoulder.
Previously, the arm bone from the Glacial Seal Sword had nearly blown him apart with energy.
Only by channeling the energy from the fused arm bone to assist Ilu in drawing the sword did he manage to avoid exploding.
Now, his Constitution stat was significantly higher than it had been back then.
With 30 Constitution points, he should be able to withstand this, right?
Moreover, he still had one Free Stat Point. In a crisis, he could always allocate it to Constitution to force his way through.
“Bone Manipulation!”
Bones began to sprout, growing to connect with the left arm bone.
A crimson energy instantly flooded his entire body.
Starting from the point of connection, his snow-white bones rapidly turned bright red.
In an instant, his shoulder blade and several ribs turned a pale red.
The intense pain made Li Xiuman's flying figure wobble, nearly causing him to plunge directly into the lava.
“Lord Skeleton!” the little vampire cried out anxiously upon seeing this. “It is too dangerous! Give the arm bone to me!”
“No! There is no way I'm spitting out something I've already swallowed!” Li Xiuman shook his head stubbornly.
He looked exactly like a child sneaking a bite of freshly cooked, piping-hot braised pork, refusing to spit it out even as blisters burned inside his mouth.
This level of pain... I can still endure it!
The crimson hue continued to spread from his left arm bone to his other bones.
However, the blood-red color of the left arm bone itself seemed to fade slightly, as if it were being diluted.
Flying with great difficulty through the agonizing pain, his spine and most of his ribs were also stained a pale red.
Red patches began to crawl across his facial bones as well.
Rorona, draped over his shoulder, was as anxious as a little kitten, constantly clawing at his bones.
The pain throughout his body did not dissipate with time; instead, it grew increasingly intense.
By now, the left half of his body had turned a light red, and the shade was steadily deepening.
Conversely, the color of the left arm bone had faded considerably.
Just when Li Xiuman thought he was about to pull through, another accident occurred.
The crimson energy actually had the audacity to spread toward his right arm bone.
It was important to note that although his right arm bone looked unremarkable, it actually contained a slumbering giant dragon.
The dormant energy inside it only seeped out slightly when he leveled up, yet even that was enough to consistently grant him a +1 to Strength.
Being provoked by this crimson energy was like igniting a powder keg.
In an instant, a torrential surge of energy roared out of his right arm bone, carrying a volume of power that was likely several times what he normally received from leveling up.
All at once, the right side of Li Xiuman's body let out an overburdened cracking sound, and fine fractures began spreading across his bones.
“Gagaga!”
No longer able to withstand the agony, he let out the raw screech of a skeleton.
Allocate points to Constitution! Hurry, allocate points to Constitution!
Li Xiuman pulled up his status panel and allocated the point to Constitution without the slightest hesitation.
Dammit, I might actually end up getting myself killed this time.
Who knew these two things would be incompatible?
A new surge of energy joined the battlefield, gently healing his wounds and soothing the pain.
However, a single point in Constitution was nowhere near enough to withstand the destruction wrought by these two opposing forces.
At this point, the two energies—one on the left, one on the right—collided repeatedly inside his chest.
He absolutely needed more Free Stat Points to save his life!
In this moment of crisis, Li Xiuman, who had already died once before, quickly regained his composure.
Level up—he needed to level up!
Only by leveling up to acquire more Constitution points and Free Stat Points could he survive this.
His experience bar was only just past the halfway mark.
This single point in Constitution should buy him some time before his body completely collapsed.
“Vampire, listen up. We are going all out now,” Li Xiuman shouted, still carrying the Dark Mage Rorona on his shoulder. “Support me as we fight our way through. It is the only way both of us can survive.”
“As long as you can live, Lord Skeleton, I have long been willing to give my life.”
Li Xiuman wheeled around and charged straight toward the swarm of pursuing Firewing Beasts.
He raised his wand. With his body currently so unstable, he didn't dare recklessly pull out any ribs to fashion into a bone sword.
Fortunately, the left arm bone he had just severed was still usable.
Li Xiuman grabbed the left arm bone. It writhed and elongated, transforming into a slender bone sword.
Seeing Li Xiuman turn back and charge toward them, the chests of the Firewing Beasts swelled in unison.
Then, barrages of molten fireballs spewed from their mouths, raining down toward Li Xiuman to engulf him.
“Tier 1 Magic, Water Wall!”
A magic circle unfurled, and water coalesced into a wall in front of him. It blocked a massive chunk of the fireballs, evaporating into thick white steam.
Li Xiuman plunged headfirst into the steam, charging toward the nearest Firewing Beast.
Sensing him, the Firewing Beast let out a sharp screech and spread its wings to charge at him, its body igniting with flames like a mantle of fiery feathers.
“Shadow Bind!”
Shadows manifested as tentacles and wrapped around the Firewing Beast, halting it for a brief instant.
Seizing the opportunity, Li Xiuman swung his bone sword, leaving a trail of sword light as the blade, enveloped in flowing wind, slashed heavily down on one of the Firewing Beast's wings.
Scalding blood sprayed into the air as the wing was chopped off.
Not pausing to wipe the blood off himself, Li Xiuman pointed his wand at the falling Firewing Beast.
“Tier 1 Magic, Spiral Spike!”
Yellow and blue magic circles expanded. A whirlwind carrying a spiral stone spike tore through the air with a piercing howl, shooting toward the Firewing Beast.
It pierced clean through the Firewing Beast's head with a dull pop.
[Ding! Killed Firewing Beast lv18, Experience +440]
Glancing at the notification, Li Xiuman flapped his Bone Wings and soared higher into the air.
One fireball after another shot toward his rising figure.
Li Xiuman precisely controlled every single bone in his body, twisting and weaving through the rain of fireballs while dancing with his sword and wand.
Rate on N.U.
