A Crazy Character

"Clang! Clang!"

After sending the hooded woman flying with a single strike, the Undead Knight approached again with heavy steps.

Although he didn't understand why, Greg quickly adjusted his stance and stared at it warily.

However, after getting close, the Undead Knight did not attack. Instead, it stopped a few steps in front of Greg, dropped to one knee, bowed its head, and propped its greatsword against the ground.

"Is this gesture... a sign of submission?"

Greg was stunned for a moment, then his gaze swept over his Dark-Erosion Armament, which was emitting a deep, profound aura of darkness.

"Is it because of this armor? Or rather, because of this dark-attribute mana I'm displaying now?"

He immediately associated it with this power from Nightmare.

"Does dark-attribute mana have some sort of unexpected suppression effect on undead creatures? It seems I'll have to ask Nightmare exactly what's going on once I get back to the dungeon."

"Lowly human..."

A voice filled with resentment and shock came from the direction of the stone wall.

Huang Quan used her inhuman arms to support herself as she slowly broke free from the wall she had been embedded in, rubble falling away.

The gray robe on her body was completely shredded, revealing the eerie form beneath—a mixture of withered tissue and deep purple crystals. There were several obvious cracks on her chest and shoulders, but no liquid flowed out.

Just as Greg expected, the undead had an extremely high resistance to pure physical impact. The Undead Knight's strike, which was powerful enough to shatter boulders, had not caused any structural heavy damage to her.

"It seems you also hide some... special power within you."

Huang Quan's hood was gone. Her face, composed of shattered crystals, looked toward Greg. The crimson soulfire flickered wildly behind the cracks, a mixture of hatred and a certain resolve.

"But no matter what... for the sake of the Demon King who once saved me from the humans' hunting and torture... I will definitely kill you today!!"

Before she had even finished speaking, the death mana around her erupted, far more violent than before!

Sickly green light seeped from the cracks in the broken crystals. She no longer used long-range spells; instead, she concentrated her mana in her arms. Sharp, blade-like purple-black bone spikes grew from her inhuman knuckles. Her entire body turned into a gray-green blur, lunging at Greg once more with a suicidal madness!

"She's in Phase 2 already?!"

Greg's eyes sharpened. Instead of retreating, he advanced!

The Undead Knight kneeling beside him seemed to receive a silent command. It suddenly rose, swinging its greatsword to block Huang Quan's flank.

Greg timed his move perfectly. Shadows condensed on his left fist, covered by the Dark-Erosion Armament. He delivered a vicious uppercut, slamming it into the jaw crystals that Huang Quan had slightly exposed during her charge!

Bang! Crack!

The Undead Knight's greatsword and Greg's heavy punch landed almost simultaneously!

Huang Quan was sent flying again, her back slamming heavily into the stone wall once more. The sound of shattering was clearly audible.

But Greg's attack didn't stop there. The moment his fist made contact, he thought to himself:

"Void Erosion!"

A wisp of extremely subtle dark-attribute mana, like a maggot on a bone, quietly seeped into the cracks of the crystals on Huang Quan's body through Greg's fist.

[Target has been afflicted with "Weakness"!]

[Target has been afflicted with "Paralysis"!]

[Target has been afflicted with "Confusion"!]

System notifications flashed through his mind.

Greg felt a sense of relief and prepared to retreat, waiting for the erosion effects to stack.

With a thought, he deactivated the Dark-Erosion Armament, which was continuously consuming mana. After all, the opponent had already been put into the erosion state and was currently being suppressed against the wall by the Undead Knight. It wouldn't be long before she died on her own.

However, the very second after Greg deactivated his armament—

"Aaaaagh—!!!"

Huang Quan let out an inhuman screech. Ignoring the Undead Knight's greatsword held against her neck, she lunged her left hand—with its bone claws as sharp as knives—toward her own right shoulder blade.

That was exactly where Greg's Void Erosion had hit!

Rip—!

A sickening tearing sound rang out!

She actually tore a large chunk of flesh from her shoulder—covered in crystals and stained with subtle gray spots from the shadow mana—along with part of her bone, and threw it away without hesitation!

There was no blood at the wound, only churning green acid and more jagged crystal cross-sections.

Then, the five fingers of her free right hand suddenly clamped together. A ball of violently churning, pungent-smelling dark green acid instantly condensed in her palm!

With lightning speed, this hand bypassed the greatsword's block and, like a sharp drill, stabbed fiercely into the Undead Knight's breastplate right in front of her!

Sizzle—!!!

The strong acid reacted violently with the enchanted armor, making a terrifying corrosive sound.

Huang Quan's hand actually penetrated the Undead Knight's breastplate protection, stabbing straight inside!

The moment her palm sank in, the ethereal blue soulfire in the Undead Knight's eye sockets trembled violently, letting out a silent wail.

"Give it... to me!!"

Huang Quan shouted harshly, and her arm suddenly pulled back!

In her hand, which was smoking from acid corrosion, she tightly gripped a violently burning core of ethereal blue soulfire.

This was the Undead Knight's Soul Core, the very source of its existence!

Without a moment's hesitation, just as Greg tried to stop her, Huang Quan opened her mouth and swallowed that ball of ethereal blue soulfire in one gulp!

A heart-stopping sound of swallowing.

Boom—!

Then, a violent shockwave exploded outward with Huang Quan at the center!

The Undead Knight's body, having lost its core, collapsed like a skin without bones, its armor scattering across the ground.

And Huang Quan, having swallowed the Soul Core, underwent a terrifying mutation.

Her body swelled in size, and the purple crystals on her surface became even more hideously protruding. The light seeping from the cracks was no longer green, but a chaotic glow of mixed ethereal blue and crimson.

The aura she emitted was more than a level stronger than before!

But the price was that her form became even more distorted and unstable, as if she might disintegrate at any moment.

"Die—!!"

Having completed her devouring-strengthening, Huang Quan didn't give Greg a chance to react. Her form turned into a whirlwind of death as she lunged at him again!

Faster and more powerful!

"Damn it, I trusted game knowledge too much. I forgot that in reality, undead can use self-mutilation to get rid of debuffs!"

Greg cursed inwardly.

The distance between them was too short. Activating Shadow-Step required a tiny window of time, but Huang Quan's lunge was completely unreserved!

In the nick of time, Greg's pupils constricted.

"Insubstantiality!"

His body instantly became translucent.

Huang Quan's claws, sharp enough to disembowel him, passed through his phantom image once more.

But Greg also seized the moment when her attack missed and her body lunged forward. He solidified again and slapped another Void Erosion onto her back!

[Target has been afflicted with "Mana Disorder"!]

[Target has been afflicted with "Life Drain"!]

However, just as the notification appeared, Huang Quan seemed to have anticipated it, or perhaps she simply didn't care about the subsequent damage.

She let out a cry of agony, but her movements didn't stop. The bone spikes on her other hand stabbed backward toward the marked spot on her back, tearing at it fiercely once again!

Another large chunk of flesh with gray spots was discarded by her!

Because of this, her body became even more fragmented. Huge hollows appeared on her left shoulder and back, and death energy continuously leaked out. The speed of her repair was nowhere near fast enough to keep up with the destruction.

But the crimson soulfire in her eyes burned even more frantically, locking onto Greg with undiminished aggression!

"This extreme way of fighting... I guess only the undead can pull this off!"

Greg activated Shadow-Step again, barely pulling away.

His face turned slightly pale. Using his skills consecutively along with two instances of Void Erosion had consumed a massive amount of mana.

Although he could barely manage one more Void Erosion, if it was countered a third time by her self-mutilation, he would be at an absolute disadvantage with his mana nearing exhaustion.

"No, I have to change my approach!"

Greg's mind raced as his gaze swept over the remains of the Undead Knight on the ground, then toward Huang Quan, whose aura was even more violent despite her broken state.

"Right, since she's an undead, she must have a Soul Core too! If I can just find a way to destroy it, I can end this instantly!"

A dangerous plan instantly took shape in his mind.