Undead Mage: I Have a Skeleton Clone

Chapter 795 - 509: [Soul Stripping], Demon Tower and Giant Dragon Mount!_2

Lately, Fang Zhou had been constantly fighting out in the field, so he hadn’t had time to properly deduce and perfect his Soul Series skill tree.

So far, he had only developed one brand-new Soul Series skill: [Soul Stripping].

Soul Stripping, as its name implied, could strip an enemy’s soul from their body or, at the very least, loosen the connection between their soul and flesh.

It was a control-type spell.

By itself, it didn’t deal much damage to creatures of flesh and blood, but it did have a certain tearing and expelling effect on exposed, singular Spirit Bodies. However, if combined with other skills capable of inflicting heavy damage upon the soul to form a skill combo, it would become another trump card in Fang Zhou’s arsenal.

The inspiration for the Soul Stripping skill had actually come from his Clone.

Previously, the Clone had spent a great deal of Soul Power and contribution points deducing the Soul Silence Brand skill to better counter Ghosts and other such Undead-like spirit creatures. Its combat effectiveness during the great battle with the Ghost Lord had been quite impressive.

If the Clone had such a specialized anti-Spirit Body skill, how could his main body go without one?

After all, among the various types of Abyssal Demons, although the vast majority were physical demons of flesh and blood, there were also Spirit Body types like Soul Judge Demons and Soul Binding Demons.

Fang Zhou had specifically developed Soul Stripping to avoid being caught unprepared should he encounter Spirit Body creatures in upcoming battles.

Furthermore, he drew upon his previous research on the Soul-Binding Gem left behind by Naraku’s remnant soul, Vladimir. Combining this with his own understanding of Soul Stripping and other Soul Series skills, he replicated several Soul Binding Crystals. These crystals could use their internal Rune Arrays to effectively suppress and bind Soul Bodies.

Whether they would be useful or not, it was always good to be prepared.

***

It had to be said that Tiamat was truly a noble-blooded Black Gem Young Dragon.

Its speed was far greater than that of ordinary Mage Mounts.

After a rapid march, Fang Zhou quickly arrived at the Demon Tower troop assembly point indicated by the coordinates.

Hiding in the bushes outside the high tower, he sent a message to the military’s prior reconnaissance team. Fang Zhou waited for a few minutes but received no response.

He frowned and circled the tower, only finding some distress signals left by the scouts.

It seems these scouts ran into trouble, which also means the demons know their position has been exposed.

Lieutenant Colonel Shen Zhongyun had repeatedly warned that this wave of demons possessed Sacrificial Abilities. To prevent the enemy from taking desperate measures and performing some kind of sacrifice, he had to enter the tower and eliminate them as quickly as possible.

A cruel smile touched Fang Zhou’s lips.

Since stealth plan A has failed, I can only execute stealth plan B, which I’m best at.

As long as I kill all the witnesses, who can say it wasn’t a successful stealth operation?

He swung the Soul Shattering Bone Staff, summoning an Artificial Undead Army fully equipped for ranged and close-quarters combat, and then entered the Demon Tower.

He activated his Soul Eagle Eye skill, trying to extend his Perception to cover the entire tower.

He heard it—a very subtle, almost imperceptible sound coming from two floors below ground. These abnormal sounds had been deliberately masked and concealed, mixed with breathing sounds of varying characteristics.

The breathing indicated powerful physiques, the kind only high-energy life forms could produce!

There were at least a hundred of them!

Looks like this is a big catch!

Despite noticing the issue, Fang Zhou remained composed; in a combat state, his emotional control was exceptionally strong.

Suddenly, gray fog swirled around Fang Zhou as a demon erupted from beneath the floorboards.

It initially appeared as a slender, faceless humanoid.

But soon, its body swelled, bursting its clothes and tearing its skin. It revealed bulging, scarlet muscles, and its head touched the ceiling. In just a few breaths, the faceless creature had transformed into a burly troll.

Fang Zhou watched the troll coldly. By the time it finished its transformation, the gray fog he had emitted had already filled the entire floor of the tower.

The next moment, the rapidly spreading gray fog concealed Fang Zhou’s figure as it swallowed the hulking troll.

Immediately, the floor vibrated. This wasn’t an attack from Fang Zhou; rather, the troll had collapsed.

Fang Zhou’s gray mist was a mixture of Undead Sky Screen and the Poison Cloud Skill. The Poison Cloud Skill, having been enhanced to the peak of the Bronze Upper-Tier, was terrifyingly toxic.

The hulking troll clearly didn’t have much resistance to Corrosive Poison and had unknowingly inhaled too much of the toxic gas during its transformation.

Thus, before Fang Zhou even had to make a move, his enemy fainted and fell to the ground.

The troll’s fall seemed to set off a chain reaction. Fang Zhou could clearly hear even more intense sounds coming from beneath the entire tower.

With [Soul Eagle Eye] active, Fang Zhou saw hundreds of powerful yet bizarre life forms surging up from underground.

Not only that, he glanced out the tower window.

At this moment, the sky had changed.

The clouds no longer flowed, and the withered trees covering the wasteland suddenly froze in place. Everything outside the tower became "flat," like a game texture.

The defense mechanism of Beast Fighting City has been triggered. They’ve activated ’Prism Space,’ isolating the space where this tower is located...

Demons? This is human territory!

What put Fang Zhou at ease was the knowledge that he had already honed his strength long before encountering this new danger.

Fang Zhou checked his personal terminal, found that communications were normal, and relaxed completely.

He quickly walked over to the troll that he had already taken down.

Under Fang Zhou’s [Soul Eagle Eye], this Abyssal Troll Descendant’s body contained abundant Life Energy. Since the creature had already attacked him, Fang Zhou was well within his rights to neutralize it.

With a snap of his fingers, the Six-armed Snake Demon Warrior was summoned. Its five fingers, like steel blades, pierced into the broad muscles of the troll’s back.

[Corpse Armor] activated. The burly troll instantly shrank like a deflated balloon, withering from a towering giant into a gaunt, skeletal figure.

This troll was not dead, merely incapacitated by the Six-armed Snake Demon Warrior and left in an extremely weakened state.

After dealing with the assailant, the gray mist shrouding the tower dispersed.

Fang Zhou looked toward the doorway and said, "Come out. I’m Fang Zhou from the Sea City Military Academy. It’s safe for now."

CRACK.

A floorboard was pushed aside, and a thin, middle-aged man in a Longxia military uniform, covered in wounds, rolled out onto the ground.

Struggling to his feet, he saw the weakened troll on the floor and the completely unharmed Fang Zhou, his expression one of utter astonishment.

Before the middle-aged man could speak, Fang Zhou asked, "Identify yourself, Second Lieutenant."

Fang Zhou held the Soul Shattering Bone Staff in his right hand and a Magic Book in his left. Pale Spiritual Fire flickered in his pupils, his Mage Robe billowed behind him, and the gray fog around his body swirled like a coiled tide, ready to surge forward.

The thin man instinctively swallowed.

He was actually feeling an intense sense of oppression from a mere student of the Sea City Military Academy!

The thin man immediately explained, "I am Second Lieutenant Wang Gang of the Beast Fighting City reconnaissance team, under orders to scout this Demon Tower troop assembly point. This is my identification code."

After verifying Wang Gang’s identification code and confirming it was correct, Fang Zhou nodded slightly. He handed Wang Gang a Healing Potion while asking the most crucial questions.

"What did you encounter? Why are you in such a sorry state? What is the highest combat power of the Abyssal Demons in this High Tower Base? How many are there?"

Wang Gang took several large gulps of the Healing Potion. After his injuries stabilized, he caught his breath and said, "Reporting to Lieutenant Fang Zhou, according to our current intelligence, these Abyssal Demons do not exceed the Silver Tier in strength, but they possess extremely powerful Sacrificial Summoning abilities. They’ve already opened a micro Abyssal Gate, and a demon noble has entered this battlefield. Their combat power is too formidable; my teammates and I were no match for them. After our tracks were discovered, we could only scatter and flee."