Chapter 163: Wrathful Soul Walker
Li Wen remained unfazed, enduring the searing pain as she summoned “The Primordial Codex of Ending”.
“Poem of Paradise! Gift of Temperance!”
A warm aura dispelled the walking corpse’s abnormal frenzy, simultaneously alleviating the soul-tearing, brain-churning agony Li Wen felt. However, even so, her life had plummeted to the dangerous kill line of 50%.
The girl let out a cold snort. Instead of retreating from the charging walking corpse, she advanced. Gripping her dagger with both hands, she unleashed Spell-less Arc Light, then struck towards the walking corpse’s head.
This would be her tenth attack against the walking corpse. Under the effect of the blood decay, the light-enveloped blade successfully severed half of the walking corpse’s head. Corrupt, foul-smelling blood gushed from all its wounds, especially from the massive gap in its head.
Li Wen nimbly dodged, then watched the walking corpse, which had suffered damage enough to kill an ordinary Transcendent, collapse powerlessly onto the tavern floor. She casually cast Divine Prayer on herself, restoring her life to 90%, with the remaining 10% regenerating slowly over the next ten seconds.
This way, she would face the next enemy at full health, at the very least.
Her gaze was fixed on the second-floor staircase. Compared to the brute force without wisdom of the walking corpse, the Transcendent of Decayed Lineage hidden in the shadows was the true enemy to be wary of. Being able to control a walking corpse of this strength implied that, without corresponding magical items, the opponent should at least be at Stage Two.
As the temperature in the dim, chaotic tavern plummeted, Li Wen instinctively thought it was the cold wind from outside. However, her Transcendent instincts screamed a warning.
A wisp of extremely faint white mist rapidly penetrated the walls, covering everything it touched with a layer of bone-chilling frost. Li Wen slipped underfoot and sidestepped a few steps, narrowly avoiding being hit directly by the mist. Even so, half of her cloak and a few strands of her hair that had been lightly touched by the mist were covered in a thin layer of ice. If she had remained in place, she would likely have been frozen into an ice sculpture by now.
Without giving Li Wen time to think, the faint white mist churned as if blown by the wind, and a short sword forged from bone stabbed directly at her.
Li Wen attempted to block with the Raven Feather Dagger, but to her surprise, the bone short sword passed through the dagger’s sharp edge as if it didn’t exist in reality, continuing towards her without stopping.
At the critical moment, Li Wen ignited the candle she had prepared, dedicating herself to light and fire!
With a 1.5-3 times increase in physical ability, the rapid thrust appeared incredibly slow to Li Wen. She simply shifted one step to the right and easily dodged it. The bone short sword seemed to have not anticipated this, only stopping its thrust after flying a distance before turning and aiming at Li Wen again.
But since even the first, most opportune sneak attack had failed to harm Li Wen, all subsequent actions by the enemy were merely acts of defiance in her eyes.
After several rounds of attacks, the opponent also realized this and ceased the meaningless offensive.
Li Wen coldly watched the bone short sword, or rather, the Transcendent holding the short sword who could not be observed by normal means.
From this brief contact, she already understood the opponent’s background.
“Wrathful Soul Walker,” Li Wen said softly. It was a Stage Three Transcendent class of the Death Soul Path of the Decayed Lineage. Their ability to control ice mist, summon bone short swords, and manipulate walking corpses confirmed this.
As for why it was merely Stage Three, it was because the strength displayed by the opponent was not enough to make Li Wen feel threatened by death. If the opponent were a Stage Four Necromancer, she would have had no chance of victory when facing the walking corpse earlier, as the gap between Stage Three and Stage Four is even greater than that between Stage One and Stage Three.
Even so, the Wrathful Soul Walker was a very troublesome opponent. Not only did they possess a certain degree of close combat ability, but they were also proficient in various necromancy spells, summonings, and rituals. Most importantly, after Transcendent beings of the Death Soul Path chose to advance to Wrathful Soul Walker, they would master a trait that allowed them to transform into a vengeful spirit. When this trait was triggered, the Wrathful Soul Walker in their spectral form could not be observed by the naked eye, could easily pass through buildings and obstacles not sealed by mana, and was immune to most attacks and magic.
This was an extremely rare and powerful method among all Stage Three Transcendent classes of all lineages, with very few ways to counter it.
But unfortunately, Li Wen happened to possess the ability to counter this method.
“Poem of Paradise.”
An invisible force spread out from Li Wen. Upon touching the bone short sword, it was as if an unseen hand lifted an invisible curtain, revealing a pale-faced woman in a neat outfit beneath the curtain. She held the short sword in her right hand and a black bone chain in her left, her stiff, emotionless eyes resembling those of the dead. A cold aura, a mixture of spices and the scent of corpses, only began to spread at this moment.
At Wilson’s mansion, Li Wen had encountered a ghost that could not be touched by normal weapons or spells. But under the purifying grace of Gift of Temperance, which treated all beings equally, even a ghost’s ethereal state would be forcibly dispelled.
This was precisely the confidence Li Wen had in remaining here to face a Stage Three Wrathful Soul Walker alone, rather than quickly escaping during her physical enhancement time.
The moment the opponent materialized, Li Wen had completed her prayer and launched a Divine Strike.
The woman, having just escaped her spectral state and before she could react, was directly hit by the divine ability. Seizing this opportunity, Li Wen quickly unleashed a Spell-less Arc Light. The LV2 Divine Strike dealt damage equivalent to 30% of Li Wen’s current life. This damage seemed somewhat negligible against a Stage Three Transcendent, but the fact that it could cause a five-second daze was why Li Wen chose to use this ability.
However, a daze was still just a daze, not a stun or silence. The opponent gritted her teeth and forcefully cast a spell.
A huge skull appeared out of thin air, opening its mouth of withered fangs to meet Li Wen.
Necromancy: Undead Bite. A targeted spell. Once bitten, one would not only suffer mixed frost and undead damage but also be inflicted with fear and slow status effects. More importantly, being hit by this spell repeatedly had a chance of causing instant death.
This was another very troublesome aspect of Transcendent beings of the Decayed Lineage. Some abilities had instant-death effects, and even high-level Transcendants would remain vigilant when facing them.
Li Wen had no choice but to halt her attack. Before the skull could bite her, she shattered it into fragments with her dagger enchanted with Spell-less Arc Light.
At this point, the taciturn Wrathful Soul Walker had created some distance. With a wave of her hand, she reawakened the walking corpse lying on the ground, and then threw the black bone chain in her hand.
Following a surge of magical light, the already dim tavern was suddenly enveloped by an even deeper darkness.
In this darkness, Li Wen could only hear the brutal, low breaths of the walking corpse.
