Little Black Rose

*BOOM*

The overwhelming large saber from the massive commander skeleton warrior fell down, hitting the ground where Min Li was located.

Having predicted the trajectory of the saber, Min Li effortlessly dodged the slow-motioned attack; but he had underestimated the shockwave from the attack, violently sending him flying in the air. If it wasn’t for his exceptional flexibility to reposition himself mid-air, the cost from severely crashing on the ground could have easily fractured his bones.

Alas, the soldiers close by where Min Li was positioned weren’t as quick-witted as him, receiving the saber’s full blow even though they’d seen it coming, turning them into lifeless bodies as blood spilled on the area.

*roar*

Although Min Li was used to the atrocious and cruel truth behind a life-and-death struggle for one’s survival during warfare, the powerlessness to not being able to reduce the fatalities by himself was still deep-rooted in his heart as he revived Little Snow’s death in his consciousness.

The commander skeleton warrior has yet to lift his saber back from the ground that Min LI was already charging towards him, closing the previously small gap between them as he prepared to thrust « Bloody Vampire Lance » towards him.

*clang*

Battle Logs: Your critical basic attack has successfully hit the Commander Skeleton Warrior, dealing -100 physical damage.

The spear successfully entered in contact with the skeleton’s ankle, creating a small crack on the bone, causing the collision to resonate through the battlefield. This move from Min LI happened in less than a breath of time, inducing the people who heard it to avert their eyes; the sound of the impact was powerful enough to startle them. But Min Li didn’t end there.

*swoosh* *swoosh* *swoosh*

Using the martial art skill « Heaven Strengthening Technique », Min Li stuck continuously and with swiftness and accuracy on the same spot he’d hit earlier. Each thrust was as strong as the former one, only, since none of them were critical strikes, it didn’t deal much damage, yet, each of them efficiently spread the small crack into a slightly bigger one.

*roar*

A deafening pained roar came out from the imposing undead’s skeletal mouth as one of his legs feel on the ground. This action awakened the surroundings people from their dazzled state as one of them, the grand monarch Kang Jian, shouted, “What are you all doing? Don’t waste the opportunity our city lord has created!” in a loud voice to revive the burning flame on their heart.

“Protect our city lord! Don’t let any of these skeleton soldiers interrupt our city lord’s fight!”

The fighting spirit came back at its climax once again — the soldiers near Min Li helped him and attacked the Commander Skeleton Warrior. The ones who were too far from him made a circle to prevent the other skeletons soldiers from passing — and the determination to protect Immortal City reappeared on everyone’s face.

“This is now or never!”

Min Li exerted a high jump using all of his strength on his feet and started to escalate on the Commander Skeleton Warrior’s body as he ran as fast as he could towards the most vulnerable part of a skeleton; his head.

As long as he used his strongest move, the martial art skill « Sky Thundering Thrust » on the elite Commander Skeleton Warrior’s head, he believed that he could finish him off with this single blow — but it wasn’t as simple as he had thought.

Following by another heaven-piercing roar from the skeleton, thick and sharp spikes suddenly appeared on every part of his body. And one of them pierced Min Li’s stomach due to the lack of his awareness from being focused on his objective. It was a clean hit, depleting his health to a critical state as blood gushed out of his stomach.

“Ugh!”

At the same time as Min Li’s stomach had been pierced, he’d started to spurt blood from his mouth due to the sudden pain as his vision gradually became blurry. By chance, the activation of the martial art passive skill « Fang Yujin’s last breath », in addition to a large amount of health he had, somehow managed to barely save him from death’s door as the remaining health he has was less than 5%.

‘Only one blow from him and I’m already at such state… the difference in level is not a joke.’ Min Li thought as he took out a Health Regeneration Pill from his spatial ring and swallowed it. He then slashed his « Bloody Vampire Lance » horizontally as he tried to destroy the spiky bone that was currently penetrating his body.

*boom!*

The spiky bone shattered into pieces due to the 100% Strength and damage increased from « Fang Yujin’s last breath » whose effect was still on duration. And without wasting time, to not let the effect disappearing, Min Li resumed his assault to the skeleton’s head.

The position of the skeleton’s head was only a few meters from Min Li. He was stopped by the undead’s defensive ability while he was on his shoulder, thus, in a fraction of seconds, was close enough to reach it with his spear.

With a high jump, Min Li successfully arrived on the top of the skeleton’s head due to momentum from the speed he used to close the gap. He then held his spear vertically with both of his hand, the tip targeted on the ground, and applied all of his strength, shouting: “Take this! « Sky Thundering Thrust »!”

The tip of Min Li’s spear started to glow right after his shout, following by the apparition of lightning that was gradually covering the entire spear as if the mighty soul of the weapon has been awakened.

From the perspective of the people watching Min Li from below, he seemed like an enraged god of thunder that was going to release his wrath in front of them as the lightning not only embraced the spear but his entire body as well — and the god of thunder’s rage has been released.

The spear easily penetrated the giant skeleton’s skull as if it was a knife cutting butter; The skeleton didn’t have the time to let out his pained scream as his whole skeletal body was instantly reduced into shattered pieces of bones, splitting all over the place.

The moment Min Li landed on the ground, the spear pressed against the ground, the Commander Skeleton Warrior which frightened them with its impressive size and its terrifying appearance no longer remained, not even a single trace of him; It was as if what he had never existed in the first place.

The silence has filled the battleground — it was too much breathtaking for the people who had witnessed the scene that they didn’t even dare to breathe. None of them believed what they had seen. They looked at each other with the same stunned expression, but they still couldn’t accept the reality that had occurred in front of their eyes.

Wiping out the sweats on his forehead due to the long battle he had done, Min Li soared the spear on his hand high above his head, shouting: “We have defeated the commander of the undead! We have succeeded to protect our land!” in a loud and majestic tone.

“Hail the city lord! Hail Immortal City!”

Min Li’s triumphing speech made his surroundings realize that they have won the battle as they lifted their arms high on the sky and started to cheer — they have survived from the undead’s invasion.

It was definitely worth celebrating!

The remaining skeletons turned into ashes right after the Commander Skeleton Warrior’s life had ended. It was a normal phenomenon from the game that was still active even after Min Li’s transmigration into the other world. From the moment he was defeated, the battle has ended as well.

After a never-ending victory’s celebration on the battlefield, the remaining less than 2 million soldiers started to clean the dead bodies. More than half of the soldiers in the army died on the fight, it wasn't a small amount, but on the contrary to one's point of view, to the people living in Immortal City, surviving against an invasion — the first invasion since millennia — was definitely better than getting exterminated.

One of the reason was to properly deliver the dead body back to the deceased’s family while the other reason was to purge the dead body with holy water before it turned into an undead; it was a well-known tradition that after fighting against the demonic beings called undead, the dead ones have to be washed with holy water before getting affected by its deadly curse.

Once the procedure of cleaning the battlefield was done, the sun was already starting to set, indicating the current time. The battle started at midday and ended after the sunset; it was a short-term battle compared to what one might have expected, but the faster a battle ended, the better. Compared to one that could last for a few days or even a whole month, they were fortunate to have defeated the enemy’s leader quickly enough.

“I’ll leave the city’s administration on your hand. Just operate as you were normally doing before my arrival. I’ll be leaving Immortal City soon.”

The next morning after the undead’s invasion, Min Li had told them his situation; he only told them that he was transported into another world and could enter and leave The Dream World. It wasn’t necessary for him to tell them about Soaring Sword or the world he came from; Earth. And since a day had already passed since he was there, he told them that he had to return into the other world.

“But, my lord, from what we have learned, you still don’t really know much about this world. We definitely can’t let you return alone.” One of the City Council officials stated with a worried expression. Hearing him, the others also nodded their head in agreement.

Even if they were interested in the other unknown world Min Li had mentioned to them, they could definitely not allow the city lord to explore it on his own; They didn’t know what kind of dangers he could encounter and now that he had returned, they were trying to convince him to stay in Immortal City.

“We can send a company on the other world to investigate it! There is no need for my lord to carry out this dangerous task.” Another City Council official suggested.

“That’s a good idea indeed!” Another one agreed.

Noticing the stubbornness of the people in front of him as they tried to convince him to stay in Immortal City, Min Li shook his head, thinking on how to convince them, after all, he couldn’t just selfishly tell them to let him return to the other world; he knew that they were concerned about his safety and it warmed his heart. He had already considered them as his own family even though he hadn’t realized it yet.

“No, only I can accomplish this task. In addition, we don’t really know if I can bring people with me or if they can enter the portal and arrive safely on the other side.” Min Li calmly denied the idea.

“Then allow me to come with you, master. I believe they should have a clear conscience if I’m the one who comes with you.”

Right after Min Li had ended his sentence, a soft and faint feminine voice rang in everyone’s ears.

Hearing the beautiful voice, everyone without exception directed their eyes towards the entrance of the conference room which was where the voice came from.

Standing there, was a young black-clothed woman whose mouth was hidden by a black mask, her keen-edged black eyes directed at Min Li’s one. Her slender and well-formed body could attract anyone’s attention, especially her curvaceous and rounded little mountain on the upper part of her body.

And Min Li was definitely stupefied as he looked at her. He was looking at her as if he was looking at a ghost who had revived from the underworld; He couldn't believe what he was seeing. His lips couldn’t help but quiver as he had eventually managed to return into reality as he slowly articulated his stiffening mouth, asking, “Is that — really — you? Little Black Rose?” in a staggering tone, his eyes filled with complex emotion.

Little Black Rose was the last support characters that Min Li had created on Soaring Sword and the last one due to her tragic death. He had vowed to himself to not create another support character after her because, at that time, he had suffered from her death and had considered her as his own child — it had isolated him from the other support characters he had created since then.

And right now, in front of him, was the Little Black Rose who had died that day. She was alive and standing in front of him; The pain on his heart slightly lessened. This painful feeling which was constantly haunting him since witnessing his loved ones dying in front of him one after another.

“It has been a long time, master.” Little Black Rose softly said with a faint smile on her face. She who had rarely smiled during her whole life was smiling.

If Min Li could have seen her smile, he would probably be even more shocked, but since her mouth was covered by the black mask, he couldn’t see the bright smile of her face.

A charming smile that could even undoubtedly seduce a deity.