The Ossuary King: Infinite Power

Chapter 6

A few months ago, those words would have hurt him. Now, they just made him feel a strange, cold pity. These "geniuses" were walking into the heart of the Ossuary with nothing but expensive robes and a map. They had no idea where they were.

"They’re heading toward the Shadow-Nest," Lucien muttered.

The Titan’s Spine was the resting place of an ancient giant, but the shadows beneath its ribs were home to a colony of Shadow Bats. These weren't normal animals. They were creatures made of pure darkness that fed on the mana of the living.

Lucien debated staying in his cave. Why should he care if these arrogant children died?

But then he thought about the Soul-Anchoring Jade. If he could get his hands on it, it would be a perfect supplement for his next breakthrough.

"I'll follow them," he decided. "Let the bats do the hard work, then I'll take the prize."

He moved like a ghost. With his Grave-Seeker speed, he jumped from bone to bone, staying high above the disciples. He was silent, his Chaos Body absorbing the sound of his movements into the mist.

The disciples reached the "Titan’s Spine"—a massive row of petrified white ribs that looked like the arches of a ruined cathedral. In the center was a small altar. Resting on the altar was a piece of green jade that pulsed with a soft, rhythmic light.

"There it is!" Seraphina cried, her eyes lighting up with greed. "The Soul-Anchoring Jade! With this, my father can reach the Earth-Shattering Realm!"

She stepped forward, her hand reaching out for the jade.

"Wait, Senior Sister!" the nervous boy shouted. "The air... it’s getting darker!"

He was right. The grey mist was suddenly replaced by a thick, oily blackness. It felt like the temperature dropped twenty degrees in a second.

Skreeeeeee!

The sound was like metal being scraped against a chalkboard. Hundreds of them. Thousands.

From the cracks in the titan bones, a cloud of black shapes erupted. The Shadow Bats. They didn't have eyes—only wide mouths filled with needle-like teeth.

"Form the Cloud-Shield!" Seraphina screamed, her arrogance replaced by panic.

The five disciples stood in a circle, their swords pointed outward. They channeled their mana together, creating a dome of white light.

The bats hit the dome like black rain. Thud. Thud. Thud.

Every time a bat hit the shield, it would explode into black smoke, but more and more took their place. Lucien watched from a high rib. He could see the white dome flickering. The bats weren't just hitting it; they were eating the mana.

"My mana is draining!" one disciple cried. "I can’t hold it!"

"Don't let go!" Seraphina yelled. She swung her expensive sword, sending out waves of white light, but the bats simply swerved around the attacks. They were too fast, too many.

One of the disciples stumbled. A bat dived through a gap in the shield and bit into his shoulder. The boy screamed as his skin turned grey instantly. The bat didn't drink blood—it drank his life-force.

The circle broke.

"Run!" Seraphina shouted, her face pale.

But there was nowhere to run. The bats had surrounded them in a swirling cyclone of teeth and wings. Seraphina was backed against the altar. She swung her sword wildly, tears of frustration and fear in her eyes.

"Get away from me! You filthy monsters!"

A massive bat—the Queen of the colony, the size of a man—dropped from the top of the ribcage. It opened its wings, which were ten feet across, and lunged directly for Seraphina’s throat.

Seraphina closed her eyes. She was a "genius" of the Cloud-Soaring Sect, but in this moment, she felt as weak as the "ghoul" she had mocked earlier.

This is it, she thought. I’m going to die in this graveyard.

Suddenly, the air didn't feel cold anymore. It felt hot.

A shadow flickered past her. It was so fast she only saw a blur of grey and black.

Snap.

The sound of a single finger snapping echoed through the valley, louder than any thunderclaps.

Suddenly, a wave of black fire erupted from the center of the clearing. It wasn't the white, "holy" fire of the sects. It was a dark, violent flame that seemed to swallow the light around it.

The black fire didn't burn Seraphina or the altar. It only hit the bats.

In an instant, the cyclone of monsters was turned into a cyclone of ash. The Queen Bat didn't even have time to scream before she was vaporized into a cloud of black soot.

The thousands of bats that had been terrorizing the disciples were gone. Just... gone.

Seraphina opened her eyes, trembling. The clearing was silent again. The black fire had vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

She looked around. Her fellow disciples were on the ground, gasping for air, but they were alive.

"Who... who saved us?" she whispered.

She looked toward the top of the titan rib. For a split second, she saw a figure standing there. A young man with long hair, dressed in rags, holding a rusted sword. His eyes met hers, and for a moment, Seraphina felt a pressure so immense she couldn't even breathe. It was the feeling of a predator looking at a rabbit.

And then, he was gone. He didn't say a word. He didn't ask for a reward. He simply vanished into the grey mist like a ghost.

"It was him," the nervous disciple gasped, pointing upward. "The... the ghoul from the cave."

"That wasn't a ghoul," Seraphina said, her voice shaking as she looked at the empty spot where Lucien had been. She looked at the Soul-Anchoring Jade, still sitting on the altar. "That was a master. A monster living in the skin of a man."

She reached for the Jade, but her hand stopped.

The Jade was cracked. A small piece had been chipped off—the most powerful part of the core.

Lucien had not only saved them; he had taken his "tax" before they even knew he was there.

High above, Lucien was already a mile away. In his hand, he held the glowing green core of the Soul-Anchoring Jade. He popped it into his mouth like a piece of candy.

[Ding! Consumed Essence of Soul-Anchoring Jade.]

[Level Up! Current Level: 21.]

Lucien smiled. He looked back toward the Great Iron Gates, far, far away.

"Cloud-Soaring Sect," he mused. "If their 'elite' are that weak, perhaps I should visit their mountain when I leave this place."

But his smile faded as he looked toward the red trail he had seen before. The "Divine Grade" zone was calling to him.

CLIFFHANGER: As Lucien walks, the System sounds an alarm he has never heard before. [Ding! Extreme Danger Detected. A 'Heavenly Messenger' has entered the Ossuary to investigate the death of the Grave-Warden. Hide immediately.]