Free Web NovelChapter 464: The Soul-Mist Egg Awakens
Bang!
Another Dragon-Roar Critical Strike crashed into the Soul Vase Ghost. This time Marcus watched carefully, and he finally saw what was happening. The attack wasn’t reaching the Soul Vase Ghost at full strength. As it passed through the layers of ghost souls swirling around the creature, its power was being stripped away piece by piece. By the time the triple-damage strike actually reached its target, it dealt only a miserable 450 damage. freewёbnoνel.com
Pebble’s situation was even worse. His attack cut through the ghostly barrier, but after being weakened so heavily, it failed to connect at all. A miss. Again.
Frustrated, Marcus launched another Dragon-Roar Critical Strike. The result was almost identical. Five hundred damage. A miss. Five hundred damage. Another miss. Critical hits rarely appeared, and status effects such as stun, blindness, or knockback almost never triggered. It became increasingly obvious that the ghost souls protecting the Soul Vase Ghost functioned much like the Adamant Shield’s Adamant Shield Wall. They dramatically reduced incoming damage before it ever reached the target, and they were frighteningly effective at it.
’What am I supposed to do now?’
Marcus stopped attacking for a moment and watched Pebble continue his assault. Dragon-Roar Critical Strike. Five hundred damage. Miss. Five hundred damage. Miss. It was completely inefficient. Elder Lonely hadn’t exaggerated. The Soul Vase Ghost really was difficult to kill.
As Marcus continued observing, he noticed something even more troubling. Some of the ghost souls drifting around the battlefield weren’t simply protecting the Soul Vase Ghost. Every so often, a few would flow back into its body. If he wasn’t mistaken, the ghost was using them to recover health. At this rate, they might not even be dealing enough damage to overcome its regeneration.
Meanwhile, the Soul Vase Ghost had practically stopped paying attention to Marcus altogether. In its eyes, Marcus was no longer a threat. Its entire focus remained fixed on Evan and the Twin-Winged Ice Owl soul it desperately wanted to claim.
’That’s all you’ve got? Pathetic.’
Marcus had no idea how little the ghost thought of him now. freeωebnovēl.c૦m
’Once I take the Ice Owl’s soul, I’ll deal with you at my leisure.’ The Soul Vase Ghost glanced at the black jade vase in its hand. For more than three hundred years, the Soul Vase had absorbed souls throughout Black Ghost Peak. The number stored inside had long surpassed one hundred thousand, and that wasn’t even counting the souls collected before it arrived here. That enormous reserve was what allowed the Soul Vase Ghost to activate Swarm of Countless Ghost Souls once every day and maintain it for more than twenty minutes.
The only thing limiting its strength was the Soul Vase itself. If the artifact could release even more souls at once, Evan would probably already be dead and the Twin-Winged Ice Owl’s soul would already belong to it.
Even so, victory was within reach. Evan’s health had fallen to just over ten thousand. The Soul Vase Ghost’s excitement grew with every passing second. Once it absorbed the Twin-Winged Ice Owl’s soul, it would evolve into a Mythic Beast. At that point, not only would Black Ghost Peak become its territory, but even the Ghost King might finally take notice of it.
Driven by that thought, the Soul Vase Ghost intensified its assault. The ghost souls attacking Evan became even more aggressive.
Marcus’s expression darkened. This was bad. The Soul Vase Ghost might be ignoring him, but there was nothing he could do about Evan’s rapidly declining health. Once Evan died, the ghost would either escape with the Twin-Winged Ice Owl’s soul or turn its full attention toward Marcus. Neither outcome was good.
More importantly, eliminating Evan was also part of Marcus’s trial. If the Soul Vase Ghost took him first, the mission could become far more complicated.
’Damn it.’
Marcus clenched his teeth. At that moment, he wished he possessed enough strength to split the Soul Vase Ghost in half with a single strike. Unfortunately, wishes didn’t solve problems. As long as those ghost souls remained around the Soul Vase Ghost, his attacks were nearly worthless. The barrier had to go. But how? Marcus stared at the gray swarm filling the sky. For the first time in quite a while, he felt genuinely stuck.
If only he could take that black jade vase for himself and absorb all those ghost souls. Absorb ghost souls... The thought flashed through his mind. Marcus froze. Then his eyes widened. His heartbeat suddenly quickened. Could that actually work? There was only one way to find out.
Without hesitation, Marcus pulled an item from his inventory. The Soul-Mist Water Demon Cat Egg. It was the pet egg he had obtained from Mist Veil Palace. Back inside the Mystic Turtle’s Tomb, the egg had absorbed the soul of a thousand-year Corpse Demon.
Although it still hadn’t hatched, mostly because the Corpse Demon’s soul had not been powerful enough, the egg had changed dramatically since then. Its shell now emitted a deep black glow. Every so often, it pulsed with faint life. It felt as though it was only one final step away from hatching. Remembering how greedily the egg had devoured the Corpse Demon’s soul, Marcus felt hope rise inside him.
And the moment the egg appeared in his palm, it reacted. It sensed the overwhelming concentration of ghostly energy surrounding the battlefield. The egg immediately began spinning. It trembled violently. Black light burst from its surface. Its reaction was so intense that it almost seemed excited.
’This might actually work.’
Marcus’s spirits soared. Clutching the egg tightly, he retreated several dozen feet from the battle and created some distance between himself and the Soul Vase Ghost. This was the moment of truth. Either it worked, or it didn’t.
"Goddess of Dreams, give me a hand here."
Marcus muttered under his breath while watching the cooldown on Desperate Strike tick away. The moment it reached zero, he moved.
"Desperate Strike!"
Instead of throwing a weapon, Marcus hurled the Soul-Mist Water Demon Cat Egg itself. The black egg shot through the air like a projectile, flying directly toward the black jade Soul Vase.
Whoosh!
The Soul Vase Ghost’s protective spirits immediately reacted. Countless ghost souls rushed forward to intercept the incoming object, intending to weaken it the same way they had weakened every attack before. But the moment the first ghost soul touched the egg, something unexpected happened. It vanished. Not destroyed. Absorbed. The ghost soul was pulled straight into the egg before it could even struggle. Then another was absorbed. And another. And another.
The Soul-Mist Water Demon Cat Egg seemed to transform into a bottomless vortex. Every ghost soul that came near it was dragged inside. The egg stopped flying toward the Soul Vase entirely. Instead, it hovered in midair and began spinning faster and faster. Black light pulsed outward in waves. A visible vortex formed around it. The suction grew stronger with every soul it consumed. More and more ghost souls were torn from the battlefield and drawn into the spinning egg.
At the same moment, Pebble’s Dragon-Roar Critical Strike landed again. Five hundred damage. Five hundred thirty. Five hundred sixty. Marcus’s eyes lit up. The damage was increasing. The Soul-Mist Water Demon Cat Egg was steadily stripping away the ghost souls that protected the Soul Vase Ghost. The barrier was weakening, and as it weakened, Marcus’s attacks were beginning to recover their original power.
A grin spread across his face. ’Now we’re talking.’ Who would have thought a pet egg could be used as a weapon?
Marcus fixed his gaze on the rapidly spinning egg. Ghost souls continued disappearing into the growing vortex. The impossible situation that had trapped him moments ago was finally beginning to crack open.
’Keep going.’
His pulse quickened as he watched. For the first time since the battle began, victory no longer felt out of reach.
