Seeing Eddie charging with his giant sword, the man in the gray robe laughed eerily at the black-robed man, "I'll handle this girl. My war beast is perfect for countering enhanced warriors!"
Holding a strange purple-black magic orb, he flew towards the Swordswoman.
Just as her giant sword was about to strike, a purple-black light flared, enveloping them both and teleporting them away.
Eddie was surprised, not expecting to see such one-on-one deathmatches in the Dragon Rising Continent. It seemed that the magic realm's research in space was much more advanced.
The black-robed man cursed, "Damn Ludon, always crazy about women. He's useless but likes collecting women's corpses. How perverted. Does he think I can't handle a young kid without his help?"
"How exactly do you plan to deal with me?" Eddie curiously asked.
He couldn't understand how a necromancer, missing half his body and rotting all over, could defeat him with his Gold Level Three Bloody Queen.
Ignoring Eddie, the black-robed man slowly summoned his grimoire.
Seeing the high-level Silver grimoire made Eddie a bit excited, thinking he might soon have a Silver grimoire of his own.
If fully contracted, he could sweep through enemies with just his life-guardian beasts.
As Eddie was contemplating, the necromancer placed his skeletal hand on the grimoire, summoning a rotting, headless knight amid spreading black light.
Through his keen observation, Eddie noted that this 'Headless Knight' was a Bronze Level Five undead beast.
The Headless Knight didn't attack Eddie immediately but rode its skeletal horse towards several second-level bone skeletons.
Raising its black sword, it easily shattered the skeletons, then absorbed the emerging dark green energy orbs into its decaying body.
Finally, it placed the Iron Bone Skeleton's skull on its neck, which emitted a dark green flame before vanishing.
The energy burned in the skeleton's eye sockets.
Instantly, the creature transformed from a Headless Knight into a dark green Death Knight, significantly increasing its strength. The black sword ignited with corpse phosphorescent fire, rising into the air.
The Death Knight's level jumped from Bronze Level Five to Bronze Level Six.
Eddie applauded, "Impressive! This method is a bit eerie, but very effective. It seems the magic realm's research in summoning is indeed more advanced, and humans are slightly behind!"
"Still arrogant at death's door?" The black-robed man then summoned a black centipede, over ten meters long.
This wasn't a skeletal beast or a zombie beast like the Headless Knight; it was his life-guardian beast. This Iron Jaw Centipede was also a Bronze Level Six war beast.
Now, two Bronze Level Six powerful war beasts faced off against the Gold Level Three Bloody Queen in the sky.
Although their apparent strength was no less formidable, the Bloody Queen appeared disdainful, not launching an attack.
She flew low in the sky, mainly circling behind Eddie, with the Dragon-Slaying Dagger tucked in her silver-studded belt and holding Eddie's Moon Blade, ready to strike.
Her Golden King Beast, the Bloody Queen, held a certain level of dominance, but against higher-level war beasts, its effect wasn't very pronounced.
Moreover, since the Death Knight was an undead, the deterrent effect was even less significant.
As for the Iron Jaw Centipede, being a life-guardian beast under the black-robed man's command, it was full of fighting spirit, continuously crawling on the stone surface.
Its sharp limbs were like dozens of gleaming knives, and its two gigantic iron jaws could easily crush rocks with a mere touch.
The Bloody Queen's intimidation was limited against the Death Knight and the centipede, but still, they hesitated to attack her directly, despite being three levels lower.
The black-robed man appeared confident on the surface but was extremely cautious inside.
He had barely survived an ambush by the Reaper Mantis and was now facing another ambush by this young human. He would be a fool not to be on guard.
"Do you have a Lich Ring?" Eddie didn't order the Bloody Queen to attack immediately but kept eyeing the black-robed man's hands.
The Lich Ring was among the treasures Eddie was most interested in because, like a storage ring, it had an extradimensional space.
The only difference was that the storage ring could hold any item, including living beings, while the Lich Ring could only store items or lifeless bodies.
A storage ring was a holy-level treasure, not even possessed by Emperor Alexander of the Great Xia Empire. Eddie didn't need to think about it for now, but he was definitely interested in the Lich Ring.
Eddie was not only a beauty enthusiast but also a treasure enthusiast, particularly fond of storage items like the Minor Universe Bag or the Sumeru Mustard Seed.
Unfortunately, the Minor Universe Bag he had robbed from an old Taoist disappeared after his transmigration.
If his flying sword turned into the Swordswoman, what happened to the Minor Universe Bag?
He wondered if it was kept by the Swordswoman or if the mysterious dream world he entered was inside the Minor Universe Bag.
For now, Eddie couldn't inquire about the whereabouts of the Minor Universe Bag from the Swordswoman, but his desire for a storage item remained.
A storage ring was an essential tool for home, travel, committing crimes, monster hunting, and treasure seeking. How could he manage without one? At the very least, he needed to get a Lich Ring.
A Lich Ring was essentially the lowest level and simplest storage ring, with limited space and only able to store non-living things.
Such treasures were not found in the Dragon Rising Continent, mainly because the continent lacked special beasts capable of creating such items, and human intelligence was not advanced enough to directly produce storage rings.
For a family like Eddie's, being able to create puppet war beasts was already a significant achievement, making them one of the four great families.
However, no one in the family, except the genius Yehky centuries ago, understood the principles of storage rings.
Yehky left behind his research findings, but no one could comprehend them.
Creating puppet war beasts was vastly different from crafting holy-level storage rings, almost as different as heaven and earth.
Humans struggled even to make teleportation scrolls, let alone extradimensional storage. Such technology was nearly impossible to achieve, beyond the reach of anyone in the world.
So, in the Dragon Rising Continent, even the lowest and most worthless Lich Rings are not available for sale.
Lich Rings are unique to the Abyss, and to acquire one, one must kill a lich and take the ring from them.
Since liches need to store many materials like dragon bones, human skeletons, corpses, and magic crystals, they always possess a Lich Ring.
"No!" the black-robed man sneered, underestimating Eddie's chances of obtaining a Lich Ring, "Then you can die!" Eddie smirked back, transforming from a cheerful young man to a terrifying killer in a split second.
Eddie's shadow vanished, leaving a trail of blurred afterimages in mid-air as he lunged at the Iron Jaw Centipede.
Meanwhile, the Bloody Queen flapped her wings, ready to join Eddie in attacking the centipede. The black-robed necromancer, however, was prepared for this move.
He commanded the centipede to leap up, its hard outer shell impervious to blades, making it nearly invulnerable even if Eddie attacked directly.
The most crucial point was that as a life-guardian beast, the centipede could be resummoned even if killed.
Suddenly, the supporting Death Knight was pierced through the chest by a blade. It and its skeletal horse shuddered violently, black smoke and green phosphorescent fire bursting from the wound.
The black-robed man was shocked to find that Eddie's real target was the Death Knight, not the centipede.
Eddie had used an illusion to deceive him and was now stabbing the Death Knight's magic heart with a crescent-shaped demonic blade.
The Death Knight, crafted from a Demon General's corpse, feared no physical attack. Its only weakness was the magic heart in its right chest, a secret known only to the necromancer. How did Eddie know?
Eddie's Ashen Demonic Blade greedily absorbed the energy from the Death Knight's magic heart, replenishing its own power.
It voraciously accepted all forms of energy, except for a small amount of unnecessary corpse qi.
The Death Knight struggled in vain.
Eventually, its head exploded, its energy drastically reduced. It devolved from a Bronze Level Six Death Knight to a Bronze Level Five Headless Knight, then continued losing energy, falling to Bronze Level Four, Bronze Level Three, and finally, to a pile of rotting flesh and bones.
The necromancer watched in disbelief, realizing that Eddie possessed a terrifying magical artifact with its own life. This artifact was the kind of life treasure he had always dreamt of, capable of turning him into an immortal lich if used to create a bone casket.
Under the envious and greedy gaze of the black-robed necromancer, Eddie's Ashen Demonic Blade transformed, emitting black smoke and purple flames.
It slowly evolved into a more perfect form.
The Fusion Hearts on either side of the blade began to merge, and the blade itself became covered in vein-like patterns, with dragon-tooth-like spikes growing along its back, and the tip ablaze with energy flames.
The Ashen Demonic Blade, originally of Silver rank, evolved into a Gold-level demonic weapon after absorbing the Death Knight's magic heart. Eddie held it up, channeling his energy and igniting the energy on the blade. The black smoke and purple flames surged wildly, forming a fiery armor around his arm, enhancing both his defense and strength.
"This is impossible!" The black-robed necromancer was driven to madness by envy.
How could Eddie be so lucky?
Not only did he possess the Gold Level Three Bloody Queen, but also a magical weapon that could absorb energy and evolve automatically.
He had to kill Eddie and claim this weapon for himself to forge an eternal bone casket.
As the necromancer was consumed by his greed, he heard a scream.
Turning his head, he saw his Iron Jaw Centipede writhing in pain with a dagger embedded in its head, then disappearing into the Silver grimoire.
If it weren't a life-guardian beast, it would have been dead for sure. The dagger that pinned it down was the Dragon-Slaying Dagger, capable of severely injuring even dragons. Where did this dagger come from?
Before the necromancer could figure it out, he felt a sharp pain in his back and was thrown to the ground. A foot descended from the sky, covering the entire view.
Eddie, standing on the necromancer, didn't immediately finish him off but looked towards a blank space, smiling.
"Ah, you must be Lord Sog, right? I think you've seen enough. Aren't you going to come down and save your subordinate? Your invisibility trick is impressive, but please mind the air currents. Next time, don't stand in the wind, or others might smell the corpse odor on you. That is, if you're still alive to learn from this lesson."
"Big talker, but if you think I'm like the fool under your feet, you're gravely mistaken!" An old and arrogant voice came from the seemingly empty air, followed by a hissing sound.
A barrier in the sky vanished, revealing a Silver Level Seven Zombie Dragon. Its tattered flesh wings, corroded body, and lifeless eyes couldn't hide the fact that it was once a mighty dragon.
Even in death, the dragon's might persisted.
Now a zombie, its rank was still an impressive Silver Level Seven. Riding on the back of the Zombie Dragon was an old man with a wrinkled face and long, purple-black robes, leaning on a skull staff glowing with red light.
Looking down with supreme arrogance, the old man addressed Eddie, "You might have defeated Ludon, but to me, you're nothing but an insect! I am a lich who has practiced for five hundred years. With a mere gesture, I could crush you like a bug! Ludon is nothing but a servant of my undead army, a mere breathing tool. Do you think using him can threaten me?"
"I never intended to use him as a threat. I just planned to keep him around to extract the information I need," Eddie replied coldly, decapitating Ludon with his demonic blade and kicking the skull several meters away.
"You overestimate yourself, thinking you can challenge me? You'll soon understand what it means to be hopelessly outmatched!" Lord Sog sneered arrogantly. "
No, it's more like the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind," Eddie smiled.
A shadow, faster than lightning, swooped down from the sky, its arms like the scythes of death.
It was the Reaper Mantis, which had been lurking in the shadows.
Perhaps its original target was Eddie, but now it had set its sights on the Zombie Dragon.
Meanwhile, Eddie's afterimage on the ground vanished.
When Lord Sog located him with his heightened senses, he found Eddie already below, approaching at a speed akin to the Reaper Mantis.
In his hands, he wielded a demonic blade, ablaze with purple flames, its lethality comparable to the scythes of the Reaper Mantis.
Unlike Ludon, Lord Sog didn't react passively to the Reaper Mantis' attack. He remained calm, closed his eyes, and effortlessly summoned his Golden Grimoire.
A protective shield rose, blocking the fatal blow from above.
However, the Zombie Dragon beneath him wasn't so lucky; Eddie's Ashen Demonic Blade slashed through the dragon's belly, where the rotting flesh had become brittle.
In the sky, the Reaper Mantis' scythes struck with terrifying force, causing the shield to cave in slightly, but the Golden-level defense held strong, repelling the attack.
In the moment the scythes bounced off the shield, the Reaper Mantis launched a second attack, sweeping its arms and sending the massive body of the Zombie Dragon flying.
The dragon crashed against a mountain wall and plummeted to the ground with a thunderous impact.
The Reaper Mantis, with its incredible speed, pursued the dragon, pinning down its tail and repeatedly slamming it into the ground.
The Zombie Dragon, now sluggish in its movements and reactions due to its undead state, struggled to get up.
But before it could, the Reaper Mantis' massive jaws clamped down, targeting the dragon's head.
"Brave little gold bug, daring to prey on my mount. You're overestimating yourself!" Lord Sog sneered, summoning an ice sphere from his grimoire.
The sphere, alive with purpose, shot like a meteor and struck the Reaper Mantis' back, instantly encasing its body in ice.
Just as the Reaper Mantis was about to bite the Zombie Dragon's head, its entire body was frozen solid.
The Zombie Dragon counterattacked, biting and smashing the icy Reaper Mantis on the ground before sweeping it away with its tail.
The impact sent the Reaper Mantis flying into the mountain, shattering rocks and ice.
As the ice melted, the Reaper Mantis, freed, hooked the pursuing Zombie Dragon with its scythes and flung it away, furiously shaking off the remaining ice.
Eddie wondered why the Gold Level Seven Reaper Mantis feared the ice.
He then realized it might be protecting its fragile eggs, vulnerable to the cold, and that was why the female mantis was frantically preying on venomous dragons and zombie dragons for sustenance.
Lord Sog summoned a fiery Axe-Wielding Bloodwing Demon Guard, a Bronze Level Seven creature from the Abyss, to attack Eddie.
The Bloody Queen, with Eddie's Moon Blade in her right hand and the Gold Dragon-Slaying Dagger in her left, prepared to face the new threat.