TSA Chapter 78

The bone dragon received the command and immediately changed direction, charging toward Ran Qi.

Night Owl had been leading the bone dragon away when he suddenly noticed it turning toward Ran Qi. Without hesitation, he hurled a Fireball at it, trying to draw its attention back. The Fireball landed a critical hit, dealing 2000 damage, but the bone dragon completely ignored him, single-mindedly pursuing Ran Qi. Clearly, it was under the control of that voice, and no matter what command was given, it would execute it without hesitation.

Night Owl quickly followed up with Glacier and Firewall, momentarily slowing the bone dragon down, but its target remained unchanged—Ran Qi.

Ran Qi sensed danger and turned to run, but there was no way he could outrun the bone dragon. He had barely taken two steps before it caught up to him, its massive claws slashing down toward his head.

“Watch out!” Night Owl’s eyes widened in horror as he shouted. He was too far away—no matter how fast he ran, he wouldn’t be able to reach Ran Qi in time.

Ran Qi had no time to hesitate. He swiftly pulled out a magic scroll from his bag, tore it open, and threw it toward the bone dragon.

It was a scroll imbued with Petrification, causing the target to stiffen like a stone statue, immobilized for 10 seconds.

The bone dragon’s claws froze mid-air, just inches above Ran Qi’s head, creating an almost comical scene.

Taking advantage of the moment, Ran Qi quickly ran out of its attack range. Before the Petrification effect wore off, he pulled out another scroll and threw it.

This time, he used [Magic Scroll: Binding Vines]. Thick vines shot up from the ground, wrapping around the bone dragon from head to toe, completely restraining its movements again.

“Keep attacking! I have plenty of control-type magic scrolls!” Ran Qi shouted to Night Owl.

Just in case, he always carried a large number of magic scrolls in his backpack, and now they were finally proving useful. These scrolls were all mid-to-high-tier, more than enough to deal with a level 50 bone dragon.

The sudden reversal of the situation left even the usually composed Night Owl momentarily stunned. But he quickly regained his focus and resumed attacking the bone dragon.

Night Owl’s attack power was astonishing, and his precision was unparalleled. Every strike landed on the bone dragon’s joints and other weak points, triggering critical hits repeatedly. Meanwhile, Ran Qi, with no cooldown limitations, kept throwing one magic scroll after another, effectively pinning the bone dragon in place, rendering it completely immobile.

The bone dragon was a boss-level monster with an enormous HP—around 100,000 HP. Normally, even a team of six players would take ages to bring it down. But with just the two of them, their seamless teamwork slowly wore it down bit by bit until it finally fell.

However, this strategy was only viable for someone as wealthy as Ran Qi. After all, the materials for crafting magic scrolls were incredibly expensive, and these scrolls were single-use consumables. Using them was like burning money—especially mid-to-high-tier scrolls like his, which were worth a fortune.

As the bone dragon collapsed with a resounding thud, neither Night Owl nor Ran Qi relaxed. Instead, they remained on high alert, scanning their surroundings and preparing for the next wave of enemies. They knew the one controlling the bone dragon had yet to reveal themselves, and there was no way they would be allowed to leave so easily.

Sure enough, the aged voice growled furiously the next moment. “Trash! You’re all useless!”

Immediately after, he began chanting a long incantation. The ground trembled violently once again, and thick black death energy surged into the air, transforming into countless swarming insects that surged toward Ran Qi and Night Owl.

The sheer number of insects was overwhelming, almost blotting out the sky. As the swarm descended, the scene resembled something straight out of an apocalyptic disaster film.

Night Owl positioned himself in front of Ran Qi and unleashed his area-of-effect ultimate, Firestorm. Fire was indeed the nemesis of insects, and Firestorm effectively kept them at bay—for now. But the skill’s duration was only ten seconds. Once it ended, they would be facing an all-out insect onslaught.

Gritting his teeth, Ran Qi tore open another magic scroll and threw it. This time, he used a high-tier offensive magic scroll, unleashing a powerful area-of-effect spell. At his current level, he couldn’t even craft such scrolls, meaning every use brought him one step closer to running out.

However, the sheer number of insects was overwhelming. Even if he exhausted every magic scroll he had, it was unlikely that he could wipe them all out completely.

Soon, many insects broke through the flames and swarmed toward the two of them.

Night Owl once again shielded Ran Qi, but the expected pain never came. As soon as the insects landed on him, a dark mist rose from his body, instantly devouring them.

That dark mist was the curse energy surrounding Night Owl. Curse energy could consume death energy, and since these insects were formed from the death energy inside the bone dragon, they were completely absorbed. However, this also intensified the curse on Night Owl, causing his HP to drop even faster.

“Hahaha, what a familiar taste!” The remaining insects gathered midair, forming a terrifying ghostly face. The aged voice let out an eerie laugh. “Since you enjoy it, have some more! Keh keh keh keh!”

As the voice cackled sinisterly, the insects surged forward again, this time specifically targeting Night Owl.

Ran Qi instinctively knew they couldn’t continue like this. The more death energy Night Owl absorbed, the stronger the curse would become. Even if he wasn’t devoured by the insects, he could still die from HP depletion. Moreover, this curse wasn’t a simple debuff—it wouldn’t disappear upon a player’s death. Otherwise, Leslie wouldn’t have gone through so much trouble to send them here to retrieve the necromancer’s remains.

Ran Qi recalled what Leslie had told him—he carried the Blessing of the God of Light, which could resist the erosion of death energy for three hours. Perhaps it would also work against these death-energy-infused insects.

This time, he stepped in front of Night Owl. The moment the insects touched him, a brilliant white light flared up around his body. The insects, as if burned by the radiance, instantly turned into wisps of green smoke and vanished.

The ghostly face reappeared, but this time, it no longer cackled. Instead, it spoke with clear apprehension. “Are you from the Temple of Light?!”

Ran Qi and Night Owl remained silent, keeping their guard up.

“Hmph, whether you are or not, since you’ve come, you won’t be leaving!” As soon as the voice finished speaking, dense death energy once again gathered and surged into the remains of the fallen bone dragon. The once-white bones darkened to a deep black. The dragon’s scattered remains reassembled, slowly rising once more.

“This is cheating!” Ran Qi couldn’t help but curse.

If the bone dragon revived every time they killed it, wouldn’t they be doomed? His magic scrolls wouldn’t last forever!

But regardless of the unfairness, they had no choice but to fight.

This time, the bone dragon was even stronger. To deal with it, Ran Qi and Night Owl summoned their two young dragon pets. In battle, pets provided attribute boosts to their owners, and the little black dragon’s skills were particularly useful, greatly easing their burden.

“Jiji!” The little dragons, attuned to their masters’ thoughts, quickly understood the situation. Flapping their small wings, they let out soft cries as they faced the bone dragon.

Surprisingly, the once-aggressive bone dragon suddenly froze in place. It was unclear whether it was due to the young dragons’ cries or Ran Qi’s magic scroll effects.

The little black dragon, completely unafraid of the death energy, flew onto the bone dragon and started biting it. With each bite, it forcibly tore off chunks of thick black death energy and swallowed them whole.

Meanwhile, the little white dragon did not attack the bone dragon. Instead, it flew above Ran Qi’s head, lifted its tiny head, and let out a soft chirp. Immediately, the radiant white light surrounding Ran Qi intensified.

[System] Your pet has successfully triggered the Blessing of Light skill. Skill level has increased.

Previously, the little black dragon had frequently activated its Doom Curse skill in dungeons, greatly assisting them in defeating bosses. However, the little white dragon’s skill was a passive ability that had never been triggered before. Ran Qi never expected it to finally activate under these circumstances.