"What the hell?" Miko screamed out in surprise. Neither him nor the mysterious girl had expected to see this skeleton, which had been dead for countless years, suddenly start moving again.
The creature reached John in an instant, and one of its hands pierced out towards him, intending on taking his life.
Thunderflash Steps!
John instantly activated his movement technique to dodge the attack. He no longer had any body Qi, and so was unable to use the Supreme Battle Art or Immortal Asura Transformation Art. Without his strongest trump card, John only focused on dodging instead of taking the attack head on.
The skeleton sped right to John, who managed to dodge the attack at the last moment. The skeleton's hand collided with the floor where John had been standing.
Boom!
The floor shattered as its hand pierced into the ground, signifying the power of the attack. John and Miko both slightly blanched at the power of the attack. Just this casual attack from the skeleton was equivalent to a Meridian Forging attack.
While John was able to withstand such attacks before, he was unable to do so due to his weakened state. After dodging the attack, John turned towards the exit in an attempt to leave this place. This skeleton was not something he could fight at the moment.
Both Miko and the girl turned to flee as well, and all three quickly rushed towards the staircase.
Boom!
A claw attack landed right next to John once more as the creature caught up. Due to his sharp instincts, John was barely able to dodge at the last second. However, the force of the attack caused his body to fly sideways, away from the exit.
Bang!
John collided against one of the far walls of the room, falling down onto the pile of skeletons below.
"John!"
Miko called out in worry. He suddenly turned around, as his ancient sword appeared in his hand. He slashed it out with all his might, as the attack contained an incredibly dense soul attack.
The attack landed on the back of the skeleton, who completely ignored it.
"What?" Miko exclaimed in surprise. He had expected the attack to do something at the very least.
"The skeleton has no soul," the mysterious girl quickly explained as she too turned around. "This skeleton is long dead, but its lingering will, which was incredibly strong in life, still remains. That alone is causing it to move."
"What? Is such a thing possible?" Miko asked in surprise.
He had never heard of will alone being so strong that it lingered even in death. However, the truth was laid before him.
The skeleton once again sped directly towards John, who was getting up from his previous attack. John's eyes locked on the approaching creature, and his face turned grim.
'I guess I'll have to fight my way out of here.'
Heavenly Lighting Domain!
Thirty six lightning nodes appeared in the air around John, while a battle axe appeared in his hands. Without his body Qi to augment his power, John's attacks would be quite weaker. However, the three profound Dao's he had learned would still allow his attacks to contain some power.
His essence Qi was full and unhindered, and so John decided to focus on that.
Lightning Ruin!
John pointed his finger out towards the creature, and sent out his strongest Lightning Ruin. At the same time, lightning nodes in the air above John constantly lit up, sending continuous strikes of lightning down onto the approaching skeleton.
The lightning slammed onto the skeleton, and its movements were slightly slowed as it approached John. However, no damage was done to it, and it reached John quickly. Its hands once again pierced out towards John.
Boom!
John narrowly managed to dodge once more, using his Thunderflash Steps to their full power. He sped towards the exit once more, as his attacks were completely useless against the skeleton.
Peng!
Miko's strongest Qi attack landed on the creature, but the creature completely ignored it once more.
"Shit. I specialize in soul attacks. I'm completely useless against this thing," Miko cursed.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
The large room continuously shook as lightning continued to rain down on the creature, while the creature continued to attack John. His body appeared like a blur as he dodged non-stop, but each attack was getting closer and closer to hitting him.
His axe would occasionally cleave outwards, clashing onto the skeleton's bones. However, it didn't even chip it.
Both Miko and the mysterious girl had sent out attacks to thwart the creatures assault, but none of them had been able to do it any harm. Despite being dead for countless eons, the creature's bones were as hard as Heavenly Tribulation grade weapons, and were unable to be harmed at all.
Miko paused for a moment as he stared at the girl in surprise. She was just slightly older than him, but unleashed essence attacks that were even stronger than his own. His curiosity as to the identity of the girl spiked, but he put such thoughts aside as he once again focused on helping John.
For some reason, no matter what happened, the skeleton only focused on John. Even when both Miko and the girl landed their attacks on the skeleton, it would ignore them.
"Why is it only attacking John?" Miko cried out in anger.
John was under a constant barrage of attacks, all which contained the power to kill him. While he had managed to dodge them all so far, the skeleton was getting closer and closer with each attack. It also prevented him from leaving the room, as if it knew to do so.
"I'm not sure," the girl replied, equally confused. Lingering wills would normally attack those around it equally, unless there was something instinctual that drove it to a particular person.
Boom!
A fist exploded against the ground right next to John, sending him flying once more. His body sailed through the air for hundreds of yards before slamming into one of the walls. HIs bones rattled from the force of the impact, and John coughed up some blood, clearly having taken damage from that blow.
He hastily stood up, his legs slightly unsteady as he recovered from the attack. His head snapped up as Miko called out to him.
"John, watch out!"
Boom!
Another fist slammed down, as John barely managed to once again dodge in time. However, he was even closer to the impact this time, as the shattering blow sent earth and skeleton fragments slamming into him.
"Gah!"
John cried out in slight pain as his body once again shot off into the distance. His body slammed into the opposite wall of the room, over a mile away. He rebounded to the ground below, and landed in a pile of skeletons. Blood trickled out his mouth, and covered much of his body due to the fragments colliding into him.
'Fuck. If only I had my spatial talisman,' John cursed internally as he looked up at the approaching creature once more.
'What do I do?'
He needed to do something before it was too late. His eyes slightly lit up as he thought of a crazy idea.
'I don't know if this creature can leave this area, but I need to escape first to have a chance at living. When it attacks me next, I'll allow the blow to launch me like before, but towards the exit. If I mistime the dodge even slightly, I'm as good as dead, but I need to take the gamble.'
John steeled his mind and prepared to execute his crazy plan. His legs were unsteady as he stood up and faced the approaching skeleton.
The mysterious girl watched the skeleton approach John, slight worry, as well as hesitation and confliction, evident in her eyes.
After a momentary pause, the girl's conflicted expression turned into one of resolve, as she made up her mind.
"John!" Miko cried out in worry. He sent another essence attack out, but was dismayed to find that it did nothing. He knew John had taken significant damage by now, and was sure he was going to get hit directly by an attack soon as well.
He too wracked his brain for ideas on how to help, but was unable to come up with anything that would work in short notice. His head suddenly snapped to the side, as he felt an incredible power well up next to him.
"What?" Miko couldn't help but exclaim in surprise as he quickly spotted the source of the power. His eyes went wide, as he noticed it stemming from the mysterious girl.
Her hood was now removed from her head, revealing her still veiled face. An incredibly mysterious and powerful rune began to glow on her forehead, as her power suddenly spiked. Her aura washed outwards with incredible power.
"How is this possible?" Miko mumbled as he watched the girl's cultivation climb. It was shrouded to him before, but now he was able to see it clearly, as if she had unshackled it.
"Middle Meridian Forging! How!"
Not only that, but an incredibly unique and mysterious power dwelled within her aura, shocking Miko further.
Her closed eyes snapped open, and quickly locked onto the skeleton that was almost upon John. Her hand pointed out towards the creature.
"Stop!"
The skeleton, as if mired in time, came to a sudden halt. Surprise and confusion appeared on John's face, as he looked over to the girl in the distance. Her aura once again exploded, emanating a strong life energy. It was as if John could see blooming flowers and towering trees within her aura.
'The Dao of Life!'
That life energy slammed down on the skeleton who was still frozen. John's surprise turned to shock as he noticed that slowly but surely, the remnant will of the skeleton was washed away by the life energy.
The girl's face scrunched up in exertion, as she utilized her full power to repress the creature. The two sides struggled against each other, locked in a stalemate.
Bang!
After quite some time of struggle, the skeleton collapsed to the ground below, its remnant will was finally erased from the world.