Ashen Dragon-Chapter 135 - 65 Ascension Ritual (I)

The Bone Eagle shrieked in the sky as the Death Knight raced across the ground.

The eagle’s beak spewed countless Hellfire Beads, causing repeated explosions on the ground. The corrosive, ghostly green flames spread, devouring life at the slightest touch, turning the earth into a semblance of Hell.

"This place—forbids the living!"

Old Wald hovered in the air, wielding his Eagle Shriek Silver Sword. Decayed skeletons crawled out of the earth, summoned by this Undead Commander, surrounding the unexpected intruders from all directions.

Mezulash raised his blood-stained Great Sword high, his pitch-black eyes flickering with a ghostly light.

[Oathbreaker Guiding Divine Power: Control Undead]

A dense fog of darkness erupted from the Great Sword, taking control of all the surrounding skeletons and making them turn against their master.

The players unleashed various Radiance and Flame Spells, easily destroying the fragile skeletal undead creatures.

Alger stared intently at the Death Knight circling in the air.

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Those movements and techniques were all too familiar to him. Even though Old Wald had become a Death Knight, Alger could still recognize the traces of his former self.

A scarlet bond appeared in his hand.

With a loud eagle shriek, the Dragon Vein Giant Eagle, Eagle, materialized out of thin air.

This was the new trait attained by the Red Scale Conqueror upon reaching the tenth level—[Dragon Vein Connection]. It allowed him to summon his mount anytime, anywhere through the essence of Dragon Blood Magic.

Alger mounted the giant eagle and whispered, "Come, Wald Chris, my old instructor."

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"Let me see if your skills have dulled since becoming this wretched thing."

"Screech—"

With another resonant eagle shriek, the Dragon Vein Giant Eagle spread its wings and soared, swiftly gaining altitude, its aura no less intimidating than the terrifying bone eagle cloaked in ghostly flames.

The Death Knight circling high above naturally noticed this rapidly approaching enemy and unhesitatingly charged forward.

"Despicable living..."

His bones creaked audibly.

Alger and Wald circled each other in the sky, testing each other repeatedly.

Turning, rolling, climbing, diving—their actions in controlling their giant eagles had become instinctual, as if cast from the same mold, though Alger’s maneuvers were notably more aggressive, often featuring daring flashes of brilliance.

Blazing flames and ghostly green fire intertwined, making the sky-bound duel of the two knights a spectacle of fleeting silhouettes and bursts of light.

"Not bad."

Alger panted, wiping the sweat from his forehead, his tone slightly excited. "Old Wald, you still got it."

His half-dragon body bore numerous wounds, the dark mist of necrosis slowly corroding the injuries.

"Despicable living—die—"

The Death Knight Wald was in no better condition, his plate armor shattered, revealing cracked bones, with ghostly flames flickering as they healed his wounds.

They slowly ascended, then dove toward each other.

This was the final charging duel.

Both gripped their long swords tightly, leaning forward, their diving postures nearly identical.

But just as they were less than ten meters apart, Alger and the Dragon Vein Giant Eagle simultaneously let out a fearsome roar.

[Dragon’s Roar Charge]

This Dragon’s Roar carried the essence of magic, instilling fear even in undead creatures.

An immense Red Dragon illusion seemed to rise above them.

"Dragon..."

The Death Knight momentarily lost focus.

His bone eagle also froze in terror.

Seizing this fleeting opportunity, Alger struck decisively.

"Downward Slash!"

Using the momentum of the rapid dive, the half-dragon knight slashed down.

With a crisp sound, the Everburning Greatsword easily severed the Death Knight’s neck bones, sending the head, burning with malevolent light, flying high before dimming.

His bone eagle also lost its undead essence, its ghostly flames extinguished, its body turning into a mundane skeleton, with bones falling from the sky.

Alger gracefully landed on the ground with his giant eagle.

He casually dug a small pit in the ground, buried the cracked skull, covered it with soil, and stamped it down.

"Rest in peace, pitiful old man."

"I will kill that old vampire."

Alger muttered to himself, eyes fixed on the heavy, intricately carved door of Rackman Castle.

…

In the depths of Rackman Castle.

The space here was extraordinarily vast, unlike the interior of a building, more like an immense underground world.

Bats fluttered in the darkness, rats scurried in the shadows, and blood slaves howled in agony from iron cages.

At the center of this underground world stood a massive stone platform, a hundred meters in diameter, inscribed with twisted, eerie runes, surrounded by bottomless abysses.

Encircling the stone platform were seven tall stone pillars, each adorned with devilish carvings. Every pillar had a vampire variant bound with iron chains soaked in blood.

They resembled sinners of religious myth, bound naked to the pillars, bearing strange tattoos on their backs.

Their faces wore expressions of fanatical fervor, chanting wicked hymns.

Even Alexia, the eldest daughter of the Rackman Family, was bound to one of the pillars, her ornate dress removed, exposing her pale, beautiful form.

Yet, the scene bore no trace of eroticism, instead emanating a sense of bloody, eerie horror.

She whispered softly, "On the day of the full moon..."

"Bats rejoice, sick rats sing."

"Blood mist covers the sky, shadows overflow."

"Daylight will tremble, eternal night will descend."

"He will become the immortal monarch of the night!"

"He will become the eternal master of darkness!"

"Let our blood boil within His body, let us embrace the great Ascension!"

The sound of bats’ wings flapping filled the air.

Brad Rackman emerged from the tunnel’s end, not taking the stairs but instead floating upward, slowly ascending to the stone platform.

His crimson eyes brimming with endless greed and anticipation, he recited like a poet in ecstasy.

"Finally..."

"After lurking in the darkness for a hundred and seventy-two long years, at last, the hardships are over."

"Ascension, once achieved, will render all obstacles insignificant, even giant dragons will not halt my progress."

"My children..."

Duke Brad gazed adoringly at the naked vampire variants bound to the pillars, his eyes filled with undisguised, twisted affection. In a sense, he genuinely loved them.

They were both his offspring.

And the fuel for his ascension.

Duke Brad’s brow furrowed slightly, as if recalling something.

"It’s a pity... Todd didn’t return."