96: Cracked!

Facing Old Jack's skepticism, Arthur didn't provide much explanation. He simply smiled faintly and raised a finger, tracing a magical model in the air.

After truly forming a contract with an Elemental Spirit, Arthur experienced the difference compared to when he had imprisoned the Spirit of the Bonfire.

Unlike the passive and reluctant Spirit of the Bonfire, the Black Dragon Spirit, as Arthur's contracted spirit, responded honestly with its body even if it felt psychological resistance.

The mana heart throbbed. Before the primordial mana could enter the mana circuits, it was converted into dark elemental mana by the Black Dragon Spirit residing within.

With the infusion of dark elemental mana, the magical model instantly took shape, transforming into a magic circle composed of five mana circuits.

Immediately after, a long black snake, only as thick as a pinky finger, slowly crawled out of the magic circle.

The long black snake coiled around Arthur's wrist, its crimson pupils staring quietly ahead as its long tongue flickered in and out of its mouth.

Tier 2 Dark Magic: Snake Strike!

"What are you doing?"

Seeing Arthur suddenly cast magic, Old Jack instinctively took a step forward, shielding Jess firmly behind him and staring at Arthur with a guarded expression.

Seeing this, Arthur smiled slightly and said softly, "Uncle Jack, there's no need to be so defensive."

"If I truly intended to strike, with your current Tier 1 level, how could you possibly be my opponent?"

"Besides, this is Spring Breeze City. I wouldn't have the audacity to kill someone within the city."

"Most importantly, if you die, Uncle Jack, who will pay for my mission reward?"

Hearing this, Old Jack's expression immediately softened. He rubbed his head awkwardly and gave Arthur a sheepish smile, saying, "My time in the army makes my reactions a bit intense. Please forgive me."

Only then did Jess, behind him, realize what had happened. He pushed Old Jack aside, stepped in front of Arthur, and said with an apologetic face, "Lord Teaching Assistant, I am very sorry my father offended you."

"That's just how he is, sigh..."

Arthur shook his head, indicating he didn't mind, then said, "In that case, let's begin the treatment."

After speaking, Arthur signaled for Old Jack and Jess to sit down. He then moved in front of Old Jack and placed the black snake coiled on his wrist onto Old Jack's skeletal left arm.

The black snake was the Snake Strike technique; in essence, it was just dark elemental mana.

The moment it touched Old Jack's left arm, the black snake quickly wrapped itself tightly around the entire arm. Its head reared high and bit down onto Old Jack's left shoulder.

In Arthur's Elemental Vision, a different scene unfolded.

The black snake representing Snake Strike and the gray skull representing Undead Erosion met, and a fierce battle instantly erupted.

The black snake coiled around the gray skull, its head constantly shifting to bite down on the grayish-white bone time and again.

Attacked by the black snake, the gray skull seemed to feel a great humiliation. Its mouth opened and closed repeatedly, and wisps of black mist detached from Old Jack's arm, entering the black snake's body instead.

As the symbol of Undead Erosion, the gray skull was essentially a Tier 5 spell with an extremely high status.

Although it had been weakened many times, it still held the advantage against the Tier 2 Snake Strike.

Under the gray skull's relentless assault, a part of the black snake's body soon turned gray, with the corruption showing signs of spreading along its form.

This was one of the reasons why Undead Erosion was so difficult to resolve; it possessed a counter-attack mechanism that could spontaneously resist methods aimed against it.

However, seeing this, Arthur was not worried but pleased, his face showing an 'as expected' expression.

The reason was simple.

As the Undead Erosion counter-attacked and the gray mist invaded the black snake, Arthur immediately felt a faint ripple of consciousness.

The source of this consciousness ripple was exactly the Sub-soul of the Undead hidden within the gray skull!

"Got you!"

With his perception confirmed, Arthur grinned, revealing a row of stark white teeth.

The next moment, black flames ignited on the black snake. Following the gray mist back to its source, the flames set the gray skull ablaze as well!

The manifestation on Old Jack's left arm was even more direct; his entire left arm was suddenly engulfed in raging black flames, scaring him so much that he jumped up from his seat.

Facing this unprecedented situation, the previously arrogant gray skull momentarily lost its composure. A point of ghostly green light suddenly lit up in its hollow eye sockets, as if observing the black flames.

Unfortunately, these black flames were not magic, but the fire element enhancement provided by the Black Dragon Spirit: Dark Blaze!

Undead Erosion could ignore or even reverse-engineer magic, but it had no way to crack the enhancement of another Elemental Spirit!

As the gray skull remained helpless, the black flames burned brighter and more vigorously, swallowing the gray skull in an instant!

Under the burning of the Dark Blaze, a wisp of ghostly green mist drifted out of the gray skull and entered Arthur's body.

Soul Snatch, activate!

The ghostly green mist was exactly the portion of the Sub-soul of the Undead that Soul Snatch had plundered!

Absorbing this part of the soul, Arthur immediately felt a sense of satisfaction from the inside out.

It originated from the mind, from... the soul!

Undead Erosion, which was incredibly troublesome for others, was exactly what Arthur wanted!

It was even a tonic, a tool to help Arthur grow stronger!

However, for the Sub-soul of the Undead, the loss of soul meant not just the decline of magic, but... death!

Normally, even if Undead Erosion was broken, the Sub-soul of the Undead serving as the foundation of the spell would return to the Elemental Realm and then back to its master's side.

But if this wisp of a sub-soul was completely devoured by Arthur, it would truly perish here!

This was the first time the Sub-soul of the Undead had felt the threat of death; its desire for survival was violent!

The gray skull turned vicious, opening its large mouth and biting into the body of the black snake, hoping to drive it away.

The black snake remained unmoved, its body coiling even tighter, nearly squeezing several cracks into the gray skull.

For a time, the two fell into a test of strength.

The Dark Blaze burned quietly, and Soul Snatch activated without a moment's pause.

Several hours passed like this until, finally, the stalemate was broken!

A faint sound of cracking rang out from the gray skull as a fissure opened from the top of its head.

Starting from this fissure, countless fine cracks immediately appeared, spreading across the entire gray skull like a spiderweb!

As the last wisp of ghostly green soul aura drifted out, the green light in the gray skull's eyes was completely extinguished.

The next moment, the gray skull shattered completely!

Countless bone fragments flew in all directions, and under the burning of the Dark Blaze, not even a speck of residue remained.