61: 4th: The Headless Knights, shattering the heavens!

The sea of clouds was plowed into a long-lasting ravine by the massive body of the Bone Dragon Turtle.

Qin Ji sat cross-legged atop the Dragon Turtle's hideous skull, playing with several light orbs that had just dropped. The corpses of that Gold Commander and the nineteen Silver Knights were currently stacked neatly in a corner of his personal storage space, emitting an enticing aroma of "Materials."

"Since they delivered themselves to my door, wouldn't it be a waste not to make use of them? I'd hate to let these 'couriers' down after their long journey."

A cruel arc curled at the corners of Qin Ji's mouth.

As a qualified Undead Dominator, corpses were the greatest wealth. Especially high-tier knight corpses like these, which had been baptized by the Empire's Holy Light; they possessed robust Physiques and steadfast wills, making them excellent Materials for refining that particular unit type.

"Undead Sequence, Synthesize."

With a thought from Qin Ji, the twenty corpses in his space were instantly enveloped by grayish-black Death Qi.

[Notification: 20 high-tier knight corpses detected. Matching Undead Template...]

[Match successful! Target Template: Dullahan (Variant).]

[Injecting Breath of the Abyss...]

Crack, crack.

The tooth-aching sound of skeletal restructuring echoed within his consciousness. Moments later, a row of figures emitting terrifying Evil Qi appeared in Qin Ji's perception.

They were clad in pitch-black heavy armor, mounted upon Nightmare steeds burning with netherworld ghost-fire. Their necks were empty, with only a flickering soul-fire burning where their heads should have been.

Qin Ji glanced at the attribute panel, and even his eyebrows couldn't help but twitch.

[Dullahan (Abyssal Guard)]

[Grade: Legendary (Converted from Gold Commander corpse)]

[Strength: 16,556]

[Physique: 16,556]

[Skill 1: Death Charge (S-rank) — Initiates a charge at 900% speed. Immune to all crowd control during the duration, shattering all physical obstacles in its path!]

[Skill 2: Headless Immunity (S-rank) — Since there is no head, one naturally cannot be headshotted. Exempt from all critical hits and stun effects targeting the head.]

[Legion Aura: Domination — For every additional Dullahan nearby, all members' dual defenses increase by 17%, and attacks carry 20% Shadow Corrosion.]

"Specialized cavalry with their own Legion Aura?"

A flash of pleasant surprise crossed Qin Ji's eyes. These attributes were practically tailor-made for steamroller tactics.

Just then, the clouds below suddenly thinned out.

A magnificent yet dilapidated bronze palace abruptly appeared among the mountains. Densely packed bronze figures wandered around the palace; even from several thousand meters in the air, one could feel that solemn, metallic aura of slaughter.

[Map Notification: You have discovered the hidden dungeon 'Bronze Puppet Hall'.]

"Perfect, I'll use you to test my blades."

Qin Ji patted the Dragon Turtle beneath him. The massive bone fortress instantly restrained its aura, turning into a streak of light that flew back into the pet space.

In the next second, Qin Ji's figure plummeted like a meteor, crashing violently into the center of the Bronze Palace's plaza.

The dust settled.

Clang— Clang—

Dozens of [Bronze Guards] that had been in a dormant state were instantly activated. They stood three meters tall, their bodies forged from an unknown bronze alloy. They held black iron chains as thick as a child's arm, with gleaming barbs at the ends.

"Intruder... Kill!"

A mechanical roar sounded out.

Nineteen Bronze Guards simultaneously swung the chains in their hands.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!!

Over a dozen pitch-black chains intertwined in the air into a seamless net, descending upon Qin Ji with an ear-piercing whistle. This was the 'Dragon-Binding Cord' battle formation specifically designed for high-mobility targets. Once ensnared, the barbs would instantly tear through flesh and trigger a continuous bleeding effect.

"Want to play with restraints?"

Qin Ji gave a cold laugh. He didn't panic and use Flash to pull away like a conventional mage would.

He pushed off with his toes, his figure advancing instead of retreating, weaving through the gaps in the dense chains like a ghost.

This was the terrifying aspect of a full Agility build. In Qin Ji's dynamic vision, these chains—capable of catching birds—moved as slowly as an old lady knitting a sweater.

Puff! Puff! Puff!

Qin Ji raised his hand and threw out five [Void Bone Spears].

The bone spears accurately passed through the gaps in the chains, pinning themselves firmly into the joint connections of the foremost Bronze Guards.

-57,681!

-57,002!

Massive damage numbers floated up. The movements of several Bronze Guards instantly froze, and the health bars above their heads dropped by a visible chunk.

"Roar—!"

Just then, an even more violent roar came from deep within the hall.

A silver-white figure charged out like a bolt of lightning.

It was a five-meter-tall [Silver Commander Puppet], the spear in its hand flickering with dangerous lightning. The moment it neared Qin Ji, its figure unexpectedly split into three!

"Clone technique?"

Qin Ji's gaze narrowed slightly.

The three Silver Commanders attacked simultaneously from the left, right, and rear blind spots, sealing off all of Qin Ji's evasion space.

What was even more annoying was that these three Clones all possessed physical collision detection!

There was no way to dodge.

"Then I'll just tank it."

A ruthless glint flashed in Qin Ji's eyes. Neither dodging nor parrying, he allowed those three lightning spears to pierce into his chest.

Boom!!

A dull explosion rang out.

The [Shadow Robe] on Qin Ji's body instantly burst apart, turning into black fabric fragments that filled the air.

-57,568!

-58,990!

-56,440!

Three high damage numbers, each nearly sixty thousand, jumped out simultaneously.

It had to be said that the burst power of this Level 50 dungeon BOSS was indeed astonishing. If it were a normal glass-cannon mage, this hit would have sent them back to the fountain for a respawn timer.

But Qin Ji glanced at his long, long, long health bar. This hundred-thousand-plus damage barely scraped off a layer of skin.

"Decent strength. Unfortunately... haven't you eaten?"

Qin Ji brushed off the residual lightning scorch marks on his chest, his gaze instantly becoming bone-chillingly cold.

He reached into the void, and a black tome emitting an ancient, deathly aura appeared out of thin air in his left palm.

[book of life and death] (Pseudo-Divine Artifact Fragment)

"Since you like playing the game of many against one, I'll call some people too."

Qin Ji's right index finger drew in the air over the book of life and death, and a crimson character for "Kill" instantly took shape.

Buzz—!

The air suddenly solidified.

The void behind Qin Ji suddenly split open into a massive rift. Thick black mist surged out like a flood through a broken dam, instantly submerging half the plaza.

Clop-clop— Clop-clop—

The heavy and dense sound of horse hooves, sounding as if they were trampling on everyone's hearts, came from deep within the black mist.

The Silver Commander seemed to sense something. The red light in its once-mocking electronic eyes flashed frantically. Shaking its spear, it roared sharply: "All units focus fire! Stop him!!"

"Too late."

Qin Ji snapped his fingers. "Come out and get some fresh air, my knights."

Boom!!!

The black mist exploded.

Twenty Dullahans, like an iron torrent rushing out of Hell, instantly shattered the air in front of them.

The leading Dullahan—converted from that previously arrogant Gold Commander—held a heavy sword burning with green fire. The Nightmare steed beneath it let out a shrill, long neigh, its front hooves rearing high before stomping down heavily.

[Skill Activated: Death Charge]!

There were no fancy techniques.

Just pure speed, pure power, and pure... crushing!

The group of Bronze Guards that had originally surrounded Qin Ji didn't even have a chance to react before they were hit head-on by this black iron torrent.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

It was as if bowling balls had crashed into a tower of blocks.

Those incredibly hard bronze bodies were as fragile as thin paper in the face of a charge with a 900% strength bonus.

The tooth-aching sound of twisting metal rang out everywhere.

Bronze Guards weighing several tons were smashed to pieces, parts and gears flying in all directions like fireworks.

-146,660!

-146,660!

A uniform screen of 140,000-plus critical damage numbers jumped out.

In just a single exchange, the once-seamless encirclement was plowed into a ten-meter-wide vacuum death corridor.

"This... how is this possible?!"

The Silver Commander's AI logic seemed to suffer a brief crash. It could not understand why this group of human knights, who were mortal enemies just moments ago, had now turned into monsters emitting the aura of the abyss.

But Qin Ji gave it no time to think.

"To capture the bandits, first capture their king."

Qin Ji's gaze locked onto the Silver Commander's main body, and the [book of life and death] in his hand flipped again.

"I sentence you to death."

Buzz!

A gray chain shot out from the book, ignoring the distance of space to wrap directly around the Silver Commander's neck.

[Soul Judgment: Instant Death check in progress... Success!]

Although BOSS units had extremely high resistance to instant death skills, under Qin Ji's perverted attribute suppression, probability was a joke.

The Silver Commander's movement as it prepared to release its ultimate move, "Silver Moon Sweep," instantly stiffened.

The next second.

Its head rolled off without warning. There was no blood at the severed neck, only countless extinguished electrical sparks sizzling and popping.

The massive body collapsed with a crash, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Ding, you have killed the Silver Commander (Puppet), gaining 200,000 experience points."

"Ding, you have triggered [Greedy Grasp], plundering attribute: Physical Defense +500."

"Server-wide Announcement: Congratulations to player 'Qin Ji' for completing the first clear of the hidden dungeon [Bronze Hall]! This announcement is made to encourage all players to keep up the good work!"

The golden server-wide announcement exploded across the sky, instantly igniting the entire world channel.

But Qin Ji didn't even spare it a glance.

He stood in the center of the ruins, surrounded by bronze wreckage and the gradually dying fires of battle.

The setting sun was like blood, dyeing this ancient plaza a dark red.

Twenty Dullahans stood silently behind him, their heavy swords pointing diagonally at the ground, non-existent blood dripping from the tips. They were like a group of silent reapers, standing with their master, coldly watching this land that had just been conquered, waiting for the next prey brave enough to gaze directly into the abyss.