Chapter 627: Level 43 Skybreaker Roc

Thoren slammed heavily into the ground.

The impact drove the air from his lungs and sent shockwaves of pain radiating through every bone in his body.

It was a wet, sickening thud, the sound of flesh and bone meeting stone after a fall that should have killed him.

His ribs cracked.

His spine compressed and his vision went white, then red, then black at the edges.

A scream tore from his throat.

It was simply pain given voice, raw and primal, echoing through the darkness of the trench. Blood bubbled on his lips. His limbs sprawled at unnatural angles. For a long, terrible moment, he could not move.

Could not breathe and could not think.

But he did not have time to care about the pain coursing through his body.

He struggled to rise to his feet.

Every inch of him screamed in protest. His muscles tore and his joints ground against each other.

His head pounded with a rhythm that matched his racing heart. He had to grit his teeth. He had to force his body to obey. He had to keep moving.

He opened his undead space.

The undead Horn Lizard King and the undead Scorpion King came out.

The moment the two powerful undead appeared, the atmosphere in the darkness changed. It shifted. It thickened.

The cold, oppressive air of the trench suddenly felt small, as though the space itself was being compressed by the presence of these two titans.

The Horn Lizard King, massive and armored, its horns gleaming with dark energy. The Scorpion King, towering and terrible, its claws like scythes and its stinger like a spear.

"Kill!" Thoren roared.

Just then, the terrifying talon appeared above him.

It descended from the darkness, ready to end him once and for all. The talon reached for him, black as obsidian, curved like a scythe, promising death.

But what welcomed it was a powerful punch.

The undead Scorpion King’s gauntlet slammed into the incoming talon.

The impact was cataclysmic.

A shockwave erupted from the point of collision, a visible ring of force that blasted outward in all directions. The walls of the trench cracked and the stones shattered.

Dust and ash exploded into the air and even the darkness itself seemed to recoil from the force of the blow.

The talon stopped.

It stopped dead in the air, halted by the impossible strength of the undead Scorpion King. The creature behind it shrieked in fury and pain.

The sound was deafening, a screech of rage that echoed through the trench.

From the first exchange, Thoren was able to see what was hunting him.

[Skybreaker Roc]

[Level 43]

The beast was colossal.

Over five meters in height, with a wingspan that exceeded fifteen meters. Its talons were longer than ten inches, curved and black as obsidian, designed for tearing through armor and flesh alike.

Its feathers were dark as the night itself, absorbing what little light existed in the trench, making it seem like a creature born from shadow.

But its eyes were what drew Thoren’s attention. Orb-like eyes that burned with rage, glowing with an inner fire that spoke of centuries of hunting, of killing, of never being denied its prey.

And now, it was being denied its prey.

The Skybreaker Roc was furious.

It swung its talons repeatedly, trying to rip through the puny creature beneath it. Each strike was faster than the last, a blur of black death that carved through the air.

The undead Scorpion King returned in kind, throwing barrages of punches, its gauntlets meeting the talons with thunderous clashes that shook the trench walls.

Suddenly, one of the Skybreaker Roc’s wings came down out of the shadow and slammed into the chest of the undead Scorpion King.

The impact sent the massive undead flying.

It crashed into the trench wall with a deafening boom, stone shattering around it. A deep gash appeared on its chest, a wound that would have killed any living creature. Without the High-Grade Bronze armor protecting its chest, it would have been cut into pieces.

Even with the armor, a single wing attack from the Skybreaker Roc had rendered it useless. The bronze plates were torn open, hanging loose, exposing the dark flesh beneath.

However, before the Skybreaker Roc could react, a powerful cudgel slammed into its chest.

The undead Horn Lizard King had entered the fight.

Boom!

The impact echoed through the trench like thunder. The Roc was lifted, its massive body thrown backward, its wings flapping wildly as it tried to regain balance.

A miserable shriek of pain erupted from the Skybreaker Roc.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Before the Skybreaker Roc could even stabilize itself from the terrifying attack, dozens of fireballs roared toward it. They streaked through the darkness like comets, leaving trails of orange and red in their wake.

They slammed into the Roc’s body one after another, exploding against its dark feathers in bursts of flame and heat.

Hiss! Hiss!

The Skybreaker Roc shrieked in fury. The fire did not cause it any pain. To a creature of its level, flames were nothing but a nuisance.

An irritation.

A buzzing fly.

But that was precisely what made it so angry. A creature that lived in the shadow hated fire most of all.

Just as the Skybreaker Roc wanted to fly upward and escape from the barrage of fire, the space above it twisted.

The space tore open, and from the void emerged the undead Storm Tyrant.

The creature was massive. It held a hammer that seemed too large for any living being to wield, standing firmly on the Skybreaker Roc’s back.

Thoren, still on his knees, blood dripping from his face, relayed the command.

’Chain Combo’

The massive hammer in the undead Storm Tyrant’s hand seemed to grow bigger. Dark energy swirled around it, condensing, focusing, turning the weapon into something far more terrible than mere metal.

The Storm Tyrant raised it above its head, and the darkness itself seemed to hold its breath.

At that moment, the Skybreaker Roc realized the danger.

Screech!

It cried out and swung its wings frantically in fear, trying to throw off the creature behind it. Its massive body twisted and turned, its talons slashing at the air, its feathers bristling with terror.

For the first time since the battle began, the Skybreaker Roc was no longer the hunter but the hunted.

Unfortunately, what welcomed it was a resounding hammer strike.

Boom!