"Time Dragon? A legendary dragon species? So what!"
"The essence of life and souls of eight hundred thousand humans converge within me."
"Now, I am but a step away from the semi-divine lich form!"
In the sky, Future Garon calmly looked at the legendary lich.
Clearly, Harris, who had regained his youth and looked no different from a normal human, was not even considered a threat by Future Garon.
Facing Harris's provocation, Future Garon simply shook his head and said calmly, "As a legendary spellcaster, such arrogance and ignorance is truly sad."
Blue flames flickered in Harris's pupils.
Upon hearing Future Garon's blatant mockery, his gaze suddenly turned violent and chaotic for a moment, as if he was at risk of losing control again. However, after regaining his composure, Harris quickly controlled himself, suppressed the chaos in his consciousness, and reverted to a sinister and fierce expression.
"I will extract your soul and enslave your body, making you suffer a fate worse than death forever!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the death aura around Harris surged violently, like huge waves stirred up on the sea during a storm, resembling divine wrath.
In the entire realm of the dead, all undead creatures trembled simultaneously.
Strands of death aura, like pythons, converged and entered these undead creatures' bodies.
The Stone Tomb Serpent Dragon, not an undead creature but rather a natural predator of many undead, relished in consuming the death aura attempting to invade its mind, licking its lips with satisfaction.
However, very few acted like it.
Ninety-nine percent of the undead creatures were struck by the death aura.
Then, these undead creatures that had inhaled the death aura, as if attracted by an invisible force, uncontrollably flew up and quickly gathered together. In a very short time, countless undead creatures densely packed together formed a grotesquely huge silhouette nearly four hundred meters tall.
Claws, wings, tentacles, feathers, skeletal heads, and zombie arms—different limbs crowded and piled up, creating a chilling cacophony of low roars that made one's scalp tingle.
Ghosts circling in the air, like weary birds returning to the forest, flew towards the massive and grotesque undead mass, turning into pale, transparent beams of light as they merged into it.
Tenth-ring legendary necromancy spell: Colossal Undead!
This grotesquely terrifying Colossal Undead slowly stood up, its mountain-like stature emitting a hurricane-like intimidation, making it almost impossible to breathe.
To any being, whether human or dragon, facing a creature far surpassing their own size, an oppressive feeling is inevitable.
At this moment, Garon, facing the Colossal Undead, felt a heavy, mountainous pressure.
"How strong is this legendary lich now."
There are differences even among legendary creatures. In Garon's perception, Harris at this moment is definitely an extremely formidable legendary being.
To have stepped into the realm of legends in his thirties, he was already a brilliantly talented spellcaster among humans, a rarity that might appear only once in thousands of years.
Perhaps as he claimed, he has now touched the threshold of demigod status.
Harris transformed into a black mist and entered the Colossal Undead's body.
Then, the components of the Colossal Undead, those countless undead creatures, opened their mouths at the same time, as if governed by a unified will, emitting chaotic, demon-like terrifying roars.
Tangible sound waves carrying rolling death aura, like boundless darkness, surged towards Future Garon like a tsunami, the air violently tumbling as if torn apart by the sonic vibrations.
However, when this death aura sound wave hit Future Garon, he seemed unaffected, not moving an inch.
Garon could feel that around Future Garon, there was a circle of Time River water flowing, containing many mysterious runes.
To Garon, it felt like a small, independent tributary of the Time River, separate from the main flow.
The attack didn't truly reach Future Garon but was instead isolated by the Time River tributary surrounding him.
He seemed to be in a separate time segment of his own, where any attack from other time segments couldn't breach the barrier of time.
"Time Barrier."
Garon was filled with wonder, looking at the ability displayed by Future Garon, as if a new world's door had opened.
Future Garon provided him with a reference path.
And a definite, viable path at that.
This would greatly shorten the time Garon needs to research time abilities, allowing him to avoid many detours.
Then, the Colossal Undead ceased its roaring, and a large number of undead creatures writhed together, forming a terrifying, captivating expression.
Harris's voice, carrying astonishing legendary magic power, word by word, with difficult heavy breaths, as if squeezed out between teeth, slowly rose from within the Colossal Undead's body.
"Decree: Erase Time."
The high-tier Decree spell of the Enchantment School, to some extent, leverages the spellcaster's will to directly manipulate magical power and affect the fundamental operations of the world, quick to use and versatile in application.
However, Decree spells impose a tremendous mental burden on the spellcaster and require several times more magical power than normal spells.
To affect time, the cost is enormous.
The few words spoken exhausted more magical and mental power than all the spells Harris had used before combined.
On the other side, the Time Barrier around Future Garon disappeared simultaneously.
But Future Garon remained calm, unconcerned.
He extended a dragon claw, gently waving it.
From the essence of the Time River that permeates everything, a stream of Time River water rose, rushing towards Future Garon, once again encircling his body, forming a new Epoch Barrier, isolating time.
Harris:
After witnessing this scene, he became somewhat frantic.
The Decree consumed too much to maintain, only able to break Future Garon's defense for a moment.
He had thought that using such means wouldn't be easy for Future Garon, but now it seemed as simple as eating or drinking to him.
"Damn it!"
A raspy, blood-tinged voice emanated from the Colossal Undead's body.
Harris's throat felt as if it had been slashed by a knife, causing unbearable pain while speaking. This was another side effect of the excessive consumption of the Decree spell. Another use, and he would lose the ability to speak for some time, beyond the repair of magic.
Immediately, the Colossal Undead took a step, surrounded by rolling death aura and mournful wails, charging towards Future Garon like a mountain with thunderous roars, shaking the ground violently with every step, its presence astonishing.
Future Garon slightly smiled, beginning to recite a spell.
Humming. The realm of the dead vibrated.
The dark veil separating heaven and earth was torn apart.
Garon looked up, seeing the highly concentrated together, like a sea of fire in the sky, fiery red elemental radiance.
Endless fire elements raged, tearing the dark veil, converging around Future Garon's body.
Quickly, when the chanting ceased, a fireball only the size of a washbasin, appearing like a small spark next to Future Garon's stature, emerged at his fingertips.
Tenth-ring legendary transmutation spell: Flames of Annihilation!
Crackling, space was scorched, creating twisted, fractured rifts.
The seemingly harmless fireball entered the deep spatial rift and suddenly vanished.
Where did it go?
Garon and Harris both showed puzzled expressions.
The next second, bright flames suddenly rose, overflowing from within the Colossal Undead, turning into a several hundred meters tall flame storm, illuminating the dark realm of the dead as if it were broad daylight.
The nearly four hundred meters tall, mountain-like Colossal Undead became a gigantic and dazzling torch.
Endless wails of the undead resounded within the flames, the dark death aura bursting forth, unable to withstand the burning of the legendary flames, turning into ashes along with layer upon layer of undead creatures.
"Ah ah ah"
Harris let out a miserable howl.
Whoosh! A large mass of flame-engulfed smoke flew out from the torch-like Colossal Undead, landing on the ground.
Harris's body was aflame, his mouth, eyes, ears, and even every pore spewing flames from inside out.
His young body was charred by the flames, quickly turning into a mummified appearance.
The mummy staggered to its feet, the blue flames in its eye sockets still bright.
Then, vibrant life force burst forth, the skin began to regain its luster, muscles rapidly filled out, and soon he returned to a normal human appearance, death aura swirling to form a black robe covering his body.
However, his previously youthful appearance had now aged to over fifty, his face marked with wrinkles, his hair interspersed with gray.
The Colossal Undead continued to burn, like a mountain of flames, this gigantic torch illuminating the entire realm of the dead, casting everything in a reddish hue.
"It seems, the future me still favors transmutation spells."
Garon murmured softly.
He had already seen that Future Garon possessed overwhelming strength against the legendary lich, merely wanting to let the legendary lich gradually despair, realizing the vast chasm between them, to achieve the purpose of revenge.
Perhaps there was also an intent to demonstrate abilities to Garon, pointing out some paths for him.
"Am I really so vengeful?"
Garon smirked, somewhat doubtful in his thoughts.
Meanwhile, Harris, who had been helpless against Future Garon from the beginning and saw his Colossal Undead destroyed with a single strike, slowly raised his head, his gaze once again uncontrollably frenzied.
"I refuse to believe, I refuse to believe that after giving so much, I would die because of a Time Dragon!"
"Ha ha, impossible, absolutely impossible, this is an impossible thing!"
"Fate is with me, I am destined to become an immortal deity, how could I possibly lose to you!"
"I, Harris, do not wish to die, no one can kill me."
He's going a bit mad again. Garon looked at Harris, shaking his head.
The method he used to compensate for the shortcomings of the lich form obviously had its own flaws, clearly not perfect.
"With my vitality, all my magical power, my legendary soul, my wisdom. I bet everything!"
Boom! Death aura erupted like a volcanic eruption, darkly spreading out from Harris.
A thunderous chanting voice rose from Harris's mouth.
Large patches of dark runes formed in the air, continuously dancing.
His body visibly aged and withered at a visible rate, his surging legendary magical power also rapidly depleting.
A killing aura filled the air.
Garon frowned slightly.
He felt a fine, needle-like pain all over his body, somewhat uncomfortable.
However, Future Garon remained unfazed, quietly watching Harris, even not bothering to interrupt his spellcasting.
This was a confidence developed from experiencing countless higher-level battles, an absolute confidence in one's own strength.
If it were Garon now, without such confidence, he would never allow the opponent to cast spells freely.
Then, endless death aura surged and rolled, gradually condensing into a ten-meter long spear outline.
Eleventh-ring necromancy legendary spell: Spear of Annihilation!
On this dark spear, faint faces could be seen, and if one listened closely, it seemed as if one could hear the wails and cries of the dead.
Just by looking from afar, Garon felt uncomfortable, as if the vitality within him was decreasing, his blood flow and heartbeat slowing down.
"Die!"
Harris, turned into a mummy-like figure with a skull-like head, let out a piercing and unpleasant roar.
Hum! The Spear of Annihilation pierced through space, instantly arriving in front of Future Garon.
Simultaneously, Harris, with a hoarse voice and twisted expression, shouted: "Decree! Erase Time!"
Garon's heart tightened.
Because at that moment, the indestructible Epoch Barrier around Future Garon disappeared, and if the spear full of death aura directly pierced his body...
It turned out, Garon's worry was unnecessary.
The Epoch Barrier disappeared.
Yet, the Spear of Annihilation still hovered just inches away from Future Garon, unable to advance further.
These few inches of distance, like a chasm, quickly sank Harris's mood.
In the depths of Future Garon's platinum dragon pupils, a clock's phantom appeared.
Hour hand, minute hand, second hand... moved with precise regularity.
Simultaneously, invisible time force condensed into a ring, inscribed with dense, mysterious runes, appeared in front of Future Garon, blocking the eleven-ring legendary necromancy spell containing nearly all of Harris's magical power.
At the same time, Future Garon, with a calm tone tinged with pity, said in a deep voice: "You know nothing of the might of time."
"Time, reverse!"
Hum! The clock in the depths of his eyes gently moved.
Simultaneously, the massive time ring suddenly turned counterclockwise.
Then, in Garon's astonished gaze, the spear full of death aura moved, beginning to retreat.
"Just like the method used to heal me before, time reversed."
Garon thought silently, watching the runes on the time ring intently, memorizing them, feeling they might be useful in the future.
Currently, his use of the power of time was based on instinct, with little understanding, but Future Garon clearly could wield the power of time at will, achieving many incredible things.
At the same time, the Spear of Annihilation, as if the rewind button was pressed, disappeared from its original location, returning to in front of Harris, then dispersing from its solid state into a large amount of death aura.
Surging magical and life forces reentered Harris's body, quickly making him youthful again, his physical and mental state returning to before the use of this spell.
"What did you do?"
Harris looked down at his youthful hands, somewhat confused.
He didn't believe the other party would be so kind as to heal him.
Future Garon remained silent.
The time ring enveloped Harris, continuing to rotate counterclockwise.
He began to turn black, flames emerged from his body, which then disappeared with the reversal of time. Lastly, like a burst of blood essence, life force flew out from his body, and the soul left the burning eye sockets.
Harris's breath weakened rapidly, turning into a withered, skeletal lich form.
"My body! My flesh! My soul!"
"No, don't leave me!"
Harris howled, touching his body desperately, seemingly trying to retain the fleeing life force and soul.
Then, time resumed its forward flow, Harris began to strengthen again, but soon, the strength and youthful body left him once more as time reversed, repeating this process with increasing frequency.
In front of Future Garon, the time ring rotated clockwise and then counterclockwise, while he quietly watched the legendary lich completely dominated below.
Eventually, the power of time condensed into a square, invisible cage, the space filled with clock phantoms, enveloping Harris within, endlessly cycling the process of him absorbing power and then being extracted from his body. Trapped in a short loop of time, Harris experienced countless cycles in a very short time, his spirit rapidly declining, his will gradually collapsing.
In Garon's perception, only a few seconds of real time had passed.
Harris's expression became incredibly frenzied, like he had lost his mind, covering his head and babbling incoherently, not knowing what he was saying, then suddenly burst into a cloud of surging, billowing death aura.
"Couldn't withstand the torture, mental collapse, shattered the phylactery?"
Garon was slightly taken aback.
A lich's physical form is a construct of magical power, their true essence stored within a phylactery. As long as the phylactery remains intact, the lich can continuously resurrect.
To kill a lich, one must find their phylactery, otherwise, they can quickly return, but finding a phylactery is extremely difficult as liches hide them very securely, their lives depending on it.
Future Garon trapped Harris in endless loops, making him experience who knows how many cycles, causing a mental collapse and the self-destruction of the unknown location of his phylactery.
The blood-colored life essence in the sky was absorbed by Future Garon into his hand, continuously emitting blood sparks, becoming more and more condensed, eventually turning into a life gem resembling a ruby.
"It has been purified of impurities and filth by me, the pure life force can aid in your physical growth."
Future Garon looked at Garon, saying gently.
The life gem containing surging vitality flew out, landing in Garon's hand.
Then, the pitch-black realm of the dead began to dissipate.
The rich death aura still lingered, showing no signs of dispersing, the faint, dim light of stars and the moon reappeared above the land.
The ground was still covered in bones.
The corpses of tens of thousands, drained of life essence and souls, like dried skeletons, covered the Baki Plains, exuding an atmosphere of death and silence like a graveyard, whispers of the dead faintly audible in the air.
"Great Time Dragon, can, can you reverse time again, to save those innocents who died at the hands of the evil lich?"
A high-ranking spellcaster hesitated, then timidly raised his head to ask.
Future Garon looked down, his voice indifferent: "I can."
The high-ranking spellcaster's face lit up with joy, but Future Garon paused, then continued: "But why should I waste my power to save some unrelated people?"
"I'm sure, you can't pay the corresponding price."
The high-ranking spellcaster was taken aback, his face turning gloomy as he lowered his head.
Future Garon turned his head, glanced at Garon with a faint smile, then without a word, his figure gradually became ethereal, disappearing amidst the ripples of the Time River.
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