Vampire Overlord (2-in-1)

It's worth mentioning that the proportion of Elite Template monsters in this Grand Mausoleum is quite high. Taking the recent wave of Bonefolk monsters as an example, Elite Tier creatures accounted for more than one-third of them, while in a normal Northern Frontier battlefield environment, this proportion is only one-fifth or even one-tenth.

No matter how much the overall level of the Aaron Plane World increases, the majority of soldiers will still be low-level fodder, with Elite Tier being only a minority.

Therefore, the 600-strong raiding force that Usok sent out, with about half being Elite Tier, truly represented all the elite forces that the Resistance Army could temporarily muster.

Of course, as a "hidden dungeon" in the Aaron Plane World, the Grand Mausoleum is about the same difficulty as the "Serpent God Dungeon" in the Ancient Egypt Plane and the "Shadow Labyrinth" in the Black Tide Plane, so it is reasonable that the proportion of Elite Template is relatively high.

According to Bai Xiaowen's speculation, this is only the first level of the underground mausoleum. Once they reach deeper, all the Elite Tier monsters may be present.

While Elite Tier creatures are certainly more difficult to fight than Standard Template, for the tireless and even enhanced army of undead summons, it's just a matter of spending a little more time. The lost Life Value and Divine Might will be quickly restored while traveling and exploring the map, even faster than when Bai Xiaowen recalls his summons during a truce.

However, the benefits brought by Elite Tier creatures are incomparable to those of ordinary creatures.

Leaving aside the occasional Silver Treasure Chest and the rapidly increasing combat experience, the sheer amount of Soul Essence that accumulated quickly was enough to make Bai Xiaowen extremely happy.

During the process, Bai Xiaowen also encountered some undead monsters that had never appeared in the Black Soul Stone.

For example, the "Poxfiend," Corpse Demonfolk creature covered in pustules, attacks by spitting out foul-smelling spheres. After it dies, it explodes into a pile of excrement. Although the pile of excrement quickly dissipates in the strange environment of the Grand Mausoleum, and the stench of poisonous gas it leaves behind only lasts for a few seconds, it is still incredibly smelly. It caused Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi severe psychological trauma. It can truly be said that the stench is eternal, and a second of it lasts forever.

For example, the Soulkin creature known as the "Wailing Banshee" sports a porcupine-like hairstyle with a head full of dry, straw-like hair, and a face wrinkled like an old woman's. She is adept at using a terrifyingly hoarse voice to unleash shrill howls and wails, attacking enemies on a psychological level...

There is also a type of Undead Species Bonefolk monster called "Bone Construct," which looks like a melee tank monster but is actually a ranged attacker, specializing in launching bone needles for Piercing attacks...

Upon seeing these bizarre monsters, Bai Xiaowen secretly rejoiced that they were thankfully not among the enhancement options in the Black Soul Stone... Even if they had appeared, Bai Xiaowen wouldn't have wanted them; either their smell was too pungent or their appearance was too unattractive—both were major drawbacks.

The Grand Mausoleum's architectural structure resembles a honeycomb. As you move into the middle section, the rooms are mostly hexagonal, with very few square rooms remaining.

Each room has six doors, connecting to six adjacent rooms.

A honeycomb structure is a type of maze construction, and compared to a square room structure, it is easier for people to lose their way. If there are enough rooms, and the intruder does not have a precise and clear memory, they are likely to be misled and wander in circles, creating a "ghost wall" effect.

Once you enter the middle section, you'll encounter a wave of monsters roughly every few rooms.

"We're nearing the end."

After the ninth wave of monsters was defeated, Bai Xiaowen gently pressed his temples and withdrew his Divine Might.

"Based on my Mental Scan results, the mountain wall is just two rooms ahead."

"In other words, we've already walked from the entrance of the Grand Mausoleum to the edge directly opposite," Li Shuyi understood quickly. "Have you found any steps or stairs that would allow us to go to the second level?"

Bai Xiaowen shook his head and said, "No. Next, we need to change direction and move laterally along the edge. The entrance to the second level of the Grand Mausoleum should be inside one of the rooms on the edge."

This is another piece of experience that Bai Xiaowen accumulated by playing various maze-solving games, with his masterpiece being "Diablo".

After passing through several more rooms, Bai Xiaowen, after using his Divine Might to probe, happily announced, "We've found the entrance to the second floor."

Suddenly, Bai Xiaowen's gaze sharpened. He saw that the calm face on the surface of the Doom Bracelet had been replaced by a serious and earnest one.

"Careful."

Bai Xiaowen sensed a warning sign; the serious expression indicated a moderate level of threat, which could potentially be life-threatening if not handled carefully.

Bai Xiaowen withdrew his Divine Might, carefully surveying his surroundings as he spoke, "Come out. If you're a strong person, there's no need to hide."

Li Shuyi looked at Bai Xiaowen, somewhat bewildered.

"Hehehe..."

A sinister sound rang out, and from the ceiling of the room, a gust of black wind swept by—it was a swarm of bats.

The bat quickly coalesced into a human form—a man with deep-set eyes and pale skin, dressed in aristocratic attire, somewhat similar to Kitz's clothes but far more luxurious. Moreover, the pale man's demeanor was many levels above the rough and uncouth Kitz.

"They actually managed to detect me in my bat form; those two little guys are quite capable."

The pale man spoke in a very casual and uninhibited manner.

"You flatter me. Who are you?" Bai Xiaowen asked, throwing out his Insight while rambling on.

The pale man said with a touch of self-importance, "You can call me... Lord Marcus."

At this point, the Insight yielded results.

[Marcus Gilette (Level 8 Boss Tier)]

[Race: Undead Species / Bloodkin]

[Occupation: Vampire Overlord]

[Attributes: Strength 41, Agility 80, Constitution 35, Spirit 30]

[Skill 1: Advanced Cursed Body: Racial Ability, Passive. Vampire Overlord receive 25% more Holy and Bane of Magic damage, 25% more Physical damage from Silver weapons, and 50% less damage from other types of attacks. Vital Strike are treated as normal attacks (except for special body parts). Immune to bleeding effects.]

[Skill 2: Night Demon Form: Passive. In sunlight, the Vampire Overlord's Blood Boiling, reducing all attributes by 20%. In non-sunlight conditions, all attributes increase by 20%. Active effect: The Vampire Overlord can Incarnation a Night Demon Bat for long-distance flight. After the effect ends, the body regenerates. Each lost bat reduces Life Value proportionally. In Night Demon Bat form, the Vampire Lord can physically Bite enemies.]

[Skill 3: Bloodthirst Instinct: Passive, 20% of all damage dealt by the Vampire Overlord is converted into Life Value to heal himself. Actively activating Bloodthirst Instinct will cast a powerful Blood Drain spell, draining 20% of the target's maximum Life Value to heal himself.]

[Skill 4: Blood Thrall Conversion: The Vampire Overlord Bite the target and injects his own blood, turning the target into a blood slave who will permanently obey him. This skill can be cast without Divine Might, but it requires reducing the Vampire Overlord's maximum Life Value.]

[Skill 5: Death God's Breath LV2: Increases Life Value by 400 and grants 40% resilience.]

"Is this the template for Kitz after he becomes Boss Tier...?"

Bai Xiaowen was shocked. Compared to ordinary Vampire, the Vampire Overlord were completely enhanced!

[Advanced Cursed Body] has half the negative effects of Kitz's [Cursed Body] skill, but the positive effects are not reduced at all. It also ignores vital points and grants immunity to bleeding.

[Night Demon Form] has an additional skill compared to Kitz's [Nightstalker]: an active bat swarm attack, which is quite good. Combined with [Bloodthirst Instinct], it will also Blood Drain its own life and restore health when the bat swarm attacks!

Bai Xiaowen really wanted to ask, could Boss Tier like the Vampire Overlord be so shameless...? The first three upgraded skills were already quite overpowered, and the last one was a permanent control conversion skill.

Fortunately, the Blood Thrall Conversion only affects living beings; Bai Xiaowen's undead summoning army will not be affected.

However, we need to be extremely careful with Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi, these two living beings.

According to the information Bai Xiaowen researched, it is not uncommon for awakened individuals to be controlled and enslaved by the Spirit Realm beings.

Once an awakened individual becomes a servant of the Spirit Realm beings and loses their autonomy, they completely lose the ability to enter and leave the Spirit Realm. Their Storage Space, past memories... are all sealed away, and they can only exist as a human being in the Spirit Realm, subject to the cycle of reincarnation...

This is absolutely a disgrace to the awakened ones.

"Be careful. If you get captured by his Blood Thrall Conversion, be sure to use Return Scroll before your consciousness is lost." Bai Xiaowen shared the Vampire Overlord Marcus's skills with Li Shuyi and gave her this advice through the Team Channel.

Li Shuyi nodded emphatically, the thought of becoming a servant of a Vampire in the Spirit Realm sending chills down her spine.

Perhaps noticing Bai Xiaowen and the other's wary demeanor, the Vampire Overlord Marcus revealed an enigmatic smile.

"Little human, don't be so afraid. I'm different from those mindless derivatives..."

Marcus tapped his head lightly with his sharp fingernails. "I've lived for over three hundred years, and my intelligence far surpasses that of most humans. A highly intelligent being wouldn't make enemies unnecessarily."

"More than three hundred years? Your lifespan is longer than the history of the Lionheart Empire?" A perfectly timed hint of doubt appeared in Bai Xiaowen's eyes.

Li Shuyi knew perfectly well that the scene before her was all too familiar; Bai Xiaowen had already entered deception mode.

Bai Xiaowen actually wanted to use this powerful Spirit Realm figure, who seemed to be guiding the NPC, to extract some information about the Grand Mausoleum. What exactly made this S+ Elite Tier difficulty dungeon so difficult? As long as he could obtain some useful information, a delay was acceptable.

Marcus laughed proudly, "Of course, the human kingdom is but a fleeting moment to me; I am Immortality."

"Then why are you here? And what you call the derivatives... are they the undead that attacked us? How did they appear?"

"That's a long story," said Marcus, the Vampire Overlord, shrugging. "A story that's hardly anything new."

"It's alright, Mr. Marcus, I'm very patient," Bai Xiaowen added.

Marcus coughed. "It all started four hundred years ago, with the fall of ' Death God Naraku '..."

Suddenly, Marcus's expression changed, and he shouted, "Watch out behind you!"

Bai Xiaowen instinctively turned to look, but Marcus's pale, thin face gave a sinister smile. He flew in front of Bai Xiaowen like a phantom, his sharp nails clawing at Bai Xiaowen's neck!

The attack was incredibly fast; Li Shuyi, who was right next to him, didn't even have time to react!

However, before Bai Xiaowen could turn his head back, the Spell Talisman was already brewing in his palm, eventually transforming into a yellow light!

Marcus flew in, intending to kill with a single blow, but he was struck by the Heart-Confounding Talisman. It looked as if he had run headfirst into Bai Xiaowen's Spell Talisman.

Bai Xiaowen's figure gracefully retreated, and a single word escaped his lips:

"Beat!"

Li Shuyi drew her twin swords and pounced behind the Vampire Overlord Marcus, slashing in a cross pattern. At the same time, the other summoned creatures swarmed forward, cleavers and scimitars flying, wands and scepters dancing in unison.

However, when these attacks landed on Marcus, the damage was shockingly low. Marcus's racial passive ability, Advanced Cursed Body, provided incredibly strong damage reduction.

Only the Bone Warlock's Thunderstrike Art caused additional damage to Marcus. As the lightning struck, wisps of smoke rose from Marcus's body, and he couldn't help but groan.

This fierce attack, even with the extra damage from the Bone Warlock's Bane of Evil, only managed to reduce Marcus's Life Value by a little over a hundred points.

Marcus's figure shifted, flashing like a ghost, passing through the gaps in the summoned creatures and appearing ten meters away. A hint of surprise flickered in his deep-set, slightly reddish eyes. "How did you know I was going to attack you?"

Bai Xiaowen's Spell Talisman required a casting action to activate, and the fact that he was able to calmly and accurately hit the target while his head was turned away from Marcus at the time indicates that he must have prepared in advance.

Bai Xiaowen shook his head and did not answer; in fact, he relied on the shared vision of summoned creatures.

Moreover, Bai Xiaowen had never let his guard down from the beginning. Marcus's appearance changed the threat level of the Doom Bracelet to medium! So far, the Doom Bracelet has not made any misjudgments.

"Be careful," Bai Xiaowen warned Li Shuyi again in the Team Channel, "This guy has the highest agility of all the bosses we've encountered... This is the first time I've seen someone escape from a group of summoned creatures just by using speed."

Marcus's base Dexterity is 80, but don't forget his terrifying "Night Demon Form" skill! In non-sunlight conditions, all attributes increase by 20%, and Dexterity soars to 96!

Bai Xiaowen's summoned creatures were all severely Suppression agility by Marcus.

Seeing that Bai Xiaowen did not respond, Marcus sneered, "Fine, your good luck only lasts this once." He spun around and soared into the sky like a top, leaping and bounding across the walls and ceiling of the tomb chamber like a shadow.

Although Bai Xiaowen's side had a numerical advantage, it appeared as if Marcus had completely surrounded them. Unable to keep up with the enemy's speed, Bai Xiaowen had no choice but to order his summoned creatures to surround him and Li Shuyi in the center for protection.

With a whoosh, Marcus launched himself down from the ceiling dome, his sharp fingernails aimed at Bai Xiaowen's skull.

My wife and son were discharged from the hospital today. Old Ya can finally relax a bit. I can write while taking care of my wife and feeding the baby. The break from updating the past two days was really not my intention, please understand. This book will definitely not be published.