Evan Chu wanted to finish off the Golden Skeleton as quickly as possible, so he unleashed his full power in this strike. His formidable sword qi tore through the air, blasting straight toward the Golden Skeleton. Evan thought that even if this blow couldn't kill his opponent, it would at least seriously injure him. But the outcome was completely unexpected.
The Golden Skeleton was shocked by the force of Evan's attack. The power of this strike was at least at the God-tier level—a truly fearsome opponent, and only someone like this could have slain the Skeleton King. Yet, the Golden Skeleton did not panic at all.
Unlike the Skeleton King’s massive, fleshless frame, the Golden Skeleton had no rotting flesh at all. His bones looked as if they were made of pure gold, shining brilliantly. With a furious roar from his hollow mouth, several of the meter-long bone spurs on his body broke off and shot rapidly toward Evan.
It looked just like a hidden weapon attack. The bone spurs quickly collided with Evan’s sword qi, and were shattered into dozens of pieces—but instead of crumbling, each fragment erupted with terrifying power.
It turned out that the Golden Skeleton’s bone spurs were packed with immense energy. Once released, it was like a powerhouse self-destructing—instantly multiplying the destructive force several times over, even dozens of times.
Evan’s Divine Cleave was completely broken apart by this overwhelming force. By the time his attack reached the Golden Skeleton, it was barely effective; meanwhile, about half the bone spur energy rebounded and slammed straight toward Evan.
The result was clear: Evan was blasted hundreds of meters away, his body carved with dozens of deep wounds that exposed bone. The Golden Skeleton was only knocked back a few dozen meters and quickly regained his footing, losing a few bone spurs but suffering little actual damage.
Evan had suffered a major setback—he hadn’t expected the Golden Skeleton’s bone spurs to pack such power. Though his body was covered in deep, bone-revealing wounds, they healed at a speed visible to the naked eye. Still, the pain was intense and hard to bear.
The bone spur attack was infused with incredibly potent gold-element energy—a force of pure destruction. It wreaked havoc on the body, and if Evan didn’t have the eighth-layer Starforge Body’s defense, he might not have even been able to stand after that hit.
He was also relieved that Fairy Lynn and Jade had already left; such a powerful attack could easily have seriously injured them. Once again, the land for thousands of miles around was devastated.
Evan realized that a flood of gold-element energy was rampaging through his body, damaging him from within. With his current level of Gold-Shift, he couldn’t immediately suppress the chaos—but then he had an idea: maybe the Golden Skeleton’s gold element could help him absorb and comprehend gold energy even further.
It was just like when he mastered the dark element—this was a rare opportunity, and he had to seize it. After all, acquiring higher-grade gold-element crystals was extremely difficult, and using his wounded body to absorb gold energy was a risky but possible breakthrough.
Evan carefully guided the elemental sphere in his dantian to absorb the gold energy. The process was slow, but it worked—he could feel the difference. This discovery only strengthened his resolve to use the Golden Skeleton’s gold element for his own advancement.
After a few breaths, most of his wounds had healed, though the pain lingered. In a flash, he reappeared before the Golden Skeleton and said, “You almost got me that time. I didn’t expect your bone spurs to contain such terrifying gold-element energy. I really underestimated you!”
“Hahaha! You’re not bad yourself—I thought for sure you’d die to my bone spurs, but here you are, still standing. I’m impressed. How does it feel? Like your heart’s being stabbed? That was just a test; next time will be your real death sentence!” the Golden Skeleton bellowed.
Seeing Evan’s current injuries, the Golden Skeleton no longer took him seriously. In his eyes, Evan was already a dead man and no longer a threat.
“Is that so? I’m actually looking forward to it. I wonder if you’re really up to the task this time. Go on—use your bone spurs to torture me! I love the taste of pain!” Evan laughed.
The Golden Skeleton was speechless at Evan’s words. Was this guy insane, actually saying such nonsense? Loving the taste of pain—what a weirdo.
“If you want to die, I’ll grant your wish!” With that, his aura exploded, radiating a suffocating majesty that forced Evan to retreat dozens of meters.
Once again, Evan prepared to unleash the Unicorn Arm and Divine Cleave—but this time, he would fully absorb the gold-element energy. The gold energy pouring into his body was completely digested, and the gold sigil on his elemental sphere grew even brighter, proof of the Golden Skeleton’s absurdly high-grade gold element.
He had a hunch—the Golden Skeleton’s gold element might be powerful enough to push his Gold-Shift breakthrough to the third layer. There was no way he’d let energy like this slip by.
With a thought, Evan unleashed the Unicorn Arm and Divine Cleave once again, using the same attack power as before. But the Golden Skeleton just sneered, “Still the same attack? Looks like I really overestimated you. This time, watch how you die!”
Golden light flashed from the Golden Skeleton’s body, and five new bone spurs shot toward Evan. As before, the sword energy shattered the bone spurs, releasing a wave of energy in all directions—the main target, of course, was Evan.
At that moment, Evan made a bold move—he activated Gold-Shift, letting his body fully absorb the surging gold-element energy. He knew it was dangerous, but with energy this potent, he had no choice; this kind of chance was too rare, and no matter the risk, he had to try.
Boom! Several deafening blasts echoed in the air as the gold-element energy struck Evan with pinpoint accuracy, blasting him thousands of meters away and slamming him into the ground, where he lay motionless for a long time.
Unprecedented pain wracked Evan’s body, as if he’d been torn apart—but a satisfied smile appeared on his face. The Golden Skeleton, unaware of this internal transformation, saw Evan lying motionless in the distance and assumed he’d finally killed him…