Chapter 148: Preparation, Fierce Battle, and Subjugation

Lando spent half a day setting up numerous traps and arrays around the crater. While the setup itself was quite straightforward, the real difficulty lay in being extremely careful not to alert the corpse dragon slumbering below, ensuring it would not wake up prematurely.

Running through the simple plan in his mind once more to confirm nothing had been missed, Lando summoned the Wraith Lord into his heart-mind space. He inscribed several temporary runes onto the entity. Once completed, the Wraith Lord's legendary-tier aura abruptly shifted, dropping below the legendary rank, its lingering fluctuations becoming faint and almost imperceptible.

Lando's plan was simple: have the Wraith Lord pretend to steal the corpse dragon's treasure, lure the beast out, and then ambush it. Given the corpse dragon's arrogant and tyrannical nature, upon seeing a petty thief making off with its valuables, its immediate response would undoubtedly be to eradicate the intruder rather than suspect an ambush.

Ideally, Lando himself should have executed the plan, but feeling somewhat uncertain about the corpse dragon's exact strength, he decided to play it safe and send his minion instead.

A moment later, a hazy, indistinct shadow drifted slowly onto the platform holding the corpse dragon's hoard, abruptly swallowed a fraction of the treasures, and bolted.

Then, Lando witnessed a jaw-dropping scene: the corpse dragon smacked its lips lazily, shifted its massive body slightly, and went right back to sleep!

The Wraith Lord, now halfway through its flight, stopped dead in mid-air. It turned its head to look at the deeply slumbering corpse dragon, then back at its master's darkening expression, looking utterly bewildered and innocent.

Lando clenched his fist, signaling the Wraith Lord to strike the beast.

Complying with the order and hardening its heart, the Wraith Lord retrieved a brick of solid gold and hurled it viciously at the corpse dragon's head.

*Thud!~ Splash!~*

The first sound was the gold brick smashing against the corpse dragon's skull, and the second was the brick plunging into the molten lava below.

To Lando's speechlessness, the corpse dragon still did not wake up!

Feeling utterly insulted now, the Wraith Lord unleashed a piercing mental shockwave that stabbed savagely into the corpse dragon's mind.

"Roar!~"

An enraged, deafening howl echoed across the entire volcanic mountain. The volcanic peak seemed to resonate with the sovereign's fury as the previously calm, flowing lava began to churn violently.

When the corpse dragon finally snapped out of its rage, it saw a tiny wraith swaggering brazenly within its domain. Through the intruder's translucent body, it could clearly see its own stolen treasure resting inside the phantom's stomach. Buffeted simultaneously by the indignity of having its sleep disturbed and its hoard plundered, the corpse dragon felt wrath beyond endurance!

After spewing a torrent of dragon breath, only to find the little wraith entirely unharmed and already soaring out of the crater, the corpse dragon snapped open its massive wings and lunged in pursuit. Relying on its (former) pride as a dragon, it was certain no petty wraith could escape its clutches in flight!

The exact moment it cleared the crater's rim, however, a bizarre scene unfolded before its eyes, leaving it momentarily stunned.

The little wraith it had expected to see fleeing in blind panic was not running at all. Instead, it hovered outside the crater, grinning craftily as it stared back. Flanking it were several menacing undead entities: a strangely shaped skeletal skeleton king, a lich, a zombie king, and a tiny bug-like figure (Lando). Among them, the zombie king was an old acquaintance.

As the corpse dragon's wits returned, it suddenly realized that the aura of the smirking little wraith felt oddly familiar—wasn't it just its other neighbor, the Wraith Lord?

A primal instinct of danger flared, but before any further thoughts could form within the corpse dragon's decayed brain, the tiny bug standing amidst the undead waved its hand. Six massive points of energy suddenly flared around the perimeter of the crater, shooting out six divine beams like ribbons of light that firmly locked down the corpse dragon's wings, claws, and feet.

Lando had originally intended to secure its head and tail as well, but lacking sufficient materials on hand, he had no choice but to make do with this configuration.

Bound by its wings, claws, and limbs, the corpse dragon was consumed by incandescent fury. It opened its jaws to unleash another breath, but after the lich intercepted and neutralized it with a barrier, it never got a second chance. Relying on its thick hide and stubborn toughness, the zombie king flew straight up and planted itself onto the dragon's face, refusing to be shaken off no matter how violently the beast thrashed its head.

After failing to cast a few initial curses, the lich focused its energy intently, preparing a *Finger of Death*. Dealing with a corpse dragon was nothing like the ninth-rank undead archmage from the other day; a casual, instantaneous *Finger of Death* wouldn't suffice here. To deal with the dragon, it had to unleash its ultimate attack.

The Wraith Lord intermittently released death screeches and continuous mental assaults, disrupting the corpse dragon's spellcasting rhythm and driving it into an even deeper frenzy.

The skeletal skeleton king relentlessly swung its massive halberd-axe, carving wound after wound into the corpse dragon's flesh.

Seeing the situation tilt in their favor, Lando attempted to drag the corpse dragon into his heart-mind space to finish it off in one fell swoop. Unfortunately, his attempts were repeatedly blocked by the shroud of death energy swirling around the beast, forcing him to temporarily abandon the idea.

Faced with such a predicament, the corpse dragon naturally refused to surrender passively. While struggling frantically, it lashed its tail against the ground to adjust its posture and struck defensive poses to prevent the skeletal skeleton king from inflicting further injuries.

Finally, just as the binding restraints on the corpse dragon began to flicker unsteadily, the lich—which had been channeling the *Finger of Death* all this while—saw a blinding light flash within its eye sockets. Its preparation was complete!

At that exact moment, the skeletal skeleton king abandoned its halberd-axe, lunged forward to wrap its arms around the sweeping dragon tail, and completely ignored the dull, cracking impacts as its own bones shattered under the immense force. Through sheer brute strength, it pinned down the corpse dragon's only remaining mobility for a crucial window.

The zombie king also ceased merely absorbing damage, launching a heavy strike that violently twisted the corpse dragon's head aside and inflicted a brief daze—though the price was getting bitten squarely in the jaws by the dragon, its torso nearly snapped in half.

Lando and the Wraith Lord also unleashed their respective abilities to disrupt the corpse dragon's actions.

With everyone successfully creating the opening, the lich did not disappoint. Its spiritual perspective locked firmly onto the corpse dragon's soul core, and it fired the *Finger of Death*.

Time seemed to freeze for a fraction of a second, immediately followed by a crisp fracture echoing from the depths of the soul. The dense shroud of death energy enveloping the corpse dragon suddenly dissipated, and its aura plummeted dramatically.

At this point, the corpse dragon lacked even the strength to let out a dying shriek.

With a thought from Lando, his heart-mind space rapidly expanded. This time, the dragon offered no resistance as it was pulled straight inside.

Lando let out a sigh of relief, though this was no time to rest. He quickly led his minions into the heart-mind space as well.

The rest was remarkably simple. Severely weakened, the corpse dragon could no longer resist the power of the heart-mind space and was beaten to the brink of collapse within moments, projecting mental waves of absolute submission.

Lando was thoroughly satisfied with the corpse dragon's capitulation. Outwardly composed, he glanced sideways at the zombie king and the skeletal skeleton king, inwardly muttering to himself that both of them were absolute simpletons.