Chapter 261 - Corpse Dog

Within the Undead secret realm, Lu Ran’s team was in a state of confusion.

The huge explosion not only blew away the Low Overlord, but even Captain Doofus was sent flying away.

Death Crow’s possession was forcibly ended.

"

Caw!

What happened?" The crow exclaimed.

Captain Doofus tumbled across the ground before finally getting back up. Blood could be seen flowing from its mouth as it looked back.

"This..."

At that moment, Winter Fang was radiating a huge amount of energy.

A freezing gale covered the surroundings and turned the secret realm into an abyss of ice and snow.

Winter Fang was jammed into the ground at an angle.

Cracks webbed across the entirety of the weapon under the silent gaze of everyone present.

This time, the sword didn’t shatter as part of its special function. They’ve only had it for less than half a month and it was already destroyed.

Lu Ran almost had a heart attack, suspecting that something went wrong during the forging process that caused a defect in the blade.

Captain Doofus suspected that Lu Ran just sucked at forging.

"

Caw!

I thought only grenades could explode?" Curse Crow asked.

"I didn't know that swords could do that too!" Death Crow added.

"So cool!" Both crows said in unison.

Roar!

See? Specializing in only offense isn’t enough. Defense is just as important.

Sudden Death King thought.

"Bullshit."

Lu Ran refused to believe that there was something wrong with the forging process.

It might’ve been his first time forging a Treasure-grade item, but he had made ample preparations and even used the overpowered Flame Spirit. He didn’t think that anything could have possibly gone wrong.

"Hmm?"

As the sword continued to crumble, Dark Crow noticed that something was off. Suddenly, it widened its eyes.

"My King, the sword didn’t explode! We’ve actually succeeded!

"We did it! The sword gave birth to a weapon spirit!"

"What?"

The news jolted Lu Ran out of his daze. He was starting to notice what was happening as well, but he just couldn’t believe that Winter Fang could give birth to a weapon spirit so soon.

It had only been half a month, after all.

The cult’s forging elders estimated that it would take many years for a Rare-grade weapon to form a spirit. A Treasure-grade one could take around a year and a half. Regardless, it was a time-consuming process.

Even if the death qi in the Undead secret realm was very potent, it should’ve still taken more than a week.

However, Dark Crow was an Undead creature itself, so with its confirmation, Lu Ran could no longer deny what was happening.

In hindsight, Winter Fang did have some great qualities.

The majority of its materials were Captain Doofus’ teeth, so it had a certain kinship with its user. Once Captain Doofus infused it with Soul Sword Intent and continuously slaughtered Undead creatures, the formation of a weapon spirit was greatly accelerated.

"It’s really happening..."

Lu Ran gulped as the precious sword finally shattered completely.

Lu Ran and Captain Doofus were still recovering from their heartbreak when a spirit formed amidst the snowstorm and floated in the air. It appeared ethereal and looked drastically different from Winter Fang.

Lu Ran quickly activated his Eye of Detection.

[Name: Winter Sword Spirit]

[Attributes: Undead, Ice]

[Species Rank: Low King]

[Level: 10]

Lu Ran and Captain Doofus held their breath as they watched the sword spirit finally come into existence.

Looking at the ice-blue sword spirit, Lu Ran gawked slightly. He wanted to say something, but of the countless things he thought about saying, only one line came out.

"Long live the Undead Cult!"

It really worked!

The Undead crocodile dragon that was blown away finally reacted and was about to attack again. However, despite its anger, it didn’t charge recklessly.

Death Crow quickly possessed Curse Crow, and the numerous scarlet eyes on Dark Crow's body opened under its dark feathers. They all focused on the crocodile dragon.

Buzz!

For a single instant, the crocodile dragon froze in place for no apparent reason.

Seeing this, Sudden Death King opened its mouth to attack. Just because defense was its strong suit didn’t mean that it was incapable of offense. A beam of compressed lightning shot out of its mouth in the blink of an eye and blew the crocodile dragon away, leaving a dark trench in the ground.

Woof!

After seeing the crocodile dragon get blasted off again, Captain Doofus leaped over to retrieve the confused Winter Sword Spirit.

Captain Doofus held the spirit in its mouth like a parent holding its puppy. The sword spirit caused Captain Doofus’s rank to shoot all the way back up to Superior King.

It appeared that a sword, whether inanimate or animate, activated the bonus from the Sword Sovereign species talent. The bonus effects were pretty much the same as what Winter Fang had granted.

Wait.

It wasn’t exactly the same.

The Winter Fang didn’t have any growth potential and lost durability with continued use. The sword spirit on the other hand could be cultivated like a familiar and continue to grow. Its potential was limitless.

Lu Ran never expected to be raising a sword spirit so soon.

The sword spirit appeared to dislike being in Captain Doofus’s mouth so it struggled and cried out.

“Woof!”

Actually, it kind of “barked.”

The bark startled Captain Doofus but almost made Lu Ran keel over.

"Thank you, General Doofus. I now know what sound a sword makes," Dark Crow squeezed out as it tried to stop itself from laughing.

God damn it! The sword spirit definitely takes after Captain Doofus.

Since it gained sentience, it didn’t like being held like a normal sword anymore. Before Captain Doofus could react, the sword spirit slipped into its body.

It had used possession, the unique skill of the Undead attribute.

Previously, Death Crow had possessed Captain Doofus to increase its power to the point of being on par with Low Overlords.

However, it wasn’t really that effective. Having Death Crow possess Captain Doofus just didn’t feel as natural as having it possess its original body.

Although it somewhat strengthened Captain Doofus’ soul, causing its Soul Sword Intent to become more powerful, it just didn’t feel comfortable.

Instead, the tengu form was more suitable for Lu Ran and Dark Crow.

When the Winter Sword Spirit possessed Captain Doofus, however, there was a distinctly different sensation.

Although the Winter Sword Spirit’s species rank and level were far below the Death Crow’s, Captain Doofus could feel its vigor.

Its endless power excited Captain Doofus.

“Awoo!”

Captain Doofus suddenly howled at the sky. Its hair gradually acquired icy-blue highlights, and a suffocating aura radiated out from it.

It felt that it was on the threshold of becoming an Overlord.

The air crackled as if it was being frozen. The sword intent that permeated its body was like an unrivaled sword that was about to be unsheathed and devastate the world.

The one most keenly aware of the changes was the crocodile dragon that was blown away earlier. Although it took some heavy damage, it wasn’t something that a Low Overlord couldn’t handle.

Just as it stood back up, it came face to face with an even more terrifying attack!

Captain Doofus turned around with a fierce glare.

Unleash Domain!

Under the sword spirit’s possession, Captain Doofus didn’t wield a sword but its power still reached a new height. It was capable of unleashing a sword domain even without a weapon.

The wind and snow blew rampantly.

The crocodile dragon felt as if it was frozen for eons before shattering into pieces.

[Congratulations on completing the...]

Lu Ran ignored the secret realm results. He was more amazed by Captain Doofus’ successful attempt at activating the Blizzard Sword Domain.

“Woof.”

Captain Doofus single-handedly killed a Low Overlord, and had a proud look on its face.

“Woof.”

Who needs something as clunky as a sword?

It walked up to the rest of the team with its head held high, seemingly very pleased with itself.

"Sweet!” Lu Ran exclaimed.

Seeing that the sword spirit was so effective in assisting Captain Doofus with using its sword domain, he was happy that his week’s worth of effort wasn’t wasted.

"Where is the sword spirit?"

Lu Ran signaled Captain Doofus to release the sword spirit so he could get a closer look at it.

The sword spirit wasn’t just the fruit of Captain Doofus’ labor. Lu Ran was the one to originally forge Winter Fang.

“Woof.”

Captain Doofus shook its head, and the sword spirit separated from its body. The newly born sword spirit was just like the infant weather sprite.

It was confused by its surroundings and just dazedly floated in the air.

Lu Ran didn't mind as it was normal for babies to react that way. Once it grew a little more, it would definitely become a great kin that aided Captain Doofus in becoming a Legendary creature.

"Since you were born from the now destroyed Winter Fang, and can bark, I will name you Corpse Dog to commemorate the occasion."

Lu Ran was a bit torn as he named the sword spirit. He didn't know whether losing Winter Fang was a good or bad thing. He originally wanted to foster a weapon spirit within a sword—not just a standalone sword spirit.

Maybe he could forge a new sword with Captain Doofus’ teeth once it evolved.

Suddenly, he thought of something and turned his attention back to Captain Doofus and Corpse Dog.

Technically, Corpse Dog was an ownerless spirit. It shouldn’t even be able to enter secret realms.

Even Manager Ying couldn’t enter Limitless City without contracting to a beastmaster.

If that was the case, then what was going on with Corpse Dog?

It was actually born in a secret realm, so maybe this was a bug in the system.

Lu Ran thought about it for a moment before he commanded the sword spirit to possess Captain Doofus again. Once the duo fused, he left the secret realm.

The two remained fused even when they entered Limitless City.

***

After some experimentation, Lu Ran discovered that Corpse Dog couldn’t be placed into Captain Doofus’s contract card. However, while it possessed Captain Doofus, the two were recognized as one entity.

This meant that they wouldn’t have any issues traveling around in Limitless City or secret realms.

This was a shocking discovery. Was this due to the fact that Winter Fang was forged from Captain Doofus’ teeth?