Count Dracula, the Vampire Lord, was one of the ancient legends of the West—a native being of this land, unlike the recently emerged monsters that had been summoned through the Gate of Darkness.
Because of this, Dracula had a grand dream—one he had worked tirelessly toward:
He wanted to completely control the Gate of Darkness and become the sovereign ruler of the dark world.
To that end, he recruited elite warriors, cultivated talent, and in just a few short months had assembled an army tens of thousands strong. He had even established his own personal Four Dark Lords.
These four were: the King of Science, Frankenstein; the King of War, the Stone Golem; the King of Slaughter, the Demonblade Knight; and the King of Control, the Puppetmaster.
Granted, these so-called Four Dark Lords had been cobbled together rather hastily and varied widely in strength, but at least the framework was there.
Dracula even led them to seize control of a newly emerged Gate of Darkness nearby. He was now attempting to learn how to harness its power to mass-produce troops for his cause.
Dracula was ambitious. Dracula was driven. But unfortunately, before he could lead his army to conquer the world...
He got stormed—right at home!
And worse still, it wasn't just one group attacking. It was several!
There were vampire hunters, demon slayers, and then Qin Ming and Zhao Honghua's party.
There were even a few rogue adventurer teams who hadn't joined any protagonist faction but came anyway, relying on their own strength and courage.
Their sudden assault plunged the entire castle into chaos. Both sides were already locked in fierce combat.
Just then, Qin Ming and his crew crashed through a wall on their dinosaur mount—straight into a blockade.
BOOM! With a thunderous crash, debris flew everywhere.
A massive stone figure roared to the sky, swinging its thick arms and hurling several intruders away like rag dolls.
Its entire body was made of solid rock, standing over five meters tall and radiating sheer menace.
Its rocky exterior was covered in eerie black runes. The surrounding courtyard was littered with gravestones, and zombies clawed their way up from the earth.
One of the Four Dark Lords, nourished by the yin energy of this corpse-filled land for countless years, and now awakened with full consciousness—the Stone Golem of Darkness—enters the stage!
It was in the middle of commanding a horde of zombies, fighting off invading adventurers, when it heard the loud crash from the front. It suddenly raised its head.
Its stone eyes glowed with an eerie green light, sending chills down the spine of all who saw it.
As it spotted the massive triceratops smashing through the wall and charging madly toward it, the towering Stone Golem let out a furious howl. But instead of dodging, it spread its arms wide and ran straight at the dinosaur.
BOOM! The two collided with a deafening crash. Dust flew in all directions, and a shockwave surged through the air.
Despite being rammed head-on by the triceratops and pushed backward with its feet dragging along the ground, the Stone Golem possessed incredible strength.
It was dragged more than ten meters, sparks flying in its wake, yet it somehow managed to grind to a halt—stopping the full-speed charge of the dinosaur!
[Name: Stone Golem of Darkness]
[Strength: 100]
[Constitution: 100]
[Agility: 5]
[Spirit: 5]
[Skill: Deathstone (S-rank)]
[Description: A monster born from death itself]
"RAHHHH!!"
With a furious roar, the Stone Golem—whose attributes were specialized to the extreme—smashed its fists down on the triceratops's head with everything it had.
Although its movements were slow and stiff, with a painfully obvious wind-up, once the Stone Golem of Darkness landed a hit, its fists struck like heavy artillery—utterly devastating.
Each punch made the triceratops stumble and stagger, unable to hold its footing, let alone retaliate. It could barely stay upright under the relentless hammering.
Just as the Stone Golem was unleashing its rampage, a low roar suddenly erupted from the triceratops.
It turned out Zhao Honghua had sensed something was wrong. She drew the peachwood sword from her back and, without hesitation, unleashed her sect's ultimate technique.
Summon Thunder Dragon!
BOOM!
A massive bolt of lightning erupted from her sword, taking the form of a roaring dragon and slamming straight into the Stone Golem.
The tremendous impact blasted the creature backward, chunks of black rock flying everywhere.
Before it could even hit the ground, Qin Ming had already morphed one hand into a claw, gathering a blood-red sphere in his palm.
Modified Technique: Tyrant Roaring Fist!
BOOM!
The massive blood sphere surged forward right behind the lightning strike, accelerating and hardening as it flew, wrapped in blazing white flames.
The instant it struck the Stone Golem, the blood orb detonated in a thunderous explosion. Countless shrapnel fragments embedded themselves in the creature's body at high speed.
An unending barrage of blasts echoed through the courtyard as the Stone Golem was riddled with holes. From its back, a torrent of blood-like fluid sprayed out in the form of crimson arrows.
Even the Stone Golem couldn't withstand two consecutive ultimate attacks.
Its massive body collapsed on the spot, shattering into countless fragments of black rock.
Seizing the opportunity, the triceratops charged forward, carrying everyone straight into the castle.
No sooner had they rushed inside than Qin Ming yanked the reins, halting the triceratops. He turned around, ready to retrieve a treasure chest.
But as he looked back, there was no chest in sight. Instead, he saw something else—rocks shifting and tumbling. The shattered Stone Golem... was piecing itself back together and rising to its feet!
Witnessing this, a look of shock spread across Qin Ming's face. Zhao Honghua, thinking he meant to turn back and fight again, quickly called out in warning.
"Don't waste time on that thing! It's an evil creature born of the underground yin energy. As long as the yin flows, it can't die. It's got an immortal body—you'd have to grind it to powder to finish it off! Let's go! Killing the vampire is what matters!"
Zhao Honghua's words made Qin Ming frown. He hadn't expected the damn thing to have an undead mechanic. Without hesitation, he spun around and retreated.
No wonder such a high-stat monster was so easy to shatter—it had a hidden mechanic all along!
With so many competitors around, it truly wasn't worth wasting time on it now. Qin Ming quickly agreed with Zhao Honghua's suggestion and charged deeper into the castle.
While their team had successfully broken through, the adventurers still stuck outside—and forced to face the revived Stone Golem again—were starting to panic.
Even after taking two powerful ultimates—one from Zhao Honghua, the other from Qin Ming—that thing had only been temporarily disabled.
None of the adventurers present had attributes that high, let alone S-ranked skills.
Against a monster that couldn't be killed or broken, they lacked the explosive power needed to push past its blockade and enter the castle.
Standing alone in the courtyard, blocking the castle entrance, the Stone Golem of Darkness had truly become a one-man wall—no one could break through.
Under its terrifying brute strength, anyone who took a single hit either died or was crippled.
To make matters worse, as the battle dragged on, the Stone Golem began awakening the corpses around it—even reanimating the fallen enemies that had been corrupted by dark magic—to fight on its behalf.
The number of zombies kept increasing, and the more they fought, the more desperate the adventurers became.
The Stone Golem of Darkness—absolutely the nemesis of swarm tactics!
(End of Chapter)