Translator: AnubisTL
The martial monk moved with astonishing speed, his life grade far surpassing that of any monster in the area. Even carrying a person, he swiftly broke through the encirclement, leaving the monster horde behind as he raced eastward toward the garrisoned area.
Just then, a deafening crackling erupted—a furious, boiling roar like countless lightning bolts striking simultaneously.
Bane felt a sudden, inexplicable tightening in his chest. His years of rigorous training had honed his senses to detect danger, and he instinctively glanced back.
His vision revealed a magnificent, powerful red-iron dragon crouched low to the ground on all fours.
The last golem lay crushed beneath its massive body, twisted into a mangled wreck by a ferocious blow. Only the frost giant puppet, animated by necromancy and alchemy, still dragged its battered frame forward, launching a desperate attack against the dragon.
Zzzzt! Zzzzt!
Golden lightning erupted from the dragon's body, crackling through the gaps in its scales.
Dense, dazzling, and brilliant.
The already colossal creature swelled even larger, its entire form wreathed in surging, golden lightning. Its presence and aura now dwarfed all that had come before.
Crack!
The frost giant puppet's upper body exploded violently, shattered by a swipe of the dragon's claw.
Bane's pupils constricted sharply.
He averted his gaze, compressing his inner qi to its absolute limit.
Gale Step!
He moved like a whirlwind sweeping across the earth, sprinting forward with incredible speed.
Yet less than a second later, alarm bells blared in Bane's mind. He froze mid-stride and abruptly shifted sideways.
Boom!
A blast of flame lightning dragon breath, resembling both lightning and raging flames, struck the spot where he had been standing, blasting a terrifyingly deep crater into the ground. Arcs of electricity surged along the rain-slicked earth, striking the martial monk and paralyzing him momentarily.
Across the battlefield, Garos flapped his wings, his claws carving scorched furrows into the ground. His golden lightning-wreathed body shot forward like a cannonball, skimming low across the earth.
He swiftly overtook the red dragon and the iron dragon, surging ahead with astonishing speed to confront the martial monk.
The monk's pupils reflected the rapidly approaching crimson-gold lightning. Enveloping Edmund in a protective sphere of qi, he hurled the boy away with all his might.
"Run!"
With that single, urgent command, the monk turned to face Garos.
His aura surged to its peak.
Vajra Body!
The qi accumulated over years of arduous training erupted from his body, coalescing into a thick, bronze-colored armor that enveloped his skin.
Mind like still water.
Reflexive dodge.
He simultaneously activated two martial monk techniques.
In an instant, Garos's dragon claw tore through the rain, its lightning-wreathed talons carving searing vacuum trails through the air as they slashed toward the diminutive human martial monk.
Bane's mind remained as still as water, devoid of fear or trembling, and unaffected by the dragon's might. He planted his foot firmly on the ground and instinctively sidestepped the attack.
Closing the distance, his bronze-colored fist, charged with qi condensed to its absolute limit, slammed into the dragon's jaw.
Penetrating Strike!
Bang!
The explosive collision of qi and dragon scale shattered raindrops within a ten-meter radius.
Garos's head snapped back slightly from the punch, a piercing force slamming into his skull, leaving him momentarily dazed. Meanwhile, Bane's right arm, bronze-colored inch by inch, shattered to reveal bulging muscles beneath, his pupils dilating in shock.
His Penetrating Strike, capable of shattering steel, had inflicted minimal damage.
Drawing a deep breath, Bane regained his state of perfect stillness.
With a thunderous roar, the martial monk thrust his palm toward Garos's heart.
Heart-Shattering Strike!
This strike carried an even more potent inner qi, capable of piercing through the dragon's scales.
Yet...
It struck only a golden afterimage.
Despite his massive size, Garos, now in a frenzy state, displayed terrifying agility, matching the attack speed of even higher-level martial monks.
Evading Bane's strike, Garos retaliated with a claw strike as swift as lightning, slamming into the monk's body.
Boom!
Like a kite with its string cut, Bane was sent flying backward, spewing blood and fragments of internal organs, his bronze-colored armor shattered across most of his body.
Even with a higher life grade than Garos, Bane couldn't overcome the fundamental difference in their species.
While Garos shrugged off the monk's attacks unscathed, his own strike had left Bane critically injured. The fact that it hadn't killed him outright was due solely to Bane's mastery of force redirection techniques and his exceptionally deep, enduring qi.
The martial monk landed without falling.
He spat out a mouthful of blood, steadied himself, and began to burn his life force, channeling decades of cultivated inner qi until a phantom-like aura enveloped his body.
"Evil dragon, come!"
With a flash of movement, Bane charged toward Garos.
Using a secret art similar to Bloodburst, he surpassed his previous limits, moving with blinding speed. A dozen afterimages swirled around Garos as he launched a relentless assault, targeting joints, scale seams, eyes, and vital orifices. He pushed his martial skills to their absolute peak, landing several strikes that even made Garos flinch in pain.
Speed, agility, and lightning-fast reflexes—these were the martial monk's strengths.
He pushed these advantages to their absolute limit.
Yet.
This could not bridge the gap in raw power.
Moreover, Garos himself was a master of combat techniques.
One by one, the afterimages shattered. The martial monk's stamina plummeted. A moment of hesitation left him vulnerable, and Garos seized the opportunity.
Flames and lightning erupted simultaneously from his claws.
The dragon claw, wreathed in flame lightning, exploded with the force of fire and the speed of lightning.
The martial monk's reflexes, dulled by repeated activation, failed him. He had no time to evade. Gathering all his qi into his fists, he braced for a direct clash with the dragon claw.
Crack!
His body jolted violently as his protective qi shattered completely. The martial monk's arm skin split inch by inch, the bones groaning under the unbearable strain before finally exploding. Both arms were completely destroyed.
The brief clash ended.
The martial monk's mangled body tumbled to the ground, where he struggled to his knees. His shattered arms lay useless, blood pooling beneath him like a small lake, mingling with the rain.
He had burned through his life force, his body now withered and gaunt. His skin was deeply wrinkled, making him resemble an aged man on the verge of death rather than the vigorous middle-aged warrior he had been moments before.
In stark contrast, Garos, the hybrid dragon, still radiated immense power. His life force burned like a furnace, golden lightning crackling around him like a fiery mane.
"Impressive technique," Garos remarked, glancing down at the martial monk's corpse. The monk had already fallen silent in death.
"No! Don't kill me!" Edmund screamed from afar, his voice trembling with terror.
The red dragon and iron dragon toyed with him like insects, raking him with their claws. Without the martial monk's protection, the spellcaster, whose legs had gone weak from fear and who had never faced true danger, stood no chance of escape. His spirit, unable to focus, offered no hope of survival.
(End of the Chapter)
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