Child of Destiny

……

Roar!

With an enraged and powerful roar, Arthur released an extremely powerful aura that immediately transformed into a thick layer of icy fog that spread throughout the surroundings.

Not long after, this fog transformed into a huge dragon, rivaling the size of the incoming cobra made of poison powers.

Still bound by the jade-like chains, Arthur was engulfed by an ice dragon, positioning him at the center of its chest.

‘Dragon Knight Skill (Tier 3): (Ice Version) Dragon Body’

Roar!

Cobra had lost his control over these chains due to the appearance of the huge ice dragon. He could no longer drag Arthur toward the ground due to it, particularly its immense weight.

Whoosh!

With a flap of those dragon wings, Cobra almost got dragged into the air. If not for the giant poison cobra that was heading straight to the ice dragon, then he would have most likely been thrown in the air already.

Not long after, the Ice Dragon also dived from the air, heading straight to the giant poison cobra that seemed to be trying to ascend to the heavens.

Roar!

BOOM!

Upon contact, the two sides immediately produced a massive and chaotic explosion that produced yet another cloud of smoke.

Puff!

Cobra could not help but have a sudden sense of déjà vu when he saw this, especially when a huge hole appeared on the massive cloud of smoke in the sky.

At the center of it, Arthur could be seen rapidly descending straight at him while thrusting his ice dragon spear.

It was a similar scene to earlier.

“This monster,” mumbled Cobra after seeing one of his strongest abilities and techniques being nullified that easily.

Moreover, he had spent quite a lot just to set that trap and lure Arthur into it. He was not even sure if it would work once again, especially when the latter was in a complete battle mode right now.

Swoosh!

Activating yet another lifesaving skill under his arsenal, Cobra disappeared from his current location, entering stealth once again.

Boom!

The spot where he had previously stood exploded for another time, further destroying the surroundings.

Seeing this, Cobra started considering whether he had to continue fighting this monster or take the initiative to surrender.

He still had quite a few cards under his arsenal, but most of them had extremely long cooldowns, which some even lasted for days.

There was still another trial right after this, but that would have to wait until they survived this one. If he conceded this round, he would not even know if he would be included in the final trial, especially given the personality of their current leader for this operation.

He could even be kicked out of the lineup for that trial if he could not perform well.

“I guess I don’t have much of a choice,” he mumbled, deciding to truly go all out for this round.

Looking up ahead, Cobra saw Arthur walking out of the mixture of clouds of dust and a veil of snow that had been created by the earlier explosion.

Clicking his tongue a little, Cobra then melded within the darkness. However, it was a bit different this time since he had thoroughly erased his presence and tracks.

Not even his footprints appeared on the surface of the snow filling the place.

Even Arthur’s currently sharpened senses had lost track of his opponent. This was even with the help of the snowstorm that he was currently releasing through the special powers that he had gained from Eira.

It was as if Cobra had disappeared out of existence.

Standing alone in the middle of the violent storm of snow, Arthur stood still while keeping all his senses sharp and entering a full-guard state.

He knew that the opposing party was using an extremely advanced skill, most likely something in between the Tier 3 and Tier 4 skills, or more commonly known as Pseudo Tier 4 skills.

Given such powerful stealth, Arthur could only think of skills at such a level, especially when he was currently in a special state with extremely sensitive senses.

This standoff lasted for quite a while, making the entire atmosphere quite eerie.

Arthur stood like an ice statue while his opponent continued to lurk in the darkness, stalking the former just like how a predator stalks its prey.

It felt ironic since a dragon was supposed to be an apex predator.

However, it was still undecided who was the true predator between the two, especially when Arthur clearly had a slight advantage in this situation.

This was a battle of patience. Whoever lost their cool first would be the one to lose due to the opening that they would create at that time.

Both sides were waiting for that opportunity to strike.

Arthur was still fine despite standing in the middle of this violent storm that was gradually getting stronger due to the ice powers that he currently controlled.

The longer he stayed like this, the more changes he could make with the weather, making the already violent snowstorm become much stronger.

With rapidly dropping temperatures due to the current environment, Cobra would most likely have a hard time dealing with it.

It did not take that long before everyone got the answer.

It was still Cobra, who had taken the initiative to break the standoff once again.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The ground around Arthur started exploding due to the group of massive snakes coming out from it, rising toward the sky before suddenly diving towards him.

‘Venom Assassin Skill (Tier 3): Serpent’s Burial’

Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!

The group of massive snakes looked like giant pillars descending from the sky and slamming straight at Arthur.

Seeing this, Arthur swiftly responded. He twirled his spear to generate momentum while also channeling his dragon powers into it.

A moment later, he suddenly threw a series of powerful thrusts toward the sky, striking the descending giant snakes.

‘True Nine Dragon Arts: Imperial Tactics – Ice Dragons Soaring Through the Heavens’

Roar! Roar! Roar!

His spear seemed to have transformed into a swarm of ice dragons rising toward the sky, facing the descending snakes together.

Their sizes might be small in comparison, but the might that they carried was so overwhelming that they managed to match the opposing side.

Roar!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A series of collisions erupted between the two sides. Everyone could also see that giant snakes were being torn apart by the swarm of dragons, which bit their bodies and shredded them with their sharp teeth.

Whoosh!

While all these were happening in the sky, a bunch of poison clones suddenly emerged from the thick snow and started pouncing at Arthur like mindless beasts.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

They charged at him at extreme speed, each leaving a series of afterimages behind that further increase complexity of their attacks.

Reading their movements became much trickier, especially when they were all coming from the most complicated angles.

Regardless, Arthur remained calm, facing them with great composure. His Dragon Eyes swept through everyone once again, seemingly seeing through the illusion that they were trying to create.

He was trying to lock on the true body hidden among them.

Unfortunately, he was unable to pinpoint where Cobra truly was, even with the help of his Dragon Eyes.

This further proved that he was currently using an extremely powerful skill that greatly boosted his stealth skills.

Realizing that he could not find his opponent, Arthur took the direct way to find the opposing party.

With a powerful stomp, he firmly planted his foot on the ground while taking a stance along with his spear that he rested on his shoulder.

He relaxed his grip over it for a moment, letting it blaze with his icy flames, before suddenly throwing a sweeping strike that released all the accumulated powers and spread in every direction.

‘True Nine Dragon Arts: (Ice Version) Dragon’s Tail’

Roar!

A huge and blinding crescent was released from his spear and swept through all the poison clones that were trying to reach him.

All of them froze in place and turned into a bunch of ice statues around Arthur.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

However, immediately, all these ice statues exploded one after another, spreading the poison that they possessed in their bodies.

The poison immediately spread in every direction, trapping Arthur once again.

It was similar to what happened earlier.

However, Arthur immediately realized that the poison that was currently surrounding him was way different from earlier.

This time, he could sense that this poison fog seemed to be alive.

“A living poison?” mumbled Arthur after seeing this.

He had yet to accurately pinpoint the reason why he was sensing such a dense life force coming from the poison fog when he suddenly saw a pair of massive eyes seemingly stalking him from it.

Without hesitation, Arthur quickly used his strongest active skill, especially when he felt an intense sense of horror emanating from those pair of eyes.

‘Dragon Knight Skill (Psudo Tier 4): Call of the Ancient Dragon’

BOOM!

A thunderous sound rang out across the sky right after he activated this skill, followed by a flash of lightning striking the ground.

Crackle! Crackle!

Roar!

A deafening and majestic roar immediately followed it.

…