Chapter 913 913:- Continuing Forward
When the whole group looked up, they saw a snake-like Dragon that was about 10 meters in length and made from Crimson Flame heading in their direction. The huge size, scale, and brightness of the Crimson Flame Dragon almost blinded everyone.
“Nordour, do your thing!” Palmer shouted while gritting. His defence wasn’t as good as Nordour’s, and now if Nordour also fell, then it would be over for them.
“Others provide support to Nordour!”
Palmer, like everyone else in their group, assumed that once they went all out, this battle would be really easy. But their opponent turned out to be the legendary Dragon Monarch. And they learned the truth too late.
Palmer and the rest deeply regretted provoking the Dragon Monarch. The Dragon Monarch was even more formidable than in those tales that spread throughout the entire Tunnel World. Unfortunately, there was no medicine for regret. It was already too late. They had messed with the wrong person, and now their entire group was paying the price.
Looking at the powerful Flame Dragon, Palmer felt an overwhelming sense of despair.
‘Please!…!!’ Even he wasn’t sure to whom he was praying. But one thing was clear: Aditya had made him feel so much despair and made him so desperate that a cultivator like him was willing to pray and hope that some divine miracle would occur and save them.
“AHHHHHHHHHH…!!!”
Nordour’s roar echoed across the battlefield as he slammed his colossal shield into the earth and braced his feet. His muscles bulged from strain. His veins glowed faintly blue as he poured every last drop of his mana into his technique.
The huge Shield was enough to protect him, but not his teammates.
“Fortress Gaia: Aegis Dome!”
The huge shield glowed in a deep blue light before the attack hit them. From the shield, a dome of transparent blue energy formed around the entire group.
But Nordour alone wouldn’t be enough. The Crimson Sovereign Wrath was too powerful.
At the same time, everyone assisted Nordour in whatever way they could.
“Magic Flame – Draconic Counterburst!”
Raveen, who was the group’s fire mage and a pyromancer prodigy, stepped forward and raised both arms.
From his palms, a serpentine dragon of molten orange and violet flame erupted. The size of the serpentine Dragon matches the descending beast in size and length.
The two dragons crashed mid-air, the resulting shockwave blasting wind in every direction.
Boooom…!!!
Seeing this for a microsecond, Raveen was really happy, thinking that he had successfully stopped the attack of the Dragon Monarch. But his happiness didn’t even last a second as a bright Crimson Dragon continued charging towards him.
Raveen’s counterattack didn’t overpower Aditya’s. But it slowed his attack; just enough.
When the attack hit the dome, the dome almost shattered. The Mana strain caused Nordour to bleed from his nose, eyes, ears, and mouth. But he still held on.
At the same time,
“Mana Nexus: Eternal Reinforcement!”Beside Nordour, Leina, a quiet but powerful support mage, chanted in a trance-like rhythm. Streams of glowing white light flowed from her staff into the barrier.
The white light fused with Nordour’s blue dome and started to thicken it. Her spell was reinforcing its structure with holy mana that sparkled like stars.
The dome flared brighter and resisted the cracking pressure.
“Hydro Pulse – Burst Shot!”
From the backline, Jason, one of the newer members of the squad, stepped forward, his hands cupped together as if holding an invisible orb.
In an instant, a spiralling jet of compressed water that was glowing bright cyan, blasted forward like a cannon. It struck the dragon’s left side.
At the same time,
“Tempest Spears: Thunder Volley!”
Keira, who was the group’s lightning archer, got on his knee and fired a series of enchanted arrows.
Each bolt crackled with electric energy.
As they soared through the air, they transformed into spears of lightning and struck the Flame Dragon’s body.
“Stone Coffin Snare!”
The group’s geomancer slammed both fists to the ground. Pillars of jagged rock erupted beneath the dragon, forming a massive skeletal cage of earth trying to hold it in place.
Palmer and the rest poured their Mana into creating multiple layers of Mana Shields. Palmer and Nordour hoped that while Aegis Dome held Aditya’s attack, the attack from others would weaken the Crimson Flame Dragon, and the defensive reinforcement from the rest would be enough for them to survive the attack.
The shield dome started cracking from all sides. It looked like the dome was about to collapse like a glass shield at any given moment now.
“HOLD IT!!” Palmer yelled while he put almost all of his Mana into the barrier. Others also did the same.
Meanwhile, Aditya watched everything with an amused look. The whole group was so focused on stopping a single attack that they seemed to have forgotten about him.
‘Well, they wouldn’t be struggling so much if I hadn’t injured each of them. Once the core of the team got taken out, this whole team lost its core. It’s like a titan without its spine.’ Technically two members of the trio was kind of taken out.
Elliot had fainted.
Nordour was forced to take the damage of his group members, which increased his burden. And in this state, Aditya noticed that he didn’t have that much Mana.
‘This could either mean this state consumes a huge amount of mana to sustain, or his Mana stats got converted into Health. I feel the latter one might be the truth.’ The cultivation world is full of surprises. Even people with the same class can have entirely different skills. In the end, it all boils down to how a cultivator trains himself to fight.
In the end, the group did manage to stop the Crimson Dragon Flame, but it left all of them drained. Even Palmer was on his one knee and was gasping for air.
This wasn’t a simple Crimson Flame attack. Aditya had specifically compressed more than usual Mana in that attack. Meaning, compared to a normal Crimson Dragon Flame, this attack was 5 to 7 times stronger and more compressed Mana meant the attack had become more potent, even for 6th-order cultivators.
These days, Aditya has been trying to find new ways to use his Crimson Flame and Crimson Lightning. He was trying to be more creative. Since the limit of his powers depended entirely on his imagination, he figured trying new things would be the best way to improve and make these two elements deadly even to Higher Order cultivators.
Swoosh!!!!
Without them noticing, Aditya had disappeared. Aditya admired this group’s unique ability to work together so well. Individually, they aren’t strong, but together, they are really strong. If they hadn’t learned his real identity, then he might have spared them, but now, letting them live wasn’t an option.
Huff…..!! Huff…!!
While panting, Nordour and Palmer looked at each other.
“Palmer, we have to create an opening and escape.” Winning this battle or continuing this battle was no longer on their mind.
Without Elliot, even if Aditya fought them in close range, they won’t be able to do anything. And also from the beginning, his instant teleportation ability has been nothing but a constant threat that left them on the defensive.
“That won’t be necessary!!” Before Palmer could react, a figure wrapped in Crimson Lightning appeared before Palmer.
Behind him, one by one, severed heads began falling to the ground. Even Nordour looked at Aditya’s back in deep shock as he found himself falling to the ground. Once on the ground, his head rolled, and the last thing he saw before dying was his own headless body holding his humongous shield.
For Palmer, the sword in his hand disappeared as his right palm transformed into a Crimson Claw.
Bang…..!!!
Aditya drove his claw right into Palmer’s heart and crashed it from inside.
Cough…!!!
This caused Palmer to cough up a large mouthful of blood. His hands trembled as he looked down and then looked at Aditya. He couldn’t even follow his movements. Now, Aditya’s movements were simply too fast.
“That was a nice battle. I enjoyed this challenge.” Before he took out his crashed heart and threw it in front of Palmer.
γDing! You have killed a Mid-6th-order Cultivator. You have gained Experience Points. Your Experience Points have been saved for later use.γ
“Once that Elliot guy fell, the tide of the whole battle changed,” Laura said to Aditya. She was already behind him and was inspecting some of the fallen bodies.
But Aditya shook his head. “It was because I stopped holding back. I realised that if I don’t use my abilities, then I will risk getting myself injured, or worse, you could get injured.” They decided to change their identity, not because they were afraid, but because they wanted their journey to go without any distractions.
Laura curiously picked up the large shield of Nordour. She almost couldn’t pick it. Even when she did, she felt her arms tremble because of the sheer size of this thing.
“What should we do with their belongings? It would be a waste to leave everything for others to eventually take it.” But she had no interest in this shield.
It was too damn heavy. ‘My arms already feel sore.’
Seeing this, Aditya silently stepped forward and took the shield from her. Even he felt that the shield was heavy, but not that much. But it would significantly slow down his agility if used in a battle.
“This is our spoil. We won’t leave anything.” Laura was already taking the storage rings of the members. Aditya put the shield in his Storage ring and then joined her.
Neither of them left anything behind. They took everything, even their weapons and the grimoire. Although neither of them could use it, the grimoire could be sold for a good amount.
And extra cash was always welcomed by both Rulers.
“Where to next?” Laura asked while walking beside him.
She looked completely carefree. Before, he had never seen anything like this.
It was like there was no tension or worry occupying her mind.
What Aditya and even Laura herself didn’t know was that the reason why she was so worry-free was because of him. With him, her mind believed that they could go through anything in this world and still be fine. She felt safe and secure.
“Continue in the direction that we previously set on before being rudely interrupted.” He replied with a small smile.
“I hope we won’t meet people like them.”
Aditya looked at her with his eyebrows raised and a soft smile. “Madam, sometimes, the things that we don’t want to happen end up happening.”
“Madam?” Laura was caught off guard but it was a breathe of fresh air that she welcomed.
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