“Bam.” The adamantine heavy sword collided against the black panther’s body.
A look of surprise appeared in the cold, arrogant eyes of the black panther, because this sword blow seemed to have no force behind it at all. Without hesitating in the slightest, it sent its seven- or eight-meter-long tail slashing fiercely towards Linley.
“Thunderbolt.” Linley’s formerly calm eyes suddenly seemed to spit lightning bolts.
The black panther suddenly felt as though that adamantine heavy sword which had just touched its back suddenly exploded with a terrifyingly powerful blast of force. The force was like the eruption of a volcano, blasting out power wildly and at high speed.
“BAM!”
The black panther felt its limbs grow soft, and its body was pressed down by a significant amount. Its glossy black fur suddenly began to ripple like the waves of the sea.
“Growl!!!!” A small amount of blood leaked out from the corner of the black panther’s mouth.
This level of ‘wielding something heavy as though it were light’ required perfect coordination between physical strength and battle-qi. It wasn’t just raw, brute force; rather, it was concentrating all of the rushing power and unleashing it in one blow. Although the black panther possessed astonishing defensive capabilities, with its fur neutralizing more than half of the offensive power, a significant amount of power still entered its body, causing the black panther some internal injuries.
“Whap!”
That whip-like black tail of the black panther landed viciously on Linley’s body, smashing apart the armored scales on Linley’s waist and sending Linley flying.
Just as Linley was about to smash into the top part of the trunk of another large tree, Linley suddenly stretched out his right hand and plunged his claws into the tree trunk like a grappling hook. Hanging onto the trunk, Linley looked down from his position at the upper trunk of the tree.
“As I thought. Once it transforms to a large size, its offensive power increases greatly.” Linley looked at the shattered scales on his waist and the fresh blood leaking from beneath it. He now understood much more about this mysterious black panther. “As for its defense, however, it didn’t increase that much.”
When it transformed to a larger size, the black panther’s defense didn’t change much. Its speed dropped, and its attack power increased.
“It seems as though my ‘Thunderbolt’ technique is still effective against it.” Linley was very satisfied with the effect of his ‘Thunderbolt’ attack.
This black panther possessed a terrifyingly powerful defense. Even the explosive power unleashed by ‘Thunderbolt’ was largely blocked by its extremely tough black fur, and the fur itself seemed to be totally undamaged.
If Linley were only to use raw, brute force and battle-qi against this black panther, he probably wouldn’t be able to wound it at all.
“Time to use my magic.”
Linley began to mumble the words to a magical incantation. Right now, Linley was hanging around thirty or so meters up above the ground off that tree trunk, while the black panther was staring up at him coldly from below. Seeing that Linley didn’t come down, this peak-stage, highly intelligent magical beast of the ninth rank, came to a snap decision.
If you aren’t coming down, I’m coming up!
“Swoosh!” That five-meter-tall, enormous black panther suddenly flew into the air, leaping directly towards Linley. With its astonishing springing force, it cleared thirty meters with a single bound.
Linley’s heart was as tranquil as water.
Despite seeing the enormous black panther fly upwards towards himself, he still continued to chant the words to his spell. Only, he slapped the trunk of the tree with his right hand, sending himself flying upwards at an incline at high speed.
The tree that Linley had just slapped instantly split apart by the force of that blow.
“Crash!” The tree toppled to the ground towards the panther.
This tree was enormous enough that when it was falling, it took up half of the available space. To the physically small Linley, it didn’t prove a problem at all, but the enormous panther was forced to slash at it with its paws and rip it in half.
Seizing this moment, Linley finally completed the magical incantation he was chanting.
“Swiiiish.” On Linley’s back, a pair of translucent, blue wings suddenly appeared. Flashing with azure light, the translucent wings seemed extremely beautiful. With a gentle flap of the wings, Linley’s body rocketed into the air.
Wind spell of the eighth rank – Airwings!
Seeing this, the enormous black panther instantly howled with fury. It actually pounced once more towards Linley at high speeds, as Linley flew higher.
“Bam!” Although the black panther had increased in size, it was still extremely dexterous and agile, capable of leaping dozens of meters at a single bound. Borrowing force against the tree trunk, it continued to leap higher and higher up the trees.
But after five or six leaps, the enormous black panther had reached the top of the tallest tree, while right now, Linley flew high above the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts with his translucent wings.
“Now, time for me to thrash you.” Linley saw that the enormous black panther had already leapt towards him from the top of the tallest tree. But now, with nothing to grab on, the black panther had no choice but to allow its body to fall down.
Just as its body began to fall…
“Whoosh!” Linley suddenly spread his wings and rocketed downwards at an astonishing speed.
Through using the astonishing downwards speed granted to him by the Airwings spell, Linley quickly arrived next to the falling enormous black panther. The enormous black panther glared angrily at Linley, but in mid-air, it had nothing to latch onto.
“Haaaaaaaaargh!” Linley suddenly activated all of the Dragonblood battle-qi in his body.
Reaching the absolute maximum limit of Dragonblood battle-qi power in an instant, and with both hands gripped tightly around the adamantine heavy sword, Linley delivered a vicious mid-air chop against the falling black panther, which had nowhere to dodge.
“CLANG!” The black panther’s sharp claws once again clashed against the adamantine heavy sword.
But Linley only confidently swung his adamantine heavy sword against it again at high speed. At this moment, the dancing adamantine heavy sword in Linley’s hands had seemed to become one with the wind, slashing down more than ten times against the falling black panther in the space of one second.
With each sword blow, he executed the ‘Thunderbolt’ technique.
“Bam!” “Bam!”
After blocking the very first strike, the black panther’s body had begun to accelerate its downward falling speed. But using his Airwings spell, Linley was still able to match the black panther’s rate of descent. One sword, then another, then another…
The black panther felt as though each sword stroke of Linley’s was more forceful and heavier than the last, and each sword stroke unleashed the same explosive, flood-like burst of power, causing its internal organs to shake.
After taking over ten blows, the body of the enormous black panther was smashed all the way into the ground by Linley.
“BOOM!”
An enormous crater appeared, and cracks appeared in every direction on the ground. The roots of the massive trees around them began to emerge from the ground, uprooted from the force of this collision.
In the middle of the crater, the enormous black panther spat out a large mouthful of fresh blood, and even a hint of blood could be seen coming out of its fur. These repeated blows by Linley’s heavy sword had caused even the black panther’s fur to be unable to withstand all of the attack force.
“Black panther.” Linley stood in midair, over ten meters above it. His translucent wings fluttered. “I know that you understand the human tongue. I’ll give you a chance. As long as you submit to me, I’ll spare your life.”
Right now, Linley really want
ed to tame and acquire this magical beast.
Linley had been in sore need of a good mount this entire time. And, even more importantly, this black panther was an extremely superior creature, especially after it transformed in size. Its enormous, two-story-tall body, combined with its astonishing speed and defense made it an absolute war machine.
“Growl!”
The enormous black panther stood up, staring coldly at Linley. Its deadly eyes were filled with boundless wrath. Its head was still raised proudly. How could it possibly submit so easily? But right now, the black panther understood that this human warrior in front of it wasn’t the prey it had thought he was. For a warrior to possess such terrifying power and also be able to use a high-level wind spell such as ‘Airwings’ was an expert which was extremely rare in the human world.
“Are you willing to submit?” Linley shouted from up high.
As far as magical beasts were concerned, only martial force could make them submit and subdue them. And the higher the rank of a magical beast, the more difficult it was to make them submit.
“Groooowl!” The enormous black panther let out an angry roar.
“If you won’t submit, then I’ll beat you until you do!” Linley was very confident.
When combining his magic with his warrior abilities, his power could rise to an astonishing level. Right now, due to the pair of translucent Airwings on his back, Linley was in total control of the battlefield.
“Swish!” Linley once more dived downwards.
The movement speed of the pair of translucent wings was higher than what four limbs provided. In the blink of an eye, Linley appeared in front of the enormous black panther as he once more smashed downwards viciously against it with his adamantine heavy sword.
But the black panther only retreated over ten meters at high speed, then pounced forward again.
Flexing his translucent wings, Linley began to dodge about very agilely in the air while constantly chopping downwards with his adamantine heavy sword. Every sword carried with it a terrifying force, capable of flattening a hill.
“Bam!”
The enormous black panther’s body was once more struck by the adamantine heavy sword and knocked flying. Blood had matted its glossy black fur with a red color. Linley stood confidently in midair, ready to strike another blow at the black panther at any moment with his adamantine heavy sword.
“Will you submit?” Linley asked in a solemn voice.
The black panther once more rose to its feet, staring coldly at Linley. Suddenly… the black panther’s body began to shrink. It once more shrunk down to a height of two meters and a length of four meters… but the strange thing was, this time, the black panther’s entire body began to glow with a hazy black and white light.
“What on earth?” Sensing danger, Linley quickly flew a bit higher using his translucent wings, cautiously staring down.
That black and white light disappeared. The black panther’s body, previously covered with a large, dense amount of black stripes, now only had a few thick black stripes on its upper body, while the fur on its four limbs had turned as white as snow.
Seeing this, Linley sucked in a cold breath. “Blackcloud Panther? The legendary Blackcloud Panther?”
96
A Battle of Speed
The most powerful panther-type magical beast would probably be the Saint-level magical beast, “Electrobolt Panther”, a lightning-type magical beast. It was so incredibly fast that other Saint-level beasts simply couldn’t compare to it.
But the most secretive, most mysterious panther-type magical beast would be the ninth-ranked magical beast, ‘Blackcloud Panther’.
According to records, the last time a Blackcloud Panther appeared was over a thousand years ago. Despite so many years having passed, the amount of information which people had managed to collect regarding Blackcloud Panthers remained very scarce.
Blackcloud Panthers were magical beasts of the ninth rank, and extremely fast. Their bodies were covered with just a few black stripes, but their four limbs were snow white, as though they were travelling within a cloud. This was why people gave them the name, ‘Blackcloud Panthers’.
But with regards to what special abilities the Blackcloud Panthers had, or what element they were, the records had no information.
“Most likely, all of the experts who encountered Blackcloud Panthers lost their lives. As for those Saint-level combatants who knew the truth about Blackcloud Panthers, perhaps they intentionally did not reveal any information.” Linley knew very well that many of the more powerful organizations held secrets that were closely guarded. Even spells of the seventh rank would not be revealed. From this, one could imagine how secretive these organizations were.
Within this densely-forested area in the core region of the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts, the Blackcloud Panther was exchanging stares with Linley, who was floating in mid-air with translucent wings on his back.
“Blackcloud Panthers can change their size as well as their appearances. They truly are quite mysterious.” Linley didn’t dare to relax at all.
The Blackcloud Panther stared coldly at Linley, its icy eyes filled with fury.
“Swish!”
In the blink of an eye, the Blackcloud Panther crossed the fifty-meter-gap between itself and Linley. Compared to before, when it was in its first form (normal size and covered with wavy black stripes), it was almost 50% faster.
50%!
For its speed to increase by that much prevented Linley from being able to dodge, and the Blackcloud Panther landed a vicious blow against Linley’s chest. Immediately, the scales on his chest shattered. “Crack!” With a cracking sound, fresh blood leaked out from behind the scales.
“Whoosh.” Linley immediately activated his translucent wings, rapidly rising higher into the air.
“What incredible speed.” Linley felt shocked in his heart.
The Blackcloud Panther, in its first form, was slightly faster than Bebe. In its second form, the large form, the speed of the Blackcloud Panther decreased by 30%, roughly on par with Linley. In its third form, the one it was in right now, it was 50% faster than the original form.
At its current speed, it could cross a hundred meters in the blink of an eye.
How utterly terrifying!
“Grooowl.” The Blackcloud Panther raised its head to look up at Linley, its eyes filled with arrogance.
Linley slowly flapped his translucent wings, but didn’t descend yet, merely hovering. Linley knew very well that once he descended, he would find it very difficult to deal with the Blackcloud Panther’s speed.
“Boss, my turn!” Having watched for so long, Bebe could no longer hold himself back.
“Shkreeeeech!”
With a terrifying, high-pitched shriek, Bebe transformed into a ferocious black blur, charging at the Blackcloud Panther. The Blackcloud Panther, which hadn’t paid any attention to Bebe at all, was now shocked by Bebe’s speed.
“Supersonic!” Linley immediately cast this supportive magic spell.
He cast the supportive Supersonic spell directly on Bebe. In the past, Bebe had never encountered any magical beasts of the ninth rank faster than himself. Thus, Linley had never seen the need to cast Supersonic on Bebe. But now, Linley finally did so.
In truth, this Supersonic spell was generally used by magi to increase the power of warriors in their squad.
“Swish!” Aided by a Supersonic spell of the eighth rank, Bebe’s speed instantly increased by 30%.
“Slash!” The Blackcloud Panther clawed at Bebe with its fierce claws.
But with his speed increased 30% by the Supersonic spell, although Bebe was still slightly slower than the Blackcloud Panther, the difference wasn’t too huge. More importantly, Bebe was extremely small and nimble.
Bebe constantly changed the direction he was moving in.
“Shkreeech!” Bebe suddenly sped up, pouncing towards the Blackcloud Panther. In mid-pounce, Bebe’s body suddenly enlarged, and then
Bebe swiped viciously at the Blackcloud Panther with his paws.
Staring coldly at Bebe, the Blackcloud Panther clawed viciously at Bebe with its own paw as well.
“Slash!”
“Slash!”
Both magical beasts landed blows on each other. Bebe’s claw managed to leave a clear mark on the body of the Blackcloud Panther, and fresh blood began to seep out. But although Bebe was knocked flying as well, he just flipped up to his feet and stood back up, not harmed at all.
“Hrm?” Linley’s eyes turned round in surprise.
“Bebe’s attack power is about on par with mine. So how could Bebe so easily wound it?” Linley was shocked.
Linley knew very well how powerful Bebe’s defense was. After all, when they had been in the Mountain Range of Magical Beasts last time, Bebe was just an early-stage magical beast of the eighth rank, but he could withstand the dying blow of an Armored Razorback Wyrm without perishing. Now that Bebe had entered the ninth rank, his terrifyingly strong defense was even more powerful than Linley’s. Linley didn’t find it surprising at all that Bebe was uninjured. But the strange thing was, the defense of the Blackcloud Panther had just dropped.
“Ah! I understand.”
Linley suddenly understood the special characteristics of the three forms of the Blackcloud Panther. The first form was a balanced one in terms of defense, speed, and offense. The second, giant form, prioritized offense at the expense of speed. As for this form, the third one, although it raised speed to an astonishing level, its defense dropped in turn.
Right now, the Blackcloud Panther and Bebe were staring at each other. The Blackcloud Panther could feel that it was bleeding, and it was beginning to worry… because this freak of a magical beast in front of it hadn’t been hurt at all.
“Blackcloud Panther,” Linley said.
The Blackcloud Panther looked up at Linley.
Linley didn’t speak to the Blackcloud Panther as though it were an inferior life form. Rather, Linley spoke to it as he would a creature of equal intelligence. “Blackcloud Panther, in your current form, you should possess great speed but low defense. In this form, you aren’t even able to overcome Bebe.”
Dragonblood: Book 2 of the Coiling Dragon Saga Page 75
