“Roar!!!” The Earth Dragon turned back sharply, charging in Jenny’s direction.
“Good! This is it!” Jenny’s expression revealed her excitement.
“No, leave!” On the other hand, James at the side had paled.
“Roar!” The Goat-Horned Earth Dragon thundered, spitting out a black ball of light.
The large ball of light exploded mid-air, black droplets of flames sprinkling everywhere.
“Ah!” “My eyes!”
The black droplets landed on the mercenaries’ bodies, instantly causing serious injuries. The many adventurers began to howl, and the circle which surrounded the dragon immediately had a hole.
*Hah! Hah!* The Goat-Horned Earth Dragon stimulated its energy to every part of its body and it swelled, and its skin turned red.
Its speed rapidly increased and it charged in front of Jenny.
“Protect the miss!” The one surviving guard brandished his sword with his left arm and dashed forward.
*Ka-cha!* The Earth Dragon opened its mouth full of sharp fangs and biting down, it had the knight in its mouth, constantly chewing. Blood and flesh fell from the gaps between its teeth.
“Ah…” Jenny was so shocked that her legs buckled, and she fell to the ground.
She was but a level 1 acolyte. That attack with the bow was only effective with the bonus from all the rings she had. After that attack, the pitiful amount of spiritual force she had was almost exhausted, and it was not possible to pull off another attack.
Jenny was now a fragile, helpless girl of the nobility as she was paralyzed on the ground, awaiting her unknown future.
“Awoo!” The Goat-Horned Earth Dragon did not have any thoughts of taking pity on her, opening its mouth wide. With its sharp teeth filled with flesh and blood, it snapped its jaws and made to bite her.
“Am I going to die? I’m sorry, Father…” Jenny’s mouth was half open, a teardrop rolling from her right eye.
*Dang!*
The acute pain she had been expecting did not appear, and Jenny opened her eyes, stunned. All she saw was a strong figure in front of her.
“Hey! In Knight stories, there will always be a knight appearing whenever the princess is in trouble, right?”
Baelin laughed, ruthlessly chopping forward with the sword in his hands!
The large steel sword hacked at the surface of the dragon’s head, producing some sparks. Baelin bellowed, life essence bursting out. On the surface of the armour, there seemed to be a protective layer formed of light.
*Roar!*
The Earth Dragon retreated a few steps, snarling at Baelin.
“Oh my! This is the real life version of a brave knight fighting against the evil dragon!” Baelin shot a glance at Jenny behind him, and then took a look at how much life essence he had left, a helpless smile about his lips.
*Whoosh!*
A black figure constantly attacked the Earth Dragon, and everyone else could only see the dust flying at the centre of the site, as well as the constant howls from the dragon.
Under the immense pressure from the Earth Dragon, Baelin felt all that Lord Leylin had forced him to learn suddenly bursting out as he became more proficient at some techniques.
At this moment, he suddenly felt empty, as if he had lost all of the power he just had.
“The burst of power from the secret technique is used up, and my life essence has been exhausted!”
Baelin’s heart sank, and a black shadow like a steel mace pierced through the armour of light, mercilessly slamming on his chest.
*Ka-cha!* The steel armour caved in, and Baelin flew backwards, a large amount of blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.
“No!”
At the moment he was about to die, he seemed to see the gigantic shadow of the Earth Dragon, as well as heard a sorrowful wail.
“What a short life! However, I have no more regrets!”
With a gentle smile, he froze into his image of Jenny crying hard while on the ground into his memory.
“How can my student die in such a pointless way?”
Just as Baelin was about to fall unconscious, time seemed to stop, and his surroundings turned black and white. His body seemed to be stuck in mid-air.
“It’s Lord Leylin’s voice! He’s finally acknowledged me as his student!” Baelin was overjoyed, his thoughts on this while he was on the verge of death.
Next, he felt the steel sword on his right hand constantly becoming warmer till it became burning hot as if he was holding a soldering iron.
*Weng Weng!* The sword constantly shook, and a crimson rune appeared on its own accord on the blade.
“Ahh!”
Baelin felt a stream of heat being transmitted from the steel sword, rushing to his lower abdomen where his life essence was congregated.
*Bang!* Like the sound of a bottle exploding, the bottleneck to becoming a Grand Knight — the issue which had been bothering Baelin for a long period of time — was crossed!
Life energy that was at least ten times more powerful than before congregated from the life essence at his lower abdomen, and flowed through Baelin’s limbs.
“Shaaa!”
Baelin held his sword and slashed forward. On the surface of the steel sword, red rays from the rune suddenly brightened, and the sheen from a sword streaked through the sky, appearing in front of the Earth Dragon.
Under the black and white rays that had frozen time, the Earth Dragon was motionless, allowing Baelin to aim a slash at its neck.
*Whoosh!*
A cold wind blew, and the black and white faded, returning to the usual colourful world.
*Ka-cha!*
A fine red line appeared at the Earth Dragon’s neck.
This line began to spread till it covered the entire neck, and then reddish-green blood constantly flowed out, the gigantic head of the beast fell to the ground.
*Rumble!* After losing its head, the huge body of the Goat-Horned Earth Dragon crashed to the ground, like a little earthquake, causing a large amount of dust to fly.
“What happened to him?” Jenny felt a little dizzy.
“He broke through! He broke through the bottleneck of a Grand Knight!” James mumbled to himself, and then helped Jenny up.
“Haha, I knew I was a genius! How could I just die like this!”
Baelin, who had escaped death, patted his chest and began to laugh.
Seeing him in this state, Jenny felt there was a fire in her chest, almost causing it to explode.
“You idiot!” Jenny threw a white handkerchief at Baelin’s face. Leaving him alone, she entered the cave with James.
“Why is she being like this?” Baelin held the handkerchief in a daze, bewildered.
The surviving mercenaries and adventurers silently cleaned the area.
They had lost a lot of people, and many of them were their friends or even family!
It was very quiet on the battlefield, and not one animal came to disturb the silence.
The sun’s rays were extremely annoying for the beings that were used to the darkness. Potter Town of Twilight Zone had made use of this aversion and used the sun stones to disperse the creatures of darkness, and could thus develop.
James had considered this at the beginning when he threw out the sun stones.
Ten minutes later, Jenny and James came out with excitement.
“Is this the Dragon-Blooded Flower Bud?”
Baelin noticed the plant that seemed like a flower in Jenny’s hands.
This red flower was the size of a bowl, and there were webs that seemed like blood vessels and veins on the petals. It looked very bizarre.
Jenny carefully held the flower bud, as if she were holding some treasure that was as valuable as a city.
“Yes! With this, my father can be saved…” Jenny finally relaxed.
Ever since her father had been poisoned, immense pressure had been put on the shoulders of this young girl. Now, she could finally heave a sigh of relief.
“Thank you!” Jenny was so emotional that she hugged Baelin, leaving him stunned at the spot.
“And all of you!” Jenny turned back to the adventurers and mercenaries, “Your loyalty and devotion to your role has earned you your rewards! I will give out twice the amount promised, and five times that for those who have died!”
“Thank you so much, my lady!” “A kind and generous person!” “May the lord of darkness protect you!”
As expected, Jenny’s declaration made everyone present cheer.
They packed up and began their journey back.
On the way back, Baelin kept swinging the steel sword in his hand, wanting to find any strange marks on it. However, after that one burst, this sword had used up all its energy, and no matter how much Baelin prodded it, it did not exhibit any strange features.
“What a fool! However, only a person with a one-track mind like him is suitable for my cross blade breathing technique!” Baelin’s actions were all seen by Leylin, who was in Potter Town, through a transparent crystal, and he shook his head.
Beside him, a test tube full of reddish green liquid was thrown aside like rubbish.
“There’s not even a sliver of a powerful bloodline in there! To think it even had the word “dragon” in its name!” Leylin sighed.
Farewell
Not all myths and folklore were true.
On the contrary, many myths have been altered, some even to the extent of the subjective thoughts of the storyteller, hence they were unusually laid with errors.
Only Leylin’s A.I. Chip could analyse and sieve out the most accurate version of the myth from the myriad of mythological information available.
As for now, after the blood analysis of the Goat-Horned Earth Dragon, Leylin discovered that there wasn’t a single trace of an ancient bloodline in it’s blood!
Evidently, the myth of the Goat-Horned Earth Dragon being borne from a giant dragon and another demonic creature was false!
However, Leylin did not harbour much hope from the start. Even if the Goat-Horned Earth Dragon were to contain traces of an ancient bloodline, this strength that did not even reach the stage of an official Magus did not fit his requirements at all.
Back in Nightless City, he was clear that even if he could obtain and purify the blood from creatures that contained an ancient bloodline, the creature had to be of a certain level to be of use.
As for this standard, after the analysis from the A.I. Chip, the conclusion was that these creatures needed to have the strength to at least rival a rank 3 Magus!
In other words, even if the Goat Horned Earth Dragon were to contain traces of an ancient bloodline, Leylin had to find one that was the equivalent of a rank 3 Magus. Then, with the help of the A.I. Chip, the purification of the ancient bloodline would be achieved.
”Aaah, a rank 3 Magus!”
Leylin smiled wryly; he had only recently advanced to a rank 2 Magus and the spiritual force he received from his meditation technique were extremely little. Most of the increase in spiritual force came from the Giant Kemoyin Serpent’s bloodline.
Although there was nothing wrong with a Warlock relying on the strength of his bloodline, Leylin did not want his foundations to be unstable.
Furthermore, he had advanced to a rank 2 Magus by the age of 40. This speed was extremely astounding on the south coast. Even back in the ancient times, it was considered remarkable.
Hence, spending more time for a better foundation was something that he had to do.
As he was now, it was unlikely that he could win against a creature with strength equivalent to a rank 3 Magus, even with the help of his ancient bloodline. Those kinds of creatures were terrifying existences, to the point where most rank 3 Magi would not dare to face off against such creatures directly.
After a brief sigh, Leylin let go of the notion of collecting ancient bloodlines.
After all, the Giant Kemoyin Serpent’s bloodline was enough for him right now.
Moreover, even if he lucked upon another ancient creature’s bloodline, it would only be a very valuable research material for him. Once a Warlock has chosen an ancient bloodline, there isn’t any way to change it.
”However, things do not seem to stop here!”
Leylin, who was observing Jenny through the crystal ball, frowned as if discovering something.
Under the control of his spiritual force, the images in the crystal ball began to change from Jenny’s party to the top of a different hill.
At this moment, under the shroud of darkness, there were two black figures conversing on the hill.
”Can’t you do your job properly? You actually let them get the Dragon-Blooded Flower Bud?”
The man who spoke had a gruffy voice and his silhouette was extremely fuzzy. He even wore a mask to hide his features.
However, Leylin’s gaze pierced through the darkness and the mask to see the countenance of the man.
The face belonged to a sinister-looking old geezer that had a black skull branded on his forehead. It seemed to have been branded using a hot piece of metal. There were also writhing burn marks that filled the surroundings of the skull.
Moreover, there was an energy wave that was not weaker than James. He was a level 3 acolyte and apart from having no magic artifact, his strength was not below that of James.
”I… I did not want that to happen to…” The youth beside him shuddered, and even he started to stutter.
”The earlier Explosive Flaming Wolves were already extremely risky, if we were to strike again, they would most likely discover us. Moreover, the Goat-Horned Earth Dragon was extremely difficult to lure… Your subordinate, I, thought that the Goat-Horned Earth Dragon alone would be enough to stop those people…”
”Although the Goat-Horned Earth Dragon was still in its adolescent stages, the might it had far exceeded that of a level 3 acolyte, only an official Magus would be able to take it down!”
The old geezer acknowledged the young man’s deduction.
”So then, how did they manage to kill the Goat-Horned Earth Dragon?” The youth was puzzled. “Even if a Knight manages to breakthrough, he would at the very most be a Grand Knight, which wouldn’t be enough to change the outcome…”
”I can sense that the air was filled with extremely strong energy waves… It’s definitely a powerful existence aiding them secretly…”
The old geezer looked miserable. The strength revealed was only the corner of an iceberg, yet it could make his hairs stand on end. It felt as if as he had returned back to his life as a helpless child. He had this premonition that if this force wanted to kill him, it would not have any trouble at all. As for the ability to be able to do that, the person behind this force must have reached the might of a rank 1 Magus!
”What should we do? Should we continue?”
The frightened youth went into shock. He knew the identity of this old geezer, but this was an existence that could make even the old man tremble in fear. That existence ought to be an even more powerful magician.
Once he thought of this, cold sweat began to drip down his body. He had an urge to turn around and run, never to participate in such a mission again.
However, very soon he mocked himself for this thought. Being a covert member of this large organisation, how can one leave that easily? Just from the information he held at his fingertips, he was already familiar with the nature of the big boss. If one wants to run or retire, the only way to do it was to lie in a grave.
”No matter what, we cannot allow that girl to bring the Dragon-Blooded Flower Bud back to the eastern region! This is the command of the big boss!” The old geezer was extremely stern.
”Let’s go…”
His cloak swiveled as he vanished into the darkness with the young man.
”Interesting! How very interesting!”
Leylin smiled wryly after seeing this scene. He had no interest in the petty struggles of these mortals but felt rather intrigued by the one pulling the strings from behind.
>
Power determines everything! In this subterranean world, for the Argus Family to be this powerful, there must definitely be an official Magus supporting it from behind the scenes!
Perhaps, this is an opportunity to interact with the Magi in the subterranean world!
Leylin rubbed his chin and entered into a deep thought.
Warlock of the Magus World 1-596 Page 224
