Chapter 172 - 119: Death of the Drake (3)
In the mist, Dong Lin blocked the breath attack with his Ice Armor and a Spiritual Shield. Yuan Xiaobo seized the opportunity, dashing through the mist to get behind the sub-dragon and bringing his staff down on its tail.
"CLANG, CLANG, CLANG~~"
After three consecutive strikes, Yuan Xiaobo snapped the tip of the sub-dragon’s tail clean off.
Roaring in pain, the sub-dragon executed a tail sweep, but Yuan Xiaobo leaped into the air, easily dodging the attack.
It spun around and launched a barrage of attacks at Yuan Xiaobo. A flurry of lunges, claw swipes, and blasts of breath sent him scrambling to evade.
As their fierce battle raged, heavy footsteps echoed from behind the sub-dragon. Dong Lin, clad in his Ice Armor, was charging.
He had added an extra-thick layer of Ice Armor to his forehead and tusks, granting him stronger protection and increasing the lethality of his charge.
"BANG~"
With the sub-dragon’s attention fixed on Yuan Xiaobo, Dong Lin slammed into its flank.
Dong Lin was about the same size as the sub-dragon, and the force of his impact sent the creature’s massive body flying.
"BOOM!" It smashed into the solid cavern wall, blasting a huge crater.
Dong Lin pressed his advantage, immediately charging the sub-dragon’s position once more.
"ROAR~"
A powerful Frost Breath blasted toward him. Dong Lin immediately threw up an Ice Shield. Although the Frost Breath had a wider range and contained more Ice Energy, the temperature and quality of their powers were comparable, so Dong Lin only sustained minor ice-type damage.
However, the ground in the path from Dong Lin to the sub-dragon was now completely frozen. Dong Lin was charging so fast that the moment he hit the icy patch, he began to slip. The ground frozen by the sub-dragon’s breath was incredibly hard, not like ordinary ice that his true form would have simply shattered.
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa? Whoa?? OOF~"
Unable to control his momentum, Dong Lin slid helplessly forward. The sub-dragon pounced, launching an attack. Dong Lin tried to counter but couldn’t get his footing, sliding right into a nearby stone wall.
Seeing that things were going badly, Yuan Xiaobo immediately rushed in to help. While he didn’t have the sub-dragon’s raw strength, his attack power was comparable. If the beast didn’t defend, a single blow from his staff could shatter its Scale Armor.
The surrounding death qi seized the opportunity to seep into the wound, continuously stacking debuffs on the sub-dragon. This made the injury harder to heal and caused it to bleed ceaselessly.
After taking a few more hits, the sub-dragon gave up on attacking Dong Lin and turned back to face Yuan Xiaobo.
「...」
Yuan Xiaobo and Dong Lin fell into a rhythm, taking turns attacking the sub-dragon.
After taking a few hits, the sub-dragon grew cautious. When fighting one of them, it had to split its attention to watch the other for a sneak attack, which made for an incredibly frustrating fight.
Furthermore, whenever it was injured, death qi would seep into its body through the wound. It was forced to divert a portion of its energy to expel the invading qi. Luckily, it had vast energy reserves; even while dedicating some to healing, it could still maintain pressure on Yuan Xiaobo and Dong Lin.
Yuan Xiaobo and Dong Lin had completely different fighting styles. One was agile and hit hard, while the other was clumsy but could consistently knock the sub-dragon off its feet. On top of that, both of their Defense Powers were extremely high. They had been fighting for a while but had hardly taken any damage. The sub-dragon’s attacks had left them looking a bit ragged, but it was nothing serious.
"Hey! This sub-dragon isn’t so tough after all!"
"Yeah, and we were so tense at the start. If we’d known it was this weak, we’d have finished it off already."
In the passageway, the spectators pointed and commented on the sub-dragon in the battlefield, feeling they had been far too cautious in the beginning.
Down on the battlefield, Dong Lin and Yuan Xiaobo were also speaking in low voices.
"Captain Yuan, it seems like this sub-dragon just has more energy than us. The quality is about the same!"
"Don’t celebrate too early. A larger energy pool is a huge advantage. If it decides to wear us down in a battle of attrition, we’ll be in for a rough time."
"Watch out, here it comes again!"
After a brief stalemate with Yuan Xiaobo and Dong Lin, the sub-dragon’s Spiritual Sense suddenly warned of impending danger. At the same time, the crystal from the Insect Mother it had swallowed began to digest, releasing torrents of pure energy that rapidly replenished its reserves.
’I’ll just ignore these two strange little things for now,’ it thought. ’Once I’ve absorbed the Insect Mother’s Energy Crystal and finished evolving, I’ll come back and eat these pests.’
And so, it gathered energy in its maw and unleashed an unprecedented Frost Breath at Yuan Xiaobo and Dong Lin.
This time, the range of the sub-dragon’s breath was immense, forcing Yuan Xiaobo and Dong Lin to combine their full strength to resist it.
The sub-dragon’s breath attack lasted a full minute. By the time it ended, both Yuan Xiaobo and Dong Lin were completely encased in ice.
Neither of them was injured, but everything around them was now sealed in ice tens of meters thick, trapping them for the time being.
The sub-dragon watched with satisfaction as the two pests frantically chipped away at the ice from within. It flapped its wings, took to the air, and flew toward the passage in the ceiling. This was the only tunnel leading to the surface; the rest led into the Underworld.
Just then, a voice rang out from above.
"Here I come!! Take this—"
Niu Armor roared as he leaped down from the passage, shield-first, charging toward the sub-dragon.
"BANG~"
The sub-dragon sent Niu Armor flying with a single whip of its tail. After being attacked from above twice in a row, it had become exceptionally wary of anything overhead.
"ROAR~" The sub-dragon was furious. ’How dare a weakling like you attack me?’
The sub-dragon was furious. Yuan Xiaobo and Dong Lin were, at least, heroes of its own rank; it could stomach being hit by them.
But for Niu Armor, a piece of trash obviously far weaker than itself, to dare to provoke it... this was an unbearable outrage. It felt its royal dignity had been challenged.
It cast the warning from its Spiritual Sense to the back of its mind, deciding to first brutally kill this little creature whose energy fluctuations were so clearly inferior to its own.
The sub-dragon slowly flew toward Niu Armor, landed on the ground, and stared him down.
Niu Armor raised his shield and attempted a ground-shaking attack, but it had little effect, merely causing the sub-dragon’s foot to wobble slightly.
The sub-dragon raised a foreclaw to strike down, but at that exact moment, a sharp pain shot through its head, halting its attack.
A whooshing sound immediately followed. It instantly whipped its tail upward to intercept, but it hit nothing but air.
Rose leaped down from above, landing gracefully on the ground beside Niu Armor.
He had already converted all the surrounding death qi into Life Energy, storing it within his body. He was preparing to tank the sub-dragon’s attacks, relying on his regeneration.
The sub-dragon looked at the newly arrived Tree-man. The immense energy radiating from the Tree-man’s body revealed another opponent of its own rank.
It glanced back at Yuan Xiaobo and Dong Lin, who were still trapped in the ice. They had already broken through half of it. If it waited for them to emerge, it would have to face three opponents of the same rank. It was no longer certain of victory.
After a moment of thought, it decided to play it safe and let these strange creatures go for now. It spread its wings, preparing to fly away.
"RUMBLE~~"
The sound of shattering rock echoed through the cavern. The sub-dragon tensed and looked up at the ceiling passage, fearing the arrival of yet another powerful foe.
But this time, the attack came from below.
An ice-blue tree root erupted from the cavern floor, instantly piercing the sub-dragon’s body.