Chapter 392: Summon

At that moment, the 【Far Speech Chain】 brought news reported by the spider-arachne Watching Yuna.

The ritual at Agir Manor had already been dispelled.

The relay station of Shi Ying Town and the northeastern city gate had each been attacked by a group of dark elves.

Shi Ying Town did have city gates too, though admittedly they couldn't compare with the grandeur of a large city.

The adventurers led by zombie Selina, rat-girl Thirteen, and tiefling Sahil met the enemy on one side.

The witch Dimia, Watching Yuna, and the female beastfolk Amy formed a squad and led the constables to the other side.

The little pony-girl Little Little Bangde, meanwhile, went up to the roof of Shi Ying Town's tallest town hall and loosed arrows furiously at both sides, ranged support maxed out.

The rabbitfolk Ona wasn't in the forest; the Mage Control Union had important work, and she had already returned a few days earlier.

The mind flayer Hart's eighth-rank psychic ability was one of his trump cards; for now he'd stay well hidden and only step in if necessary.

Rod nodded, then suddenly realized someone was missing.

Where's Tally?

When he had been dragging Tobeka along, the succubus had shouted through the 【Far Speech Chain】 that master, I haven't gotten on the carriage yet.

Presumably she was catching up right about now?

Fierce battles were raging elsewhere, so he couldn't afford to waste any more time here.

Rod tossed the slime black sword into his right hand.

He pointed it straight at the tall dark elf opposite and played it cool:

"One move."

The dark elf merely glanced at the spellcaster's wretched corpse on the ground and smiled faintly.

"I may not be your match, but there are others who are."

He flung aside the dark-gold warhammer, spread both arms toward the sky, and pale and blood-red spiritual essence wove together, covering his jet-black skin.

And then, the next moment—

His thick, brawny body rapidly swelled into a balloon of flesh, pushed past the limits of how far it could expand, and burst—gore flying everywhere!

Self-detonation?

Rod couldn't figure out what he was doing.

Even if he could resurrect, did he have to waste himself like that?

Just as he was puzzling over it, a black spatial rift tore open at the spot where the dark elf had self-detonated.

"ROAR!!!"

Suddenly, a heaven-shaking bellow erupted like ten thousand peals of thunder going off at once, carrying with it a stench-laden gale of fury, majesty, and inviolability that surged out from the black rift.

A dragon's roar!

A thick, black-scaled dragon claw reached out from the rift first and slammed into the ground with a thunderous boom.

With a scraping, clawing sound against the earth, the black dragon's head followed, savage and cruel green eyes glinting.

Deep-set eye sockets, conspicuous open nostrils.

The curved, segmented bases of its two horns gleamed with the bone-white of the dead, and the flesh over its cheekbones looked as though it had been corroded by strong acid, degenerated and shrunk down to a thin layer of skin.

All of this made the black dragon's face look as terrifying as a skull.

The black dragon's death-black, skull-like face fixed on Rod, eyes glinting with contempt and cruelty.

"Human! This is the Acid Mist Demon Lord, Mikhail, arriving! Kneel before me!"

The vast majority of dragons could speak Common Tongue, so speaking human words was nothing remarkable.

Only the lower half of the black dragon Mikhail's body had emerged from the rift, which looked rather comical.

Mid-eighth-rank, then.

Judging from the accumulation of spiritual essence, that was so; but with innate traits like Dragon Scales, Dragon Strength, Dragon Heart, Dragon Blood, plus the enormous spiritual capacity brought by its massive body—

All these natural advantages stacked together naturally made it far stronger than a normal humanoid-sized mid-eighth-rank.

"Kneel my ass."

"How dare you! To act so arrogant before a dragon!!"

The black dragon was instantly enraged.

Rod stared at the crazy spike in his 【Rage Points】 and couldn't help but be taken aback.

He looked at the black dragon again.

Its chest heaving violently, it opened that maw bristling with fangs, and immediately a thick, acrid acid mist spewed from its mouth in a linear, radiating blast.

A dragon's breath!

Green spiritual essence carrying strong acid slammed into the ground, blasting a small hill down like a water cannon, and the acid mist spread out along with it.

In an instant it blanketed a wide area.

Given its fearsome reputation, Rod truly wasn't willing to clash head-on with it.

One 【Shadow Dash】, the ground exploded, and his entire body had already vanished from the spot.

The edge of the acid mist grazed him slightly, corroding away most of his clothes on the spot.

【Dragon Scale Art】 sizzled and crackled, but it wasn't breached.

After all, it had the boost of 【Guardian Domain】.

He made a rough estimate.

If he took this strong-acid breath head-on for about twenty minutes, 【Dragon Scale Art】 would probably be breached.

Of course, that was assuming he didn't actively repair his dragon scales.

But he certainly wasn't going to actively stand in a dragon's breath, either.

Rod's acid resistance wasn't bad, but it couldn't hold up against something of that level; without 【Dragon Scale Art】, he had no confidence he could tank it.

Mikhail was momentarily stunned to see him land completely unharmed.

"A mere seventh-tier human warrior, surviving that strike—you could write it on your family tree and brag about it for the rest of your life. Of course, that assumes you survive."

It opened its massive jaws once more, acid gathering in its throat with a green fluorescent glow.

Rod was not about to let it do that again.

He stomped hard, and seven or eight steel vines as thick as a waist burst from the ground beneath the black dragon's jaw.

Though they couldn't pierce the dragon scales, their force was enough to slam its jaw shut.

"Mmh!!"

The dragon let out a muffled grunt. The steel vines' force was bizarrely immense—beyond what a normal seventh-tier could muster—not only clamping its mouth shut but also shifting the angle of its head.

Rod lit a pink-purple flame of resentment in his palm, which then swiftly spread across his entire body.

When it died down, a suit of domineering, ferocious full-body armor covered him, and even the slime sword in his hand had become a savage greatsword with a purple-black exoskeleton.

【Wailing Resentment Shakes the Heavens】 mode.

Boom!

He vanished from the spot once more.

In an instant he appeared in midair directly above the black dragon's head.

The savage greatsword with its purple-black exoskeleton was raised high; blue spirituality gathered madly, madly, producing a spiraling upward cyclone of spirituality.

Mikhail's dark green eyeballs rolled, locking onto the human above.

Laughable.

A seventh-tier human, attempting to harm an eighth-tier dragon.

Even if I don't move, just lie here and let you hack at me, you wouldn't wound me in seven or eight days.

I'll just treat the sound of your slashes as a lullaby and drift off to sleep.

Light flared.

A colossal sword of condensed spirituality rapidly took shape.

The black dragon's fire resistance was very high.

But the flame of resentment was no ordinary flame—it was more the curse-power of Naolin's grudge against all things.

Combined with the +5 【Dragon-Type Special Attack】 already stacked from 【Paradise Party】.

The next moment.

The pink-purple flame of resentment spread from Rod's hand, instantly igniting the entire greatsword like a torch doused in accelerant!

"Hm?"

Mikhail stared at the raging pink-flamed greatsword before him, slightly taken aback.

If it had sweat glands, it would have started to perspire by now.

"Die!"

【Giant-Slaying Slash】!!

The slash came down squarely on Mikhail's skull-like dragon face!

Scales and flesh peeled and curled back.

Followed by the sizzling hiss of the resentment flame burning.

The overflowing shockwave blasted the surrounding earth apart with a thunderous boom, tearing open a massive fissure!

Dust billowed, exploding with a roar!

"ROAR!!!!!!"

The dragon let out a agonized shriek.

Its exposed dragon claws flailed in panic, scraping at the dirt, and it swiftly retreated backward through the spatial rift, which snapped shut with a tearing sound.

(End of Chapter)