Chapter 530: Black Ball

Aurelio squinted his eyes slightly.

The man before him possessed a handsome face no less than an elf's, yet different from the elf's delicate refinement.

This man was more rugged and tough, his eyes blazing, carrying a natural aura of battle.

"Ranger Rod? Hehe, it turns out he is truly only Seventh Tier."

He spoke up proactively.

Since Aurelio arrived at Coral Bay to execute his mission, he had heard of Rod's various exaggerated battle records.

Various small battles occurred constantly, and he had almost never lost.

Early on, a Sixth Tier once repelled two Seventh Tiers single-handedly, resulting directly in one death and one severe injury.

Recently, he repelled adult dragons of the Eighth Tier level two consecutive times.

The most recent time, it was heard he was directly bathed in a strong acid breath and Suffered Heavy injuries.

But what he sees now.

Except for some damage to his clothes, there is not a single wound on his body.

Most likely, that black dragon lied again.

However.

This Ranger Rod seems to have just experienced a battle.

Just.

Unlike Aurelio's caution.

Rod didn't even look at him.

He turned his head directly to look at the elf Lady Kali, frowning.

"What are you forcing yourself for? If Little Little Bangde hadn't told me your location."

Even if you couldn't win.

With Young Lady the elf's methods, escaping would be a simple matter.

Rod naturally guessed that her forcing herself to hold people back was simply because she didn't want to affect the main battlefield situation.

Lady Kali scowled: "I left you a message in the 【Chain of Far Speech】."

"You just said one word 'come', what kind of message is that?"

"You don't understand?"

The halfling Lily hurriedly jumped out from Tally's shadow.

She ran over to Lady Kali's front and began healing.

"Alright, alright, Lady Kali, don't get excited, blood is spraying out!"

"Mm."

Seeing her such a miserable state, Rod's heart immediately felt painful.

He flung a 【Fungal Unity】 of the Plague Domain at her, and his tone softened:

"Sorry, I wasn't talking about you, I was just too worried."

Lady Kali collapsed completely onto the ground, her pale, delicate face leaning weakly against Lily's embrace.

Hearing Rod's words, the corners of her mouth secretly curled up, then quickly scowled again.

"I don't need your worry."

"."

Rod laughed in anger.

This elf is truly hard and stiff, both smelly and stubborn, more troublesome than a stone in a outhouse.

He simply turned around and strode to stand before her.

Before Lady Kali could feel puzzled, he grabbed her and held her in his arms.

Mua! He kissed her face fiercely.

The power of the 【Green Vine Mutual Healing】 of the Grass Domain and the 【Fungal Unity】 of the Plague Domain spun wildly.

Tally, who was on alert ahead, whistled a "shh" without making a sound.

Lily beside her was stunned.

Wait? Didn't Rod just ask Miss Tally to confess to me?

And now he turns around and hugs another girl?

Lady Kali froze directly, her eyes panicking wildly.

"Get away! Get away!"

"What are you excited about? This is just healing."

Rod didn't force it, instead going along with the push from her palm.

He just looked straight into those gradually brightening emerald eyes without any avoidance.

Lady Kali forced her scowl to meet his gaze for a moment, then lost, her eyes drifting away.

"Just you wait for the Elf Court, human."

"You want to sue me for hugging you? What do you mean?"

Rod smiled.

He patted her head, then was immediately slapped away by a weak palm.

He didn't mind.

Instead, he patted the head of the other severely injured Rat Girl Number Thirteen: "Good job. It's hard for you to follow such a stubborn master."

Number Thirteen's face was also terrifyingly pale.

She tilted her head, nuzzling Rod's palm affectionately with her mouse ears, their pink inner linings brushing against him.

Blood smeared all over his hand.

Rod's smile faded rapidly.

"Lily, please take those two back to the rear; Xiao Li Zi's healing abilities are far superior."

"And you?"

"Rest assured, I am enough on my own."

Lily, naturally trusting Rod, nodded and flew backward with the two injured.

Rod watched their departing figures.

Then he turned his gaze back to the man trapped in the 【Mana Prison】 in the distance.

He drew out the 【Great Cultivator's Pruning Shears】.

Rage surged.

"Our camps are opposed; no need for words. Die."

Aurelio had been watching him and the girl's intimacy with a cold face.

Hearing these words, his spirit instantly lifted.

The rapier in his hand darted forward in rapid succession, shattering the Mana Prison before him.

"To avoid the world saying I bully you, I will lower my Spiritual Class level to Tier Seven, so I can properly test your skills as the Guardian of Shi Ying Town."

As he spoke,

he revealed a confident smile, and his Spiritual energy actually contracted rapidly, suppressing his pressure to Tier Seven levels.

Would Rod care?

He would not.

Shouldering the giant shears, he walked forward slowly.

With every step, his aura and pressure climbed a notch, while pale blue soul mist rose behind him.

The war souls of the Bronze Dragon, the Fungal Gorgon, the Astral Ambusher, the Ancient White Dragon, and the Hundred-Eyed Oni appeared in an unusually crowded swarm behind Rod, who was clearly a medium-sized humanoid.

The five war souls were indistinct in form.

They seemed to become entangled, transforming into something unlike any single one of them.

Thump-thump-thump—

Bolstered by two giant dragon hearts, his blood vessels swelled, the roaring sound unbearable, with pressure sweeping across the sky and earth.

【Spiritual Overload】

【Power Strike +1】【Dragon Force Technique +2】【Fungal Gorgon Constitution】.

【Strength Release: 1500%】!

Aurelio's face suddenly changed drastically.

The Dark Elf's heightened senses clearly detected that the Spiritual energy around him and before him had suddenly become viscous and obscure, as if the air itself had thickened.

It was as if trapped in a sea of hasty, sticky slime, requiring 20% more strength to mobilize every inch of muscle throughout his body than usual.

He paid no heed to manners or decorum, instantly releasing the Spiritual energy he had just suppressed.

This clearly delayed his reaction by a heartbeat.

Rod slammed the ground, cracking it like a spiderweb, and crashed forward like a cannonball!

Clang—

Boom!!!

The tip of the pruning shears dragged out an air blade carrying ultra-high-pressure Spiritual energy.

As he swung, it overflowed, affecting the grassland to the left of where the two collided.

Almost instantly, the ground shattered, dust and gravel shooting skyward, forming a straight trench, bottomless in depth.

【Sharpness Check Triggered】!

【'Great Cultivator's Pruning Shears' Sharpness: 130】

【'Demon Hunter' Sharpness: 92】

【Result: Success!】

Crack—

A broken half of the rapier, accompanied by a large spray of glowing blood, shot skyward.

"Wha—"

Aurelio retreated in shock.

He unleashed the fastest speed since becoming the leader of the Nightshade Clan, even shattering two magic rings of flashing spells in succession.

He only stopped once he had drawn a safe enough distance from that man.

He was surprised to find himself relieved that the other had not continued the pursuit, his face turning iron-pale.

"Forester Rod."

His right hand, holding the sword, trembled so violently he could barely grip it.

Lifting it to look, he found his metacarpal bones torn and twisted, the bones on the reverse side broken in half, even piercing the skin and exposed to the air.

The 【Demon Hunter】 in his hand was held on solely by his numb little finger and ring finger, 'hanging' there.

Pfft—

A massive slash wound on his chest, severing even the bones, spurted fresh blood, staining his ruined right hand scarlet.

The half-centaur who had been watching the battle finally could not stand still.

He hurried to Aurelio's side and cast a healing spell.

Yet his eyes kept darting at Rod with startled suspicion.

"You're not a 【Hero】? Why?"

Then he suddenly realized, wild excitement flooding his face. "You're the obstacle from the future?"

Rod paid him no attention.

With a whoosh, he swung the heavy pruning shears, snapped them out violently, then forced them to a dead stop.

Glowing blood immediately splattered across the ground.

"That's it? That's all? Is this all you've got??? Then what was all my patience for?"

Rod gave a helpless, wild, bitter laugh.

He pulled open the clothing on his chest, revealing a wound that was nothing but a white mark.

"A peak Tier-8 dark sorcerer. Plenty of strength and speed, entirely reliant on weapon traits, with absolutely none of the advantages of a Tier-7 style."

"What a waste — I actually thought you lot were strong, had me preparing for so long."

"Boring, dull, useless!!!"

The dark elf before him had a soul-measuring reading of roughly 500 notches.

Though close to Black Dragon Mikhail's 510 notches, due to the difference in build, there was simply no comparing their strength and constitution.

Before a certain someone who had activated 【Power Liberation 1500%】, it was simply no contest.

Rod stomped down furiously.

The ground cracked with a boom. 【War Trample】 split into dozens of shockwaves imbued with a heavy, earth-shaking attribute, shattering the ground as they surged toward them.

Aurélio's face went livid as he transferred 【Demon Slayer】 to his left hand.

He kicked aside the half-deer-man beside him while leaping toward the other side.

But before he even landed—

A sky-covering shadow arrived before him in an instant.

The ranger named Rod wasn't even carrying a weapon anymore, violent spiritual energy surging wildly around his entire body.

His right hand clenched into a fist, and like a ballista drawing its bowstring, he pulled his arm back to its limit.

Aurélio instinctively raised his mangled right arm to block.

"Die!"

The block was utterly useless — nothing could stop that battering-ram fist. Crack — bone shattered on the spot.

The force didn't weaken in the slightest, slamming a second time into Aurélio's handsome face!

It caved in!

Blood sprayed!

"Argh!"

Rod wouldn't let him retreat, so he launched into a frenzy of mutual brawling.

Calling it mutual wasn't quite accurate.

Most of the time it was Rod's fists raining down wildly on him, while Aurélio's rapier never once pierced the dragon-scale spell layered with sixteen layers of defensive spell amplification on Rod.

His left hand shot forward like a dragon claw.

He seized the upper half of the other's face in a death grip, blood and the low grind of shattered bone seeping between his fingers.

Paying no heed to the blades Aurélio was stabbing at him like mad.

He slammed him against the ground and dragged him along, the earth torn into deep furrows, gravel and dust spraying from the friction.

Suddenly the muscles in both legs exploded with power, and he shot into the air.

At the apex, blazing red light erupted in Rod's eyes, and his fist drew back once more to gather force.

"Die for me!!!"

BOOM!

Aurélio's body plummeted like a meteor, the ground caving in with a thunderous crash, dust billowing like a towering wave.

Rod threw his head back and let out a long howl.

"I'm fucking invincible!!!"

Still riding his high—

The half-deer-man watching from afar roared loudly:

"Natalie! How long are you going to wait!"

"What's the rush? You think the ritual doesn't take time?"

The alluring, enchanting Natalie Blackmoon appeared soundlessly on a hill not far behind.

Her face no longer wore its usual confident, seductive smile, but was full of gloom and an ugly expression.

With her appearance—

Vast amounts of magic gathered, rapidly forming into a massive pitch-black sphere.

In an instant, it enveloped Rod, who was laughing wildly midair.

(End of Chapter)