Chapter 110: With the Strongest Blade, Pay the Highest Respect

Boom!

Accompanied by a tremendous roar from within the cave, a flood dragon with its entire body wreathed in billowing heat walked out from the cavern.

Baichuan slowly raised his head, feeling his body temperature burning without pause.

That extreme heat caused the surrounding air to warp slightly, and the mouth of the cave had long since shown scorched-black marks.

For a moment, he felt an unprecedented lightness, as if his whole serpentine body had become buoyant.

That was because the air, scorched thin and light by the high temperature, rose upward—in other words, he was constantly generating updrafts.

And those updrafts, to varying degrees, were lifting his body upward.

From this moment on, his Flight might become much easier; perhaps one day he could even shed his wings and achieve Flight on his own.

But for now, it didn't seem very likely, because his body was simply too heavy, and the updrafts produced by this much heat weren't strong enough to carry him aloft.

Of course, having gained such a powerful ability, he had also, to a certain extent, lost the ability to emit cold air from his body surface because of the high temperature.

This didn't mean his Ice Frost power had vanished; rather, the extreme heat of his body was, to a degree, offsetting the cold he emitted.

That Ice Frost power, no longer suited to his drastically changed body, had shrunk back to the vicinity of his Ice Origin pouch.

Because only there might it still not be so scorching.

If he still wanted to use Ice Frost power without conflict, to emit cold air—

Going forward, he would either need to move it to be stored within his body, which would probably require regenerating an organ.

And that organ could at most be placed within the scales on his body surface and within his flesh and blood; outside of that, it would be very hard to avoid conflict with the searing heat.

Or he would need to find a kind of power that couldn't be assimilated by his current abilities.

But where would such a faint, rare power appear? What creature would possess it?

Now, as his own power grew ever more formidable, the abilities that could solve his problem became ever harder to find.

At least for now, the beast had yet to find any creature in nature that could satisfy him, though that might also have something to do with his limited knowledge.

Fortunately, the might of the Ice Origin was unaffected—that was a stroke of luck amid the misfortune.

The beast let out a somewhat melancholy sigh.

With things as they were now, that Ice Frost power could no longer drive out the various parasites in his food.

Of course, with his current body temperature of a full eight hundred degrees, there really weren't many things that could hide inside him anymore.

So now, the power of the Ice Origin had purely become one of his attack methods.

After carefully experiencing his current changes, the beast flew toward the Fire Bat's direction.

Now, with this evolution, he had already wasted so much Time; if he didn't hurry, he was afraid that Fire Bat wouldn't be able to hold on.

As he spread his wings and leapt up, a massive shadow carrying searing heat instantly swept across the land, passing over Yingu from above.

A few minutes later, he had once again arrived behind the waterfall.

Without hesitation, he stepped straight through the waterfall, kicking up astonishing amounts of steam—formed by the evaporation from the heat on his body.

"Buzz~ Buzz~"

Amid the slight trembling of the ground, the flood dragon re-entered the space behind the waterfall.

With the flood dragon's return, the Fire Bat that had been crouching in the water inside also raised its head once more.

Only now, its condition was much frailer than when the beast had first seen it.

Its body had visibly thinned, and the heat rolling through the air was no longer searing beyond compare.

Of course, that might also be because the beast now possessed a powerful resistance to fire.

The beast stopped at the iron gate, quietly watching that frail Fire Bat, and the Fire Bat seemed to sense something as well.

It raised its head and met his gaze.

After a long while, it lowered its head again and closed those weary, aged eyes, as if already prepared for eternal slumber.

It was exhausted; the constant, long-standing frailty of its body had begun to affect its mental state as well.

Seeing this, the beast began to move forward once more.

As he approached, the air suddenly began to tremble, warping and quivering in a way visible to the naked eye.

At the same time, the pooled water on the ground began to boil—this was the spread of extreme heat.

And the Fire Bat's body also began to bulge in a strange way; the flood dragon could even see lump after lump rising on its body, which was covered in scabs of dried blood.

Faintly, the flood dragon sensed an emotion that seemed to be both grief and joy.

Of course, it might also have been his imagination; the white mist that had risen in that instant, along with the powerful ultrasonic waves pouring out, were all interfering with his sensory system.

The sensory system in his mind began to break up intermittently, like an old television glitching into static.

He understood—in that moment, two Baichuan, both possessing formidable perception, were contending and interfering with each other.

Now, he could only rely on his own eyes to see everything around him clearly.

But when had he ever been afraid?

A frail, suppressed Baichuan—if he still needed to fear this, then all those years of opening up would have been for nothing.

The beast kept closing in.

One step… two steps…

The trembling of the ground grew more and more obvious; in that instant, the entire space was a vast white expanse, filled with thick, heavy white mist, as if the surroundings had sunk into a realm of fog.

As for the trembling now, the beast couldn't tell whether it was caused by his own weight or by something else.

But his eyes had gradually grown serious, and he murmured in his heart: A cornered beast still fights on.

Bang—!!

The moment that sound fell, the air instantly churned violently, and then a sonic boom erupted.

In an instant, a blood-soaked monster the size of a young calf burst from the white mist, transforming into a streak of red as it lunged forward in attack.

A pair of razor-sharp claws wreathed in blazing flame lunged straight at the flood dragon's eyes.

At that instant, You Bi's pupils also contracted; the feline's exceptional low-speed reaction let me see everything clearly.

I instantly raised a thick, powerful claw and struck out to meet it.

"Boom!"

A tremendous thud reverberated — the sound of a calf-sized, dog-shaped creature slamming into the stone wall, and simultaneously the splash of water.

Huge sprays of water shot upward, and a wisp of white mist vanished.

At that moment, the surroundings grew gloomy.

Only then did the giant beast clearly see this creature's current form: its whole body twisted and caved in, a section caved away; where its wings had been there were no longer wings to fly, but a bloody, gaping wound.

And the claw that had just clashed with me was completely snapped through, no longer forming a bat-shape.

Yet even so, this You Bi's eyes had never closed; within its pupils burned a fierce flame that seemed unable to be extinguished, and at that moment the giant beast could no longer see any trace of health hidden within.

There was only savagery and madness.

It was a madness that would tear a chunk of flesh from its foe even in death.

I slowly turned my head to look at where the iron chains had been, and there, conspicuously, two enormous bat-wings still attached to a clump of flesh were left behind.

In that instant, the giant beast was shaken.

Even though I had to kill it, I could not help but feel a heartfelt respect for this fire bat.

Such conduct, such bearing!

That is the true demeanor of a fallen king!

Truly worthy of a powerhouse who, having weathered countless life-and-death crises, obtained a rank-breaking ability!

At that moment, what I saw was not a pitiful, wretched creature — a tiger fallen on the plain bullied by dogs — preparing to bow its neck for slaughter.

But a true sky-king worthy of looking down upon the four directions, soaring through the heavens — a powerhouse who, even in death, would die gloriously, dying in battle!

If that is so, then let me offer it the highest respect.

The giant beast slowly raised its head, its expression solemn; in the air, piercing cries gradually began to sound, as if countless birds were shrieking in alarm!

This was because, in that water-filled narrow space, I had instantly wrapped myself in a terrifying amount of electrical energy!

Formed by the current tearing through the air!

And also the highest salute offered for the king's curtain call!

This is the maximum current — eight thousand volts!

In an instant, upon the green-purple scales, countless ugly yet lethal arcs of electricity leapt; those countless dancing arcs seemed to drape the flood serpent in a suit of armor forged from lightning.

Transforming it into an incarnation of lightning! A deity who commands the thunder!

Then, a long, ugly tail fin slowly coiled around behind the giant beast's eyes, then lifted and tilted, instantly becoming a blade sharper than any cleaver.

That tail fin, like a massive cleaver, was aimed straight at the fire bat lying on the ground, staring fixedly at me; it just stared at me like that, and a low growl escaped its mouth.

The moment that low growl sounded, the giant beast paused, then laughed.

The next instant, amid a tremendous sonic boom, the sharp, brittle blade became a streak of shadow and descended.

Bang!!!

The entire space shuddered violently; a powerful shockwave swept outward, slamming into the surrounding stone walls, sending chunks of rock and sprays of water flying in all directions.

And at that moment, a white cloud in the air slowly dispersed — a sonic boom cloud formed because the speed was so extreme it broke the sound barrier, causing the moisture in the air to condense into a cloud.

Crack~

A faint crisp sound rang out, and from where the giant beast's tail fin had struck the ground, a deep crack slowly split open.

And this king-class fire bat's entire body was split clean in two.

Yet even in its final moment, those eyes had never closed, still staring fixedly at the giant beast, staring at that massive snake-like, dragon-like monster.

The giant beast was silent, slowly retracting its tail fin; upon it, drops of bright red, thick, scalding blood were continuously dripping down.

These were the wounds my tail fin sustained in that strike, but I did not regret it.

This is the highest form of respect I could offer — to end its life with the strongest attack, not disgracing its mighty name in the slightest.

At this moment, I understood.

That Strange Beast already possessed the intelligence of no less than a fourteen-year-old child; it was no longer an ordinary creature.

But don't forget, I had actually long since begun forcibly communicating with all things! The voices of all things in the world, I could understand their meaning to a greater or lesser degree.

Life is always so brief, and yet so full of miracles…

(End of Chapter)