Chapter 50: Chapter Forty-Nine: Slaying

The flood dragon suddenly raised its head.

Two huge crossbow bolts pierced its body; compared to the flood dragon's massive size, it was like an ordinary person being pierced by a toothpick in the flesh of a finger.

It hurt, but there was no serious injury.

The flood dragon turned its head and angrily roared at the ox tribe warriors.

Large amounts of black poisonous gas spewed from the gaps in the flood dragon's teeth; it opened its mouth wide, and a vast plume of black smoke and poisonous gas turned into a raging torrent, howling as it swept across the surface of the wetland.

Wherever the black poisonous gas passed, large swaths of aquatic plants withered and died, and countless glowing little flying insects fell down.

Among the ten stone giants, five stone giants suddenly charged forward.

They threw down the great axes in their hands, and the five of them intertwined their arms, forming a strange shape.

With a loud shout, the earth violently trembled; streams of powerful earth vein power surged up from underground, pouring into the bodies of these five stone giants. Yellow light burst from their surfaces, lines of light crisscrossed and intertwined, forming a mountain shape a hundred zhang high.

The mountain spewed forth large amounts of earth-yellow mist, like a wall standing before them.

The black poisonous gas struck the earth-yellow mist, and the black poisonous gas was rolled back; not a trace of poisonous gas could penetrate the yellow mist's protection to harm those behind belonging to Mist Blade.

The other five stone giants strode forward, one in front and four behind, forming a strange formation; the five of them perfectly merged their auras into one.

They leapt over the top of the small earth-yellow mountain; as they passed, large amounts of earth-yellow mist merged into their bodies.

A heavy, fierce aura surged from within the five stone giants.

Accompanied by a deafening roar, the five stone giants emitted yellow light from their whole bodies; a towering giant a hundred zhang high emerged from above their heads, wielding a wolf-fang great axe, and brought the axe down upon the flood dragon.

All of this happened extremely quickly; at the moment the giant's axe fell, the two arrows embedded in the flood dragon's body exploded violently.

The explosive power was a hundred times greater than the mountain-splitting thunder used by the Wu family's miners when mining; the firelight of the explosion covered a radius of several dozen meters, water splashed wildly in the wetland, and mud shot up tens of meters high.

The flood dragon's belly was blasted open, creating a hole over two meters in diameter; large amounts of blood and water spurted out, the flood dragon's body was almost blown into two pieces, only a section of blackish-blue flood dragon bone and half of its flesh barely held the upper and lower halves together.

The flood dragon wept tears from pain, and the black poisonous gas in its mouth suddenly ceased; instead, it spewed out large amounts of blood and water.

It slammed its head against the seven-colored crystal behind it, opened its mouth, and hurriedly licked the viscous fluid flowing down the crystal.

As large amounts of viscous fluid were continuously swallowed, one could see the flood dragon's huge abdominal wound violently writhing; large pieces of flesh quickly regenerated, and in just a single breath, that enormous wound was wrapped in a thin film of blood, with no more blood flowing out.

The giant figure swung the wolf-fang great axe and struck down with a "thud" on the flood dragon's forehead.

The flood dragon's recently healed head was split open a several-meter-long wound; scales flew off, the skull was torn open, and again a large amount of blood and brain matter spurted out.

The flood dragon screamed in agony, its body convulsed violently, and suddenly, at its vital point, a dazzling blackish-blue light flared up.

That piece of flesh seemed to turn semi-translucent; a mass of blackish-blue flame burned fiercely inside its body, visible through its thick scales and flesh as the flame rapidly expanded and contracted.

A low, deep, penetrating long howl came from within the flood dragon.

The flood dragon opened its mouth wide, and a mass of viscous blackish-blue flame burst out. Having been badly wounded, this creature, disregarding its vital energy, employed its hidden trump card.

The five stone giants jointly unleashed a devastating move; just as the giant figure retracted its arm, the five stone giants heavily fell to the ground. As soon as they landed, the blackish-blue flame descended upon them from above.

The earth-yellow mist on the stone giants' surfaces was instantly burned away by the flame with a "whoosh"; their metal armor turned red in the snap of a finger and then melted into molten iron.

A mournful wail rang out; the five stone giants were burned until their skin split and flesh burst, each rolling on the ground engulfed in flames.

In the wetland, the water was about three feet deep, and the stone giants, over ten meters tall, rolled and tumbled in the mud; the blackish-blue flame clung to their flesh, and the water on the ground could not extinguish the flame.

Water vapor rose, and the evaporated vapor actually intensified the flame's might, burning the five stone giants to a rotten state, with countless flames continually burrowing into their bones.

After just a few breaths, the five mighty stone giants stiffly collapsed to the ground.

Their flesh and blood were completely burned away, their skeletons withered and shriveled; originally over ten meters tall, they left behind skeletons only five or six meters long.

Wu Tie gaped in shock, unable to speak for a long while.

This is the true strength a flood dragon should possess; that black poisonous gas and such are merely its everyday means of hunting food, not its trump card for a life-or-death fight.

The five stone giants that had formed the earth-yellow mountain let out a mournful cry, having solidly protected their comrades behind them.

Mist Blade commands a large corps of elite assassins, countless servant warriors and slaves, but with Mist Blade's strength, they have only raised a small tribe of stone giants.

The entire stone giant tribe has only ten adult warriors.

This single blow cost them half of their number.

They are brothers of flesh and blood; the death of these kin made these honest stone giants howl and weep, tears streaming continuously.

Though heartbroken as if being twisted, the five stone giants still stood motionless in their original positions.

Their breaths were linked; they continued to mobilize earth vein power, forming that earth-yellow great mountain to shield the main force of Mist Blade behind them.

The blackish-blue flame surged forward and violently struck the small mountain.

The earth-yellow light composing the small mountain fluctuated violently; large amounts of earth-yellow mist evaporated and disappeared, but earth-yellow mist continually rose from underground, constantly replenishing this small mountain.

The flood dragon screamed shrilly; the blackish-blue flame near its vital point grew brighter, the flame it spewed grew hotter, and it now covered a radius of several hundred meters.

The earth-yellow small mountain melted bit by bit, appearing to be gradually refined by the flame.

The five stone giants sweated profusely, sweat streaming down continuously, flowing from the gaps in their armor like streams.

A group of ox tribe warriors nervously re-strung their bows; then, with two booming sounds, two specially made arrows shot out, precisely embedding themselves in the flood dragon's coiled body.

The flood dragon's body twitched, and then the arrows exploded violently again.

Large amounts of scales shattered, fire shot into the sky, mud surged up tens of meters high, and the flood dragon's body was blasted open again, a two-meter-long hole appearing, with large amounts of blood mixed with some organ fragments spraying out.

The fire in the flood dragon's mouth suddenly vanished; it shed tears while turning its head, opening its mouth to hold a large piece of crystal inside, and sucked on it greedily.

Large amounts of viscous fluid gushed from the crystal; the flood dragon's wounds healed at a visible speed, and in just two breaths all injuries were completely healed—no need to mention—while the two short horns on its forehead also quickly grew out.

The two horns regrew to over three meters long, the spiral patterns on the horns clearer than the two horns Wu Tie had swallowed.

With two "crack" sounds, in an extremely short time it swallowed large amounts of fluid seeping from the crystal; the flood dragon's abdomen actually bulged with four large tumors, and before the Mist Blade forces could react, the four tumors exploded, and four thick legs tipped with claws burst out.

Having horns and legs, this flood dragon had obviously taken another great step on its evolutionary path.

"Oh oh, this fellow..." Old Tie exclaimed softly: "Truly reckless... Originally still smart, knowing the fluid inside this crystal was not good, so it had been sucking little by little over the years..."

"This time, taking a huge amount of the crystal's fluid in a short time... this fellow..."

Wu Tie saw that the flood dragon's originally golden pupils had turned into a sheet of seven-colored bewilderment, just like the seven-colored crystal's seven-colored hue.

In its eyes, the original ferocity and evil were gone, replaced by an even more indifferent, cold, utterly emotionless... dead silence...

The original flood dragon was a living creature, and it naturally had emotional fluctuations.

But this flood dragon now has lost all its emotional fluctuations; it seems to be rapidly transforming into a terrifying "aberrant kind".

What's more shocking is that its jet-black, iron-cast scales are now coated with a moist sheen, as if cast from crystal.

Swarms of lizard people archers charged out of the fern forest, and a rain‑dense volley of arrows screamed down from the sky.

The arrows fell thick on the flood dragon's body, then exploded violently.

The explosive force of each arrow matched that of the Opening Mountain Thunder used by the Wu family miners to blast ore.

A single Opening Mountain Thunder's power is naturally small, but hundreds or thousands of them detonating in succession on the flood dragon's body covered it in countless fireballs, shaking it into anguished roars.

No matter how its scales seemed to have grown tougher, under such violent bombardment the flood dragon's scales were still shattered to pieces, large chunks of flesh blown apart, and blood dyed the surrounding wetlands red for several mu.

Unable to bear the pain, the flood dragon jerked its mouth open, flung away that strange crystal, planted its four feet awkwardly on the ground, and twisted its massive body as it charged at the Mist Blade army.

As it ran, it opened its mouth and spewed out black flame that had completely transformed from within.

With a "sizzle," like a red‑hot iron bar thrust into a pile of snow, the five stone giants' effort‑maintained yellow‑brown mountain peak was blasted open a dozen‑meter‑wide hole; the five stone giants uttered no sound, vaporizing instantly in the black flame.

The yellow‑brown peak collapsed with a mighty roar, vast sheets of yellow‑brown mist exploded outward, and the nearby Mist Blade forces were thrown back by the shockwave—some blown to bits on the spot, others collapsing far away, vomiting blood and unable to rise for a time.

A unit of brave ox‑tribe warriors bellowed "moo‑moo," brandishing heavy weapons as they charged, raining blows on the flood dragon's body.

The heavy blows landed on the flood dragon's body where its scales were cracked; the ox‑tribe warriors' eyes turned blood‑red, they fought like drunkards, fearless, and their brute strength grew even greater.

Staggered by the blows, the flood dragon let out an angry roar, turned, and spewed a stream of black flame.

Nearly a hundred ox‑tribe warriors were engulfed in black flame; they let out a simultaneous shrill wail, turning into burning humanoid torches rooted in place, reduced to ashes in just a few breaths.

The flood dragon panted raggedly, spewing out great gouts of flame and black smoke.

Having just finished its evolution, its internal energy was exhausted; after vomiting a burst of flame, it felt waves of fatigue, as if its whole body had been drained.

Countless lizard‑people warriors kept hurling arrows, which continually exploded on its body, shattering its scales and ripping its flesh.

Though these arrows' power could not truly cripple it, the relentless barrage kept adding wounds, worsening its injuries and draining its stamina.

Moreover, large packs of wolf‑tribe warriors came howling, sprinting in groups of three or five and ceaselessly hurling poison‑coated flying daggers.

Large patches of its scale armor shattered, exposing bloody wounds.

These daggers sank deep into its wounded flesh; the Mist Blade's secret poison accumulated in its body, sending waves of weakness and numbness that made the flood dragon stagger, its legs barely able to move.

It thrashed wildly, spewing fire indiscriminately in all directions.

Yet neither the lizard people nor the wolf‑tribe warriors—those Mist Blade allies skilled in coordinated combat—dared approach it any closer.

Arrows kept falling, flying daggers kept piercing its flesh.

The flood dragon's massive body had become its greatest liability—it was all too easy to hit.

After a quarter‑hour, the flood dragon swayed, wanting to rush back to the crystal to replenish itself with the fluid seeping from within it.

A human silhouette suddenly appeared in mid‑air above the flood dragon's skull, exactly between its two horns. The Mist Blade Chief Steward trailed a long afterimage; a black straight blade materialized in his right hand, and he brought it down soundlessly.

A flash of cold light—the blade sank into the flood dragon's skull, piercing straight to the marrow of its brain.

A terrifying cold qi surged from the blade, instantly freezing the flood dragon's entire brain into a lump of ice.

Light in the flood dragon's seven‑colored eyes stiffened abruptly; its massive body staggered forward a few steps, then it collapsed headfirst to the ground.

The ground trembled slightly; the flood dragon let out no death cry before collapsing.

The Mist Blade Chief Steward lightly withdrew his straight blade and looked toward Wu Tie and Lao Tie, hidden in the fern forest.

"What, you want to snatch something from my hand?"