Chapter 38: EXPLOSION: MYSTERIOUS DICE

Facing the earth element’s assault, Fang Shi stomped on shattered rocks and leapt upward.

He had already realized that these earth elements had gone completely mad after their companions died.

They would spare no effort, determined to kill their enemy.

“Boom!”

Three earth elements crashed into the pile of rubble, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Fang Shi had already landed on the head of one of the earth elements.

He avoided the impact.

The collision caused the earth element’s body to shed stones like rain, barely holding its form.

Fang Shi stood unmoving as a mountain, his feet rooted like ancient trees, steady and unshaken.

He continuously jabbed his long sword into the earth element’s head.

The earth element naturally wouldn’t allow Fang Shi to act so recklessly.

It swung its arms left and right, smashing at its own head.

The remaining earth elements also surrounded and attacked, their strikes coming one after another like a series of slaps.

They tried to seal off every escape route Fang Shi might take.

But Fang Shi didn’t leap this time; at the last possible instant before the slaps arrived, he rolled sideways in a lazy donkey’s roll.

He slightly inserted his sword into the earth element’s head, then slid down from behind it.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The earth elements were heavy and had great inertia; they couldn’t stop their momentum in time.

The earth element’s entire head was crushed into fragments.

Stones tumbled down like wheels, leaving it headless.

Earth elements were elemental lifeforms; as long as their energy core remained intact, they wouldn’t truly die.

But they still needed eyes to see—without a head, they became blind flies.

Their limbs flailed wildly in the air; without hearing, they could no longer follow the commands of the other earth elements.

The remaining two earth elements paid no heed to their companion’s fate.

To elemental lifeforms, such injuries meant nothing—they’d be fine again once they returned to the Earth Element Plane.

They charged at Fang Shi in a frenzy, determined to kill him at all costs.

In truth, for Fang Shi, the frenzied earth elements were far easier to handle than normal ones.

Elemental lifeforms generally had low intelligence; only at the Elder Elemental level did they reach human-level intellect.

The large earth elements had only 6 intelligence—they were lucky if they could follow Turs’s orders.

In battle, they relied entirely on instinct.

Once enraged, their attacks became chaotic and reckless, and Fang Shi exploited every opening.

“Shhh!”

I’ve been waiting for you!

Fang Shi twisted his step, spun around, and shattered the flying rock with his sword.

He then stepped backward repeatedly, dodging the remaining rocks.

These were Turs’s rock attacks—each rock struck with the force of a warrior of equal level at full power.

Fang Shi had been prepared for Turs’s arrival.

He had been waiting for Turs all along.

If Turs had never launched a direct attack, relying on its winged mobility.

Fang Shi truly wouldn’t have had the confidence to kill Turs.

That’s the advantage of flight.

Though Fang Shi didn’t know why this stone dragon, Turs, had wings at all.

But considering the complexity within dragonkind, birthing a monster wasn’t surprising.

[Weakness Insight]

[Multiple Force - Double Force (Arms)]

[Multiple Force - Double Force (Legs)]

Fang Shi’s arm and leg muscles rippled like waves, veins bulging, his entire body swelling visibly.

“Shhh!”

The steel sword flew from his hand, shooting toward Turs like lightning.

The sword’s speed was fast—reaching fifty meters per second.

Turs’s agility was only 14, and it was just six meters away.

By the time it reacted, the blade was already at its eyes.

Turs could barely dodge its vital areas; no other movement was possible.

“Swish!”

The blade pierced Turs’s chest,

and embedded itself into its wing.

[Piercing Attack Activated.]

[You dealt 14 damage to the target.]

This wasn’t over—after throwing the sword,

Fang Shi kicked off the ground, shattering the floor, and leapt upward toward Turs.

“Boom!”

His fists slammed into Turs’s head, driving it to the ground.

[Unarmed Attack Activated.]

[You dealt 4 damage to the target.]

[Unarmed Attack Activated.]

[You dealt 4 damage to the target.]

Throughout the entire sequence, Turs had launched only one rock projectile at the start.

It had no chance to retaliate at all.

Under Fang Shi’s relentless assault, it suffered heavy injuries.

Its 63 HP had already dropped by one-third.

Especially Fang Shi’s final two heavy blows, which left Turs dazed and disoriented.

But the two remaining earth elements had already drawn near.

Without hesitation, Fang Shi yanked out the steel sword and sidestepped.

Turs had just begun to regain some awareness.

It saw the massive bodies of the earth elements charging straight at it.

“Boom!”

Turs was flung like a sack, blood staining its body.

Its vision went black; it slipped into complete unconsciousness.

The enraged earth elements were out of their minds.

They felt no guilt for harming their master and turned to search for Fang Shi again.

But Fang Shi had already fled—to the corridor exit of the hall.

The underground passage was tall—three meters high.

But for the earth elements, it was far too low.

Their five-meter height restricted them; they could only watch helplessly as Fang Shi slipped into the corridor and escaped.

…

“Huff!”

Fang Shi clenched his teeth and exhaled a deep, foul breath.

His entire body burned with pain; every slight movement felt like monsters tearing at his flesh.

This was the aftermath of his final burst.

To completely eliminate Turs, Fang Shi had used true Multiple Force.

Due to the absence of Life Transcendence,

the consequence was exactly this:

Multiple muscle tears across his body, each movement excruciatingly difficult.

Any ordinary person would have fainted from the pain.

Only Fang Shi’s extraordinary willpower and extremely high pain threshold kept him conscious.

This was also Fang Shi’s only option—he had no choice at the time.

Turs had ranged attacks and had no need to engage Fang Shi in close combat.

Fang Shi, caught between the earth elements, had been walking a tightrope.

Every moment drained immense energy.

If Turs had kept firing from afar, Fang Shi might have been defeated by an unexpected ambush.

He also avoided the scenario where, after defeating the earth element, Turis would immediately flee upon seeing the tide turn.

Therefore, Fang Shi launched a sudden burst of power to subdue Turis first.

Even if he couldn’t kill him, he had to severely wound him to prevent interference in the battle.

In the end, it was a great success.

Now the earth element was trapped inside the hall, and Turis was critically wounded—likely near death.

All he needed was a little recovery, and he could go in to reap the rewards.

So Fang Shi located the energy core and began absorbing its primal force to repair his bodily injuries.

…

“Damn it!”

After an unknown length of time, Turis finally awoke.

The dragon’s physiology now proved its worth.

But immediately afterward, Turis’s heart sank into despair.

Massive internal and external bleeding; all organs shattered.

At this moment, it was grievously wounded; had it not been for the dragon’s bodily structure being unlike that of ordinary species,

any other creature with such injuries would have already sent its soul to the River Styx.

Such wounds left Turis utterly helpless.

Turis had no magical items like spatial containers.

Nor did it know any magic for storing objects.

Naturally, it carried no healing potions.

Moreover, for wounds this severe, ordinary healing potions were nearly useless.

Besides, Turis didn’t even possess healing potions to begin with.

Due to certain peculiar reasons, aside from its summoning ring and some goblin tributes of gold ore,

it had no collection at all, let alone magical artifacts.

Turis regretted it—had it known, it should have sought a deity, become a priest.

It wouldn’t have ended up in this embarrassing predicament.

Wait—Turis suddenly remembered, if its brain hadn’t been crushed,

it seemed it had been beaten to this state by someone.

That damned human had apparently come to slay a dragon.

But now it was critically wounded—where had that human gone?

Why hadn’t he finished it off?

Could it be that the earth element had done its job and killed the human while it was unconscious?

For a moment, the joy of vengeance welled up in Turis’s heart.

But as it felt its life slipping away, that joy vanished instantly, replaced by sorrow.

“Do I really have to use that thing?”

Turis was reluctant—using that thing was a gamble with its life.

If luck ran out, it would die in the next instant.

Ha—what if it didn’t use it? Would it not die now anyway? Might as well gamble once more.

It mustered the strength to lift its body, enduring the pain, and gagged violently.

Vomited out a die wrapped in gastric fluid.

Generally, a dragon’s stomach cannot store anything.

A dragon’s digestive fluid was immensely powerful, capable of dissolving plastic and steel.

It was a creature that could survive by eating soil alone.

Even the summoning ring used to call the earth element had been held in its mouth, not swallowed.

Otherwise, even if the ring remained intact, the summoning runes engraved upon it would have been corroded away.

Only certain special materials could resist a dragon’s gastric fluid.

And even after being swallowed, they retained their miraculous properties.

Turis carefully picked up the die, sensing the abundant primal force within.

It sighed inwardly—its reluctance stemmed not only from a desire to preserve its life but also from an unwillingness to part with it.

The die had suddenly appeared before it, and it had claimed it.

At the same time, a surge of information came to it, revealing the die’s method of use.

Thus, for the first time, Turis used the die while safely resting in its lair.

And then, it arrived in this underground palace.

In panic, Turis used it a second time.

The result: wings sprouted on its body—wings it had never possessed as a wingless dragon.

And they were permanent, immune to any magic, as if naturally grown—miraculous, as if bestowed by a creator.

To Turis, this was like adding wings to a tiger.

In this alone, the die could be called a divine artifact.

For the lucky, it was the king among divine artifacts.

There remained one final use—but Turis dared not use it.

Because if used again, the die would vanish on its own.

And Turis had no idea what would happen upon the next use.

The randomness was too great—what if it teleported straight into the Abyss and died instantly?

No—given the die’s randomness, there might even be a direct-death option.

But now, Turis had no choice—it had to use it, or it would truly die.