Chapter 40: Legendary Alchemical Artifact (Request Follows, Request Monthly Votes)

Under the enhancement of the rune armor, the golden-haired warrior’s stats surged, yet he still couldn’t match Luo Si’s speed; as it lunged at the white-robed priestess, his eyes widened in shock.

——She was the object of the golden-haired warrior’s affection.

Though his earlier confession had been cruelly rejected, his love for her had never faded.

“Cowardly, timid dragon—are you afraid of my blade?”

“I’ll flay you alive, break your bones, and mount you as a specimen in my display hall!”

In desperation, the golden-haired warrior shouted at the young dragon.

Dragons, especially evil dragons, are supremely arrogant and prideful, with volatile tempers—direct insults and belittlement are the best way to draw their ire.

Yet.

Luo Si acted as if he hadn’t heard, completely ignoring the golden-haired warrior’s provocation.

With a gust of wind trailing behind him, he shot forward in an instant, arriving before the white-robed priestess.

Priestesses come in many forms: some wear armor and wield flails or war hammers, towering and muscular, fighting more ferociously than warriors; others, like the one before him, are weak in close combat, specializing in support skills such as buffing or healing allies.

Facing Luo Si’s furious lunge.

The white-robed priestess stumbled backward in panic, tripping over a rock.

Punishment!

She opened her palm, raised it, then brought it down, unleashing her only offensive skill.

Boom! A pure, holy light like lightning struck Luo Si’s back, shattering his hard dragon scales with dense cracks; the sacred light seeped inward along the fissures, bringing a searing, burning pain.

The burning pain was not from heat.

Luo Si was nearly immune to ordinary fire damage; this sensation came from the holy property of Punishment, inflicting extra damage upon Luo Si, deemed “evil.”

“Sss—painful! Is this skill labeling me as evil?”

“Do skills even carry prejudice these days? I, Luo Si, am not an evil dragon!”

Fuming, Luo Si slashed his blade-like wings through the air.

Under the moonlight, a head, frozen in shock and terror, shot skyward.

“Heddy!”

The golden-haired warrior roared: “Damn evil dragon—I’ll kill you!”

He gripped his door-sized greatsword and charged toward Luo Si with heavy strides.

At this moment, only one dragon and two humans remained.

Luo Si, dominating the battlefield with his single might; the golden-haired warrior, furious enough for his hair to stand on end; and the necromancer standing in the shadow of a fir tree.

As for the female rogue.

She was the cleverest—she fled the moment she sensed danger; Samantha, unwilling to let this thief who attacked her escape, gave chase.

“Now it’s the necromancer’s turn.”

Luo Si ignored the golden-haired warrior, turned his gaze, and locked onto the necromancer.

The necromancer’s heart chilled with tension, but when his peripheral vision caught sight of two corpses, his nerves steadied slightly.

When corpses—especially those of transcendent beings—are nearby,

the necromancer can unleash skills far stronger than usual.

“I’ll turn the tide.”

He thought, then pointed a finger at the fallen priestess’s corpse.

Corpse Explosion!

Boom!

The priestess’s body erupted instantly, vanishing without a trace; all her blood and essence condensed into a swift, venomous crimson mist that engulfed Luo Si.

Life Drain!

Boom! The corpse of the caster farther away also exploded, forming a bloodline that lashed onto the golden-haired warrior, causing his body to swell instantly; veins bulged on his face, muscles beneath his skin swelled like packed asphalt and crude oil, greatly enhancing his strength.

“Captain, this is our chance!”

“You’re buffed—kill this evil dragon!”

The necromancer shouted.

Under the cold moonlight, the golden-haired warrior’s gaze went vacant; he stiffly turned his neck toward the necromancer.

White-robed priestess Heddy—his beloved.

Caster Harven—his brother-in-arms.

As for the necromancer before him, he barely knew him; they’d only teamed up for a few missions, and the necromancer seemed competent, so he’d been hastily recruited for this wilderness expedition.

“Why are you staring at me? Don’t freeze—attack! Heddy and Harven are with you!”

The necromancer, confused, urged him on.

In his view, using fallen comrades’ corpses was the greatest respect—he didn’t realize the golden-haired warrior thought otherwise.

“Son of a bitch—I’ll kill you first!”

The golden-haired warrior’s eyes bulged with rage as he spun and charged at the necromancer.

“Damn it!”

The necromancer’s heart jolted: “The captain’s been cursed by the evil dragon—he’s lost his mind!”

He gestured, and the priestess’s severed head ignited with ghostly flames, skin splitting and flesh burning away until only a skull remained, soaring through the air to block the “unhinged” golden-haired warrior; the warrior grew even angrier, more frenzied.

“I’ll kill you!”

He smashed the skull with one blow of his sword, ignored the ghostly flames slamming into his body, and lunged forward, slashing at the necromancer’s face.

The necromancer couldn’t dodge; his body was split diagonally in two.

“Aaaah!” The golden-haired warrior roared and swung again, severing the necromancer’s head.

On the other side.

Luo Si’s wings blazed with fire, long since burned away the crimson mist; yet he made no move, watching the scene before him with curiosity and surprise.

The sudden infighting exceeded his expectations, adding dramatic flair to the fierce battle.

Still, it saved him effort.

“Evil dragon!”

Having killed the necromancer, the golden-haired warrior turned toward Luo Si and charged forward.

“Die!”

He leapt into the air, raised his greatsword, and launched a suicidal slash aimed at Luo Si’s head.

The warrior’s blade never landed.

Luo Si spun suddenly, lashed his tail sideways, and smashed the man and his sword into a rock wall twenty meters away; shards flew as his twisted body became embedded in the crevices, lifeless.

The battle ended. Silence fell.

The red iron hatchling paced slowly, scanning the surroundings.

When he spotted something, Luo Si suddenly exhaled a torrent of dragonfire, engulfing the necromancer’s remains; screams echoed from the flames, fading as the body turned to ash.

“Still not dead.”

Luo Si thought.

He wasn’t certain of the necromancer’s exact condition—only suspected that those who dealt with death had more survival tricks; so he’d acted on “better safe than sorry,” using his breath to desecrate the corpse—and somehow, he’d hit the mark.

“Never underestimate adventurers.”

“So cunning and treacherous—if he’d escaped alive, he’d surely bring more hunters after me.”

Luo Si thought.

To guard against the possibility the golden-haired warrior was faking, or had resurrection or survival tricks, he exhaled another blast of dragonfire, reducing the body embedded in the rock to charred carbon.

Swirling flames illuminated the night.

And sealed the end of this battle.

Soon after, Samantha returned, flying in with a limp, unresisting figure clutched in her grasp.

Thud!

She tossed the female rogue before Luo Si, exclaiming eagerly: “My dear brother, I want this one as my slave! I captured her—she’s my trophy!”

Luo Si shook his head.

“You’re wrong. Without me appearing, you’d have been captured alive—or skinned and flayed, dying horribly—let alone capturing this human.”

He said.

Looking at Luo Si’s bloodstained scales and powerful frame, Samantha found his words utterly reasonable and offered no rebuttal.

“So what do you want to do with her?”

Samantha asked.

“Kill her outright. No need to keep her.”

Luo Si said calmly.

Rogues are alert and cunning, skilled in ambushes and escapes; he didn’t believe this rogue could offer loyalty, couldn’t guarantee he could keep her contained, and had no time to play mind games—if she escaped, she’d surely bring more hunters after him.

Kill her. End it.

“Wait, wait!”

“Noble dragon, I offer all my treasures, and this map tied to a legendary alchemical artifact, in exchange for my life!”

The rogue frantically stripped off all her gear and treasures, then pulled out a map from her chest and presented it to Luo Si.

(End of Chapter)