Book 4, The Dragonblood Warrior – Chapter 19, Viciousness
“What a waste! That’s dragon’s blood from a magical beast of the peak of the ninth rank!” Linley couldn’t help but say to himself upon seeing the blood splash onto the ground. According to the Secret Dragonblood Manual, blood from a living Saint-level dragon could definitely rouse the Dragonblood in his body, while blood from a dragon of the ninth rank would have a somewhat lower chance of success.
This Armored Razorback Wyrm was, after all a dragon-type beast of the peak of the ninth rank, just one step away from becoming a Saint-level dragon. What’s more, Armored Razorback Wyrms were considered one of the most powerful type of dragons. When faced with any dragon of the same rank, the Armored Razorback Wyrm would be more powerful.
“This Wyrm is both at the peak of the ninth rank and is an exceedingly powerful type of dragon. The effect of its blood shouldn’t be much weaker than that of a Saint-level dragon. Unfortunately, there’s no way for me to get it.” Linley didn’t dare at all to step within this cave, because if he did, any random blow from these two combatants which happened to land on him would crush him to a pulp.
“Boss, is this Armored Razorback Wyrm gonna die? It seems like he isn’t able to defeat that big stupid bear.” Bebe said mentally to Linley.
Linley didn’t make a sound. He just stared fixedly at the cave, watching the battle between these two major magical beasts.
“Haha...” The Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear let out an excited laugh, while at the same time, struck out with his massive, furry black paw, turning it into a fist as he did. That meter-long fist carried with it almost 15000 kilograms of force, and it forcefully smashed against the Armored Razorback Wyrm which was buried underground.
While it was ill, go for the kill!
“Bang!”
The giant furry fist smashed into the middle of the ground, causing the entire cave to shake and rubble to fall down.
“Hrm?” That lone remaining eye of the Violet Tattooed Bear began to glow with a red light.
Right now, that Armored Razorback Wyrm, which had been smashed deep into the ground by the Bear, was now burrowing through the ground like an earthworm, scurrying about at the speed of lightning. Wherever the Armored Razorback Wyrm passed by, the stony ground itself would tremble and crack.
The Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear had missed with his punch, only landing a hit on the Wyrm’s tail, allowing the Wyrm to immediately burrow underground.
“Haha, Sartius. Are you actually going to just hide underneath the ground and not come out?” The Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear stared at the ground as he laughed.
The Violet Tattooed Bear knew that when it came to underground burrowing, even though he had reached the Saint-level, he wasn’t a match for the Armored Razorback Wyrm. Thanks to its sinuous, spiky body and its razor-sharp claws, the Wyrm was much better at burrowing than the Bear was. If the Armored Razorback Wyrm really decided to stay underground and not come out, then the Violet Tattooed Bear really would have no recourse.
However, the Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear believed that Sartius wouldn’t have been scared to the point of hiding underground and not dare come out to do battle.
This was because...Sartius was an Armored Razorback Wyrm.
“Everyone always says that you Armored Razorback Wyrm’s are extremely arrogant and won’t allow themselves to suffer any humiliation at all. Even in the face of certain death, you’ll still make up your mind to fight to the death with their opponent. But now, from the looks of it, that doesn’t seem to be the case. You, Sartius, are an absolute coward.” The Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear said in a bright voice. Right now, he was using words to agitate his opponent.
Hiding within the tunnel, Linley just quietly watched this affair progress.
“Dragons are generally very arrogant and very conceited. Armored Razorback Wyrms, in turn, are the most conceited and most arrogant of dragons.” Doehring Cowart’s voice rang out in Linley’s mind.
“Grandpa Doehring, why don’t you come out?” Even as Linley asked the question, he laughed at himself.
His head was totally muddled. Doehring Cowart’s aura could easily be detected by a Saint-level combatant, and a Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear was of course such a combatant.
“Can’t come out. Right now, in their eyes, you punk, you’re just an ant. Although they’ve both noticed you, they can’t be bothered to care about you. But if I come out, once they sense my aura, then you’ll be in trouble.” Doehring Cowart remained hidden within the Coiling Dragon ring.
Linley nodded slightly, but his gaze was still firmly locked on the cave.
That Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear was engaged in nonstop ridicule, but the Armored Razorback Wyrm seemed to have disappeared completely, as there was no sign of it at all.
“It’s laughing?” Watching the battle, Linley noticed that there was a delighted smile on the face of the Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear, but he didn’t understand its meaning.
Suddenly, the dragon tail which had been compressed into a drill shape suddenly burst out of the ground at high speed, piercing through the air with a terrifying hissing sound as it directly stabbed at the Violet Tattooed Bear’s waist.
The speed was so fast that there was no time to react at all.
“Whap!”
The Violet Tattooed Bear seemed to have foreknowledge of this attack. Just as the tail burst out of the ground, the huge bear quickly retreated, while at the same time reaching out with its huge furry paws and grabbing onto the tail.
“Haha....”
The Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear began to laugh wildly. Its hands firmly fastened around the tail, with a mighty tug, it forcibly ripped the Armored Razorback Wyrm from the earth, then, after waving it about in the air, began to viciously slam the Wyrm directly into the stony ground.
“Bam!”
Like a dancer performing with a whip or a ribbon, the Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear brandished the Wyrm in the air, slamming it into the ground time and time again.
“Bam!” “Bam!” “Bam!” “Bam!” “Bam!”
The Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear wildly brandished the Armored Razorback Wyrm, smashing it into the ground without pause. The body of the Armored Razorback Wyrm had turned into a blur, as in the time it took to take a single breath, the Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear had slammed it into the ground over a hundred times.
The constant, high-velocity impacts made Linley’s heart quail.
“And it’s still not dead?” Linley couldn’t help but feel nervous.
“Haha, Sartius, this is for your arrogance, for taking one of my eyes. Haha...” The Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear continued to laugh wildly as its two-meter wide hands continued to wave the Armored Razorback Wyrm about, slamming it into the ground.
More and more cracks appeared on the ground, and countless crevices over three meters deep began to appear.
The stony ceiling of the cave had also began to shake loose rocks, but those falling rocks weren’t of the slightest hindrance to the Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear.
“I hope he doesn’t collapse the tunnel.” Pebbles began to fall down on Linley’s head as well, causing him to silently curse at this Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear. The only option he had was to silently murmur the words to the Earthguard spell to summon a jadestone armor to protect his body. Only then was his physical safety ensured.
“Growl...” “Growl....”
One roar of fury and pain erupted from the Armored Razorback Wyrm after another. Based on its terrifying defensive power, logically speaking, the rocky ground shouldn’t cause any harm to it at all, but being slammed at such a high speed was a different matter!
A rock itself didn’t have much offensive power, but when a rock was propelled to extremely high speeds, it could even penetrate a steel board.
Speed was also a form of offensive power!
Bear-type magical beasts were all born with tremendous strength, so naturally the strength of this Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear was terrifyingly high. Based on this Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear’s terrifying wrist power, when slamming the Armored Razorback Wyrm into the ground, it could produce an astonishingly high speed. And so, at high speed, the Armored Razorback Wyrm continued to impact with the ground.
This sort of slamming attack was extremely terrifying.
The Armored Razorback Wyrm was continuously coiling around like a snake, letting the impact be spread across his entire body.
“Dragon’s blood, dragon’s blood everywhere.” Linley saw how the Armored Razorback Wyrm was leaving blood all over the ground.
To the Armored Razorback Wyrm, however, the physical injuries were a smaller matter. The more important problem was that it was starting to get extremely dizzy!
Being whipped around at such high speed was starting to make the Armored Razorback Wyrm’s mind go blank. If this continued, even if its body was able to hold on, its mind wouldn’t be able to.
“Sartius, you idiot, did you think that by ambushing me from underground, I wouldn’t be able to react in time? Haha. Have you forgotten? Saint-level combatants all have the ability to soul sense outside of their bodies. I saw every single movement you were making underground. And you thought you could ambush me? Haha...”
The Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear was unspeakably delighted with itself.
For over three hundred years, it had nursed this hatred. Every time, when he looked into the water and saw the reflection of his ruined eyes, his heart would be filled with unspeakable rage. He had stewed in this hate, in this rage, for over three hundred years, until he had reached the Saint-level.
“Crack!”
A strange noise was heard, and suddenly, the Armored Razorback Wyrm’s body flew out in the air, colliding with the wall several hundred meters away, creating a giant crater before it landed onto the ground.
The Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear only stared at the dragon tail in its hand in astonishment.
“You...you broke off your own tail?” The Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear was very astonished, but after recovering, it began to laugh uproariously. “Haha, Sartius, you actually are in such a pathetic state that you chose to break your own tail off. Wonderful! Wonderful!” The Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear was extremely delighted at having been able to force the Armored Razorback Wyrm into such a state.
Linley also stared at the Armored Razorback Wyrm in astonishment, that it was ruthless and cruel enough to break its own tail. The importance of the tail to a dragon could not be understated. Breaking off its own tail carried and required the same courage and viciousness that a human cutting off his own hand would have to have.
Behind the Armored Razorback Wyrm’s posterior, there was nothing aside from a meter-wide round injury. This was where its long tail had previously been connected. This enormous wound was leaking out a huge amount of blood. But the Armored Razorback Wyrm’s dark golden eyes were still as cold as ever, fixing the Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear with its deathly glare.
“How vicious. But there’s no doubt that you are still going to die.” The Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear casually threw the tail away with a wave of its giant paws, his face filled with confidence.”
No tail, and suffering from severe blood loss.
The Armored Razorback Wyrm had suffered a huge loss in combat power. In such a situation, if the Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear still was not able to kill the Armored Razorback Wyrm, it would be a huge joke.
“Roar!” A low growl. The Armored Razorback Wyrm flexed its four limbs and transformed into a cruel blur, throwing itself at the Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear. The Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear’s two huge paws once more glowed with a dark aura, and then the Bear struck viciously at the Armored Razorback Wyrm with them.
Based on the power of the Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear’s paws, it should definitely be able to send the Armored Razorback Wyrm flying.
However...
Faced with the oncoming strike from the Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear’s paws, the Armored Razorback Wyrm opened its jaws and viciously launched onto one of the Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear’s arms. The Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear’s arms were extremely durable; although the Armored Razorback Wyrm was able to bite into them, it wasn’t able to bite through them.
“Ahhh!” The Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear let out a howl of pain, as it definitely had not expected the Armored Razorback Wyrm to do this, because by doing this, it was as good as offering its head to the Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear. “You want to die!” The Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear roared with rage as it slammed its other paw towards the Armored Razorback Wyrm’s eyes.
Once the meter-long fingers penetrated into the Armored Razorback Wyrm’s eyes, it would shatter the Armored Razorback Wyrm’s brains and kill it.
But right at that moment...
“Swish!” “Swish!” “Swish!”
The Armored Razorback Wyrm’s entire body began to clatter, and then, like water being released from a sieve, every single spike on its back all flew out, piercing into the Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear’s body like so many bolts of lightning.
The Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear’s entire body was riddled with spikes now, and even its face had a spike put through it.
“Ah! Sartius, you...” The Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear’s eyes were filled with disbelief.
The Armored Razorback Wyrm’s two most formidable aspects were its “armor” and its “razorback”. The word ‘armored’ reflected its astonishing defensive capabilities, while “razorback” referred to that line of dense spikes on its back, which most people didn’t even know had a use.
If it needed to defend? It’s powerful, thick carapace was more than enough.
If it wanted to attack?
How could the razor spikes on its back be used to attack? Even if it wanted to, it would have to do so in a passive way.
There were very few magical beasts that knew the Armored Razorback Wyrm had this technique of shooting out all of the razor spines along its back at once, which was the technique an Armored Razorback Wyrm would use when it intended to perish alongside its opponent. Those spikes shot out with such speed that its penetrating power was even greater than that of its claws.
The Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear had no idea at all that this Armored Razorback Wyrm actually possessed such a technique. With the two of them so close to each other, and with the spikes shooting out at such a high speed, there had been no way for him to dodge at all.
“Gurgle...” Its body riddled with spikes, the Saint-level Violet Tattooed Bear could feel as life began draining away from its body. Unwilling to die like this, it raised its head and roared with rage.