Chapter 27: The Slash
The ruins of the Ancient Dragon King City had been blasted into a charred, blackened plain by the realm thunder. Coupled with the encroaching darkness, this vast, open area exuded a sense of dark decay. The soil was dark and damp; grabbing a handful, one could squeeze dark liquid from it.
Above this region of light, a dark vortex rotated slowly. Directly beneath this dark vortex was an ancient dragon, a hundred meters long, its dragon skin blackened. This was a scaleless ancient dragon, uncommon among their kind. Of the several ancient dragon families, only one was the scaleless clan.
In the past, during the Second Era, the infamous Fierce Winter Calamity, Heiyoulise, had now been corrupted into an Abyssal Ancient Dragon. In fact, it had long since died; the massive scorch mark on its chest was its fatal wound from the past.
This was, of course, not the former Supreme Peak Ancient Dragon, Heiyoulise. If it were, Su Xiao would surely have died here. The truth was, the 'Supreme Dragon Might' ability wasn't unique to ancient dragons; nine out of ten 'Supreme Peaks' possessed similar abilities.
Indeed, some 'Supreme Peaks' lacked such abilities, but one mustn't think those few were weak. The representative was the Deer God, whose one-on-one combat prowess was renowned throughout the Star Realm.
Though far from its peak, Heiyoulise's power was undeniable. This ancient wyvern, which had fought its entire life, was dead, yet its dragon body remnants still knew how to fight. Nourished by Abyss power, the body of this dead ancient dragon had spawned a frenzied, bloodthirsty new consciousness. Driven by it, the ancient dragon's body had somewhat come back to life.
Now, the Abyssal Ancient Dragon had awakened and broken its seal. It only wanted one thing: to vent its rage and bloodlust. The problem was, for a thousand kilometers around, there was only scorched earth. The sole living thing was a human, holding a long blade, his gaze calm.
"ROAR!"
The Abyssal Ancient Dragon bellowed. Its two tattered dragon wings spread, and within a radius of several hundred kilometers, darkness seeped from the ground like water droplets, surging towards it.
"ROAR!!!"
Layers of dark wind pressure spread. Su Xiao felt waves of violent attacks incoming, each carrying a sense of lethality. Yet, inexplicably, he suddenly sensed that he could use his 'Perfect Block' ability to 'block' the incoming 'Ultimate Dark: Dragon Roar' attack.
Su Xiao's pupils contracted. The scene before him changed. The incoming dark dragon roar, once a dense, chaotic mass, gradually became traceable. He saw strands of dark tangent lines surging towards him. This was the essence of the 'Ultimate Dark: Dragon Roar' attack.
Su Xiao hadn't suddenly had an epiphany in battle. This was simply the capability of 'Perfect Block'.
He held his blade with one hand, blocking the incoming dark tangent lines.
CLANG!
A heavy impact vibration traveled from the Dragon-Slaying Flash to his hand. Su Xiao had indeed used a long blade block to parry a non-physical, yet tangible, attack.
Furthermore, he realized he didn't necessarily need to hold the blade horizontally in a blocking stance to activate 'Perfect Block'. As long as he 'met' the incoming attack with his blade, he could use his protective energy to trigger 'Perfect Block'.
Why was 'Perfect Block' so absurdly enhanced? The answer was that upon being promoted to Supreme via the ultimate specification, only two 'Supreme Seeds' were granted. One was forcibly defaulted to enhance the 'Supreme Being' ability. The other, Su Xiao used to enhance 'Perfect Block', turning it into a 'Supreme Passive'.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!...
The continuously incoming dragon might was blocked by Su Xiao, slash by slash, with 'Perfect Block'. He noticed that perfectly blocking these attacks didn't trigger the instant death judgment of 'Ultimate Dark: Dragon Fury'. Otherwise, with his luck, he'd probably trigger the 'Instant Death Judgment' on the first hit, consuming a 'Blade Heart'.
And it seemed now that having 8/8 'Blade Hearts' wasn't too many. Powerful enemies of the Abyss system really did love their 'Instant Death Judgments'.
The dragon roar lasted for half a minute. During that time, Su Xiao 'Perfectly Blocked' over sixty times. Normally, ten perfect blocks would deplete his protective energy, requiring ten seconds to recover. However, blocking this type of attack consumed a vastly different amount of protective energy compared to directly blocking an enemy's melee strike.
For example, perfectly blocking a strike from the Beast Lord would instantly consume 10% of his protective energy. Conversely, perfectly blocking the dragon roar consumed only about 1.2% to 2% per instance, and his protective energy would recover during the process.
After completing one dragon roar, the Abyssal Ancient Dragon seemed to clear its head a bit. Its dark golden vertical pupils looked down at Su Xiao. Its sharp, jagged mouth opened slightly, exhaling a mist of frost.
ZHENG!
An ethereal wind scar slashed across the Abyssal Ancient Dragon's wing, sending a shower of sparks flying. The 'Flow' slash dissipated. Though the Abyssal Ancient Dragon's wings were tattered, they were extremely tough. It seemed only these wings retained the formidable physique of the former 'Supreme Peak'.
The Abyssal Ancient Dragon flapped its wings and soared into the air. Despite its hundred-meter length, its flight was smooth and graceful, showing none of the clumsy bulk of a lizard wyvern. It swiftly soared overhead, becoming the king of the sky.
Ninety percent of enemies wouldn't dare fly in front of a technique master. The problem was, the Abyssal Ancient Dragon was clearly in the remaining ten percent, and a standout at that.
Su Xiao watched the Abyssal Ancient Dragon flying overhead. Though the dragon was farther away, the sense of danger grew stronger. Even his maxed-out Instinct ability began to prickle.
Ten thousand meters up, the Abyssal Ancient Dragon flew into the clouds formed by darkness. Suddenly, it vanished, its aura completely gone.
Looking up at this, Su Xiao didn't relax. Instead, he gripped his sword hilt tighter. The sense of crisis was nearly maxed out, like someone pressing a steel needle against his eyeball, the tip just touching it.
CRACK!
It sounded like a thunderclap, though no lightning appeared. It was the Abyssal Ancient Dragon breaking through space above, shattering that region. The force of the shattering was so intense it produced this thunderous roar.
From ten thousand meters away, in less than 0.00001 seconds, the Abyssal Ancient Dragon had dive-bombed in front of Su Xiao. Its dragon claw was brimming with darkness power condensed to its limit, making the claw much larger, like several curved dark blades.
There was no chance to block with his blade.
BOOM!
Five hundred-meter-wide, seemingly endless trenches appeared in the ground. The shattered demon spirit smoke dissipated. A kilometer away, Su Xiao's face, just below his cheek, slowly showed a blood trail.
After the vibrating sound of breaking wind, the Abyssal Ancient Dragon, a kilometer away, vanished again.
CRACK!
Like lightning streaking across the sky, the Abyssal Ancient Dragon's massive form flickered in and out of the black clouds. The next second, its aura suddenly disappeared.
The blood light in Su Xiao's eyes intensified. When there was time to charge, the blood-qi blade techniques couldn't compare to the 'Blade Dao Sword Series'. The strength of the 'Blade Dao Sword Series' lay in its ability to instantly unleash all its slashing power.
BOOM!
BOOM!!
BOOM!!!
The blood qi on Su Xiao's blade was compressed until it rose like blood smoke. This battle with the Abyssal Ancient Dragon was more thrilling and dangerous than the one with the Beast Lord. There was no sustained exchange of blows, but rather a brutal clash of ultimate-level abilities, erupting the moment they met.
The surroundings suddenly became very quiet. Su Xiao could hear his own breathing and the thumping of his heart.
CRACK!
The thunderous sound of space shattering rang out.
'Blood Blade: Explosive Edge.'
The long blade, wreathed in rising blood smoke, collided instantly with the incoming dark dragon claw.
With Su Xiao and the Abyssal Ancient Dragon as the center, the surrounding space shattered like a broken mirror, fragments flying everywhere. Su Xiao flew backward, turning into a blood shadow. The Abyssal Ancient Dragon was forcibly stopped mid-dive, crash-landing, its wings plowing up dirt.
Su Xiao flew back at least several kilometers before numerous Spirit Shadow Threads extended from his hand. The tips of these threads had crystal spikes with spatial properties, piercing into space itself. Using these as anchors, his backward flight slowed.
After landing, Su Xiao looked at the Abyssal Ancient Dragon. With his enhanced vision, he could tell the dragon was also hurting. He spat out a mouthful of blood, which contained some organ fragments.
This fight might be unwinnable. The Abyssal Ancient Dragon's physique was just too troublesome. If not for the Dragon-Slaying Flash's sharpness and his top-tier Blade Grandmaster skills, it would be hard to seriously wound it. As it was, as long as he didn't cut the wings, he could still injure it.
Just as Su Xiao was weighing how to proceed, a whooshing sound came from above.
"MOO!!"
Amu, who had been sleeping, finally woke up. Learning that Su Xiao was fighting a powerful enemy, his first thought was to have Baha carry him flying. He was now falling from the sky.
The recovering Abyssal Ancient Dragon naturally noticed Amu. Initially, it planned to ignore him. But surprisingly, Amu flipped it off. Anyone with half a brain would know Baha taught Amu that.
But Amu had surpassed his teacher. After all, he was a tank-type follower. Using the [Follower Promotion Badge], he had gained a taunt ability, and its activation seemed quite flexible.
The Abyssal Ancient Dragon didn't understand the meaning of the middle finger, but seeing Amu flip it off ignited a fury in its chest. It fiercely took off at low altitude, faster than Amu could react, grabbed him with its front claws, brought him to its mouth, bit down on his head and upper body with its sharp teeth, and pulled hard.
Hmm, it didn't tear him apart. Its dragon teeth even took two punches from Amu. Unfortunately, those two teeth were the most eroded by time. Enraged, the Abyssal Ancient Dragon simply shoved Amu completely into its mouth and began a terrifying, brutal chew.
CRUNCH~, CRUNCH~
After the hair-raising chewing sounds, the Abyssal Ancient Dragon swallowed Amu with a gulp.
Then, a truly miraculous scene occurred. Despite being torn, chewed, and finally swallowed, subjected to the highly acidic digestion enhanced by Abyssal Spawn, Amu didn't die. Suffice it to say, those 32 portions of 'Abyss Source Matter' he'd drunk hadn't been wasted. In the past, such attacks would have killed Amu several times over.
After swallowing Amu, the Abyssal Ancient Dragon became even angrier. It dive-bombed Su Xiao, landing ferociously, its wing acting like a giant blade, slashing down with force.
CLANG!!
Su Xiao was sent flying. For the first time since his promotion to Supreme, his block was broken. It felt like his entire skeleton was about to fall apart. Large cracks appeared on his flesh, and blood flowed from his chest as he landed.
He had to finish this quickly. This ancient dragon seemed to have inexhaustible stamina.
Suddenly, the Abyssal Ancient Dragon used its spatial ability to flash in front of Su Xiao. Its wings converged into a single wing-blade weapon, slashing down furiously.
The next second, Su Xiao shattered. In reality, he had 'swapped' positions with his demon spirit, appearing a kilometer away. As this attack ended, the dark vortex above had already been slashed open.
'Instant Return.'
No matter how terrifying the Abyssal Ancient Dragon's physique, using such a devastating attack that could instantly kill Su Xiao would inevitably leave a brief opening.
After swapping positions with the demon spirit and returning to the front of the Abyssal Ancient Dragon.
'Blade Dao Sword: Blood Shadow'
The long blade in Su Xiao's hand was already sheathed. He slightly lowered his stance, slowly exhaling white mist. All the blood qi in his body attached itself to the Dragon-Slaying Flash. This was the strongest slash he could unleash within the blood qi system.
ZHENG!
A blood-red slash mark, from bottom to top, spread from the Abyssal Ancient Dragon's belly to its lower jaw. A torrent of black dragon blood scattered, but the Abyssal Ancient Dragon didn't retreat. Its dragon claw raised, the darkness on it condensed to its limit.
'Super: Blood Smoke Cannon.'
The upper body of a ten-meter-tall blood qi phantom appeared above Su Xiao. The phantom's index finger pointed forward. A pillar-thick blood smoke cannon struck the Abyssal Ancient Dragon, halting its strike for a moment.
"ROAR!!"
Without any warning, the 'Ultimate Dark: Dragon Roar' hit. Su Xiao's health plummeted.
[Warning: You have been subjected to 'Instant Death Judgment'...]
...
Three 'Blade Hearts' for immunity against instant death were consumed in succession.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
Breaking free from the dragon roar's shockwave, Su Xiao immediately used 'Perfect Block' to resist the roar's terrifying damage and additional effects.
However, something even more alarming happened. The Abyssal Ancient Dragon, while maintaining the 'Ultimate Dark: Dragon Roar', spread its wings. This was... Dark Ultimate Annihilation!
HUM!
Su Xiao felt a buzzing in his ears. As his body flew backward, he felt light and airy, as if he were about to fall into an eternal slumber...
Su Xiao's eyes snapped open. He immediately 'swapped' positions with his demon spirit.
A vicious, crunching bite sound came. The Abyssal Ancient Dragon had bitten the demon spirit that had just swapped places with Su Xiao and swallowed it, temporarily trapping it.
Other enemies doing this would be asking for trouble. But an ancient dragon could indeed temporarily trap the demon spirit. It seemed to swallow it, but actually teleported it into a spatial rift. It only swallowed flesh-and-blood beings like Amu.
Unable to use 'Swap' for a while, the situation became extremely perilous.
The Abyssal Ancient Dragon spread its wings and took off. At the same time, Su Xiao crashed to the ground, creating a huge crater. He stood up from the crater, realizing his life-saving ability, 'Blood Master', had been triggered.
The good news was that 'Burning Blood Ember: X' was proving very powerful in this fight.
'Burning Blood Ember: Each time an attack carrying Blood Qi: Burning Blood Ember hits an enemy, the enemy's maximum health is reduced by 30%. Stackable, up to a maximum reduction of 150% of the enemy's maximum health.'
The Abyssal Ancient Dragon's maximum health was still at 650%. And after the previous slash damage, every time the dragon vanished into the black clouds and reappeared, its health was full.
But Su Xiao wasn't without advantages. The boost from the Azure Shadow King ability activated during the group fight still lingered, roughly a 90% boost. Since he had been in constant combat, the Azure Shadow King wouldn't fade easily.
The Abyssal Ancient Dragon dive-bombed again in an instant. Su Xiao had adapted to this move to some extent. He prepared 'Perfect Block' preemptively. But the incoming Abyssal Ancient Dragon suddenly turned into a dark bubble. The real one burst through the dark bubble, its massive dark dragon claw reaching for Su Xiao.
BANG!
A gray-black Ember Annihilation bullet flew from the gun barrel, spiraling slightly. At the speed of the Ember Annihilation bullet, almost simultaneously with the 'Dead Silence Ember Annihilation' gunshot, the bullet had already hit the Abyssal Ancient Dragon's neck.
This strike forcibly stopped the dragon's dive, a ruthless move. The Abyssal Ancient Dragon, due to its own momentum, fell defenselessly.
'Extreme Blade: World!'
As the Abyssal Ancient Dragon entered the range of 'Extreme Blade: World', countless slashing star lines appeared. Even the Abyssal Ancient Dragon's tough dragon hide couldn't withstand the slashes of 'Extreme Blade: World'. Dragon blood splattered. But the recovering Abyssal Ancient Dragon seemed not to care, trading injury for injury, swatting a dragon claw at Su Xiao.
BANG!
Another Ember Annihilation bullet. The Abyssal Ancient Dragon, in its swatting stance, was blasted back by the shot. But it immediately showed that, as a First Era overlord, even dead, its physique was still terrifying.
"ROAR!!!"
Layers of dragon roar spread. The Abyssal Ancient Dragon forcibly turned defense into offense.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!...
The crisp sound of the long blade perfectly blocking the dragon roar tangent lines sent sparks flying from the blade. This dragon roar had an absurdly high attack frequency, causing Su Xiao's health to plummet by a large chunk. Two more 'Blade Hearts' for instant death immunity were consumed.
After roaring Su Xiao back, the dragon spread its wings and soared into the sky, flying into the black cloud vortex above. When it reappeared, it would have its health fully restored.
Su Xiao certainly wouldn't let the enemy recover while he did nothing. He crushed a 'Crimson Potion', the semi-fluid medicine seeping into the skin of his hand, rapidly restoring his health.
Whether he could win depended on this final gamble. But he clearly felt that the Dragon-Slaying Flash in his hand was different. This was the closest he had ever been to slaying a dragon. Across the Star Realm, only a few dragon lineages could be called true dragon clans, and ancient dragons were clearly among them.
CRACK!
An unprecedented sound of space shattering came from above. The reappearing Abyssal Ancient Dragon was wreathed in rising black smoke. It had gathered all its darkness onto its body.
It was still that nearly unstoppable evil dragon dive. In an instant, the Abyssal Ancient Dragon was right in front of Su Xiao, within arm's reach.
'Time: Dominator.'
A time field enveloped the surroundings. The grabbing dragon claw slowed down. Never think Amu was just a fool in battle. At this moment, the Abyssal Ancient Dragon's heart felt a sharp pain, as if... something had bitten it.
CRACK!
The realm thunder clouds, which had been shrouded by the dark vortex above, were fully exposed as a realm thunder pillar blasted through the dark vortex. A beam of realm thunder, tens of kilometers in diameter, instantly engulfed Su Xiao and the Abyssal Ancient Dragon.
Su Xiao dared to draw this realm thunder for three reasons. First, his own lightning resistance was high enough. Second, he had switched to 'Devour Dark: Soul Core', boosting his immunity to all damage. Third, the Azure Shadow King boost was still active.
Within the violent golden realm thunder domain, the Abyssal Ancient Dragon was momentarily paralyzed. But this ancient wyvern began to endure the realm thunder, relying on its powerful body to lunge at Su Xiao.
But before that.
'Heaven's Wrath: Torrent Slash.'
All the realm thunder within a thousand kilometers instantly converged onto the Dragon-Slaying Flash, turning it into a golden lightning blade, its length nearly half again as long.
BOOM! Su Xiao's aura was too powerful, pressing the ground beneath him down a layer. From above, it looked like a circular depression a kilometer in diameter had formed in the area where he stood.
Su Xiao's health was suddenly consumed by a chunk.
Without any pause, Su Xiao turned into a realm thunder afterimage and vanished from his spot.
'Heaven's Wrath: Torrent Flash!'
With a sizzling sound, realm thunder traced a straight line. Opposite him, the Abyssal Ancient Dragon had gathered all its darkness into its dragon claw. If this strike landed, Su Xiao, whose health was less than a third, would surely die on the spot.
ZHENG!
A golden slash mark flashed across the Abyssal Ancient Dragon's neck. A slashing sound that echoed across the sky rang out.
The Abyssal Ancient Dragon's dark dragon claw, ready to strike, suddenly stopped. Because its maximum health of 650% had been instantly emptied. This was the charm of the 'Normal Attack is an Ultimate' style developed to its late stage.
This was, a single slash to slay a dragon!
Su Xiao had already gotten up from the ground. He had nearly died himself from delivering this slash. It seemed unreasonable that this slash had dealt 650% of the Abyssal Ancient Dragon's maximum health. But if one understood what this slash contained, it wouldn't seem so.
First, there was Su Xiao's various passives and Blade Grandmaster abilities, which had accumulated into the 'Normal Attack is an Ultimate' style. On top of that, there was the passive state 'Extreme Blade: White Night' providing a 500% boost.
Not only that, but this slash also contained the realm thunder of 'Heaven's Wrath: Torrent Slash'.
And on top of that, there was the double attack power boost from 'Limit Counter'.
Plus, his current Azure Steel Shadow ability could undergo 'Violent Boiling'. Under tens of thousands of true damage, it wasn't just that all the body's defensive properties were shattered; negative body defense could occur.
This wasn't the end. This slash was also accompanied by the demon blade's execution. Don't forget, the demon blade was no longer 'Execute 30% of Maximum Health'. It was 'Execute enemy units with total health below 30%'. Coupled with the demon spirit's current strength of 6605 points, executing an Abyssal Ancient Dragon with maximum health below 240% was certainly possible.
The reduction from 'Burning Blood Ember' didn't conflict with the demon blade's execution.
The massive dragon head, severed by the slash, flew up. The rage and violence in the Abyssal Ancient Dragon's vertical pupils gradually faded. The pupils dimmed and clouded, but also became incredibly ancient and dignified. It seemed confused, but soon understood what had happened.
Looking at the heavily injured, yet still blade-wielding, blood-qi-boiling Law Destroyer, the gaze of the Abyssal Ancient Dragon, no, Heiyoulise, was somewhat complex.
Strangely, the Law Destroyers, who rose in the Second Era, were well-known to Heiyoulise. Even if there were Law Destroyers in the First Era, they didn't seem to be the protagonists of that age, at least according to relevant records.
A trace of Heiyoulise's soul power seeped from the dragon head, drifting towards the Dragon-Slaying Flash. Clearly, this dragon slaying would hold special significance for the Dragon-Slaying Flash. This weapon had truly earned its name, a name symbolic in the Star Realm.
Dragon Slaying, successful!