Chapter 29: Come One, Kill One; Come Two, Kill Two!
Inside the palace.
The magical beast Clyde had tamed, the Ice-Cold Snow Lion, was cared for by a dozen or so dedicated servants in the palace. Over time, the attendants tending to the Ice-Cold Snow Lion had learned to interpret its roars and understand its meaning.
"Where is the Snow Lion?" a sharp voice rang out from a man dressed in white palace attendant robes.
"Milord, the Snow Lion is sleeping now," the attendant serving the Snow Lion said respectfully.
"Hmm." The white-robed palace attendant nodded arrogantly.
"Roar, roar!" Suddenly, a series of urgent roars erupted, the sound more frantic and anxious than ever before.
The attendant serving the Snow Lion’s face changed drastically upon hearing this, and the white-robed palace attendant quickly asked, "What’s wrong? What’s wrong with the Snow Lion?"
Amidst its urgent and furious roars, the Snow Lion quickly charged over.
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty is in danger!" the attendant serving the Snow Lion said in terror. "Quickly, this happened ten years ago too—Your Majesty must be in danger. Hurry, hurry to protect His Majesty! Milord, where is His Majesty now?"
The white-robed palace attendant’s face also changed dramatically. "His Majesty, His Majesty has left the palace. Yes, he went to Lord Linley’s residence."
"Quick, hurry to protect His Majesty!" the attendant roared.
At the same time, the attendant leaped directly onto the Snow Lion’s back. Having fed the Snow Lion day after day, the beast bore him no ill will and allowed him to ride. Just then, five figures rushed over at high speed—these five were the palace’s elite experts.
"Snow Lion, is His Majesty in danger?" a golden-haired middle-aged man shouted at the Snow Lion.
The Snow Lion kept growling lowly while nodding.
"Quick, to Lord Linley’s residence—His Majesty is there!" another expert with green hair quickly said.
"Fourth Brother, go find Lord Caesar immediately," the golden-haired middle-aged man ordered.
Lord Caesar was the leader of their group and the top-tier expert of the Fenlai Kingdom. There were only two ninth-rank experts loyal to the Fenlai Kingdom: one was Clyde himself, and the other was this Lord Caesar.
Because of his high status, Caesar didn’t need to live permanently in the palace.
"Yes, Second Brother. You all go protect His Majesty. I’ll find Lord Caesar." The green-haired middle-aged man immediately ran off swiftly.
"Snow Lion, let’s go."
These four men immediately led the Snow Lion, charging swiftly toward Linley’s residence.
Inside Linley’s residence. In the secluded courtyard where Linley was resting and recuperating, aside from the two corpses, only Clyde and Linley remained.
"No, how do you know my mother is dead? Didn’t you hand her over to someone else—someone you didn’t dare offend? I don’t believe it. A person of that status wouldn’t just kidnap my mother to kill her," Linley said, refusing to believe it.
His father was already dead. Linley didn’t want to believe his mother was dead too.
Deep in his heart, Linley still longed for his loved ones to be alive!
"Haha…" Clyde laughed, looking at Linley with pity. "Linley, let me make it clear to you. That big shot didn’t ask me to kidnap your mother. I did it on my own initiative and gave her to him as a gift. Because I knew… he desperately needed a woman like your mother."
"And I also knew very well that this big shot had taken many women like your mother before. Their endings were all the same—every single one of them died." A hint of wild glee shone in Clyde’s eyes.
Linley felt as if struck by lightning, his body swaying.
"Every single one?" Linley stared at Clyde.
Clyde looked at Linley with pity. "Linley, you could have had a brilliant future. But you chose this path yourself. Since you’ve chosen this road, your fate is already sealed."
"Haha, hahahaha…" Linley suddenly burst into loud laughter, the muscles on his face twitching.
Linley’s eyes locked onto Clyde like daggers. "Clyde, it was you. You killed my mother, and in the end, you caused my father’s death too. If not for you, I’d probably be living happily with my parents right now. It was you—everything was you. You destroyed everything!"
Linley reached out with one hand and picked up a flat knife from beside him.
"What are you going to do?" Clyde’s tiger-like eyes glared at Linley.
"What am I going to do?" Linley looked at the flat knife in his hand. "In the past, I only did stone sculptures. But today… I want to try flesh carving." A faint, dark-golden light flickered in Linley’s eyes—cold and merciless, just like a Spiked-Back Iron-Armored Dragon! In the Coiling Dragon Ring, Delin Cowart remained completely silent.
Having watched Linley grow up, Delin Cowart knew Linley well.
Linley valued his family and brothers immensely. For them, he wouldn’t even fear death. And now, the culprit who caused both his father’s and mother’s deaths stood right before him. There was no way Linley could stay calm.
"Flesh carving?" Clyde was stunned.
Linley’s gaze was sharp as he carefully examined Clyde’s entire body. "Don’t worry. With a body as strong as yours, I’m absolutely certain that after a thousand cuts, I can turn you into the shape of a woman before you die." Linley’s voice was icy cold, his killing intent completely undisguised.
"You—" Clyde’s face turned completely cold, and he snarled viciously, "Linley, I will definitely kill you and let you reunite with your unlucky father and mother."
"Reunite?"
Thinking of his father and mother, Linley’s killing intent burned even fiercer.
"Let me show you my flat knife technique." Linley’s face was as if covered in frost. With a single-handed swing, the flat knife slashed straight toward Clyde’s waist and abdomen. But when the knife was about ten centimeters from Clyde’s body, it encountered a strange resistance.
A transparent ripple suddenly appeared, easily blocking Linley’s strike.
"What is this?" Linley was completely stunned.
"I told you—I will definitely make you die," Clyde said, standing up and looking at Linley arrogantly. His powerful physique made him resemble an enraged lion.
"Impossible."
Linley’s Dragonblood battle qi erupted, and he viciously hacked the flat knife toward Clyde’s body.
"Puff! Puff!"… Seven consecutive strikes, each aimed at a different spot. But no matter where he struck, when the knife was about ten centimeters from Clyde’s body, it was always blocked by the transparent ripple.
"You can’t kill me," Clyde said arrogantly.
"Roar!" Bebe, perched on Linley’s shoulder, suddenly opened his massive jaws and bit fiercely at Clyde. Clyde seemed somewhat wary of Bebe’s fangs, but perhaps too confident in his defensive barrier, he didn’t dodge.
Bebe’s fangs also sank into the transparent defense. The surface of the defense flashed with a rainbow-colored light, which then faded.
"Hmm?"
Clyde’s face changed drastically. "Such a strong attack." He no longer dared to let Bebe bite him and immediately rushed outward.
"Boss, attack him! Attack him! That defense on him isn’t his own—it’s probably some magic scroll. It must have a limit to its energy. If you keep attacking, you’ll drain its energy, and once it’s gone, he’s dead for sure!" Bebe urgently transmitted to Linley.
Linley instantly understood this logic.
"Trying to run?"
Linley’s body surface immediately began to form black scales, and sharp spikes emerged from his elbows and knees. A steel-whip-like dragon tail also appeared, and spikes jutted out from his back and forehead.
Dragonform—complete Dragonform!
Linley had already stepped into the seventh rank under normal conditions. Once he entered Dragonform, he reached the early stage of the ninth rank.
"Whoosh!" Linley stomped his foot, and the marble floor cracked and shattered. He turned into a blur, charging straight at Clyde. Now, Clyde could only rely on his pitiful physical strength—he couldn’t move fast at all.
Linley’s scaled, powerful right claw slammed viciously into Clyde.
"Smack!" A terrifying force struck the defense on Clyde’s body. Although the defense protected him, force could still be transmitted. It was like Clyde hiding inside a sturdy carriage—if someone attacked the carriage, Clyde himself wouldn’t be hurt, but the carriage would be sent flying, and Clyde along with it.
That was exactly what happened now.
Clyde was sent flying, crashing heavily into a wooden screen. The screen shattered completely under the impact, but Clyde himself was unharmed. He scrambled to his feet.
"A Dragonblood Warrior—he can actually transform into a Dragonblood Warrior!" Seeing Linley in full Dragonform, Clyde was utterly shocked.
Linley, who had been mediocre in strength before, now possessed the power of a ninth-rank warrior after Dragonform. The title of ultimate warrior was no lie.
"I can’t let this continue, or the Fate’s Protection will collapse." Clyde’s greatest reliance was the Fate’s Protection—a top-tier defensive magic scroll gifted to him by the Radiant Pope. It could block a single powerful attack from a Saint-level expert.
A single attack from a Saint-level expert.
For a ninth-rank expert, it would take dozens or even hundreds of attacks to break through.
"Clyde, I don’t believe the energy in that defensive scroll of yours is infinite." Completely Dragonformed, Linley walked toward Clyde step by step.
Seeing Linley covered in scales, with spikes all over his back and that dragon tail occasionally lashing, Clyde felt as if he were facing a humanoid magical beast. If this were the past, he wouldn’t have feared it at all. But now, his strength was less than a tenth of what it once was!
"Whoosh!" Clyde suddenly lunged toward the window.
"Swish!"
Linley’s dragon tail lashed out fiercely, striking Clyde before he could reach the window. Clyde slammed into the window frame, smashing it and tumbling into the courtyard. Linley stomped his foot and shot out after him, the ground cracking beneath him.
"You think you can escape?"
Linley’s dragonformed hands and feet attacked Clyde wildly, while the Shadowmouse Bebe also kept striking at Clyde from the side, trying to drain the energy of his defense as much as possible.
Clyde relied on his rich experience, the mobility of a seventh-rank warrior, and the protection of Fate’s Protection to dodge Linley’s attacks as best he could, buying time.
"Protect His Majesty! Protect His Majesty!"
"Roar!"
Suddenly, shouts rang out from outside, along with the roar of a magical beast.
"Linley, you’re dead for sure today!" Clyde was overjoyed. He could feel that his Fate’s Protection still had nearly half its energy left—enough to withstand Linley.
Linley’s eyes turned cold. "Come one, and I’ll kill one. Come two, and I’ll kill two. No matter how many come, I’ll kill them all!" Killing intent surged within Linley.
"Smack!" Linley’s dragon tail struck Clyde again, sending him crashing into the courtyard wall, which cracked on impact. At the same time, a black shadow’s claws tore into Clyde, slamming him into the ground once more.
Bebe and Linley kept attacking Clyde relentlessly.
"Boom!"
The closed courtyard gate suddenly burst apart, wooden fragments flying everywhere. A lion, five meters long and nearly three meters tall, covered in pure white fur, charged in. From its mouth shot hundreds of blue-green ice spikes like javelins, and behind it, a group of palace experts rushed in.