Chapter 60: The Strongest Technique
Countless soldiers and some commanders on the Star River passage watched this great battle in shock.
A human wave tactic could deal with a commander. But against a Paragon… it was useless. The Paragon fought in the center of the passage, and the surrounding soldiers could only stand by, not daring to approach within a thousand meters.
"The Sovereign's power doesn't match," Linley muttered to himself. In the brief exchange just now, Linley hadn't Dragonformed at the start. But without Dragonforming, Linley was at a disadvantage against Magnus. Magnus used the power of a Fate Sovereign, which had the best effect. Linley could only use the power of a Destruction Sovereign.
Inferior in this regard, even with the Spatial Binding technique, he was still at a disadvantage.
Linley had no choice but to Dragonform!
Once Dragonformed, Linley's attack power surged, and in terms of material attacks, he actually gained the upper hand.
"That time I sparred with Reihlin, I didn't Dragonform. After Dragonforming, it was just as I thought."
The power of the Will was a very special existence.
Wherever Linley's will reached, the power increased greatly. Whether it was the defense of his dragon scales or various attacks, it was all the same. This power of the Will had the effect of turning the rotten into the miraculous. A Paragon-level expert, even without a Sovereign artifact, could easily withstand the attacks of a commander wielding a Sovereign artifact.
"Killing a Paragon is indeed very difficult." Linley looked up at Magnus.
Magnus didn't have a defensive Sovereign artifact, but the defense formed by pure Sovereign's power, infused with the power of a Paragon, made it so that Linley's dragon tail, fists, and feet couldn't seriously injure him.
A Paragon has no weaknesses. This wasn't empty talk!
Both defense and attack were extremely strong, even without a Sovereign artifact!
"Whoosh!" Linley's figure was like an afterimage. He shot up into the sky. Then, he and Magnus faced each other at a high altitude.
The two mighty experts hovered in the air above the passage.
"The Four Divine Beasts clan, after Dragonforming, their strength indeed increases greatly!" Magnus said with a loud laugh. "But don't get too cocky. That was just the beginning!" As he spoke, Magnus's entire body turned into a sun, radiating a hazy light, and a vast aura began to spread.
Linley, standing in mid-air, gently flicked his dragon tail, staring at his opponent, but showing no sign of urgency.
Magnus stretched out his hands, and a ball of light, a full man's height in size, materialized in front of him. Inside this enormous ball of light, a crystalline lotus flower bloomed, with wisps of mist swirling around it. The seven-colored light shooting up from the Star River passage reflected upon it, making it look magnificent.
"You're really going all out!" Linley sneered.
The last time Magnus used the same technique, he almost killed Linley, but Linley escaped death and instead underwent a transformation. However, that time, the ball of light was only the size of a fist, but this time it was a man's height! In fact, the technique was the same, but the amount of soul force consumed was vastly different!
In truth, this man-high, hazy ball of light could be considered as hundreds or thousands of fist-sized balls of light!
"Hmph!"
Magnus's gaze turned cold. The enormous ball of light floating before his chest shot towards Linley like a bolt of lightning.
"Hahaha…" Linley let out a loud laugh. His entire body was like a human hedgehog, shooting out countless transparent sword blasts from his body's surface. In an instant, thousands of sword blasts shot out, simultaneously attacking the two-meter-tall ball of light.
Wave after wave, thousands of sword blasts charged at the ball of light.
"Boom!" The surface of the ball of light instantly exploded, revealing the blooming, transparent lotus flower. At first glance, the lotus looked like an ice sculpture.
Countless transparent sword blasts shot towards the transparent lotus!
"Swish!" The enormous lotus still flew towards Linley at extreme speed, spinning continuously, dissolving one sword blast after another. But at the same time… the lotus itself was also dissolving, its volume shrinking rapidly.
"Huh?" Magnus's expression changed. "Such a strong soul attack!"
Linley's Void Sword Blast's power shocked Magnus.
In that brief moment of contact, the volume of the formed lotus had drastically decreased.
It wasn't surprising. Even after fusing the four profound mysteries of the Laws of the Earth, Linley's soul attack profound mystery was still much weaker than Magnus's technique. But Linley's soul force was more than ten times stronger than Sovereign's power. And his power of the Will was nearly ten times stronger than a Paragon's. These two aspects brought Linley's soul attack close to Magnus's level.
"Hmph." Magnus moved his mind.
The rapidly dissolving and shrinking lotus began to spin, its petals scattering, turning into dozens of arcing trajectories flying towards Linley. Linley's Void Sword Blasts could only block part of them; the other lotus petals entered Linley's body.
"Magnus, is your ultimate technique only this powerful?" Linley looked at Magnus.
"How can this be?" Magnus was secretly shocked. "Even if Linley could block it, he shouldn't have no reaction at all?"
Linley truly didn't care at all, because the soul-defensive Sovereign artifact, the Coiling Dragon ring, had been fully repaired over two hundred years ago! Since his soul mutation, Linley's soul force had recovered very quickly. Within less than ten years of the soul mutation, the Coiling Dragon ring was restored to its original state.
With a soul-defensive Sovereign artifact, why fear such an attack?
"Haha, Magnus, you're nothing special after all." Linley laughed loudly, his laughter echoing through the air above the Star River. "Now it's my turn!"
As his voice echoed, Linley himself charged at Magnus with the Mirage divine sword, and a large number of Void Sword Blasts shot out from Linley's body, streaking towards Magnus.
"Don't talk big. What can you do to me?" Magnus refused to show weakness, his laughter also ringing out.
It must be noted that too many people were watching this battle—commanders and soldiers from various divine planes and higher planes. If he lost, news of this battle would quickly spread throughout the planes. What would happen to his, Magnus's, face then? "Whoosh!" Linley's dragon tail unexpectedly lashed out.
"Can't let him get close!" Magnus retreated explosively.
Once Linley got close, every part of his body could attack—even the spikes on his elbows and his dragon tail could threaten Magnus. The two super experts, standing at the pinnacle of the gods, moved at extreme speed, crisscrossing each other. Every time they crossed, it caused heaven-shaking, earth-shattering impacts. Even with soul attacks… the surrounding soldiers and commanders had to be careful. Perhaps a stray Void Sword Blast from Linley or a stray petal from Magnus could kill them.
The battle on this passage of the Star River had stopped, but the battle on the other passage had reached its most frenzied moment.
"Enemy directly ahead. Collective material attack!"
One hundred-man squad after another launched collective attacks, rolling forward like a wheel. A large number of soldiers fell, and a large number of commander badges dropped. Clearly, the Dark God Realm side had an advantage in the number of soldiers deployed on this passage and was winning steadily.
Ten hundred-man squads, one collective material attack!
Then they retreated, and another ten hundred-man squads came forward in succession, launching a collective soul attack!
The soldiers of the Light camp had originally charged in, but the Dark camp's soldiers came wave after wave, completely overwhelming them in momentum.
Once they had a complete advantage, the battle would go very smoothly.
From the initial stalemate, to retreat, to rout…
Faced with this kind of collective advance, with collective attacks launched time and again, the soldiers of the Light camp were completely routed. Even if some had courage, dying for nothing wasn't worth it.
"Haha, we're going to win!" Several commanders managing the camp saw this and laughed heartily.
"Our Dark camp had a slight numerical advantage in soldiers this time. Besides, the battle on the other side was stopped by the two Paragons fighting. I immediately transferred people from over there. We swarmed them, using absolute numbers to crush them in one go. Once their rout began, even if reinforcements came, it would be too late."
Soon, on this passage of the Star River, the soldiers of the Dark camp had completely killed their way to the opposite shore. The surviving members of the Light camp had completely retreated.
"Hum—" The seven-colored light shooting up from this Star River passage converged and then dissipated.
The Dark God Realm camp won the first round.
"Haha… we won, we won!" Cheers erupted everywhere. A large number of Dark camp soldiers cheered.
"We won!" The commanders controlling the battle were also somewhat excited.
"Come on, let's go to the other passage to continue the battle. Maybe we can still catch the fight between those two Paragons." These commanders immediately transferred the soldiers and rushed at extreme speed towards the other passage.
On the passage where Linley and the others were, countless soldiers watched this battle.
"It looks like they're evenly matched. It's hard to decide a winner or loser between Paragons," the onlookers couldn't help but conclude.
Suddenly—
"Bang!" The two combatants were blasted apart.
Magnus stood on the ground, looking at Linley from afar, and shouted loudly, "Linley, if we keep fighting like this, we're just wasting time! If you'll excuse me, I won't stay!" Magnus snorted coldly, turned, and prepared to fly away. Magnus was indeed furious.
But it was clear he couldn't kill Linley, and he also believed Linley couldn't kill him!
Though resentful, Magnus had to admit that Linley was already an expert on the same level as him.
"Wasting time? I don't think so!" Linley's voice rang out. "Or are you afraid?"
"Huh?" Magnus turned his head in shame and anger, glaring at Linley.
He was angry that Linley didn't know the rules. Since the battle had no result, it should end. But this Linley was even using words to provoke him. If he left today, it would really mean he was afraid!
The cold wind of the planar battlefield blew. Linley stood as straight as a rod, his dragon tail gently flicking.
"You know I'm from the Four Divine Beasts clan! Then feel the innate divine ability of my Four Divine Beasts clan." Linley said openly and loudly. As his voice fell, a massive, coiled dragon phantom, ten thousand meters long, appeared behind Linley. The dragon's golden eyes stared at Magnus.
Innate Divine Ability—Dragon's Roar!
"Hum—" A peculiar energy instantly spread out!
The power of the innate divine ability depended on soul force and innate azure light. Now, Linley's soul force was ten times stronger than Sovereign's power. Especially when combined with a power of the Will stronger than a Paragon's! The power of Linley's innate divine ability was probably only weaker than when the Patriarch Azure Dragon used it!
"Whoosh!" Linley's speed soared to its limit as he charged at Magnus.
"Huh?" Magnus's expression changed drastically. The flow of time he perceived had already changed!
He was strong, but against Linley, who was using this technique with soul force and power of the Will stronger than his own, the Dragon's Roar's effect was displayed!
The change in the flow of time didn't mean he had no thoughts.
Magnus still knew how to defend. He knew he couldn't dodge in time. The only thing he could do was—try his best to control the Sovereign's power to form the strongest defense on his body's surface!
"Pfft!" Linley thrust the Mirage divine sword with all his might towards Magnus's head.
"Sss—" Linley felt a terrifying resistance. Even though the Mirage divine sword barely pierced the skin, he still felt the powerful resistance within. A Paragon-level expert, even without a Sovereign artifact… has no weaknesses. This was indeed no empty talk! Magnus was sent flying back.
"If I can't kill you, I'll banish you into the spatial turbulence!"
Linley's gaze turned cold.
"Boom!" Linley's right leg tore through the air, kicking Magnus in the stomach like a bolt of lightning. Magnus, who was flying backward, was kicked like a meteor towards the spatial turbulence beside the Star River passage. "No!" Magnus finally broke free from the time effect, but it was too late. He could only let out an unwilling roar before being completely engulfed by the multicolored spatial turbulence.
Like being swallowed by a river, Magnus disappeared into the spatial turbulence.
Silence!
Stunned!
Everyone watching this scene was dumbfounded. A Paragon, banished?
Linley glanced at the multicolored spatial turbulence beside the passage, then turned and walked towards Bebe and the others, reverting to human form. Bebe stared blankly at Linley. Linley smiled slightly. "Bebe, let's go!"