Chapter 302: Act 69 – The King of the Underground (Part 20)
The wind elemental spiders in the sky organized another volley, and golden beams of light crisscrossed the heavens, weaving a spectacular web of light.
Brendel had only 3 points of earth elements left in his elemental pool, but he quickly horizontalized Roschard’s marketplace, ensuring the Holy Sword card could attack at least twice within fifteen minutes.
The attack from the Holy Sword was not very effective; a single beam of light struggled to pierce through the outer magical defense of the wind dragon Adra, let alone penetrate several inches of dragon scales. The concentrated effect of multiple beams was also poor; the wind dragon Adra moved too quickly for the wind elemental spiders to catch it.
At that moment, Brendel realized another fatal weakness of the combination of wind elemental spiders and the Holy Sword: once the Holy Sword was attached to the wind elemental spider, the hit rate was determined by the latter’s own attributes. However, the level of the wind elemental spider was far too low, with both agility and perception being utterly deficient, and its intelligence was low as well, making it unable to calculate a lead.
While numerical advantage could compensate for this flaw, the remaining one hundred wind elemental spiders in the sky were insufficient to bother the wind dragon Adra; the flying speed of this air-element creature had a bonus of at least 300% from its agility.
Even with Medisa, they could only barely restrain the gigantic dragon.
Brendel watched the fierce battle happening in the sky and took a step back; another card appeared in his hand—Silver Steed. He threw the card into the center of the field, drawing a magic array on the ground, and a shimmering warhorse leapt forth.
“He’ll summon!” someone among the young men shouted.
Their eyes sparkled; this battle had surpassed their understanding. In their minds, if the dragon was the most terrifying monster in the world, then Brendel and Medisa had become the strongest figures recognized by them.
However, the elder on the other side did not voice an opinion; Kuran’s mind was completely absorbed in the battle. The scenes of the November War were likely more grand and brutal, but they did not possess such beauty and grandeur—this battlefield was a massacre filled with the last struggles of life, the spilling of the last drops of blood—but here, the combat was a golden network woven in the air, with the dragon and the unicorn knight.
The fight was full of fantasy colors, evoking bittersweet memories of a passionate youth for the old swordsman. He touched the Wind Queen ring on his index finger, feeling a stir of emotions.
At this moment, Brendel had already mounted the horse, patting the side of the Silver Steed’s neck. This puppet creature immediately transformed into a streak of light, rushing toward the wind dragon Adra.
The young man activated his charge skill in mid-air, and he and his mount quickly caught up to Medisa’s royal unicorn. Holding his sword, he aimed for the dragon’s belly—the weakest spot for any dragon—especially since the wind dragon was a wild subspecies, unlike many service dragons that had been forcibly equipped with chest and belly armor by their human masters.
However, the wind dragon Adra keenly sensed the threat from below; it swept its wings to block Medisa’s long spear and turned its massive body in the air, swinging its tail toward Brendel.
The tail, like a steel column, cut through the air with a sharp whistling sound, sweeping past Brendel’s head like a lament of an elf-lady. The surrounding sharp air currents even sliced through a strand of Brendel’s hair—he ducked to evade but simultaneously lost a good opportunity for attack. After the tail sweep, the wind dragon Adra seized its chance to pull up high and then dove down toward Brendel.
A sky-blue lightning bolt.
“Ah—!”
Yuta heard Xi’s worried whisper behind her, awakening her to the realization that she had unknowingly gripped the iron rail tightly. The female mercenary leader awkwardly released her grip, but the fierce battle above still concerned her heavily.
She anxiously lifted her head; the wind dragon’s might exceeded her imagination.
But Brendel, under attack, was not thinking much. The tail sweep was a common move of dragons; though he had no experience battling with a wind dragon, he was quite familiar with these flying lizards. He decisively tightened the reins of the Silver Steed and halted in mid-air, softly ordering the silver elven girl from the other side:
“Medisa—!”
Medisa, in pursuit, raised her head. She saw Brendel’s gaze from afar and immediately understood his intent. Brendel raised his sword, commanding the surrounding wind elemental spiders to organize another volley targeting the area between him and the wind dragon.
The intertwining light beams blocked the path of the diving dragon, making the gigantic beast halt in mid-air — at that moment, it seemed as if the rushing wind had stilled.
The light web became even brighter, and even the wind dragon Adra and Brendel on either side could not see each other through the blinding light. The beast flapped its wings but could not move forward, while Brendel seized the moment to catch his breath. He first checked his elemental pool—only 2 points of earth elements remained.
He promptly patted the neck of the Silver Steed, urging his mount to dive down past the light web, while another fate card appeared in his hand.
The wind dragon on the other side did not notice Brendel’s move; in fact, it had bigger troubles to handle, as the sudden attack from the wind elemental spiders forced it to halt in the air — but the cost of interrupting its rhythm was deadly. Even though it was just for a moment, Medisa and her royal unicorn seized the opportunity to catch up.
“Strike of a Thousand Troops!” Medisa tightly gripped her silver spear and lunged forward; seemingly delicate, her small frame erupted with terrifying strength. The spear, along with the rider and mount, pierced through the sky, creating a silver line.
This silver line shot forward, instantly piercing through the wind dragon Adra. The giant beast let out a howl that echoed throughout the arena. Although it tried to sidestep in the last moment to avoid the frightful thrust, the powerful suction from the vacuum created by Medisa’s princess knight spear tip pulled it back.
The spear first penetrated the outer layer of magical defenses, then parted the sharp air currents, finally shattering the blue-green scales and driving directly into Adra’s spine. Blue blood exploded in the air, raining down like a torrent, but before it could fall completely, it evaporated, forming patches of pale blue clouds in mid-air.
This was a significant characteristic of air-elemental creatures; they were composed of wind elements, and upon dispersal, reverted to their free state in the world.
The agony caused Adra to momentarily lose consciousness. The “Strike of a Thousand Troops” belonged to a battle technique from ancient elves that was slow to execute, but immensely powerful; even though there was a two-tier difference between Medisa and the wind dragon Adra, the move still inflicted severe damage on the latter.
The giant beast began to fall, while Brendel and the Silver Steed had previously passed through the pale blue clouds from the same direction. He looked up at the wind dragon Adra plummeting toward him—raising one hand high, he held up the card in his hand: “Showcase!” he shouted.
The card in his hand illustrated a team of charging cavalry. As Brendel released it, it flew with the air current and emitted dazzling light:
“Fate Card—Joint Charge Enters, the Traveler spends 2 earth elements.”
“The Summoner and the Card—Unicorn Knight gains linked abilities, strength shared, damage mitigated.”
At that moment, Brendel felt his strength surge dramatically, instantaneously more than doubling. He activated the Ghost Knight Crystal and unleashed a burst of power, shifting the output of his stamina and explosive force to the maximum, then thrusting upward with his sword.
What seemed like a simple sword strike—a blade of wind born from the White Crow Sword Arts—instantly sliced forth.
As the wind compressed the air to form a sharp current, the distorted airflow refracted light, pulling a crescent arc of nearly thirty meters wide in mid-air. The arc advanced, further expanding, overshadowing half the sky under a fissure stretching over a hundred meters.
The shimmering sword light stretched across the heavens, and time seemed to freeze for a moment. To all those looking up at this scene, it felt like a sword that had torn through space.
“Golden Mid-Stage!”
At that moment, the elder stood like a statue, unaware of what kind of ‘sorcery’ Brendel had unleashed. But he witnessed the young man’s strength suddenly surge in the blink of an eye, breaking into the mid-golden stage—a scene genuinely unfolding before his eyes.
Even in the entire Vaunte world, such sudden breakthroughs akin to enlightenment were rare; at this moment, Brendel, in Kuran’s eyes, inevitably related to those few with golden bloodlines.
It made him wonder whether the stubborn ancestor Tobus came from some ancient family.
But no matter how he thought, the sword light advanced mercilessly, severing the wind dragon Adra’s wings, and another downpour of blue blood fell from the sky—the wind dragon was no longer the child of the sky, falling like a plucked goose.
Finally, with a tremendous crash, it landed heavily in the center of the arena, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Everyone felt the ground shake slightly.
Yet no one voiced any opinions, as everyone, including Xi and Yuta, was dumbfounded. Not only did the intensity of the battle exceed their imagination, but the speed of combat also surpassed their expectations; from the wind dragon soaring to its death under the combined assault of Brendel and Medisa, it had only taken a mere half minute.
After a long while, the young miners exhaled heavily. After the battle, an eerie silence pervaded the arena. On one hand, they subconsciously relived the previous slaughter in their minds, and on the other, they awaited Brendel to assist them.
Unfortunately, they were disappointed.
Because Brendel didn’t glance down at all; he proceeded to draw a prize. This time, the young man’s wish was granted—after the green text faded from his retina, a gray card fell into his hand.
‘Gemstone Plain’
Brendel closed his palm, feeling incredibly satisfied. He lowered his head and surveyed the entire arena, then said:
“Prepare for the final challenge, Medisa.”
“Yes, my lord.”
The silver elven girl approached and bowed her head to reply softly.
The next battle would be a venue battle, and Brendel, who understood the rules of the Destiny Arena, thought.
…
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