Chapter 70: The Death of the Barbarian.
The one-eyed king finally once again had its enemy within sight.
But, this Hōng Lóng felt completely different to the dragon.
The fine blood vessels on the sides of its head and on its claws had completely split open. The intimidating red light was gone, replaced by black cracks emanating draconic energy.
Moreover, its size seemed smaller, as if the moist and fullness of life had been scorched dry and dull by the draconic energy.
It was only now that this extraordinary Hōng Lóng truly had the confidence to stand on equal footing with the Golden Thunder King.
Unease, just like the unease the war Fire Dragon had towards the Terror Tyrant’s jewel back in the day.
If this appearance could be recorded by the Guild, it might lead to another classification of a special individual among the Hōng Lóng species?
Jié Jié thought absentmindedly. In the midst of the Golden Thunder King’s unease, his head collided with its body.
The Golden Thunder King staggered, and the golden-light wrapped Thunder Light Bugs were flung off its body, initiating suicidal attacks towards the Hōng Lóng.
Like golden ball lightning.
Upon detaching from the Golden Thunder King, the ball lightning rose but was corroded by the draconic energy, being swallowed up by the ascending draconic energy when it landed on Jie Jie.
As if committing suicide by jumping into an abyss.
The Golden Thunder King ceased shaking its body and strained to push the Hōng Lóng back, swinging its tail horizontally which was wrapped in golden thunder. However, it merely caused the Hōng Lóng’s head to bend at a surprising angle.
“Crack crack crack.”
The Hōng Lóng’s head twisted back around, seeing the golden thunder enlarge once more in its pupils.
This seemed to be a new technique, something akin to the Fang Conduct Fang seen only on the Thunder Wolf Dragon subspecies, the Hell Wolf Dragon.
Four thunders tore through the draconic energy, a continuous cascade of golden light points falling.
“Snap!”
The Hōng Lóng’s hind limbs carved out ferocious claw marks on the ground, its tail coiling up to stop its retreat.
But it held firm.
The barbarian caught the king’s fist.
Jié Jié blocked the Golden Thunder King’s Fang Conduct Fang, their heads now staring at each other.
The Golden Thunder King growled low, while the Hōng Lóng’s face cracked open revealing a ferocious maw.
The barbarian took out a drum—no, it was more like the barbarian used the king as a baton, using its skull as a hammer, smashing onto a drum in the palace.
“ROAR!!!”
A terrifying shockwave, accompanied by swirling draconic energy, struck the face of the Golden Thunder King.
Vibrations coursed through the ears, the mouth, even into the body structure, flooding the king’s mind with pain and incomprehensible signals.
“Awooo~”
The Golden Thunder King groaned as it was pushed away by the Hōng Lóng’s strength, staggering two steps before stopping to pant, saliva mixed with blood unceremoniously dripping onto the ground.
The majesty of the king seemed to dissipate along with this undignified act.
The thunder surging around the Golden Thunder King began to fade, gathering back, retreating from a state of genuine electrification to a supercharged state.
Finished roaring? Waiting to get hit?
In great strides, Jie Jie finally pounced upon the Golden Thunder King, biting and tearing into him.
Mouthfuls of golden thunder fur bristling with electricity crackled and turned to powder in his mouth, along with the golden thunder carapace, chunks of shell pulling away with blood and flesh.
The Golden Thunder King struggled, and its vassals finally reacted, coming to aid their king.
“BOOM!”
A barrier of thunder descended, striking Jie Jie, leaving large patches charred.
Ignoring the claw strikes, bites, and drags from the group of dragons, the Hōng Lóng’s massive jaws and foreclaws clung tightly to the Golden Thunder King’s body, unwilling to let go.
He just wanted to peel off some materials, what was wrong with that?
“Let me peel a bit more! Golden Thunder King is so cool, I want to transform!”
With blood all over its mouth, the Hōng Lóng roared in frustration, getting smacked down by the re-risen Golden Thunder King.
With a slight strain from one claw, Jie Jie suddenly spun his body, like a happy husky chasing its own tail.
This allowed him to break free from the surrounding Thunder Wolf Dragons, instantly throwing himself away to avoid getting obliterated by the Golden Thunder King’s farmer’s three punches.
After a claw strike, the Golden Thunder King chose to spin its body for an uppercut.
Once again, four thunders approached Jie Jie like an overdrive shield axe attribute.
Two were eaten, leaving half his body charred again.
Now, the Hōng Lóng’s scales were in no good condition, draconic energy covering his charred body, making him appear almost entirely black, like a Black Hōng Lóng.
After this uppercut, the Golden Thunder King leaped back, creating more distance between itself and the Hōng Lóng, stirring up thunder to prepare entering the true electrified state again.
Meanwhile, the Thunder Wolf Dragons restrained Jie Jie at the front.
Troublesome.
Jie Jie raised his head once more, deeply inhaling, intending to use a shockwave to drive away the Thunder Wolf Dragons, then charge again with Dragon Charge towards the Golden Thunder King.
“BOOMMMMM!!!!”
The terrifying sound even triggered seismic activity—
Wait?
Triggered seismic activity?
Jie Jie struggled to steady himself, bewildered to find he couldn’t hear his own roar amidst this deafening noise.
In the extreme noise, all sounds ceased.
But the ground was really shaking!
Intense unease hammered alarm bells in Jie Jie’s mind repeatedly. The instinctual shiver overwhelmed his ability to think and discern anything.
The surrounding Thunder Wolf Dragons were the same, howling aimlessly like headless flies, tightly crouching onto the ground.
“What the hell is this?”
Jie Jie’s claws dug deep into the increasingly violently shaking ground under some mysterious pressure.
It felt… like some existence was traveling beneath the ground.
The tremors came from afar, growing stronger, seemingly because that existence was approaching.
And… it was surfacing?
The solid ground, hardened by the trampling of ancient large monsters, developed fine cracks. Jie Jie stared intently at those cracks, needing a focal point to keep his weary spirit from snapping under the tension.
It was also as if… he could see that existence through the darkness of the cracks.
After a brief ascent, that existence seemed to sink back down, the strange noise reverberating into the sky and fading away.
Song.
After the tense nerves relaxed, this strange thought appeared in Jie Jie’s mind.
The strange noise had no melody whatsoever. The song he thought of would be discovered in the future by the investigation team—a great existence whose wings vibrated.
“Coincidence?”
After that interloper disappeared, Jie Jie straightened his body, only to find his opponent had chosen to leave during the terrifying noise, taking the Thunder Wolf Dragons with them as they scattered in all directions.
Perhaps, something had changed as the song passed.
Surveying the chaotic battlefield, Jie Jie confirmed that all the materials dropped by the Golden Thunder King had been torn and decomposed by him.
His muscles slightly relaxed, and the piercing pain and endless hunger surged forth.
The broken bones, no longer stabilized by the muscles, loosened with movement, stabbing into the flesh.
“Ugh.”
The battle continuation ended, after the last burst of vitality.
The Hōng Lóng lay prone on the ground, barely alive.
The dark red draconic energy continued to surge, but it no longer seemed to be Jie Jie’s power, instead becoming an abyss that sought to swallow him whole.
The strings in his brain snapped under the tension, and the Hōng Lóng’s body went completely limp.
The barbarian who challenged the order under the king ultimately fell, and that king fled with the remnants of his order under divine authority…
Perhaps, the original Hōng Lóng here was also given a similar mission by nature.
