Chapter 117 The Death of the Giant Dragon (Part 2)
2015-03-19
Author: Floating Tower (诸生浮屠)
A series of angry roars echoed.
The white dragon’s furious growls could not hide the increasing number of wounds on its body. Although the seemingly towering earth element was very small in front of it, this sturdy elemental life still endured three attacks directly. Just from these three chances to withstand the dragon’s claw strikes, Soren managed to leave three more cuts on the dragon’s abdomen, lower back, and spine. At the same time, nearby elite pirates seized the opportunity to hit it several times; these pirates all had a profession level of five or higher. Although they could not challenge the giant dragon head-on, they were capable of harassment attacks.
—“Dragon Tail Sweep!”
The thick and long dragon tail swept over like a whip, and Soren rolled away in a rather awkward manner, the gust of wind brushing past his cheek. Although he dodged this attack, the tall earth element was not so lucky and was ultimately smashed into a pile of debris. Even as a fourth-tier elemental life, it could only withstand the white dragon’s three or four attacks. Fortunately, the white dragon in front of him was becoming slower and weaker; Soren’s continuous attacks had dragged it into a heavily injured state.
The casualties among Soren’s pirates were severe!
Although he was only heavily injured from that one strike to his abdomen, nearly half of his subordinates had died.
Even Soren’s constitution could not withstand several attacks from an adult white dragon; anyone who took a hit from it was basically either dead or severely wounded!
—“Fog Spell!”
With each attack and as more wounds appeared on its body, a hint of fear finally emerged in the eyes of the adult white dragon because it realized it might die at the hands of these insignificant humans. It wanted to fly away, but its dragon wings were already battered; heavy harpoon hooks hung from them, and each time it moved its wings, it felt a stabbing pain.
A mist appeared on the battlefield.
Soren cautiously stepped back a few paces while carefully watching the enemy before him. An adult white dragon had casting abilities.
The area covered by the mist was quite vast. This mist was like the thick fog that appears in winter, nearly enveloping the area within a hundred meters, and it became hard to see beyond five meters.
A scream rang out!
That was the voice of one of Soren’s subordinates, followed by the crack of bones being bitten through.
“What’s going on?!”
Soren furrowed his brows, staring at the white dragon, murmuring, “Could there be other monsters nearby? Does it have helpers?”
Suddenly he seemed to sense something was wrong. He dashed directly towards the white dragon obscured by mist, and Soren’s curved blade swept through a glimmer as it slashed toward its head, but there was no feeling of cutting into flesh; it was just like striking at air.
An illusion!
Soren felt unease in his heart and immediately dashed toward the location of the scream.
It wanted to escape.
Before Soren’s eyes, he saw one of his subordinates bitten in half and then spotted the white dragon trying to flee outside the mist, having used some spell. It had surprisingly erased the sound of its movement.
It seemed to be a range silence spell!
The direction in which the white dragon fled was toward the way Soren had come, while Soren had approached it from the side, and the white dragon seemed to be escaping straight ahead.
That was where the indigenous people had appeared.
“Not good!”
Soren’s heart skipped a beat, and he immediately cast the spell ‘Oily Feet,’ a weakened version of ‘Haste.’ Soren had learned spells for too short a time and could only start with low-tier spells; learning high-tier spells took too much time. ‘Oily Feet’ lasted less than a minute, but it was enough for Soren to catch up with the adult white dragon ahead.
It seemed that it was indeed connected to those indigenous people!
—“Shadow Assassination!”
—“Sword Intent [Horizontal Slash]!”
Soren’s figure flew out, swinging his curved blade toward the white dragon’s abdomen, and with a splash of dragon blood, its massive body swayed slightly. Its injuries were already affecting its movements; even a giant dragon’s constitution would gradually weaken after severe bleeding and injury, and now it was close to the brink of death, which was why it wanted to flee.
Soren could not let it escape.
He had sacrificed nearly half of his subordinates’ lives to bring it to a heavily injured state. How could he possibly let it escape like this!
These wounds were earned at the cost of lives.
If he allowed the white dragon to escape now, not only would he lose all his prestige, but he would also let down those subordinates who fought to the death. Slaying the dragon must not be abandoned halfway; otherwise, if the giant dragon was given a moment to catch its breath, its injuries would quickly recover.
Ahead seemed to be a gathering place for the indigenous people because Soren heard a dragon roar that sounded like a summons, followed by a commotion in the distance.
It was trying to summon those indigenous people.
The edge of life and death had made it abandon its pride as a dragon. The white dragon was summoning those vile indigenous people who served it to help fight.
—“Hide from View!”
—“Shadow Travel!”
Soren clearly sensed that something was off. His figure vanished in an instant, and then the shadow under a large tree in front twisted. Within a hundred meters, as long as Soren’s control ability was sufficient, he could appear from any shadow. Soren popped up exactly in front of the white dragon, his eyes filled with dense blood vessels. As his figure emerged from the Shadow Plane, he immediately leaped up and swung his knife toward the white dragon’s head.
—“Sword Intent [Decapitation]!”
Soren’s figure descended from the sky, the curved blade glistening coldly as it sliced toward the white dragon’s neck, precisely at the spot he first struck.
This time, the decapitation attack had tremendous force!
It almost pushed the white dragon’s head down violently; however, it did not sever its head but let out a mournful cry as its massive body thudded to the ground. The curved blade dug into its vertebra, although it did not decapitate the white dragon, it cut halfway through the bone, causing Soren to inflict nearly a hundred points of heavy impact damage, sending it directly into a dying state.
—“Sword Intent [Decapitation]!”
From a distance came a series of rustling sounds, indicating some indigenous people were approaching.
Soren didn’t think twice; after catching his breath, he swung his knife toward the white dragon’s head again, a spray of blood erupted, and finally, on the third swing of Sword Intent [Decapitation], he severed the white dragon’s head. The white dragon, now in a dying state, finally died completely, and a massive spurt of blood gushed out, drenching Soren and causing him a burning sensation of pain.
However, he did not leave.
Instead, he allowed the giant dragon’s blood to envelop him completely, his entire body seeming to soak in dragon blood, a special baptism ritual that could yield additional ability enhancements.
But it had to be done right after killing the giant dragon to be effective!
Among the possible ability enhancements, one type of person known as [Dragonborn], which includes dragon mages and half-dragon beings, can absorb special draconic power. This process was similar to Vivian absorbing divinity, but in this case, it was the absorption of the dragon’s special power. Others undergoing this dragon blood baptism might also gain additional ability enhancements, such as becoming part of the hardened dragon blood that’s as strong as iron (natural defense +1), or having their physical abilities reinforced by dragon blood (constitution +1), along with other potential baptism effects.
This process requires a certain degree of luck.
The searing hot blood enveloped Soren’s body, and the somewhat piercing burning sensation did not cause him to retreat even a single step. Dragon blood was only this hot immediately after a dragon’s death, and soon it would gradually cool down or even solidify. To gain additional ability enhancements and potentially inherit part of the dragon’s powers, it had to be this boiling dragon blood.
Dragon blood dyed Soren completely red!
The rustling sounds in the distance grew closer, and then he saw figures of indigenous people appearing several hundred meters away. They saw Soren in the distance and the dead white dragon, then let out terrified cries and promptly fled in a panic.
A faint divine light emerged!
As the corpse of the adult white dragon ceased convulsing, a bit of invisible divine radiance appeared and then fell upon Soren.
A line of data subsequently emerged:
“Activated Sword Intent [Decapitation]!”
“You dealt 56 points of heavy impact damage to the target! … Decapitation successful! … You successfully killed an adult white dragon! …”
“Extracting target’s soul energy! …”
“You gained 56,000 points of Killing Experience! …”
“Target is a Divine Being.”
“Extracting target’s divine power! … Extraction successful! … You gained 1 point of Divinity Value! …”
………………
A small amount of divinity fell upon Soren.
As he was astonished to find out that the adult white dragon actually had 1 point of divinity, the lucky coin on him emitted a faint spiritual light, and then he saw the dragon blood covering him seem to have a stream of warmth flowing into his body, a sort of intangible power gradually penetrating into Soren, allowing him to inherit a portion of abilities from pure-blooded dragons.
Another line of data emerged:
“You have accepted the [Dragon Blood Baptism] ceremony! …”
“You gained partial ability enhancement! … You inherited some dragon abilities! …”
“Baptism successful.”
“You gained the background specialty [Dragon Blood Baptism LV1]! …”
………………
“Dragon Blood Baptism LV1 [Special Specialty]: You successfully killed an adult white dragon, and after completing this dragon-slaying feat, you underwent your first dragon blood baptism. This baptism enhanced your body, allowing you to inherit some dragon abilities. Dragon blood has made you stronger, also making your skin more resilient; you permanently gained 1 point of natural armor, and additionally 1 point of toughness. This ability can gradually improve with the number of dragon blood baptisms.” [Natural Armor +1, Toughness +1.]
(Note: Dragon Blood Baptism can be conducted simultaneously with Bloodline Purification Ceremony.)
………………(To be continued ~^~)
