Chapter 832

【 THE TITAN 】

The dragon-blooded magical beast was awakened and immediately charged toward the group.

Feeling its formidable aura, the players quickly realized that even if they combined their strength, they would still be no match for it. So without hesitation, each of them turned around and fled at full speed.

However, the awakened magical beast clearly had no intention of letting them go.

With an angry roar, it dove toward the nearest player, tearing the trees along its path into pieces.

Ancient trees more than a meter thick toppled one after another, causing the earth to tremble. Sensing the terrifying power of the creature behind them, the fleeing players were even more alarmed.

However, after running for several hundred meters, they noticed something strange…

After they had escaped the area around the cave, the creature surprisingly did not follow them, seemingly losing its desire, or perhaps its ability, to pursue them any further.

Moreover, despite its terrifying aura, the dragon-blooded magical beast seemed to be far too slow.

Based on what they knew about magical beasts with dragon bloodlines, speed should have been their greatest advantage. The players had deliberately scattered while fleeing and had already prepared themselves for some of them to be targeted and become sacrificial lambs.

Yet after running for several hundred meters, not a single person had been caught.

At this moment, Four Seasons, who was the slowest of the group, mustered up his courage and turned around as he activated the skill [Eagle Eye] and carefully examined the creature.

His eyes suddenly lit up.

“Something’s wrong! It’s injured! It’s not nearly as strong as it appears!”

Upon hearing Four Season’s words, the other players turned around one after another and finally discovered the problem with the dragon-blooded magical beast.

They had failed to notice it at first when the creature had been lying near the cave earlier but upon closer inspection, there was a horrifying wound on its wing that had nearly torn apart half of its body. What’s more, the wound was extremely deep, so deep that its mangled internal organs could even be seen within it, their surface faintly blackened.

Around the edges of the wound were traces of magical burns, as well as several broken arrows.

It was likely that the creature had been injured by mercenaries when it attacked the human village.

With injuries this severe, an ordinary magical beast would probably already be on the verge of death. However, dragon-blooded magical beasts possessed far greater vitality than ordinary magical beasts. This was probably the only reason it had managed to survive until now.

In other words, although the creature’s aura was terrifying, it was probably just putting up a strong front while being weak inside.

The players’ spirits immediately lifted as they saw hope.

They could fight it!

Yeye and Nana exchanged glances and nodded before shouting to their teammates:

“Come back! It’s seriously injured! We can take it!”

At their command, the rest of the group stopped running. Instead, they regrouped and began fighting.

By this time, Elven Kingdom had already been online for more than a year and a half, while six years had already passed within the game. Over such a long period of time, the players had long since figured out the optimal way to fight magical beasts.

And against a powerful magical beast that was seriously injured, there was no need to engage it head-on. They only needed to keep moving around it, gradually exhausting its stamina until they could wear it down completely.

Thus, the players began coordinating with one another, taking advantage of the elves’ superior speed in the forest as they circled around the enormous dragon-blooded magical beast and launched attacks at a distance.

This tactic quickly proved quite effective. Although the dragon-blooded magical beast appeared to possess extremely high defensive capabilities, making it difficult for them to injure it, its wound continued to worsen as it moved violently.

Overtime, more and more crimson blood flowed from it…

Seeing it, the players’ spirits rose further, and they focused their attacks on the creature’s wound as brilliant spells and martial skills rained down upon its body, provoking a series of furious roars.

Gradually, the magical beast’s speed became slower and slower, while its imposing aura steadily weakened…

“It’s about to collapse!”

Everyone’s expressions brightened.

However, at this moment, the increasingly weakened magical beast suddenly raised its head, a trace of determination flashing through its crystalline eyes. It then threw its head toward the sky and let out an enraged roar. Surging magical power erupted from its body, and the blood within its wounds suddenly began to boil…

At this moment, the monster had “ignited” its innate bloodline ability.

This was a type of innate magic possessed by many dragon-blooded magical beasts with pure bloodlines. Inherited from dragons, it was similar to how gods burned their divine power, thereby allowing them to unleash extraordinary strength for a short period of time.

However, what dragon-blooded magical beasts burned was their own bloodline and vitality. At best, they would completely lose their dragon bloodline, regress into ordinary magical beasts, and suffer a greatly reduced lifespan. At worst, they would simply die on the spot.

With its bloodline ignited, the dragon-blooded magical beast’s aura soared in an instant, quickly returning to its peak.

It then looked toward the group, its gaze cold and frenzied.

The next second, the dragon-blooded magical beast opened its eagle-like beak. Blinding light gathered inside its mouth before boundless flames erupted from within, rapidly engulfing all the players.

These were no ordinary flames. They were magical flames with higher temperatures and greater destructive power. Even if the slightest amount touched the trees in the forest, they would quickly burst into flames and turn to ash…

“Oh no…”

Covered by the sea of flames, the players’ expressions changed slightly.

Yeye gritted his teeth and hardened his resolve. He then pulled out an exquisite looking magical scroll from his clothes.

It was a one-time-use Ninth-Circle magic scroll he had obtained from a ruin while traveling across the continent some time ago. It had not yet been identified, and all he knew was that it should contain an offensive magic spell.

A Ninth-Circle offensive magic spell was extraordinarily powerful, and without knowing its exact effect, using it recklessly could easily affect his own allies. Yeye had originally not wanted to use it here.

But after fighting for so long, everyone in their group had become completely caught up in the battle. Even if there was a risk, they could no longer afford to worry about it.

Moreover, each of them still had many items that they had not yet bound at the temple. So if they died here, they would suffer a tremendous loss.

Thus without hesitation, Yeye tore open the scroll as blinding glow erupted from his hand, and the entire sky suddenly darkened.

Up above, enormous flaming meteors slowly emerged from the heavens…

In an instant, the sky was transformed into a sea of fire!

Yeye was stunned.

Nana was stunned.

Four Seasons and the other two players were stunned as well.

A Ninth-Circle area-of-effect spell, [Meteor Shower]!?

This was a terrifying spell whose power was comparable to a Legendary-rank magical attack. Heck, it could even directly destroy a small town!

And once the players realized what spell was contained within the scroll, their expressions changed dramatically.

The area covered by Meteor Shower was simply too vast.

This time, it had engulfed not only the magical beast and the players, but also the entire surrounding section of forest.

There was no doubt that once the meteors came crashing down, they would all be finished.

“Fuck! You lousy idiot! Why did you use that scroll?!”

Nana, who normally never swore, could not help cursing.

However, just as the meteors were about to crash down, a towering figure suddenly flashed into existence in front of the players and the dragon-blooded magical beast.

It was a giant more than thirty meters tall, with a powerful physique and a bare upper body.

The giant raised his right fist and punched toward the sky.

As his fist struck out, a visible wave of energy spread from his palm, resembling radiating sound waves as it surged straight into the heavens.

When the energy wave reached the meteors, the enormous flaming objects trembled slightly before all of them turned to dust amid a series of thunderous explosions…

For a moment, the entire sky blossomed with dazzling “fireworks,” accompanied by deafening booms.

In an instant, all the falling meteors vanished without a trace.

The energy wave unleashed by the giant’s fist continued upward, shattering layer after layer of clouds and forming a vortex in the sky…

The next moment, the entire sea of clouds was pushed into the distance, revealing the deep blue sky above.

Witnessing this scene, the players were completely stunned.

“T-That’s… that’s so powerful!”

“Wait, is that… a Titan?!”

Looking at the giant’s appearance, which was exactly the same as the Titans described in legend, the druid in the group could not help exclaiming in shock.

At this moment, everyone finally took a careful look at the giant who had suddenly intervened, their eyes filled with astonishment.

The rumors… were actually true!

There really was a Titan here in this area, a race that was supposed to have gone extinct!

The Ninth-Circle spell Meteor Shower had been shattered by a single punch from the Titan. At the same time, the dragon-blooded magical beast, having burned its bloodline, seemed to have exhausted its strength and reached its limit.

It had failed to win.

It slowly collapsed, its eyes filled with unwillingness as it lay on the verge of death.

At this moment, the towering Titan slowly withdrew his gaze. With a wave of his hand, he extinguished the flames in the forest before turning toward the stunned players.

“In this forest… don’t use… fire magic.”

The Titan gently shook his head.

It was the Elven language, and his pronunciation was extremely fluent.

The players were stunned for a moment before nodding one after another.

They exchanged glances, and Yeye eventually stepped forward. He bowed respectfully to the Titan and said:

“I’m sorry… It was my mistake. Thank you for saving us.”

After speaking, he nervously and curiously glanced at the giant before asking respectfully:

“We are elven adventurers who accepted a subjugation quest. We came here to hunt this magical beast that attacked the village. May I ask… are you a Titan?”

According to the game’s lore, the Titans had already gone extinct. Yet here, the players had encountered an existence that was identical to the Titans described in legend.

The discovery made their hearts pound with excitement. They could not help wondering whether they had triggered some kind of hidden storyline quest.

The giant however did not answer Yeye’s question.

Instead, he crouched down in front of the dragon-blooded magical beast and began examining its injuries.

Seeing his actions, the players looked at one another in confusion.

However, just when they thought the giant intended to claim the magical beast as his prey, the suspected Titan pulled a jar from his clothes, poured out some powder, and fed it to the dying beast.

Then, under the players’ astonished gazes, he said:

“Dragonhawk… gentle nature… would not attack village.”

…Gentle?

The way it had gone berserk just now certainly had not looked very gentle!

The players could not help complaining inwardly.

The giant then pointed toward the cave behind the dragon-blooded magical beast.

“It… protecting… children.”

Children?

The players were stunned for a moment before turning their gazes toward the cave.

With the dragon-blooded magical beast having moved away, the interior of the cave was now fully visible. Under the effects of their [Eagle Eye] skills, they indeed saw several young beasts that had not even opened their eyes yet.

They looked similar to the magical beast the giant had called a Dragonhawk, except they did not possess many dragon scales or feathers.

The players suddenly understood why they had been attacked the moment they entered the creature’s territory.

Oh, now that they thought about it, it had not really been pursuing them.

It had been driving them away.

After they left, the creature had shown no desire to continue chasing them. They had only returned because they wanted to complete their quest.

But if that was the case, then what had happened when the village was attacked? The creature still had arrows embedded in its body!

Could its children perhaps been captured by the local villagers, causing it to go to the village to rescue them?

The players could not help letting their imaginations run wild.

They did not doubt the giant’s words. The strength he had displayed was simply too overwhelming. He was probably even stronger than Big Sister Zero. He might very well be a demigod like Aurora and Eris, so there was no reason for someone of his rank to lie to them.

So… what exactly was going on with this quest?

The players looked at one another in confusion.

The giant continued treating the Dragonhawk’s injuries.

However, his brows gradually furrowed more and more deeply.

“The injuries… too severe.”

“I’m sorry. We don’t know the exact cause.”

Yeye spoke with some guilt.

Then he took out the healing potion he carried.

“I still have some healing potions. You can use them on it.”

“No.”

The giant shook his head.

“Not… injury.”

He paused before continuing.

“Not an injury?”

The players were stunned.

The giant pointed toward the Dragonhawk’s blackened internal organs.

“Poison.”

As he spoke, he turned toward the druid among the players.

“I need… Seven-Leaf Grass.”

Seven-Leaf Grass was a common magical plant in Seiguës. It possessed certain detoxifying properties.

The druid player was stunned for a moment before scratching his head.

“Ah… I don’t have any on me right now, but… I’ll go find some.”

With that, he hurried away from the valley.

Working together with friendly NPCs to advance the game’s storyline was already a natural habit among the players.

“We’ll go too!”

The remaining players followed him.

The group soon headed deeper into the forest. Seeing his teammates following him, the druid player said:

“I already used [Nature’s Whisper]. There should be a Seven-Leaf Grass meadow about two kilometers away. We can all go there and gather some!”

“Hey, druids are awesome!”

Yeye could not help praising him.

The group quickly set off, following the druid player toward their destination. Elves were naturally well suited to moving through forests, and the terrain in this particular forest was not especially rugged, so they soon arrived.

It was an open meadow covered in Seven-Leaf Grass. The lush greenery made the players’ eyes light up.

Putting aside the matter of saving the Dragonhawk, even if they simply gathered all these herbs and sold them, they could still make quite a bit of money.

Everyone quickly became excited and began harvesting the herbs.

After gathering several handfuls of Seven-Leaf Grass, the druid player said:

“Everyone, give me the Seven-Leaf Grass you’ve gathered first. I’ll take these herbs back to that Titan so we don’t delay the detoxification of that Dragonhawk. You can continue gathering the rest here. Once you’ve finished, we’ll meet up again.”

“Okay.”

The players nodded.

They handed the herbs they had gathered to the druid player, who then prepared to return.

However, at that moment, a roar resembling the cry of a child suddenly came from the sky and a massive shadow covered the players.

They raised their heads and looked toward the sky, only to see an enormous magical beast charging toward them…

It had a vulture-like head, a lion-like body, enormous wings, and a body covered in gleaming dragon scales.

It was a ferocious dragon-blooded griffin, more than fifteen meters long.

A powerful aura belonging to an upper Gold-rank creature erupted from its body. Its eyes were filled with bloodlust, the unmistakable gaze of a predator looking at its prey.

It opened its enormous mouth and sprayed a stream of corrosive venom toward the players…

The black poison quickly engulfed them and before they could even react, the group were completely submerged.

As the venom came into contact with their bodies, a sensation of numbness quickly spread through their limbs.

Just before their consciousness faded into darkness, the players finally realized which dragon-blooded magical beast had actually attacked the village.

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