Chapter 363: Fighting Late Stage Domain Master

Chapter 363: Chapter 363: Fighting Late Stage Domain Master

Chapter 363: Fighting Late Stage Domain Master Beast

Chapter 363: Fighting Late Stage Domain Master

The colossal beast flapped its massive wings, raining a carpet-bombing assault of destructive golden lightning essence from the sky.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Wherever its strikes landed, the earth shattered.

Hundred-foot-tall ancient trees that had stood for hundreds of years were effortlessly toppled.

Rhain and Lyra pushed their movement arts to the limit.

With the Heaven-Grade Boundless Sky Wind, Rhain’s figure had easily passed through the collapsing ancient trees.

Beside him, Lyra was entirely engulfed in her orange-crimson True Heavenly Flame, her speed multiplying as she easily stayed ahead of the falling destruction.

They were incredibly fast.

But the same could not be said for the rest of the group.

"AARRRGGGHHH!"

A deafening explosion erupted behind them as a bolt of golden lightning slammed into the ground right beside Karsten.

The explosion hurled him through the air like a ragdoll, and he crashed into a side by boulder with a crack.

The residual shockwave of a golden lightning bolt slammed mercilessly into the fleeing mercenaries.

The other mercenaries were swallowed by the blast wave, their screams cut short as they were thrown across the ground.

They slammed into the trunks of fallen trees, falling unconscious immediately.

Rhain heard the screams and glanced back over his shoulder.

His steps slowed.

Karsten dragged himself forward with his one good arm, his scarred face twisted in agony.

"L-"Lord Rhain... go..." Karsten wheezed, staring hopelessly at him.

Rhain abruptly halted his steps, Beside him, Lyra also stopped, her chest heaving.

Rhain’s dark grey eyes flickered.

If he and Lyra simply turned and kept running, the colossal eagle would undoubtedly stop to slaughter and devour the helpless mercenaries.

That brief window of distraction would easily grant Rhain and Lyra the time they needed to completely escape its perception.

It was the most rational, logical choice to ensure their survival against a Level 8 Domain Master beast.

Furthermore, Rhain also didn’t owe these men in anyway, their life and death had nothing to do with him.

But Rhain’s eyes narrowed chillingly.

Since when did he lower himself to sacrifice his own people just to buy a few breaths of life?

They had laughed with him, followed his orders, and acted as bait without question. To leave them to die like dogs went entirely against his bottom line.

He was not a saint, but he could not leave someone to die who had entrusted their lives to him.

Lyra looked at Rhain, her crimson eyes reading his exact thoughts.

Despite her overwhelming terror gripping her heart, she didn’t take another step forward.

"I’m not running," Lyra gritted her teeth, her grip tightening on her rapier.

SKREEEEEE—!!!

The mutated eagle folded its massive wings, diving straight down from the sky like a golden spear of divine judgment.

Its razor-sharp talons, crackling with golden lightning, aimed directly for Karsten’s head.

"Gods... forgive me..." Karsten squeezed his eyes shut, awaiting his execution.

"LYRA! GET THEM TO SAFETY!" Rhain roared.

Swoosh—!

Rhain exploded forward.

He completely abandoned any thought of evasion, materializing directly over the fallen mercenaries.

With a flash of spatial light, a dazzling, Epic-Grade golden armor materialized over his dark robes.

Rhain crossed his arms in front of his chest, channeling every last drop of his essence into a concentrated defensive block to meet the late-stage Domain Master head-on.

BOOM—!!!

The impact was beyond devastating.

The Level 8 Domain Master eagle collided with Rhain.

The overpowering physical might of the beast, augmented by its diving momentum, was entirely on a different plane.

CRACK—SHATTER!

The Epic-Grade golden armor lasted barely a fraction of a second before it shattered into millions of golden fragments like cheap glass.

The eagle’s razor-sharp talons tore effortlessly through the residual defenses, ripping a massive, gruesome bloody mark across Rhain’s chest.

"Ugh!"

Rhain was blasted backward with forceful velocity, his body crashing heavily into the earth and plowing a trench fifty feet long before slamming into a petrified boulder.

Blood sprayed into the air, soaking his torn robes.

"RHAIN!" Lyra’s scream tore across the forest.

Using the crucial opening Rhain had just bought with his own flesh and blood, Lyra had darted into the impact zone, grabbing Karsten and the paralyzed mercenaries by their collars and dragging them desperately into the safety of a colossal tree root nearby.

"I...I am fine!" Rhain slowly staggered up from the ground.

Inside his dantian, the pitch-black void had already begun its job.

The horrifying, bone-deep gashes on his chest were already writhing, knitting muscle and flesh back together at a visibly rapid pace.

Seeing Rhain safe, Lyra turned her head back toward the beast.

The colossal, golden-lightning-wreathed eagle was hovering just above the ground.

Its golden eyes were locked entirely onto Rhain.

It didn’t care about the fleeing mercenaries anymore. The dark-robed youth standing before it had injured its pride, and it wanted nothing more than to tear him into a thousand pieces.

WHOOSH—!!!

Rhain did not hold back a single ounce of his strength.

"Origin Domain of Fire!"

"Empyrean Purgatory Bloom. Third Form."

"Burning Purgatory Domain!"

BOOM—!!!

A scorching sphere of blood-red fire erupted, instantly covering his half of the space.

Thousands of exquisite, blood-red lotuses bloomed in the burning air, drifting toward the towering beast.

Right beside him, Lyra pushed her fourth-level Core Formation essence to its brink.

"Domain of the Crimson Empress!"

Lyra refused to stay hidden.

Swoosh—!

An orange-crimson True Heavenly Flame exploded from her slender body.

An orange-crimson True Heavenly Flame exploded from her slender body, expanding outward to merge seamlessly with Rhain’s blood-red hellfire.

The combined heat was apocalyptic, turning the petrified trees around them into ash within seconds.

SKREEEEEE—!!!

The mutated eagle shrieked in fury. It flapped its massive bone wings, summoning a storm of concentrated golden lightning that crashed down upon the sea of fire.

BANG! CLANG! BOOM!

The elemental collision was earth-shattering.

The golden lightning ruthlessly tore through the flaming lotuses, sending shockwaves of pure destruction ripping across the basin.

Swoosh—!

With a flash of spatial light, the massive, pitch-black heavy broadsword materialized in Rhain’s grasp.

Boundless Sky Wind!

Rhain propelled himself directly toward the colossal beast, acting as the vanguard to draw its undivided attention.

The eagle’s golden eyes flashed with murderous intent.

It thrust its massive, razor-sharp talons downward, aiming to skewer him alive.

"HAAH!" Rhain swung the heavy broadsword upward, meeting the descending talons with the monstrous physical force of the Abyssal Sovereign Physique.

CLANG—!!!

A deafening metallic ring echoed across the wasteland.

Rhain felt an unimaginable, crushing weight travel down his arms, throwing him back on the ground, his boots sinking deep into the shattered earth.

The physical might of a Level 8 Domain Master beast was even greater than his own monstrous physique.

But Rhain’s reckless charge had created the perfect opening.

Lyra also leaped into the air, her star-forged rapier aimed directly at the beast’s exposed underbelly.

"Crimson Tempest Rend!"

But a Level 8 Domain Master beast was fundamentally different from anything she had faced.

Sensing the incoming atyack, the eagle didn’t even bother to dodge. It simply whipped its massive, steel-like tail feathers.

BANG—!!!

Lyra was also pushed back, rolling several times before digging her rapier into the ground to halt her momentum.

"Don’t attack blindly! Stay back!" Rhain commanded.

To draw the beast’s aggro back to himself, a vortex of pitch-black essence instantly gathered around Rhain’s knuckles.

Void Fist. Second Form!

He punched the empty air.

The spatial transmission bypassed the physical distance entirely, detonating directly against the eagle’s chest.

BOOM!

"SKREEE!" The eagle shrieked in pain as the essence-devouring properties of the strike siphoned away a chunk of its lightning essence.

But the beast’s defense was unimaginably thick. Even with the essence-devouring properties of his Void Fist, he was barely devouring the surface of its vast reserves.

The eagle retaliated with terrifying ferocity.

A barrage of razor-sharp wind blades and golden lightning rained down relentlessly.

Rhain was forced to constantly shift using the Heaven-Grade Boundless Sky Wind. Yet, the beast’s speed was simply too overwhelming.

SLASH!

A wing clipped Rhain’s shoulder, tearing a chunk of flesh away.

BOOM!

A bolt of lightning struck his chest, sending him skidding backward through the mud.

"I won’t just watch!" Lyra gritted her teeth.

She pushed herself up, ignoring the agonizing pain in her fractured ribs. Her True Heavenly Flame flared again as she darted toward the beast’s flank.

But every time she tried to launch a coordinated strike, the sheer disparity in their realms proved too brutal.

CLANG!

The eagle casually deflected her star-forged rapier with its talon, sending a jolt of golden lightning straight up her arm.

"Ugh!" Lyra cried out, her arm instantly going numb as she was blasted backward again.

She was on the verge of collapsing. Her breathing was dangerously shallow, and her essence was nearly drained.

Despite Rhain deliberately placing himself in the most dangerous positions to attract ninety percent of the beast’s aggro, the mere residual shockwaves were enough to tear Lyra apart.

The battle dragged on for a few minutes.

Rhain was bleeding from dozens of wounds.

His Abyssal Sovereign Physique was spinning fiercely, desperately trying to heal the damage, but the golden lightning carried a destructive law that actively resisted his regeneration.

’I cannot win a battle of attrition against a Level 8 Domain Master beast,’ Rhain calculated coldly, his dark grey eyes narrowing into dangerous slits. ’I need one perfect opening.’

The eagle shrieked, folding its massive wings as it prepared to launch its most devastating dive yet.

Golden lightning coalesced around its beak, forming a concentrated sphere of pure annihilation.

This was it.

"NOW!"

With a flash of spatial light, a majestic golden bell materialized in the sky above.

Emperor-Grade Artifact: Monarch’s Soul-Sealing Bell!

Rhain didn’t hold a single drop of essence back. He poured his vast, ocean-like Soul Power directly into the artifact.

Rhain didn’t hold a single drop of essence back. He poured his vast Soul Power directly into the artifact.

DONG—!!!

An ancient bell toll rang out.

The shockwave of pure spiritual authority bypassed the eagle’s golden lightning and its indestructible feathers, striking directly into its vulnerable spiritual sea.

"SKREEE—"

The eagle’s shrieking abruptly cut off. Its golden eyes suddenly widened.