Chapter 797: The Geniuses of the Dragon Kingdoms

Chapter 797: Chapter 797: The Geniuses of the Dragon Kingdoms

In another sector of the battlefield, the abyssal pressure was suffocating. A surge of Devourer Beasts advanced like a plague upon a cornered regiment, but before obsidian claws could reach the soldiers, a crimson blaze streaked across the sky with the force of a meteorite.

A warrior clad in imposing red armor, adorned with scales and wild dragon-like features, landed in the middle of the horde. He wielded a heavy spear whose tip burned with a dense fire that distorted the surrounding air.

With a circular, explosive sweep of his spear, he unleashed a ring of fire that incinerated dozens of beasts in a single strike. While he lacked the divine containment and massive scale of the blind monk from the Smiling Buddha Kingdom, his combat style was pure brutality, holding hundreds of specimens at bay with each fierce thrust.

"It’s the prince of the Blazing Fire Dragon Kingdom!" exclaimed a surviving officer, recognizing the crest of the strongest kingdom beneath imperial rule.

While red flames consumed the left flank, a cold, sharp draft swept through the right flank. The temperature dropped as a solitary figure walked calmly among the beasts.

It was the swordsman sent by the Silver Dragon Kingdom, the elite warrior specifically tasked with hunting and assassinating Ethan during the tournament. With a cold, calculating expression, he unsheathed his slender double blade.

A single silver flash tore through the gloom. With a clean slash, dozens of abyssal beasts were sliced in half simultaneously. Their obsidian carapaces fell apart before the creatures could even let out a roar of pain.

In another section at the foot of the mountain, frost spread across the corrupted earth. A young woman in white and bluish robes advanced with icy grace among the beasts; she was the Fairy of the Frost Dragon Kingdom. In her right hand she held a sword as thin as a needle, forged from ancient ice.

With each swift thrust, the ice needle pierced the vital points of the abyssal beasts. The creatures, frozen from the inside, shattered into thousands of crystals upon impact. The water element flowed around her movements to parry obsidian claws, transforming into ice spikes that impaled the monsters surrounding her.

Not far away, roots and branches erupted from the clay soil, snaring dozens of beasts in mid-air. Amidst the dense foliage fought the Forest Fairy, representative of the Fairy Kingdom, wielding a bow carved from ancestral wood.

Whenever a beast managed to graze her body or strike a direct blow, the damage failed to mark her skin. Instead, one of the massive trees she summoned around her withered and disintegrated into ashes instantly, absorbing the blow for her. Unharmed, the Forest Fairy drew her bowstring and unleashed a volley of arrows formed from botanical energy, piercing the heads of the beasts and causing thorns to sprout from their corpses.

The atmosphere on the battlefront shifted within seconds. Just as the troops from the vassal kingdoms and the geniuses of the major nations began reclaiming ground, a deafening roar pierced the heavens from the center of the abyssal formation.

The colossal Chaotic Queen raised her thousand-eyed head toward the realm’s vault. Her obsidian jaws opened wide, generating a magnetic, ravenous suction force.

Instantly, rivers of fresh blood and thousands of corpses scattered across the mountain and surrounding valleys began rising into the air. Masses of torn flesh, vital fluid, and residual souls flew directly into the monster’s maw. As the biological matter entered its throat, the queen’s thousand eyes ignited with an unhinged crimson fire.

A shockwave of dark energy erupted from the alpha female’s body, bathing the surrounding tide of beasts. The surviving specimens roared with renewed fury; their obsidian carapaces thickened, their claws grew, and their destructive aura doubled instantly.

Kilometers away, Ethan watched the scene at a fast march, gritting his teeth as he understood immediately what was happening.

"Crul... blood sacrifice," said Ethan. "She’s murdering half her descendants to empower the rest. Shit..."

[The situation escalates, master], warned Crul in his mind. [We are too far away to absorb the corpses with the Orb of Death before she claims them.]

"We need to hurry," said Ethan, quickening his pace as he fully drew his sword. "Every time she does this, her troops will get stronger. If this continues until only one male remains standing, that thing will give birth to the Protective Prince of that species."

The prince of the Blazing Fire Dragon Kingdom leaped down beside the blind monk, brandishing his spear bathed in red flames.

"Get out of my way, monk!" shouted the prince, spitting a trace of fire. "That egg is mine."

The blind monk did not lose his composure. He joined his palms together before his chest in a somber gesture and let out a gentle sigh filled with serenity.

"Namo Amitabha," said the monk in a slow voice. "The karma of greed merely weaves chains within the cycle of illusion. This manifestation of abyssal darkness is not prey to be claimed, but a poison corrupting the Great Dao. It is the duty of this humble existence to purify the chaos and restore balance between Heaven and Earth."

"Cut the spiritual rhetoric!" roared the prince, adjusting his grip on his spear. "If you stand in the way of my hunt, I won’t care if you wear Buddha’s robes!"

"If destiny decrees that we must cross weapons to protect life, so be it," answered the monk unperturbed, as the projection of the thousand-handed Buddha behind him shone with golden light. "Yet remember, young monarch: the flame that burns without control only consumes the one who holds it."

The prince of the Fire Dragon let out a roar of laughter filled with fury, pointing the winged tip of his spear directly at the monk’s chest.

"Are you threatening me, monk?" roared the prince, as the air around his body began to distort from extreme heat.

"I merely offer a warning beneath the gaze of the Heavens," replied the monk serenely. "The Great Dao teaches that he who seeks to bend the course of rivers with his bare hands finds only drowning within his own ambition."

The monk turned his white-blindfolded face toward the colossal Chaotic Queen, just as the creature finished devouring the blood of its descendants and a wave of violet miasma shook the foot of the mountain.

"The curse spreads, young prince," said the monk, pressing his palms together once more. "Arrogance will only bring chaos to this land and bind your souls to suffering. Lower your blade for a moment and gather your men beside me. The darkness within that creature is heavier and deeper than the human mind can fathom."

The prince gritted his teeth, watching with rage as the queen’s carapace grew denser and the beast’s eyes burned with crimson fire.