There was no hesitation, no wavering.
Allen walked straight toward the strange cylindrical device in the center of the room. Just as he reached out to touch the Urn, the Red Dragon Vaelastrasz suddenly issued a sharp warning.
"Stop! Don't move! Back away slowly!"
"What's wrong?" Allen asked, his voice laced with uncertainty.
"It's malice! A concentrated, overwhelming malice from tens of thousands of souls! And the target of that malice... is you!" Vaelastrasz explained, her tone grave.
"Malice? Not Nen?" Allen looked surprised as he stared at the face-shaped Urn.
For a split second, though he wasn't sure if it was just an illusion, it seemed as though the eyes carved into the surface of the Urn snapped open.
"Indeed. It is pure malice. I guarantee that the moment your hand touches it, a terrifying counterattack will be triggered. This Urn possesses a consciousness of its own. To be precise, it is a collective of the intense obsessions of a multitude of people after their deaths."
As she spoke, Vaelastrasz rapidly shifted from her form as form-fitting soft mail into a suit of heavy plate armor covering Allen's entire body. There was no need to ask; the staggering power within the Urn had made her feel a threat, a massive one.
"Can you devour it?" Allen asked, intrigued.
"I don't know. Perhaps, perhaps not. But one thing is certain: the moment you touch that Urn, the battle begins. With the amount of Nen it has stored, this entire deck will become a battlefield. Every member of the Kakin Royal Family will become your enemy," Vaelastrasz judged without a second thought.
Allen simply shrugged indifferently and smiled. "In that case, let's begin. Let's see which is stronger: the post-mortem Nen accumulated by the Kakin Royals over thousands of years, or me."
The words had barely left his lips when he drew his bow and concentrated a massive amount of Aura onto a Thorium Arrow. Having merged a large number of Cocoons recently, his activation speed was exceptionally fast. Often, activating a single merged ability allowed him to imbue an arrow with two, three, or even more different elemental properties at once.
If he continued to develop this way, his charging time would eventually become negligible, vastly increasing his combat effectiveness.
Once the arrow's power reached its threshold during the charge, Allen finally released his fingers. With a sonic boom, the terrifying arrow streaked forward at six times the speed of sound.
In less than a tenth of a second, the razor-sharp arrowhead collided with the surface of the Urn!
Instantly, countless black hands composed of Nen erupted from the Urn's mouth. Moving at speeds that defied the laws of physics, they formed a solid shield, desperately struggling to stop the arrow from advancing even a single millimeter.
Under the impact of such unbelievable quantities of Aura, the tail of the arrow released a brilliant, blinding light, illuminating the sealed room as if it were broad daylight.
"Incredible! This thing's Aura is even stronger than the Chimera Ant King's!" Allen stared, his mouth agape in surprise.
Since he had learned Nen, this was the first time a full-power shot of his had been intercepted head-on. Not even Meruem, using the 100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva, could have achieved such a feat!
More frighteningly, the Nen erupting from the Urn showed signs of continuously intensifying!
The violent struggle lasted seven or eight seconds. Ultimately, the Urn emerged victorious; the arrow, having lost its Aura reinforcement, was crushed into powder and scattered across the floor.
With the arrow dealt with, the Nen hands surged toward Allen from all directions, encircling him without leaving a single gap or blind spot.
However, before these hands filled with intense malice could reach him, Vaelastrasz immediately unleashed scorching Dragon Breath from the dragon-head pauldrons on his shoulders.
The breath of an Azerothian Red Dragon was no ordinary flame; it was the Flame of Life, the natural enemy of all things dead in the world. The so-called "Nen that becomes stronger after death" clearly fell within that category.
In the blink of an eye, the black hands that had successfully blocked a Thorium Arrow were incinerated like melting snow under the spray of the Dragon Breath.
"Hm? The Dragon Breath can damage them!" Allen noted keenly.
"Yes! I suggest you use Dragon Form to deal with this Urn," Vaelastrasz advised bluntly.
"OK! Then let's raise some hell!"
Allen stowed his bow and allowed the red scales to rapidly embed themselves into his body. The surging Red Dragon Essence was injected into his bloodstream, flowing through every corner of his being.
The next second...
BOOM!
He felt his body expanding rapidly! Strength! A power beyond measure! The power of a creature standing at the pinnacle of the food chain, looking down upon all!
When the transformation was complete, he was no longer human, but a Great Dragon covered in thick, armor-like red scales.
"This feeling... it's absolutely wonderful!" Allen looked down at his hands, now transformed into lethal claws, his voice trembling with excitement and thrill.
"Be careful! In Dragon Form, we control this body together. You might find it a bit disorienting the first time," Vaelastrasz reminded him.
"Don't worry! We were always one to begin with."
With that, Allen took a deep breath and unleashed a torrent of white-hot Dragon Breath from his jagged, toothy maw.
ROAARRRRR!!!!!!!!!
The terrifying flames completely ignited half the room. Whether it was the coffins placed around or the mysterious patterns on the floor and walls, everything melted and burned under the intense heat. Nothing in this world could withstand the high temperatures produced by a Red Dragon's breath!
Even the Urn, with its staggering post-mortem Nen, had to continuously expend its massive reserves just to maintain a thin isolation layer, barely ensuring it wasn't destroyed by the fire.
Such a violent battle naturally alerted the guards stationed at the door. When a group of Royal Guards burst in and saw Allen in his Dragon Form, amidst a room turned into a literal inferno, they immediately sounded the alarm and pulled their triggers.
A hail of bullets poured out, striking the solid dragon scales. With the dual defense of Nen and dragon scales, these standard handgun and rifle rounds were deflected harmlessly, failing to leave even a scratch.
Several Nen users attempted to rush forward and activate their abilities, but they were all cleared away by a single sweep of the tail controlled by Vaelastrasz.
The tail of an Azerothian Aspect Dragon was not the thin, long type of a common lizard. It was thick and muscular, its end covered in jagged, cornified scales like serrated teeth. When swung, it had the effect of a morning star.
Combined with the dragon's peerless strength and the reinforcement of Nen, a single strike reduced the first unlucky soul to a pulp. The others behind him were either left with shattered bones, screaming in agony, or knocked unconscious by massive internal hemorrhaging. Without immediate medical attention, they would all be dead within minutes.
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