Seeing that the Ice Dragon intended to strike, the two Fire Dragons moved aside.
They had personally witnessed Galen Yu's defense and indeed had no better solution.
They desperately hoped the Ice Dragon could break through, but it was a futile wish.
Blocking at range was simply blocking at range. If the Fire Dragons couldn't break through, neither could the Ice Dragon.
Not even a single shard of ice was left behind; everything was effortlessly deflected by Yamato.
"Now do you see who the useless one is?"
Being quite vindictive, the Fire Dragon retorted without hesitation.
The Ice Dragon remained silent on the matter and quickly changed its focus.
"We can't let this continue. If breath attacks won't work, then we use our teeth and claws!"
Hunting a mere human taking this long?
If word got out, they would surely be the laughingstock of the entire Dragon Tribe!
The two Fire Dragons understood this as well, calming themselves to glare at Galen Yu.
They didn't recognize the SlashBlade, but they knew a bit about the Elytra.
"That is a rare treasure of the End, appearing only in End Cities. To think this thrall obtained it and mastered it so rapidly!"
The larger Fire Dragon struck first, opting for close-quarters combat.
'My chance!'
Seeing the dragon abandon its breath attacks in favor of melee, Galen Yu's eyes lit up.
If the dragon kept using ranged attacks, he would have had to counter with the Tri-Bow or Phantom Blades—not that he would lose, but it wouldn't be as efficient.
Since it was willing to get close, things became simple.
Phantom Blades and Blade Walls were just secondary attributes; the true strength of a SlashBlade lay in the sword itself.
"A Fire Dragon's attack patterns are actually quite simple when broken down."
They could be divided into seven types.
Bite: A standard attack that knocks back the target and deals moderate damage.
Tear: Grabs the target and deals continuous damage by shaking its head.
Fire Breath: Exhales fire to deal massive damage and ignite blocks. The base damage is 2 points per second.
The damage of the breath is calculated by multiplying the base damage by the dragon's growth stage; for example, a Stage 3 Fire Dragon deals 6 damage per second.
This damage can be reduced by Dragonscale Armor or the Resistance effect, and completely negated by Fire Resistance.
Dragon Fireball: Fire Dragons of Stage 3 and above can spit fireballs while using their breath.
Dragon Fireballs deal area-of-effect explosive damage and directly destroy or ignite blocks.
Tail Lash: The Fire Dragon spins rapidly to strike with its tail, dealing massive damage and heavy knockback.
Wing Blast: The dragon stands up and flaps its wings rapidly to create a powerful gust that knocks targets back.
Aerial Dive: A Fire Dragon in flight will use its claws to strike down airborne targets.
As long as he avoided the high-damage strikes, he could tank the rest.
After all, in addition to his equipment, Galen Yu had consumed an Enchanted Golden Apple.
Absorption IV provided 16 points of temporary health—essentially 8 golden hearts—along with Regeneration II, Fire Resistance, and Resistance I.
Beyond the immense short-term survivability, the Fire Resistance made Galen Yu completely immune to the dragon's breath.
Even if they used their Dragon Breath, it would be difficult to harm him!
Furthermore, with the Charm of Life on him—which acted like a high-end Totem of Undying—he could survive a fatal blow.
So what was there to fear?
'Why is he even more excited than I am?'
Charging toward Galen Yu, the Fire Dragon felt a sense of unease.
This physical strength was supposed to be even more terrifying than the breath attacks. Any other creature would be terrified, so why, when it came to a head-on collision...
Was the opponent getting excited instead?
'Aren't humans supposed to be the most fragile of creatures?'
Its limited intellect prevented it from overthinking, and the doubt vanished as quickly as it had appeared.
All that remained was the most savage rushing, tearing, and attacking!
Engaging the Fire Dragon in close quarters, Galen Yu maintained constant control over his Elytra's position, slashing his SlashBlade at the dragon with maximum speed.
He wasn't afraid; the advantage of the Elytra was his small, nimble frame, making him difficult to hit.
Additionally, the damage of the SlashBlade scaled upward; the higher the rank, the more it hurt. Initially, the Fire Dragon didn't feel much.
But as the intensity of the battle ramped up, it felt the SlashBlade's strikes becoming increasingly agonizing.
It went from mere scratches on its scales to slicing them off, and finally to feeling as if its very bones were being carved.
The pain forced it to howl in agony once again.
"What are you waiting for? Attack him together!"
The intervention of the other two dragons didn't improve the situation much.
While it did make it harder for Galen Yu to maneuver, he was protected by the ultimate defensive item—the Enchanted Golden Apple.
Any lost health was instantly replenished, making it nearly impossible to strike him down.
Several times, the Ice Dragon attempted to swallow him whole; it could feel his life force fading in its mouth, on the verge of vanishing.
But at those critical moments, Galen Yu would simply pull out another Enchanted Golden Apple, restoring his health to full in an instant.
He was like an unkillable cockroach, incredibly stubborn!
Meanwhile, weaving between the three massive dragons, Galen Yu found it even easier to land attacks.
Any random slash would hit a dragon, and a few quick strikes easily pushed his rank to SSS.
He was so focused on the fight that even he didn't notice it.
Without him even realizing, his combo rank was no longer SSS, but something even higher—a hidden rank.
Peak Damage, Limit!
"Look, everyone! God Yu's SlashBlade rank!"
"What is that? I thought there were only six ranks: C, B, A, S, SS, and SSS!"
"Even Mountwell only recently reached SSS, and that was supposed to be the ceiling!"
"What does Limit mean? Can someone explain this?"
"If you translate it normally, it means the maximum, the boundary... Holy crap!"
"God Yu has reached a peak level that surpasses SSS—the Limit rank!"
"Can a SlashBlade really be played this intensely?!"
He had truly mastered the blade to an incredible degree!
While the global audience marveled, Takeshi Sable's face was as dark as coal.
What were SlashBlades? They were Katanas! Their national heritage!
The better Galen Yu played, the more it proved how useless they were!
How could it be called a national treasure if it was just someone else's toy? Did they even have the right to call it that anymore?
However, the facts were right in front of them. Though no one said it aloud...
The bullet chat made it clear—the global audience had tacitly come to view the SlashBlade as a product of the Nine Provinces.
They called it a Tang Dao, not a Katana.
At its core, it was recognized as Nine Provinces' culture!
The Katana was merely a derivative branch.
Opening his social media platform, he could only make one last-ditch effort.
[POST: "Galen Yu's performance today is truly dazzling; he is shining bright thanks to our Katana!"]
He intended to reclaim their pride, but within seconds of posting...
The comment section below was already overwhelmed.
"Ohhh, mhm, sure, okay."
"Yeah, right, whatever you say."
"What the hell is a Katana? Never heard of it. You ever heard of it?"
"No clue. I've only heard of the Tang Dao!"
"I know this one! They stole the design for the Katana, and now it's just returning to its rightful ancestors!"
"You're not wrong!"
"Katanas shouldn't be looking for attention right now. You should worry about figuring out your lava problem first!"
"I'm so jealous—getting to live with the Block World's resources every day, hahaha!"
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