Translator: AnubisTL
The air above the highlands churned as Garos's dragon wings beat against the night sky. His vertical pupils locked onto the diamond giant, and he soared at high speed beneath the moonlit heavens.
He didn't rush to attack the diamond giant.
From his vantage point, Garos could clearly see his Legion of Servants closing in on the Stone Giant Camp.
He would wait until he was further from the camp.
He would wait until the Legion of Servants was closer to the Stone Giant Camp.
Only then would it be the optimal time to engage the diamond giant in a life-and-death struggle.
On the ground, the diamond giant's crystalline carapace refracted the cold moonlight as it lumbered forward with earth-shattering strides. Each heavy footfall gouged spiderweb-like cracks into the ground.
Its thoughts mirrored Garos's.
It would wait until it was further from the camp, ensuring the battle wouldn't endanger its kin. Only then would it stop and find a way to kill this juvenile dragon, without concern for its people.
Time slipped away as both sides engaged in this psychological game of cat and mouse.
A few minutes later.
"It's time."
Garos narrowed his eyes, thinking to himself.
He decisively accelerated, his dragon wings tearing through the clouds as he plummeted downward, leaving a long, comet-like trail behind him.
The diamond giant halted its advance.
It stomped heavily, causing the rock within a hundred-meter radius to surge upward like living creatures, forming a cage of interlocking stone spikes that erupted from all directions toward Garos.
Garos's dragon wings sliced through the thick, rigid spikes, closing the distance to the diamond giant in an instant.
He twisted his body, his dragon tail striking the giant's shoulder like an axe.
As diamond shards scattered, the giant grabbed Garos's tail and slammed it against the ground with crushing force.
The moment the giant seized his tail, Garos didn't struggle. Instead, he abruptly folded his wings, using the giant's pull to accelerate his descent.
The blade-like dragon scales on his tail scraped against the giant's diamond palm, sparking blinding fire.
Garos flipped over, his claws seizing the opportunity to stab toward the diamond giant's chest.
Its diamond heart was both its power source and its vulnerability.
Flame Claw!
Blazing flames solidified into tangible form, erupting from Garos's claws.
The quasi-spell skill enhancement, combined with Garos' already formidable strength and razor-sharp claws, made the strike dangerous even for the diamond giant.
The diamond giant roared, releasing its grip on the dragon's tail and crossing its arms to block.
Garos' claws scraped against the giant's arm with a piercing screech, but only left shallow gouges.
Seizing the opportunity, the giant raised its knee and slammed it into the dragon's belly with blinding force.
Boom! Garos was sent flying backward, his abdominal scales cracking and oozing lava-hot dragon blood.
Without relying on speed and burst attacks, Garos was at a disadvantage in a direct confrontation. He was no match for the diamond giant, given the vast difference in their ages and life grades.
But if he relied solely on speed and burst attacks...
The diamond giant focused entirely on defense, leaving Garos with no good options.
"That really hurt."
A fierce glint flashed in Garos' eyes. He instinctively wanted to use his trump card and retaliate, but he suppressed the urge with his iron will. It wasn't the right moment yet.
With a shudder, his scales exploded like a rain of sharp projectiles.
The scales weren't scattered randomly but precisely covered the rock formation beneath the giant's feet.
The diamond giant was about to pursue when a series of explosions erupted beneath its feet.
The explosive scales reduced the rock to a quicksand-like powder, and the giant's massive body sank half a meter.
Garos seized the opportunity, beating his dragon wings with full force to whip up a hurricane that swirled debris and obscured vision, while simultaneously launching a flanking attack.
He took a deep breath, filling his lungs almost to bursting.
Hiss!
Flaming dragon breath erupted from Garos's mouth, forcing the diamond giant to raise its arm in defense.
But this was merely a feint.
Flaming dragon breath had little effect on life forms like the diamond giant.
Garos stopped, turned, and braced his left wing against the ground. With the wingtip as the pivot, he spun his body violently, the end of his right wing surging with dark red qi flames for acceleration. This maneuver, the Dragon Wing Grand Spin, tore through the air with lethal force, slashing toward the diamond giant's waist.
The diamond giant's other arm dropped.
A thick layer of diamond structure grew over the skin of its arm, as if it had donned a gauntlet.
Clang!
The dragon wings sliced through the armguard, striking deep into the diamond giant's arm, but failed to sever it completely.
The diamond giant's defensive advantage, like Garos' speed advantage, was its greatest strength.
At the same time, the diamond giant's other fist slammed forward like a battering ram.
The heavy blow struck Garos squarely in the chest. Amidst the muffled crack of exploding scales, the diamond giant staggered back several steps, while Garos was sent flying backward.
Though the explosive scales on his chest were shattered, they couldn't fully absorb the kinetic energy.
A clear fist-shaped indentation marked Garos' iron-black dragon scales, surrounded by a ring of cracks.
The diamond giant took massive strides, pursuing Garos.
"Little lizard, you're tougher than I thought, but that's all you've got!"
"Run now if you don't want to die."
It taunted Garos, trying to prevent him from truly fearing and fleeing.
"You're the one who should be running."
Whoosh! Garos, ignoring the diamond giant's crushing pressure, rocketed toward the heavens. After circling briefly in the sky, he accelerated rapidly, transforming into a deadly crimson meteor hurtling toward the diamond giant.
The wind pressure whipped up sand and debris, bending trees and grass.
Instead of using its Disintegration Beam for a long-range attack, the diamond giant took a deep breath, spread its arms wide, and transformed into a colossal cross.
A dazzling light erupted from the diamond giant's core, then spread to engulf its entire body.
The light condensed into a brilliant, radiant aura, encircling the giant and transforming it into a perfectly spherical, indestructible diamond.
This was a defensive technique unique to the diamond giant, a skill no other stone giant possessed.
In the blink of an eye, the crimson star that Garos had become collided with the diamond giant's crystalline body.
The moment of impact sent a circular shockwave radiating outward, lifting the surrounding rock formations like ocean waves for five hundred meters.
The ground beneath the giant's feet instantly collapsed into a crater, while Garos's scales groaned under the strain, emitting cracking sounds.
Crack—Snap!
The sickening crunch of shattering crystal and dragon scale echoed across the battlefield.
Cracks spiderwebbed across the diamond giant's body, while Garos's scales crumbled and shattered, spraying droplets of scorching blood.
Boom!
White light and crimson flames roared and clashed, driving each other back.
Both combatants were blasted backward by the explosion.
The giant slammed into a cliff face three hundred meters away, half its body embedding in the mountain. Garos tumbled through the air like a broken kite, crashing to the ground and plowing a hundred-meter-long trench.
Both quickly rose to their feet.
The diamond giant now bore numerous cracks, its body resembling a porcelain vase on the verge of shattering.
But as the surrounding earth and stone surged and coalesced beneath its feet, the cracks began to seal at a visible rate.
Garos's explosive scales were completely depleted, leaving his black-red, hardened scales riddled with cracks.
This was the first time he had sustained such injuries in battle.
"Such a tough body," Garos thought, his gaze sweeping over the diamond giant. "It's like a mountain condensed into a physical form." If I could collide with it daily, my physical enhancement would surely be much more efficient.
"My name is Abaddon," the diamond giant declared, staring down at Garos. "Juvenile dragon, you are a formidable opponent. Tell me your name, and I will carve it upon your tombstone."
Garos remained silent.
What if this giant uses my name to weave some treacherous magic?
He flexed his dragon wings, feeling a dull ache. Repeated use of the Heavenly Comet Wings for acceleration had taken a toll, and his magical energy was rapidly draining, his stamina teetering on the brink.
To ensure his survival, Garos had set a clear limit. If his energy expenditure or injuries exceeded this threshold, he would retreat without hesitation. He wasn't quite there yet, but he was getting close.
However...
It was time.
"Look behind you, foolish stone giant." Garos licked the blood from his arm, savoring the sting, and spoke calmly.
The diamond giant's heart lurched. It turned around.
In the distance, the Stone Giant Camp was under attack.
Hordes of ogres, hyena-men, lizardfolk, and graymane werewolves surged toward the Stone Giant Camp like a tidal wave.
"You cunning, despicable bastards!"
The diamond giant roared in fury.
It had been tricked.
It never expected Garos's true target to be the camp.
While it thought it had lured Garos away, in reality, Garos had used it as a diversion.
With only a granite stone giant and a motley assortment of low-level demonic retainers inside the giant camp, they couldn't withstand Garos's much larger Legion of Servants.
The Gluttonous Demon Karu led the charge.
A rock lizard lunged, but Karu seized its throat with one hand, grabbed its tail, and tore it in half with a vicious rip.
Warchief Bloodtooth shielded his warriors, using the Overseer's Aura to amplify their strength and resilience.
The Giant Wolf Knight let out a long howl and charged through the demonic horde, cutting a bloody path.
Lizardfolk moved in stealth, their silent movements posing an invisible threat.
The sorcerers continuously cast spells, not to attack, but to empower the entire legion, transforming them into a relentless flood that crushed the Stone Giant's fragile monster retinue and surged toward the granite stone giant and the young giants it protected.
"Crush them!"
"Tear these stones apart!"
"For the great Dragon Lord!"
The monsters' frenzied roars echoed faintly in the distance.
The diamond giant could no longer maintain its composure. Ignoring Garos, it turned and fled back toward the camp.
In its panic, it exposed its greatest weakness.
Garos spread his wings and soared toward the heavens, his gaze locked onto the diamond giant.
It had miscalculated.
Garos's target had always been the giant itself.
Nothing had changed from the beginning.
The giant camp? No, that was merely a distraction, a way to scatter the giant's focus and cloud its mind. To Garos, once the diamond giant was slain, the remaining giants would be insignificant.
He knew perfectly well who the true threat was.
High in the sky, Garos opened his maw. His throat churned, and he forced out a small barrel of black oil and a horn ring.
Dragonkind possess a separate stomach chamber for storing items, but since dragons prefer to keep their treasures close and flaunt their wealth, they rarely use it.
Reaching beneath the lower layers of his neck scales, he withdrew a small pouch of fairy scale powder and dumped it into his mouth.
Simultaneously, Garos bit down on the black oil barrel, crushing the metal casing. He swallowed the oil and scale powder together, sending them into his energy-digesting stomach.
In an instant,
An indescribable sense of bliss flooded his body and spirit.
"Soooo... so fucking... good!"
Garos's mind and body surged with extreme excitement. He sneezed, and two streams of fire, each several meters long, erupted from his nostrils.
The dark crimson qi flames at the tips of his wing bones flared like oil on fire, their intensity swelling severalfold.
He once again plummeted toward the diamond giant, his speed shattering previous limits, which he controlled with perfect mastery.
During his dive, Garos simultaneously donned the horn ring and activated the Bloodburst Technique.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Engine-like roars erupted from his chest.
His chest lit up, crimson light seeping through the gaps between his scales, forming patterns like molten lava. The intense heat distorted the surrounding air.
Dragon blood surged through his veins at lightning speed.
The markings on his scales began to glow one by one, starting from his pounding heart and spreading across his body like an energy network.
The dark crimson qi flames expanded again, trailing a thick stream of fire behind Garos.
Crack!
As the sonic booms of breaking the sound barrier echoed in succession, Garos was already closing in on the diamond giant, his speed surpassing that of sound.
The diamond giant, focused on its camp and believing Garos's attacks posed no life-threatening danger, paid no attention when Garos took to the air again.
By the time it sensed the danger and reacted, it was already too late.
The diamond giant looked up, its vision completely filled with crimson.
It wasn't fire, but the light erupting from Garos's body as he unleashed the Bloodburst Technique.
Rings of sonic boom clouds burst around them, and the dark crimson flames at the tips of Garos' dragon wings swelled like clouds descending from the heavens, leaving behind trails of burning scars stretching for kilometers across the night sky, as if the firmament had been torn open by a bleeding wound.
Garos transformed into a peerless, ferocious star, plummeting straight downward.
The diamond giant's pupils contracted.
Under the terrifying wind pressure, the ground beneath its feet cracked inch by inch, and its body sank.
In this critical moment, the diamond giant unleashed its previous defensive technique once more. Its arms spread wide, and light enveloped its body, transforming it into a perfect, spherical diamond.
The instant of impact froze time.
The rock strata beneath the diamond giant collapsed in a circular pattern, accompanied by the thunderous roar of a world-shattering collision. Centered on the impact point, the surrounding rock layers crumbled in concentric circles, sending countless particles of dust and debris surging skyward like a tsunami, obscuring the plateau in a hazy, chaotic blur.
Whoosh!
The dust was whipped away by the gale generated by Garos's dragon wings.
Garos stood at the bottom of the deep pit, his wings heavily damaged, many of their fine scales stripped away. The silver wing bones were riddled with cracks, and large areas of his scales had shattered. One of his dragon horns was broken.
This strike, which had pushed him beyond his limits, had come at a great cost.
But he had won. Through meticulous planning and decisive action, he had achieved ultimate victory.
The diamond giant lay beneath Garos, its once impregnable body shattered into countless pieces. The light in its eyes had faded, and its body no longer shimmered.
Crack!
Garos withdrew his dragon claw and tore the diamond crystal core from the giant's chest.
"I will engrave your name on it as a trophy," he declared, looking down at the cracked, resentful face of the fallen giant. His voice carried the authority of a victor.
(End of the Chapter)
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