Translator: AnubisTL
Baal raised his hand, gazing at the red-iron dragon descending from the sky, its fiery aura billowing behind it like a celestial cloud.
His pupils constricted.
He had been constantly monitoring and preparing for the red-iron dragon, holding back his full strength during the earlier battle, allowing him to react instantly.
In terms of sheer size, Baal stood over eight meters tall, his body like an iron tower, his muscles straining against his skin. His towering, muscular frame was no less imposing than the red-iron dragon, whose tail accounted for much of its length. In fact, Baal appeared even more massive, like a bull-headed giant.
Yet even so, facing the red-iron dragon's terrifying collision, fueled by immense kinetic energy, a direct confrontation would be suicidal.
In this critical moment, Baal lifted his right hoof and slammed it into the ground. As the earth cracked and shattered, he launched himself forward.
Boom!
The ground trembled violently.
A shockwave, carrying a surge of earth and debris, swept across the battlefield, scattering and burying countless combatants. The terrifying force brought the entire battlefield to a standstill for a split second.
Suddenly, the swirling dust tore apart.
With a powerful flap of its wings, the red-iron dragon swooped low, hurtling toward Baal, who now stood his ground.
This time, Baal didn't retreat. Instead, he stomped forward.
Three obsidian spikes erupted from the ground with a thunderous roar, like the fangs of a giant beast, lunging toward the red-iron dragon.
Garos shifted his body half an inch, the wing blade slicing past the edge of the stone peak, severing the rock pillar at its waist. Amidst the flying debris, his dragon claw tore toward Baal's throat.
Clang!
Chieftain Bloodhoof lowered his head, his horn colliding with the dragon claw. Sparks erupted like a torrential downpour as the rock beneath Baal's feet crumbled. Using the recoil, he leaned back, a wisp of dark flame igniting on his left hoof, which he swung like a battle-axe toward the dragon's belly.
But the strike missed.
Crimson qi surged from the red-iron dragon's folded wings. After the clash with Chieftain Bloodhoof, Garos didn't linger. He soared straight upward, ascending into the sky.
"Cowardly lizard! You dare only stay in the heavens?" Chieftain Bloodhoof roared, his voice deep and resonant. "Come down and fight me!" He pounded his chest, bellowing in challenge.
Garos disdained words in battle.
He remained unmoved by Chieftain Bloodhoof's taunts, his cold gaze locked on the minotaur. Circling to gather kinetic energy, he once again charged toward Chieftain Bloodhoof with unstoppable force.
Baal temporarily retreated, ready to evade the red-iron dragon's aerial assault.
As Garos neared the ground, he abandoned his futile attempt to crash into the earth. With a violent flap of his wings, he redirected his momentum, sacrificing most of his kinetic energy to swoop down almost horizontally. His wings extended like scythes, slicing through the air as he approached Chieftain Bloodhoof, bisecting several bloodthirsty minotaurs who charged toward him along the way.
In an instant, Garos closed the distance.
He whirled around, his dragon wings sweeping out like massive blades, slashing at Chieftain Bloodhoof.
Baal retreated several steps, narrowly avoiding the dragon wing attacks. Just as he prepared to counterattack, the red-iron dragon's thick tail lashed out, cracking through the air.
The red-iron dragon had instantly transformed into a terrifying war machine.
His wings and tail were lethal weapons, his claws striking with lightning speed and ruthless precision. The relentless assault, like a torrential storm, battered Chieftain Bloodhoof. Though none of the blows struck vital points, they left his body riddled with bloody gashes.
Baal was no weakling.
Realizing that retreating would only prolong his beating, he abruptly halted his retreat and switched to offense.
His iron-hard fists slammed into the red-iron dragon's body with tremendous force, each blow carrying high-frequency vibrations capable of penetrating dragon scale and flesh to damage internal organs. Even the dragon's double-layered scales couldn't completely block the impact.
However, Garos alternated between close-quarters combat with Baal and soaring through the air at breakneck speed, making his attacks unpredictable.
His superior mobility allowed him to evade most of the minotaur chieftain's attacks. Even when struck, unless the blow landed on a vital spot, the injuries were superficial.
Boom!
Chieftain Bloodhoof's massive fist slammed into Garos's shoulder.
The explosive scale shattered instantly, sending flames, shattered scales, and razor-sharp thorn spikes tearing into Baal's body, leaving scorched marks and embedding fragments deep into his flesh.
Even as Chieftain Bloodhoof's attack landed, the red-iron dragon retaliated with a counterstrike.
Moreover, Garos's own offensive was relentlessly swift and ferocious. His claws, wings, and tail left deep, bone-deep wounds across Chieftain Bloodhoof's body.
With a slight twist of his torso, Baal narrowly avoided a sweeping tail strike, the tip of the dragon's tail slicing a bloody gash across his chest.
His eyes burning with savage fury, Baal lunged forward, seizing the red-iron dragon's tail in a desperate attempt to hurl the creature to the ground.
But the moment his grip tightened, a searing, tearing pain erupted in his palm.
The scales on Garos's tail were razor-sharp, slicing through Baal's flesh and leaving his hand drenched in blood, making it impossible to maintain his hold.
As his attempt to restrain the dragon failed, Garos spun around, his dragon wing smashing down on a minotaur warrior attempting to aid the chieftain. His claws alternated in rapid strikes, battering Baal's towering frame backward until Garos finally used his dragon horn to impale the chieftain's chest, sending him flying into the air.
Another blast of flaming dragon breath followed.
Baal's body was hurled skyward by the magma-like flames, arcing through the air before crashing heavily to the ground. His skin was charred to a crisp, and his qi had weakened considerably.
Did I overestimate him?
The red-iron dragon narrowed its eyes, its gaze fixed on Baal's charred corpse-like form.
Both were masters of close combat.
In the heat of melee, stripped of flashy skills, the stronger combatant always prevails swiftly over the weaker.
Reflecting on the battle so far:
Baal's attacks, though threatening—the penetrating shockwaves twisting his internal organs—never posed a true danger.
His counterattacks shattered nearly eighty percent of Garos's explosive scales and snapped numerous thorn spikes.
But that was all.
The explosive scales were merely a layer of defense, and the thorn spikes could regenerate.
Now, aside from some physical exhaustion and the depletion of his explosive scales, Garos's actual injuries were minimal.
Something's wrong. The other Bloodhoof Clan bosses aren't reacting strongly to the chieftain's condition.
Garos noticed the reactions of the other minotaurs. They were still locked in fierce combat with the Ironforged Legion, their morale showing no signs of wavering. This was clearly abnormal; the severe injury of their leader should have shattered the will of most warriors.
"Regardless, I must kill him completely first."
Garos took another deep breath and unleashed a torrent of scorching flaming dragon breath, aiming to incinerate Baal to ashes.
The charcoal-like Baal suddenly moved with astonishing speed, dodging the dragon breath attack.
Crack... crack... crack...
Baal's charred body fractured like brittle pottery, revealing countless crimson flesh buds beneath the scorched skin. These buds writhed and intertwined like ten million venomous snakes mating, instantly weaving a new, pitch-black epidermis.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Molten blood surged from the cracks in Baal's skin, igniting into surging, pitch-black magic flames. His body swelled once more, layers of muscle bulging beneath skin that transformed into a metallic, iron-like sheen.
Finally, a demonic monstrosity over ten meters tall, as if risen from the abyss itself, stood before Garos. The overwhelming sense of danger was palpable, utterly different from before.
"The demon bloodline has been activated. This is his true power."
"But is ordinary demonic blood atavism really this strong? This guy's acting a bit... off."
Garos soared into the air, his gaze fixed on Chieftain Bloodhoof, who stood on the ground like a demon from the abyss.
The chieftain's pitch-black eyes locked onto the red-iron dragon. His voice, deep and resonant like a boulder tumbling from a mountain peak, boomed, "To force me into Demonic Blood Frenzy, I acknowledge your strength."
He continued, "Now, let's truly begin."
"I will snap your neck and use your life to forge a path to greater power."
Activating his second stage, Baal felt the surging power within him, brimming with confidence.
He let out a low growl, his face contorting in pain as his body hunched slightly.
Suddenly, his shoulder blades pierced through his back muscles. Bone spurs, stark white and jagged, rapidly grew and extended, transforming into bat-like demonic wings with a wingspan exceeding twenty meters.
In an instant, Baal flapped his demonic wings, creating a gale-force wind that propelled him from the battlefield into the sky, hurtling toward the red-iron dragon.
On the ground, the Ironforged Legion and Bloodhoof forces continued their brutal clash, while Chieftain Bloodhoof and the red-iron dragon waged their fierce battle high above.
(End of the Chapter)
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