Translator: Wuxia Dog Editor: Wuxia Dog
They gazed at each other, thinking if they should go or not. Suddenly, the ground shook. A wild growl came along with sounds of collisions, and a violent magic fluctuation came from the distance, making the surrounding trees rustle in the breeze.
“What happened there?” Asa asked in astonishment.
“Stay here.” After saying this, Reg’s figure flashed and vanished into the thick woods.
“Don’t bother.” Yalina frowned and released Three Eyes of Perspective. The first two missed the target. When the third one was released, a shocking scene appeared in front of them.
Two enormous holy animals were fighting each other. Those that were inexperienced might not be able to truly understand how gigantic the figures were. Take the old towering tree nearby for example. Sunier could only reach the top of the tree after taking several leaps, but these two gigantic animals would be able to reach the top as soon as they stretched.
Both of the holy animals had fat bellies and their lower bodies looked like a huge lizard’s. However, their upper bodies were totally different. One was multi-headed with long necks that were even longer than its body, all of which quickly swung around like holy snakes. Its body was cinereous all over and covered with lustrous scales.
While the other one was slightly smaller compared to its opponent, but its head was much larger. Unfortunately, it had only one head and was obviously in a disadvantaged position in the crazy fight. Each time it was in danger, it would spray out a puff of thick flames.
Though Han Jin was far away from the battlefield, he could still feel the fierceness of the battle. The two holy animals were so strong that neither solid rocks nor tall trees could resist their hits. Gravel splattered and leaves fell all around them. Within a short period of time, the jungle surrounding the center of the battlefield, which was dozens of meters in radius, had been flattened.
In the battle, the multi-headed holy animal always had the chance to take the initiative, but it feared the flames spurted by its opponent too much. Each time the light of flame flashed, it would retreat in panic. If it failed to dodge the coming flame, all of its heads would violently shake or even clinch due to extreme pain.
“The Hydra and the Giant… Dragon?” Moxinke exclaimed with his eyes nearly protruded.
“Not a Giant Dragon; it’s just an underage dragon,” Yalina said in a low voice. “Poor thing…”
The young magicians immediately became excited and nearly clapped their hands to celebrate. For them, the past few days were like hell. Now that they had finally found the Hydra, it wouldn’t be long before they would be able to go back home! They didn’t even worry about whether they could defeat the monster.
Moxinke cast a glance at his companions and saw the happiness in their eyes. The contract had stated that whatever they obtained from this mission would have to be evenly shared by the two parties. The most important one was the Giant Dragon. Though it was an immature one, its skin was most valuable as it could be used as a top-class armor, and its blood was a rare ingredient for alchemy. Its bones could also be made into a large number of magic arrows. If they were lucky enough to find a good buyer, such as an undead mage, an intact dragon bone could also be sold at a whopping price. Plus, they might get even more if they manage to get a dragon crystal.
In conclusion, if they could get the dragon, they could spend the rest of their lives doing nothing other than enjoying their riches!
“Luck is finally on our side. We could be rich overnight!” Moxinke grinned.
“Are we going there now, Headmaster?” Asa rubbed his hands out of excitement.
“No, now’s not the right time,” Sunier replied before Yalina.
The fight between the two holy animals grew even more intense. The battlefield changed from the hillside to the foot of the mountain, and then from the foot to the top of another hill. Everywhere they passed turned into a mess. In fact, the hydra was at a very low position among the top-grade holy animals due to its ponderous physique and lack of special skills. All it could do in a fight was eject acid fluid to corrode its opponents. If it lived in an area that was full of high-grade holy animals, Hydras could only survive by tucking their tails between their legs. But at present, the giant dragon was still young, so much so that even its scales had not been fully grown in, and the Draconic magic still could not be released without some limitations. Eventually, the magic released by the young dragon became less frequent while the hydra’s attacks became more violent.
Finally, the Hydra took the chance and sprayed acid mist above one of its heads to draw the dragon’s attention while the other heads reached for its belly, biting and jerking it. The young dragon was pushed onto its back. However, it was not willing to resign itself to extinction and bit one of the Hydra’s heads.
The tremendous pain drove the Hydra crazier. The remaining heads desperately bit at the dragon’s belly, causing flesh and blood to spatter in all directions. In the blink of an eye, several bloody holes which were so deep that even bones could be seen were found on the belly. The young dragon was in even more pain and became more ferocious. It didn’t loosen its mouth. On the contrary, it was still wildly swinging its neck, trying to bite the head off.
“Let’s go!” said Sunier.
They were not far away from the battlefield – only several miles away – but the road was tough. Even though the young magicians were still in high spirits and didn’t need Moxinke to carve the way for them anymore, they were running forward so hysterically that they nearly rolled and crawled over.
When they finally arrived at the battlefield, the fight had already ended. One of the heads of the Hydra limped down on the ground while the young dragon’s belly was torn open, displaying bloody blurred guts. Seeing the crazy humans that were coming from the woods, the Hydra let out a roar to warn the uninvited guests.
But the young magicians completely ignored it. All kinds of magic, such as lightning, fireballs, wind blades and so on, were released toward the Hydra like raindrops. Even useless small balls of fire were mingled in between. The two deacons also started to release Art of Rehabilitation regardless of whether their companions had been injured or not.
Upon feeling the hostility from them, the Hydra strode toward them as the numerous magic spells falling upon its body caused it no harm at all.
It was said that Hydras had short legs and ran slowly, but this was only in comparison; the former was compared to its long body while the latter was compared with other holy animals. As a matter of fact, the hydra’s thick legs were around three meters in length and its body was so huge that it could make the ground tremble and the mountains sway as it ran, making them hold their breath as it approached.
The expressions of the young magicians changed. They quickly began to release diversionary magic to block the Hydra with walls of earth and fire. However, the result was not optimistic. Walls of fire were easily blown apart by the Hydra’s breath, and therefore the Hydra directly ignored such magic. As for the walls of earth, they were even shorter than the Hydra’s legs and were useless as well.
After another growl, the Hydra got closer to them and looked even more thrilling. The young magicians could only see its heads by lifting up their own heads.
Yalina had finished her incantations and started to raise her magic wand forward. A dazzling streak of lightning was shot out, turning into countless light arcs, spattering hither and thither before finally forming a giant net that tightly wrapped the Hydra inside.
It’s body stiffened and it thudded down with a thunderous sound. The incalculable weighty body was like an artillery shell, creating a cloud of dust as it fell.
It started to struggle crazily, but the net made of lightning seemed to be flexible. No matter how hard the Hydra struggled, it still could not get rid of the net.
Yalina let out a sigh of relief and started to chant incantations again. Suddenly, an unexpected turn of events happened. The young magician who stood closest to Yalina pointed his magic wand to her, on the top of which was a shining sharp blade!
Yalina had always trusted and taken good care of her students. She had never expected anyone to attack her from behind! Besides, magicians usually reacted slowly. While she was still in shock, the blade had stabbed deep into her back.
“Valcke, are you crazy?” Asa shouted with his eyes popping out.
Yalina staggered, a ray of dazzling light instantly shooting out from her wand and directly hitting the attacker. It was hard to imagine how strong the lightning released by a magus was, for the young magician named Valcke was knocked into the air with a shrill cry.
Yalina slowly turned around, and while she was still wondering why her beloved student would attack her, a faint figure suddenly appeared beside her. A dagger was waved against her neck at lightning speed.
Both assassination attempts shocked all of them, and Yalina could not even release any magic to detect the potential thief.
Han Jin and Sunier had both recovered from being so absorbed in watching Yalina’s magic just now. When they saw the assassination, all of them immediately reacted. When the figure appeared, Han Jin had released a wooden giant. Even though the enemy was so fast that he could not block the attack, he still managed to make the wooden puppet push Yalina aside.
The dagger streaked across her neck with blood splattering everywhere. The figure immediately left and hid without any delay, not bothering about whether his assassination had succeeded or not.
Yalina slowly fell forward, during which a magic scroll soundlessly drifted out and turned into a large streak of lightning, thrusting into the back of the assassin.
The lightning was as thick as a column and was much thicker than the first one she had released. It hit the assassin so accurately that it blew him into the air. The figure collided against a rock and clung on it like a paper before slowly sliding down. There was blood coming from his nose and the corner of his mouth.
Sunier had pulled out her longbow. Just when she was about to shoot an arrow, a dark light flashed from the corner of her eyes. It was too quick for any ordinary person to react. Fortunately, as an archer who had gone through lots of similar situations, Sunier subconsciously leaned her body aside. However, the arrow still managed to thrust into her shoulder, and the arrowhead pierced out from the other side of her body, pinning her into a trunk.
The outcome of a showdown between two archers depended on the positions they were in. Usually, the one in the dark would always have the upper hand. Sunier had shot many archers, but this time, she was the one who had been shot.
At the same time, Reg had appeared in front of the assassin with a dagger stabbing forward. It happened so abruptly that Reg had no time to analyze the exact strength of his opponent. It wasn’t long before it was proven that he had chosen the wrong place to stab; the assassin’s body was tougher than he had imagined.
A ray of murderous light glittered in the assassin’s eyes although they had not expected the stab either. With a backhand, he grabbed Reg’s wrist and pulled it towards him. His hand was so powerful that Reg felt as if his own wrist were fixed by an iron hoop and could not move. Then, a dagger was also thrusted toward his chest.
Reg quickly reacted by turning over his wrist and grabbing his opponent. The deadlock lasted for a while and the outcome became easy to predict. Reg stared at the dagger that was coming in his direction and struggled to move his right hand to bring more harm to his opponent while desperately trying to dodge the dagger.
The assassin roared and pushed forward. Reg stabbed deeper into the man’s chest – so deep that the dagger pierced through the body and hit the rock behind him. Thus, the distance between them was also shortened. The man exerted all his strength to his right hand, pushing his dagger into Reg’s chest.
Reg used all his effort to retreat. The coming dagger missed the vital part and left a deep blood groove under his ribs.
In an instant, both parties had paid a heavy price. Han Jin’s group had planned to come to reap some fruits from the awful fight between the two monsters, but none of them had expected to encounter a fight which was even more brutal than the battle between the two large holy animals.
