Chapter 41: Flaming Cloud Beast/p>
“It can’t be, Liang Xiaole, what you’re saying is ridiculous. Those two aren’t even Saints yet; to think they could kill over 70 Magical Beasts in a day? That’s impossible.” A youth with a pike said incredulously.
“That’s right, it’s too ridiculous. Even a Saint wouldn’t cut it; I think even a Great Saint wouldn’t be able to kill that many Class 1 Magical Beasts in a single day, let alone half. I doubt their Saint Force is that unlimited.” A bow wielding girl said with doubt.
At that moment, the youth that had invited Jian Chen and Tie Ta into the group said, “Liang Xiaole, do you know who they are? When did our Kargath Academy have such amazing people in it? They aren’t Saints, but to easily defeat Class 1 Magical Beasts? Just who are they?” Saying this, he seemed to have immediately realized something, as his face rapidly changed colors.
Liang Xiaole’s face looked proud as if she had done something honorable. With a laidback tone, she said, “I can tell you this: the one that just traded you a monster core for your battleaxe was the one that set the academy abuzz–Tie Ta: the headmaster’s apprentice. The other person is the Freshmen Ruler of the annual Freshmen Competition–Changyang Xiang Tian.”
Everyone cried out in alarm before talking amongst themselves in excitement.
“So it was those two abnormal people; no wonder their strength was that strong.”
“It can’t be, it’s said that Tie Ta fought Lord Cheng to a standstill at the library…”
“That Changyang Xiang Tian was the one who beat the Saint Ka Di Yun in an intense duel. I was there watching the fight; Changyang Xiang Tian’s strength was really amazing.”
“I heard that outside the library, the middle ranked Saint Luo Jian wasn’t able to deal with Changyang Xiang Tian, and was even forced to use his Saint Weapon in the end.”
……
Without the burden of having Liang Xiaole anymore, Tie Ta and Jian Chen’s speed had risen exponentially, and so the two soon reached the third region.
When they first entered the 3rd region, they initially saw no difference in the two regions. But the further they advanced, the more hellish it became. Compared to the 3rd region, the 2nd region could be called a paradise.
There were all sorts of magical beasts in the forest, and the land was full of swamps, so if one wasn’t careful, they would find themselves stuck deep inside the waters. However, most of the swamps were man-made, so they weren’t too deep. Otherwise, if no one came to rescue them, they wouldn’t be able to escape with their lives.
Perhaps it was because of the ground, but there wasn’t much grass in the 3rd region, so line of sight was much better than the 2nd region.
Jian Chen and Tie Ta cautiously trekked through the swamplands with a small amount of powder on them. This type of powder was a type of repellant that would prevent insects from biting them.
“Changyang Xiang Tian, it seems like you’re familiar with the forest. Could it be you’ve been here before? How could you be this amazing?” Tie Ta said, while looking at the layer of green dust on his body.
Jian Chen chuckled and said, “I read up a lot of books in the library about various places, so my understanding of the forests is relatively high.”
“Ah, no wonder.” Tie Ta realized.
Right after Tie Ta spoke, Jian Chen’s face stilled before becoming serious. At the same time, the ground began to shake, as if an earthquake was occurring.
But before Jian Chen could say anything, Tie Ta had already sprung into action, his new battleaxe coming to rest in both his hands.
Jian Chen glanced towards his left and spoke cautiously, “Tie Ta, be careful. This time it looks like we’ve come across a large magical beast.”
“Yea!” Tie Ta nodded his head as the expression on his face grew solemn. Because they were in the 3rd region, this wasn’t a Class 1 magical beast, but a Class 2 Magical Beast that was stronger than a Class 1 Magical Beast by many times over. It could fight against a Great Saint on even footing.
Although its attack power wasn’t all that strong yet, its strength still couldn’t be underestimated.
As the two of them nervously looked around, the magical beast finally came into view. Its entire body had red fur, and it spanned 3 meters tall and 5 meters wide. Protruding from its mouth, it had two long tusks, that looked as if they could penetrate through muscle with ease. If it weren’t for the fact that the magical beast had a short nose, then Jian Chen would had thought that this was an animal that he had met in his previous world–the elephant. But this magical beast was a lot bigger than the elephant.
“Tie Ta, be careful, this is the Class 2 Magical Beast–the Flaming Cloud Beast. It can spit out fire from its mouth and is quite hard to deal with.” Jian Chen uttered the magical beast’s name. Because he had read so many books in the library, he could recognize most magical beasts, and even knew of some of their special abilities.
Tie Ta only nodded, as he wordlessly focused all of his attention on the Flaming Cloud Beast, ready to strike at any moment.
“Hou!” The gigantic Flaming Cloud Beast roared as it started to move each of its four hooves towards Jian Chen and Tie Ta. With each stamp on the ground, the earth would to shake.
Jian Chen’s eyes flashed in concentration, “I’ll attack it from the front; Tie Ta, you go around and attack it from behind.” Charging forward, he jumped into the air straight towards the Flaming Cloud Beast’s head.
The moment Jian Chen had moved, Tie Ta started to move as well, and circled around the beast to come towards its behind.
Standing on top of its head, Jian Chen let out a yell as his Saint Force gathered within his iron rod, before fiercely stabbing it into the head of the beast.
“Ding!” As if made of steel, the head of the Flaming Cloud Beast deflected Jian Chen’s iron rod. It had only left a shallow line on its head, unable to penetrate through its defense.
Jian Chen’s face changed into a grimace; although he knew the Flaming Cloud Beast had a strong defense, he hadn’t thought that it would be so strong that his iron rod could do no damage to it. He had used all of his strength in that attack, and it had unexpectedly done virtually nothing.
“Ahe!” With a roar, Tie Ta jumped forward and used his enormous strength to slash at the butt of the Flaming Cloud Beast with his battleaxe. However he didn’t do any better than Jian Chen. Although his battleaxe had cut through the skin of the magical beast, it had done no damage at all.
Their attacks had evidently angered the Flaming Cloud Beast, because it roared in response. Whipping its head back and forth, it threw off Jian Chen, who had been standing on its head.
As Jian Chen flew through the air, he quickly readjusted himself. Using both of his feet to jump off a tree trunk, he flipped himself upright onto a nearby tree branch.
After throwing off Jian Chen, the Flaming Cloud Beast turned around and tried to bite into Tie Ta.
Tie Ta immediately leapt aside to avoid its mouth, and simultaneously swung his battleaxe into one of the giant tusks.
“Ding!” The battleaxe smashed against the tusk, breaking it off near the root. However, after the tusk was broken off, Tie Ta’s battleaxe chipped off in several places as well.
“Hou!” The Flaming Cloud Beast roared in anger as it stampeded towards Tie Ta once more.
Tie Ta’s eyes flashed dangerously as it watched the Flaming Cloud Beast charge towards him. Without bothering to dodge, Tie Ta dropped his battleaxe onto the ground and used both of his hands to grab onto the remaining tusk and the root of the broken one, before pushing back at the monster, resulting in a deadlock.
At that moment, it was as if Tie Ta had turned into a fierce beast. Grunting out loud, his hands pushed against the Flaming Cloud Beast’s tusks, as if trying to compare his strength to it.
Despite Tie Ta’s heavenly strength, he was still a delicate tiny figure compared to the heavy and gigantic Flaming Cloud Beast. So even though his own strength wasn’t lacking, he found himself being pushed backwards a large distance, his feet leaving behind two deep marks in the ground .
“Ah!” Tie Ta’s eyes revealed a crazy look within them as he roared. The veins within his arms bulged as both of his arms swelled up in an instant, as he began to exert more force.
“Pa!” Another crisp sound was heard as the remaining tusk was snapped off by Tie Ta, causing the Flaming Cloud Beast to release a blood curling roar of pain.
Despite having used a good amount of his strength, Tie Ta was not yet satisfied, as he grabbed onto the freshly broken off tusk and used it to pierce it into the head of the Flaming Cloud Beast.
The tooth of the Flaming Cloud Beast was extraordinarily sharp, and was far stronger than Jian Chen’s weapon. But despite its sharpness, it had only penetrated into the head by a tiny amount, causing a small amount of blood to spurt outwards.
Seeing Tie Ta use its own tusk to stab it, the Flaming Cloud Beast’s eyes grew extremely red as it opened its mouth wide. With a loud roar, it unleashed a trail of fire that moved around, almost like a serpent emerging from its gaping jaws, with the intention of roasting Tie Ta alive. Instantly, the surrounding temperature had started to increase exponentially.
Sensing the astonishing heat radiate from the stream of fire, Tie Ta’s expression immediately changed, as he desperately threw himself away from the attack. But despite his efforts he had not been able to dodge the attack of the fire serpent, and so his entire body caught on fire.
Seeing Tie Ta’s body catch on fire, Jian Chen turned pale with fright. Immediately snapping off a thick tree branch, he jumped off against a tree trunk and sped towards the Tie Ta like a speeding bullet.
“Hou!” The Flaming Cloud Beast roared once more as it stamped towards the still burning Tie Ta. Opening its jaws wide, it tried to swallow him, not caring if he was on fire or not.
Just as the Flaming Cloud Beast was about to consume Tie Ta, Jian Chen had finally reached Tie Ta. Using both of his arms, Jian Chen waved the tree branch in his hand to drag Tie Ta a good 10 meters away from the jaws of the magical beast.
Jian Chen quickly dislodged Tie Ta from the branch and without caring for the fire’s heat, he quickly extended his arms and tore away at the wolf leather Tie Ta was wearing.
Because the fire had caught onto the fur of the wolf leather, the moment it was removed from him, Tie Ta was no longer on fire. Tie Ta’s tattered academy uniform was exposed underneath.
Tie Ta didn’t bother to get up from the floor, but instead started to roll on the ground while complaining, “Hot, hot! I’m dying from the heat, it burns…” Seeing him complain like that, Jian Chen deduced that Tie Ta had not suffered any major harm. However, all of his hair had been burnt off, leaving him bald. Not a single hair remained; even his eyebrows and eyelashes had been burnt away!