“Okay… maybe… I should have… revived instead…”
Neo clenched his jaw and forced his mind to work despite the pain.
Ten seconds had passed since he returned. The dragon would appear soon. He had to hurry.
“Beelzebub… devour…”
The caterpillar looked at Neo with worry, but there was not much it could do. It fought back its tears and ate the chaotic time elementals surrounding Neo.
Neo summoned the Abyss Mirror and checked the total copied percentage while recovering his body.
[Adamant Aegis (Rank: Stage 1, Mastery: Apprentice) total: 8.7%]
[Ragnarok Exhalation Dragon Breath (Rank: Stage 3, Mastery: Expert) total: 1.1%]
Neo looked at his burned body. The injuries left by the Ragnarok Exhalation Dragon Breath were hard to heal. He could barely repair his bones.
Before he could get back to regenerating muscles, the ceiling caved in.
“Hahaha! Such—”
Neo attacked and interrupted the dragon’s words.
His injuries hindered his movements, but he was able to escape long enough to reach the cave, where he once again taunted the dragons to fight.
Neo wasted no time in entering melee combat.
His punches that could destroy a Stage-1 World were ignored as if they were nothing. The dragons laughed. Yet Neo kept attacking relentlessly.
[Adamant Aegis (Rank: Stage 1, Mastery: Apprentice) +0.1%]
[Adamant Aegis (Rank: Stage 1, Mastery…]
[Adamant Aegis (Rank…]
[Adamant Aegis (Rank: Stage 1, Mastery: Apprentice) total: 8.7% → 10.11%]
Neo fought like a crazed berserker. Over the course of the battle, he stopped dodging attacks or defending against them.
He could heal simple injuries, so there was no point in fighting defensively.
“Vermin, stop this insolence this second! You can’t win no matter how hard you try!”
The dragon quickly realized Neo was crazy. They flew upward to create distance from Neo and prepared for the Ragnarok Exhalation Dragon Breath.
The cave was turned into a sea of purple flames.
Neo used All-Shadow to dodge, but he was ultimately cornered.
Instead of escaping the cave through the tunnels or regressing, he dived into the flames.
“What are you doing?” the first dragon asked.
“Did you go insane from despair?” the second dragon asked.
They could see Neo’s body burning from the flames of Ragnarok. Those flames of Nyxtharion the Evernight had once burned hundreds of gods to death.
Yet, Neo was entering them?
Suddenly, they sensed Neo focusing on them.
“Since the two of you flew away to dodge your own breaths, that means they can hurt you.” His voice echoed, and an invasive fear gave the dragons a spine-chilling shiver. “Right?”
Neo leapt towards the first dragon.
Before the dragon could fly away, Neo grabbed its wings and used mimicked Gravity. Thousands of tons of weight slammed onto Neo and the dragon.
They crashed into the ground.
The dragon roared in pain, and Neo climbed on top of it, punching it as both of them burned.
[Adamant Aegis (Rank: Stage 1, Mastery: Apprentice) +0.5%]
[Adamant Aegis (Rank: Stage 1, Mastery: Apprentice) +0.6%]
[Ragnarok Exhalation Dragon Breath (Rank: Stage 3, Mastery: Expert) +0.1%]
“Yeah, this amount of physical contact is the best.”
Neo ignored his burning soul and body. He ignored the pain.
His body broke until only a humanoid mass of red lightning covered in purple flames was left behind.
“How… dare… you, vermin…”
The dragon struggled to stand.
“Halt this madness, vermin!” the second dragon in the sky roared.
[Nyxtharion the Evernight Dragon Roar (Rank: Stage 1, Mastery: Apprentice) +0.2%]
Neo did not reply and instead rained down punches on the first dragon.
The second dragon glared at him with hatred. But it did not fly down, lest it was caught by the flames.
[Adamant Aegis (Rank: Stage 1, Mastery: Apprentice) total: 10.11% → 20.6%]
[Ragnarok Exhalation Dragon Breath (Rank: Stage 3, Mastery: Expert) total: 1.1% → 5.3%]
“Vermin… do you think… you can win…? The flames… will kill you… before they kill… me…”
That’s fine with me.
Because—
Neo used Intent to answer the first dragon as he punched.
I’m Immortal.
The dragon roared in pain and, with its last vestige of strength, flung Neo into the air. The second dragon used the Ragnarok Dragon Breath.
It nearly killed Neo and forced him to regress.
“I almost killed the dragon. It wasn’t by my own strength, but it doesn’t change the fact that I nearly defeated him,” Neo muttered to himself. His blood boiled with excitement. “Beelzebub, do your job.”
His body was in bad shape, and his soul had sustained twice as much damage. Neo swiftly killed himself with the Death skill and revived.
He had not used much energy during the last fight as he was fighting physically. Thus, his reserves had been full.
He lost 90% of his energy to rebuild his soul and body.
“Having a strong body and soul is good, but regenerating them also costs too much energy.”
This time, when the dragon returned, Neo fought carefully until his energy reserves recovered.
He had only 10% of his energy, and he couldn’t go wild before he saved enough energy for a regression.
“Stop, vermin! Running away is useless! You can’t escape!” the first dragon roared.
“Vermin, don’t annoy I! Or your death would be painful!” the second dragon continued the first dragon’s sentence.
As soon as they entered the giant cave, Neo disappeared from their sight and appeared behind them.
He grabbed the first dragon’s tail.
His muscles flexed, and he used the boost from Hydraulic Motion Technique to smash the first dragon into the second dragon.
He swiftly retreated.
“How dare you hold I by my tail and treat I like some insect, vermin! If you wish to die so eagerly, then I shall fulfill your wish!” the two dragons roared together.
They spewed tyrannical purple flames.
It was the opportunity Neo had been waiting for.
He jumped into the mouth of the first dragon.
The purple flames burned him.
He used Darkness to devour as much of the flames as he could, used Ocean’s Embrace, and put his trust in Eternal as he rampaged inside the dragon.
Just as he had thought, notifications of Spell copy percentage increase rained down like a heavy downpour.
Neo was burnt to a crisp within seconds, and he was forced to use mimicked River of Time with mimicked Tyrant.
He revived himself as soon as he returned to the past. It left him with barely 2% of his energy, but the results were worth it.
[Adamant Aegis (Rank: Stage 1, Mastery: Apprentice) total: 20.6% → 40.26%]
[Ragnarok Exhalation Dragon Breath (Rank: Stage 3, Mastery: Expert) total: 5.3% → 9.1%]
“I looped several times to reach 20% in Adamant Aegis, but this time, I doubled that to 40% just by entering its mouth.”
Neo clenched his fists. He knew what he had to do.
“Haha! Such pure energy! I—”
Neo jumped and entered the dragon’s open maw.
His body started to be stretched in all directions. He gritted his teeth to ignore the pain, then went on a rampage.
He would die within 2-3 seconds, but that was enough to attack hundreds, if not thousands, of times.
The dragon tried to cough and push out Neo.
When it didn’t work, it used Ragnarok Exhalation Dragon Breath. It turned out to be a mistake.
