The destructive thunderstorm continued to rage on, swirling like a tornado in the midst of the forest.
A deluge of rain poured from the gray clouds above, fierce winds blew, smoke and dust filled the air, and residual lightning crackled in the atmosphere.
It was as if a natural calamity had abruptly descended upon the island.
In the eye of the swirling thunderstorm, Nero and I stood shoulder to shoulder.
I shielded my eyes from the drenching rain and strong gales, while Nero, seemingly unaffected, stood tall with his hair fluttering in the stormy wind.
A few meters in front of us, behind the rising dust, was the cyan serpent, struck by the lightning dragon that Nero had conjured.
Nero turned to me, hesitating for a split second before asking me for my opinion. “Do you think that was enough to take it out?”
I knew it would have been enough to take me out, even with my armor. But was it truly enough to kill a Divine-ranked mana beast?
“I don’t think so,” I replied, shaking my head.
Nero sighed. “Then we’re in big trouble.”
“Was that your best attack?” I inquired.
Nero nodded. “I’m afraid so.”
At that moment, something stirred in the storm ahead and a pair of reptilian pupils glowing in an ominous cyan hue flashed through the torrential rainfall.
Yeah. As we suspected, it was alive.
In the next instant, the cyan serpent rose in the air like a tower stretching toward the heavens, and let out a beastly hiss.
I gritted my teeth as an inescapable feeling of dread crept into my heart. It felt as if my body was made of lead and my feet were anchored to the ground.
The sound frequency of the cyan serpent’s hiss had paralysis-inducing effects, making our ears ring and bones tremble.
Taking advantage of our momentary disorientation, the serpent lunged at us with its jaws wide open, brandishing its long tusk-like fangs.
“Damn it,” I cursed before activating the Fire Lance spell once again. Several long javelins made of swirling crimson flames materialized around me.
With a mental command, the javelins shot forward, raining down on the serpent and triggering a series of explosions upon impact.
Thick black smoke and dust filled the stormy wind once again, but in the very next second, the titanic serpent burst through the black veil, wisps of smoke rising from its snout.
Even one of my strongest spells couldn’t slow down the Divine-ranked beast.
The colossal serpent continued its path, now with its jaws closed. Nero and I clicked our tongues in frustration and raised our weapons.
It was too late for us to try and get out of the way. We didn’t even have enough time to chant a spell.
Unable to evade or attack back, we did the next best thing.
We braced ourselves resolutely, preparing to endure the full force of the impending collision with the titanic serpent.
And endure it we did.
Thwaaam—!!
The colossal serpent slammed into us with its snout. For an instant, I caught a whiff of its putrid breath as it collided with my spear and Nero’s sword.
Even though both of us had strengthened our bodies and weapons with our Martial Auraa, my spear broke, and the cyan serpent crashed into me like a speeding train.
Naturally, I was tossed back in the air like a weightless doll made of nothing but cardboard and paper.
Nero’s Heavenly Sword held, but he didn’t. He was also flung back in the air just like me.
The wind was knocked out of my lungs and I felt some of my ribs creak. I was hurt even after my armor negated most of the damage.
I blacked out for a second and only came to my senses when I crashed into a tree and stopped flying back.
“Khuaaak!” Coughing violently, I once again fell flat on the ground.
My heart was beating out of my chest and I couldn’t feel most of my left side. This was bad. I was more hurt than I thought.
My vision was blurred for a moment but I forced myself to look around. I could see Nero, albeit barely.
He had crashed into a boulder a few meters to my left. The boulder fractured from the impact and Nero was squirming on the ground in pain. He had also broken at least a few bones.
I looked down and saw blood dripping from my mouth, mixing in with pouring rainwater.
Internal bleeding.
Fuck.
Cursing inwardly, I summoned Silver Flames and began healing my body.
As soon as the luminous Silver Flames conjured and engulfed my entire body, an alien yet comfortable sensation of warmth gripped my very being.
I felt alive. I felt complete. I physically felt my bones joining back together and my torn muscles repairing themselves.
My vision cleared up and the organ-rending pain in my chest and left side subsided. Taking a deep breath, I got up onto all fours.
Only now did I realize that I was still holding the silver spear in my hands. It was snapped in half.
A regretful sigh escaped my lips. “It wasn’t even mine.”
It was Adel’s. I stole– I took it after beating the crap out of him. But I had to admit, it was a good weapon.
Gritting my teeth, I rose to my feet and threw away the broken halves of the spear before summoning a ghostly glowing jian in my hand.
I looked up and saw the cyan serpent lunging at me once again.
“Fine, asshole!” I didn’t know why it was only targeting me, but now we were going to have a problem. “Embrace Discard!”
My armor disintegrated in a burst of crimson and golden flames. In return for discarding its protection, I felt a surge of strength welling up in my veins.
My mana core, which was depleted to more than half of its full capacity already, once again started brimming with mana. In fact, I had more mana at my disposal now than ever.
===
Strength→ 6050 [+4500]
Endurance→ 6030 [+4500]
Speed→ 6055 [+4500]
Stamina→ 6020 [+4500]
Mana Capacity→ 7500/7500 [+3000]
Mana Core Rank→ Diamond 2 [↑ Gold 2]
===