The dragon soared into the air, and Raith and his soldiers flew outside the open-air palace.
He had to scale up the mountain before reaching a higher layer where he could vividly feel the daylight.
However, there was light in the palace. Raith concluded that it was some trick of the dragon because the depth of the tree's roots was as dark as the night. It made no sense that the palace was bright.
After scaling to the top of the mountain, he now had to shoot into the air to catch up to the dragon.
The dragon shot a freezing breath that crashed him back to the floor, grazing him across the mountain surface and creating a remnant of ice cones throughout.
Raith tried to get up but was heavily wounded. Ice had peeled off his skin in different areas. He stood up and saw a glide of ice cones from where he had crashed onto up till the point where the breath had grazed him.
He looked up at the dragon that was barely balanced with one wing.
'Am I supposed to believe that thing is injured?'
He grinned bitterly. A wounded dragon was giving him much hard time.
'I thought I had grown though...'
Raith felt powerless once again. Like there's just nothing he could do.
Wham!
Jarvis shot across the air like a flash and with a powerful twist his great sword smashed the dragon, generating a sonic clang that made the air tremble.
The dragon lost balance and hurtled down the air.
Rogue image blurred past Raith, as he too went up into the air, and before the dragon could hit the ground, it buried a blow into her body, cracking the dragon's icy scale.
The dragon was sent the other way by his powerful punch, she rolled through the air like her weight was insignificant before the power of the two.
Just when she was supposed to smash into the mountain, Crimson and Antares sped past her, each cleaving her strong scale from different sides.
Noir's cold breath shot into the air from the depth, As the wyvern rose higher into the air, his breath intensified, almost freezing the air.
The dragon was warped in a large sphere of ice that fell back on the mountain.
Raith stood agape in front of him. It was like a thousand words filled his mouth but known could come out. All of them landed on the mountain and bowed on one knee.
"My liege, your plan was perfect."
Jarvis stated.
'Not really, I was just lucky...'
Raith wanted to say so, but he couldn't. Honestly, he felt like a fraud. Taking credit for coincidence, all the feelings that filled him up were strange.
'This so complicated...'
For Raith who was obsessed with getting stronger, it hurt his pride that his subordinates were far stronger than he was.
He bowed his head.
-Crack-
"My liege... we await your command."
Raith slowly looked at all of them.
'What exactly am I scared about...?'
So what if they were stronger than him? They are loyal to him to a fault, they would not lift a finger if he commands it.
-crack-
-crack-
His brow creased together as cracks continued to run across the ice boulder.
'So what if they are stronger than I am right now? I too will grow and catch up to them.'
'Tsk tsk... you are not weak?'
'Don't try to console me...'
'Use that thing...'
'What thing?'
Raith looked at Bal with confusion.
The sword seemed to sigh at Raith's nescience.
[Sword skills]
- Space rapt(UEX)
- Gluttony(UEX)
- Black lightning(EX)
- Celestial Destroyer(UEX)
- Demonic Beast Form(UEX) level 1
"Demonic Beast form became level 1."
Raith muttered as he glared down at the pop-up before him.
"I see, so..."
-Crash!-
The ice boulder crashed and scattered across, separating all of Raith's soldiers and aiming directly for Raith. The dragon soared into the air with Raith clasped in its talons.
However...
Swish
The limb that was holding Raith was severed. Raith fell and landed on the floor with finesse. He was human at the same time he wasn't human.
The right side of his body was pitch black, along with his face and the hand that was tightly clinging onto his sword. From his temple extended a black burning horn.
His entire aura had changed.
This was Demonic Beast transformation level one.
Along with the change was also an explosive increase in his strength. Raith probably thought he had seen it all when he punched a hole through the frost centipede's hull.
Whim
He shot across the air almost faster than the air itself.
His sword swiped an arc. A colossal slash of burning black flames arced at the dragon from the opposite direction. But froze before it could reach.
The dragon roared, her screeching voice piercing through the frozen landscape. With one wing beating the air, she dashed at Raith again.
This time, with swiftness that belied his newfound strength he forward, Bal's naked black blade gleaming for a moment as it shot ahead, alongside Raith.
Raith's image became a blur as he got closer to the dragon's forelimb talons–the only one left. And in a single fluid movement, his blade met it head-on.
Kang!
A repelling sound and vibration pushed his hand back and gave the dragon enough time to smash him away with her extra-long tail. Her strike propelled him into a chaotic tumble, rolling him against the landscape till he pulled himself up.
In an explosion of speed, she billowed forward leaving a gust of wind behind her.
Raith sprang out of the place causing her to crash for nothing. He twirled in mid-air and his sword traced down a perfect arc that should cleave right through her second wing but it cut the snow instead.
In an instant, the dragon's large body was gone. The lady stumbled backward coughing up blood along every step of the way.
Raith was left in a momentary fog of confusion as he faced a dilemma of whether to pursue an injured opponent and subdue her or be honorable.
