Crack!

Pain erupted from my shoulder as Strella struck me for another 1.1 million damage. His mad assault shredded both the soil and my body. I had died over ten times at this point, and I was nearly a thousand meters beneath in the ground. I couldn’t see anything beside the light of the Chill of the Nine Provinces and Strella’s ugly face right in front of me.

I hadn’t turned off Heavenly River Transformation yet, and I activated Battle Astral Wind whenever it came off cooldown. I executed Burning Blade Slash + War Crush combo that visibly decreased Strella’s HP, but it was highly unlikely that I would be able to kill it before I dropped to Level 0. My Attack could be boosted to the high heavens, but a Level 0 could never land a single hit against a Level 300 Divine Rank boss.

……

Swhoosh!

Suddenly, I detected a new presence entering my Domain. I immediately grabbed onto Strella’s tooth, gave it a mighty kick and shouted with all my might, "XINRAN!!"

"What?!"

Strella’s movements slowed as if it sensed Xinran as well. The next moment, its body rocked unnaturally, and blasts of ice exploded against its scales. There was a gruesome tearing noise, and both the soil and Strella’s wing became shredded into pieces. Finally, a blood-covered Xinran rushed to my side.

"Big brother!"

Xinran nearly cried when she saw my horrible appearance. "What happened to you, big brother…"

I continued striking Strella while replying, "The Dragon God’s too powerful, Xinran…"

"I know!"

She turned around and launched a punch at Strella’s ugly face. Her fist was tiny, but it contained so much strength that it sent its head flying backward. The next moment, she thrust her spear forward and fired an energy blast that shredded Strella’s chin.

However, the attack only infuriated Strella. Eyes growing increasingly savage, he let out a mad cackle and said, "I know you, Wind Singer Xinran! You were one of the great powers of the Purgatory until you betrayed us to help the humans! Lord Lin Na will be pleased if I bring your head to him, won’t he? Jiejie!"

Strella swung its claws at Xinran, and the girl raised her arms to block it all because I was right behind her. Bloody gashes immediately appeared on her smooth arms as not even her astral aura was enough to withstand the attack.

She opened her palm and cried, "Winged Silver Dragon, Bloody Finger, kill him!"

The Winged Silver Dragon swooped down from the sky and bit Dragon God Strella’s back. However, it was as small as a hatchling compared to Strella, so the latter didn’t even bother to bat it away. Bloody Finger the Headless Knight was much more successful though. He slashed the Dragon God’s back three times, split its scales and successfully deleted almost 4% HP.

"Do you want to die that much, worms?"

Enraged, Strella abruptly stopped its assault and shivered a little. Then, its stomach suddenly turned bright red, and fire spilled out of its body as it screamed, "Then die!"

Whoosh!

Strella was a king in terms of flame mastery, and he was able to unleash his internal flames through his whole body. As a result, the Winged Silver Dragon was scorched black, and its limbs looked like they were about to crumble away at the slightest breeze. Screeching in pain, the Winged Silver Dragon abruptly jumped into a spatial rift and left this plane entirely.

"Crack crack crack…"

Bloody Finger’s cloak was completely scorched, and even his armor was melting little by little. However, he plunged his sword into Strella’s back, balled his hands into fists and punched the dragon with all his might. The soul flame where his head was roared, "Kill him, Lady Xinran! Kill this tyrannical Dragon God! He has become a devil, and he no longer deserves to be called himself the ruler of Dragon Domain! Kill him…"

Xinran’s Dragonbone Spear abruptly glowed like the sun, and a million spear beams pierced Strella’s stomach at once. However, Strella responded by letting out a mighty roar and increasing the power of his flames. It was a battle between two divine experts, and for now it was unclear who would become the victor.

"Roar roar…"

Strella abruptly opened his mouth and attempted to devour Xinran. The spear-wielding girl attempted to solidify her astral aura and protect herself, but the Dragon God shattered it via brute force and clamped its maw around Xinran’s arm. Xinran managed to move her way in time, but it still left a deep gash on her arm and caused blood to gush out like a fountain.

I tried to immobilize the boss with God Binding Art, but it only resulted in a MISS. I pulled Xinran behind me with my left arm and raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces with my right, shouting, "Cold of the Nine Provinces!"

MISS!

I shouldn’t have expected my crowd control skills to work on Strella. The Dragon God was way too strong to be affected by them. That didn’t mean I was going to give up though. I executed Burning Blade Slash + Universe Break combo before pressing a hand to the soil next to me and cast Rise of the Guardian Dragon. The pillars of draconic energy rammed against Strella’s body with great prejudice, decreasing its HP quickly even though it had over 200 million HP. Of course, Xinran wasn’t idle either.

……

As Strella’s howls rocked the earth, and its HP slowly approached the 50% mark, the Dragon God suddenly raised its head and shouted, "Do you still remember our contract, despicable Lin Na? If you still refuse to grant me your power, the traitor Wind Singer will soon claim my life! If that happens, Dragon Domain won’t be under the Night Creatures’ rule anymore!"

Buzz!

Red light suddenly descended from the sky, and Strella’s body turned translucent all of a sudden. His black scales became tinged with a bit of red, and I could see his blood and fire circulating around his bones. His expression grew even more savage than before, and he roared at me and Xinran, "Taste the power of hell!"

"Claw of Death!"

His claws tore Xinran’s defense apart and left deep, bloody marks across her chest. She spat out a mouthful of blood before collapsing into my arms. She kept crying again and again, "It hurts, big brother, it hurts…"

I held Xinran tightly, raised the Cyan Dragon Shield in front of us, and empowered myself with Cyan Dragon Scale again. At the same time, I cast Myriad Swords Obliteration and Summon the Storm to attack the Dragon God.

"Foolish cur!"

Strella laughed madly as he swiped at us again and again. Despite my best attempts, he was able to inflict wounds upon Xinran’s shoulders and arms.

"Ugh…"

Despite her horrible condition, Xinran gathered her strength and summoned a gigantic umbrella of indigo energy. "Phantom Umbrella! You will not… hurt big brother…"

Strella attacked the shield again and again, and every attack caused Xinran to shudder violently. My heart ached at the sight of her pain, but the only thing I could do was maximize my DPS as much as possible. At this range though, all I could do was cast the occasional ranged skills and basic sword auras.

……

Bang!

Eventually, the Phantom Umbrella shattered into a million pieces under Strella’s claws. Another mouthful of blood escaped Xinran’s lips, but the determination in her eyes only shone brighter. She raised her trembling arms, opened her palms and chanted, "O’ slumbering gods in the domain of depths, heed my call and restore justice to this land! I, Wind Singer Xinran cast the forbidden spell—Festival of the Gods!"

The ground shook, and the pitch black ground suddenly turned as red as blood. Many, many rays of red light poured out of the soil behind us, took the form of ancient gods, and attacked Strella with their weapons. Their energies pierced Strella’s body and dealt an unbelievable amount of damage! No wonder it was a forbidden spell!

5912887!

4298213!

5232735!

……

Strella’s HP instantly dropped to 20% HP or so. Xinran’s forbidden spell was so powerful that even Strella couldn’t defend against it at all.

However, the price of casting a forbidden spell was exhaustion, and Xinran slumped limply against my chest. Her breathing was weak, and her body was feverish and covered in wounds. She said weakly, "I’m sorry, big brother. I don’t have the strength to kill Strella. I…"

I replied solemnly, "Don’t blame yourself, Xinran. We will kill him one way or another! I promise!"

I raised the Chill of the Nine Provinces again and unleashed every skill I had in my arsenal. I also summoned my apparition and the Phantom Wolf King as soon as they were off cooldown even though they were always one-shot. I could sacrifice anything in exchange for Xinran’s safety.

Although Strella wasn’t looking too good, he glared ferociously at Xinran and cackled. "How does the power of Lin Na feel, Wind Singer?"

Xinran abruptly looked up and tossed her Dragonbone Spear into the air!

Puchi!

The spear pierced Strella’s right eye completely, blinding him and eliciting a howl of pain. A tiny smirk appeared across her lips as she said, "It feels as dark as your right eye…"

……

Strella let out a furious roar and gathered all of its energy in its mouth. Then, it unleashed a scorching breath like nothing Xinran or I had ever seen until now. It had killed me instantly and forced me to revive myself again. Not only that, his ugly head abruptly moved closer and snapped around Xinran’s legs. There was a horrific crunch of flesh and bones, and Xinran let out a terrible cry of pain.

The dragon breath pushed Xinran and I at least another hundred meters deeper into the pit that was our battlefield. When I opened my eyes and saw Xinran again, my heart felt like someone had carved it into pieces.

Her legs were gone. The bastard had bitten everything beneath the knees, and the flesh and bone that remained were scorched black by Strella’s breath. Her robes were scorched and tattered, and her entire body was covered in blood. A tear slid down her cheeks as she trembled weakly in my arms.

"It hurts, big brother…"

……

At that moment, I nearly broke into tears.