Chapter 583: [ Pride…and Honor! ]

“Master!!”

“Noooo!!”

He heard such anxious cries around him. He can also hear things like, ‘The fight between Kings shall never be disturbed and violated!’ and some sort of cries, all while hearing some sounds of explosions and war cries. Mireya and the others must have been stopped by the Dragon King’s entourage. Although he was worried, he was happy that they were stopped by the enemies, if not they would surely throw themselves into this and who knows what might happen…!

Those idiots!

They would surely ignore the reason why he had ignored dodging and instead of taking it head-on, plunging into battle…!

As what the enemies say, indeed, this is a sacred battle between two Kings and must not be violated!

Allen gritted his teeth that it trembled and the gums and lips of his started oozing blood, giving him a taste of iron.

“…This is NOT THE ENDDDD YEEEETTTTT!!! DON’T YOU DARE LOOK DOWN ON THE IMMORTALLLL, DRAAAGGGGOOONNN KIIINGGG—!!!” Allen cried out in hysteria.

The flames had been reduced to a fraction of their original power by the combined might of his defense, but even so, Allen was left barely hanging on to his life. Somehow managing to make one last effort, he activated [Flawless Restoration] in full power. And so began the endless process of destruction and regeneration. He knew that if he lost focus for even one second then he was dead.

When Allen became somewhat impatient, an unexpectedly soft feeling was transmitted to his back. As he stole a glance over his shoulder, somehow, the Ice Queen silhouette had appeared, smiling gently at him. However, when she turned towards the Dragon King, her expression undergoes a massive change!

Wiiiiiz. The temperature of the area instantly reduced quite a bit. The Ice Queen’s expression turned from a gentle, harmless mother wolf, into a raging wild beast—Aaaaaaahhhhhh!!! If the Ice Queen could emit a sound, surely her enrage cry would have covered the entire area.

Starting from Allen’s hands, the shield slowly froze over and the breath turned into a Popsicle. However, only a meter away from the shield’s surface iced up, as the breath still rages on, pushing and melting the ice over.

Along with the Ice Queen’s rage, the sky’s color had changed.

The sky had seemed endlessly red, colored like blood from endless heat, but it had been painted over in a pure white.

The temperature had suddenly dropped. As if even the weather prostrated itself before that fiend.

Their breath came out white too.

Far from being snow, crystals of ice rained down, a dusting of diamonds.

As far as the eye could see, the ground was engulfed in frost, the burning trees were frozen. Even flames and lava froze over—the world was enclosed in white.

That was the end.

The part where the Dragon King stand blazed in fire and hellish flames while the part where Allen was located, frozen in white snow—like a winter paradise!

Ice and Flames… both pushed against each other.

*** ***

The sky started to get dark, that oppressive aura was still continuously expanding, and spreading out…… Allen’s body was entirely covered by the pale-bluish light.

The Ice Queen’s power was still enough to contend against the Dragon King’s power. Then, suddenly, Allen’s body started to flicker with fire but it was not red or crimson nor like an ordinary flame but the flame was dyed with white like a snow—as if a white flame was being lit up in his body, the flame grew stronger and stronger; the atmosphere shrouding the entire surrounding became greater and greater.

Allen’s who was evidently not afraid of fire and heat, his body looked like it was completely burned by the raging flames of white, his magical power frantically rushed forth as it wildly flourished within his own body, as if it will rupture at any time because of the impact, within the tremendous pain, Allen’s face was strangely calm, the corner of his mouth hooked up a shaky smile. Because the more painful it was, the greater the power he will obtain.

Finally, a grave expression appeared on the Dragon King and many people, including the frantic and desperate Mireya and the gang, their faces, because of this terrible aura and murderous spirit, were overwhelmed with shock. Most repeated these thoughts in their minds…… What kind of person is this? What kind of person is this!?

Criiiiiassshhh!! finally, several tongues of crimson flames started to emit from Allen’s body and with the merging of the flames, turning into a white flame—the tug of war between two powers was finally placed in the same scale that even the Dragon King was pleasantly surprised!

It wasn’t yet enough to completely overpower him but the might Allen had exhibited was already enough to at least contend against him…

Incredible…

This kind of power was already among the top standing within the Council…!

The Dragon King couldn’t believe it…

Allen’s power submerges that known logic and understanding…!

He should still be a fresh blood. And according to the information they got, Allen was most likely a Monster King from the lower world. And yet… for his power to even reach this kind of level, even being a Monster King should have its limits! This kind of power is already among the top tier ones—and those Monsters has ages that already can bypass a dozen hundred marks or even thousands. Even him, he had spent a number of dozen years to reach this stage, even crowning as the youngest Monster King who was able to enter the Emperor grade within the Monster King, which was only a few and special…!

Sky Emperor—P’thala—that was his real name.

And yet, Allen had actually had almost reached this kind of level …?

… …

The Dragon King’s breathe and Allen’s snow white counter-attack together with the Ice Queen, continuously collided, just like two different colors of lightning combined as they collided with each other, producing an energy explosion that was earth-shaking. Countless of deep ditches appeared on the surface of the ground, the destruction aftermaths were all over the place, unable to find a surface in good condition within several hundreds of meters in the surrounding.

BoooOOOmmMMM—!!

Sands and dust flew all over the place, the ground around Allen, the surface was lifted several ten meters high, even the earth was frightened, continuously shaking. The living creatures in the surrounding areas stopped short in a distant place, yet no one dared to approach even a hundred kilometer from their location.

“… …”

Allen bit his lips, his scales starting to come off and blood ooze from several parts of his body. The feather on his wings started to fall from, melted and burned. The flames brutally attacked both his body and his mind, and he almost didn't manage to pull through.

Luckily for him, everything had a beginning and an end.

The surrounding water in the river was evaporated by the heatwave, the soil and stones on the riverbank were blown away by the impact and in an awful state. Even the trees in a radius of ten meters from him had already scorched black, dyed in the color of death and hellish flames. Allen felt it had happened for an eternity, but actually no longer than ten seconds had passed. While he grits his teeth and thought about it, finally, the breath slowly weakened.

"... Uuoooaaaaa !!"

The roar from Allen could finally be heard as the effects of the attack wore off.

With a loud roar, Allen was like a ferocious beast in a violent rage, his entire remaining power exploded and burst forth. The energy burst from within him, causing the people in the vicinity, most were weaker monsters that were watching the clash, to fly out spitting blood, with a wide expanse of deaths. Mireya’s Group and the subordinates of the Dragon King felt their bodies were almost like being torn apart by the strong wind. They hurriedly retreated and escaped.

“Yaaa…… AhhhhhHHH!!”

That tremendous feeling as if his body was about to explode made Allen spend all his might trying to release all his power simultaneously, causing the flutter of flames from his body. A Heaven-level fighting against another Heaven-level can be rarely seen, and once it happened, the outcome of it will often be disastrous, if there were people present around the area, without enough strength they will certainly die or get injured. And the fight between a God-level and another God-level was even more terrible.

*** ***

The Dragon King’s pupils were both flickering with exclaim in admiration, he simply unable to believe that, a young man, a mortal of fewer than thirty years of age, was unexpectedly able to resist a hot from him with forty percent of his strength. This is really astonishing!

The ground surface cracked open, the nearest forest behind him had already wrecked and caved in, transformed into a ruined area. That terrible hitting sound and the massive heat wave had caused a wide expanse of fright within the entire forest—the sound of creatures and monsters screaming occurring again and again, one after another they hid inside their nests and habitats refusing to come out.

From afar, both the Dragon King and Mireya’s group was watching the two of them, their brows creased. One filled with panic and anxiety while the other was full of complicated emotions. These two monsters—the place where they fought had been tragically destroyed, The Dragon King subordinates didn’t have the time to feel sorry for all the damages within their territory as underneath their calm composure, were great waves of anxiety that was difficult to calm down.

“This human’s strength had already exceeded all of us combined, if today he was able to walk away, his achievements in the future might exceed our expectations.” The old man in the yellow robe and has three horns on his head like a crown said. “Even his majesty, whose rival rarely encountered was pleased and surprised. When he was in his age his achievements were far different from his.”

Upon hearing these words, the only young girl among the group kept her silence.

“The Dragon King was having a heart for appreciating the young talent, after all, such incomparable genius whoever encountered will be reluctant to destroy such a talented person. Now he was just using forty to fifty percent of his strength, in a short duration of time he has no intention to kill. I think, he was just examining, observing how this young man would react under his control.” A Dragon with purple scales who was together with the yellow-robed old man reacted with a sigh.

A while ago when Allen and the Dragon King clashed, one of them, a Dragon was unluckily got closer to them, suffered the aura clashed and receive a wound on his chest. It was terrible that it almost looked as if it will rupture. Now, the Dragon felt an apprehensive fear and retreated far behind, covering his chest that was experiencing sharp pain.

Looking at the figures that moved with the fluttering flames in the distant place, in a deep voice he said: “As I thought, all Monster Kings are true Monsters! For that kind of puny human to be able to contend against our King, even if his majesty only uses half of his strength, this kind of achievement is already impossible for us, even if we combine all our strength!”

With such boldness, capability, and strength…… what kind of odd man was he…… What kind of future will he possess…...

They knew that the Dragon King was similarly expecting to see his future, if it wasn’t for his previous commitment, he must be unwilling to see this man be destroyed. Because such kind of young man, perhaps will never appear again in the future.

This is a real Genius!

A true monster even among those Monsters within the Council!

*** ***

BaaaAAAAnnnNNNgggGGG—!!!

In a massive explosion, Allen’s body directly flew out, then steadily dropped to the ground. When it finally ended and the breath slowly disappeared, Allen spat out a mouthful of blood. His body ragged into a terrible state, and even his armor was burned into nothingness with only a bit of piece left. Complete recovery for a very short time seemed to be already impossible!

White flames blazed from his limbs, body, and hair—that even the left part of his face was burned terribly, though it was slowly healing while covered by the white flames. The Ice Queen’s indifferent and cold expression still didn’t change but if one looks closely, relief and pain flashed across her glazed eyes as she embraced Allen from the back. As long as he was alive, the Ice Queen would think nothing else!

Haa, haa, haaa—afterwards, being carried gently and by utmost care by the Ice Queen, he wobbled in the air and slowly descended into the ground, only to collapsed onto one knee, falling on the scorched ground with puddle made of lava could be seen. His breathing was ragged and heavy, and his shoulders shook badly. His body smelt of burnt meat.

He covered his chest, coughing painfully, spitting out mouthfuls of blood. His facial muscles were violently twitching, he stared at the relax Dragon King, with gritted teeth he said: “I…… will not…… die here, not yet…!” He wiped off the blood stains in the corner of his mouth.

"Ooooh! I'm glad you managed to survive that! That was excellent!".

[Dragon King’s Flame End] Dragon King; P’thala had melted the surrounding between them as if making an impromptu arena for both of them.

Lava has scattered all around, creating various sizes of fiery rivers of lava. If not for Allen stopping it with all his might and power, the attack would have definitely left a scar on the face of the huge continent. It might even break through the Dimension Barrier and wreak havoc in the Divine Martial Continent.

Most likely, the attack would have traveled for days. All that would fall under it would be burned, leaving a lifeless desert of molten earth.

The originally beautiful forest has now become a terrifying scene straight out from hell!

In the opposite part, around where Allen should be, was even worse.

There was a localized, concentrated, multi-layered blizzard raging, shrouding everything. As if the cold air, hail, and snow had formed a coffin around it, all around Allen was white, white, white, white, white, white, white, white, white, white, white, white.

It was all swallowed towards demise.

Creatures of ice around, exulting in their world, dancing around.

It was hell.

This was without a doubt a frozen hell.

A circle arena was made, with a diameter of almost a kilometer; half was painted in hellish crimson flames, while the half was dyed in white as snow and ice.

To the west, Allen had frozen the west side of the battleground into a frozen hell.

To the east, the Dragon King had turned his side into flames. With his body blazing like an intense sun, everything he passed was ignited into flames.

But precisely because Allen survived this attack, the Dragon King was awfully glad and at the same time, in awe and admiration on the young hero…

Truly… what a very pleasant youth…!

"After being crowned as the strongest, I never have such a satisfying fight ever again. It’s been so long that I even forgot how to hold back. Who would have thought a mere youngling would be able to suffer my attack and only collapse!! You can be proud of yourself, you can truly be proud of yourself! Who took a direct hit from my breath, and lived through it, from now on you will become a legend…”

Whether it was sarcasm or pure praise, Allen didn’t care.

"As expected, it was hard"

While he survived, the damage done on Allen was not insignificant. His body, having suffered serious damage, suffering from severe burns and some parts had become charred meat. His prized armor can be repaired using the ability [ Self-Restoration ] that was on its skill set but a day or two is not enough for it to completely recover—meaning, there was no advantage of it being worn now. In addition, the shield and Fin Funnel Bits which took most of the damaged is 80% destroyed without any means of recovery.

Allen made a priority of protecting the head and not the body. Inevitably, this resulted in many parts not fully protected by the armor of the living were damaged. Even with the incorporation of [Lifeless Physique], the pain is still violently attacking his brain, not physically but mentally and spiritually. But even still, as expected of an Undying Body, after receiving such damage, Allen was still able to restore his body with incredible speed as well as further reinforced his body. Under the influence of [ Flawless Restoration], and [ Immortal King ] the burnt skin was restored, replaced with a new layer.

However, the restoration seemed quite slow and being in the middle of a battle it would be quite dangerous to let them recover naturally. Thus, Allen took out some meat of the monsters from the Storage Rings and began to devour it: [ Devourer ] one of the ultimate skills of [ Lifeless Physique ], turning him into an Undead similar to zombies, vampires or ghouls.

This ability can be used together with [ Predator of Wisdom: Uriel ] and analyze things properly by devouring the target, absorbing skills directly but if the monsters are below him, he wouldn’t be able to acquire skills. Instead, he would regain and recover his stamina and energy, empowering him. By using these skills, Allen’s self-regeneration worked double and his body immediately slowly returned to normal, a real [ Immortal King ].

Crack! Standing up, Allen let out a sigh as he felt all his bones made a ‘kaka kaka’ noise. His energy recovered to some extent, he glared at Dragon King. Several times stronger than before, Allen stood up once again for another round. Even after such an overwhelming attack, there was no despair in the eyes of Allen. On the contrary, they are filled with even more determination, focusing on the fiery dragon monarch.

"Oh, able to move already. I thought to wait until you recovered, but this is even better! In order to dispel the boredom of multiple years, as expected, it needs such a battle,"

Ha ha ha ha, the Dragon King P’thala laughed heartily.

Allen grinned, “Care for round two…?”

“Even still, it seems like you’re a bigger idiot than I thought. You should have realized how wide the difference between us was and yet you still stand up and face against me, like a Hero in front of a Demon Lord, you sure have such interesting delusions~” The Dragon King; P’thala smiled leisurely as he descended on the ground.

There was no tension between unlike before—seemingly a meeting of two friends, casual and nonchalant.

“… …”

“Was it because you are confident in your abilities? Or that undying body…?”

“You noticed?”

The Dragon King P’thala chuckled, “Obviously. I lived far longer than you, and I had met who possess such bodies as you—[ The Immortal Monster ] 2nd rank Monster King, Monster Emperor; Hydran and the infamous [ The Avesta ] Azi Dahaka who had disappeared to who knows where—though, I was actually quite doubtful, your ability why is it completely similar to that Immortal Monster; Azi Dahaka…?” The Dragon King showed a thoughtful expression as he observed Allen’s body, especially the pool of blood beneath him which was wriggling and turning into snakes and rats and other pests, scattering away.

“… …” Allen just grinned and didn’t respond.

There’s no need, let him think and expand his imagination.

“Anyway, if you are thinking that you can defeat me just because of that kind of body, then, you are completely mistaken,” The Dragon King smirked. “Absolute power conquers everything… there’s no such thing as true immortality—even Immortal Deities dies, as long as one found their weakness…” He muttered with narrowed eyes. “And you are not an exception…”

Allen raised his right hand up and swung one huge round as if he was trying to check the flexibility of his shoulder. “Really…? However, contrary to what you are expecting, I’m not fighting for such a thing though~” He grinned with a casual air. “Ever since the battle started, I already know the result…”

“What results are you referring to?! Defeat…? Death? That sort of action can only be deemed as suicidal!”

“I won’t mind even if it’s suicidal! For I know that I will regret all my life if I run from here!” Allen stared forward, meeting the Dragon King’s gaze with determination reflected in his eyes. That’s right, he had never sought victory in this battle—for such a thing is only idiotic and futile in front of someone like the Dragon King.

He was far stronger and powerful compared to Hanjin—although he had gotten stronger, compared to the monster before him, it was still not enough!

He had already accepted that long ago!

Then, why is he still fighting this useless battle…?

That’s simple…

“If I cower now……I don’t care about being the strongest in the world, but in front of my family I must be the strongest.”

Pride…and Honor!

Such simple things!

Full of idiocy and stupidity but was more valuable than any other else in this world,

“… So I will not retreat! Only when I continue to work hard, will I advance forward. Who knows, I might be able to make a comeback~” Allen smiled leisurely, his body burning in white flames giving him an epic impression.

The Ice Queen behind him seemingly heard his words, smiled happily and warmly as she circled her arms around his neck, her eyes full of love and pride.

The cold air that seemed to able to freeze anyone watching them was now as warm as a sunny day!

“So are you going to continue fighting?”

The Dragon King smiled wryly and asked with a somehow softer tone.