After a series of probes, the elemental dragon had confirmed that Midir was the most dangerous opponent, focusing most of its attention on him. Meanwhile, Aila was met with an indiscriminate barrage of water bullets.
Each fist-sized droplet of water blasted a crater into the stone walls or the ground upon impact. While a single shot wasn't lethal, the sheer volume was overwhelming; before long, the stone wall behind Aila was riddled with cracks of all sizes.
Midir nimbly dodged the elemental dragon's frontal assaults while searching for an opportunity to close in on its flank.
However, the attacks of an elemental being defied conventional logic. Either its dragon claws would suddenly elongate when they should have been out of reach, or high-pressure water jets would erupt from unexpected places. Even when he landed a guaranteed strike, the dragon’s body would simply deform, causing the blade to pass through a hollowed-out space.
This style of combat made Midir exceptionally uncomfortable. It felt like punching cotton, but a pile of cotton that could turn into a porcupine at any moment, making it impossible to defend against effectively.
Fortunately, he soon found an opening to get close. After the dragon’s claws elongated, he quickly severed them. Taking advantage of the elemental dragon’s momentary instability, he used instant movement to appear at its side, aiming a powerful thrust at the small black sphere beneath its spine.
Just as he thought his white-flame-wreathed blade would pierce the core, the sphere shifted half a meter to the side as if it had anticipated the move. The flames that should have reduced it to ash only carved out a small chunk of the dragon’s watery body.
Realizing things had taken a turn for the worse, Midir immediately tried to pull Starflame back, only to find the blade's edge firmly sealed in ice, rendered immovable. He glanced sideways and saw the elemental dragon’s head slowly turning toward him, its mouth curled into a mocking smirk.
Before Midir could use instant movement to escape, a massive cloud of ice mist erupted from the dragon’s maw. It rapidly condensed into a giant ice sphere, trapping him tightly inside and cutting off all contact with the outside world.
“Damn it! Nirvana Ice again. I underestimated this thing’s intelligence!”
Midir cursed inwardly. He could feel the terrifying power of the Ultimate Water ice layer outside; it had even frozen the surrounding spatial fluctuations, subjecting him to an unprecedented sense of pressure.
He quickly mobilized the boiling mana within him, gathering it into a searing flame barrier. This stood in stark contrast to the surrounding ice, allowing him to maintain his body heat and freedom of movement, avoiding the fate of being completely frozen.
Knowing that a stalemate was not a long-term solution, Midir used this brief respite to carefully sense the mana flow within the elemental dragon.
He soon keenly captured several flaws. When the elemental dragon utilized its ultimate power, it wasn't as effortless as his own command of the Flame of Destruction; there were subtle discrepancies and imbalances in the intensity of its power at different points.
“Clearly, even for an elemental being, their mastery over mana isn't infallible,” Midir thought to himself. Simultaneously, he condensed the Flame of Destruction into a sharp, cone-like point and thrust it precisely at the mana weak point he had perceived.
With the sound of shattering ice, Midir burst through a hole in the ice sphere. After breaking the Nirvana Ice's lock on space, he immediately distanced himself from the elemental dragon’s body, not even having time to pull out Starflame.
His figure blurred, landing accurately beside Aila, who was currently in a disheveled state dodging the flurry of water bullets. Midir quickly grabbed her hand and dashed out, leading her away from the area under the dense, rain-like barrage.
When the two landed behind a large rock in the distance, the elemental dragon finally realized both its targets had vanished. It let out an angry roar that echoed through the cavern.
“It looks like it’s just a pure water elemental being and can't track spatial fluctuations. In that case, this will be much easier!” Midir peeked out from behind the rock, carefully observing the dragon’s reaction as he whispered to Aila.
“So what do you plan to do? It already knows we’re aiming for the core. It’ll react the moment we get close; it won’t be that easy to succeed!” Aila frowned as she asked.
Midir gave a lighthearted smile. “True, it has some intelligence, but not much. Did you think I left Starflame on its back by accident? Do you think you can draw its attention for a few seconds? I’m going to prepare something big!”
“If it’s just attracting attention, that’s a piece of cake. Which direction do you want me to lead it?” Aila raised an eyebrow, her tone full of confidence.
After a quick assessment of the cavern’s environment, Midir decided to have Aila lead the elemental dragon toward the stone wall that had been riddled with holes by the water bullets.
Although there was a risk of collapse, the other side was the rushing underground river. If they got too close to the water source, there was no telling what new tricks the creature might pull.
The two exchanged a knowing look, and Aila charged out of their hiding spot without hesitation. To maintain maximum speed and defense, she coated herself in a layer of War God Battle Qi.
The elemental dragon’s gaze was instantly drawn to the dazzling light radiating from Aila. Its massive body swung around, and it roared as it gave chase.
Meanwhile, Midir used instant movement to silently appear in the elemental dragon’s blind spot. He began to focus entirely on condensing the Flame of Destruction, preparing to deliver a fatal blow.
With the enhancement of her War God Battle Qi, Aila was significantly faster than before. Even a Saint Rank who didn't specialize in speed wouldn't be able to catch her easily, let alone the elemental dragon, which was still somewhat unaccustomed to its massive size.
It could only follow fruitlessly behind Aila, launching attack after attack, all of which she skillfully evaded.
After several failed attempts, the elemental dragon seemed to lose its patience and came to a halt. Just as Aila hesitated over whether to provoke it further, the dragon’s body underwent another startling transformation.
Its dragon wings suddenly snapped upright and flared out to the sides, expanding rapidly. In a mere instant, their ten-meter span increased dozens of times over, filling the entire vertical and horizontal space of the cavern.
This movement even siphoned the elemental power from other parts of its body; its massive frame suddenly shrank by several sizes. Because of this, it successfully blocked all paths for Aila to dodge to the sides.
Having sealed off the space ahead, the elemental dragon began to walk toward Aila at a leisurely pace, looking very much like a hunter who had driven its prey into a trap.
Seeing its somewhat smug, human-like expression, Aila, who had backed up to the wall, couldn't help but laugh. She pointed her long blade at it and spoke.
“As I thought, you're not very bright. You've been chasing me for so long; haven't you noticed you're missing something important?”
The elemental dragon seemed confused by this sudden provocation, tilting its head as a flash of bewilderment crossed its eyes. But just as it prepared to make a final lunge to seize Aila, a brilliant white light suddenly flared up from behind it.
In the distance, Midir had successfully condensed a vast amount of the Flame of Destruction into a small sphere floating in his palm. Though it was only the size of a fist, its searing temperature caused the surrounding air to warp with heat, and even the ground beneath him—frozen for countless years—began to slightly melt.
The elemental dragon turned its head and immediately realized the danger. It tried to fold its expanded wings to protect its body, but found that only one wing successfully retracted.
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