Pseudo-Wyrm

“ROAR—!” Seeing the pseudo-dragons trembling before the sea of fire and hesitating to advance, the pseudo-wyrm bellowed at the ground below.

Haoyuan was thoroughly enjoying his meal when a thick beam of icy mist shot down from above.

Prepared for the attack, he dodged it with ease. The icy mist exploded upon impact, hissing violently across half of the blazing mountain of corpses. Dense plumes of white smoke surged upward, instantly extinguishing the flames in that area.

Raising his head, he spotted the pseudo-wyrm perched on a tree fifty meters above the ground—seemingly at the absolute limit of its icy mist's range.

“ROAR—!” Seeing half the sea of fire extinguished, the pseudo-wyrm urged the pseudo-dragons forward to wear him down.

However, while the flames on the surface had been put out, the mountain of red-hot corpses beneath remained glowing.

Timing it carefully, Haoyuan activated Wind Grace just as a massive swarm of pseudo-dragons charged forward.

The red-hot mountain of corpses instantly burned even brighter. Roaring flames erupted beneath the pseudo-dragons' feet, swallowing them whole and leaving behind nothing but squirming, struggling shadows amidst shrieks of agony.

“ROAR—!” The pseudo-wyrm bellowed in fury. That treacherous white flood dragon was infuriating...

Another thick blast of icy mist shot down from above with lightning speed!

Haoyuan reacted lightning-fast, jerking his head up to spew a thumb-thick Fire Line straight into the incoming icy mist!

The icy mist and the Fire Line collided midair in a violent deadlock, instantly producing a vast, thick fog of white steam that spread through the entire forest.

The pseudo-wyrm and Haoyuan locked in a contest of power as the white steam thickened. Only when the fog grew so dense that visibility dropped to zero did the exchange finally cease.

The surroundings became a hazy blur, and the glow of the sea of fire dimmed. A breeze seemed to stir, scattering flickers of fire, both big and small, throughout the forest.

“ROAR—!” The pseudo-wyrm roared, anxiously ordering the pseudo-dragons to conduct a grid search for the white flood dragon, terrified that he would escape in the chaos.

At the same time, it flapped its wings to blow away the hazy mist around it.

Unfortunately, the trees were spaced too closely together, severely restricting its wing movement and limiting their effectiveness.

Still, it wasn't completely useless.

Look there—didn't the wind just blow away enough mist to reveal a hazy shadow of a massive white serpent coiled quietly on a nearby tree trunk?

“!!”

The pseudo-wyrm's eyes widened. Without a moment's hesitation, it whipped its head around and spewed a blast of icy mist.

But Haoyuan was faster. Pouncing forward like a coiled spring, the majestic force of his Kirin Arm slammed down directly onto the pseudo-wyrm's head and back.

Forced off-target, the pseudo-wyrm's head veered sideways, sending the blast of icy mist crashing harmlessly into a tree trunk below.

With the weight and power of most of his flood dragon body crashing down like Mount Tai, Haoyuan pinned the pseudo-wyrm and slammed it toward the ground.

As they plummeted, Haoyuan opened his mouth and spat a thumb-thick Fire Line straight onto the pseudo-wyrm's back. Like oil on an open flame, the fire spread rapidly, engulfing most of its wings and back in an instant.

The pseudo-wyrm let out a shrill, agonizing shriek.

Haoyuan's position was extremely awkward for it: pinned directly on its back, its scythe-like claws couldn't reach him, and its head was pinned fast by his Kirin Arm, leaving the pseudo-wyrm completely helpless.

Keep breathing fire—give it no breathing room.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the pseudo-wyrm's crocodile tail whipping upward on his right. The tip split into four flaring petals, lining an inner maw filled with tiny, sharp teeth.

Without a second thought, he aimed his Fire Line straight at it.

Just as a blue glow of icy mist began to pool inside the open petaled mouth, it caught the incoming Fire Line head-on.

As if swallowing a red-hot ember, the petaled mouth shrieked and writhed violently in agony before finally managing to spew a burst of icy mist to relieve the burning pain.

The pseudo-wyrm crashed to the ground, crushing several pseudo-dragons underneath and kicking up a massive cloud of dust.

Haoyuan followed right behind, the front half of his body crashing heavily down onto the pseudo-wyrm.

Because his tail had stayed looped around the tree branch he had ambushed it from, gradually unraveling as they fell, his lower body hit the ground slightly later and from a much lower height, suffering barely any impact.

Catching his breath, Haoyuan prepared to finish off the pseudo-wyrm.

However, the behemoth beneath him suddenly began to push itself up.

Despite taking such a devastating fall, the pseudo-wyrm had recovered surprisingly fast.

Its petaled tail mouth opened like an automatic sprinkler, dousing the fire on its body with icy mist.

As its massive body surged upward, a colossal wave of force threw him off.

Before he could even regain his footing, a thick beam of icy mist shot straight for his face!

“ROAR—!”

At the critical moment, Haoyuan unleashed his Dragon Roar.

He infused Wind Grace into the roar.

Wild gales smashed forward alongside waves of sound, shattering the thick beam of icy mist into a flurry of frost. Swept up by the Dragon Roar, it transformed into a raging frost storm that surged violently back toward the source!

The storm slammed into the pseudo-wyrm's flesh, carving countlessly dense, bloody gashes across its body.

The pseudo-wyrm quickly buckled under the assault. It was essentially suffering its own attack thrown right back at it, amplified twofold.

Hidden within Wind Grace were sharp wind blades that sliced painfully through its flesh.

As Haoyuan kept up the onslaught, something violently rammed his back, cutting off his Dragon Roar.

His dragon whiskers sensed it was a Tyrannosaurus Rex—it had taken advantage of the moment to ambush him.

The pseudo-wyrm was equally quick to seize the opening, lowering its head to charge straight at him.

A massive twenty-five-meter-long body paired with the thick, sharp horns of a Triceratops was deadly dangerous.

Unable to dodge in time, Haoyuan could only time his move to grab the oncoming sharp horns.

But just as his tail swept one attacker away, several more Tyrannosaurus Rexes rushed forward, slamming into him hard right before he could catch the pseudo-wyrm's horns.

The blow caused his grip to miss.

The pseudo-wyrm's monumental strength drove its three sharp horns right past his flood dragon scales and deep into his flesh.

The other pseudo-dragons swarmed in simultaneously, piling on top of his body on the ground to form a mountain of flesh, extending tentacles to bind him tight.

With a ferocious upward jerk, the pseudo-wyrm dragged its three thick, sharp horns against the grain of his scales, tearing away huge chunks of flesh.

Three terrifyingly bloody gouges appeared across Haoyuan's chest and neck, sending searing, agonizing pain deep into his muscle.

Haoyuan grimaced in pain and tried to wriggle, but he was completely immobilized—his body on the ground was pinned fast by the mountain of monstrous flesh and bound tightly by tentacles.

Before him were the greedy, ecstatic eyes of the pseudo-wyrm.

Having finally gotten its way, it opened its gaping, bloody maw and clamped down on Haoyuan's bloody chest and neck.

Instead of crushing with its massive bite force, it merely held him in place.

From the dark depths of its throat, it extruded hideous, rounded tentacles that drove themselves directly into Haoyuan's three wounds.

Screaming in excruciating agony, Haoyuan felt the harrowing pain pierce his soul.

His remaining energy was only enough for a single Fire Line.

The wind rose.

The fires scattered across the forest, large and small, flared up violently, rolling forward with dry leaves and sweeping in from all directions.

The flames grew bigger and hotter as they rolled, transforming into a towering tidal wave of fire.

The sea of fire atop the corpse mountain blazed even higher, as if erupting into a roaring tsunami.

Wisps of fire clinging to dry leaves and twigs were the first to be carried down by the wind.

Landing on the mountain of monstrous flesh pinning Haoyuan, they instantly ignited into a raging inferno. Flames shot into the sky as shrieks of agony echoed endlessly from the monsters.

Sensing something wrong, the pseudo-wyrm raised its tail with the petaled mouth and spewed a thumb-thick beam of icy mist, attempting to extinguish the flames on the flesh mountain before it.

A burning pseudo-dragon suddenly flew through the air, blocking the icy mist and taking the full hit before crashing right into the tail's petaled mouth, knocking it down.

As the petaled mouth rose again, Haoyuan grabbed another burning pseudo-dragon from behind like a throw pillow and hurled it forward.

Flying straight against the icy mist, the pseudo-dragon's body slammed the petaled mouth back down, pinning it flat against the ground.

Unable to sit idle, the pseudo-wyrm retracted its three hideous tentacles and released its bite, intending to spew icy mist to douse the fire itself.

But the instant it released its grip, a massive slap hit it square across the face.

Haoyuan swung a burning monster back and forth like a club, thrashing the pseudo-wyrm across its cheeks over and over.

Driven back step by step under the heavy blows, the pseudo-wyrm burned with fury.

After taking four or five hits, it finally caught a break during a momentary pause in his attack. It opened its mouth to spew icy mist—only for a Fire Line to shoot straight into its gullet first!

As if swallowing a red-hot ember, the pseudo-wyrm shrieked in agony, thrashing its head wildly and swaying unsteadily. It took a long moment before it finally recovered enough for a blue glow to light up its mouth, preparing to spit icy mist once more.

But in that exact instant, a gaping, bloody mouth lunged forward, clamped onto its throat, and spun around with a fierce whirling motion, dragging it headfirst into the raging sea of fire behind them!