Several powerful elemental spells fused together and shot toward the dragon's eyes. If it hit, this strike would be enough to pierce right through the dragon's entire skull.
And now, with the dragon provoked and showing a vulnerability, it might not react in time. Perhaps he could take it down right here.
At least, that was what Xia De had thought.
But then, he watched as the spells flying toward the dragon suddenly vanished, as if they had been erased from existence.
Next, Plutosas spat flames from its maw toward him. “Cliché move,” Xia De thought. Slamming his hands onto the ground, a magic circle materialized, and a wall of rock erupted from the earth.
But what happened next made his eyes widen. The flames vanished halfway through their trajectory.
Suddenly, Xia De felt a wave of intense heat from behind, accompanied by a faint, sharp stinging sensation like a blade's edge. He whipped his head around, only to see the dragon breath that had vanished halfway, along with his own spells from earlier!
What?!
With no time to dodge, Xia De took the full force of the dragon breath. The scorching flames instantly charred him black. The agonizing, burning sensation caused him immense pain, and he let out a miserable shriek from within the fire.
Plutosas stood tall, black flames flickering across its body. Before its massive frame, Xia De looked as insignificant as a bug.
The dragon listened to Xia De's screams as if they were a pleasant melody, letting out bursts of gleeful laughter.
“Insignificant ant, let me show you what a Space Demon Dragon truly is. Though I am heavily suppressed, spatial power is not something you can hope to unravel.”
With that, it opened its maw to charge its breath, flames slowly condensing inside. But just as it was about to fire, it suddenly sensed a surge of powerful mana descending from above, aimed directly at its head.
It immediately raised its head and spat flames toward the sky.
The two attacks collided, creating a massive explosion in the air.
“Tsk, quite sharp.”
Knowing he had been exposed, Xia De deactivated his stealth magic, revealing his figure floating in the air.
Looking back at the spot that had just been hit, there was still another 'him' screaming in the raging fire. However, a moment later, that figure made the sound of shattering glass and dissolved into fragments.
Magic Spell—Mirror Image.
The purpose of this skill was to leave a mirror clone in place to deceive the enemy while the actual body teleported to a safe location.
“Damn it, when did he?!”
Plutosas roared in anger. It felt like it was going to lose its mind from sheer frustration if this continued. Although this human's strength was slightly weaker than its own, the difference was negligible. Not to mention, he possessed so many bizarre tricks.
To say nothing of those rare compound spells, if its core essence weren't at peak Tier Eight, that bizarre black flame alone would have been enough to incinerate it to ashes.
While Plutosas was feeling thoroughly disgusted by Xia De's magic, Xia De was also finding the giant beast before him incredibly troublesome.
This was the first time he had fought such a grueling battle; in the past, he had almost always ended fights in an instant.
It seemed he was still not strong enough.
Although it had only used dragon breath and biting attacks so far, Xia De estimated that if their power were unleashed outside the sealed space, it would be enough to obliterate a mountain.
Moreover, it could manipulate the spatial coordinates of its attacks.
This spatial shifting made it impossible for Xia De to predict where Plutosas's attacks would originate.
Its high raw stats, combined with its tricky spatial mechanics, made it a tough nut to crack, leaving Xia De at a loss as to where to begin.
The two stared intently at each other, their gazes colliding in mid-air and throwing off intense sparks.
Neither had any intention of letting the other escape!
The moment their eyes met, the same thought flashed through the minds of both man and dragon.
Plutosas believed that no matter how many tricks this ant had up his sleeve, as long as his raw strength fell short of its own, it would ultimately emerge victorious.
Xia De, on the other hand, was thinking that while his raw stats were slightly lower, his diverse arsenal of skills would be more than enough to bring the dragon down. After all, he had developed quite a few excellent things over the years.
At this thought, his lips pursed slightly, slowly curving into a highly wicked smile.
As long as he devoured it, his strength would be greatly enhanced. To become stronger, he absolutely could not let it escape.
Roar!
The dragon let out a thunderous roar. As if it were the starting gun of the battle, Xia De and Plutosas moved at the exact same instant.
Plutosas struck first. Magic circles materialized around its head, and fireballs shot out from them, hurtling toward Xia De.
A cold gleam flashed through Xia De's eyes. Activating Wind Tread, he stepped on the empty air to dodge the fireballs.
The fireballs lacked the destructive power of the dragon breath, only leaving small craters when they struck the walls.
This was intentional on Plutosas's part. Charging the dragon breath took too long, leaving it vulnerable to Xia De's counterattacks. Thus, using instantly cast fireballs to harass him was the optimal choice.
But this was only the first step. After releasing the fireballs, Plutosas didn't stop. Its sharp claws slashed through the air, sending out several cold, glowing blades of light, aiming to shred Xia De to pieces.
Mirror Image.
Leaving a mirror image behind, the attacks landed entirely on the decoy, while Xia De's actual body shifted to a safe location.
But how could Plutosas let him off so easily? The very moment his real body appeared, it reached out with its sharp claws and slashed at the void, making a tearing sound.
“Don't even think about escaping!”
In the next second, Xia De's figure returned to his original position once again.
“Shit!”
It had literally sliced away the space.
In just an instant, Xia De realized what had happened and couldn't help but curse inwardly.
Stepping through the air with Wind Tread, Xia De shifted his footing and deftly evaded the fireballs, feeling a wave of heat brush past his side as he perfectly bypassed them.
Then he noticed that the fireballs he had dodged did not strike the wall. Instead, they sank into the air and suddenly emerged from another direction, charging straight at him.
Above, below, front, back, left, right.
As Plutosas's magic circles continued to manifest, the fireball attacks became increasingly dense, steadily compressing Xia De's room to dodge.
Gradually, the fireballs transformed into pillars of fire, weaving a massive purple net that firmly trapped Xia De in the center.
Looking at the towering pillars of flame surrounding him, Xia De didn't show a hint of panic. Instead, he laughed and said:
“Talk about overcomplicating things!”
If it were an open area, he might not have been able to predict the direction of the attacks. But by making the onslaught so dense, with so many positions already occupied, the remaining directions of attack became incredibly easy to anticipate!
“How could the intellect of an ant hope to fathom my designs?”
Plutosas's claws moved slightly in the air. Then, as if a hand had gently plucked a net, the scene before Xia De shifted, and a massive, scorching serpent of fire lunged toward him.
“The trajectory of this 'thread' is wrong! It wasn't supposed to be aimed at me!”
But Xia De quickly realized what method Plutosas had used. First, it continuously released fireballs to weave a large net, increasing the density of the attacks. Then, it cut away the space to alter the pre-established positions. Since the cut space contained flames, those disconnected flames could change direction once again.
And because of the sheer density of the assault, he would be facing an inescapable wall of fire.
“Exactly.” As if seeing that Xia De had seen through its tactics, a triumphant grin spread across Plutosas's face, and it returned a highly malicious smile.
“After you sent me flying the first time, I noticed that you didn't seem to dare get close to me again. You only dared to keep your distance and use ranged magic attacks.
“So, with you afraid to get close, I only need to lock down your movement space to paralyze you, or force you to approach me—where I can finally tear you to pieces.”
“Well, you've seen right through me.”
Xia De hadn't expected Plutosas to actually realize he was hesitant to get close.
After sending it flying with a punch the first time, Xia De had determined that the beast's physical defense far surpassed his own. In a physical brawl, he probably wouldn't even be able to pierce its hide. It was annoying, but it was the truth.
And if he got injured, his chances of winning would plummet.
Xia De sighed, then stopped in his tracks and gave up resisting. In just an instant, the dense swarm of fiery serpents completely engulfed him.
At this sight, Plutosas erupted into a laugh that reverberated through the space. It opened its massive maw, lined with razor-sharp fangs, intending to swallow him whole: “Human! Obediently become my food!”
Then, with a loud boom, the flames flared up even more intensely, crackling sharply as the space itself began to faintly fracture.
Plutosas's eyes widened in sheer terror at what it discovered.
In a mere fraction of a second, the purple flames had changed color.
They turned into that pitch-black color, containing an abyss-like power that devoured all things!
Rate on N.U.
