Chương 14: 12.1. The Flood Dragon

Satheon and the flood dragon charged each other down, both letting out guttural roars. Satheon's eyes went bloodshot. BOOOM! The flood dragon obliterated the ground, tossing rock and soil into the sky. Satheon had dodged at the last second, swinging his halberd.

"HAAAH!!!" The halberd glowed as it came crashing down.

"RAAAHHHHH!!!!" The flood dragon screeched, twisting its body. The halberd impacted the ground and the air briefly turned white from the pressure, the shockwave tearing and flattening the area. The flood dragon's twisted body curved, letting its head face Satheon. White light began emanating from the flood dragon's open mouth. Satheon grinned madly as he attempted to dodge. The light brightened, mist already spilling from the flood dragon's jaw. Sirius appeared above the flood dragon's head.

"Hooooo. HAH!" Sirius swung her sword down.

"RA–GRRRR!!!" The flood dragon's head was forced to the ground, its jaw being forced back as it rolled its charred eyes up to glare at Sirius, piercing yellow eyes filled with fury. Satheon and Sirius retreated. The flood dragon's mouth opened again. BGGGGGGZZZZZZZZZZUUUUUU!!!! A beam of light tore through the forest, narrowly missing Satheon and startling the inexperienced Phalecia who was near the beam's path. In the air, Faust finished his cast.

The flood dragon's eyes snapped towards him as he clasped two fingers with his hand. Faust threw both hands to the horizon. The ground cracked and shattered. The now vast Earth Qi rolling across the surface after the fire spell turned to Metal Qi, forming into solid iron spikes.

"Raaaaaaah!!!" The flood dragon didn't stay still, it threw its body out of the way desperately as the wall of massive iron spikes rose from the ground, intent on impaling it and reaching for the sky. At the same time, Phalecia did her best to help, several Qi infused daggers with brightly coloured tips flew from her sleeve and embedded themselves into crisp flesh.

The flood dragon let out a pained whine as several of the towering metal spikes struck true, catching briefly inside its flesh before it jerked its massive body and snapped the spikes off, the tips still embedded into its side. Light began forming around the flood dragon's throat as its eyes fixated on Faust. Faust prepared to defend, casting another set of handsigns, his hands becoming a blur of motion as Satheon and Sirius moved to attack. He locked eyes with the beast as they stared each other down.

Satheon jumped, almost disappearing into the sky before some kind of technique was activated. Satheon dropped from high in the sky, his halberd glowing, shining like a falling star as he descended from the heavens with a battle cry. Sirius rushed in low, a golden glow covering her sword as she prepared to make an upward swing. The flood dragon's golden eyes narrowed and it rushed towards Faust, roaring as white mist fell out of its mouth once again. Faust felt the roar reverberate through his bones.

It was obvious the flood dragon would target him— too obvious. Right then, his eyes widened.

"WAIT!" Faust shouted. The flood dragon rushed Faust, but as Sirius approached from low, the beast's tail flicked up. Sirius tried to redirect herself but had already sped up too much. Sirius changed her sword's trajectory to block, gritting her teeth and bracing for impact. BANG! Trees were pierced through and boulders smashed.

"Pah!" Sirius spat out blood as she lay among debris at the edge of the bewilderment formation. She tried to reach around and pull herself up but then fell down unconscious, blood dripping from somewhere and staining her clothes. Satheon crashed down like a meteor.

"HAAAAHH!!" He struck down. CLLLAAAAANGG!!!!! A deafening ring, like steel against steel, sounded as the shockwave made the air tremble. Yet. Faust saw with the Clear Mirror Pupil, the flood dragon had focused almost all its Qi into only a few scales defending Satheon's strike, leaving it near unharmed. The flood dragon suddenly changed its direction, its head shooting up into the air as it continued to charge its breath, the light from its throat growing far more violently than before.

"Dammit!" Faust abandoned his spell mid cast, he drew his best sword, Orion and slashed at the beast's undefended flesh. Spirit Qi filled the sword, Faust abused the 12 Qi Transformations art to maximise the power of the ordinary strike. SHING! The sword cut part the way through before getting stuck. The Meridian opening weapon was too outclassed for the difference in technique alone to make up for.

"SATHEON—""I KNOW!!!" Faust tried to shout warning as he was dragged suddenly high up into the air along with the flood dragon's body as it twisted again, aiming its breath at Satheon. Satheon sprinted at max speed, but the flood dragon aimed from high up and he was limited by the boundaries of the formation. BGGGGGGZZZZZZZZZZUUUUUU!!!! The blasts had previously all shot through the air harmlessly, but this one hit the ground not far from Satheon, missing only by a few tens of meters. BOOOOOOM!!!!

A comforting, gentle warmth touched Faust's skin as he looked with horror, his back going cold. He turned back to his stuck sword with gritted teeth. A white sphere of light covered a third the formation, spreading hundreds of meters in diameter, bathing the surrounding forest in soft blue light and making the world dim with long shadows appearing where none were a moment before. Faust put both hands around the sword handle and yanked hard.

Orion slid out with a squelch, dragging flesh and blood out with it as he threw himself far into the sky and landed atop his flying sword once more. Below, as the sphere of light faded, a shadow appeared. A smoke covered Satheon shot out, his robes in tatters as he threw away a shattered piece of jade. The beast turned and shot towards Satheon, its mouth open wide as it chased and tried to swallow him whole. Despite the power of Faust's spells, the weaknesses were clear.

Faust began casting another spell, his eyes tracking the flood dragon intently. Satheon sprinted away, just outpacing the flood dragon when the beast glanced up at Faust, then it shifted and changed direction towards where Sirius had crashed earlier. Phalecia was at her side, feeding her pills and rubbing salve across some minor wounds, so focused she became oblivious to the approaching beast. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"SATHEON!" Faust shouted, he was about to abandon his spell.

"I'VE GOT IT!" Satheon's voice boomed, he changed direction as well and raised his halberd.

"HRRRAAAAAAAHHH!!!" Satheon gave out a mad howl as the flood dragon charged him down with its jaws open wide.

"HHHHSSSRRRRRRAAAAAHH!!!!" The flood dragon met the howl with one of its own, no less vicious its intent. The two met. CLANG! Qi reinforced silver steel met Qi reinforced white teeth.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!" Satheon continued his cry as the flood dragon continued, trying to slam its jaw shut over Satheon as he stubbornly maintained his grip on the halberd jammed between the flood dragon's upper and lower jaw. The flood dragon continued charging Sirius even as it dealt with Satheon's resistance against its vice, but its eyes were fixed on Faust. Faust completed his third spell. The flood dragon made a sharp turn.

A thin orange line traced from the direction of the sun, striking just beside the beast as it tried to evade. BOOOOOM! The world became shades of amber as the Solaris Lance, one of Faust's most powerful spells, just barely missed. An orange sphere enveloped most of the dragon and another third of the formation, matching the flood dragon's beams of light bit for bit, pound for pound. A massive shadow escaped the ball of fire.

"Damn! That's hot!" Satheon yelled through a strained smile as his halberd began making cracking sounds as bits flaked off the side. Satheon was still stuck holding onto the halberd stuck in the flood dragon's jaw. Faust looked around, trying to formulate his next move. The flood dragon passed above the formation flags that were originally for the Qi Amplification formation. Faust made a hand sign. The formation flags trembled. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Several of the flags detonated, flinging wet mud and dirt across the forest and drying it in the same moment. The flood dragon staggered for an instant and Satheon leapt away, rolling over the flood dragon's head across its piercing gaze. SNAP! Without Satheon's Qi, the halberd snapped between the flood dragon's jaws with a loud crack, as if it were an ordinary wooden stick.

"Here!" Faust tossed out a spare sword, a first rank weapon that was probably still better than the near mortal halberd Satheon had been abusing earlier. Satheon caught it without bravado, eyes fixed on the flood dragon. The flood dragon rose slowly, its eyes glowing as it rose from the thick smoke left behind by the detonated formation flags.

"KKKKSSSRRRRRRR!!!" The flood dragon roared. Satheon still had an unhinged smile as he raised the sword in his hand. Faust was almost snarling as his eyes traced the flood dragon's body. Not a single place was left unburnt, a large portion of flesh was simply falling off where the beast had tanked the Solaris Lance spell with its body. There were several large holes dotted about from where the beast had been impaled by Faust's second spell now that the solid metal had dissipated back into Metal Qi.

At two points, Faust even spotted faint veins becoming visible through the damage as Phalecia's bright poisons from earlier began taking effect.

"Hehehe… Man. Some of those spells of yours were well beyond the peak of the Open Palace realm in power… Yet the beast is eating them like a mountain of black iron…" Satheon complained.

"How poetic." Faust quipped back before briefly looking behind them, "Phalecia is too inexperienced for this fight. Sirius also took a direct hit and is basically out of action."

"Mmh." Satheon hummed in agreement.

"The beast is more powerful than we thought."

"It's not that long, but its transformation to a true flood dragon is nearly done." Faust agreed.

"The other two won't be able to help much for this fight. Looks like it's just you and me."

"Unfortunately so." Faust admitted. Sirius wasn't even weak. For her realm, she was on the stronger side. At least in the province, she'd be called a prodigy.

"How's your Qi?"

"Spellcraft is light on Qi, I can throw out tens more of those."

"Heh. I'm almost out. But I'm a body cultivator. I don't need Qi." Satheon claimed boldly.

"Hmp." Faust snorted, a light smile briefly crossing his lips at the joke. A growl pulled Faust and Satheon out of their banter. The flood dragon's fixed gaze shifted between the two of them.

"HHHRRAAAAAAAARRRRRRR!!!" The flood dragon roared, charging towards Faust first. Instead of letting Satheon pull the beast's attention, Faust used the Clear Mirror Step to evade while Satheon circled around. SNAP! SNAP! The flood dragon snapped its jaws shut around where it thought Faust was, only to clamp down on nothing as Faust used his flying sword as a foothold to activate the step technique, letting it zip out between the flood dragon's teeth. The flood dragon growled once more, focusing on Faust intensely.

"HAAAH!" Satheon came from behind the beast's head with a battlecry, swinging his sword. BANG! The flood dragon must have also been running low on Qi. It took Satheon's blow, matching the early golden core in physical strength alone. The flood dragon was thrown low to the ground before it recovered. Chunks of heavily scarred and burnt flesh fell off. Faust began casting, staying high in the sky. The flood dragon searched around. However the two people it was looking for had disappeared. Faust smiled.

With Sirius conscious, she had probably dragged Phalecia outside of the bewilderment array.

"RRRRRRROOOOOOOAARRRRRR!!!" The flood dragon let out a guttural roar before attempting to charge again.

"Hahahaha!!!" Satheon intercepted, entangling the flood dragon. Faust finished casting. A second line of orange was traced between the sun and the flood dragon. This time, the spell struck true. BOOOOOOM!!! The world was dyed orange again, the dull grey forest taking amber hues.

"WWRAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!" The flood dragon made a pained cry. Even through the burning heat licking at his skin, Faust heard the beast smash against the ground briefly. As the forest returned to grey, the black scaled flood dragon trembled as it rose.

"SSSSSRRRAAAAA!!!" The flood dragon screeched, before charging once more. Faust began casting again.

"HAHAHA! Accept your fate!" Satheon bellowed, intercepting the dragon once again. Beneath the monolithic trees of Black Pine forest, a massive black furred bear glowered at Long Tao with glowing red eyes. Tao grit his teeth and focused his attention.

"That's not a spirit beast! It's a demonic beast!" The old ghost shouted.

"Tao! Don't be stupid! Turn and run! Spend a few days at Qi Refining and then return! You won't stand a chance!" The old man continued.

"ROOOAR!" The bear's roar flattened nearby vegetation, blowing sticks and loose branches away and pushing Tao back a step across the muddy ground.

"TAO!" Tao raised his glaive as the bear charged. He would parry this blow since the creature was stronger in order to get into its blind spot, then he would—"OOPFF—!" Before he could finish his thought, Tao felt his side get crushed. The shaft of the glaive stopped the claws ripping through flesh but the impact sent Tao flying. BOOOM! CRASH!! One several meter thick tree exploded in a cloud of dust and wooden shrapnel.

"Pfft— Haaaah!!!" Tao spat and gasped for air, his arms almost going limp at his sides.

"Grrrr…." The black bear, covered in patches of silver fur, growled, slowly approaching Tao as he fell from the cratered tree and into the mud on the ground.

"Dammit! You unfilial disciple!" The old ghost roared. Tao moved his trembling arms, still gripping the glaive as he forced himself to his knees.

"Roooaaar!" The bear roared again and Tao didn't think. He threw himself with shaking hands to the side and fell off a small cliff a few meter drop.

"Oof!" Tao hit the ground hard on his back. BOOOM! The explosion didn't help with the throbbing of his head, but through his wavy vision, Tao saw the ground at the top of the cliff explode as the bear's claws slashed through the rock like butter. Tao raised his arms up before he was crushed by rocks and soil.

"Stay still!" The old ghost ordered. Barely able to move his body and buried under the earth, Tao couldn't even respond, only obeying. Sniff. Sniff… The sound of loud sniffing and snorting echoed through the earth, loud footsteps shaking the ground, making Tao's body shiver unconsciously. After several minutes, the footsteps grew quiet. …

"It's safe now." The old ghost said. Tao burst out of the pile of earth, panting and gasping for air as he rolled forward, almost falling on his face.

"Tch, tch, tch…" The old man tutted disapprovingly.

"I told you to run and you didn't listen." He continued.

"Haaah—Haaah—I'm—Haaah—I'm sorry." Tao breathed between breaths.

"Haaaizzz…" The old ghost sighed deeply, rubbing his brows.

"Not stupid yet foolish. You will become among the strongest in this heaven under my guidance. But you're not there yet. Why do you insist on being so reckless?" Tao thought it over seriously as he caught his breath.

"I… Don't know…" Tao admitted.

"Haizzzz…" The old ghost sighed even deeper this time, before pulling his face down and slapping his cheeks.

"Fine. I'll forgive it this time. But now. You need to find a quiet place with good feng shui, then you can break through to Qi Refining, spend a few days adjusting and maybe you'll be able to match that beast." He put together a plan.

"... Yes, master…" Tao agreed slowly.

"You seem hesitant. Why are you hesitant? Did you not get injured enough from just one attack?" The old man asked pointedly. Tao dropped to his knees.

"I'm sorry, master!" He apologised earnestly.

"Tch. Then come along. We'll find a good spot." The old ghost tutted and began floating deeper into the forest. Tao followed quietly, his gaze wandering around without focusing on anything as he practically dragged the hilt of the glaive through the dirt.