Muria had just flown up less than a hundred meters when four mighty ice tides crashed down on him, causing massive frost to condense around his body. An ice mountain formed, its interior constantly melting while its exterior rapidly thickened.
The enormous white snake, seeing this scene, raised its head and let out an excited roar. Its massive body tightly coiled around the glacier that encased Muria, then began to constrict. The force it exerted was enough to crush the world's strongest mountains and was now applied to Muria.
For ordinary pythons, constriction is their most powerful attack method. Even with supernatural strength, the constriction remains their strongest attack, maximizing their physical advantages and body strength.
Crack! Fine cracks appeared on the glacier wrapped by the white snake, then widened, and golden light burst from within. Huge chunks of ice fell, revealing Muria's body, cloaked in flames.
"Get lost!" Muria, having broken free from the icy restraints, saw the massive snake just thirty meters away. With a furious shout, he plunged his Prison Suppression Spear into the snake's body without hesitation, then pulled out his Demon-Banishing Sword and thrust it into its heart.
Roar! The pain of having its heart pierced made the white snake let out a tremendous roar that no ordinary snake could produce. However, such an injury was not fatal; it merely caused pain. In response, the snake's body tightened even more around Muria.
The snake's coiling body squeezed Muria tightly, while golden lightning and dragon flames erupted from him. Hurricanes swirled around Muria's form, causing the snake's white scales to deform and break. The scales blackened and fell away, exposing the crystalline flesh beneath.
Yet, the snake remained unmoved by these attacks, enduring the wind, lightning, and fire from Muria's body. It tightened its coils, forcing Muria to grunt in pain.
Typically, metal armor offers the best protection against sharp objects but is weak against blunt force. Ordinary heavy infantry hit by a warhammer would still suffer considerable damage. However, the Holy Radiant Abyss armor Muria wore could deflect over ninety percent of blunt force damage, leaving him to endure only a minimal portion.
This attack, though, was different. It was a constriction by a powerful serpent, whose strength ranked among the top in the world. Under this immense force, Muria felt his bones groaning, deforming, and fracturing.
"Ugh!" Golden blood spurted from the gaps in the Holy Radiant Abyss armor, landing on the snake's body. The repelling forces met, causing a series of violent micro-explosions.
Roar! Muria's angry roar shook the skies. Golden lightning danced on his body, and dragon flames burned intensely, emitting enough heat to vaporize most substances.
Muria struggled to break free from the snake's coils. Compared to the armor's hardness, his body was too fragile. The constriction caused the armor's components to stab into his flesh.
Under the snake's terrifying strength, the armor meant to protect Muria had become a weapon hurting him. Nonetheless, the Holy Radiant Abyss still shielded him, helping to bear the snake's force. Without it, Muria's bones would have been mostly crushed, his flesh and internal organs mashed together.
Soaked in Muria's blood, the Holy Radiant Abyss hummed. It was forged from nine types of legendary metals mixed with Muria's blood and soul. It was an extension of Muria's body and will. It didn't want to harm him, but under absolute strength, it was helpless.
"Muria!" Mikaela, entangled with five legendaries, looked up at the roaring Muria. In the legendary battlefield, Muria was the most dazzling presence.
When Muria was frozen and his flames obscured, Mikaela sensed his peril. She wanted to help him but was powerless.
Mikaela, having fused with divinity, should have slept for twenty years. Yet she forced herself to awaken right after crossing the legendary barrier, with even less strength than Muria had when he broke through. Through her battles with the white dragon Claudia, she perfectly adapted to her power.
Now, she could take on five legends at once, legends stronger than her, showing the immense strength of her bloodline and her exceptional preparation. Thus, it was impossible for her to spare any effort to help Muria.
"Surrender, Titan. If you surrender now, I'll release you!" The white snake lowered its head, staring at the struggling Muria with its cold blue eyes.
Normally, a snake would strangle its prey and then swallow it. The white snake had a fleeting impulse to devour Muria, thinking it would ascend if it could digest him. However, it knew that doing so would spell its doom.
At such a high level of power, it was aware of many hidden truths. The more it knew, the more it feared. It dared not kill Muria, unable to bear the consequences of such an act.
As some idiotic comrades said, being legends, killing Muria might not provoke the Titans. But Muria wasn't a pure Titan; he also had the Dragon King's blood. The metallic dragons would never let it go, relentlessly hunting it down.
Thus, it hated fighting such well-connected opponents. Despite having the power to win or even kill them, their backgrounds required restraint.
"You're too cautious!" Muria felt his bones shattering, his flesh turning to mush, and blood gushing from his armor's seams like fountains.
Raising his head, only his radiant golden eyes visible behind his visor, Muria looked at the white snake with disappointment. These legends had fought fiercely against him, but never with the intent to kill. They didn't dare.
Even so, they exerted immense pressure on Muria, making him feel the shadow of death. Yet he also felt the shackles within him breaking completely, his potential unleashing.
At this moment, under the white snake's crushing force, three spatial rifts connecting to the Elemental Plane opened above Muria, and a torrent of elemental energy poured down on him.
"Seal those rifts!"
The fluctuation of divine power indicated divine intervention. The other four legends acted simultaneously, sealing the rifts within a moment, cutting off Muria's influx of external elements.
But he continued to advance, transcending in an energy-deprived state. A new power surged from deep within him, drawn from his demi-plane.
In Muria's controlled demi-plane, the naturally distributed elements were even denser than outside. These elements converged on a single point, then vanished.
Storm clouds swirled as a visible vortex formed. The dense elements created a massive multi-colored cloud, with its core in red, blue, and green hues.
"Elemental imbalance!" A slightly ethereal middle-aged wizard appeared atop the central mage tower in the demi-plane, gazing worriedly at the sky. "What is the master facing outside to draw so much power from the demi-plane?"
Boom! A dazzling golden beam shot from Muria, piercing the clouds and revealing the previously obscured white sun.
"He advanced!" The white snake's eyes showed surprise, quickly turning fierce. "So what if you advanced a rank? You still can't escape my grasp. Surrender!"
"Who says?" Muria's laughter, filled with divine authority, echoed from his helm. "Have you heard of the strongest human warrior technique, 'Divine Descent'? It instantly heals all wounds and negates all negative spells. Do you think Titans don't have such an ability? Do you think I haven't mastered it?"
Radiant golden light enveloped Muria. His shattered bones reconnected, his mangled flesh and sinew regenerated, and golden lightning and dragon flames surged, forming a fiery six-winged dragon that roared at the white snake.
The snake roared back, shattering the flame dragon into embers. But its expression quickly changed as the flames flowed back into Muria, who now exuded the aura of an ancient god awakening from primordial slumber.
Rip! The sound of something being torn echoed in the sky. Muria, glowing with golden light, reappeared, holding two writhing pieces of the snake. The white snake let out a pained and furious scream.
Starting from the wound made by his spear, Muria had torn the snake in half. For any creature, being ripped apart was excruciatingly painful.
The snake roared, dragging its upper half into the sky while Muria coldly stored the lower half in his demi-plane.
"I've changed my mind. Since you lack the will to kill me, I won't kill you. Instead, I'll use you as a living energy source," Muria decided, knowing they refrained from killing him due to his status. Using them for energy seemed a fitting response.
As Muria prepared to act, a loud boom rang out, and a crimson streak of fire tore through the roiling clouds towards the legendary battlefield. Muria, whose power had doubled, saw a seraph with eight wings within the crimson flames.
"Why hasn't this guy returned to the heavens?" Seeing his brother-in-law, Muria's expression darkened. "Was he watching me get beaten all this time?"
"I'll beat him up someday," Muria muttered, then heard a crack. The sound of breaking solid objects was followed by continuous dragon roars. Frosty white mist spread, freezing space, and within the mist, nine elegant silver dragons danced...
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