"Damn it!"
Cure Elim struggled to move, doing his best to heal his wound while sensing an even greater danger approaching. Flesh began to grow on his body at an astonishing speed, visible to the naked eye.
In less than ten seconds, he had fully regrown the missing parts. However, the effort left him severely drained.
Like before, it spread its wings to take flight. In his haste, he leapt directly into the sky, but barely twenty meters above the ground, his danger sense blared a warning, forcing him to dodge to the side.
It was only a brief moment, yet Cure Elim caught a glimpse of a white light streaking past him before it slammed into the ground destroying a large part of that area. Even after evading the attack, he didn't lower his guard. Instead, he began to think.
'Who?! Who wanted to kill me?!'
Cure Elim seethed with rage, ready to curse someone, but he was powerless to act. As for the attacks he had just endured, he knew none of them came from any of the Dragon Lords, so he immediately ruled them out.
Lost in thought, he didn't notice that his attacker had slipped past his senses and appeared directly above him.
'Shit! This is bad!'
Cure Elim became desperate and decided to risk it all. He prepared to unleash his ultimate move to annihilate the audacious attacker.
It opened its massive mouth, lined with sinister, razor-sharp teeth, as a small black beam began to form within. Suddenly, the beam expanded, growing enormous, like a black sun materializing before him.
Turning its head, Cure Elim prepared to unleash his ultimate move, 'Soulbreaker Breath', at his opponent. But suddenly, without warning, a powerful force struck his head, forcing him to clamp his jaws shut and causing his attack to dissipate.
Immediately after, a massive white spear pierced his back, sending him crashing to the ground. Before he could recover, two more white spears struck his wings, impaling him completely to the ground.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
Cure Elim crashed into the ground, white-glowing spears impaling his body and sending a powerful shockwave that uprooted nearby trees.
The zombie armor encasing him proved utterly useless; the spears seemed imbued with a holy power capable of instantly purifying his zombies instantly.
He tried to break free from the spears, but suddenly, all his strength drained from him, sending Cure Elim into a panic. He thrashed violently, but it was useless, he was completely pinned to the ground.
However, Cure Elim refused to give up. He thrashed his massive, bulging body and even managed to lift his feet to stand. But the moment he did, a crushing force slammed down onto his legs from behind, shattering his bones completely.
Even as an undead, Cure Elim could still feel pain. The instant he sensed his legs being crushed, he tried to roar, but no sound came out. Frustrated, he opened his mouth to curse someone, only to realize the reason he couldn't make a sound.
A spear impaled his head, preventing him from opening his mouth.
'So that's why my attack failed.'
Yet, it wasn't time to think about that as he could feel death drawing ever closer.
"Just remain obediently on the ground."
Panicking, Cure Elim heard the voice he had heard before. It was neither cold nor warm, but completely devoid of emotion. Despite his massive body being in a precarious position, his wide vision allowed him to see his back. The moment he spotted the person behind him, crushing his leg, Cure Elim felt all the blood drain from his body, leaving him icy and numb.
Behind him stood an ethereal white entity clad in black armor, far larger than he was. The armored entity towered into the sky, reaching nearly 200 meters.
Five divine, white spears hovered gracefully around it, and what shocked Cure Elim even more was the realization that this colossal figure wasn't entirely flesh, it seemed to be a gigantic humanoid avatar formed entirely from energy.
Why did he think that?
It was because at the center of the white entity's forehead, there was a figure encased in crystal. He had an almost identical likeness of the avatar, staring at him expressionlessly with his swirling crimson pupils.
Of course, that figure was none other than Shido.
He was currently in his Spirit Mode, while the enormous, towering avatar was his Susanoo.
It was his first time using this skill, but he had to admit it was incredible. With his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, Shido could effortlessly access this power and adapt to its abilities.
Different from the original where most Susanoo, which were fully armored, Shido's Susanoo resembled Sasuke's Indra Susanoo to some extent. Its appearance was almost identical to Shido's Spirit Form, but instead of the Divine Ring, ten white spears hovered behind him.
It was called the Ten Spears, a weapon capable of sealing the power of anyone it impaled. Though the concept sounded simple, its true strength was revealed in battle, and the fight against Cure Elim proved it completely, it couldn't even summon the strength to fight back.
Shido had been especially eager to test it, knowing he was about to face a dragon of equally immense size.
After leaving the Re-Estize Kingdom, Shido flew straight to the Central Continent using Aincrad with Frieren and Rumia to hunt the Elder Coffin Dragon Lord.
At first Shido was merely trying his luck to find it since from what he knew there was a high chance it had already been killed, but who would have expected that he would find it the moment he arrived on the Central Continent?
Shido had two reasons for hunting this dragon. The first was that he could capture it and make it his helper when fighting a strong enemy. The second was the millions of zombies clinging to its body like armor.
If Shido could eliminate all of them, he stood to earn millions of SF, making the hunt for this Dragon Lord an absolute must.
Now that he had managed to suppress Cure Elim, Shido was preparing to end the battle.
Shido pressed his hands together, and the Susanoo mirrored him. A golden beam sparked to life between their palms, growing brighter and brighter.
Terror filled Cure Elim's eyes as it realized just how deadly Shido's attack would be. It tried to beg for mercy, but a spear impaled its mouth, silencing it completely.
Watching its desperate struggle, Shido felt no pity as anyone who knew this undead dragon understood how truly evil it was. Two hundred years ago, Cure Elim had unleashed its ultimate attack, Soulbreaker Breath causing the downfall of four nations.
Inveria was one of the nations that fell to Cure Elim. The moment the black beam engulfed the kingdom, its people were turned into mindless zombies as their souls were consumed to strengthen him.
The only one who managed to survive was the princess of Inveria, Keno Fasris Invern which was now better known as Evileye.
The energy in the golden beam on Shido's Susanoo finally reached its peak. Shido clasped his hands together, and a massive golden magic circle materialized above their heads.
"Law!"
Cure Elim felt helpless, his eyes glazed over as he stared at the descending pillar of light. He had never felt more powerless, not even when facing the Platinum Dragon Lord and the other Dragon Lords.
In the next moment, a pillar of golden light descended, engulfing both Cure Elim and Shido.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
The explosion of light swallowed everything, shaking the battlefield with its overwhelming force.
Ding!
[You gained 16,041,992 EXP]
[You gained 3,625,087 SP]
Ding!
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Congratulations! You are now level 53]
Shido closed his eyes, a satisfied smile spreading across his face as the series of pleasant notification sounds from the system played. His body felt completely refreshed. He gained millions of exp and sp, he even manage to level up two times which is quite difficult at his current level.
However, Shido's brows furrowed slightly when he realized there was no notification for the SF.
As the bright golden light faded, Cure Elim's body lay motionless on the ground, like a lifeless snake. Yet, on closer inspection, subtle movements revealed that it was still alive.
However, the millions of zombies forming armor on its body were completely eradicated, instantly purified by the descending golden light, and turning into Shido's exp and sp.
Yet, Shido didn't care about that, since he hadn't received a single SF. Puzzled, he quickly asked the system what had happened, only to get a bland reply.
[Unlike other zombies or undead, those wrapping around the Elder Coffin Dragon Lord didn't have soul as their soul were already consumed by the Dragon Lord.]
Shido fell silent as he absorbed the system's explanation, then let out a wry smile.
"Right… why didn't I think of that?"
[Heh.]
"What? Do you have a problem?" Shido glared at the system as he felt it was mocking him.
[Nothing.]
After saying that, the system ignored Shido.
"...What's with that?" Shido didn't know what's wrong with the system but he didn't do anything further since he still have unfinished business to finish.
Shido emerged from the crystal in his Susanoo's forehead and began descending toward the massive dragon that was already half dead.
As he flew down, he deactivated his Susanoo, causing it to gradually revert to its perfected form, all the way to its skeletal form until it finally vanished completely.
When Shido arrived above Cure Elim, he studied its current form, now gleaming like polished metal due to its scales.
Without wasting time, Shido retrieved an 'Ultra Ball' from his inventory and tossed it directly at Cure Elim.
The moment the ball struck Cure Elim, a bright light burst forth, drawing its massive body into the 'Ultra Ball'.
The 'Ultra Ball' fell to the ground, rocking from side to side, before a sharp click echoed, signaling the result was successful.
Shido walked calmly toward the ball and grabbed it. Catching Cure Elim might have seemed too easy, but that was because its strength was completely drained. On top of that, it had been struck by Fairy Law, leaving it even weaker, and it had passed out, leaving almost no resistance to being captured.
"It's a pity I didn't get any SF, but this catch is more than enough. I can't be too greedy."
As Shido said that, he put the ball back in his inventory and turned his gaze upward, where Aincrad had suddenly appeared.
In truth, it hadn't actually appeared out of nowhere, it had been there the moment Shido first attacked.
However, it wasn't that it suddenly appeared but it was already there the moment Shido attack. it was just that it had a powerful concealing mechanism that hide its whole presence completely. And Frieren and Rumia watched everything unfold from there.
Since his business was now finished, it was now time to leave this world. With a single thought, Shido's figure vanished from the ground and reappeared in Aincrad.