A cloud of dust rose on the horizon, the cloak of death itself. The main force of the Black Dragon Society had arrived.
Long Aotian stood at the front, arcs of blue lightning writhing around him. The air smelled of ozone. He merely pointed a finger at the shelter's reinforced wall.
"Lightning Cascade."
As he spoke, a pillar of raw lightning, thick as an ancient tree, slammed down from the heavens. With a deafening roar, the section of wall—the product of everyone's hard work—vanished, vaporized into a gaping hole. Shrapnel and charred body parts flew. The first line of defense was obliterated in a single strike.
"The struggle of insects," Long Aotian spat the words with contempt, his voice carrying an unnatural chill.
"Xiao Yue, guard the flanks! Everyone else, use cover! Fire at will!" Lin Yuan's voice cut through the panic. He leaped down, landing steadily on the rubble, facing Long Aotian across the devastation.
Their eyes met, sparks of pure animosity flashing between them.
No words were wasted. Long Aotian raised a hand, and three chains of forked lightning shot out, triangulating Lin Yuan, leaving him no room to dodge.
"Golden Scales!"
A pale golden light enveloped Lin Yuan. Instead of dodging, he charged into the electrical net! Currents crackled over his skin, a numbing pain, but they didn't stop him.
"Oh?" Long Aotian's eyebrow twitched in surprise.
In that split second, Lin Yuan moved. "Frenzy" activated. He shot forward like a cannonball, the ground cratering under his feet. The fruit knife in his hand hummed with concentrated power.
A simple, blindingly fast thrust!
Long Aotian, an A-Rank veteran, reacted swiftly, retreating while conjuring a spear of pure lightning in his hands. He hurled it at Lin Yuan's face, the weapon reeking of annihilation.
It was too fast to avoid!
From the side, a massive black shape intercepted. Xiao Yue! Ignoring the searing pain, he clamped his jaws on the spear's shaft, wrenching his head violently—
BOOM!
The spear was deflected, exploding in a nearby empty lot. Xiao Yue was thrown back by the blast, his fur scorched, a pained whine escaping him.
"Xiao Yue!" Lin Yuan's heart felt torn in two.
"Distracted?" Long Aotian's sneer was close. He'd closed the distance, his fist wreathed in crackling high-voltage energy, aimed at Lin Yuan's spine!
THUD!
Lin Yuan was sent flying, spitting blood, stumbling forward. Without the Golden Scales, the blow would have been fatal.
He knelt on one knee, pain wracking his body, facing the abyssal power of his foe. A direct fight was suicide. He needed one perfect strike.
He drew a sharp breath, compressing every last bit of his energy, every ounce of power from Frenzy, focusing it all into the golden scales. They began to glow, brighter and brighter, until he was a human sun.
"A final, futile struggle," Long Aotian mocked, raising both hands. More lightning gathered above him, forming a terrifying orb of energy over two meters wide. He intended to erase Lin Yuan and the entire area from existence.
Now!
Lin Yuan's head snapped up, golden light erupting from his eyes.
"Golden Scales—BURST!"
The golden scales detached from his body, transforming into billions of razor-sharp, needle-fine beams of light, fanning out in a deadly wave. This wasn't an explosion of force, but the ultimate expression of his defense turned into absolute offense.
"What?!" Long Aotian's face contorted in horror. The penetrating power in those golden needles was lethal! He desperately shoved the half-formed lightning orb forward.
SSSSZZZ—!
There was no grand explosion, only the sickening sound of superheated metal hitting water. The massive lightning orb was pierced, dissolved, annihilated by the countless golden beams! The remaining needles consumed Long Aotian.
The light faded.
Long Aotian was still standing, but his ornate armor was riddled with holes. His body was a pincushion of fine, bleeding wounds. The arrogance and contempt in his eyes were gone, replaced by blank confusion. He tried to speak, but only bloody foam bubbled from his lips.
He fell backward, rigid, his life extinguished.
Lin Yuan knelt, gasping, his body utterly drained.
Just as relief began to surface, a voice, cold as the void between stars, echoed across the battlefield.
"Well done… you actually managed to kill that waste, Long Aotian."
A man in black robes, his face shadowed, appeared beside the corpse as if from nowhere. He didn't even glance at the body, his emotionless eyes fixed solely on Lin Yuan.
"As a reward, I shall crush you… personally."
He raised a hand. A darkness deeper and more malevolent than Long Aotian's power coalesced around him, thick with the whispers of tormented souls. An invisible force seized Lin Yuan's throat, lifting him from the ground. He couldn't even struggle.
Absolute suppression!
"It's over," the man—Long Xiaotian, the Vice-Leader—stated flatly. The dark energy formed a colossal hand, descending to crush Lin Yuan's skull.
Lin Yuan closed his eyes in despair.
"Permafrost… Era."
A clear, familiar female voice, seeming to cross eons of glacial time, rang out.