Volume 6: Fighting for the World Chapter 102: Half Demon, Half Warrior
In fact, I made the decision after much hesitation and repeated considerations when Khufu initiated the first challenge to the Hell Dragon. The newly learned "sacrifice" magic certainly increased Khufu's chances of successfully passing the challenge, but the battle was a matter for both parties and was not completely controlled by me. The biggest variable was the true ability of the Hell Dragon - none of my Volcano subordinates, including Khufu, the most senior, knew what skills the Hell Dragon had and what methods it was used to using to fight.
As the ruling class that dominates the "Hell Volcano", a powerful undead race that surpasses the ninth level, it seems that there has never been a precedent for them to take action in public in the past thousand years that Khufu can remember. Perhaps they may have suppressed dissidents in secret, but I am afraid that no one has left alive. It is just rumored that they are very powerful, but no one can tell what their specific abilities are. In more than a thousand years, this is the first time that the Hell Dragon Clan has publicly appeared, using the excuse of the Hell Dragon Challenge to intervene in the affairs of the ruled alien undead. We undead wizards seem to be the fuse that triggers contradictions and conflicts. It feels more and more like completing a professional task - while taking huge risks, it also contains equal benefits. Even if I gave up the "Hell Volcano" at the beginning, there may still be other undead wizards to face these challenges in the future.
Just the fact that it can fly makes the speed of the Hell Dragon faster than Khufu. I don't know whether its skills can effectively suppress Khufu's performance. I can't help but worry about gains and losses. Sometimes I feel hesitant. I am not sure whether it is appropriate to let Khufu accept the challenge of the Hell Dragon now. Should I send a sacrifice first to experience the ability of the Hell Dragon. It would be safer for Khufu to challenge next month. Lest it be hasty, it may affect the development. However, if I send the three newly conquered subordinates of the seventh level to fight, the gap in strength is too great. Even with my help, let alone lasting six hours, I am afraid that I may not even be qualified to force out the true strength of the Hell Dragon. Instead, it will delay a month in vain. In comparison, it is not worth the loss. If Taotao or Qitlei are allowed to fight, they are also members of the main lineup. It is better for Khufu to fight by himself and try his best to get the best result.
Before the Nether Dragon Challenge began, I received another piece of good news - Gu Ben can already start evolving. As long as he successfully completes the evolution, he can at least reach the lower level of the ninth level. After all, he has received guidance from the Flying Fire Ghost King and has received my full support. Especially after Daxiu's death, he has become the last hope of the Flying Fire Ghost Clan. He has performed even more diligently, relying on his fast speed of action. The benefits he has obtained are even higher than Hader's, and he has reached the requirements of evolution one step ahead. However, compared with other volcanic undead, although the Flying Fire Ghost is easier to achieve faster due to its physical constitution, it has a huge risk of increasing by two levels at a time. It can be said that it is the type of undead with the lowest success rate of evolution. This is also the main reason why the number of Flying Fire Ghosts, especially the Flying Fire Ghost King, is extremely rare. As for the top Flying Fire Ghost King, that is a dream that only exists in the legends of the Flying Fire Ghost Clan. So far, there has been no successful example, at least no one has heard of it.
Having had the experience of Khufu, I naturally would not rush Guben to complete his evolution. With his current strength, the success rate was already very low, and Hades would definitely interfere, so it was almost impossible for him to succeed. Therefore, I forcibly suppressed his primitive desire for evolution and continued to accumulate strength. He was my best candidate to kill Houston, so I must try my best to make him successfully complete his evolution.
It was not until the last hour before the challenge application deadline on October 14 that Khufu formally submitted his challenge application to Hades. If he did it too early, it would seem too confident, and Hades might make things difficult for him. He pretended to be forced to send out the strongest one to accept the challenge, in order to paralyze Hades and the Hell Dragon who was challenging him, so that they would not take it too seriously.
In addition to the challenge initiated by Khufu, Silando, Dizang and Gonzalez also continued to challenge the other three undead spirits who had the qualification to immerse, and also wanted to bring them under my control. As for Had, whose qualification to immerse was taken away by Houston, he challenged a seventh-level upper-level alien undead spirit that I had already subdued. It has little growth potential and is not as valuable as Had. I subdued it by force and did not give it any promises. I just let it be defeated voluntarily, and Had will smoothly regain the qualification to immerse.
Khufu and I stood together, staring at the opponent standing not far away who was about to start a battle. Apart from Hades, the Hell Dragon King, this was the first time I saw an ordinary Hell Dragon. Compared with other types of bone dragons, the Hell Dragons are actually smaller in size. Ordinary green bone dragons are about the same size as Hades. The Hell Dragon in front of us, which was about to accept our challenge, was only more than four meters long, and its entire body was fiery red. There was no gap between the skeletons that made up its body, and it looked very solid. Its two hind legs were thick, its forelimbs were short, and its claws were quite sharp. Although its pair of bone wings were not wide, they looked brighter and more transparent than its body, and seemed to have higher defensive performance. There was a single horn more than one foot long on its head, and it also had a thick tail more than one meter long, which should also be a favorable attack weapon.
Using the "sacrifice" magic to help Khufu challenge the Hell Dragon can be regarded as a loophole in the challenge rules set by Hades. Only Khufu and I took action. The other alien undead who shared 80% of the damage was just passive and had no direct impact on the battle situation. Moreover, everything was led by me. There was no direct connection between it and Khufu, which was a legal behavior. Of course, I still needed to be extra careful in my actions and try to avoid being noticed by the Hell Dragon. After all, the distance between the recipient and Khufu could not exceed 100 meters. If the Hell Dragon saw through the mystery too early and turned around to deal with the recipient first, in this case, it had the right to severely injure or even kill it. I couldn't transfer the "sacrifice" magic to other alien undead within five minutes, and Khufu might suffer a great loss.
I have arranged a lot of high-defense undead scattered around to serve as "sacrifices". Anyway, Khufu can't compete with the Hell Dragon in speed, so they don't need to be agile, just keep within a hundred meters. Just in case, Taotao and Qitlei, who have no challenge missions, also follow by his side, and can share the damage for Khufu when necessary.
The challenge began. As soon as we left the top of the mountain, the Hell Dragon spread its wings and accelerated to chase after Khufu. Despite its huge size, its speed was not slow, and it felt like it was even faster than the Green Bone Dragon. The "Sacrifice" magic was quite quick to cast. It only took a dozen seconds to prepare. I waved my hands, pointing them at Khufu and the undead who shared the damage. Once successful, a layer of faint black light would appear on my body, which would disappear in a flash. It would only appear when I was attacked and needed to share the damage, and it could last for five minutes. However, the success rate of the ninth-level magic was relatively low. I didn't have very good equipment, so I failed twice in a row, and only succeeded on the third time. Fortunately, this was not a life-and-death duel. The Hell Dragon didn't seem to be in a hurry to attack. It might even be to maintain its "grace" and let us retreat a distance before starting to chase. This gave me enough time to prepare and didn't disrupt my plan from the beginning.
Khufu held the Firebone Staff tightly in both hands, slowly retreated, and prepared to fight against the approaching Hell Dragon. After casting the "Sacrifice" magic, I chose to watch from the sidelines , intending to test the strength of the Hell Dragon first, to see how long Khufu, who only took 20% of the damage, could hold on, and to provide more reference information for future Hell Dragon challenges.
The Hell Dragon caught up with him, lowered its height, and attacked Khufu with its thick hind legs, but Khufu dodged it with one step. Then it kicked several times in a row, and its movements were quite fast, and the coverage was relatively large. Khufu dodged two attacks in succession, and finally had to use the Fire Bone Staff to block, but it was still rubbed by its claws, and it lost its balance and fell to the ground and rolled several times. The Hell Dragon naturally would not miss this opportunity, and kicked several times in a row. Khufu, who had rich practical experience, simply lay on the ground and did not stand up, rolling around to dodge, and at the same time tried his best to block with the Fire Bone Staff. He was not caught by the Hell Dragon, and only suffered a few minor injuries. He only had to bear 20% of the damage, which did not have much impact.
However, the situation of the level 6 volcano undead who "sacrificed" in place of Khufu was not very good. The gap in strength between it and the Hell Dragon was too great. Even though it was known for its defensive ability, it was still a great loss to bear 80% of the damage each time. Fortunately, Khufu did not give the Hell Dragon a better chance and dodged most of the attacks in time, otherwise it would definitely not last for five minutes.
Khufu dodged the continuous kicks and scratches, but they didn't have much effect. The Hell Dragon suddenly retracted its claws, leaned forward, pointed its head downward, and blew out a stream of flames from its mouth, covering an area of 10 to 20 square meters. The color and density of the flames were obviously much stronger than Taotao's. Khufu, who was still lying on the ground, naturally had no time to dodge such a range attack, and was immediately enveloped in a sea of fire. Khufu hurriedly got up from the ground and rushed out of the sea of fire. However, the power of the Hell Dragon Flame was stronger. Even after leaving the sea of fire, it was still attached to his body and burned, continuing to cause damage. Fortunately, as a fire-attributed undead, the damage of the Hell Dragon Flame was not as direct and effective as physical attacks, and the damage was not that serious. However, the layer of flames still had a slight impact on Khufu's reaction. The Hell Dragon took the opportunity to wave its two hind legs again, chasing him and launching a fierce attack.
In order to prevent Khufu from being seriously injured and to allow the "sacrificed" alien undead to survive for five minutes, I had to launch a diversionary attack. The "mental attack" launched in the volcanic barrier will not have much effect on the Hell Dragon that has surpassed the ninth level. It is just a waste of mental power. I transformed into a bat and spewed out a large cloud of blood mist to cover the head of the Hell Dragon. Although it can only affect a short moment, it consumes less mental power and can be used continuously. It also hinders the movement of the Hell Dragon and can help Khufu dodge attacks.
I was busy spitting blood mist when I suddenly found that the Hell Dragon turned its head and swung its mouth towards me. I immediately felt something was wrong and used the "External Incarnation" to dodge. Just as I separated, a beam of dragon flame fell on my head. Even though I saw the opportunity quickly and used my skills in time, because the distance was too close, more than 20 clones were still affected by the dragon flame. Either they were immediately turned into ashes, or they were killed by the flames attached to their bodies after rushing out of the sea of fire. It seems that the Hell Dragon is also quite clever and reacts quickly. I must be more careful to avoid being taken advantage of by it.
The five-minute time limit was about to expire. I replaced Khufu as the main attacker, entangled the Hell Dragon, covered Khufu's rapid retreat, and kept a certain distance to buy time to cast the "Sacrifice" magic. The method was still to spit out blood mist continuously. Of course, I had to pay special attention to avoiding the dragon's mouth - "External Incarnation" was not very effective against range attack magic such as the Hell Dragon Flame. If I was attacked several times, I would have to delay the time to activate "Touch of Death" to replenish it, which might affect the action of covering Khufu.
At the beginning, the Hell Dragon tried its best to get rid of my restraint and chase Khufu. After several unsuccessful attempts, it shifted its attention to me and frequently spewed Hell Dragon Flame to attack. Its straight-line flying speed was higher than mine. I really had no way to get rid of it if I focused on chasing it. Fortunately, compared to its huge body, I, a little bat, was quite flexible in dodging. As long as I paid attention to avoiding the direction of the dragon's mouth, I would not be seriously injured for the time being.
After a struggle, the Hell Dragon couldn't do anything to me, and I couldn't get rid of it either. However, it seemed to have given up on chasing Khufu and focused on dealing with me, which made me secretly complain. I originally just wanted to rescue Khufu, but it got into trouble. If it continued to chase me like this, I wouldn't have enough physical strength to last for six hours, and I would be in danger. As a last resort, I activated the volcanic intelligence network I had established, found a relatively deep small molten cave nearby, and quickly hid in it. The Hell Dragon's huge body couldn't enter, and it couldn't burn me even after spewing out a few mouthfuls of dragon flames. It circled outside twice, roared a few times as if unwillingly, and then turned around and left, chasing Khufu.
At this time, Khufu had already hidden far away under my command. Although there was a subtle induction between the two challenging opponents, which could help them find their opponents, it was not so accurate and needed some time to distinguish. As soon as the Hell Dragon left, I rushed out of the molten cave and found Khufu before it with accurate induction. When the Hell Dragon caught up with me, I cast the "sacrifice" magic and hid aside, while Khufu, the protagonist, fought against the Hell Dragon in front.
In this way, whenever the "sacrifice" time limit is about to expire, I will be the one to contain the Hell Dragon and cover Khufu's retreat. However, I have learned a lesson and I always find a way to retreat in advance. Once the Hell Dragon is entangled with me, I hide in a small molten cave that it cannot enter, forcing it to turn around and chase Khufu. Unfortunately, due to the challenge rules, Khufu, as the main player, cannot use this extremely passive method to escape, otherwise he will be judged as a challenge failure.
The Hell Dragon seemed to be able to use only these two methods to attack the ground opponents: kicking with its hind legs and spitting dragon flames. With the tacit cooperation between Khufu and I, it only had to bear 20% of the damage and survived the first three hours without any danger. If it continues to develop like this, I should be able to pass the Hell Dragon Challenge.
Another unsuccessful attack, the Hell Dragon, which had been flying in the air, suddenly folded its wings and landed on the ground, which puzzled me for a moment. Although it could still stomp and spit dragon flames, it was not as flexible as it could be in the air when it landed on the ground, which limited its power. But before I could think about it, the Hell Dragon had already given the answer with its actions. The horn on its head suddenly flashed red. Fortunately, I had been paying close attention to its every move, not daring to relax at all, so I was able to detect it in time. I suddenly became more alert and reminded Khufu to be on guard, not knowing what kind of powerful skills it would launch.
I felt the sky suddenly light up, and when I looked up, I saw a large red cloud covering the sky, with dots of red light flashing, seemingly targeting me. I knew something was wrong, and quickly used the "Incarnation" to flee. In just a moment, dense fire meteors began to fall from the sky, covering an area of more than 100 square meters. It should be a large-scale attack magic similar to "Meteor Shower", but it was cast by the Hell Dragon, which was far more powerful than those fire magicians. The pouring fire rain was extremely dense. Once caught in the attack range, even in the small form of bats, there was not enough space to hide. Even though I reacted quickly, I still lost more than a dozen clones.
I didn't expect that the Hell Dragon could actually cast magic. Magic and martial arts are abilities that only holy beasts have. No, it seems that it has not yet reached the level of magic and martial arts. It can only be called half magic and half martial arts. It has no ability to cast magic when flying in the air. It can only launch magic attacks when it is on the ground. It has both magic and martial arts, and it has been patient for three hours before using magic. I don't know whether it was reluctant to use it before or tried to hide its strength. The attack just now was too sudden. If I am careless and do not dodge in time, under such a large-scale and intensive fire rain attack, the "external incarnation" may not be able to play a big role, and I am afraid that I will suffer heavy damage even if I don't die.
