Sunlight fell through the gaps in the clouds, spilling over the fungal mat as it slowly recovered in the Mist's wake.
A shadow flickered across the ground.
Up in the sky, Little Black slammed full-speed into a green gemstone hovering in midair. The instant they met, the gem went "pop" and vanished like a bubble.
At the same moment, a brand-new gemstone shimmered into being farther on.
Little Black's wings snapped once, and she shot off in pursuit of the next phantom.
The phantoms were leading her, jewel by jewel, toward the Second Legion.
All of it was the fruit of Lin Jun's training, and every one of the gem images had been sampled from Little Black's own collection. Afterward he need only hand her the actual gems, one full pass through the set, and all accounts would be square.
Under Lin Jun's guidance, the flight took even less time than projected.
But the big black dragon was faster than projected too.
Little Black had just gleefully body-checked another emerald when a dragon's presence came down on her like a falling sky.
[Dragonslayer (Dragon Presence Immunity)]
Her stats didn't drop a single point under that pressure. But the sheer familiarity of that aura froze her wings mid-beat, and her body dropped like a cannonball at the end of its arc, straight down into the gravel below.
Little Black pushed herself up out of the crater of crushed stone and looked up.
The enormous black silhouette was already standing before her, its sky-blotting wings folding in, slow and unhurried.
Da Long looked down at the last remaining rival of the Dragon Strife beneath his feet, and spoke slowly. "So we meet again, little one."
Little Black flattened herself against the ground and answered with a sound like a frightened cat. "Da Long..."
Before him, she shrank and shrank until she was a trembling ball, even her head tucked away beneath her wings.
"Little Black, what are you doing? Fly! Get up and fly!"
In the mycelial network, Lin Jun was already starting to panic.
Lin Jun knew nothing of what lay between Da Long and Little Black. He could never have imagined that this black dragon's aura alone would be enough to crush Little Black into a quivering ball with no will to resist left in her!
In Lin Jun's plan, Little Black was outclassed in everything, including her best stat, speed. But with her stack of acceleration skills, plus Lin Jun running interference with Puchis, the odds of getting her safely to No. 4 had still looked excellent.
But now...
"Little Black, look! A whole pile of sparklies! Fly over and they're all yours!"
The trick that had never once failed... failed!
Da Long had no idea a mushroom was currently losing its mind inside her head. He lowered his head, studying the shivering black dragonkin, and a flicker of disappointment crossed his golden eyes. He reached out a claw and flipped her over. One large pair of golden eyes met one small pair.
"Why are you so afraid?"
"Da Long... strong... Little Black..."
"Little Black?"
Da Long tilted his head, and his puzzled tone made her flinch smaller still, wings clamping down tight on reflex.
"Svergis... afraid."
The dragon's claw slammed into the earth in front of her, and the great head bent low.
"You have stepped into the Dragon Strife. What right do you have to be afraid?"
"You wish to seize the Ancient Dragon's power like a true dragon, yet you do not dare fight like one?"
The anger in Da Long's voice drove Little Black's head down even deeper, and small whimpering sounds leaked out of her, like a cowering little animal.
Looking at that hopeless display, Da Long shut his eyes and drew a long breath. When they opened again, what little feeling they had held was gone, leaving only a stare of pure cold.
"Because of you, I refused Mother's final request." Da Long raised his claw, bit by bit. "But at the very least, you ought to die the way a true dragon does: in battle."
"Get up. Face me!"
Bang!
The claw swept through, and Little Black went tumbling through the air with the shattered gravel, smashing into a hillside far away.
Da Long followed on her heels, ripped the entire slope open, and plucked out the Little Black who had been frantically digging herself underground.
More blows followed, one after the next. Little Black's scales cracked, blood streaking her whole body. Not one of Da Long's strikes was lethal, and every single one made sure she truly felt the pain.
"Owoo... hurts!"
Under Da Long's relentless hammering, the battered Little Black finally had her animal ferocity beaten awake.
A huge mouthful of [Corrosive Dragon's Breath] sprayed up into Da Long's oncoming face, swallowing the entire dragon head in black fog.
The head burst back out of the fog without a mark on it.
"Good. Again!"
The black claw rose once more, then came smashing down. This one was different. If it landed clean, Little Black would be crippled if not killed.
Several tentacles lashed around Little Black, frozen stiff with fear all over again the moment her burst of nerve ran out, and a mushroom body twisted in sync, flinging her out of the claw's path.
The price: with a single boom, two Puchis ceased to exist beneath the dragon's claw.
"And who said you could beat my Little Black like that?"
The voice came layered and dripping and altogether disgusting, sounding at once from countless voice Puchis all around Da Long.
Then temporary Puchis by the hundreds boiled up out of the ground on every side, balled themselves up, and came rolling at him in a chaotic tide, bouncing as they came, weaving back and forth until they had drowned Little Black's figure from view entirely.
Facing the rolling flood of Puchis, Da Long merely swept one indifferent glance across it.
"Puchi... A rabble of mushroom freaks. So this is your keeper? You have shamed Mother past all measure!"
The black dragon dipped its head, jaws parting, and a [Corrosive Dragon's Breath] of a volume far beyond anything Little Black could produce came rolling out.
Puchis touched by the black fog began to fester on contact. Mushroom bodies lost their bounce, shriveled into wrinkles, then slumped and rotted into puddles of stinking black water.
One breath. The Puchis were annihilated to the last, and the ground was nothing but black water in every direction.
Little Black had vanished along with them.
"Fleeing?" Da Long hung in midair, wing membranes spreading slowly against the night wind. "Still as stupid as ever. There is no fleeing the Dragon Strife!"
Following the pull of the [Ancient Dragon Path], Da Long spread his wings and gave chase southward.
On the other end of that chase, Little Black was flying flat-out with no regard for her own life, claws locked in a death grip around a single Puchi.
It was an utterly ordinary Puchi. Lin Jun hadn't wanted her hauling the dead weight at all, but without it, Little Black wouldn't even run.
In Little Black's eyes, the thing in her claws wasn't a Puchi. It was Norris, trembling, helpless, needing her protection. Though the texture did feel a little off.
Lin Jun genuinely could not work out why, inside that dim little head of hers, protecting Norris ranked higher than saving her own life.
But whatever worked. At least she was finally moving.
Behind her, flying Puchis rose off the fungal mat in swarms, packing the night sky solid.
The instant the big black dragon's silhouette entered range, they began self-destructing on their own initiative, hallucinogenic spores bursting into a sky-wide haze of purple.
Even if the spores couldn't put a hallucination into a dragon that size, they could at least smear its vision.
Bought by the sacrifice of countless Puchis, Little Black finally cleared the target mountain and dove headlong into the ravine beyond.
Da Long came right behind her, but as he crested the ridge, he spared the mountain a second glance.
In his [Mana Perception], the mana saturating this mountain was abnormally rich, and seamless, all of one piece. Deeply unnatural. There might be some secret buried here. It might also be a trap.
But confidence in his own power kept his speed exactly where it was. He set aside a portion of his attention for the mountain, nothing more, and stooped after Little Black into the ravine.
He was, by now, thoroughly disappointed in this Svergis, this dragon raised by a pack of Puchis who knew only how to run and never how to fight. He wanted nothing more than to end the whole farce personally, and quickly.
And then, halfway down his dive, the entire mountain rippled and blurred, and in its place rose a Leviathan Puchi of a scale no one in history had ever seen!
"A jumbo black devil! But I'm bigger now! Hahahahaha!"
No. 4's laughter rolled through the mycelial network as it spread four tentacles wide and closed them around the black dragon like a landslide given arms!
Far away, in the ruined city where Da Long and the blue dragon had fought their last battle.
Little Pig and the soldiers stood in a silent ring, all of them watching the center, where, exactly as the Boss had instructed, Norris lay curled on the ground, diligently forcing himself to tremble.
"Boss, what is this actually for? And how much longer?"
"Hmm... that'll do for now. But we're not done. Switch to a more pitiful, more tempting pose. We may need it again shortly."
(End of Chapter)
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