The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

But after the two Retainer Knights landed, they managed to struggle to their feet, evidently without serious harm. Their good response had neutralized the powerful magic—they had all practiced resisting routines for the Magical Beasts they might encounter at Thorn Ridge.

The Thunderfang Boar was one of them!

Falling back was to wait for the exhaustion of Lightning Flash; Thunder Magic was the most draining, its force weakened with distance, and the Thunderfang Boar would also have a rather long preparation time when releasing Lightning Flash.

Moving closer was to disperse the Lightning Flash’s attack on a single target.

Raising shields was to enlarge the area affected by the lightning, protecting the body.

Planting the sword was to channel the force of the Thunder Magic directly into the ground.

Releasing Dou Qi was to use it to neutralize the remaining force of the Thunder Magic involved.

Indeed, two Retainer Knights had been sent flying, but managing to have a group of Apprentice Knights successfully neutralize a powerful magic strike was a successful strategy.

“All units, obey orders, hit-and-run attack! Tie down the Thunderfang Boar, wait for my combined strike!” Marcus finally spared a moment of attention from the Fierce Earth Dog’s Rock Spike attack and hurriedly issued commands to the Retainer Knights.

He was the commander of the battlefield, tasked with overseeing the entire situation.

“My lord, there’s another Magical Beast!”

“Leave this one to me!” Liszt’s voice was cold. He had the Eye of Magic, which made him safer than the others, “It’s just a Serpent Type Beast!”

The Crimson Blood Sword was imbued with Fire Attribute Dou Qi, flames slowly igniting.

He had already charged toward the serpent-like monster to the northwest—Thorn Ridge had no record of such a serpent-type monster, but regardless of the record, Liszt had to face it.

Douson could no longer be relied on.

After consuming the Bloodline Fruit, it had become listless on the ground, seemingly caught in deep sleep.

“Fire Dragon Stab!”

With the Eye of Magic locking on the target, Liszt did not hesitate to launch his attack. The Crimson Blood Sword turned into a bloody arrow, aimed straight at the serpent-like monster’s vital spot.

That spot was clearly where the magic converged, visible to his Eye of Magic.

Strike a snake at its vital spot, it was the snake’s weakest area, and a solid hit meant certain death.

The Serpent Type Beast appeared to sense the fatal threat, as its thick body, wide as a bowl, twisted, dodging the attack while opening its mouth to spew magic power.

Liszt leaped into the air, dodging the Magic Attack.

At the spot where he had jumped, a dark whirlpool formed, quickly corroding the dry grass and dead leaves on the ground to sludge.

“Dark Magic Whirlpool! It turns out to be a Shadow Snake!” he quickly identified the species of the serpent-like monster he was hunting—it was a Shadow Snake.

The Shadow Snake was a Dark Attribute Magical Beast.

It tended to live in swamps or dark, damp woodlands, capable of releasing the spell “Dark Magic Whirlpool.” The Dark Attribute’s magic power inherently carried a corrosive effect; once hit by the Dark Magic Whirlpool, it could instantly corrode a human’s body to nothingness. This was a very malicious creature, but its body was quite frail.

If it were Marcus, he might well have been caught off-guard, legs severed by the Shadow Snake, left to be devoured by it.

But it was facing Liszt now, dodging the magic with ease, and the remaining time was a matter of how to kill it cruelly.

“Heart of the Fire Dragon Drill!”

He started with a powerful move, a rain of fire raining down on the Shadow Snake, which coiled into a ball, not even getting the chance to cast spells. A lion still uses its full strength to fight a rabbit, Liszt never believed in conserving energy in a fight, his style was either to stay back and attack or to go the front line and bombard fiercely.

Splash!

The flames ignited the scales of the Shadow Snake.

Scorched by the burn, the Shadow Snake kept rolling in agony, trying to extinguish the flames. Whether it was the heat of the flames affecting its judgment, the snake released magic wildly. A small area was hit with three Dark Magic Whirlpools in quick succession, all of them missing Liszt by a wide margin.

Facing such an irrational Shadow Snake, Liszt let out a relieved smile, raised the Crimson Blood Sword high, and aimed for the vital seven inches of the snake before bringing it down with a mighty swing.

Crack!

With one strike, the Shadow Snake was cleaved in two. The lower half writhed in madness, while the upper half could not twist and turned, its mouth still opening and closing.

No more magic could be released.

All that was left for it was death.

“Huh…” Liszt exhaled a heavy breath, momentarily at a loss. Once considered useless, he had now easily killed a Magical Beast.

While the Shadow Snake wasn’t very strong, it was still a Low-Level Magical Beast with strength comparable to that of an Earth Knight.

Yet in his presence, it only had the chance to be beaten, not lasting more than ten moves before being cut in two: “It seems I’ve grown this strong, almost like an Elite Earth Knight.”

Indeed, with the Eye of Magic to see through illusions and the Crimson Blood Sword to enhance his power, it was clear that Liszt had become stronger.

His reflections were brief, for in the next moment, not waiting for the bifurcated Shadow Snake to stop squirming, he mounted his horse with the Crimson Blood Sword in hand, charging towards the Thunderfang Boar—some Magical Beasts required fighting on foot, and others were better dealt with on horseback. The Thunderfang Boar, massive and thick-skinned, required the power of a warhorse to hunt.

“Charge!”

Rider and steed became one, Dou Qi bursting forth, the Crimson Blood Sword slicing through the air with a piercing whine.

As he charged into the fray, the Thunderfang Boar was about to release magic, only to be sent flying by Liszt’s “Inferno Slash,” blood scattering on the spot, and its magic thwarted and kept at bay.

The thick-skinned Thunderfang Boar was not seriously harmed, however, and started to charge at Liszt with grunts of defiance.

But after only two steps, it was sent flying once again, this time by Marcus who had just dispatched the Fierce Earth Dog, charging in unison with the horse despite his injured left leg, blood flowing freely from a gash caused by a Rock Spike. However, this did not hinder his mounted charge.

“Sir, let’s combine our attacks!”

“I’ll take the left, you take the right, one round of charging each. Follow my command and don’t let it cast any magic!”

“Alright!”

After a brief exchange, Liszt initiated another round of charging, knocking the Thunderfang Boar off its feet once again. Before the boar could rise, Marcus charged again, knocking the still unsteady beast back to the ground.

Two Elite Earth Knights, alternating rounds of attack.

As their teamwork grew more seasoned, the Thunderfang Boar lost its chance to stand up again. It couldn’t release its Lightning Flash, and so it could only bellow in frustration as more and more gashes were cut into its flesh, quickly soaked with its own blood, then stained black by the mire on the ground.

The Retainer Knights, exhausted by the Thunderfang Boar’s antics, lit torches one by one, surrounding the battlefield to prevent the boar from breaking through and escaping.

Watching the two Earth Knights toy with the Thunderfang Boar, their blood surged with excitement, wishing it were they who were in the fray, tormenting the beast.

After at least a dozen charges back and forth.

Marcus’s warhorse was too tired to lift its feet any longer, and the Li Dragon Horse was also heaving with heavy breaths. It was then that the Thunderfang Boar finally ceased its plaintive grunts, lying on the ground, breathing in far more than it could breathe out.

“It’s finally dead.”

Liszt breathed heavily. The Thunderfang Boar was not much of a threat to Earth Knights—it moved clumsily and unleashed its magic slowly, making it easy to dodge. But its hide was too thick, and they could only wear it down softly and slowly till its death.

Marcus’s face was pale, his left leg bleeding quite a bit, sapping his strength, but he still managed to shout first, “Everyone, don’t just stand there, clean up the battlefield, we’re preparing to leave!”

After saying this, he dismounted, ready to tend to his wound.

However, Liszt suddenly spoke in an urgent tone, “Teacher Marcus, we’re in trouble. One, two, three, four… a total of seven beasts, converging on us.”