The trio reached their area of interest. It wasn't on the surface but underground where pools of lava resided. It wasn't a natural occurrence, of course, but the surrounding here was purposely oversaturated with sulfur as pools of lava were created over thousands of years and slowly integrated into nature without any issues. Any simpleton who enters this underground region without preparation would have their body poisoned by sulfur and even if someone came prepared, aside from a few odd beasts, there wasn't anything to find. Maybe some rare herbs but no immortal ones.
The trio stepped in without issues, their bodies far too resilient to be taken down by the sulfur in the air as Erlong even went ahead and took deep, filling breaths as her body seemed more excited than usual. Her martial soul was Infernal Dragon King. Pools of Lava and air of sulfur may just be the refreshing vacation Erlong needed to get that huge stick out of her butt and finally grow a little calm than her usual manic self.
Or at least, that's what Ja Sun thought.
They stood in front of the largest and central lava pond. The sound of hot bubbling lava continued to fill the area until Zi Ji scowled. She was getting impatient and found her reputation tested. She was here with the Beast God and despite the reason for their visit, such a silent mockery won't do for her! With all the bits of scales on her human body almost glowing in eldritch dark purplish neon, Zi Ji's lips parted and she bares her sharp canines before releasing an intense, primal roar that shook not only the pools of lava as the viscous bubbling material rippled, but also Erlong who bit her lower lip.
No matter what she thinks... presently, the truth was that she was weaker than Zi Ji... and if she was so much more weaker than Zi Ji... her gaze trailed the back of the youth who beat Zi Ji and thinned her lips. This wasn't exactly honorable. She wanted to best Ja Sun with her efforts alone... but screw that. Honor will only take her so far. She had a live example in front of her of how much dishonesty can achieve.
'Stronger... if not stronger than him then certainly stronger than THEM...' A few figures emerged in Erlong's mind.
"Abyss Demon Dragon... I warned you. Intrude of me next time and I shall have you skinned alive..." A somber growl was released from the central pond as a figure coated in magma soon emerged. The lava slowly dripped down, revealing its human shape but beastly countenance. Unlike Zi Ji, this beast was a humanoid, similar to Snow Empress.
And it certainly looked impressive, Ja Sun thought silently.
The lizard-like beast was a mix of primality of beasts and likeness of war similar to an ancient soldier. Its skin was bright orange but the beast itself was... armored. The armor was part of its body, flesh pressurized so much that it turned stronger than metal. In fact, Ja Sun had a synthetic arm and a piece of silver orb with shards of gold stuck in his chest, too. The lizard's head was covered in a pristine 'steel' helmet that had two horns emerging from the side of its head and another one sticking out from the base of his nose as if some sort of beetle. Not only that, metal-like armor of steel and gold covered its humanoid frame. As if his own draconic claws weren't enough, the dragon's arms had tough metal hide covering it as if bracers and had sharp metal claws sticking out of it.
Alongside the short red mane escaping the confines of his helmet from behind, a pair of metal wings hung on his back similar to an insect that when closed would form a perfect shield!
{A/N: Just a Chinese cousin of Wargreymon, lol.}
"War Dragon..." Zi Ji growled the beast's name. Well, species, to be exact but not many cared about names in the first place.
But instead of looking at Zi Ji who would prove a match to his strength, the beast that was only barely 8 meters tall gazed at the more obvious threat in the form of a curious three-eyes menace. Even War Dragon's own metal skin crawled in goosebumps and fright for the first time but... he continued to match the man's gaze.
"You... have his essence," Ja Sun suddenly chuckled. Ah, what fond memories. He once used the war god's essence to refine himself and it was already assimilated within him at this point. Similar to him, this War Dragon had a similar essence. The only reason Ja Sun could point it out was just that he was so much stronger than the opponent.
"Leave!" War Dragon growled and he was most certainly amazed. He didn't care what THIS beast god said... he was no Di Tian. But as he saw the mighty human turn, even War Dragon had to suppress its jubilation.
"Well, you asked to fight your prey, right?" He heard the man speak out loud and only then did the War Dragon notice the dark-haired woman behind him. If the beast could frown, it would, alas, his face was covered by a hardened metal skin helmet.
Not to be afraid of any challenges, as dangerous as they may be, Erlong stepped forward silently. She eyed the War Dragon... and found him pleasing to her eyes, as a resource to be devoured and grow herself with, that is. The beast had high fire affinity at glance and Ja Sun did send her the compressed voice that notified her that this beast was... better for her than many she can hope to find.
So, indeed, this was a good target.
Her pitch-black eyes matched the War Dragon's blue eyes as they stared at each other and startling the War Dragon was a sense of ominous premonition that he felt from Liu Erlong once she began to let loose her strength as a wave of ultimate fire devoured her and when the flames far hotter and fiercer than any pool of lava the War Dragon had taken a dip in disappeared, what was left was an infernally scaled figure. Dark crimson rhombus scales covered her body as if a skin-tight and indestructible suit with her hands extending to sharp, fire-licked claws, and her feet, too, grew slightly bigger and resembled a dragon's claw. A pair of crimson fleshy wings extended from her back with the ribs of the wings dark crimson but the leathery wings were somewhat lighter. Pink.
Erlong's face was framed with tender-looking but equally tough dragon flesh. Her teeth grew out to sharp canines. Two tiny but fleshy horns grew out from her forehead. Her once dark eyes are now crimson and laced with maddening lust for blood. Not death, but blood. Massacre. Pain.
And the War Dragon could only look at Liu Erlong with a sense of awe, a feeling that was noted within Zi Ji every time Erlong transformed.
King.
A king spirit. The two dragons could feel their bodies trying to kneel in front of Erlong but it was their mighty strength that ignited the sense of caution and fury towards her.
"Why are you here?" The War Dragon's somber voice rumbled as Ja Sun smirked and chuckled, "Come now, don't be coy. Why would humans in a bottleneck would find spirit beasts?"
This was all the War Dragon had to hear before it let out a massive roar and struck instantly towards Ja Sun. Once he takes this man out by surprise, he could escape Zi Ji easily.
And as a prime predator, War Dragon's body was instantly charged with its full strength as it shot toward Ja Sun, not intending to give this man any chance to ready himself for the attack. When the attack should have landed, War Dragon found Ja Sun smirking and Zi Ji frowning. Yet, his body was suddenly impacted by a sharp momentum.
Oh, he wasn't hurt. But the speed and momentum with which he was impacted made it so that his body was pushed away. Admittedly, humanoid beasts had their advantage but being closer to a human's dimension relatively made them susceptible to more human tactics. Erlong could never push Zi Ji's chunky mountainous booty with sheer physical strength alone but this War Dragon was a different concept.
"Hmph," snorting through its metalized nostrils, the War Dragon looked sideways and saw Erlong's black ring glimmering slightly.
She just used her sixth spirit skill trail shot gives her an amazing speed when it came to single direction movement but when added with Ja Sun's storm steps technique that she learned, the part where she can shift any momentum without a loss in energy, proved to be highly compatible with this skill. Her sixth spirit skill practically gave Erlong a high melee advantage over others only when used in tandem with storm steps!
Her body was 'activated.'
After all, she was about to battle a 100000-year-old beast!
And alone. It was similar if not far more dangerous than tackling a Titled Douluo and she had such experience under her belt when their team killed the patriarch of the Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan. Although, she wasn't the one who did most of the work...
But now...
She intently gazed at the beast. She had six spirit skills, a tough body, and three spirit bones. Even if not a Titled Douluo, she couldn't shame herself by getting defeated easily at the very least.
'Do you think she can kill him?' Zi Ji frowned. In fact, Erlong was more effective than her in this location. First, Zi Ji couldn't enter this location with her real body and her human body could barely contend with the beast given the territorial advantage. But Erlong had the same advantage here if not more than War Dragon because of her ultimate fire...
'Why don't we bet? It could actually be a nailbiter,' Ja Sun snickered as Zi Ji looked at her Beast God suspiciously...
'I bet that she would lose,' Zi Ji opted to be a realist.
'Hmm, I hope she wins then,' And Ja Sun always was willing to represent the crazier and miraculous side.
'If I win... you shall help me with one thing,' Zi Ji looked thoughtful as Ja Sun blinked, 'I thought you would want your reverse scale back...'
'I will win it back,' Zi Ji emphasized with a snort even if the situation was bleak, and looked at Ja Sun, 'So? What do you desire in return?'
'You know what? A dare for a dare. I'll have you do something, too,' Ja Sun shrugged with an easygoing smile as Zi Ji nodded quietly.
Meanwhile, the battle over the surface of lava had already begun!
***
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