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Chapter 114: The Gap in Bloodline Rank

Diabolus threw a punch.

The shockwave exploded, and Roy, in a hurry, blocked it with his dual swords, which shattered instantly. His body flew away like a broken kite, crashing into the ruins.

But the next second, Roy struggled to prop himself up from the debris.

His chest had chunks of dragon scales shattered, clearly injured.

“Not dead?”

The Demon Race had strong bodies, and mid-tier fighters could easily take down low-tier ones. After taking that hit, there was no way he should be able to stand again.

Diabolus was about to step forward to pursue when the Hydra’s roar echoed, and twisted snake shadows rushed in like an eclipse.

With a sudden flap of his wings, Diabolus dashed backward, leaving behind a ghostly afterimage.

The Demon Race excelled in dark elemental attributes, massively enhancing their already superior physical abilities, and with the ability of [Shadow Flash], he could double his speed for a short time.

However, the Hydra’s speed was no joke either. One snake head missed, but even more followed, and after a few consecutive misses on the afterimages, one finally bit down on Diabolus’s arm.

“Got you.”

The sorceress hissed, followed by the rush of the Hydra’s venom.

The ghostly green magic toxin could dissolve steel in the blink of an eye, and even [All Things Wither], a self-healing magical creature, would struggle against this mythic beast’s venom.

No matter how strong the Demon Race’s body was, it couldn’t withstand Hydra venom!

Yet Diabolus reacted quickly, slashing with a claw and shattering the snake head just before the venom burst forth, allowing him to escape.

His arm sizzled and smoked but sustained no further damage.

“Hydra’s venom, truly a dangerous substance.” Diabolus shook his hand, yet his face remained relaxed.

He was well aware of Leanna’s trump card and had been on guard.

But something else felt off…

Diabolus looked at the swordsman in the distance, running his fingers over a small scar on his face, falling into thought.

Dragon tooth weapons, dragon scale armor; could that guy be connected to the [Evil Dragon Society]?

But ultimately, his bloodline rank was pretty low, not even at mid-tier; not a significant threat, just a bit annoying.

“Interesting.” Diabolus grinned at Roy, his expression feral. “Let’s start with you.”

“You know, we Demons love hunting fun, weak little critters, and you’re just my type.”

“Buzz off, you ugly freak!”

Once the [Evil Dragon Blood Armor] restored itself under his extraordinary power, Roy gripped his sword with both hands and stepped forward.

[Desolation]!

The crimson flames exploded like a blazing sun, trailing a dazzling path, akin to a scarlet meteor, striking down toward the demon.

Even if it was just an imitation of a [False King] bloodline, hardly any creature could withstand the breath of a pureblood dragon head-on!

However, Diabolus didn’t dodge or evade; he met it with a claw.

“Wh…?”

“Dragon Fire? You’ve got some good stuff. But unfortunately, flames don’t work on me.”

The overwhelming dark demonic flames surged from the demon’s claw, cutting through the incoming pure flame that sought to incinerate everything in its path, stopping it forcefully.

The collision of the two flames produced a heatwave that turned everything around them to ashes, while Roy was sent flying once more by the impact.

Diabolus wielded the magical flames granted by the fire demon Ifrit, a terrifying flame that had burned millions of beings, forged from their resentful souls.

In terms of specifications, his flames could stand up to the Fire Dragon’s fiery breath.

Yet despite being on equal grounds, the gap in their bloodline ranks was still too vast.

Diabolus blurred into an afterimage, instantly catching up to Roy, swinging his claw wrapped in demonic flames.

At the same time, Roy’s Dragon Tooth longsword transformed into a scarlet spear, bracing the spear’s tail against the ground to stop his momentum, then striking forward.

If the fiery breath wouldn’t work, surely Blood Magic would be effective.

The claw and spear collided.

The spear shattered instantly, and Roy was hurled several meters backward, his freshly restored dragon scales cracking again.

But Diabolus stared at the small wound in his palm, surprised.

“Blood infused with magic…?”

Diabolus narrowed his eyes and surged forward again, swinging down a frightening claw strike.

Roy sensed the impending danger but had no time to defend. Luckily, Hydra rushed in at just the right moment, twisting its massive body to force Diabolus back.

With a flash of afterimages, one claw clashed with a snake head, easily ripping it apart.

However, the black magic summons weren’t life forms; they were entities constructed from extraordinary power, especially since the Hydra itself had [Regeneration] abilities.

As one snake head was destroyed, the next was already back to normal, tirelessly unfazed by death, charging at Diabolus once more.

The entwined claw cloaked in demonic flames and the frenzied Hydra continually intertwined, forming a whirlwind of purple and black.

“Foolish, you think a Sequence 6 could match me in a war of attrition?”

“Who said I was trying to wear you out?”

Diabolus halted momentarily.

The Hydra suddenly ceased its attack, and all nine enormous mouths from the west converged, unleashing the potent magic toxin they had been brewing directly at Diabolus.

The serpent’s fangs struck.

Diabolus’s arms and torso were bitten, accompanied by a close-range explosion of magic toxin. Leanna spared no effort, wishing to turn her enemy to nothingness.

However, just as the bone-eating toxin was about to burst forth, a surge of intense heat exploded from within Diabolus’s body with a loud crack.

The massive serpentine form was reduced to ashes in a blink, utterly annihilated, leaving no remains for regeneration.

“Nice teamwork…”

Diabolus paused, suddenly raising his hand to block the crimson spear that ambushed him from his blind spot, crushing it with force. “But that’s all there is.”

Seeing this, Roy frowned.

The gap in strength was too vast.

[Desolation] simply didn’t cut it. The damage from the Dragon Tooth and Blood Magic was quite limited. Leanna’s magic toxin was effective, but Diabolus was clearly on guard against it, making it hard to land a hit.

They lacked means to deliver a killing blow, while on the other hand, every single attack from the enemy was a lethal strike.

Most importantly, they couldn’t afford to take damage.

The difference in extraordinary power for Sequence 5 ranged over them far too much.

Roy spat out a mouthful of blood.

The recovery speed of his dragon scales had significantly slowed down.

From defeating Marvin to the recent skirmish, he had exhausted all his extraordinary power and would have to rely on [Blood Recovery] to replenish it.

Roy glanced back at the girl behind him; he could see her breathing heavily, a faint look of agony on her face.

If black mages exert too much power, they would be backlashed by their bloodlines.

Neither he nor Leanna could afford to prolong this fight further.

Roy didn’t dream of completely defeating the enemy, but if they didn’t heavily injure him to instill some caution, they wouldn’t even be able to escape.

The only chance was [Bloodline Resonance], but this move came with a fatal weakness.

A few seconds of preparation was no issue against other opponents, but Diabolus’s speed was clearly faster than theirs; how could he give them the chance to resonate?

In the end, it was still the vast gap in bloodline ranks.

With this thought, Roy couldn’t help but grit his teeth.

 

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