Academic gathering with a lich-Chapter 605 - 558
The black giant charging forward shattered the Prohibition Runes of Ashpurin’s cave, and Lyle was now exposed, no longer bound by the worries of sneaking in with tied hands and feet. He only needed to escape, dashing rapidly toward the forested land littered with the remains of red-robed trees.
The Omen Giant’s semi-shadowized body was incredibly swift, and a third of the distance had already been covered. Just then, Ashpurin’s cave exploded, and Dragon Priest Kolosis, riding his Giant Gemstone Dragon, squeezed through the cave and flew toward Lyle.
"Despicable demon!!! I will make you pay!!!" Kolosis bellowed, his roar channeling Draconic Magic that affected Lyle. The shadowy mire boiled over, and the Omen incarnation began to crumble. To maintain speed, Lyle endured the scalding sensation of the mire sticking to his skin, as if thrown into a pot of boiling oil. The low-tier power of the evil god couldn’t stand against Draconic Magic; it ignited as easily as a match. Along the way, the incarnation’s mire splattered behind him.
First, the flesh tendrils of the City of Machinery’s corruption, which had been absorbed into the outer shell, disintegrated. What remained were branch-like limbs as gaunt as those of a treant and the continuously emerging shadow mire from his body. Shedding the fleshly carcass actually made the incarnation somewhat lighter, and Lyle surged forward like a long-limbed spider, his steps thrown into chaos by the frantic charge.
But four legs still couldn’t outpace great wings— the Giant Gemstone Dragon closed the gap with a speed that left Lyle in despair. Not only that, but Lyle could feel the evil mire flowing back into him; this incarnation was about to face its first exhaustion. Draconic Magic had drained his strength dry, and soon Lyle would revert to his human form, which, in the eyes of a dragon, would be no different from being stationary.
He had to shift the Dragon Priest’s magical pressure, even if just for a few seconds.
In the center of the gaunt incarnation, Lyle’s outline continuously reshaped, and a tendril pulled Zhiyan to his side.
"Zhiyan!!! You understand, right!!!"
The Giant Gemstone Dragon’s continued bombardment of Dragon Breath created dazzling light, and in it, Mr. Zhiyan spread his arms wide.
"I guess I have no choice."
"That’s right," Lyle snorted softly, stuffing Mr. Zhiyan into the mouth of the Omen incarnation spewing flesh, swallowing him whole. He then spat him out, and not only was Mr. Zhiyan unharmed, but he also held in his hands a sun-like orb of silvery-white brilliance—the Dragon Crown.
The tendrils wrapped around the glowing Zhiyan, bundling him into a ball and stretching him sideways to the limit before beginning high-speed circular movement around the crawling Omen incarnation as the center. Mr. Zhiyan, thrown by the tendril, left afterimages, and the dazzling flash formed a ring of light around Lyle. Lyle then released the tendril.
Embracing Newton’s blessing, Mr. Zhiyan, loaded with centrifugal force to the extreme, was flung away with the Dragon Crown at a speed the Giant Gemstone Dragon could not catch up within a short time.
"Don’t even think about it!" Dragon Priest Kolosis roared in fury, the Giant Gemstone Dragon opened its jaws wide, and the long-condensed Dragon Breath was unleashed toward the flying Mr. Zhiyan. The concentrated gemstone Dragon Breath transformed into a laser rain explosion, turning everything around Mr. Zhiyan into a sieve. Intense light beams pierced through Zhiyan’s body, vaporizing some of his bones instantly. But it was to no avail; Mr. Zhiyan, clutching the Dragon Crown, continued flying forward.
It appeared that Mr. Zhiyan had managed to escape the pursuit of the Dragon Priest.
Kolosis revealed his hidden trump card.
"Roar!" The Giant Gemstone Dragon bellowed, and its massive body disappeared into mid-air. Upon closer inspection, it hadn’t vanished but had entered a crystal created by the ravaged Dragon Breath. It was a special ability of the Giant Gemstone Dragon, Crystal Teleportation.
The light beams previously unleashed by the Giant Gemstone Dragon were not only capable of shattering Zhiyan but also created a vast number of Crystal Portals around him. Behind Zhiyan, amidst a spray of tiny crystal shards, a massive dragon tail slammed solidly into Zhiyan’s body.
The Giant Gemstone Dragon, along with the Dragon Priest, halted the flying Zhiyan in his tracks.
The dragon tail’s strike shattered his fragile bones, and Mr. Zhiyan crashed into an outcropping of rock, the flash in his grip falling out and landing not far away.
Zhiyan crackled as he moved his body, his lower skeleton shattered, his left arm missing, and only the phalanx of an index finger remaining on his surviving right hand. His current appearance was even more pitiable than a tattered doll. The flickering Soul Flame burned inside his broken skull, and he weakly reached out his hand towards the light that had fallen not far away.
"This is mine, you thief."
In the short distance between Zhiyan and the light, a Giant Dragon and the Dragon Priest stood. Kolosis cast a glance at the almost scrapped Zhiyan and reached for the gleam of light.
"My... Dragon Crown... Ah!!! It’s a fake!!!!!"
The light fell to the ground, and after the magic that sustained it dissipated, the "Dragon Crown" turned into a pile of writings from various races, accumulated together. It was a counterfeit created by Zhiyan, designed to flood the minds of anyone else who touched it with the message encoded in those writings.
And the message was...
"Flash! Flash! Flash! Flash!..."
Kolosis lowered his hand, such a spiritual assault was not very damaging to the Dragon Priest, but it was extremely insulting.
"Do you like it? Baby, my specially made Flash Bomb," Zhiyan opened his mouth wide, his broken jawbone creaking with every word.
Mr. Zhiyan, seer of ancients, had inherited all the knowledge of the Giant Gemstone Dragon, including the Crystal Teleportation unique to dragons. How could Lyle and Zhiyan who were privy to this knowledge not be cautious? They acted separately, but Zhiyan was merely a decoy, as he himself had said, when necessary, Mr. Zhiyan was the most suitable cannon fodder. Although Zhiyan greatly disliked taking hits for others—"Why do I have to take the hits when you all are stronger?"—these complaints were frequent. But apart from being a weakling, Zhiyan held another title: he was an ancient Guardian (self-proclaimed), and he would not allow the Manu clan to become history.
"You! This! Damned insect!!!!"
The enraged Dragon Priest climbed back onto the Giant Dragon, and before taking flight again, he unleashed a breath of gemstone Dragon Breath towards Zhiyan.
Zhiyan chuckled, placing the phalanx of his bitten-off index finger onto his middle finger, then aimed his gesture at the soaring Giant Dragon, at the dazzling Dragon Breath, cursing and laughing as he did so.
"Hahaha! You stupid Dragon Priest!! Old man Zhiyan is your worst nightmare!!!!"
"Just you wait!!!! Once I get out!!! I’ll dig up your grave!!!!"
Then, Mr. Zhiyan chickened out.
Damn it, another beating from the Dragon Priest, last time it was freezing, what’s it this time.
The beam fell, and Zhiyan’s skeleton was sealed inside a crystal.
Sealed in the crimson crystal, Zhiyan’s skull split with a smile.
