Imp to Demon King: A Journey of Conquest-Chapter 306: A Blow for a Blow

As icy energy enveloped Hrimgar in thick, frozen armor, Adam’s roar rumbled through the permafrost.

ROAR

He thrust his head before the jotun’s protected stomach, scarlet plasma exploding with the deafening noise.

The conflagration made the air sizzle and the temperature soar for the first time in the permafrost’s history. Vapor danced, and lakes formed yet, Hrimgar condensed new layers of armor as soon as the previous melted. The blast’s radiance reached hundreds of kilometers, blinding beasts and jotun tribes who thought the end of Jotunheim might have come.

The war of attrition lasted two long minutes before Adam’s eyes narrowed.

Despite the God Slayer supplying him with essence, he felt his reserve diminish to dangerous levels. Even worse, Hrimgar still smirked mockingly inside the ice. No, it melted slower with each second crawling by.

’He’s absorbing the surrounding frost, as I do with heat?’ He clenched his jaw, cursing Jotunheim’s temperature. After all, there was nothing to strengthen his flames here.

As the realisation struck, Mimir’s urgent voice echoed.

"We underestimated Hrimgar. You can’t win this battle. Leave!"

He closed his mouth in response, smoke drifting between his fangs and his scalding scales returning to their dark colors.

Mimir was right. He couldn’t win using energy in the jotun’s domain. But a steely glint flashed in his eyes. Retreating was never an option.

The ice cracked before him as Hrimgar withdrew his defenses and burst into laughter.

"You think I’ll let you? Let’s have a little more fun, dragonling. Hahaha."

Adam watched him swing his pipe, his eyes constricting as a frost blade formed on the bulge.

Gritting his teeth, he thrust his right forearm into the weapon’s path and lunged forward.

’If essence isn’t enough, I’ll eviscerate you with my bare hands.’

With a defiant roar, he felt his scales crack as the blade tore through his muscles. Frost invaded the limb, a paradoxical searing pain making it twitch before the deathly chill froze his blood and stole his sensations.

Yet, his bones stopped the blade, and a smirk split his face as his left claws dug five bloody gashes on the jotun’s chest.

Hrimgar grunted, his lips parting to speak again, but he didn’t give him the opportunity to and hurled his head toward the open mouth.

His twisted horns glinted before they pierced through Hrimgar’s palate. Blood poured down, coloring his scales a bright red. But before he could rejoice, the jotun smashed both his fists onto his head with a roar.

BAM

The world spun as he heard the sickening crack of his skull.

’I won’t lose.’ He huffed through the pain, his eyes swirling into two chaotic pools. ’A blow for a blow. Strike back!’

Plasma crackled around his fist, and his legs exploded with power as he leapt into a terrifying uppercut aimed at beheading his adversary with raw strength.

However, Mimir’s urgent scream reverberated at this moment.

"Careful, brother!"

His instincts screamed danger, and in the blink of an eye, plasma cascaded from his scales’ crevices, shaping itself like Hrimgar’s frost armor.

PSHHH

Frozen projectiles dug a few centimeters into his scales at first before they melded along the following ones.

He clenched his jaw against the pain as his fist collided with the jotun’s chin.

CRACK

He felt the bones collapse and the stench of burning skin, but his eyes darted to the whistle coming from the right.

A blade of pure frost cleaved the air to pierce his temple: a killing move he had to dodge at any cost.

’I’m too close. Need to deviate it.’ He raised his paw and stomped it down on Hrimgar’s foot, the claws digging into the flesh.

"ARGH!" The jotun’s balance tilted slightly—just enough for the blade to slice through Adam’s thick shoulder.

Without a groan, Adam’s right hand lashed out, claws aimed at Hrimgar’s throat as the blade in his shoulder melted and the blunt edge flashed toward his head.

Mimir witnessed the bloody fight from the crater Adam had dropped him in, his pale golden eyes widening each time a thunderous strike rippled through the air.

"Such courage... You remind me of the late Tyr, brother." He bit his lip. "Don’t lose. You have a great future ahead."

His lips twisted with each wound Adam suffered, noticing he stacked them on the left part of his body to retaliate with the right.

He prayed his earlier assessment was wrong—that Hrimgar would collapse. Yet, despite the blood cascading from the jotun’s face and his wrathful expression, he still struck with the same ferocity. Worse, he saw Adam’s legs tremble as his muscles froze from the inside.

And after five minutes of this cruel spectacle, he closed his eyes. There would be no miracle...

"Hahaha!" Hrimgar laughed through his shattered jaw, the noise off and guttural. "You became powerful. I’ll give you that. Die without regret as Hrigmar’s worthiest opponent to date."

Adam huffed, his breath as ragged as his punctured body and as cold as the tundra. "The worthiest because you hunker down in this desolate place. The gods you oh so desperately hide from jeer at your pitiful strength."

He forced a trembling smirk and opened his numb arm. "But you’re right. I won’t regret anything knowing that in a short ten years, I shattered Ymir’s descendent despite his long existence."

Hrimgar’s jaw clenched as he raised his pipe overhead.

"Demonic bastard. You know nothing of recognising a worthy adversary. Since you can’t accept praise in death, die miserably. I’ll feed on your flesh and carve your bones into weapons in preparation for Ragnarök."

The pipe cleaved down, ready to shatter Adam’s head once and for all.

Yet, Adam smirked as the only body part he had preserved lashed the ground behind. A jet of plasma increased its momentum to the limit.

BAM

With a deafening rumble, his tail slammed down, propelling him into an upward flip. The spikes protruding along its length blurred as he turned into a living grinder.

CLANG

He collided with the pipe, sparks erupting in a scalding shower as he roared his piled-up rage. Who was that bastard who dared to pummel him? What had he accomplished in his long life? Nothing!

"A bastard like you can’t kill me!"

Pressured by the rotational force, Hrimgar’s arm jerked back, exposing his battered body to the lethal strike.

"RAH!"

His tail lacerated Hrimgar’s torso as the jotun gripped his shoulders to halt the spin. Yet, that’s what he had waited for.

As fluid as water, his jaw snapped at his enemy’s neck, his throat’s scales already scalding white.

"ARGH!"

Hrimgar roared in pain as the sharp fangs punctured his throat. But this was just the beginning.

Plasma burst out in a cataclysmic breath that vaporised skin, muscles, and bones. The strike continued, leaving a deep gash of scalding water in its wake. It carved a giant hole through a mountain dozens of kilometers away before dissipating into fiery tongues.

Instead of relaxing, his eyes snapped to the sky—at Hrimgar’s torn head and open mouth.

"I’ll take you with me!"

Frost condensed into a giant cleaver already about to behead him. Yet, he reacted calmly.

Natural runes enveloped his body as his scales receded and his size shrunk.

Plasma simultaneously roared from his God Slayer’s hilt, propelling it in his frozen right hand before he hurled it at the jotun’s head.

It collided with the blade’s edge like a blazing spear with a deafening sizzle.

Time seemed to stop for Adam as he fell from fifty meters high. His lips slowly curled to let out a victorious exhale. ’I win.’

With a swipe of his hand, a line of scarlet plasma erupted from the ground and rose with vicious abandon. Like a fiery blade, it cleaved and devoured the head as the God Slayer pierced a hole through the frozen blade and pierced the brain.

The next second, a notification cut through the chaos, confirming his victory as he collapsed to the ground like a broken doll.

[You have defeated the tier 8 level 95 boss: Ymirs’ descendent: Hrimgar. You have gained 39.000.000 experience points.]