Chapter 161 - The Dragon War
"That must be that ape's blood but how did it come here?" A question appeared in Michael's mind as he stared at the crimson droplet of blood. He could not help but recall everything Abras studied about Edros and Edros's time.
In ancient times, the Beastmen Races and the Dragons went to war with one another. At that time, Edros, who was the Beastmen race's king and their strongest, slaughtered many dragons. However, in the middle of the war, Edros disappeared without a trace. Edros's disappearance changed the tide of the war completely and the beastmen suffered a huge loss at the hands of the dragons. Eventually, the other races, mainly Nagas, organized peace talks between the two races because the war affected all the other races in the world. Since both races suffered a huge loss, they had no way but to end the war. Following Edros's disappearance, the Dragon clan in the Dragon island also mysteriously disappeared from the face of the planet. Soon, the dragons slowly lessened in numbers, some died of old age while some just vanished without a trace.
Michael was positive that Edros's disappearance has something to do with what happened to the Dragon clan and this drop of blood belonged to? Edros. However, he was unsure if Edros, the greatest king of the beastmen, had left this drop of blood here willingly.
"How did the dragons turn that ape's blood into this killing formation? Just a droplet of blood is already so powerful. It can easily kill off two Fusion stage mutated beings. No wonder slaughtered countless dragons" Michael thought as he stared at the golden blood that was growing further and further away.
Suddenly, Michael seemed to think of something. His eyes narrowed abruptly and staring fixedly at the blood,
"This ape... The golden babaroo of Noah. Is that monkey somehow related to Edros?" Michael's heart began to beat heavily. A terrifying notion appeared in his mind as he stared deeply at the crimson blood that gradually disappeared into the distance. He exclaimed, "I have to return here when I'm strong enough" If that golden babaroo of Noah was Edros's descended, he did not doubt that the monkey will be his foe in the future.
After seeing the giant ape, his fire of saving the baby dragon burned brightly in his heart. With the system's help, he would turn the baby dragon into the biggest baddest dragon this world has ever seen.
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After leaving the killing formation and the place where he saw Edros, he found a small cave to rest and heal his wounds. Luckily, he never tripped any formations on his way to the cave. He did find several mutated beings but he was able to avoid them. Inside the cave, he was laying on the ground half-naked, his robes torn to pieces, leaving him with only one set of clothes, the casual robes of King T'challa. After cleaning his body using Arch energy, he put on the robes.
Creach!
Michael tore his black coat to get a long strip and then, he tied the baby dragon onto his chest using the cloth. Suddenly his eyes narrowed, sensing the space several kilometers away being distorted.
"It must be Lailah. She's fallen into a formation," Michael murmured because the space being distorted was a sign of an activated formation.
Just as he was about to take a step forward, a familiar figure appeared before him, Spectre.
"Where are you going kid? Don't risk your life trying to save a woman you barely know, it's not your style "
"Shut up" Michael understood what the old man was trying to imply. He tried to ignore the old man as he began to walk outside of the cave
"Just let the woman, it's easy for you isn't it? After all, you killed the only woman you loved" his steps were halted by the old man's words. Flames of fury and sadness emerged in Michael's eyes as he clenched his fists.
"Don't!" his body was slightly shivering in anger, images of a girl in her bathrobes on a bed flashed across his mind. The girl's white bathrobes and the bed underneath her were turned red by her own blood, there were two bullet holes on her chest and one bullet hole right between her eyes.
He looked down to see a gun flicker in his hand, it was Michael who shot the girl.
"You killed your brothers, sisters, and the girl you loved because of a bunch of orphans" Spectre's voice fanned the flames burning in his heart, making him lose his calm.
"They were not my brothers and sisters and she...she knew what was going to happen" he stuttered in anger, "if it wasn't for her distracting me, I would have saved the orphanage, all those kids, and all those people. Go away!"
He shouted, taking a few deep breaths to calm himself. He did not want to get distracted by Spectre as any distractions inside the formation would lead to nothing but death.
"Lightning Dash" soon after he reached the cave's mouth, he activated the lightning dash, turning himself into a bolt of lightning. He then moved in the direction of the distorted space.
Eventually, after running for a few minutes, an indistinct violet figure attracted Michael's attention in the blurry distorted space. Just as he guessed, it was Lailah who was stuck in a formation in the distance.
Without any hesitation, he charged at the formation looking at the several Soul Refining mutated beings who were heading towards Lailah.
After a couple of minutes, his surroundings turned grey and hazy in a blink of an eye indicating that he had entered the formation. Lailah levitated one meter in the air with her legs crossed, while the unadorned Angel's veena laid on her hands. Ten elegant white fingers formed blurry afterimages, quickly playing the first six strings of the veena. She produced notes after notes hurriedly, while the seventh veena string would also be struck from time to time. It would result in violent rumbles in the surroundings.
Lailah became extremely grim and her forehead was already covered in a layer of sweat. She had continued into the depths after she had been separated from Michael the night before. She had accidentally fallen into a powerful formation, one of the powerful formations of the Dragon clan. It has been well-known since ancient times. It was the absolute killing formation, the wrath of hundred dragons.
It was said that in ancient times, several half immortals of the Beastmen race died to this exact formation, achieving wide renown. It was known as one of the deadliest formations in the world.
Deafening dragon roars constantly boomed through the illusionary hazy space. The entire space was filled with huge dragons as they all used their dragon breaths, swung their claws, used various secret techniques, or just charged directly at the center.
There sat Lailah in the air. She used her veena to block the attacks from all directions strenuously. Countless soundwaves shot from the veena, surging in all directions.
She had learned about formations including the wrath of hundred dragons in the Royal Library of Ozer. As a result, Lailah understood this formation very well.
The wrath of hundred dragons, was just as the name suggested was a lethal formation formed from a total of hundred dragons. The formation had seven forms, in the first form, all hundred dragons were as powerful as Body Strengthening beasts. In the second form, their strength would increase to the Core Formation stage
With the third form, the hundred dragons would reach the Core Strengthening stage Beasts. The fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh forms would respectively make the hundred dragons reach the Soul Refining, Fusion Stage, half immortal, and immortal stage.
"I hope this formation is not a complete one" Lailah prayed in her heart. She was still able to forcefully break through the third form if she burned her vitality greatly but once it reached the fourth form, it would be certain death for her.
She had already been trapped in the formation for several hours. In this time, she broke through the first and second forms of the formation by herself. She currently faced the third form.
Roar!
Suddenly, all the hundred dragons in the formation roared at the sky together and then, streams of scorching hot fire shot out of their mouths. Soft whisperings drowned the space and vast energy radiated from the dragons, filling the entire region.
"They've started to use the dragon's breath!" Lailah murmured. Her face was pale and seemed extremely grim. The dragon's fire could melt the strongest metals in the world, even a Core Strengthening stage dragon's fire was powerful enough to burn any Soul Refining stage cultivator to ashes. Hundreds of these Core Strengthening stage dragons could certainly kill not one but several Fusion stage warriors like her if they used the dragon's breath.
Lailah gritted her teeth and a sliver of determination appeared in her eyes. A slender finger gently touched the seventh and the final string. Her finger was cut as soon as she came into contact with it. Dark red blood immediately began to flow, before being absorbed by the string.
The seventh string became completely red after absorbing her blood. It radiated an extremely mysterious aura that seemed to contain the Celestial Energy. At the same time, a gentle, graceful veena note seemed to hum softly from beyond the sky, echoing through the entire formation space.
Lailah paled from the loss of blood through her finger. This blood was not ordinary blood but it was lifeblood. Unlike the normal blood flowing in a cultivator's body, the lifeblood can't be reproduced quickly through any means including high purity healing potions. Once a cultivator used his or her lifeblood, they could only regain the lifeblood by consuming certain rare herbs.
Currently, Lailah used her lifeblood as a price to use an ability completely beyond her strength.
Roar!
A hundred dragons produced an earth-shaking roar. It was filled with the endless might of dragons and seemed to be able to shatter the void. It created countless sound waves, layering upon one another in the formation space as it quickly radiated towards Lailah with an aura of absolute destruction. Lailah gently struck the seventh string at the same time.
Ding!
The sound produced by the veena echoed through the mountains and forests. It was only a musical note, yet it contained great power. A powerful sound wave that was visible with the naked eye began to expand in all directions at an unbelievable speed.
The sound completely suppressed the roar of the dragons. Wherever it passed through, space would ripple, blazing through anything that blocked its way. It surged towards hundred dragons like a hot knife through butter, gently colliding with them.
Soon after, all the dragons in the formation disintegrated. The third form had been broken.
Lailah had played the seventh string at the cost of her vitality. All hundred dragons fell to a single wave of sound.
The seventh string trembled violently. She had already become pale as a white paper as all blood drained from her face. Her eyes also dulled for a while, revealing the weakness she struggled to conceal.
Roar!
Suddenly, another dragon's roar rose up. Soon afterward, vast presences appeared in the formation space. The hundred dragons had reformed their bodies and they each radiated with an aura countless times more powerful than before.
Despair immediately appeared in Lailah's eyes when she saw this. She said with endless bitterness, "The fourth form. It's the fourth form. Looks like I'm fated to die here today"
Breaking through the third form of the formation was already her absolute limit. She possessed no more strength for any resistance against the fourth form that could simply kill a lone Fusion stage warrior like her.