He wanted to test the limits of his power. Moreover, he’d guessed that there was another, higher level beyond the level of ‘Wielder’. And now Hadjar was passionately hunting for it.
His sword whistled through the air at a speed that even most fencers at the Heaven Soldier level couldn’t have matched. Where a human’s gaze could spot two slashes, Hadjar was actually making four. Thanks to his understanding of the Sword Spirit, ghostly silhouettes of Mountain Wind were conjured by each swing.
Like two raging mountain streams, the fiery falcons collided with the ghostly blades. They tore at each other viciously. Shards of ghostly steel and bits of the fiery feathers fell to the black sand.
After sending about a dozen more blades toward his foe, Hadjar suddenly sheathed his sword. Crouching, he put his hand on the hilt and imagined a leaf falling onto the scorched falcon’s wing.
“Falling Leaf!” He shouted, ripping the blade out of its scabbard at the same time.
The attack that followed had once used to assume the form of a barely distinguishable dragon. However, the past two months of constant battles hadn’t been a waste of time for Hadjar. Although he hadn’t encountered any truly dangerous opponents in the Pit, his understanding of his level of swordsmanship had deepened and strengthened.
Like Traves, he could now use the full potential of the fourth stance of the ‘Light Breeze’ Technique.
Forcing everyone in the area to freeze for an instant, the powerful roar of a Lord of the Heavens filled the air. A black dragon with scales shrouded in miniature lightning bolts fell from the sky. Its body leaned downward like a dangerous blade.
The falcon, its head tilted up, met the dragon-blade with another ‘Kya!’ However, this time, the piercing scream seemed to go on indefinitely, and then it turned into a huge, roaring, fiery tornado.
The ‘Falling Leaf’ that fell into the funnel of flame and power didn’t last long. The stream of fire tore away bits of its essence and lightning from the dragon, exposing its true body — a sharp sword. The dragon, having barely managed to leave behind a shallow cut on the bird’s wing, melted away and disappeared within the stream of flame.
Hadjar was preparing to charge the beast head on, but he didn’t realize that the falcon hadn’t finished its attack yet.
The bird, squinting at the insect that had injured it, opened its beak, and the fiery tornado turned into a gigantic ribbon. It soared through the air toward Hadjar, who hadn’t expected it at all.
His conditioned body and mind, hardened by thousands of battles, reacted with blinding speed. It was quite difficult to catch Hadjar unawares, and this time was no exception.
The ‘Calm Wind’ stance, which conjured a powerful stream of descending wind, didn’t manage to fully stop the beast’s attack, but it did slow down the fire ribbon, despite it being as wide as a city street. The time it bought him was enough for him to saturate his blade with almost a quarter of his energy supply.
The falcon’s attack clashed with Mountain Wind, which was shining with a blue light. The force behind the collision was so great that Hadjar was torn off the ground and, after flying a dozen yards through the air, landed hard on the black sand. The falcon, sensing he was weakened, licked Hadjar’s chest, which had streams of blood flowing down it. A burn blackened his solar plexus, and a long laceration ran down the length of his torso.
Jumping to his feet, Hadjar saw Einen and Glen standing in the distance out of the corner of his eye. Breathing heavily, they were leaning against each other, and the huge snake’s corpse lay behind them.
“Are you gloating right now?” Hadjar growled out. “There’s two of you, and I’m doing this on my own.”
The wound on the falcon’s wing was small, but still bleeding. Surprisingly, red-hot lava was what the fiery bird had for blood. As it fell across the sand, the lava made it hiss and turn into glass. It was a terrifying sight. But not as terrifying as an infuriated Hadjar.
Mentally, he plunged into the depths of his soul. There, in the pitch darkness, a miniature dragon slept on a disk made of blue light. As soon as Hadjar called out to him, the tattoo on his chest flashed.
A cloak of black fog, ragged and wispy, appeared across his shoulders, and the same exact fog began emanating from Mountain Wind. Hadjar could use the Call of Blood for only a few seconds, but even that was enough to deal with the monster.
Where Hadjar had stood until a second ago, a funnel of energy formed. Then a loud clap was heard. In an instant, he appeared on the back of the fiery bird.
Since it was much stronger than a mere mortal, it managed to perceive Hadjar’s movements, but to the spectators, he looked like a black streak that had simply crossed the distance in an instant.
Even though the scorched falcon managed to see its enemy move, it didn’t have time to do anything. By the time Hadjar, standing on the bird’s back, had already brought his blade down for a finishing strike, a frightening roar swept across the sky. The residents of Underworld City, feeling true fear for a moment, looked around in a panic.
Hadjar, who’d had time to stick his blade into the bird’s skull and pierce it with a blue-black crescent, recognized the roar. Einen did as well.
They looked at each other and whispered in unison, “Dragon.”
Chapter 358
The roar that swept through the distant clouds was much livelier and a lot fiercer than the one the ‘Falling Leaf’ stance had produced.
Hadjar — the black cloak had already disappeared from his shoulders — rode his dead foe’s body down to the ground. The scorched falcon, whose feathers let out the last sparks of its flame, turned into a simple, but very large bird. With a cry, it rolled over onto the black sand. A congealing lava was flowing from its beak, getting slowly devoured by the sand. Under normal circumstances, Hadjar wouldn’t have hesitated to cut out the monster’s core, but now...
With a cry of “Put up some defenses!” Hadjar rushed over to the others.
The pale Einen, dragging Glen along, followed him. Hadjar noticed that the former head of their barracks was favoring his right leg. There was no blood, so the snake must’ve broken his bones. For a strong practitioner, that wasn’t a serious injury, but, by the Evening Stars, this wasn’t the time for it!
“What’s the matter?” Ramukhan scoffed. “Don’t you want to collect the cores? It’s your loot, after all...”
Apparently, the look in Hadjar’s eyes, which contained his own, awakened dragon and the fear of a stronger predator, brought the sorcerer to his senses. No, Hadjar wasn’t very afraid of the dragon, but still...
“Put up the shields!” Hadjar shouted, rolling his camel onto its side. “It’s best if we play dead.”
None of the residents of Underworld City understood what was happening. They only saw a trio of fighters that had just defeated two powerful monsters burrow into the black sand, hiding behind their camels.
“Hurry up! Gods and demons!” Hadjar yelled. “Hurry up or we’re all dead-”
The second mad roar drowned out the rest. Now Salif turned pale as well. Apparently, his unique memory had clicked and he understood what was happening.
“Do what the barbarian says,” he croaked out, slipping out of the saddle.
Soon, the entire squad lay in the sand, hiding behind the camels. Fortunately, even though the animals were nervous, they were being kept from panicking by the released energy of Ramukhan, Tilis, and Karissa. Their total power was stronger than the horror of a Lord of the Heavens.