Chapter 372

Chapter 372

A Blue Wyvern.

As the white flash of transport magic brings my opponent into the ring, it spreads its long pale blue wings and jumps high into the air.

The ear-shattering screech provokes the crowd to yell louder to match its sound, and I get a good view of the 10-meter-long lizard creature doing circles over my head.

It looks very similar to Ember's younger form, only this monster doesn't have front legs. It just has long taloned feet, a white underbelly, and long out-stretched wings.

Its sharp eyes are locked on me from above, waiting for the perfect time to plummet down and strike.

The announcer's voice echoes through the ring as I use appraisal on the level 595 ranked-up creature above.

It has 3 skills and 1 ranked-up buff.

Active skills:N0v3lTr0ve served as the original host for this chapter's release on N0v3l--B1n.

[Intimidation][Special Grade]

[Body Hardening][Legendary Grade]

[Combat Magic][Advanced Fire Summoning]

Buffs:

[Blue Wyvern's Inferno]

Another screech fills the ring, and it dives down at me, releasing a wave of its intimidation skill.

It sends shivers down my spine, just like the first time I felt this skill in the bloodhound dungeon months ago.

I activate my buffs in reply to boost my mental strength as much as possible, counteracting the psychic attack and throwing back a wave of intimidation myself. The invisible waves of energy collide and make a loud cracking sound like thunder, but the monster uses this opportunity to dive down and ignite its body with dark red flames.

Its skin shifts colors too as body hardening is activated, shimmering silver beneath its veil of flames. Its wings look like sharpened silver butcher knives falling from the sky. Its entire body is covered with a dense layer of mana shielding as well.

I make the split-second decision to grab my sword and brace for impact. Although I'd like to train my Qi, there's a time and place for testing. Right now I need to properly gauge my opponent's strength and guarantee the upper hand before I do any experiments.

My entire body ignites with flames, and I swing my blade upward at the monster's incoming attack.

A new strategy that will confuse the monster, and allow me to test out a unique technique. I'm unsure if it will work exactly how I'm envisioning it, but the logic seems sound.

"I won't know unless I try..."

Another intense wave of intimidation comes down on me from above as I grip my blade and prepare to airstep upward.

Once taking the mental attack straight up, I jump up to the sky. The Wyvern sees this as its opportunity to strike as well. While in the air, it can move with much more agility, and as far as it's concerned, I'm very low on mana.

That may be partially true, but the attack I'm trying to throw isn't relying on the power of my magic.

I let my legendary swordsmanship skill activate and the silky thread colored bright red appears in my vision. While taking airsteps upward, the crowd all around me disappears from my vision and the only thing on my mind is my sword, my body, and my enemy.

I slow my breathing and concentrate on the Qi in my body and how I'd normally throw a punch filled with a raging wave.

This time, however, I picture the black sword in my right hand as an extension of myself. With the mental clarity and 100% conviction of my swordsmanship skill, I feel the warm wave of Qi flow down my arm, through my wrist, into my fingertips, and fill my sword to its sharp edges.

Not a single drop escapes my blade. It's saturated up to the thin outer layer of the blood-bonded weapon, and I've never been so sure about an attack in my life.

We collide, and I see the layers of mana and steel-colored body hardening get pushed to the sides of my black sword covered in a dull white glow.

Even my own fire magic and mana shielding get pushed aside as the extension of my body, my sword, cuts through a portion of the Blue Wyvern's wing, then lands a deep gash across its entire torso.

Blood gushes out, and as my blade leaves its body I lose concentration out of pure excitement.

This causes all of the layers of manipulated and unnaturally twisted mana shielding to release their energy. Both the Wyvern and myself are thrown backward in a blast of fire and excess mana.

There are two loud thuds as we both hit opposite sides of the mana-shielded dome.

An angry screech comes from the Wyvern and a light chuckle comes from me.

"It works."

I take advantage of the impact touching the shielding dome and absorb enough MP to bring me back to full, however, my HP has dropped about 10% from that blast.

As the flames clear, the flapping of wings alert me to the creature up in the air again. Its wing is injured, and its front side is covered in blood. However, its sharp eyes are filled with conviction and its bombardment of Intimidation continues.

I stare up at the beast, replaying the feeling I just felt that attack over and over in my mind.

The next goal of this fight is not only to win, but to use that Qi-powered sword strike again and master it.