Chapter 423: The Golden Roc

Chapter 423: The Golden RocYu Xuanguang nodded in comprehension. "I see! It's because his family's flesh and blood is a perfect match for his race, so it's an easy and potent source of energy for him to absorb."

The rock spirit still remained somewhat confused; all it understood was that the golden roc had become particularly strong.

"Should we run?" it suggested.

"No, we can't!" everyone else cried.

The elder stared at the golden roc as though it were death itself. "The golden roc will surely seek revenge on us crag eagles if it lives. Even if I die here, I can't let the golden roc escape.

Yu Xuanguang agreed. "We killed his entire family. If we let him go now, he might kill our entire tribe."

Zhang Lie likewise refused—after all, he was the hunter with the most information about these disaster-grade lifeforms in all of the second realm at present. It wouldn't be so easy for the golden roc to ascend to disaster-grade.

Zhang Lie guessed that it was at most at the level of the guardian deity of the sura kingdom he had crushed, a pseudodisaster-grade lifeform. Of course, such a lifeform was already worthy of his attention. If he were to let the golden roc grow some more, the roc might very well ascend to a true disaster-grade lifeform—and if it were to do so, a calamity would strike the entirety of the second realm.

The most urgent problem was the human city of Ming, which was situated the closest to their current location and which would thus suffer the greatest casualty. Zhang Lie didn't much care for the life and death of those alien races foreign to him, but he couldn't ignore Ming.

The golden roc's gene fragments had yet to stabilize, and only a small portion had turned into disaster gene fragments. Although it was somewhat of a pity to kill the golden roc now, when he would otherwise be able to obtain disaster gene fragments, it was certainly best to strike while the roc was weak.

The roc's injured eyes began to crystallize. Zhang Lie knew that he couldn't delay any longer.

"[Rune: Resonate]!" Zhang Lie had just raised his arms when the golden roc made his move, swooping down toward Zhang Lie like a scythe of wind.

"How fast!" Zhang Lie shielded himself with his blade, but upon impact, he still stumbled a few steps back.

The elder and Yu Xuanguang flapped their wings as they tried to harry the roc, which spread his wings wide as he launched a flurry of blade-like feathers in their direction. The two crag eagles were forced to retreat.

The rock spirit rushed forward and made to punch the golden roc, ignoring the feathers embedded in its rock armor. The golden roc grabbed onto the rock spirit's arm and flew into the air as the rock spirit shouted, "Hey, what're you doing?!"

"[Rune: Gravity]!" Zhang Lie raised his arm high and sent a tablet hurtling down toward the golden roc, but he dodged agilely.

The rock spirit slammed an arm into the golden roc's claws.

"[Rune: Float]!" Another runic tablet crashed down. Before the golden roc could evade the attack, Zhang Lie made another move.

"[Rune: Control]!" The two gravity-controlling tablets began to hum in resonance, forming a local domain of warped gravity. The golden roc stumbled for a moment, but owing to his previous experience with this technique, quickly corrected his trajectory.

The elder and Yu Xuanguang took this opportunity to rush into the air, moving so fast they seemed like twin beams of light. Silvery-white and black feathers filled the air.

The golden roc tossed the rock giant toward the two crag eagles, who cried out in mid-air, "Argh! Catch me!"

The two crag eagles smoothly split up along either side of the incoming projectile, then attacked the golden roc from two antipodal directions.

Meanwhile, the rock giant fell toward the ground like a meteor with such force that its body embedded itself into the ground upon impact. S~ᴇaʀᴄh the N0vᴇlFire(.)nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

No one had the time to worry about the rock giant now. The aerial battle continued in full force. As the golden roc flapped his wings, golden feathers shot out from him in all directions, giving the elder and Yu Xuanguang no opportunity to strike.

"[Rune: Seal]!" Zhang Lie successfully sent a tablet crashing down on the golden roc's head, temporarily sealing his consciousness and creating a window of opportunity, which the elder and Yu Xuanguang took full advantage of.

Sparks flew into the air as they struck, but unfortunately, the golden roc's defense had also risen by another level. The two crag eagles, who had once been able to injure the golden roc, could barely cause a superficial injury now.

"[The Boundless Blade: Dragon's Wrath]!" Venombane trembled as a dragon of blood rose into the air, its howl echoing and reverberating throughout the mountain.

The golden roc whirled quickly in the air, shaking off the elder and Yu Xuanguang, before swooping down to meet the blood dragon head-on. His claws shredded the blood dragon's head, then clashed against Zhang Lie's Venombane.

Waves of energy rippled from the impact.

The elder and Yu Xuanguang could only watch from a distance, without daring to get closer; the fight between Zhang Lie and the golden roc had reached another level entirely.

The golden roc's body suddenly glowed with resplendent light, and it looked almost like a miniature sun. Its fledgling disaster-grade domain activated.

"[Ninesoul Dragonblade—First Form: Parting the River]!" Zhang Lie gritted his teeth and bore with the overwhelming light and heat as he struck with one of his strongest blows.

The golden roc tried to defend against the line of sword energy with his claws, but this time, it was the golden roc who was sent rearing back, blood dripping from the impact.

Zhang Lie chased after the roc at full force. After two more confrontations, the golden roc's claws began to shiver, and the inner bones began to crack. The golden roc roared in pain. He didn't seem to be able to hold out, but Zhang Lie was faring worse.

A crack appeared on Venombane's blade. Unable to withstand the high-intensity clashes, that crack propagated and split the blade in two. Venombane dematerialized and returned to Zhang Lie's soulspace as a cracked soulshard.

The golden roc took this opportunity to strike, but Zhang Lie didn't seem panicked at all. He sent his hand, like a blade, into the golden roc's unwounded eye.

"[Fists of the Silent Sea: Fade]!"