Chapter 423: The Fourth Form

Chapter 423: The Fourth Form

At the same time, in the Dragon Valley Sanctuary, southwest of Flame Mountain, near the Echoing Waters Pool.

"Hsss!"

A massive, unicorn-like, ferocious variant of a rhino-like beast stood nearby, its breath creating two white vapor trails from its nostrils, and its front hooves digging into the ground. Its huge, copper bell-like eyes were fixed on a human swordsman in front of it.

The swordsman, Lambert, a direct disciple of the Tide Sword Saint, carried a two-meter-long double-bladed greatsword slung over his back and wore a simple, light-colored linen garment.

"Roar!"

The giant rhino-like beast seemed to be the first to succumb to the pressure of the standoff.

It reared its head and let out a loud roar, then lowered its head, aiming its dark horn at Lambert, and charged with all four hooves!

"Thud, thud, thud!"

The dull footsteps sounded like rapid drumbeats, and the ground trembled slightly in sync.

Facing the charging beast, as formidable as a steam locomotive, Lambert remained unmoved, a smile spreading across his face.

"Whoosh!"

Just as the beast was about to reach him, Lambert, standing directly in front of it, blurred and then disappeared from his original position.

A long, silver arc of light flashed from the side.

The silver arc instantly sliced through the giant rhino-like beast's neck, but it seemed unaware and continued charging for another ten meters before stopping.

Lambert slowly reappeared, holding his greatsword with one hand, its tip pointing downward.

A trickle of crimson blood dripped from the blade.

"Plop!"

The sound of a heavy object hitting the ground echoed!

The once-ferocious giant rhino-like beast's massive horned head fell from its body.

The huge gash on its neck was as smooth as a mirror, revealing its spine, veins, and vibrant red muscle fibers.

"Hiss!"

Like a small blood-red fountain, a large amount of blood gushed out from the severed carotid artery under high pressure.

"Lucky me, I've taken care of the third freshwater giant rhino so quickly."

Lambert smiled and muttered to himself.

After entering the sanctuary, he followed the re-test mission's requirements and headed towards the adolescent dragon's language imprint.

Before entering the sanctuary, Lambert had already made up his mind.

As a direct disciple of the Tide Sword Saint, he prioritized obtaining the innate ability of the blue dragon offspring's language imprint, which leaned towards water and ice attributes.

And his luck held, as the location he teleported to was close to the Echoing Waters Pool, a known settlement for some blue dragons.

Just a quarter of an hour ago, he had found a young blue dragon, communicated with it using simple dragon language, and was now tasked with bringing three freshwater giant rhinos in exchange for a blue dragon offspring's language imprint.

The third one was right in front of him.

"Hmm, these three freshwater giant rhinos seem to be a family."

Lambert glanced at the other two giant corpses, a large and a small one, lying not far to his left, and thought to himself.

"Well, it's better to keep the family together."

As Lambert was about to carry the corpse back, he suddenly looked towards the northeast.

"This energy fluctuation..."

"If I'm not mistaken, this is a rare metal energy particle fluctuation. Wait, doesn't that mean Rayen, the one I'm looking for, is over there?"

Lambert's eyebrows rose, and he instantly realized something.

He had observed Rayen during the Dragon Knight selection and remembered that he excelled in the rare metal witchcraft.

There was another point to consider.

There wasn't a second metal crystallization wizard in the sanctuary for the re-test mission.

So, unless it was a rare metal-type creature, the answer was obvious.

Inside the sanctuary, west of Flame Mountain.

As Rayen and his group observed Barnes and his companions, the three stood stiffly, first looking at Pierce's body on the ground, then focusing on the two women, and finally, their gaze fixed on Rayen, unmoving.

It was as if they had discovered something intriguing.

Rayen's heart began to understand the situation.

The message from Lieutenant General Tatiya on the comm link mentioned, 'According to Grand Astral Mage Dalian, the Void Beast prefers to parasitize creatures with powerful physical strength, and among humans, it tends to choose bloodline descendants.'

Apparently, these three Void Beasts considered Rayen a more delicious dish.

"Who are you?" Commander Baldwin asked, feeling a sense of unease as he observed their rigid yet agile movements.

Before they could respond, the three ignored everyone else and charged towards Rayen with incredible speed.

This left the newly-joined followers, the Aida sisters, feeling ignored.

Alida quickly moved behind Barnes, and her sharp blade stabbed downward, but to her and everyone's astonishment, it was as if she had stabbed into cotton, and her attack was almost completely ineffective.

The creature's body had momentarily transformed from solid to a translucent, jelly-like energy form, becoming nearly immune to Alida's powerful stab!

"Be careful!"

Seeing the creature's bizarre defense, Aida immediately cast a shadow shield to protect her sister.

Barnes, now parasitized by the Void Beast, transformed from energy to solid form and swung a punch towards Alida.

"Bang!"

Alida's reflexes were swift, and she blocked the punch with her blade, but the force sent her flying back seven or eight meters.

"Such strength..."

Alida stared at 'Barnes' with a mix of awe and confusion in her beautiful eyes.

His strength had clearly increased significantly.

"Be cautious; they've been parasitized by the Void Beast," Rayen warned.

Upon hearing Rayen's words, the Aida sisters' faces lit up with understanding.

When they first entered the sanctuary, they had encountered and slain similar giant beasts, but hadn't considered the possibility of human parasitism, so they hadn't thought of it from that angle.

At this moment, Aida's witchcraft, 'Shadow Impact', hit Reagan, one of the three.

Although Reagan, who was parasitized, also used 'Etherealization' to defend, a scorched mark could still be seen on his chest where the energy had gathered.

"Lord Rayen, he's almost immune to 90% of physical attacks and at least 60% of witchcraft attacks," Aida frowned and said.

Rayen nodded.

He wasn't in a hurry to make a move, as Aida's analysis and his own observations were similar.

Although the comm link provided some critical intelligence about the enemy from the command center, there was no detailed explanation on how to eliminate them, and he still had to rely on his own flexibility and mobility on the spot.

However, Rayen didn't quite agree with Aida's statement that the enemy was almost immune to physical attacks.

There needed to be a prefix here - 'when Etherealization is not used.'

When not etherealized, they are not immune.

"First-level innate witchcraft, 'Metal Transformation'!"

"Second-level witchcraft, 'Iron Armor'!"

"Third-level innate witchcraft, 'Steel Armor'!"

"Combined witchcraft: Steel Plate Armor!"

As Rayen chanted, a thick layer of armor shimmering with dark silver light covered his body, and then, to the astonishment of the three, he charged towards the enemy.

"But..." Aida was about to remind Rayen again that the enemy was almost immune to physical attacks when she realized that he must have heard her, so there was only one outcome.

Rayen's figure flickered, and he appeared beside the parasitized Reagan using 'Shadow Step'.

Seeing Rayen's sudden attack, Reagan's body immediately turned ethereal, becoming semi-transparent like jelly.

Rayen punched out, as if hitting a thick fog, passing through without causing much damage.

However, Rayen showed no disappointment.

At this moment, Reagan suddenly turned and punched towards Rayen's abdomen. As the semi-transparent fist was about to hit, Reagan suddenly turned from ethereal to solid.

"Now!" Rayen narrowed his eyes and punched out again with lightning speed.

Compared to his first punch, this one was obviously at least 50% faster.

As a result, before Reagan's punch could land, Rayen's fist reached its target first, hitting the solidified Reagan.

"Smash!"

Don't forget that Rayen's fist technique was also of the top-tier divine skill level, extremely powerful. This heavy punch contained explosive force, instantly smashing Reagan's jaw and penetrating his skull.

The sound of the fist hitting flesh was not a normal dull sound, but a crisp sound of skull shattering!

Reagan, who was parasitized, had his entire head blown apart, and red and white matter scattered on the ground.

Reagan's headless body also fell softly like a noodle.

A transparent jellyfish-like creature screamed and fled towards the distant Pierce's body.

But as Rayen pointed, a fine metal net emitting silver light hit it.

"Shh!"

Instantly, it was shredded to pieces.

"This..." Aida and Baldwin looked at each other in shock.

Meanwhile, Alida, who was also beside Rayen, had a bright idea and understood why Rayen was able to hit the enemy.

It was because her father, Rayen, had grasped a flaw in the enemy, which was that they couldn't maintain the ethereal state when launching physical attacks.

Otherwise, although they were immune to physical attacks, their physical attacks would also be ineffective.

However, this fleeting opportunity was gone in the blink of an eye, requiring extremely fast reaction and attack speed.

Alida estimated that it would take about 0.1 seconds to complete the counterattack.

If it took longer, the enemy would etherealize again to avoid the attack.

When Alida understood this, she couldn't help but feel eager to try it herself.

Perhaps a significant portion of titled knights couldn't do it, but she was different; she also excelled in agility and speed.

With a whoosh, Alida appeared beside the parasitized Bronson, her blade dancing gracefully and slicing towards his waist and abdomen.

However, this time, she also adopted Rayen's tactic, not using full force on the first attack and slightly controlling the speed.

Indeed, it was like cutting through a water flow, causing no harm.

The next second, Bronson counterattacked. As he punched towards her abdomen, his fist was about to hit, and he suddenly turned from ethereal to solid!

In the blink of an eye, Alida's eyes lit up, and her blade accelerated swiftly.

"Shh!"

Bronson was cut in half by Alida's blade, and she was hit by his punch that penetrated the shadow shield, knocking her back several meters.

Although she was hit, Alida showed a delighted expression!

"Lord Rayen's attack method is indeed effective!" Alida thought with satisfaction.

Seeing this, Rayen also smiled.

"This Alida, she learns fast," Rayen thought to himself.

At the same time, perhaps because the parasitized body had been cut in half, a jellyfish-like creature, similar to the previous one, emerged from the top of the opponent.

Immediately after, it also crawled towards Pierce's distant body, just like the previous one.

However, it was destined to fail.

Seeing her sister getting punched, Aida's heart filled with anger, and she reacted quickly.

She immediately released a 'Shadow Impact' towards the enemy, and a black beam instantly struck the semi-transparent Void Beast.

"Shh!"

After leaving the parasitized body, the Void Beast's defense seemed to vanish into nothingness, turning into a wisp of gray smoke. Although the crowd couldn't see it, they could feel an invisible wave radiating out from the enemy.

Within seconds of Rayen's attack, both Void Beasts were eliminated.

Perhaps seeing its companion killed, the parasitized Barnes went a little crazy.

Suddenly, his entire body turned ethereal, and a transparent ripple radiated from him, withering all the grass and roots it touched.

Rayen and Alida dodged this ring-like special ability with a quick movement.

However, Rayen's counterattack was swift!

As he pointed at his opponent, he unleashed the liquid killing move 'Metal Cutting Net!' Meanwhile, Areda, who was at a distance, also launched a Shadow Impact towards Barnes!

As the metal nets took turns slicing through the jelly-like translucent body, even though the Void Beast could resist most arcane damage, it was still injured.

But Barnes was already in a frenzy, charging towards Rayen.

The next second, his chest suddenly expanded, and his neck bulged.

"Hmm?"

As a skilled dragon roarer, Rayen immediately understood what his opponent was about to do.

He advanced without retreating, using Shadow Step to charge forward, and in a flash, he lifted his hand and struck Barnes' chin.

In the next instant, a transparent pillar of light shot upwards diagonally, hitting the air above, and a large tree in front was suddenly pierced with a big hole, quickly turning black.

But this attack seemed to consume a lot of the opponent's energy, as they couldn't maintain their ethereal state and began to materialize.

Suddenly, an iron fist struck Barnes' head, and almost simultaneously, a battle blade slashed from top to bottom, instantly slicing into Barnes' head.

The iron fist was Rayen's.

And the battle blade was Alida, who had been waiting for an opportunity.

This couldn't help but make Rayen smile at Alida.

At this moment, a jellyfish-like creature larger than the previous two emerged from Barnes' head, intending to escape in disarray.

But this was just a beautiful dream.

As a black light flashed, the last Void Beast was obliterated.

And Rayen, watching this, couldn't help but ponder.

"It seems that the strength of these Void Beasts also varies."

At the same time, in the command hall on the second floor of the Astral Mage Platform in the Imperial City of Tamriel.

After watching Rayen's battle with the three infected, everyone was deep in thought.

General Augustus was the first to ask, "Have you recorded the combat methods and special abilities of those three infected?"

"Yes, sir," Tatiya nodded.

"Very good. Notify the combat staff to look for possible weaknesses in the infected, and quickly inform the other task force members to be cautious of the corpses after death."

General Augustus quickly issued two orders.

"Yes, sir."

"By the way, do you think Rayen's handling method can be promoted?" Suddenly, Marshal Alfred, standing next to Augustus, asked.

"Well, I think the possibility of promotion is small, or rather, only a few people can reach the level of Lord Rayen." General Augustus shook his head.

"Because most of the task force members are wizards, and there are fewer knights, and even fewer have close combat reactions that can reach the level of Lord Rayen."

General Augustus added.

Marshal Alfred nodded and didn't say anything else.

"Tatiya, notify Lord Rayen about the encirclement..."

General Augustus had just started speaking when he was interrupted by Marshal Alfred, who said, "Wait, let me tell him."

This couldn't help but make General Augustus startle.

It was known that the Marshal, as the highest commander on the scene, would rarely contact each task force member personally.

"Yes, Marshal." Tatiya, standing next to Alfred, also showed surprise in her eyes.

And after taking the comm link from Tatiya, Marshal Alfred said,

"Lord Rayen, it's Alfred."

Hearing the word 'Lord,' General Augustus, standing next to Marshal Alfred, raised his eyebrows, and Lieutenant General Tatiya confirmed a certain guess in her heart.

Clearly, Lord Rayen's performance had thoroughly impressed Marshal Alfred.

It was known that in the entire empire, there were not many who Marshal Alfred would address as 'Lord,' and in the Empire's Swordsmaster system, even fewer.

"Marshal?" Rayen was also slightly surprised to hear Alfred's voice.

"It's me. Lord Rayen, I have a rather challenging task that I want to assign to you."

"Marshal, what is it?"

"I've arranged for the Elite Guard and Swordsmaster task forces to go and surround her. But I'm still a bit worried, so I hope that after you successfully set up the rift closure device, you can quickly come to support."

"Is it to set up the rift closure device first and then go to support?" Rayen confirmed again.

"Yes, try to complete the setup of the rift closure device within half an hour."

"Yes, sir."

"By the way, you..."

Rayen, looking north, was about to face the Abyss Goddess Hela again, and his heart couldn't help but feel a bit agitated.

It wasn't fear, but a hidden sense of anticipation and excitement.

However, he still had one more thing to do.

While Baldwin and the Areda Sisters were destroying the corpses, Rayen came to the side of the Hellfire Improved Automaton and took the last box, retrieving the test tube containing Barnes' blood essence.

As he dipped his index finger into it, the system prompt sounded again:

[Ding! Detected special blood essence, found a portion of absorbable dragon gene fragments, absorb? Yes/No]



(Note: After absorbing these dragon gene fragments, the system's wording is 'portion' instead of 'small amount.')



This couldn't help but make Rayen's heart feel a bit happy.

"It seems that this time, it's very possible..."

Without hesitation, Rayen immediately chose "Yes!"

However, unlike the last time, the system prompt flashed on the screen:

[Congratulations! Your mutant dragon bloodline concentration has been upgraded to 'High'!]



[Congratulations! With the power of the bloodline, you've unlocked the Enchanted Dragon Beast Form!]

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end