Lin Feng plunged downward. After falling some seventy or eighty meters, he slammed onto the solid ground. It was pitch-dark underground, with only a little light filtering in through the cave opening above. But Lin Feng had excellent eyesight, and the faint light was enough for him to make out everything below. His hair was singed, and two or three patches of skin on his face had been burned red and black.
He was disfigured!
Whoosh! A dark shape plunged down from above and landed on the ground beside Lin Feng.
Lin Feng happily scooped Beibei into his arms. "Beibei, are you all right?" Though he knew Beibei was a ridiculously powerful God-Eater Rat, he couldn't help asking.
Beibei's face was filthy, but he wrinkled his little nose smugly. "Of course I'm fine! I, Beibei, am no pushover. I wouldn't be afraid to fight a Level Eight Magical Beast head-on, let alone a few sparks!"
Lin Feng smiled. With Beibei safe, he felt much more at ease.
"Then why didn't you fight those dragons?" Lin Feng teased.
Beibei replied indignantly, "As if I'd be afraid of them! But their scales are too thick, and I'm too small, with too small a mouth. I can't even bite through their scales. It's hard for me to kill them, but they can forget about killing me!"
Lin Feng chuckled.
"Boss, what happened to your face? You're disfigured!" Beibei's startled voice suddenly sounded in Lin Feng's mind.
Lin Feng twitched his facial muscles and felt a searing pain. He could only laugh at himself. "Beibei, I've trained my body, but no matter how much I train, I can't strengthen the muscles in my face. They're not tough enough."
"Whew, Beibei, let me rest for a bit. I'm exhausted."
Lin Feng let Beibei go and lay down on the ground.
The past little while had taken a huge toll on him, both physically and mentally.
And soon he would have to face the Spined Iron-Armored Dragon, a Level Nine peak beast on his level. Lin Feng couldn't afford to be careless. By his reckoning, he had entered Misty Valley several months earlier than the Lin Feng in the original story. The big bear certainly hadn't reached the Saint Realm yet, so it couldn't have fought the Spined Iron-Armored Dragon to a mutual defeat. That meant he couldn't take advantage of the situation like the original Lin Feng had.
After resting for a while, Lin Feng got back to his feet once his mental and magical energy had fully recovered.
"Boss, we can't go back up, so we'll have to keep going below. There's a wide passage over there," Beibei said through Soul Transmission, leaping onto Lin Feng's shoulder.
Just ahead to Lin Feng's side was a winding but very wide passage, more than ten meters across. The underground passage curved away toward the unknown east. Without hesitation, Lin Feng took Beibei with him and headed resolutely into its depths.
The deeper they went, the darker the cave became. After a while, the passage was so black that Lin Feng could barely see where he was going.
"Lighting Spell!" Lin Feng snapped his fingers, and a white magical orb slowly appeared beside him, illuminating the area around them.
The Lighting Spell was a Level One Light Element auxiliary spell.
As time passed, Lin Feng grew more alert, but also more excited. The Spined Iron-Armored Dragon was a Level Nine peak beast, immensely powerful and absurdly tough. It had even fought a Purple-striped Black Bear that had just entered the Saint Realm to a mutual defeat. Lin Feng would have a hard time beating it at his current level. But it was an excellent sparring partner for him: stronger than he was, but not overwhelmingly so, making it ideal for a breakthrough in battle.
Knowing there was only one Spined Iron-Armored Dragon in the cave, Lin Feng had nothing to fear. He kept the Lighting Spell going and strode boldly down the passage.
"Roar!"
A thunderous roar rang out. A magical beast ten meters long and nearly three meters tall suddenly appeared in front of Lin Feng.
Its entire body was covered in dark scales, packed close together in a neat, orderly pattern. Each scale was about the size of a palm.
Yet, massed together, the scales formed a bizarre pattern that made one's scalp tingle.
Most striking were the sharp spikes, each thirty centimeters long, running along its back from the base of its tail all the way to its forehead.
Most terrifying of all were its eyes, with their dark golden pupils. Their icy gaze sent a chill through anyone who met it.
This must be the Spined Iron-Armored Dragon. It certainly looks impressive, Lin Feng thought. His mind naturally recalled what he had read about the beast in books.
Spined Iron-Armored Dragon: a Level Nine Magical Beast with the Darkness Attribute. The smallest member of the dragon race. Among dragons of the same level, it had the strongest defense and greatest agility, while its claws were terrifyingly powerful.
Among dragons of the same level, the Spined Iron-Armored Dragon was undoubtedly the strongest.
The Spined Iron-Armored Dragon before him didn't attack right away. It merely watched them, its dark golden eyes sweeping over Lin Feng and Beibei as if gauging their strength.
Under the dragon's cold stare, Lin Feng's scalp prickled. Though he was also a Level Nine peak fighter, on the same level as the dragon, the difference in their size made him feel terribly small.
Drawing a deep breath, Lin Feng stepped forward and called out, "Mr. Spined Iron-Armored Dragon, hello. I mean you no harm. I'm only here to spar with you—and borrow a little blood while I'm at it."
Lin Feng's brazen words successfully enraged the dragon. It slammed its tail against the ground, then used the rebound to launch its entire body at him.
"Hah!" Lin Feng reacted quickly. He had been watching the dragon's tail the whole time, and the instant it struck the ground, he moved. Of course, he wasn't foolish enough to wrestle with the dragon. With the strength of a Level Seven warrior, he couldn't withstand even one swipe of its claw.
Lin Feng nimbly dodged the dragon's dive and immediately activated the Earth Guardian Sacred Armor. Defense was essential when fighting a magical beast that specialized in close combat. One casual swipe could cost him a few pounds of flesh.
Lin Feng had only just activated the Earth Guardian Sacred Armor when a dragon's tail whipped toward him before he could react.
Lin Feng was unarmed and had no way to block it, so he could only dodge. But the tail was too fast, blurring into a streak as it reached him in an instant.
Bang!
Too slow to dodge, Lin Feng took the hit squarely. Yellow light flickered rapidly across the jade-like armor, which then dissolved into a mass of earth elements and vanished.
At the same time, the force sent Lin Feng flying into the stone wall behind him. Only then did he come to a stop.
"Boss, are you okay? Are you hurt?" Beibei asked anxiously through Soul Transmission.
Lin Feng stood up, brushed the dust off himself, and spat out a mouthful of blood.
"I'm fine. I'm not dead yet."
Lin Feng had never imagined that his Level Nine Earth Guardian Sacred Armor couldn't withstand even one strike from the Spined Iron-Armored Dragon's tail. Fortunately, the armor had absorbed most of the force, so he hadn't been seriously hurt.
But his mind was still replaying the moment the dragon's tail had struck. The afterimages, blurring into a single streak, appeared and vanished over and over. Lin Feng felt as though he had grasped something, but whenever he tried to examine it, it slipped away. He shook his head and let it go.
"I'm a mage. I'm not going to trade blows with a freak like you. Gravity Spell, activate!"
Lin Feng shouted and waved his hand, casting Gravity Spell on the Spined Iron-Armored Dragon.
At Lin Feng's Level Nine strength, Gravity Spell was far more powerful than it had been at Level Five. The moment he cast it, the ground beneath the dragon's feet cracked apart with a series of sharp pops.
Even the solid rock had shattered, showing just how immense the gravity pressing down on the Spined Iron-Armored Dragon was.
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