Gobel staggered half a step forward.
He glanced down at the dark red blood running from his shoulder and chest, then extended his grayish-white tongue and licked the corner of his mouth.
The taste of blood seemed to stir something inside him. The light in his dark red eyes suddenly blazed brighter.
Deep within his pupils, those two pools of congealed magma began to churn violently, like two volcanoes about to erupt at once.
"Good."
Gobel spoke, his voice even deeper than before. Every word sent heavy tremors through space.
"You and your two tamed beasts are indeed stronger than I expected. But it's still not enough."
He suddenly threw back his head and roared.
The roar exploded from his thirty-foot-tall, bone-armored body, like the first furious bellow of an ancient behemoth waking in the Abyss.
The floor of the entire arena shuddered violently under that roar.
The laws within the Coiling Dragon Pillar flickered violently for several breaths.
Dense dark red markings appeared simultaneously across the grayish-white bone armor covering his body.
The markings spread from his chest to his limbs, each pulsing continuously like a newly awakened blood vessel.
As the markings spread, his body swelled once more, growing from just over thirty feet tall to nearly thirty-five feet.
His shoulders broadened by nearly twenty percent. His arms were as thick as pillars, and the bone spikes on his ten fingers grew to nearly twice their previous length.
"Bloodline Burning."
Miao Jun's pupils contracted slightly.
Sitting on Strange Beast's back, he rested his left hand on Golden Radiance's lowered neck and felt the Nine-Clawed Golden Dragon's body visibly tense the instant Gobel roared.
He glanced down at the Purple-Red Gourd at his waist. The wine inside was sloshing violently.
He steadied the gourd with his hand, gently rubbed