[Jormungandr (Dragon Bone Cross separated from body / weakened / moderately damaged)] [Rank: First-Generation Species (King of Earth and Mountains / Authority)] [Identity: Instance BOSS unit] [Authority: Earth Authority 60.7%, Mind Authority 2.9%] [Apocalyptic Word Spirit: Shiva's Dance (severely restricted)] [Luck: A+ (even when encountering disasters and other accidents, has a chance of surviving fortunately)] [Attack: SSS- (beyond the reach of humans) / (slightly reduced in weakened state)] [Speed: SS+ (far beyond the actual limits of pure-blooded humans) / (reduced in weakened state)] [Constitution: SS+ (far beyond the actual limits of pure-blooded humans) / (reduced in weakened state)] [Combat Technique: SSS+ (a king of incomparably exquisite technique, utterly incomprehensible to humans)] [Firearms Skill: S+ (among the world's top elite standards)] [Evaluation: A perfect creature whose current true strength lies between a First-Generation Species and a Second-Generation Species. A dragon warrior with almost no obvious weaknesses, one who holds authority upon the Twin Thrones. According to legendary research, she possesses astonishing wisdom beyond ordinary comprehension. The gap between you and her is as vast as a chasm.]
Earth Authority, 60.7%... If he had seen correctly, Fenrir's Earth Authority was 29.3%. Even added together, they did not make one hundred percent.
Could there be a third King of Earth and Mountains?
The domains of wind and fire collapsed. Xia Mi could no longer sustain the Word Spirit: Eye of the Wind King. She closed her eyes, her face pale with release and breathtaking beauty as she plunged straight down.
Chu Zihang noticed her condition and turned to leap after her, intending to catch her. The girl was as light as a falling leaf, while her boy came bloodied through brambles and thorns.
The world seemed destined to freeze at the moment of their embrace.
It was a beautiful scene. Had those Italian painters who worshipped Baroque art four centuries ago witnessed this visually striking and dramatic tableau... they would surely have wept as they drew their viols.
At the critical moment when the male and female leads were about to embrace and weep... an unprecedented super-sized third wheel stormed onto the battlefield. A figure in a black trench coat flashed past at incredible speed.
Lu Mingfei burst into the fastest sprint of his life. At a time like this, there was no need to hesitate over questions like, What if Xia Mi was a good girl, a good Dragon King?
He was not particularly skilled at pondering complicated issues, but he knew clearly that people like him could not afford wishful thinking.
His left eye blazed molten gold. He pressed one hand against Chu Zihang, who was in his second Blood Rage, then leaped up and used Chu Zihang's back for leverage, delivering a standard, utterly merciless spinning flying kick.
The angle was perfect. Xia Mi, who should have fallen like a cherry blossom, instead flew away along a parabolic arc like a golf ball that had been struck.
She was headed straight for Fenrir's "toy box," piled with Arctic Ocean bottle caps, cigarette-paper cartons, compasses, Potato Chips bags... It really did look like the secret base of a homebody child.
Dust filled the air.
"Mm..."
After rolling across the ground, Xia Mi rose amid golden powder and ash, her body dotted with coldly gleaming scales.
She was not completely unscathed. The wounds on her body had not come from the fall, but from bones growing out of her own flesh. She stared curiously at Lu Mingfei.
"How did you figure it out?" she asked with great interest.
Lu Mingfei did not answer.
"Your true name." Chu Zihang's body trembled faintly as he asked. He took the Seven Sins sword case from his back.
At this point, anyone could see that something was wrong with Xia Mi. The draconic transformation appearing on her was vastly different from Blood Rage. The latter was obtained by burning one's life and bloodline in a desperate roar; the former was merely the casual tearing away of a disguise.
"Jormungandr." Xia Mi raised her head. "The Midgard Serpent, as you call me."
The girl before them could no longer be called "Xia Mi." All manner of draconic features appeared on her body, along with the majesty belonging to a monarch.
Her Bohemian dress, once flowing like clouds, was torn apart by scales and bone spurs, exposing muscles as hard as steel.
Jagged bones protruded from her forehead and jaw. Her knee joints bent backward at impossible angles. Her once-delicate calves should now have been called powerful hind legs. It was with those hind legs that she had suddenly accelerated earlier, moving so fast that the naked eye could no longer catch her.
Scales, bone spurs, bony protrusions, claws, dragon wings... every terrifying feature unrelated to humanity appeared on the girl.
She was a Dragon King. Dragon King Jormungandr.
"Wow, junior sister, that background sounds seriously terrifying. In Norse Mythology, you rank second overall in combat power... Did you bribe the myth's author?" Lu Mingfei clapped obligingly, while casually taking a few extra looks at the Seven Sins sword case now in Chu Zihang's hands.
It was a saber case and also a sword case, containing seven exquisite alchemical blades. Chu Zihang used his fingers to lift the hidden clasp. With a crisp, beautiful ring, the internal mechanisms slid out, ejecting seven blades and swords of entirely different forms.
These seven weapons were vicious things that lay somewhere between dead objects and living creatures. The user had to draw them with the strength of his own bloodline. Lu Mingfei found two of them quite familiar. He lowered his head and looked at the Wrath and Lust in his hands.
Why was this damn game so stingy?
It gave a complete equipment set in seven separate installments... Lu Mingfei complained inwardly.
Come to think of it, could he loot this seven-piece set after clearing the instance... Probably not. If it was not obtained as a reward, it did not count as an item and could not be taken out of the instance. Whoever made this game was damn crafty. Even an iPhone could not be taken out, so there was no way he could dream of taking good weapons and equipment.
There was no time for wild thoughts. The teammate beside him had already unleashed his Killing Heart.
The domain of Jun Yan began burning across his body once more. Chu Zihang raised his blood-soaked hand and slammed it heavily onto the black case of blades. The Han Bafang ancient sword Pride and the katana Envy sprang out and were caught in his hands. He pulled both weapons free with all his strength, utterly disregarding the scales that sprang from the hilts and pierced the flesh of his palms.
"Is nobody going to chat and have a heart-to-heart?" Lu Mingfei glanced at Chu Zihang, who seemed unwilling to speak with his "former lover." The gossiping spirit in his heart gradually died out, replaced by a touch of melancholy as he charged forward with Wrath and Lust as well.
He was not an idiot. There was no way he could fail to see that there had been something between those two.
So even people who had once been so close would immediately turn their blades against each other, so long as one of them was a different species and had lied...
Unlike the unruly Original Sins that resisted Chu Zihang, the Wrath and Lust in Lu Mingfei's hands were as obedient as a big yellow dog and tabby cat in the countryside greeting their old master returning from the fields.
"Activate. Showhand."
At Lu Mingfei's command, every cloud pattern on the two Original Sins lit up. Dark gold radiance flowed toward their tips, releasing deafening dragon roars.
Having received their master's permission, they finally revealed their true forms today.
Word Spirit: Blood Sickle.
Transparent, sharp shadows of airflow densely shot outward from Lu Mingfei's side, like the eruption of hundreds upon hundreds of invisible short arrows.
Rapidly flowing black wind coiled around Lu Mingfei's body. Holding nothing back, he fully unfolded his Nascent Forbidden Domain as well. He and Chu Zihang swung their blades at Jormungandr from the left and right.
The once-arrogant King of Earth and Mountains actually chose to evade. With a deep frown, she retreated, then leaped backward onto a protruding ledge at the top of the rock wall.
"King's Domain?!"
"Which one of the throne's occupants are you? Which... brother or sister of mine?" Jormungandr scrutinized Lu Mingfei in bewilderment, her gaze blazing as though she wanted to see through him completely.
Before you continue