As he muttered to himself in despair, a bloodthirsty gleam suddenly flashed in the dying Chimera's lone eye, set in its only remaining goat head. It whipped its head around and opened its enormous mouth with lightning speed, swallowing the withered Osarion whole.
"Aagh-!"
Osarion managed only a brief, incoherent scream.
The sharp teeth in the goat's mouth closed like enormous millstones. The horrific sounds of bones cracking and flesh being crushed rang out clearly.
Thick, dark red blood mixed with fragments of organs gushed from the corners of its mouth, dripping down its jaw to form a scarlet puddle on the ground.
After swallowing the Blood Warlock, the Chimera kept its lone eye fixed on Liu Qian, its venomous gaze almost solidifying into a curse.
Instead of attacking, it abruptly turned and mustered the last of its strength to leap into the deep pit at the center of the hall, where an ominous aura lingered.
Liu Qian's cold, golden draconic pupils narrowed slightly.
The monster's behavior defied all reason.
It was savage and cruel, devouring even the creator who had given it life, yet it clearly possessed remarkable intelligence.
Had he not seized the initiative by exploiting its ignorance of his dragon transformation and bitten off its lion head, the outcome of the battle would have remained uncertain.
He walked to the edge of the pit. Endless darkness stretched below, filled only with the rush of wind from the Chimera's fall and the echoes of its agonized cries.
Without hesitation, Liu Qian folded his wings and plunged his enormous dragon body into that unknown abyss after it.
The fall lasted far longer than he had expected.
When Liu Qian's heavy body crashed to the ground, the tremendous echoes reverberated through the vast underground chamber for a long time.
His dragon eyes could see clearly even in absolute darkness, but the sight before him sent a chill of horror through him despite his draconic mind.
The chamber was so immense it seemed like a hollow at the heart of the earth. The stench of blood was almost tangible, clinging to every inch of air.
Countless enormous masses of twisted flesh hung in midair from thick iron hooks.
Fascia, writhing blood vessels, and pallid bones lay exposed to the cold air. Blood dripped steadily onto the ground, congealing into layer upon layer of dark red crust and giving off a suffocating stench.
Suppressing his nausea and revulsion, Liu Qian made his way through this forest of flesh.
Soon, he found his target.
The Chimera lay prone on an enormous black boulder in the deepest part of the chamber.
Now, the blood on its body was emitting an eerie scarlet glow, like flowing lava.
As the glowing blood ran onto the black stone, it did not spread. Instead, it gathered of its own accord as though alive, rapidly tracing a pattern that radiated pure evil.
It was an eye drawn entirely in blood.
At the center of that enormous eye, some dark consciousness seemed to be awakening, coldly watching the intruding Liu Qian.
Even more alarming, as the blood-eye pattern took shape, the Chimera's horrific wounds began writhing and healing at a visible speed.
Its charred skin peeled away, exposing newly grown, thick black scales that gleamed with a cold metallic sheen.
The most horrifying changes occurred at its severed necks and shoulders.
Two clouds of thick blood mist burst from the wounds where the lion and snake heads had been severed. Accompanied by the clicking of growing bones, a pair of fleshy wings coated in slippery mucus forced their way out of the mist and unfurled.
Its remaining goat head grew even more hideous, the sharp teeth in its mouth lengthening wildly and curving like daggers.
The horns atop its head also grew thicker and more twisted, their tips gleaming with an ominous black light.
It was evolving.
It was drawing power from the black stone and the blood eye, transforming into something even more terrifying.
Cold fear seized Liu Qian's dragon heart.
I can't let it finish!
"ROAR-!" His deafening dragon roar rang with resolve.
Liu Qian opened his enormous jaws. A stream of golden Dragonfire, more concentrated and hotter than before, roared toward the transforming Chimera like a torrent from the sun's core.
"Baa-aaagh!!"
The Chimera let out a pain-filled cry.
Under the searing Dragonfire, its newly grown black scales shone a dazzling red like heated branding irons, and the foul stench of scorched flesh filled the air.
Only when the pain exceeded its limits did the Chimera beat its new fleshy wings and clumsily roll aside, trailing billows of black smoke.
Watching the Chimera's movements swiftly regain their fluidity, becoming even more agile than before its injuries, Liu Qian's heart sank.
That black stone could not only heal it but also grant it the power to evolve. It was far too strange.
Liu Qian hesitated no longer. His enormous dragon body lunged forward.
At the same time, the power stored within him erupted like a volcano.
[Wildfire]! His ultimate defensive and domain skill in dragon form!
Boom!
In an instant, everything within a five-meter radius of Liu Qian became a raging sea of fire.
It was no longer mere flame armor, but an absolute domain formed from countless whirling, howling streams of golden flame. Like innumerable furious fire snakes, they savagely bit and licked at everything within the domain.
The Chimera had just moved to counterattack when it was swept into the firestorm. Its newly grown scales were scorched red again, and it cried out in pain as its movements abruptly slowed.
Seizing that momentary advantage, Liu Qian swung his enormous dragon claws at the Chimera's head with an air-rending shriek.
The madness in the Chimera's lone eye intensified. It abruptly lowered its head, and instead of its previous flames, its goat mouth spewed a concentrated stream of dark red fire like a column of magma.
The heat was so intense that even the [Wildfire] domain surrounding Liu Qian wavered slightly under the impact.
Hiss-! The dark red stream slammed into the pale golden aura covering Liu Qian's body, sizzling like a hot iron plunged into water.
His [Fire Wielder] talent worked at its limits to withstand the terrifying onslaught.
Liu Qian could distinctly feel his magic power pouring out like floodwater through an opened sluice.
He silently counted himself fortunate that he had used Ghost Grass to replenish his magic power before entering Tria.
In dragon form, each use of [Dragonfire Breath] cost five points of magic power, while maintaining [Wildfire] cost ten points per second. The earlier pursuit and bombardment on the spiral staircase alone had already consumed thousands of points.
But now, Liu Qian could no longer spare a thought for those cold numbers.
Facing him
was a Blood Warlock's creation, far stranger and more tenacious than he had imagined.
He opened his enormous jaws and unleashed another blast of searing dragon breath at close range, aiming for the neck the Chimera had exposed while breathing fire.
At the same time, his powerful, flame-covered hind legs kicked viciously at the relatively vulnerable scales on the Chimera's flank, gouging charred wounds deep enough to expose bone.
The Chimera roared in pain, frantically beating its mucus-covered wings as it tried to gain distance and counterattack.
But how could Liu Qian let it have its way?
He possessed the mighty power of [True Dragon Physique], and his dragon scales were far harder than the Chimera's newly grown black scales.
With every exchange, Liu Qian left several deep wounds on the Chimera, while its counterattacks usually left only faint white marks on his sturdy scales or lost most of their force to the surrounding flame domain.
More deadly still, the relentless burning of [Wildfire] clung to the Chimera like maggots to bone, continually eating away at its scales and flesh with sizzling sounds and a scorched stench.
"Baa-!" The Chimera let out a cry filled with pain and a desire to retreat.
It violently beat its two newly grown fleshy wings, which it still could not use well. A tremendous lift dragged its wounded body out of its deadly struggle with Liu Qian, and it flew unsteadily toward the opening beyond the pit that Dragonfire had blasted apart.
Liu Qian let out an earthshaking roar, beat his broad, powerful dragon wings, and instantly took flight in close pursuit.
The two enormous beasts flew out of the tower one after the other.
Gales howled beneath Liu Qian's dragon wings. He was far faster than the Chimera with its clumsy fleshy wings.
Realizing it could not escape, the Chimera abruptly wheeled in midair, aiming its goat head at the pursuing Golden Dragon and spewing one final stream of dark red fire.
There was no fear in Liu Qian's golden slit pupils. He charged straight into the searing stream.
The flame-covered dragon claws on his hind legs slashed toward the Chimera's relatively soft belly like the scythes of death.
Riiip-!
The sound of tearing scales rang out amid a spray of foul blood.
The Chimera let out an utterly wretched scream, its body abruptly stiffening in midair.
Its sole remaining eye filled with terror of death. Abandoning everything else, it mustered its last strength to beat its fleshy wings and flee unsteadily toward the very top of the wizard tower, trailing gushing streams of foul blood.
Liu Qian followed close behind, his golden dragon body breaking through the roiling fog before landing on the cold tower roof.
There was nothing here but howling winds and an endless sea of clouds.
With its back to the empty sky, the Chimera fixed its lone eye on the Golden Dragon that had landed before it. A threatening growl rumbled from its mouth, but its body trembled slightly from blood loss and agonizing pain.
Its evolution had been interrupted, its strength was draining away, and it was at the end of its tether.
Liu Qian gave it no chance to catch its breath.
He activated [Wildfire] again, and a golden firestorm instantly enveloped his enormous body.
With heavy steps and the power to burn everything to ash, he advanced one pace at a time.
The Chimera let out a desperate roar and lunged at him in one final, cornered struggle.
But to Liu Qian, its movements had become slow and riddled with openings.
His enormous dragon claw precisely knocked aside the Chimera's snapping jaws, seized its vulnerable neck, and pinned its massive body firmly against the cold stone slabs of the tower roof.
The Chimera's remaining fleshy wings beat futilely against the ground.
Liu Qian lowered his head, his cold dragon eyes staring into the goat head's lone eye, filled with hatred and fear.
Deep in his throat, a destructive golden light flared once more.
"It's over." The words dissipated in the wind like a whisper from ancient times.
BOOM-!!!
The Dragonfire unleashed at point-blank range was like a sun erupting right before it.
The golden torrent of destruction instantly engulfed the Chimera's head.
Within the flames, the goat head gave one final, brief cry.
When the flames dispersed, all that remained was an ugly, charred, twisted carcass emitting wisps of smoke.
The once-savage monster was now nothing but an enormous torso, twitching faintly and reeking of scorched flesh.
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