The joy of battle

I have the advantage in strength, but my flesh can't withstand this thing's teeth. My bones can, though. Bai Mo immediately analyzed the situation. He had not trained for long enough, but his training had covered every aspect.

The Great Blade Martial God's training had laid a solid foundation for him. Although it had not strengthened his flesh to a superhuman level, there had been no skimping on tempering Bai Mo's bones.

Great Saber's reasoning at the time had been that injuries to flesh could be ignored completely, but injured bones would waste a great deal of time and hold up training.

Now, Bai Mo thanked his master, the Great Blade Martial God, from the bottom of his heart.

"How about it, beast? This bone isn't so easy to chew, is it?"

Bai Mo spoke in a low voice, then mustered his strength and slammed a full-force punch into the venomous dragon's upper jaw. The tremendous impact blasted its entire head backward. The venomous dragon instantly felt a burst of intense pain, and blood seeped from the gaps between its scales.

"What exactly does the complete realm mean?" Bai Mo had once asked the Great Blade Martial God.

Great Saber looked out at the sea and answered calmly, "Put simply, the complete realm is mastery of strength and understanding of strength. Someone with magnetic field power is like a strong man. Someone with the complete realm is a man holding a weapon."

"I know that already! Is there an easier way to understand it, Master?" Bai Mo scratched his head and continued asking.

"If I had to put it into words, the complete realm is a blade. Only after countless rounds of tempering will it reveal its edge. In fact, many people take the wrong path when cultivating the magnetic field realm. Its importance falls far short of the complete realm's."

With a casual wave from Great Saber, grains of sand turned into glass and condensed into a blade. Then the Great Blade Martial God moved his fingers, and the blade flew straight toward the sea.

That was only at the level of electric current push. Bai Mo could sense it.

He stared blankly at the sky. The drifting clouds had been sliced apart, revealing the azure sky.

Now, the venomous dragon felt pain surge through its flesh. The force in Bai Mo's punch had entered its flesh, cutting it to ribbons! Unfortunately, there was not enough power to penetrate its hard skull. Otherwise, that strike could have churned its brain into mush.

"This is my complete realm," Bai Mo murmured to himself.

The venomous dragon was momentarily dazed. The next instant, Bai Mo appeared above its head, then brought a heavy kick crashing down on top of it, severely wounding it once again.

The venomous dragon instinctively spread its wings to fly away. Continuing to fight this enemy on the ground was far too unwise.

How could Bai Mo give it that chance? He turned and drove an elbow into the joint between its wing and body. Yet the venomous dragon still managed to rise sideways with a single wing, then spat out a cloud of poisonous smoke that spread around it, trying to force Bai Mo off.

At that moment, a smile appeared on Bai Mo's face.

What a fresh sensation. Pain accompanied his surging blood, and fighting spirit burned in his heart. At this moment, Bai Mo felt the joy and thrill of battle.

Realizing that this fellow had not left, the venomous dragon's slit pupils shrank to pinpoints. Then Bai Mo stirred up another storm around himself, shutting out the poisonous mist, his feet clinging to the venomous dragon like magnets.

Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam! Bai Mo's fists rained down. He had never learned a fist technique, yet his mind was exceptionally calm, his eyes clear. Dividing his attention between two tasks, he used electric current push to wrap himself in a wall of wind while throwing punches with an extremely proper stance.

"What a rush! Those giants earlier had nothing but brute strength and no intelligence. Fighting them wasn't even as good as practicing my blade against the waves. You're not like those stupid things. You have both strength and intelligence. Come on, come on! I've finally met a powerful opponent!"

Bai Mo cast aside his previous steady, taciturn demeanor, fully displaying his manly spirit!

A vicious gleam flashed through the venomous dragon's eyes. Then, enduring the pain, it flew downward and spat another mouthful of venom at Atalanta on the ground!

Seeing this, Bai Mo immediately abandoned the venomous dragon. With a fierce kick, he shot toward Atalanta like a cannonball.

He was faster than the venom and reached Atalanta's side first, approaching from the flank. But the price of that speed was the momentary stiffness after landing. With no other choice, Bai Mo mustered his power to break apart the venom, but a few drops still landed on his back, making the sound of burning coals plunged into water.

Atalanta was so frantic at the sight that her eyes nearly bulged out. She kept reproaching herself inwardly. Weakness was something all heroes despised, and her weak self was no exception.

But weakness and strength were concepts that required comparison. Against ordinary people, Atalanta was unquestionably strong. Yet before Ares's venomous dragon and Bai Mo, Atalanta was someone who needed protection-a weakling.

"Tch. A beast is a beast after all. Not a shred of martial honor."

Bai Mo seemed to be complaining about the creature. Seeing him look so at ease, Atalanta simply could not remain calm. She picked up her bow and arrows, walked in front of Bai Mo, and said, "Hurry and go. I'll distract it."

Bai Mo's tone remained calm. He chuckled and walked over to Atalanta's side.

Atalanta could not help feeling moved. The venomous dragon opened its enormous mouth. By now, the Prometheus's Ointment on both of them had been used up during the battle, while it was flying in the air. In the end, it had still won.

The venomous dragon even began imagining Ares's praise, imagining the praise and offerings of the people of Colchis.

Just as poisonous flames were about to pour from its mouth, its eyes abruptly contracted. It forcibly clamped its huge mouth shut and swallowed the poisonous flames.

Because he saw Bai Mo lift the Golden Fleece directly over his head, shielding himself and Atalanta.

"It really shut its mouth." Atalanta watched the scene in disbelief, while Bai Mo seemed to have expected it all along.

"Heh. Can't bring yourself to do it, can you? You didn't want to fight me and resorted to such a dirty trick, so don't blame me. If anything happens to this Golden Fleece, you know what Ares will do to you, don't you?"

Bai Mo spoke in a low voice. The venomous dragon's eyes blazed with fury. Right then, it wanted nothing more than to skin this human, tear out his tendons, grind his bones, and scatter his ashes.

But it had no choice.

"How did you know it wouldn't dare attack? Even if Ares questioned it, this venomous dragon could say it had no choice but to destroy the Golden Fleece to protect it," Atalanta asked. By any reasonable measure, it should not have let them go.

Yet Bai Mo laughed and answered, "Atalanta, do you really expect the god of war to listen to reason? Besides, all war ultimately comes down to interests. How could Ares possibly allow it to do something that completely destroys his own interests?"

That was precisely the case. To Ares, the Golden Fleece was merely a bargaining chip. Even if the Agor took it away, it would be offered to Hera. For Ares, that amounted to nothing more than currying favor with his mother.

If it was not taken away, he stood to gain even more. That was why he had ordered the venomous dragon to guard it at all costs.

But if the venomous dragon destroyed the Golden Fleece, he would lose his entire investment and gain nothing. Not only would it shake the faith of the people of Colchis, but it would also embarrass his mother.

If the Agor could not take the Golden Fleece away, that was their incompetence. But if the venomous dragon destroyed it, that would mean Ares was petty and could not take a loss.

And the venomous dragon knew very well what kind of person Ares was. It would never, and could never, destroy the Golden Fleece-destroy the prize both sides in this war were striving to obtain.

War arose for the sake of interests, and it would also cease because of interests.

Supporting Atalanta like this, Bai Mo used electric current push again, parting the flames with wind, ice, and snow as he calmly walked away right under the venomous dragon's nose.

Had they been ordinary people, the venomous dragon would long since have flown down to fight, recover the Golden Fleece, and even kill the intruders. But Bai Mo's terrifying combat prowess just now had been deeply etched into his mind. If it went down now...

It would die. It would die at that man's hands.

Bai Mo smiled and kept walking with Atalanta. In truth, he too needed time to catch his breath and regroup. He needed time to recover from that all-out offensive, and during that time, he could also retrieve the blade blank along the way.

His earlier bluffing and relentless attacks had all been for this precious time in which he could rest.

Outmatched in both intelligence and strength, the venomous dragon had fallen into Bai Mo's rhythm of battle and his carefully woven trap.

"Bai Mo, get on my back." Atalanta was ready to carry Bai Mo out of there. She also knew very well that he was resting, so she made that suggestion, but Bai Mo rejected it outright.

"No. If I show even a hint of weakness now, it'll see through me. We still have time. Hurry and rest. It'll start driving the poisonous smoke again soon, and then we might be trapped here until we die."

"What should we do, then?"

Bai Mo thought quickly, then asked, "Atalanta, do you trust me?"

Like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, Atalanta said angrily, "At a time like this! You're still saying things like that! Are you insulting me?!"

"Sorry. It's just that what I'm planning next could put you in great danger. If you..."

"Say no more. If you hadn't come to save me, I'd already have died in the dragon's jaws. Even if you asked me to die, I wouldn't so much as blink. Whatever you... whatever you ask of me, I won't refuse!"

Atalanta answered Bai Mo with a resolute gaze. That look made Bai Mo resolve that he absolutely could not let her die here.

"Don't say things like that. I absolutely won't let you die here. Listen to me. Here's how we're going to deal with this thing..."