Chapter 70: Duel Against the Snow Dragon — First Part

After almost an hour had passed, Sila finally finished replenishing his qi points. Genesis Punch was indeed a powerful move, but its power consumption was taxing. Even Sila, who had trained himself to be capable of regenerating qi while moving, was still unable to regenerate qi spent on using Genesis Punch without sitting down and meditating. With his current qi capability, he could use only five Genesis Punches before having to recharge.

“Only five punches, huh?” Puluk muttered after listening to Sila.

“Yes, sir. Genesis Punch consumes too much qi for each usage. It seems I still need more time to train.”

“That should be enough. You just started playing this game. I estimated that you would only be able to use it two or three times.”

The reason Sila could use Genesis Punch more times than Poluk anticipated was because he had obtained Bone Restructuring Qi at the start. Later, he even ate a Millennium Peach and two Emperor Qi Pellets.

“This puts me more at ease. It seems you are ready to take this gift.”

“Actually, You don’t need to give me a gift, Mister Poluk. Just being able to learn your personal profound move is enough of a gift for me.”

“Fufu. You have to accept this gift anyway. It’s a gift from His Majesty.”

“A gift from His Majesty?”

Poluk told Sila about the shortcut plan that the Slime King had proposed. Listening to it, Sila’s jaw was agape. They even caught dragons for him to fight?

They are dragons, not rabbits, right? How did you guys catch it like it was nothing? If Sila were to tell this story to someone, he would surely be marked as crazy.

Poluk threw a stone at Sila.

“Is this the Dragon Sealing Stone you just mentioned, sir?”

“Yeah. I was reluctant to give it to you at first, but you are doing better than I thought. If you throw a punch at the dragon’s vital spot, just three punches should be enough. That means you can afford to miss as many as two times. Well, whether you can kill it or not, return and meet me at the gate, okay?”

Sila inwardly argued. How could he return to the gate if he was unable to kill it?

“Mister Poluk, won’t you stay with me?”

“This is your mission, I can’t help you. I’m not a player, but an independent NPC; helping you is breaking the law.”

“I don’t intend for you to help me fight. I meant, can’t you stay to just watch how I fight it?”

“I’m a slime-race creature too. What if it attacks me? Moreover, it has been sealed for five days already. It’s sure to become berserk.”

“Berserk?”

“Yeah. If it becomes berserk, its level will increase to 1,000. Well, for you, the situation is better if it’s berserk.”

“How is the dragon being berserk better for me, sir? Doesn’t its level increase?”

“Although its attack is more powerful when it’s berserk, its defense is weakened. Since you are still lacking in attack power, allowing it to be berserk is better. Moreover, the berserk monster moves by instinct. Trust me, you don’t want to fight a smart dragon.”

Sila nodded in understanding.

“After I go, wait for five minutes, then throw the rock onto the ground. Don’t throw it too far though. I’m going now.”

Not waiting for Sila to reply, Poluk dashed back in the direction of the Battle City Colossia, leaving Sila and the mysterious stone behind.

After he made sure that Poluk had gone, Sila threw the stone at the ground, stepped back several meters, and waited for the result.

Even though the area around Colossia has a torrid temperature, once the Dragon Sealing Stone broke into two pieces, freezing air flew out of the stone and the trees in the forest were instantly covered in snow.

Tree leaves, tree logs, and grass started to freeze over. The ice crystals flew around the area. The snow was starting to fall.

Sila had never seen snow even once in his lifetime. Under normal circumstances, he would enjoy this scenery to his heart’s content. However, the system sound caused him to do otherwise and he instead readied himself for the upcoming battle.

[You have coincidentally come across The Snow Dragon Dorolia, Level 250 Marquis Rank. Due to the hidden quest Decolonizing the Slime Kingdom, if slime race creature is killed by the Snow Dragon, that slime’s rank will be demoted by 1 rank.]

Sila hadn’t even seen Dorolia yet when the next system sound alerted.

[The Snow Dragon Dorolia has entered into a berserk state. Its level has risen to Level 1,000 Marquis Rank.]

[If slime race creature is killed by the Snow Dragon, that slime’s rank will be demoted by 2 ranks and will lose all the money currently possessed.]

Freezing magic power was released continuously and caused Sila’s body to shiver. Luckily, Sila’s stats were higher than when he had faced the Water Dragon. He also possessed the experience to handle a dragon’s ability. Sila activated Orbiting Cosmos and changed his body into the fire element. As his body became warm, he could again move normally.

Poluk was right; Orbiting Cosmos could resist the wide-area effect of dragons’ ability. High-leveled dragons, especially the elemental ones, always possess an exclusive field magic skill named Dragon Domain, which is a skill that can be cast instantly. This skill will change the area around the dragon to be favorable to itself and harmful to enemies. For example, the Sandstorm of Python, the Ocean Whirlpool of Leviathan, and the Snow Country of Dorolia.

The sight of the Snow Dragon appeared in front of Sila. It was a pure white elegant dragon. Its wings were a part of its arms and it was taller than any of the nearby trees. There was a unicorn-like crystal horn on its forehead.

The only contradictory things to its dignified appearance were its reddish eyes and ferocious scream. It was now a savage dragon that desired to kill everything in its territory. Luckily for it, there was a nemesis of it inside its territory. Its red eyes were staring at Sila as soon as it sensed the existence of a slime.

Not waiting for Sila to prepare, it flapped both of its wings at him. Hundreds of ice daggers appeared out of thin air and fired toward its target.

Sila began by using Twelve Celestial-Traveling-Steps. Sometimes he was slow, sometimes he was fast. Surprisingly, he could evade all the ice daggers while moving forward.

If he hadn’t learned Twelve Celestial-Traveling-Steps, Sila would have had to jump back using qingqong. However, what he needed to do now was move forward.

Being large has the benefits of being large. Being small has the benefits of being small. With Sila being much smaller than the dragon, if he could get closer to the dragon, it would have a harder time attacking him.

Sila used a step-in technique of Twelve Celestial-Traveling-Steps. His body dashed at the Snow Dragon in one go.

Despite losing its reason, Dorolia’s self-defense instinct kicked in. It cast a spell to summon a huge number of ice pillars on the snowfield. Dorolia intended to restrict Sila’s area of movement.

Sila could hardly move forward. These ice pillars weren’t normal pillars. Upon getting closer to any of them, the ice pillars would explode into several ice spears that shot at him, forcing him to have to evade them.

The snowy wind was getting stronger and the green forest had completely turned into a white forest with snow covering everything. Although he didn’t feel cold, a step he took on the ground was different than a step he took on the snow; Sila had a harder time moving his feet.

Looking at the dragon, Sila saw that it was blowing snowy breaths to decrease the temperature in the area.

The ice pillars were very obstructive. Sila didn’t want to waste more time since the dragon seemed about to do something. He decided to waste one Genesis Punch to make a path.

His right fist was thrown at the ice pillar in front of him. The pillar was blown away, turning into beautiful ice particles. A crystal road made of ice particles was directed at the dragon. Sila’s path toward Dorolia was cleared.

Sila didn’t have time to enjoy the aesthetic sight. He narrowed the distance and approached the Snow Dragon without difficulty. His right fist was fused with the flame power of Tortured Soul coupled with Genesis Punch. He threw it at the chest area of the dragon.

Once his fist connected, the effect of Genesis Punch was soundlessly shown. The dragon’s scales on its chest were destroyed. Its body wasn’t pushed backward even one step as the power of the punch wasn’t wasted on the unnecessary force.

The dragon cried and threw its tail at Sila. Its tail was covered in ice thorns, like a morning star made of ice.

Sila didn’t want to dodge as that would widen the distance between him and the dragon. In this emergency, he chose to throw his right fist at its incoming tail, spending his third Genesis Punch.

Sila’s fist connected the dragon’s icy tail and the tail broke into dust. His body didn’t move an inch from where he was positioned. It was as if he just lightly touched its tail.

Genesis Punch was befitting of being Poluk’s ultimate move. A perfect destructive power. Suitable for being both offensive or defensive with no need for complicated movements. Almighty strength is the answer for everything.

With its tail being shattered into dust, the red dragon blood dyed the snow red. The dragon cried in agony.

Sila ignored its scream. Now that the scales on the dragon’s chest had been blown away, he only needed one more punch at its heart to end its life. His confidence grew. Poluk’s ultimate move had put him into a very advantageous position. He had never dreamt that he alone could drive a Marquis Rank dragon into a corner like this.

However, Sila was about to experience the danger of the cornered monster. Even a cornered rat can bite a cat to death. What he was fighting wasn’t a mere rat but a dragon. A Marquis Rank dragon is sure to possess something that justifies its level.

The dragon’s eyes were getting redder. The ice-crystal horn on its forehead emitted a bright light. An intense magic power was unleashed from the dragon’s entire body. In an instant, everything around it was frozen over, including Sila.

The skill that the dragon had used was Freezing Universe Frosty Ice. It was a skill that would automatically activate once the Snow Dragon was in a critical situation. Within the area of 500-metered radius, everything would be frozen.

Poluk was affected by this skill too when he faced it. However, with Poluk’s ability, he could perform Genesis Punch from his body, quickly destroying the ice freezing him. Unfortunately, Sila didn’t possess such an ability.

Normal people would die if being frozen. However, Sila’s body was currently in a fire elemental state so there was a thin layer of flame protecting his body. His body was still rendered immobile by the ice covering the weak flame though.

Dorolia noticed that its opponent still hadn’t died despite being affected by Freezing Universe Frosty Ice so it lifted its right claw up. The magic power was reinforced into the claw, changing its color from white to light blue. Although this was just a common Magic Power Reinforcement skill, the amount of magic power that put into it was very high. The dragon’s claw attacked the ice sculpture that Sila was locked within.

Sila was able to watch the entire attacking process but he couldn’t move at all. He gritted his teeth and decided to use the same method that he had used to survive from Sebastian’s Corpse Sending Soul Returning Life. His body was clad in qi reinforcement. His skin turned black, hardening like a metal; while his internal organs became softer to reduce an incoming impact. Even Shapeless Qi was added into his defense. Although he still wasn’t able to freely control this qi, it seemed to activate itself automatically when he was in predicament.

The dragon’s claw struck Sila’s ice prison, causing it to blow apart. His body flew away several meters. The pain was felt all over the body. His qi was significantly lost in defending the attack.

Sila pushed himself from the ground and coughed out blood, dyeing the snowfield in front of him into red.

His qi was nearly depleted. Bomb Lurking Psychic began to act up. Sila felt like he was pierced by several needles. He had to circulate Immortal Qi to reduce the pain.

Meanwhile, Dorolia didn’t attack as it was recovering itself too. It blew an icy breath at its tail to cover the wound with an ice. Even the dragon’s scales on the chest area was covered by a thick layer of ice.

The dragon recovered faster than Sila. It inhaled, pulling an air into its lungs before blowing the ice crystals out. The temperature was decreasing faster than before. The ice started to cover Sila’s body. He needed to keep moving to prevent himself to be frozen.

The Snow Dragon’s crystal horn emitted a bright light again. This time, ten of blurry shadows appeared in front of Sila. All of them were semi-transparent women with expressionless eyes looking at him.

There was no system alert. This must be one of the Snow Dragon’s magic skills.

The fairy-like women opened their mouths to begin singing a slow, gentle song.

The beautiful scenery coupled with the women singing a melodious song caused Sila to be distracted. The Snow Dragon had its own fighting method. Sila had never experienced fighting against an opponent like this.

In fact, most high-ranked monsters not only possess great strength but also unique fighting methods. Being pulled into the enemy’s pace is like losing half the battle.

Sila felt like his eyelids were getting heavier. He felt so sleepy now.

The lullaby didn’t stop. These women were the cause. Before he could get any sleepier, Sila fired the hidden weapons at them.

However, the hidden weapons pierced through them without having an effect. These women were souls created by Dorolia’s magic skill, Nirvana Lullaby. Its effect was accurately described by its name; once Sila slept, he would comfortably die. It was a merciful killing method.

Sila’s fire elemental power could no longer keep up with Dorolia’s ice power. He started to feel cold despite not having canceled the skill yet. His eyelids were too heavy; he felt deathly tired and sleepy.

His body told him to sleep. His brain stopped processing. It would be fine for him to sleep just a little while.

Both of Sila’s eyes were slowly closing. His consciousness was gone.

Sila had fallen asleep.