A metallic clang rang out as the colossal green serpent slammed headfirst into Jared’s shimmering sword energy shield. The impact rattled the ground, the monster recoiled, hissing.
“Interesting…” The leader of Greenscale Gorge chuckled through the snake’s maw, surprise threading his voice. Who knew two human cultivators could possess such strength?
The serpent’s jaws yawned wide, spewing a misty spray of viridian venom. Mid-air, the poison split into hundreds of needle-thin arrows that reeked of death.
Jared’s eyes narrowed. He summoned his spiritual energy that flared into a gold shield, wrapping both men just as the toxic rain began to fall.
Venom spat from the serpent sizzled against Jared’s shimmering shield. Steam curled upward, filling the air with the stink of rot, but the translucent barrier held firm.
“Your poison is useless against us!” Jared snapped.
In the same instant, the Dragonslayer Sword burst from his palm as a ribbon of golden light, arrowing toward the serpent’s narrow heartline just beneath its emerald scales.
The leader of Greenscale Gorge recoiled with surprising agility, coils twisting in a desperate knot that just saved his throat. Even so, the sword energy carved through his tail, exposing bone beneath split green flesh, geysers of acid-green blood sprayed the rocks.
“You court death!” the leader bellowed, rage shredding his voice to raw thunder.
He thrashed through the gorge like a living landslide, uprooting trees, smashing boulders, turning peaceful earth into a whirl of debris and echoing terror.
Seizing the opportunity, Flaxseed flicked several sheets of talisman paper out of his sleeve and swiftly drew lightning charms before hurling them at the colossal serpent.
Mid-air, they erupted into blinding spheres that rained lightning onto the serpent’s scales. The monster convulsed, shrieking, muscles spasming beneath the electric storm.
Jared timed the serpent’s agony, then drove the Dragonslayer Sword straight into that vulnerable node.
A keening howl tore from the leader of Greenscale Gorge’s lips. The colossal body shuddered twice, the light dying from its slit pupils, and finally collapsed-an unmoving mountain of emerald flesh.
Breathless, Jared and Flaxseed dropped to the ground, backs against shattered stone, drawing long, ragged gulps of air.
“At last… It’s over,” Flaxseed muttered, swiping sweat from his brow. “I never thought the Greenscale Gorge leader would be this formidable.”
“It’s natural,” Jared said, voice still uneven. “At equal cultivation levels, the beast race outranks us humans, and demons top the lot as well. That’s why our kind remains at the bottom of the three races’ ladder.”
Just then, two jubilant howls rang out. “Hurray! They killed the Greenscale Gorge leader!”
Two wolf demons strode into the clearing, greedy smiles spreading as they stared at the fallen colossus.
“I didn’t expect you two to have real skills,” one of them said. “But the Greenscale Gorge leader’s corpse and his magical items belong to Blackwind Stronghold!”
“What do you want?” Flaxseed asked, eyes narrowing at the duo.
“Want?” the second wolf demon laughed. “To kill you and steal the credit, of course!”
Without further warning, the two wolves lunged together, claws flashing toward Jared and Flaxseed.
Cold fury flickered in Jared’s eyes, betrayal still stung. He unleashed the Dragonslayer Sword in a blinding arc that cut one wolf demon cleanly in half.
The surviving wolf demon froze, terror eclipsing savagery, and pivoted to flee.
Flaxseed sketched a charm and hurled it, the Body Locking Charm slapped against the creature’s back, rooting the wolf demon to the earth like a statue.
“Spare me… Please, spare me!” the wolf demon babbled, voice cracking with raw panic.
“You can live for now,” Jared said. “Tell me, does Baldric Blackwind have anything to do with the annihilation of the Flaxseed clan years ago?”
The wolf demon blinked, clearly blindsided by the question. “I… I’ve never heard of that incident. I’m just a lowly grunt.”
“Still lying?” Flaxseed growled, producing a fireball charm that glowed like molten coal. “Speak, or I’ll scatter you to ashes!”
