The three-headed ferocious beast’s roar echoed through the narrow canyon, shaking loose stones from the jagged walls. Its six crimson eyes locked onto Dustin.
The middle head jerked back and unleashed a torrent of scorching dark-red flames reeking of sulfur toward him and his group like a flood of molten lava.
Before the flames even arrived, the terrifying heat warped the air, and shallow puddles on the ground evaporated instantly. The guards felt their hair curl and their skin prickle with intense heat.
“Fall back!” Dustin barked. Instead of retreating, he stepped forward, placing himself between the beast and the others. He didn’t draw his sword but pressed two fingers together and made a light sweeping motion through the air.
A razor-sharp crescent of cyan sword aura materialized out of thin air, tearing through the air with a piercing shriek as it met the surging flames head-on.
At the same time, his eyes sharpened. Within his consciousness, his mental energy condensed like a sword, easily shredding the beast’s mental assault into nothingness.
The beast choked on its own poisonous fog, growling and snarling with increasing fury. Its enormous frame rose on hind legs.
The chain-wrapped forelimbs swung down with crushing momentum toward Dustin like two enormous hammers. That single blow packed enough raw power to flatten a hillside
“Now we’re talking!” he said as a glint of battle intent finally flashed in his eyes. He no longer held back, and his right hand, which had been resting on his sword hilt, moved in a blur.
A clear, resonant sword cry, like the roar of a dragon, filled the canyon. The longsword at his waist left its scabbard, and its blade gleamed with a cold, lethal light.
There was no earth-shattering explosion.
The cyan sword aura sliced through the dark-red pillar of fire like a hot knife through butter, splitting it cleanly down the middle.
The divided flames streaked past either side of Dustin’s body. It scorched the cliff wall behind him, leaving him and the others unharmed. Seeing that, all three heads let out furious roars, and the other two heads sprang into action.
The left head spewed thick clouds of dark green, poisonous fog with a nauseating stench that was clearly toxic. The right head launched a silent mental assault directly at Dustin’s consciousness.
“Pathetic trick.”
Dustin remained calm. With a flick of his left sleeve, a surge of energy roared forward like a hurricane and swept the incoming poisonous fog back toward the beast.
Facing the beast’s crushing blow, Dustin didn’t dodge. With a flick of his wrist, his sword swept upward in a mysterious arc, and a condensed cyan sword aura shot into the sky.
“Sky Splitter!” he roared.
The condensed sword aura collided head-on with the beast’s claws with tremendous force. The impact sent shockwaves blasting outward like solid walls. The ground cracked and shattered, debris flying in all directions.
The beast let out a painful wail. Its claws-tough enough to withstand divine weapons -were severed cleanly at the wrists by that seemingly slender blade of condensed sword aura.
Dark-red blood gushed out like a waterfall. The severely wounded massive beast stumbled backward from the injury. All three heads thrashed wildly as it let out a howl of pure rage and pain.
Just as everyone thought it was on the verge of death, a sudden mutation occurred.
The dark, magma-like glow between the beast’s black scales flared into a blinding blaze, as if a volcano had erupted inside it. Its severed forelimbs twitched violently, but instead of regrowing claws, its entire body began to warp and twist.
Its overall size shrank, but its energy wave skyrocketed wildly. The scales covering its body became thicker and heavier, gleaming with a metallic coldness. With two sickening cracks, a pair of black-membrane-covered fleshy wings tore free from its back.
Amidst a grating sound of grinding bone, its three heads grotesquely merged into a single, more ferocious head adorned with bone spurs and a single horn. Its fangs grew longer and sharper. In its sole crimson eye, bestial violence remained, but now tinged with cunning and cruelty.
The beast had transformed from a massive ground-dwelling creature into a winged monstrosity roughly 30 feet tall with a 50-foot wingspan. It looked like something between a dragon and a lizard. Even its speed and agility had increased by several tiers.
“A second form?” Dustin muttered, raising an eyebrow.
The beast’s transformation was somewhat unexpected. He could sense that its strength, speed, and energy level had nearly doubled.
The fully evolved flying beast locked its single eye on Dustin. With a powerful beat of its wings, its body shot forward like a streak of black lightning and left afterimages. Its hooked claws aimed straight for his throat.
At the same time, the horn on its head glowed with an eerie light. A concentrated beam of black destructive energy fired ahead of the beast that aimed at his chest.
“Impressive speed,” Dustin commented casually, his figure blurring and vanishing from his original spot.
The black beam of destruction hit empty ground, carving a bottomless pit where he’d been standing.
In the next instant, he reappeared above and to the side of the beast. His sword flashed, releasing countless fine threads of cyan sword aura that rained down like a torrential downpour, blanketing the beast’s entire body.
The beast beat its wings, whipping up spiraling black winds to defend itself. Most of the sword aura was shredded by the winds, but some broke through and carved deep, bone-revealing gashes across its hardened scales.
The beast screeched in pain and fury, and a ruthless gleam flashed in its single eye. Ignoring its injuries, it suddenly reversed direction and opened its gaping maw.
A dense, nearly pitch-black sphere of energy coalesced in its mouth, radiating pure destruction. Even from a distance, Grace and the others felt it gnawing at their very souls.
