Dwarven Mountain Compass, Lair of the FlameDragon.
Solordo arrived at the entrance of a large mountain. It was wide and high, encompassing at least five kilometers of area from the north to the south.
Fire continuously spouted behind the vast lump of earth, lighting up the dark sky like fireworks.
"Heh, took me a long time than expected. But it was all worth it."
Solordo's body was covered in scars caused by the demon and magical beasts alike. Half of his hair seemed to have been uprooted out of his head as well.
Despite the battered state that he was in, determination shone in his eyes, brighter than the fireworks exploding above.
His ears perked up as the bushes rustled near him. Solordo widened the smile on his face, "Bring it on, you dumb-looking green skins!"
Spears shot out from the dark. Solordo rolled forward.
"Grah!", a small humanoid green skin jumped and slashed the wooden axe it was holding upon Solordo.
[ Name: Geron ]
[ Rarity: Common ]
[ Power Level: Normal ]
[ Affinity: None ]
"Stupid geron, get the fuck out of my way!", Solordo parried its attack and grabbed its neck before pounding its head to the ground with great force, killing it in an instant.
The rest of the geron's squad surrounded Solordo.
He could feel the air whistling, immediately jumping out of the position he was in and launching a strike to the gerons on the sides.
Arrows punctured the ground to where Solordo was before. This angered the small green skins and attacked the human all at once.
Solordo hacked at the vital parts of the geron's bodies while flexibly moving around and dodging all the arrows and attacks sent to him.
"Hah!", Solordo sliced a geron into two.
The gerons cried out and retreated out of Solordo's sight. This human was too terrifying for them to fight against.
Solordo wiped off the blood that stained his face and continued on the path to the entrance of the large mountain.
Just as he was about to step in, a large dragon head peeked out from the mountain and eyed Solordo with great interest.
[ Legend: Arahon Agui ]
[ Affiliation: Flame Dragon Tribe (Leader) ]
[ Beast Type: Divine Flame Dragon ]
[ Rarity: Divine ]
[ Power: Monarch-level ]
[ Affinity: Divinity, Fire, Earth, Lava ]
It let out a large fume from its nose and started talking.
"Solordo… Luchador. Son of…"
"No, I'm not the son of anybody anymore, Great Divine Flame Dragon, Arahon Agui.", Solordo corrected.
He wasn't the least intimidated by Arahon's domineering voice and figure. The academy master's aura pressured him more than the large dragon in front of him.
"Then why are you here… bastard from the Luchador Family?", Arahon questioned his appearance.
Solordo pointed the halberd's tip on the dragon's head, "Your blood."
Arahon laughed at Solordo, "How ambitious. Have you ever thought the impossibility of that, human?!"
"Try me, dragon lord."
Solordo held out his left hand and generated a gust of wind on top of him.
Arahon's terrifying eyes widened in surprise, "That aura… you've been to that place, haven't you?"
"Oh, what place are you talking about?", Solordo raised his eyebrows.
"Hmph, feigning ignorance, as usual. Very well then, I am impressed by your talents, young human. But you have to come to me 'in person' so that you'd receive the power you seek dearly. Think you can withstand the heat of my flames?!"
Arahon's voice signaled the earth to crumble into two, spouting fire and lava towards Solordo's position. It was a spectacular display of might and style, something the dragons were prideful about.
Solordo laughed maniacally, "Arahon Agui, here I come!"
He infused the chivalric will into his legs and feet, jumping high into the air and evading the hot flowing lava rushing down the mountain.
Arahon smirked, "This is my territory, human. You should at least respect my aerial authority here!"
Firebirds spawned from the hot lava below and launched a sweeping attack at Solordo.
'Windwalk!', Solordo brushed the air with his arms and legs, using his wind element to push his body forward.
Arahon curiously observed Solordo's movements.
'Nameless spell casting. A feat considered capable to only but the archmages. However, if he came from that place...'
'Solordo Luchador, no wonder you have the bravado of showing yourself here in an attempt to claim a drop of blood from me!'
Arahon stared above, 'Heavenly Magic Academy… the tales of ages have come back to defend Aludia and the others from the Otherworld's invasion once again…', closing his eyes and reminiscing a fragment of his past.
Tall towers and a large castle-like building at the center of the land. Floating high above was a masked man whom Arahon admired and feared of.
'I wonder… if a new academy master has been chosen? I hope that this time, that person would reveal his true identity to the worlds…'
…
Meanwhile, Solordo defended against the sweeping firebirds with great difficulty. This resulted in inflicting severe burns after clashing against them.
'Can I layer my dark element upon my weapon?', he doubted. Weapon layering wasn't something easily learned even if one was a genius. Moreover, he wasn't that proficient in using his dark element either.
He also rejected the thought of using his wind element against the firebirds. That was a waste of effort and energy to do so.
'No, I don't have to fight them! I'll just ignore them and go straight for Arahon!'
Just as he was about to land, Solordo extended his halberd vertically to the ground. The tip struck the ground firmly, allowing Solordo to slid off the handle while softly negating the momentum of his fall.
He then threw his halberd on a high wall a few meters away from him. Solordo quickly ran to his halberd as the earth started to crumble behind him.
He jumped high again and formed an eagle-claw with his right hand. He gathered his chivalric will and punctured the wall.
Solordo hang on the side.
He took his halberd and used it together with his right hand to crawl the high earthen wall.
'Faster! Faster! The firebirds are almost here!'
Blood was now dripping out of his right hand but that didn't stop Solordo from reaching the top before the firebirds could catch up to him.
'Nearly there!'
A large burning boulder rolled above his head, nearly hitting Solordo and drag him back down.
'That was close!'
He lifted his body to the top of the wall and started running on the uphill pathway in front.
'Lava glums?'
Ahead of him were a group of short bloating figures spewing out lava from their mouths.
[ Name: Lava Glums ]
[ Rarity: Common ]
[ Power Level: Normal ]
[ Affinity: Fire, Earth, Lava ]
Solordo detoured from the lava glums' position as far away as possible. Although they were clumsy and timid, being surrounded by them wasn't a good thing.
'The temperature's getting higher and it's making it difficult to breathe!'
He focused on going ahead without a pause, jumping on the tree branches to hasten his trail.
A lava glum poked its head a few meters ahead of the tree Solordo jumped into. Seeing the lava right in front of his eyes, he had no choice but to slip and fall to the ground.
When he landed, his feet sunk deep on the earth.
'Mu-mud?!'
It halted his momentum, giving the lava glums a chance to fire at Solordo. He quickly infused chivalric will to his legs again and barely escaped death.
'A teleportation magic circle! I'm nearly there!'
Solordo gave his all and brushed past the incoming attacks of the fire birds and lava glums.
He was hindered again when boulders rolled above a cliff down to his position. Solordo timed his steps and narrowly advanced through.
"It's here."
A large teleportation magic array glowed in front of his eyes with dazzling radiance. He could see the physical manifestation of mana flowing in an upward direction.
Hundred meters behind it was Arahon's big head.
"No turning back now, Arahon Agui. You better keep your words.", Solordo reminded.
Arahon snorted, "If I were you, human, I'd be more worried if you could survive the might of the blood of a pure divine flame dragon."
The great dragon lord didn't expect that Solordo would notice what to do and how to do it in a quick manner. After all, most people would be driven to attack in reply to the aggression of the monsters that Arahon spawned.
However, he wasn't that insecure and let Solordo did as he wished. That challenge was just to measure out Solordo's battle prowess.
'If he stayed there a little bit longer, the heat would have dried him out.'
Solordo smirked and stepped inside the teleportation magic array. The mana instantly flowed chaotically. It circled Solordo and revolved around him faster and faster until he was transported to a very deep and hot underground cave. He stood alone on a tall long column of earth.
The magma swam down below, vaporizing the rocks falling into it.
Quake!
Arahon's humungous body slithered underground. His claws and feet easily made contact with the magma. The melting pressure didn't seem to have affected him in any way.
Arahon cut a small part of his neck's skin. Scarlet blood poured out. Arahon then created a ceramic bowl and stored the blood there until it was half full.
He gave it to Solordo, letting the human do the rest.
As he was handed of the bowl, Solordo hesitated.
"Don't tell me we're going to conduct the assimilating process here?", Solordo asked.
If it was any other place around, he might have had a greater chance of successfully assimilating the dragon's blood into his own body.
However, with how hot and dry the underground cave was, gathering his focus turned out to be a huge problem.
"You begged for it, human. Aren't you supposed to live up with your courage?", Arahon argued.
Solordo scoffed and despised himself for acting cowardly at a time like this. Arahon's words awakened his unyielding mentality.
'Heh, Solordo. Don't tell me you've grown weak? What about becoming the first dual cultivator of Aludia? Didn't you want to prove yourself?!'
'Academy master gave us this chance because he had great hopes for my return. Why stop now? This little inconvenience isn't worth to dabble out! Let's go with it!'
Solordo slowly drank the blood from the ceramic bowl.
The blood was heavy and tasted like earth and metal combined. It was hot and spicy, with a popping sensation on his tongue, mouth, and throat.
Solordo's body shook in disgust but he managed. He sat down in a lotus position and focused on assimilating the pure divine dragon blood into his body.
'My… stomach! My… heart! They're all heating up!'
Sweat immediately trickled from his reddish skin. The heat made him groan in pain. He bit his teeth and reminded himself to persevere.
'Come on! Deal with it! Use the blood to fuse the core and body as one!'
The scarlet blood revolved within his stomach, awaiting his intent to assimilate it into his chivalric core. Solordo dragged it to his veins, allowing his own blood to naturally push it into his heart.
The dragon's blood suddenly became a group of tendrils, attaching themselves to Solordo's heart. A small glimmer of light then emerged with the roar of a dragon resonating.
The light expanded from Solordo's internal body and shone out from the pores of his skin.
Arahon was in disbelief, "This is it! He has done it!"
The light intensified and the roar loudened. The underground cave started to shake, terrifying the beasts that dwelled above.
Solordo's body was now floating mid-air. The blinding light flashed upward, piercing the dark sky with great force. It carried the ethereal figure of a red dragon spouting flames with its big mouth, flying high into the sky as if it intended to destroy everything that blocked its path.
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