"Because? What’s the problem?" Almond asked while he observed the darkness. ’Powerful, permeating, and all-natural mana that is abundant in this battlefield is in control of this field of darkness, keeping it constant and active.’
"Because that dragon is simply too strong!" Admiral Rudra clenched his fist. "The most infuriating thing is that he allows us to attack, but nothing happens to that monster. Instead, whatever powers we throw at him bounce back to us with an extra curse. Whatever our attacks could have an effect on it, instead affects us."
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Shaking his head, the Admiral added, "Artifacts can affect him, and if we use some strategy, we could do something, but regrettably, that dragon has more artifacts than us."
"He calls himself Kexell the Cursed Vagabond, and eventually, he wants to conquer all four worlds, starting with ours because it’s the weakest to him."
"All four?" Almond raised his eyebrows.
"Yeah, that’s what he said."
Almond looked in another direction, sensing hundreds of Epic-rank monsters rushing toward the base. "They are going to fight soon. Let’s head there."
Admiral Rudra nodded. "Due to the big numbers and strange nature of monsters here, which are further affected by that dragon, they are aggressive and powerful while our Epic-rank Adventurers are limited. We get a few casualties every time he sends monsters, but he himself hasn’t killed anyone personally after supposedly killing Shiro-sen."
Almond also saw many old monsters and other powerhouses stationed at a ridge, waiting to meet them head-on and finish them off.
Covering 500 kilometers was a matter of minutes for some Epic-rank monsters, especially flying ones, so they had to be intercepted, and it was done by flying ships with devices and powerhouses stationed on them, mainly headed by the old monster Anika Von Richter.
"That dragon would come out soon since the fight has started," Admiral said as he glanced at Almond. "Be careful and get to know that dragon’s powers because you should be able to do that with your eyes."
"And I suspect that dragon killed Shiro-sen because he was the only one who could do something about that cursed power. After all, Shiro-sen had the best ocular powers, and he was a mage of curse-based skills."
Admiral Rudra sighed. "We couldn’t even get Shiro-sen’s body as that animal ate him, according to the beast’s own words."
"Kexell the Cursed Vegabond…" Almond narrowed his eyes as he looked at the dark expanse. ’The Arcane Champion of Empyradrake Planet. But it seems that there’s a bad story between him and his own world.’
"I’ll deal with him. For now, I’ll lend a hand here." Almond turned towards the monsters engaging with the fifty-something powerhouses who were all Epic level 50 at best, compared to the monsters who had way higher stats and numbers.
Even though items and Mana Techniques could elevate their stats, only Old Monsters and some top powerhouses could max out their stats via self-tailored training since stat points from leveling weren’t enough. As such, the highest status boost possible from Mana Techniques couldn’t bridge the gap in stats, so they had to bridge it with intelligence, better skills and combat techniques, and strategy.
But a sudden breeze blew across the ridge that suddenly silenced the clamor of monsters, accompanied by a hum that caused vibrations down to everyone’s cells.
And then, every single Epic-rank monster paused as if time stopped for them, but what actually stopped was the space around them.
"W-What?"
Everyone was shocked, though old monsters had noticed Almond and Rudra a few kilometers above.
But after that pause of one second, every single Epic-rank monster burst out blood from small holes all over their body before they got skinned flawlessly and eviscerated, becoming exotic lumps of meat, shining with energy, untouched by excessive blood as their skins and blood stayed away a certain distance around the meat pieces.
"This is the pinnacle of the spatial blade," Almond grinned. "Let’s bring these Epic-rank monsters to the base for mystic chefs and their cores to the crafters. They are treasures for the majority of adventurers."
Admiral Rudra’s jaw dropped straight down and destroyed a mountain.
"Brat, just how powerful you are now? Only someone ridiculous like you can deal with that ridiculous dragon," Admiral Rudra wryly smiled.
"Showing off already, you brat!"
Silvester and other old monsters arrived there.
Almond smiled.
However, everyone’s smiles suddenly vanished as the familiar terrorizing presence descended on them.
"Yoi zoi, that was wonderful! Hahahaha..!"
*Swoosh!*
A giant shadow flew above them before vanishing, while its laughter echoed all around.
A shadow, forming a clump of darkness, manifested right behind Almond. Small in size, and a pair of sizzling dark silver eyes lit up.
Everyone’s eyes showed a hint of fear, not because they feared death, but because they had tried their best yet couldn’t do anything to this dragon.
Almond calmly turned around and saw the clump of darkness that burst from behind, spreading and then slowly subsiding as the giant body of a black dragon with dark silver scales, each one sizzling and moving as if hurt and cursed.
"So you did exist, Arcane Champion of Earth," The dragon spoke, its snout that was just a meter away from Almond bursting out with dark silver flames with black sparks, enveloping Almond.
Everyone flinched, but they wisely backed far away.
As the flame dispersed, Almond was in his place, his eyes deadpan yet curious with a glint as he saw the dragon, his All-Seeing Eyes sizing it.
’Strong. Its biological structure is past our limits, but more importantly…’
A visible black & white spark like a bolt flickered in the center, right between them.
"Almond Crowshade."
"Kexell the Cursed Vagabond."
The pressure in the atmosphere grew intense, already affecting everything in a large area.
The field of darkness moved behind Kexell while the usually invisible domain of Almond flickered into existence with starry sparks flickering behind him.
And then, both domains clashed, half of each of them conjoined into one with Almond and Kexell facing each other, still in the air, unblinking.
But the fight had already begun, as the old monsters and other powerhouses saw a 500-meter area around them in chaos.
"Rudra, Almond doesn’t have artifacts, but we do. We should take a chance and aim for it. Now that Almond is here to keep it at bay, we can take it down with the Nine Bodhi Lotus artifact, which should do something about its cursed powers."
"Indeed."
"The problem is sneaking is impossible against that dragon," Bianca said. "It rules the darkness, so my best asset of sneaking is useless."
"Even Ken’s spatial drift was detected as that dragon promptly acted and got away before Ken could use the Artifact."
"Almond’s space mastery is probably at the Mythical rank, but he can’t sneak about as he needs to be the vanguard against this dragon."
"I know what we’ll do," Admiral Rudra spoke, his arms crossed. "We’ll just watch and be ready in case Almond wants to make a strategic retreat after finding out more about this dragon. He can teleport far and fast, and this Dragon is also not interested in personally hunting us, though he might hunt Almond."
"Almond is the reason that the dragon came here in the first place," Admiral Rudra added. "Both of them are Arcane Champions, from what Almond told me, and Arcane Champions are ridiculous existences with elevated and high potential of powers, as we can see right now."
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"So, we will watch and wait."