Chapter 186: Chapter 186: Death of the Cold Winter Ice Dragon
Tang Qing’s blue and white dragon eyes stared fixedly at Qi Suian. He had managed to save his life, and his injuries had even disappeared.
However, he had paid a terrible price: he would have to maintain the form of the Cold Winter Ice Dragon for the rest of his life, never again able to return to his human form.
In reality, his injuries hadn’t healed. Instead, they had been frozen solid when he transformed.
If he ever changed back into a human, the injuries would not only return but intensify, killing him on the spot.
Going from human to non-human... he couldn’t accept such an abrupt transformation, especially since he had been forced into it.
That was why, when faced with Qi Suian’s attack, he retaliated without a moment’s hesitation.
A blast of ultimate dragon breath, surging with cold energy, erupted from his mouth. Empowered by the Taiyin Refining Technique, the breath was bone-chillingly frigid—and this was a strike fueled by pure rage.
He was, without a doubt, using his full strength.
’Too slow.’ With the help of the Wind Master’s flight system, Qi Suian had already exited the attack range the moment the breath began to form in his opponent’s mouth.
His target, naturally, was the most vulnerable area on his opponent’s backside.
But... he came up empty.
’Well now, I always thought that old saying about being born without an asshole was just a figure of speech. Guess I’m looking at the real deal on this dragon today.’
Qi Suian muttered to himself as he delivered a swift kick to the crotch.
’I don’t get it. You don’t even have an asshole for shitting, so why keep the family jewels? What’s the point of getting rid of only half your weak spots?’
’Especially in your battle form. Did you really need to keep that thing just to prove you’re a male?’
The kick landed, a critical hit. Tang Qing buckled instantly.
The massive Cold Winter Ice Dragon collapsed.
Qi Suian had put immense force into that kick, especially since he’d infused it with both his Dragon and Tiger Primordial Divine Force and the Glutton’s Feast.
’That’s a pretty obvious weak spot. Maybe I should strengthen my own defenses there too,’ Qi Suian mused, but he didn’t pause for a second.
He unleashed a torrential storm of attacks on the Cold Winter Ice Dragon’s various weak points—the eyes, the throat, and so on. He didn’t spare a single spot where he could land a critical hit.
It wasn’t that Tang Qing was inexperienced in battle, but this was the first time he’d ever encountered someone as shamelessly dirty as Qi Suian.
Most opponents would, at worst, launch a sneak attack and aim for vital organs. But Qi Suian? He just relentlessly targeted every single vulnerability.
This was all thanks to the True Martial Jade Vein Lotus on his Tai Sui God, which granted him abilities like Martial Dao Intuition and Martial Dao Will.
Finding weak spots wasn’t difficult at all, especially with his reconnaissance network feeding him data.
Even though Tang Qing’s overall power level was higher and he had the home-field advantage, Qi Suian was no slouch himself.
The Tai Sui God was SSS-rank equipment, after all, and he had invested a fortune into upgrading it. Even if that wasn’t enough to close the gap, his +5 enhanced Protagonist Halo was nothing to scoff at.
When it truly mattered, the Protagonist Halo had never let him down.
"You... GAGH~" Tang Qing opened his mouth, trying to say something.
Seeing the opening, Qi Suian didn’t hesitate. He punched the dragon right in the mouth and, for good measure, tore out its tongue.
Qi Suian didn’t care what his opponent wanted to say. He only cared about how Tang Qing was going to die.
Whether it was a plea for mercy or a threat, none of it mattered. The only thing that mattered right now was killing Tang Qing, taking his Protagonist Halo, and using his corpse for fuel.
Nothing else held any meaning for Qi Suian.
This act thoroughly enraged Tang Qing. He whipped his massive dragon head around and slammed it toward Qi Suian.
Qi Suian had no intention of taking that head-on. A direct hit from that skull would shatter his Dragon and Tiger Primordial Divine Force.
So he dodged. But in doing so, he gave Tang Qing an opportunity to get back on his feet.
’Bloodthirsty Frenzy? Are you an actual boss monster?’ For a moment, Qi Suian couldn’t quite figure Tang Qing out.
Tang Qing completely ignored him and charged forward.
His Cold Winter Ice Dragon ability did, in fact, have a power similar to the one Qi Suian had just named.
The ability covered attack, defense, healing, movement, and more. It was like having multiple abilities rolled into one.
More importantly, it would unlock even more powers as it developed.
In the context of the apocalypse game, it was currently rated as an A-rank ability.
The key word was "currently," because the ability could evolve, potentially reaching SSS-rank.
When he had first obtained it, it had only been C-rank.
Combined with his dual stats, which had now reached 8 points, even an A-rank ability could unleash tremendous power.
His stats hadn’t been this high initially, but the Cold Winter Ice Dragon had an ability that boosted its stats at low health. As his injuries worsened, his dual stats rose accordingly.
Qi Suian saw this and realized things had gotten tricky.
High attack, high defense, a massive health pool, fast recovery—the list of advantages went on.
’As expected of a protagonist’s exclusive ability,’ Qi Suian thought. ’It’s much stronger than my Feast.’
It made sense. His Feast was something he had created himself. Even if it wasn’t a shoddy piece of work, it was still a hodgepodge of different things. Tang Qing’s, on the other hand, was a gift from the heavens. There was no comparison.
His opponent’s ability was clearly overpowered. At its core, it was just a transformation ability, but the problem was that the transformed state came with an absurd number of other powers.
Normally, other transformation-type abilities weren’t nearly this powerful.
It was strong simply because he was a protagonist.
’Fly up. We’re going to ram him to death.’ Qi Suian understood that the only way to kill Tang Qing for good was to one-shot him with an overwhelming amount of damage.
Anything that didn’t kill him would only make him stronger, which in turn meant more trouble for Qi Suian.
So he prepared to use the same trick again.
[Calculation complete. A collision-based attack has a thirty percent probability of inflicting heavy damage, but will not result in a kill.]
[Furthermore, there is an eighty percent probability that the Tai Sui God will disintegrate. This course of action is not recommended.]
The AI gave its recommendation. The first crash hadn’t even killed Tang Qing in his human form; it had left him with just enough life to transform. Even with the help of a Protagonist Halo, the fact remained that he had survived.
Now that he was in his thick-skinned Cold Winter Ice Dragon form, a repeat performance would be completely ineffective.
Qi Suian immediately accepted the AI’s analysis. Sometimes, one trick wasn’t enough to solve every problem, especially when he wasn’t strong enough.
He ran through his options and quickly devised a new plan.
’I refuse to believe your ability is that perfect!’ Qi Suian’s new plan was simple: if strength wasn’t enough, he’d have to rely on luck and intuition.
’Overload the True Martial Jade Vein Lotus. Amplify the Martial Dao Intuition function.’
’Protagonist Halo, I’m giving you access to the Martial Dao Intuition. Help the Tai Sui God lock onto his fatal weakness. I’m going to end this in one strike.’
’AI, coordinate with them.’
’I’ll provide the power. The rest is up to a miracle.’ With that, Qi Suian chugged several vials of Death Potion.
From the very start, he’d had no confidence he could win this fight.
He was relying entirely on his Death Reconstruction ability for a second chance and his Floating Cannons for a quick kill.
It was only because he had this safety net that he could afford to be so reckless.
The Death Potions went down, and the entire process of digestion and absorption was incredibly swift, finishing in less than a second.
After all, he had modified his own stomach back when he was cultivating Ancient Martial Techniques.
He channeled a massive amount of his Feast energy into the Tai Sui God.
Qi Suian’s body began to crack, bursting open as chunks of flesh and blood erupted from him. The bloody chunks seemed alive, squirming as they tried to return to his body.
But the next moment, they exploded outward once more.
At the same time, as he poured out his Feast energy, an ominous aura began to envelop the Tai Sui God. The synergy between the Taiyin Red Blood Dragon and the Dragon and Tiger Primordial Divine Force caused a blood-red Evil Dragon to materialize around the suit.
Tang Qing, however, couldn’t spare a thought for the Tai Sui God’s transformation. He opened his massive, blood-red maw and snapped it shut on half of the Tai Sui God’s body.
If that bite connected, the Tai Sui God would be torn in half.
Yet in that very instant, the Tai Sui God’s Martial Dao Intuition locked onto the Cold Winter Ice Dragon’s fatal weakness.
Deep within the dragon’s throat, a special energy organ used for its breath attack was shimmering with the light of cold energy. It had completely crystallized, resembling a Dragon Crystal.
Normally, this should have been the Cold Winter Ice Dragon’s most powerful point.
And in fact, it was. However, strength and weakness are not always so straightforward.
Dynamite is powerful when you throw it at the enemy, not when it blows up in your own armory.
The moment he perceived the weakness, Qi Suian mobilized his Dragon and Tiger Primordial Divine Force.
"Silk Bind!"
"Heart Crush!!"
"Breath Devour!!!"
In an instant, the Evil Dragon coiled around the Tai Sui God sprang into action. Channeling the Evil Dragon Force, a technique from the old Evil Dao school of Ancient Martial Technique, it roared and shot toward the Cold Winter Ice Dragon’s gaping maw.
Before the dragon’s massive jaws could snap shut, it shattered the crystallized energy organ.
A crisp shattering sound echoed as shards flew everywhere, lacerating the inside of the Cold Winter Ice Dragon’s mouth.
A tremendous wave of cold energy erupted in an instant, spreading throughout the Cold Winter Ice Dragon’s entire body.
The resulting backlash was so terrifying that it instantly consumed the massive dragon’s body.
There was no sound, no struggle.
When the torrent of cold energy finally subsided, a massive corpse was all that remained.
But within seconds, the Cold Winter Ice Dragon’s body began to shrivel.
This wasn’t a true Cold Winter Ice Dragon, after all—just the product of Tang Qing’s transformation ability.
Upon his death, the transformation naturally deactivated, and the body reverted to its original form.
’Finally. What a pain in the ass,’ Qi Suian let out a long breath, his eyes on the somewhat misshapen corpse.
The body’s condition was clearly the result of the initial crash. Without that special transformation ability, injuries that severe would have meant instant death.
’Still, it was worth it. And I get three rewards, too.’
With that thought, he had the AI initiate a purge to restore his body to its normal state.
He’d chugged so many Death Potions just now, and his whole body felt off.
As for the Tai Sui God, there was nothing he could do. He could only let the repair nanites get to work on it slowly.
Qi Suian could recover thanks to his Death Reconstruction, but the Tai Sui God had no such ability.
’First things first, let’s open this treasure chest. Time to see what goodies are on this Treasure Map of the Lost.’
As for his newly acquired +6 enhanced Protagonist Halo... that could wait. It was already his.
