Chapter 133: The Heresy Verdict

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When I came to my senses, I realized that I was still alive. Looking up, I saw that those spikes had stopped just a few centimeters from me. Then a drop of blood fell onto my face.

After a long silence, a voice finally rang out. “Master, are you all right?”

Only then did I realize that Dragon Battle had stepped forward at the most critical moment and taken that fatal blow for us.

“I’m fine,” I said.

“Ha!”

Dragon Battle spat out a mouthful of blood. At the same time, the spikes pierced its body. Several gaping holes had appeared in its flesh, and blood continued to pour from them.

“Dragon Battle, you...”

“Protecting you, Master, is my responsibility.”

With those words, Dragon Battle’s mountain-like body collapsed to the ground. I saw that it had only a few hundred health points left, and they were still dropping bit by bit. I hurriedly recalled it, but its condition did not improve even inside the summoned-beast space. Although its health stopped falling, it showed no signs of recovering. It seemed its injuries were simply too severe.

If not for the system update, which stated that summoned beasts now had a limited number of revivals, many people would have allowed their critically wounded summoned beasts to die, then waited for them to revive before summoning them again. But after the revival limit was introduced, no one wanted the summoned beasts they had painstakingly raised to leave them so easily.

The number of revivals was not fixed, either. It varied according to the summoned beast’s rank. The higher the rank, the more revivals it possessed.

Although I could not see Dragon Battle’s number of revivals in its attributes, judging by the rule that higher-ranked creatures had more revivals, it should have at least three digits. That sounded like a lot, but the road ahead was still long, and a hundred revivals clearly would not be enough. We had to cherish every one of them.

“Is everyone all right?” I could not help shouting.

The others rose to their feet. Illusory Moon said, “I’m fine. I can still fight.”

“We finally made it through. Dragon Spirit, thank you for lending us your summoned beast.” Summer thanked me.

“Let’s keep going.” Red Lotus calmly hoisted her great sword.

“Good! Let’s attack together and take it down!”

With a shout, I charged forward. But before I had even covered half the distance, Red Lotus had somehow moved ahead of me. She drew her great sword and leaped high into the air. As the boss brought two of its spikes together, she raised her weapon and crossed it against them.

With a sharp crack, that single strike carved countless fine fractures into the boss’s two spikes.

“Demonic Severance!” Red Lotus shouted.

The spikes, already covered in cracks from her blow, broke apart instantly. We were all stunned. She had severed two of the enemy’s spikes with one strike.

By then, I had already charged in. I launched a Cloud Assault, followed by Crushing Blow, Energy Explosion, and Assault, bombarding the boss mercilessly.

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However, another of the boss’s spikes suddenly swept across. Red Lotus and I had no time to dodge and were sent flying.

While airborne, I saw Red Lotus adjust her body and land steadily on the ground. I, on the other hand, had no such skill. I crashed down like a kite with its string cut, rolled several meters, and finally managed to stand.

“Now you’ll see how powerful I am!” Summer shouted. She then hefted a black, cylindrical object nearly two meters long and half a meter wide.

At the front of the object was something resembling a honeycomb—or perhaps a miniature roulette wheel. More precisely, it was a cylinder covered with numerous circular black openings.

Whatever it was, it looked unmistakably like a rocket launcher.

“Fatal Attack: Explosive Barrage!”

As Summer cried out, the weapon in her hands began spinning rapidly. Then it fired countless multicolored objects at a speed far beyond the naked eye’s ability to follow.

Boom, boom, boom, boom!

Countless shells slammed into the boss. Their damage was pitifully low—only one point at minimum and no more than fifty at most—but their additional effects were extraordinary.

A variety of colored numbers began floating above the boss in rapid succession. Red “-1” figures represented burning damage. Purple “-1” figures represented poison damage. Finally, blue “-2” figures appeared, indicating freezing damage.

Anything struck by that barrage would have suffered terribly.

Summer attacked with tremendous enthusiasm until her rocket launcher could no longer fire. Then she turned to us with a mournful expression.

“Boo-hoo-hoo, I’m out of ammunition!”

A row of black lines seemed to appear above our heads.

At that moment, Red Lotus said, “Illusory Moon, Dragon Spirit, help me.”

“What are you planning to do?” I asked.

Red Lotus replied, “Use your strongest skills on me.”

“What nonsense are you talking about?” Illusory Moon said.

“Exactly! If we do that, you’ll certainly die!” I said.

“Stop wasting time. Hurry! I want to pour all your power into my blade. I alone am not strong enough to break through its overall defenses, so we’ll gather all our strength together. That should work. My blade also has a twenty percent chance to ignore defense. If this strike lands, it will definitely inflict massive damage.”

“I see.”

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“Understood. Let’s do it.”

With that, Red Lotus charged forward. Illusory Moon and I followed close behind. Powerful wind energy gathered in Illusory Moon’s hands, surrounding them in raging cyclones.

“Contract—Sword of Victory!”

“Come forth, Sonic Werewolf!”

The Beast Tamer’s second support skill, Side by Side, activated. In the next instant, the three-meter-tall Sonic Werewolf appeared beside me. I immediately ordered it to use Victory Fist.

A massive golden fist of energy and a torrent of golden light engulfed Red Lotus.

Then Red Lotus burst out of the golden radiance. The blade of her great sword had turned golden.

The boss, however, was not about to let her strike it so easily. Three spikes shot toward her at tremendous speed.

The Sonic Werewolf leaped up at once and slammed its fist squarely into one of the spikes. Then its enormous jaws opened, releasing a piercing howl. The boss was stunned instantly.

At the same time, Red Lotus had already leaped into the air. The blade in her hands suddenly lengthened, extending dozens of meters.

“Heretic Judgment!”

With a furious cry, Red Lotus brought the enormous golden blade crashing down upon the boss. As her body descended, the blade cleaved downward as well.

When she reached the ground, Red Lotus sprang backward.

The boss’s enormous body was split cleanly in two.

A tremendous damage figure of “-500000” flashed into view. I rubbed my eyes, utterly unable to believe that such terrifying damage was possible.

But then something even more unbelievable happened.

Although the boss had been cut apart, the two halves began writhing. Wings, limbs, heads, tails, and other organs began growing from them.

Red Lotus struck first, bringing her blade down and dealing “-1340” damage. Illusory Moon swung her sword as well, cutting away another thousand points of health. I drew my Frostlight Sword and slashed repeatedly, stripping away a large portion of the boss’s remaining health.

But just as we were about to finish off one half of the boss, the other half suddenly took flight and began heading toward Sky Dragon City.

It had not gone far when a beam of white energy swept across its body. Countless shells then slammed into it, followed by a dark figure that appeared in the air and began spinning rapidly, continuously slicing away the boss’s health.

Only then did I realize that the attackers were Guardian and her mechanical summoned beasts.

The Electronic Ultimate Dragon and Mechanical Tyrannosaurus Beast suppressed the enemy from the air. On the ground, the Battleship Dragon Beast continued firing, while the Electronic Dragon Beast engaged it in close combat.

I did not know what was happening in Sky Dragon City, but the final boss was now being restrained by us. The players inside the city should be able to deal with the Thunder Beasts through sheer numbers.

Time passed little by little, and the boss’s health was almost completely depleted.

But at that moment, the two halves of the boss let out a thunderous shriek and violently blasted us away.

Then the two creatures embraced each other in midair.

What were they doing—making out?

The two halves clung together as their entire bodies began to glow.

“Not good! It looks like it’s going to self-destruct!” Summer cried.

She did not need to say it. Anyone who saw such a scene would know that disaster was imminent.

Regardless, we had to escape.

Boom!

A heaven-shaking explosion erupted in the sky. A dazzling white light burst forth, blinding me.

Then I lost consciousness.

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