Chapter 188: Chapter 188: The Battle of Elements (Vote for us!)
In the Stone City Labyrinth, flames and rocks clash against each other in an endless struggle.
The silver dragon in the sky looks down quietly, its dragon face showing no clear emotion.
The Fire Giant floating nearby also observes the battlefield situation below with a downward gaze.
Boom! Suddenly, the ground in one part of the battlefield bulges and then bursts, spewing a rain of stones as the earth and rocks explode.
A giant rock python, nearly forty meters long, emerges. Its heavy body, hard to estimate, crushes all the fire elementals in its vicinity into complete debris with just a gentle coil.
Endless earth and stones are attracted to it.
The already massive body of the giant rock python, layered with mud and rocks, becomes a terror on the battlefield, almost unstoppable by fire elementals.
Meanwhile, the Fire Giants amidst the sea of flames can no longer hold back.
Whoosh! Flames surge as a Fire Giant's lower half turns into a whirlwind, propelling its elemental body like a red hurricane. After tracing a dangerously hot arc in the air, it instantly appears above the giant rock python's head.
Standing atop the massive head, the Fire Giant immediately stretches out its hands downwards.
Boom, boom, boom. Scorching flames pour down like a waterfall from the palms of the Fire Giant, continuously striking the rock python's head.
The high temperature melts the mud and rocks on the rock python, turning them into magma-like substances that drip down its head and ignite flames upon the dark brown earth.
But the rock python seems to feel no pain.
It shows no reaction to its injuries.
Continuing to thrash and crush, it disrupts the vast army of fire elementals, scattering them.
The Fire Giant, standing on its head, continues to burn and melt the rock python's body.
However, on the boundless ground, endless earth and stones act like a logistic supply for the rock python, constantly being absorbed onto its body to replace the melted parts, keeping its destroyed body within certain limits.
This scene also unfolds elsewhere.
There are not just one but dozens of these massive and heavy rock pythons.
Dozens of giant rock pythons create endless cracks in the ground, temporarily restraining the fire elementals' assault and even showing signs of counterattack.
However, when the fire elementals fully react, these devastating rock pythons meet their foes.
Hiss, hiss, hiss. A fleeting red figure moves at extreme speed, drawing straight lines of fire directly towards the rock pythons.
These are humanoid fire elementals, less than two meters tall, resembling mini Fire Giants but with significant differences in appearance.
They have legs, but where their arms should be, there are blades of highly concentrated flames, their surfaces tempered to a color like red-hot iron. As they sprint, the flame blades cut through the air, emitting piercing, whistling sounds.
"Flame Cutters, the most elite warriors of my City of Flamesteel, also the most ruthless and efficient assassins."
"My friend, enjoy their performance," the Lord of Flamesteel City introduces them to Garon with confidence in his voice.
Garon looks closely.
Among the countless large fire and earth elementals, these under-two-meter-tall Flame Cutters seem like dwarfs or gnomes, notable only for their arm blades.
However, the elemental light on them is even richer than some elemental giants.
In fact, whether in the City of Flamesteel or the Stone City Labyrinth, elemental giants are nobles, ruling over other elemental lives.
But this doesn't mean they are the strongest fire elementals.
For example, the rock pythons rampaging on the battlefield with their nearly forty-meter-long bodies are much larger than many legendary creatures, making the strength of individual Earth and Fire Giants seem insignificant in comparison.
As time passes, more Flame Cutters approach the rock pythons on the battlefield.
Their speed is extreme, and they excel in agility.
The rock pythons' actions, whether charging, biting, or tail whipping, are ineffective against these swift pests, allowing them to get close.
Then, straight lines of fire begin to circle the rock pythons' bodies.
Hiss, hiss, hiss. The flame blades penetrate the rock pythons, and in an instant, large sections of the earth and rock bodies are sliced open. Many Flame Cutters working together can disintegrate a rock python in a short time.
The cost is that half of the Flame Cutters are scattered into flames.
But elemental lives are hard to kill.
The dispersed Flame Cutters reassemble in the air, their bodies becoming somewhat transparent, and their speed and strength slightly weakened.
The rock pythons are no exception.
Their bodies, shattered into giant rocks, tremble and seem drawn by an invisible force to one spot, quickly reassembling and regaining form.
However, as soon as they recover, without much action, these cumbersome giants break apart again.
On their shattered body rocks, red flames can be seen on the cutting surfaces. The reformed rock pythons, covered in cut marks, cannot fully bond, breaking apart with any movement.
Seizing this opportunity.
Like flamethrowers, the Fire Giants fly in the air, pouring down surging flames, melting the scattered, elementally glowing rock pieces into lifeless liquid.
Earth elementals have two main components.
One is their elemental stones, akin to their flesh and blood, and the other is the external earth and rocks absorbed, acting as layered armor.
Breaking the outer armor and melting the inner elemental stones is the only way to truly kill an earth elemental.
In terms of vitality, earth elementals surpass fire elementals.
When the rock pythons are in crisis, the Earth Giants, with their pillar-like legs, leap high into the air, curling into spherical boulders, and precisely and swiftly smashing towards the Fire Giants.
Boom! Some Fire Giants are hit before they can dodge, exploding into flames.
However, the exploding flames instantly freeze, then curl back, quickly reforming the Fire Giants' bodies.
The battle between Fire and Earth Giants seems intense.
One side pours flames, while the other, clad in mud and rock armor, resists the fire, continuously absorbing more earth and stones from the ground as their outer armor melts.
And the Earth Giants' attacks are mostly physical.
Fire Giants can resist over ninety percent of physical attacks, and even if their bodies are shattered into sparks, it's only a minor injury, requiring only a slight consumption of elemental energy to reform.
Unless their elemental energy is exhausted, Earth Giants can't kill Fire Giants.
The reverse is also true.
As long as there's earth and rocks on the ground, Earth Giants have a continuous supply of life source, plus their formidable defense, making them hard to kill.
The battle between high-level elemental lives is indeed intense.
And smaller fire elementals, like fire dogs and lions, and smaller earth elementals, like stone wolves and tigers, are also incredibly resilient.
A fire elemental life won't die completely unless it's shattered about a dozen times, and earth elementals can endure even more, with many not even having their inner elemental stones damaged.
"The battle is fierce, but until now, not a single giant has died, and the number of ordinary elemental lives that have truly died is extremely limited."
Garon is speechless.
If the war between elements continues like this, it won't be possible to determine a winner without fighting continuously for days and nights, and it's even hard to see any tilt in the battle situation.
After being held back by Earth Giants, the Flame Cutters alone can't kill the rock pythons.
In the end, the elemental lives' attack methods are too monotonous, and neither side has a restraining relationship.
If it were a battle between fire and water elementals.
Probably just upon contact, both sides would suffer heavy casualties, but fire and earth are hard to overcome each other.
This is also one of the main reasons why these two elemental lives have not been able to determine a victor in the Magma Demi-plane after long years.
"My friend, your subordinates seem to be observing from the sidelines, staying outside the battlefield," the Lord of Flamesteel City wants to break the stalemate.
It glances at the true dragons and high-ranking mages slacking off, then turns to Garon.
Garon blinks and then looks at his loyal followers.
Ulbius went underground at the beginning, invisible on the battlefield.
The two high-ranking casters cast a few minor spells, not even using a mid-level spell yet, keeping their magical and mental powers quite intact.
Roel and Gresha roar and charge in mid-air, but only bark without breathing dragon fire. Their massive dragon bodies fly back and forth over the battlefield, with stormy winds and fierce fires swirling around them.
They make an impressive sight.
But they don't really participate in the battle.
Except for occasionally diving down to crush a few low-level small earth elementals, they don't do much else.
The Earth Giants, super-sized stone statues, and rock pythons, the higher-level earth elementals, are untouched by them, as if unseen.
Thus, the stronger earth elementals ignore the two Red Dragons, allowing them to slack off without provocation.
Just as Garon looks over, the two Red Dragons swoop low, their claws crushing several stone dogs into pieces.
Simultaneously, Roel swings its tail, intentionally or not, scattering a few approaching mid-sized fire elementals into flames. Gresha does the same, accidentally crushing a Flame Cutter into dispersed flames while using its wings to blow away a large stone lion.
"Hmm."
Garon never instructed Roel and Gresha to act this way.
Seeing this, the Lord of Flamesteel City also notices, its flames suddenly surging, indicating inner turmoil. After a few seconds, the flames on its body calm down, and it looks at Garon.
That look seems to say, "Playing dirty, huh?"
Garon smiles calmly, "They've just reached adulthood, are impetuous and reckless, and struggle to control their attack strength. Plus, with such a large body, friendly fire in battle is inevitable. Please don't take offense, Lord of Flamesteel."
The Lord of Flamesteel City narrows its eyes, "Of course, I can see they didn't mean it."
After a pause, it looks at Krichten and Fred, "I wonder what kind of impressive spells these two high-ranking casters can use."
The Lord of Flamesteel City speaks loudly in Common Tongue during their exchange.
Krichten and Fred hear it.
They glance at the calm silver dragon, then at each other, and simultaneously begin chanting spells, building magic.
Previously, they hadn't even chanted spells.
The obscure and deep spell chants resonate, and it takes a full few minutes before the final syllables fall.
Such preparation time suggests a powerful high-level spell.
But in reality, that's not the case.
Both use mid-level spells.
Fourth-level Transmutation spell: Stone Split.
Fourth-level Conjuration spell: Acid Rain.
These fourth-level spells hit some earth elementals with Stone Split, cracking their bodies and turning them into rolling broken rocks, but not killing them as they quickly reassemble.
Acid Rain affects earth elementals with corrosion but is blocked by the outer earth and rocks, also accidentally harming some fire elementals.
This wasn't Fred's intention, as Conjuration spells often accidentally harm allies.
Of course, this assumes he didn't waste mental effort on precise targeting.
Then, the two high-ranking casters' output becomes somewhat stronger, but only compared to before.
Their displayed destructive power and lethality do not match their true level.
But no matter how the Lord of Flamesteel City sees it, it's impossible for them to use high-level spells now. High-level spells are powerful but also consume a lot, and neither Fred nor Krichten can use too many high-level spells.
Seeing this, the Lord of Flamesteel City chuckles, speaking unhurriedly.
"My friend, you said your subordinates could stand on their own, but it seems that's not the case."
Garon shakes his head calmly, "They've been here for a short time and haven't adapted to this environment yet."
"And you? Have you adapted?" the Lord of Flamesteel City counters.
Garon nods lightly, "Of course, a legendary true dragon can survive anywhere."
The Lord of Flamesteel City takes a deep breath, speaking solemnly, "Good, my friend. I believe in your strength. Let me witness it soon."
After speaking, the Lord of Flamesteel City looks at the ground, its fiery body becoming even more tumultuous.
"I plan to personally draw out Panse. Together, we'll kill him. Once Panse dies, the defeat of the earth elementals is only a matter of time."
The Lord of Flamesteel City speaks gravely.
The legendary Earth Giant, the master of the Stone City, is named Panse.
The inherently impulsive legendary fire elemental can no longer tolerate this stalemate and decides to enter the fray.
If the Lord of Flamesteel City joins the battle without a peer to oppose it, it will quickly annihilate countless earth elementals, leading to their defeat without the command of an elemental giant.
"Sure, I can hardly wait," Garon nods.
The silver dragon claims eagerness, but its body remains still, showing no action.
Garon sees the Lord of Flamesteel City's urgency, but he is certainly not in a hurry.
However, this inaction must end once the Stone City's master appears and engages with the Lord of Flamesteel City.
Otherwise, to avoid being exploited by Garon, the Lord of Flamesteel City will not continue fighting, regardless of its desire to annihilate the Earth Giants. Garon must act, or it won't give its all.
Soon, the Lord of Flamesteel City, wrapped in raging flames, dives from the fiery sky.
As it descends, its lower fire whirlwind swells, quickly enveloping its entire body and continuing to grow and spread in rapid rotation.
In an instant, the Lord of Flamesteel City becomes a hundred-meter-long fire tornado.
The next moment, the surging fire tornado reaches the battlefield.
Boom! Parallel to the ground, the fire tornado rampages through the battlefield, rolling flames and tongues of fire, engulfing numerous earth elementals.
The Lord of Flamesteel City's attack spares no fire elementals.
It unleashes flames without care, fiercely moving through the battlefield, instantly turning it into a vast sea of fire, with countless earth elementals struggling and turning into lifeless charred ashes.
As for those fire elementals caught in the tornado.
Not only do they suffer no injuries, but their flames also surge, becoming even more powerful, as if invigorated, with their fire becoming more tumultuous.
With the Lord of Flamesteel City's involvement, countless earth elementals are destroyed with unstoppable force.
After a brief time, it targets the scattered Earth Giants on the battlefield.
The fire tornado devours all earth elementals in its path, creating a path towards the nearest Earth Giant.
The first targeted Earth Giant turns back, its rough stone face reflecting the red glow of the fire.
Before the flames even reach it, the earth and rocks on the Earth Giant's surface begin to melt and drip, revealing the underlying elemental stones, also reddened from absorbing too much heat.
In a crisis, the Earth Giant curls into a sphere, rolling aside, narrowly avoiding the howling fire tornado.
But before it can rejoice in dodging the legendary fire elemental's attack, a fiery hand suddenly extends from the side of the tornado, grasping the Earth Giant's body and quickly retracting back, submerging it in flames.
In an instant, an Earth Giant dies under the Lord of Flamesteel City's attack.
The fire tornado doesn't pause, the endless flames surging towards another Earth Giant.
On such a battlefield, legendary beings are invincible. Once they target something, there's no chance of escape, guaranteed death, even for the powerful elemental giants.
Without opposition from a peer legendary being, this elemental war will end quickly due to the Lord of Flamesteel City's assault.
Continued in the next chapter...
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