Chapitre 185: Book 6: Chapter 8 – Dragon Number Three
The heads of everyone present snapped up in shock and confusion, but only the faces of the mortals who previously faced the dragon held knowing smiles.
"Was that really him?" Yulana asked as her piercing blue eyes scanned the clouds above her head, searching for a particular figure.
"Only he's capable of that!" Faye grinned excitedly.
"Ace," Killian smiled softly as he rolled to his feet, ignoring the agony of his opened chest. "You're finally here!"
"Sorry I'm late," Ace smiled as his body suddenly appeared before Killian's at a speed that hardly anyone present was able to follow.
The majority of the army didn't recognise the dark-haired teen, but as far as they were aware of, there was only one teen on the continent that was capable of challenging a saint.
"Is that Young Master Ace?" One of the soldiers of the city of Gol asked.
"It must be." Another soldier replied.
"He's just as impressive as the rumours made him out to be,"
As the soldiers began to discuss Ace's arrival, the pained grunts of the searing rainbow dragon reminded everyone that there was still a genuine saint-level creature that threatened each of their safety.
"Who are you, human?" The dragon grunted as the smoke dissipated, revealing its burnt scaly body.
Since the dragon arrived, it hadn't said so much as a word to anyone. After all, in its eyes, they were just mortal ants. But this new arrival was different. Judging by the power of that last strike, this teen appeared to be no weaker than him.
It had to be remembered that all dragons were known for the defensive capabilities of their usually impenetrable scales, but after just one attack, although it was a sneak attack, many of its formerly beautiful rainbow-coloured scales had been incinerated and of those that remained, most had all but lost their shine, giving it more of a dull burnt look.
Still, Ace's eyes chilled as he turned to look at the dragon with undisguised killing intent. "You're in no position to be asking me questions."
"My name's Harelk," The dragon revealed, seeming to want to take a step back after feeling the might of the teen's previous attack. "I only interfered in this beast tide because the spear of that man has the aura of one of our kidnapped young."
"What's your point?" Ace's indifferent voice rang in his ears, causing Harelk's eyes to narrow.
Ace had already noticed Lance's unconscious body, as well as the Azure Dragon Spear Lauriella forged for him wrapped in the tail of the dragon. With how far the dragons were willing to go to find that Hatchling, it didn't take a genius to know how they'd react once they found out their Divine hatchling had not only been killed, but its bones and beast core had also been turned into a mere weapon for a human.
Still, Ace didn't care about that. All he knew was that Killian and Lance, two people he saw as a part of his family, had almost died. If it wasn't because he was worried about the aftermath of his fight with the dragon worsening Killian and Lance's injuries, Ace would have long since attacked.
But in Harelk's eyes, he had already been more than kind by treating Ace like an equal. Still, his patience had limits. He was an almighty saint-level dragon of the Dragon's Pitt. He may have acknowledged Ace's strength, but he refused to believe that in a true fight, a little teen was really his match – even with his current injuries.
"Give me that man, and I'll leave," Harelk commanded cooly.
"Leave now, or I'll kill you," Ace replied, leaving no room for negotiation.
His words shocked the army to no end. Everyone in the world understood that Ace was a madman from the rumours of his past deeds, but there was a big difference between hearing it and seeing it in person.
The creature he was speaking to was a saint, a being who held the power to wipe out their whole army in one attack.
The only ones not shocked by Ace's brazenness were his classmates. They all knew full well that there was virtually nothing that Ace didn't dare to do! Instead, they were more concerned with putting as much distance between Ace and the dragon as possible.
As the fastest of those present, Joel and Kannal's bodies transformed into blurs as they picked up Killian and Lance respectively, before chasing after the rest of their classmates.
"GET BACK!" Cirulus, who was the next to react, quickly commanded his troops before giving his young master an excited nod and also taking his leave. "EVERYONE BACK, NOW!"
"You may be the most arrogant human I've ever met!" Harelk snorted, paying no heed to the escaping mortals.
In fact, if anything, he was more worried about them staying near. The only reason Killian had been able to fight him to a standstill for so long was because of their help, and Harelk was well aware that Ace was much stronger than Killian.
"Number three," Ace voiced as he summoned a spear from his storage ring before coating it and his entire body in his [Armament Haki] and a skin-tight crimson aura of compressed flames.
Unfortunately, after his repeated use of [Conqueror's Infusion], his previous weapon, "Newgate", had shattered into thousands of pieces and with him only just waking up, he hadn't had time to get a new one – not that it particularly mattered to him at this moment.
"You what?" The dragon asked, not following Ace's meaning.
"You'll be the third dragon to die by my hand!" Ace explained coldly as his afterimage faded into the wind.
Though enraged by Ace's words, Harelk had been around long enough to know not to let his anger get the better of him in a fight. Still, he couldn't help but sneer when he saw Ace explosively leap towards him as though he wanted a fight at close range.
"[Blazing Drill]!" Ace voiced calmly as he transformed the flames coating the tip of his spear into a rapidly rotating drill tip and thrust it forth to meet the incoming tail.
Harelk's sneer quickly vanished as the two attacks met, and he found he was unable to gain the upper hand.
It needs to be understood that although Ace was technically only a warrior at the middle stages of the sixth rank, because his soul was already equal to the average prime saint when using impose, he could increase his physical strength to match that of a peak ninth rank warrior. Now when you include his [Armament Haki] and the current power of his flames, which had already reached the might of a saint, it was no shock that Ace could contend directly with weaker saints now.
Still, Harelk didn't know all of that. He assumed that it was only his abilities as a mage that had reached the saint rank.
A small smile suffused Ace's lips as his body flickered, appearing beneath the dragon's right wing, aiming to pierce the space between its ribs.
Although he was shocked by Ace's strength, it wasn't to the point where he'd allow it to slow him down.
Without hesitation, the dragon shifted its body slightly whilst slashing its enormous claws at its opponent's chest as if to rip him apart, only to helplessly watch as Ace casually stepped into the air allowing him to gracefully escape its clutches.
"Why does it feel like even after a year with him in a coma, the gap between us is just as big as ever?" Joel sighed with a helpless smile as he watched Ace practically dance around a saint-level magical beast.
"Because he's Ace," Osiris shrugged calmly as he stored his bow away and watched the fight with his classmates.
"He's right," Faye chuckled. "There's no point in any of us trying to compete with that freak!"
"Speak for yourself!" A young but elegant voice sounded from the skies behind the group.
"Mira?" Yulana called as she turned around. "Aunt Mili, Senior Kong, and Leo, you're all here too?"
"We were supposed to come together," Amira snorted as she glanced at Ace. "But that idiot left us to go have all the fun on his own."
Her words caused the rest of her classmates to smile helplessly, as she was probably the only other disciple of their cohort who could call a saint-level beast "fun". Still, they didn't doubt her words; they all knew how strong she had become after awakening her "Viz" bloodline – in their eyes, she had become a freak on the same level as Ace himself.
"You really are a stubborn old fool, aren't you?" Milianna sighed as she elegantly leapt off Leo's back and made her way to the side of her unconscious partner.
"I'm sorry, Aunty," Killian said softly as he watched Milianna raise her left hand and begin to use her insights into the edict of life to heal Lance at a speed visible to the naked eye. "I was too weak to protect him."
"How could I blame you, my silly boy?" Milianna scolded gently whilst she gently stroked Killian's shoulder-length twists out of the way of his face before lowering her unused palm to her adoptive son's bloodied chest. "Now, stand still; let me focus on healing you both."
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Book 12: Part 11 – Loosened Bottleneck
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