Overgeared

Raiders and Nevartan had just destroyed their ninth Full Moon Fortress. On their way to their next destination, they had to fight an unfavorable battle. Many Absolutes were exuding blatant energy around the area near their destination.

Their attitude was, ‘If you are going to fight us, then just do it already,’ and they seemed extremely confident.

These two Absolutes were on the same level of power as the old dragons. In addition, there were six other Absolutes whose power level matched that of lower-rated dragons.

In terms of strength, Raiders and Nevartan were at a disadvantage.

Of course, they didn’t intend to avoid a fight. With their power, the old dragons were capable of causing catastrophes, so they were sure they’d win. They saw this as an opportunity to wipe out a powerful enemy.

Ray and Nevartan were speeding forward with great momentum only to stop in their tracks.

[What is that...?]

[I felt it as well.]

The old dragons didn’t make mistakes nor did they ever have misunderstandings. Misjudgments were rare because of their Transcendent senses.

The menacing energy had been there for only a fraction of a second, but it still intimidated them. To exaggerate a little bit, it felt like it threatened their lives.

The energy soon disappeared without leaving any traces behind, but this instilled a great sense of caution in the two old dragons.

[...Hayate?]

The old dragons knew Hayate better than anyone. They had been keeping a close eye on the Dragon Slayer for a long time. Lately, they had been spending half a day fighting him, so they had been observing and analyzing him thoroughly.

The Dragon Slayer had come back alive from hell. He got into trouble a few times, got back on his feet, and grew so strong, he became a threat to the old dragons.

A few months ago, when Trauka’s lair was thrown into chaos, Raiders and Nevartan faced Hayate, and frankly, they had been nervous. They could still clearly remember the friction sound caused by the transparent dragon killing energy that hovered around Hayate.

Back then, they couldn’t move rashly and could only focus their five senses on the movement of this evil energy. They had been nervous and afraid. It was very reasonable for them to suspect that Hayate was the source of the threatening energy that had just appeared.

[I didn’t detect the dragon killing energy, but... No one other than Hayate can make us feel so uneasy.]

[I agree. However, it’s surprising that Grid would send Hayate as reinforcements. There are many more Full Moon Fortresses in the West Continent. Can he afford to send Hayate here?]

[Maybe he did that to make sure we won’t cross the line.]

[What does he see us as?]

The old dragons snorted and resumed their rapid flight. They judged that, as long as they weren’t hostile to Grid, the presence just now wouldn’t pose a threat.

After a while—

Raiders and Nevartan frowned after arriving at their destination.

[There is a reason the spatial distortion here is so great.]

Three Full Moon Fortresses floated side by side. It seemed like there were four moons in the sky. But rather than being mystical and beautiful, they were ominous and bizarre.

Far from being intimidated by the appearance of the giant dragons, the thousands of cultivators exuded a ferocious energy as they split to the left and right in unison.

“Hmm, I was wondering what was going on because a few Full Moon Fortresses had fallen. It turned out to be the work of the miscellaneous dragon that fled before.”

The clear sound of footsteps every time the clogs stepped on the ground shook the entire Full Moon Fortress.

One of the fortresses gradually lost its orbit and moved closer to the ground. There was a loud explosion, and a girl burst out from it. She leaped from the Full Moon Fortress and landed between Raiders and Nevartan like she had nothing to fear in the world.

“I won’t let you get away this time.”

She was revered as a Great Person and Saint even by the cultivators in the great ascension realm. This girl was a monster who had endured the Thunder Tribulation. She was already qualified to ascend to the immortal world. In other words, she could become an immortal at any time.

However, for some reason, she postponed her ascension and stayed in the human world. As a result, along with the other cultivators, she suffered the humiliation of being transferred to this strange and low level dimension...

The girl wasn’t outraged by this. She just accepted her fate. She took solace in the fact that she found a great ascension-level monster that was hard to find in her original dimension.

The dragons in front of her weren’t slender like snakes, but rather chubby. They even had wings on their backs. Still, it was clear that they were dragons. They were even dragons who reached the great ascension realm... Of course they were valuable.

“If I make an elixir from your inner core and feed it to my son, he will also be able to withstand the horrors of the Thunder Tribulation.”

The girl had a nonchalant smile on her face. Black flames shot from her hands. To her surprise, the two old dragons, even though they were as big as mountains, were instantly engulfed in flames.

As thousands of cultivators cheered, the seven great ascension cultivators in the lead had complicated expressions.

Six of the seven were in the early and middle stages of the great ascension realm. The remaining cultivator was in the late stage of the great ascension realm. Still, their reactions were the same.

“I heard a rumor that Saint Mi has reached the peak of the realm, but I never thought it was true...”

Regardless of their realm, they felt fear and envy toward the girl.

The flames covering the old dragons were getting smaller. The dragons were unable to withstand the power of the Bone Demon Flames, which burned the body from within, making it melt like ice in lava.

The cultivators stealthily moved while lamenting.

“Saint Mi’s flames render shields and defensive treasures useless. The moment she lands an attack, it’s over. Therefore, she is invincible.”

“Nobody in the human world can match her. Why didn’t she go to the immortal world when she had the chance...?”

The three Full Moon Fortresses on this site had been built jointly by two sects which could be considered to be among the top ten strongest sects in the cultivation world. The cultivators had used their best manpower and resources to build them.

The girl who suddenly offered to help them defend one of the fortresses was asking for too much in exchange for her services. If the girl had been a regular late stage great ascension cultivator, the two sects would’ve snorted at her demand and killed her.

But they couldn’t afford to do that. They were purely lacking in strength, so they couldn’t treat her carelessly. They had to offer a whole Full Moon Fortress to her.

They also needed her help because two giant monsters with dragon heads had begun invading the other Full Moon Fortresses.

They never thought the dragons would be so easy to defeat...

“...I was nervous because they are dragon-type monsters who reached the realm of great ascension, but they are actually nothing special. It’s disappointing.”

“That’s right. Putting aside the fact that Saint Mi’s Bone Demon Flames are extremely powerful, the monsters are too weak. Even without her help, we would’ve been able to defeat them by ourselves.”

The discontent of the great ascension cultivators was growing. They’d been robbed of a Full Moon Fortress and a dragon’s inner core... for this?

Their eyes gradually cooled as they looked at the girl.

An old man in the late stage great ascension realm, like the girl, sent a warning to his juniors.

“Don’t act rashly,” he said. “If you offend that old woman, you will be in trouble. We didn’t know what would happen, but could you handle three Full Moon Fortresses and the many disciples there disappearing without a trace? For the sake of the future of our two sects, just pretend to be unbothered and control your emotions.”

The cultivators suppressed their anger and bowed their heads.

“Our lack of discipline caused a lot of trouble for the great elder.”

An unfamiliar voice was carved into the space.

[You are using a strange trick.]

The cultivators looked up in surprise. They were looking up at two giant dragons, who were somehow unharmed.

[Flames that neutralizes all defenses,] Nevartan spoke coldly. [A powerful ability, so the user must experience some great backlash in return. You can’t use that continuously.]

He shot a Breath. A black ray of light exploded as it pierced through the girl who had been burning the clones of the two old dragons.

“Um...!”

The girl groaned as she got away from the range of the explosion. The square shield floating in front of her lost its light and was dented.

The girl raised an eyebrow, tore the useless shield in her hands and threw it away.

“You dare...”

She tried to fight back with newly created flames, but her eyes widened. Dark shadows rose from all directions and meticulously surrounded her. It was Nevartan’s doing, who had cloned himself so there were ten of him. The living, moving dark mountains isolated her.

“......!”

The girl couldn’t tell which of the ten black dragons were real. This was the majesty of dragon magic. No matter how excellent her senses were, it would take time for her to discern between what was real and what was fake.

The girl had no choice but to put out the fire. She pulled out all types of protective items and wrapped herself in them.

“Cultivator Cheon!” she shouted. “You are in charge of the golden dragon! He is nothing special, so you will be able to handle him!”

“I understand,” the old man answered. A grin spread on his face. He felt smug because the girl, who had tried to take on the dragons alone, changed her attitude.

“Let us take the bones and inner core of the golden dragon.”

“Yes, sir!”

The excited great ascension cultivators suddenly took to the skies.

Ten Breaths were fired and bombarded the girl. She figured out which one was the real Breath, allowing her to discover the real black dragon from among the clones. She immediately fired back. Meanwhile, Raiders was deflecting the various weapons fired by the seven cultivators.

Nevartan, who polymorphed into a human and blocked the girl’s counterattack, made an offer to Raiders.

[Let’s switch.]

He gave Raiders a chance to get revenge on the girl who humiliated him in the past.

Raiders laughed. [Are you being considerate? You’ve been watching humans live their lives way too much lately. It seems that you’ve been greatly influenced by them.]

[Shut up.]

The human life chosen by his daughter Nefelina... Nevartan was curious about it. What did she see in humans that made her want to be like them?

As he observed and studied humanity, he was unconsciously influenced. Of course, Nevartan wasn’t going to admit that.

He broke into the group of cultivators and fired magic and Breaths as if to vent out his anger. As hundreds of powerful spells were combined with the devastating power of the Breaths, the cultivators had no choice but to disperse.

The cultivators seemed ten years older as they glanced at the old man.

“I guess the black dragon is stronger than the golden one.”

The old man agreed with them.

As the golden dragon was isolated by the group, the black dragon moved to help him out. The display of power clearly showed how strong the black dragon was.

“It’s good that I can obtain a rarer dragon’s inner core. Let’s hunt down the black dragon before Saint Mi returns after dealing with the golden one.”

“Yes, sir!”

They laughed at the golden dragon for throwing himself at the girl so he could survive.

Excited, the cultivators attacked the black dragon.

Meanwhile, the girl was laughing loudly in the sky.

“Even though you have the head of a dragon, you are just a trifling thing. You have so little wisdom that you are actually coming to me of your own free will. Do you think that even if the seven of them joined forces, they would be weaker than me?”

The girl snorted and pulled out a silver bead embedded in her tongue. She used the secret trick that had previously made Raiders run away from his lair.

“You won’t be able to escape this time,” she said.

The girl turned the bead into a giant silver spear that had tracking magic infused into it. She hurled it forward, having no doubt that the golden dragon would die from this strike. Once she got her hands on the inner core of this miscellaneous dragon, she planned to also take the inner core of the black dragon as well.

The golden dragon opened his mouth. All the surrounding heaven and earth origin energy was sucked into his huge mouth. The girl thought she was looking into a bottomless abyss. He was ready to shoot a beam of light like the black dragon. The girl’s expression became serious.

“You hid your true power back then...”

Before the girl could finish talking, the golden beam of light struck her.

She paled. As the golden beam got closer and closer, her defensive treasures lost their power and no longer responded to her commands. No matter how much spiritual energy she poured into them or the spells she chanted, nothing worked.

This was because they were treasures made of metal. Their attribute was incompatible with the golden dragon’s Breath.

To the girl, the golden dragon seemed to be a lot stronger than the black dragon.