Chapter 140 – A Generation’s Emperor
He rotated his body as fast as lightning in a backflip, jumping with both hands off the ground. Lei Yu couldn’t see who his opponent was, but he had used a strong leg attack. He could only see that a short distance away from him, he noticed a pair of blood-red eyes staring at him from the shadows.
“Peng!”
Lei Yu’s threw a spin-kick, and his right leg smashed into the body of the unknown monster.
“What?!” Lei Yu’s face suddenly paled. A horrific aura had started spreading out from the target. Not only did it easily withstood Lei Yu’s attack, it was even able to launch a counterattack. Lei Yu’s body started explosively doing flips backwards in order to escape the counterattack.
“You’re courting death!”
The monster shouted as he jumped out of the shadows, his leg chopping down like a large knife. Lei Yu used both arms to brace himself as the leg smashed down on his cross-arm block. He was then forced to do another back flip to escape further back.
It was only then that Lei Yu was able to see his opponent’s appearance. Blood-red eyes, a height of at least two meters, blonde hair covering his head that connected down to his beard, making him look like a lion standing on two legs. Underneath his gray leather armor were huge muscles that showed off his powerful potential.
“d.a.m.n, Prophet Kalchas was right. Compared to his other two brothers, this guardian Pelagon is really strong!” Lei Yu’s heart was shocked, his countenance becoming grave.
Lei Yu didn’t want to think too much about this. With his body as soft and flexible as a willow tree, and his speed as fast as lightning, he quickly condensed his internal energy and rushed towards Pelagon. Lei Yu’s body perfectly portrayed his strength and flexibility as he looked for openings to attack through.
Pelagon didn’t waste any time, but focused; Wherever Lei Yu’s body flickered to, Pelagon’s eyes locked onto it and followed.
“This guy is too fearsome; his eyes are able to follow my every move! He’s way too strong! I can’t find any openings to attack.” Lei Yu was truly shocked. “I can’t let it go on like this…”
An opportunity!
Lei Yu suddenly spun his body, at the same time condensing internal energy in his leg. His right foot was covered in a lightning net as he whipped his leg towards Pelagon’s left shoulder.
“Bang!”
Both their bodies shook; Lei Yu spun backwards a few times, landing on all fours. Pelagon had a look of surprise on his face, never having expected that Lei Yu’s attack would turn out to be this strong.
At first, Lei Yu had been worth nothing in his eyes; being able to kill the brother trolls t.i.tan and Talos wouldn’t count as much since he could easily do it as well. He had never expected Lei Yu’s previous attack to contain an energy that was difficult to put up with, even causing him to lose feeling in his arm.
“Kiddo, you’ve got some skills.” Pelagon said in a cold tone.
“Pelagon, you too are quite powerful. Before you came to this labyrinth, you were once the Commander-in-chief of a country. According to rumors, you have no flaws, so I’m curious if that’s true or not.” Lei Yu stretched his body, making it look as if he were ready to clash with the enemy.
Pelagon lightly stroked his golden eyebrows, “You’ve heard about me?”
“Who doesn’t know about the prowess of Emperor Pelagon? But it’s such a pity.” Lei Yu said, hinting at something.
“What’s there to pity?” asked Pelagon as he raised his eyebrows.
“It’s a pity that you were used by Crete. You came to the Cretan Labyrinth to become a guardian and gave up your country in the process. Do you know the current situation of your country? It’s at the point of perishing!”
“Nonsense! Your life is mine!” Roaring this, Pelagon’s body exuded a strong pressure that forced Lei Yu back two steps. And it was at this time when Lei Yu was retreating that Pelagon’s fingers slightly moved. The golden axe that was originally embedded in the ground started shaking, then suddenly flew back into his hands. The unbearable and overwhelming presence of a fiendG.o.d appeared in front of Lei Yu’s eyes.
Furious, Pelagon rushed forth. Fortunately for Lei Yu, his agility was slightly better, so during the short period of time when his opponent was charging, Pelagon had no way of defeating him. He could see Lei Yu in front of his eyes, but the next moment his body would appear off to the side, several meters away.
“Ahhhhhhh!”
The furious Pelagon roared mournfully, and his head suddenly started shaking. Lei Yu was shocked to see Pelagon transform. His previous height of two meters was actually to grow even more now, reaching a full three meters. His originally human-looking hand was covered with golden hair, which had gradually started covering his entire body. His body having become bigger, the leather armor he was wearing started bursting at the seams before splitting into pieces and fluttering to the ground. His blood-red eyes started shining, now making Pelagon look pretty much like a terrifyingly enraged lion.
“Phew!” The axe flew out of Pelagon’s hand towards Lei Yu, its speed no different than a bolt of lightning. Fortunately, Lei Yu had been fully prepared for this. The moment the axe had left Pelagon’s hand, Lei Yu had already stomped the ground and had flown past the axe, rushing straight ahead.
“Bang!”
“Bang!”
The two collided. A contest of strength was Lei Yu’s favorite, since it gave him an exciting feeling of his blood boiling. Each and every attack Lei Yu launched was extremely cautious, not daring to neglect the slightest chance of blocking or dodging. He still had to preserve some strength and ensure that he wouldn’t suffer any injuries.
Lightly tapping the ground with his foot, Lei Yu’s body once again flew off into the air. He had condensed all his strength into his right fist, which he instantly exploded outwards. The right sleeve of his shirt actually burst into strips of rags, fluttering all over the place. With his lightning brand as the center point, one could see the lines of energy surrounding it with the naked eye. The muscles in his arm looked like bulging rocks lined with random patterns which appeared to be slightly vibrating. It seemed that this overwhelming amount of lightning power was unbearable to handle even for Lei Yu.
Lei Yu could only rely on his cultivation and the melee combat moves he had developed on his own. His body was like a Roc rushing down from the air towards Pelagon.
“A kid that doesn’t know the meaning of death, go die!” Pelagon frenziedly yelled, his eyes emitting a threatening red light. His body shook, and a huge claw-shaped palm smashed at Lei Yu’s fist. Pelagon’s body looked like an arrow just released off a bow string, flying to clash head-on with Lei Yu.
“Bang, bang!”
“Whoosh!”
The collision of fist and palm created a violent sound, both attacks containing a fearsome amount of power. At that moment, Lei Yu finally understood why Kalchas had said that Pelagon had no flaws. His strikes were almost perfect, there wasn’t the slightest opening to take advantage of. The two of them had maintained their best condition so far, without allowing any attack to land on them.
Breaking away from the battle, Lei Yu lowered his hand to his chest in order to block Pelagon’s palm strike. His body immediately moved like a flea and bounced backwards, and by using the wall to his side, he flipped off it and landed perfectly on the ground.
“As if I’d let you escape!” Pelagon immediately rushed over, making Lei Yu sneer coldly. “The dignified emperor of a country won’t even listen to a good piece of advice. Looks like even if you were still on the throne, your country would have eventually perished!” Whilst saying this, Lei Yu had already retreated ten meters backwards. The spot he was originally at had already turned into a large crater under Pelagon’s palm strike.
“Tell me, how is my country right now? How are my subjects?” Pelagon had actually stopped attacking to ask this.
Lei Yu lightly sighed. “You have already been away for over a thousand years, more than a dozen emperors have succeeded each other. And each was worse than the one before. With that, you can imagine what your once strong and wealthy country looks like now. Moreover, the current emperor is merely a puppet controlled by the one at his side called General William – he pretty much runs everything. These emperors are your descendants but they have become this useless. Are you sure that you don’t want to go back and take a look at the situation?”
“You’re spewing nonsense!” Pelagon did not dare or want to believe Lei Yu’s words. He had agreed to Crete’s request to guard this labyrinth and watch over Minotaur Linos solely because he wanted to bring peace to the generations to come. He had never imagined that there would be a day when his country would actually be controlled by an outsider. This was considered the greatest insult; to him as well as to all the successive generations of his family.
“My words aren’t nonsense!” Lei Yu snapped. “Minotaur Linos only attacked because when you were in power, you kept trying to invade his country. Think carefully, if it weren’t for your invasion, why would he appear to fight you? Minotaur Linos did not have any ambition on his own, he only wanted to protect his country and make it safe and sound for the times to come as wel. It was all because of you that he continuously killed, and that resulted in Crete sealing him. Was that not the case?!”
Pelagon stayed silent. After a while, the redness in his eyes seemed to dim. He raised his head slightly and said, “Could it be that I was really at fault back then?”
“No! Not only back then, you’re still at fault now, you’re in the wrong!”
A sharp and chilling voice floated from a far off distance, “Bulls.h.i.t!”
Lei Yu narrowed his eyes and looked all over but did not see anyone. The voice continued saying: “You dare come in here to make false claims and manipulate people? My honorable guardian Pelagon, don’t listen to his words. Fulfill your duty and kill him! Kill this intruder!”
“You f*cking son of a b*tch! Come out if you have the guts!” Lei Yu angrily screamed, but no one appeared.
At this time, Pelagon’s eyes turned blood red again. “Die, intruder!”
“Pelagon! Listen to me!” Lei Yu anxiously shouted, but it was of no use. It looked like the former emperor was being controlled by the voice, and had once again lost his mind.
He could only feel a strong chilly air rushing towards his back, making Lei Yu immediately dodge sideways. A beam of golden light flew past his original spot, making Lei Yu drench in cold sweat. The golden axe once again returned to Pelagon’s hands. Lei Yu’s body started swaying as if he were a gentle breeze moving about.
Lei Yu wrinkled his nose. If he formed a bond with the golden boots, then he could probably wiggle his toes and summon them towards him. Unfortunately, he did not possess such skills. Even if he did, the thought of wiggling his toes to summon something was a bit too comedic.
Lei Yu relied on his own abilities and activated his speed to the extreme. Each time Pelagon swung his axe, a substantial golden afterimage similar to a curved blade, shone in the attack. Lei Yu could only focus on dodging; he had no opportunities for counterattacks. For the time being, Pelagon was in the dominant position.
“This cannot go on! My internal energy is gradually being depleted!” Lei Yu was extremely anxious in his heart. Even though dodging didn’t use up too much internal energy, sooner or later it would still be exhausting.
It was probably different for Pelagon. Since Lei Yu had previously tested the weight of his armor, he could a.s.sume that the golden axe was alike, and did not weigh anything. This meant that there was a high possibility that Pelagon was freely swinging the axe around, barely using his energy. Sooner or later, Lei Yu would be defeated.
“What should I do? What should I do?” Beads of sweat were forming on Lei Yu’s forehead. After dodging another beam of golden light, Lei Yu jumped into the air. He used the wall behind him as leverage, pushing off it with both his legs, which propelled him forward for an attack. Midair, a golden flash came slicing down. In the last second, Lei Yu flipped his body in midair in order to dodge, and landed sideways on the ground. Without the time to even catch his breath, his body once again flipped to the side. The next moment, a deep slash mark could be seen on the ground where he had landed.
“F*ck it, time to fight!” If he kept dodging, sooner or later he’d meet his death, so he might as well put his life on the line and fight to the end!
Lei Yu clenched his teeth and dodged another attack with a margin of less than two centimeters from his body. He then maximized his body’s speed to the point where he himself could barely see the surrounding carvings on the wall.
There was an oncoming golden beam, but Lei Yu could only see it as a flash of light. His toes tapped the ground and his whole body leapt into the air. The golden light aiming for his head had instead cut into his chest, slashing a horrendous wound. Enduring the severe pain, Lei Yu continued to pounce forward while condensing all his power into his fist.