Chapter 1283: The Killing Begins
This was the first time Rhode met Ion in his dragon form after he was influenced by Chaos entirely. Compared to the past, Ion looked way different now. In the past, Ion used to be a pitch-black dragon. But now, this dragon before everyone had a grayish hue. Not only that, but its originally smooth surface was also covered in razor-sharp spikes, giving him a dangerous and ferocious look. Ion no longer looked majestic and formidable. His body was covered in burnt, darkened marks, while several spikes on his back were also cut off. His huge wings were also tattered like a rag as though he were a refugee. It could be seen that he suffered greatly in the void storm. But even so, he was still very strong.
It seemed like being in cahoots with Chaos did benefit him a lot.
“Big Brother…”
Gazing at Ion, Erin’s expression turned complicated. On the other hand, Rhode’s expression remained unchanged. Looking at the fl.u.s.tered and exasperated Ion, Rhode stood up and patted the dust off his clothes.
“Order everyone to get ready and kill him!”
“Yes, Leader! I’ve been waiting for this day for years! It’s about time to show that d.a.m.n reptile our true powers!”
Upon hearing Rhode’s words, Mini Bubble Gum stood to her feet immediately, waving her fists and yelling in excitement. Canary didn’t say a word, but judging from the fiery twin blades in her extended arms, it was apparent that she had no issues with this decision. Icy Snow went up to Rhode, wielding the jaded longbow in her hands and staring at Ion. Then, she turned and asked.
“Big Brother? Should I fire my arrow now?”
“Please wait, Rhode.”
Upon witnessing the sight of everyone getting ready to jump into battle, Erin ran over to Rhode hurriedly. She swept a complicated glance at Ion. She could no longer recognize her big brother as that enormous dragon. But he was her big brother, after all. No matter what, this was the moment for her to put an end to things. Erin couldn’t help but let out a sigh, lift her head, and gaze meaningfully at Rhode.
“I know how you’re feeling, but I hope you can let me handle this. No matter what, he is my big brother, so… I hope to put an end to this myself.”
“…”
Upon hearing her words, the bustling crowd quietened down and turned to Erin and Rhode. As a matter of fact, most players didn’t know about the secrets between Ion and Erin. However, they also knew that since Erin was Ion’s younger sister, it was only natural for her to make this decision. After all, as the proverb ‘it was difficult for a pure official to intervene in a family matter’ went, did they really need to intervene in a fight between two siblings? The crowd s.h.i.+fted their gaze to Rhode. After all, Rhode was the commander-in-chief, so everyone waited for his order. Facing Erin’s request, Rhode pondered for a few moments and nodded.
“Sure.”
Everyone was taken aback when they heard Rhode’s answer. But before they reacted, Rhode waved his hand and said.
“We’ll do it together. I will leave the final blow to you.”
“This…”
Not only was Erin puzzled, but the rest were also confused. When Rhode agreed to Erin’s request earlier, the players thought they would be taking up the support roles. But never did they expect Rhode to be so determined in slaughtering Ion that he had absolutely no intention of leaving Ion with one last bit of glory. Rhode didn’t explain further in response to Erin’s meaningful gaze. As a matter of fact, he couldn’t possibly let Erin take the risk alone. Firstly, she wasn’t only the moon queen, but was the Dark Dragon who inherited the power of creation. If he were to allow her to fight one-on-one against Ion, no one knew what would happen. In the game, there were countless times when BOSSes were unwilling to lose and self-destructed to take away their enemies’ lives. Now that Erin was the Dark Dragon, Rhode’s entire plan to transport the Dragon Soul Continent to the solar system would be sc.r.a.pped if something were to happen to her. Moreover, Erin was also considered his woman now. He could never let his woman fight for her life while standing idly by, watching from the sideline.
Besides, in Rhode’s mind, this time, Ion must die!
Absolutely. Definitely. 100 percent. There could be no mistake!
“… Okay then.”
Upon detecting Rhode’s gaze, Erin gaped, but eventually nodded and agreed to his suggestion. She wasn’t a fool. She knew why Rhode didn’t allow her to fight her big brother alone. She was neither a younger sister nor princess of a country anymore, but the Dark Dragon; the ruler of darkness instead. With this ident.i.ty, Erin wasn’t allowed to step into the front for battles unless it was absolutely essential. For Rhode to allow her to fight alongside his men, he had already shown a lot of respect toward her.
After hearing Erin’s answer, Rhode nodded and gave his command immediately.
“Senior Heart, you first!”
No one expected the first to start the battle wasn’t Rhode who stood on the plains, but Orchid Heart who stood above the city wall behind them instead. After hearing his command, Orchid Heart opened her eyes and swept a glance at the gigantic Chaos dragon ahead. She extended her finger, slid across the page gently, and countless runes spiraled around her finger. Displaying the same expression, Orchid Heart tapped her finger in the air.
At the next moment, hundreds of thousands of spells metamorphosed into a whistling magical torrent that blasted Ion.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The interval between Ion’s escape and Rhode’s order didn’t even take three minutes. And at that moment, before Ion fully recovered from the blow of the void storm, he saw a series of dazzling and lethal magical brilliance arriving before him. Looking at this scene, the startled Ion spread his wings urgently to protect his huge body. Soon, along with this action, a gray barrier shrouded him, but at the same time, the spells released by Orchid Heart slammed onto his body. In a blinding flash of light, dust fluttered in the sky and Ion’s ma.s.sive body was completely submerged in the magical explosions.
Fortunately for Ion, due to the long distance, most of the spells that Orchid Heart unleashed were long-range skills. Although she could collect everyone’s skills and release them in a single wave, the skills themselves were also limited by distance. The reason why Orchid Heart was able to clear the entire battlefield of Chaos creatures earlier was that at that time, the Chaos creatures on the battlefield were both far and close to her, where none of them could escape the offensive skills. But now that Ion was too far away, only the long-range attack spells were able to inflict damage, while the close-range skills couldn’t reach him at all. If Ion were by Orchid Heart’s side now, this wave of spell would be devastating enough to leave Ion bearing the consequences of failure.
Even though Orchid Heart only released long-range skills in this attack, the collective power was still impressive as it left Ion covered in filthy dust. He wasn’t in perfect condition after escaping from the void storm earlier. And now, before he could pull himself together, Rhode’s side had already launched their attack.
“You bast*rds!”
As the billows of smoke from the explosion dissipated, a deafening roar reverberated in the air. Shortly after, Ion spread his ma.s.sive wings, burst out of the smoke, and soared high into the sky. Although he looked incomparably wretched, he was once a Creator Dragon, after all. Besides, he was also influenced by Chaos and now possessed an endless source of power. Although he was momentarily exhausted, he wasn’t easily defeated. Although this wave of attack from Orchid Heart applied a certain amount of pressure on him, it hadn’t caused too much damage. Ion blew his top. He fluttered his ma.s.sive wings and charged straight toward the steel fortress before him!
“Fire all cannons! Blast him down!”
Rhode, who stood on the ground, gazed at Ion with an ice-cold stare. Along with his command, the thick iron plates slid open again, and innumerable cannon barrels rolled out and aimed at the sky. Shortly after, a string of flares exploded from the steel city walls, blasting Ion like a storm of cannon fire.
Although the cannon blasts were powerful, they didn’t do much damage to Ion’s tough scales. Cannon blasts that were strong enough to bombard large holes on the vast land merely blazed his body. And this extent of damage apparently didn’t bother him at all. He swooped down with his spread wings, snapped his jaw open, and a pitch-black energy coalesced in his throat…
“Little Icy, do it! Use your obsidian arrow!”
Looking at this scene, Rhode’s eyes glinted in a murderous flash. He let out a snort and commanded quickly. Upon hearing his order, Icy Snow who stood beside him nodded in full attention. She raised the jade longbow in her hands, squinted at Ion, and pulled the bowstring gradually. Along with this action, a pitch-black arrow appeared in her hand.
Then, she released her right fingers.
Whoosh———!
A black brilliance flashed in an instant before vanis.h.i.+ng in sight quickly. And now, Ion’s acc.u.mulated strength had reached its limit. He held his head high, and the next thing he needed to do was to spit his flames to blast those lowly and despicable maggots! But at that moment, a dark glow suddenly flashed in his eyes. Then, an arrow that silently flew out from s.p.a.ce pierced into his right eye ruthlessly.
“Ahhhhhh!”
Ion hadn’t expected anything like this to happen at all. All he felt was a sharp pain in his right eye. Then, an eroding poisonous gas exploded in front of his eyes, leaving him giddy with his head spinning. In an instant, he couldn’t distinguish his directions. He struggled to lower his head and spit out his dragon breath in rage. But due to that arrow from Icy Snow, he turned around instinctively and as a result, his charged dragon breath didn’t hit the steel city walls as expected. On the contrary, it blasted the empty field behind him.
At that moment, Orchid Heart extended her finger, pointed at Ion, and tapped gently.
Boom!
A s.h.i.+ning golden light column descended from the sky and struck Ion heavily. This time, Ion was finally unable to hold on after this attack from Orchid Heart. Earlier on, he was too far away from her, which was why she was only able to use long-range skills against him. But now, as he got closer, Orchid Heart released all her mid-range and close-range skills against him. The amount of skills were almost double or more than double the amount from before! Ion couldn’t hold on any longer. He shrieked and fell from the sky, cras.h.i.+ng heavily onto the ground. In a deep collision, followed by a mushroom-like cloud of smoke, Ion’s furious scream resounded again.
“You bast*rds. How dare you plot against me. I will kill you!”
“2nd and 4th squad to the left. 1st squad to the back. The rest follow me to the right. Go!”
In the face of Ion’s wrath, Rhode appeared incomparably ice-cold. Ion’s bellow sounded just like a BOSS’s line before his death, where there was no meaning to it at all. At that moment, Rhode and his group were considered to have finished recovering their strength. They merely consumed some strength while fleeing the void storm earlier. After they got back in the land of Order, with the dual protection of Lesa and Order, they recovered their power quicker. So with just a big wave of Rhode’s arm, his group of players howled like wild animals as they pounced on the area where Ion had crash-landed.
This time, Rhode gave his all in killing Ion. In the game, he deployed a ‘back-stabbing’ strategy, while Orchid Heart led the rest in drawing the Darkness Capital’s attention from the front. Rhode led his elite squad from the rear and took out Ion. At that time, due to various restrictions, Rhode could only form a party of 100 players. But now, reality wasn’t a game and he was in his own territory right now, so there wasn’t any limit to numbers at all. Rhode generously sent out three parties with a total of 300 players. In addition to his 400 elite players, Ion was bound to be dead!
“Roar…!”
Although Icy Snow’s arrow inflicted some damage to Ion and blinded him in one eye, the power of Chaos had now completely merged with him. When Ion raised his head once more, his right eye that had been blinded by the obsidian arrow regained its original function. Not only that, but the eyes that should have been s.h.i.+ning with a golden glow had also turned into a strange hue of gray, s.h.i.+ning with a hazy, but chilling glow of death.
Ion was completely overwhelmed by rage. He had never thought that he, who had gained the power of Chaos, would still be beaten down from the sky! This was no different than trampling his pride into dust. His wrath was burning so deep that he could hardly stay himself. Shortly after, he lifted his head and scanned his surroundings. And it was at that moment when he witnessed hundreds of people running toward him. Soon, streaks of magical and spiritual brilliance emanated from their hands. Then, all sorts of offensive attacks blasted at him.
You maggots think you can kill me?!
Glaring at the humans before him, Ion smirked. These people weren’t worthy of a mention to him at all. Although they seemed strong, they looked worse than a scattered, disorganized army with that lack in discipline!
How powerful can these people who couldn’t even line up in formation be?
At this thought, Ion leaped up from the ground with a flip. Along with his movement, a gray barrier enfolded his body, shutting out those attacks. Shortly after, Ion let out a furious roar, stretched out his right claw, and slashed forward. In this mighty attack, a rapid air stream whistled across the air, slamming onto the ground, and he charged at the humans before him. At the same time, Ion narrowed his eyes, widened his mouth, and chanted a string of incantations. In just a few seconds, several unknown runes flashed and appeared in the empty s.p.a.ce in front of him. They unfolded and connected to form a powerful magical ritual as a violent storm of icicles erupted from within, launching at the humans.
A bunch of lowly maggots trying to fight against me?!
Ion revealed a proud expression. He could almost foresee the enemies’ already scattered formation crumbling under his own attack and collapsing in utter destruction.
But… The truth was otherwise.
In the face of Ion’s attack, the scattered formation split to both sides in their retreat, causing Ion to miss. Not only that, but a golden brilliance also flickered over the humans who were enveloped by the icicle storm, and they leaped out unscathed!
What exactly is going on with them?
Looking at this scene, even Ion was at a loss for words. Even though he was no longer a dragon of Order and lost all grasp of Order, he still felt a rippling s.p.a.ce erupting beside him that was dragging everyone into it!
But this shouldn’t be possible! My Chaos halo is enough to suppress most of the power of Order inhabitants! Apart from beings in the Peak Legendary Stage, no one should be able to defy me.
Could it be that these humans are all in the Peak Legendary Stage?
Boom!
While Ion was stunned, he heard a loud bang. The barrier enfolding him shattered instantly and almost at the same time, Rhode arrived with his men.