Astral Pet Store (WN)
chapter-180

Chapter 180 Crushing Blow

The Flame Flood Dragon heard the Earthen Dragon’s roar. It responded in kind. The flood dragon was a combination of snake and dragon. The hoarse scream was both threatening and terrifying.

Since everyone had sent out their pets, Su Ping did not fall behind. He told the Little Skeleton to open its mouth to take out the blood crystal. The Little Skeleton then hopped onto the Inferno Dragon’s back and charged into the valley together with the Dark Dragon Hound.

As for the Purple Python, it used Snake Entangle to protect Su Ping.

The more than a hundred-meter long snake curled up into a ball. This huge fleshly shield was the perfect protection for Su Ping. Su Ping still remembered that he was a battle pet warrior at the upper position of the fourth rank. He had Solar Bulwark and his physical strength could withstand the attacks from fifth rank beasts. However, this was a dangerous place. Without the Little Skeleton and the Dark Dragon Hound with him, any seventh-rank beast could deal him a fatal blow.

Of course…

If any seventh or eighth-rank beasts were to sneak up on them, even Ye Chenshan and the other advanced battle pet warriors would lose their lives for sure. After all, their resistance was even weaker when compared to Su Ping’s Solar Bulwark.

Su Ping used his mind to sense and observe the battle while he hid inside the snake cover.

Relying on its strong defense, the Earthen Dragon was fighting the Flame Flood Dragon up close. The dragon shield was broken. The Fallen Priest and the Bloodthirst Snake assisted on the sides. Their cooperation was going well.

However, the Fallen Priest and the Bloodthirst Snake were being intimidated by the flames on the Flame Flood Dragon. The dragon flames were destructive. The earth shield on the Fallen Priest and the Bloodthirst Snake were scorched black.

The Bloodthirst Snake had been born to be ferocious and its attacks were formidable. However, as it faced this Flame Flood Dragon, the Bloodthirst Snake could not exhibit its ferocity at all. Neither did it dare to entangle nor bite the Flame Flood Dragon. The Bloodthirst Snake just waved its tail to knock off some stones on the sides and hurl them at the Flame Flood Dragon.

The Fallen Priest wielded his rod. While the Earthen Dragon was distracted by the Flame Flood Dragon, the Fallen Priest rapidly smashed the latter. The rod was soon burnt red by the flames. The skin on Fallen Priest’s hands was grilled and blood was oozing out. Still, the Fallen Priest held on tight to the rod.

“This isn’t good enough!”

Nie Chengkong and old Mo could tell that things were not looking good. They were anxious.

Nie Chengkong was struggling inside. He wondered if he should give the Bloodthirst Snake the ultimate command to attack at all costs. In that case, the Flame Flood Dragon would be severely injured. However, it was most likely that the Bloodthirst Snake would… be gone. Was it worth it?

Nie Chengkong was thinking and hesitating.

He was the only one with the knowledge that apart from the map he had shown the others, he had another treasure map that recorded the effects of all the treasures available.

The major treasure was an Astral Spirit Fruit that could help him move up one position! For him, this piece of fruit was valuable. Once he reached the upper position of the eighth rank, he could step to the ninth-rank directly with the help of this fruit!

The eighth rank and the ninth rank represented a completely different social status. After all, eighth-rank battle pet warriors were regarded as masters but ninth-rank battle pet warriors had their titles and were famous across the globe. The latter could move up to the high-society circle and even in this circle, they would be regarded as top influencers!

While Nie Chengkong was still hesitating, the situation had changed.

The roar from the Inferno Dragon startled everyone. The Inferno Dragon leaped into the valley and dashed toward the Flame Flood Dragon. This scene took everyone by complete surprise.

This Inferno Dragon had just reached adulthood!

This wasn’t the place for the Inferno Dragon to appear when a battle between the most powerful beasts was underway. The loss would be too huge if the Inferno Dragon lost its life accidentally!

Someone noticed something was standing on the Inferno Dragon’s shoulder.

It was the skeleton!

This came as another shock to them.

Dragons were born with incredible pride. As one of the best dragons, the Inferno Dragon was definitely more proud than any other dragon. The master of the Inferno Dragon would normally do its best not to provoke it, in case it went crazy even under the influence of the contract.

So, why would this Inferno Dragon allow a skeleton to stand on its shoulder?

Soon, the Inferno Dragon had dashed to reach the Flame Flood Dragon with the Little Skeleton. Next to the Inferno Dragon was the Dark Dragon Hound that was rushing on just as quickly as the dragon.

Roar!

The dragon roared to instill fear.

The Flame Flood Dragon was not intimidated in the slightest. Rather, it was enraged. The Flame Flood Dragon bellowed as well. As a sub-dragon beast, the Flame Flood Dragon did not hold dragons in high regard. Instead, there was innate hatred and hostility.

The Inferno Dragon was surrounded by raging flames. Its eyes were filled with fury. It opened its mouth and breathed out more fire.

The scorching heat even scared the Earthen Dragon in front of the Flame Flood Dragon. The Earthen Dragon moved away quickly.

The Flame Flood Dragon breathed out a fire as well. However, compared to the Inferno Dragon’s fire, the Flame Flood Dragon’s fire was quickly subdued. Even the flames burning on the body of the Flame Flood Dragon were dying down as if they had been scared away by the king of fire.

The Dark Dragon Hound hid on the side and added five shield levels to the huge Inferno Dragon.

That was the best the Dark Dragon Hound could do.

With the help of the five shield levels, the defensive power of the Inferno Dragon had increased to a stunning degree. Thanks to Su Ping’s training, the Inferno Dragon was practically immune to ordinary fire.

Even though the Flame Flood Dragon’s flames were not of the common kind, they weren’t that effective against the Inferno Dragon.

When the Inferno Dragon smashed itself against the Flame Flood Dragon, the Little Skeleton stood on the Inferno Dragon’s shoulder like a little knight. Its dark and deep eye sockets suddenly gave out a crimson glow.

Cruelty, coldness.

Many kinds of negative emotions were displayed by the Little Skeleton. But its movement seemed to be composed. The Little Skeleton simply unsheathed the bone blade from its waist with a slow and deliberate motion.

As the bone blade was drawn, foul air surged from it. In an instant, the small bone blade grew, turning into a huge sword four to five meters long, longer than the Little Skeleton itself!

Die!

The Little Skeleton disappeared from the Inferno Dragon’s shoulder. In the next second, the Little Skeleton re-emerged in front of the Flame Flood Dragon’s eyes.

The Flame Flood Dragon was still occupied with the battle. It was to its surprise that such a small thing would be involved in the fight. But, from the small thing, the Flame Flood Dragon felt something terrifying that was not even found in dragons. The Flame Flood Dragon could not help but tremble.

Poof!

The sword was swung across the Flame Flood Dragon rapidly.

Blood was spilled out. The Flame Flood Dragon had just closed its eyes when its eyelids were cut, so were its eyeballs. Around the cut was some dark aura that was eating away the eyeballs like flames.

The sharp pain made the Flame Flood Dragon cry out in misery. It fell and tumbled around in the valley.

Die! Die!

The Little Skeleton moved quickly. It had copied the Thunder Flash, developing a skill suitable to itself. This skill was a common one for beast kings. However, it was rare and difficult to learn for ninth rank beasts. The Little Skeleton dashed around and its sword was sharp. As such, the Little Skeleton was able to inflict harm on the Flame Flood Dragon at many places. The hard dragon scales could not stop the sword from making those cuts. The flames around the Flame Flood Dragon were being consumed by the dark flames from the Little Skeleton. The dark flames were an inherent skill that came with the Skeleton King’s bloodline, Hell Fire!

Not even the Inferno Dragon’s fire could compare against this Hell Fire!

However, since the Little Skeleton had not finished consuming the blood crystal yet, the Hell Fire was not a complete one. The Little Skeleton could not give full play to the strength of the Hell Fire yet.

The Little Skeleton’s participation made a difference. The Inferno Dragon was attacking madly, demonstrating its horrifying strength. The Inferno Dragon was even more violent than the Fallen Priest and the Bloodthirst Snake. Soon, the Flame Flood Dragon was overwhelmed.

Finally, the Earthen Dragon that was here to distract the Flame Flood Dragon felt the burden lifted and it could catch a breath.

Nie Chengkong and the others stared at the battle while being completely stunned.

This had utterly disrupted their view!

The Inferno Dragon that seemed to have just reached adulthood could demonstrate abilities no weaker than the lower position of the ninth rank. How?

They couldn’t comprehend the drastic contrast.

To make it more shocking, the skeleton that appeared to be nothing special could appear and disappear mysteriously. Also, the skeleton was very destructive. Every time the skeleton made a move, it could harm the Flame Flood Dragon. The latter could not fend off the skeleton at all.

Compared to the Inferno Dragon, the skeleton might even be a bit stronger!

Luo Guxue, who had witnessed the strength of the skeleton in the academy, was taken aback as well. She had thought that the Little Skeleton could at most fight against a beast at the intermediate position of the ninth rank. How could she know that the Little Skeleton could deal with a Flame Flood Dragon at the upper position of the ninth rank with such skill and ease?

Of course, the Flame Flood Dragon was fighting against multiple opponents. That being said, the Little Skeleton had been moving gracefully. It had demonstrated unexpected strength.

That is horrifying! Luo Guxue thought to herself. She couldn’t help but tremble.

With the Little Skeleton and the Inferno Dragon’s cooperation, the Flame Flood Dragon was a mass of bruises. The Little Skeleton could kill this Flame Flood Dragon by itself and it could do it faster with the help of the Inferno Dragon.

The Inferno Dragon was not fighting alone. The Earthen Dragon was distracting their opponent. The Bloodthirst Snake and the Fallen Priest, which were not of great help, could give assistance since they were ninth rank pets after all. This was a landslide victory for them!

The Dark Dragon Hound hopped around on the side, trying to prove its existence. But its existence was of little value at this point.

The battle soon came to an end. A few minutes later, the Flame Flood Dragon collapsed on the ground, still screaming. Its eyes had been cut in many places and the majority of its scales were broken. The Little Skeleton punched the Flame Flood Dragon’s head into the ground and the Inferno Dragon jumped over and bit the head. The Inferno Dragon’s teeth were giving out flames and its bite force was strong. The Inferno Dragon tore up the Flame Flood Dragon’s jaw. Blood was spilled around. The view was so bloody that no one could stand the sight.

When the battle ended, it took everyone a moment to come back to their senses.

Nie Chengkong moved his Fallen Priest to check. The Flame Flood Dragon was dead. Its jaw was torn up so its tongue and teeth were revealed. Blood was still streaming out.

“It’s over…” Zhou Jing and Guo Linyue felt as if everything were a dream. They were just watching and still they won.

They were all astonished by the outstanding Inferno Dragon. It had just reached adulthood but just like the Dark Dragon Hound, the Inferno Dragon was a genius.

They wondered if the Inferno Dragon had reached the peak of adulthood. It just had some bodily deformity which was why it didn’t look like an adult dragon.

Anyways, the ferocity of the Inferno Dragon left a deep impression.

The one that impressed them the most was the quiet but violent skeleton.

The skeleton had returned to the Inferno Dragon’s shoulder. The others looked at them with their eyes glistening with glows of curiosity. They didn’t remember seeing any skeleton with black bones. But none of the advanced skeletons were this small. It was odd.

They could not tell the species of this skeleton. Either way, the skeleton was not a common one since the Inferno Dragon was willing to be its mount.

Su Ping had become a piece of mystery as well. His age, strength and pets were all part of that mystery.

Old Mo looked at Su Ping in fear. He was unwilling to admit it but the young man had exhibited strength stronger than his. Su Ping was still so young. He was no weaker than the star students from prominent households!

At the moment, Su Ping had asked the Purple Python to free him from the entanglement and both the Little Skeleton and the Inferno Dragon had come back.

Nie Chengkong looked at Su Ping solemnly. He told himself that he could never provoke this person. He was unhappy since Su Ping had taken away that lantern. However, the help Su Ping had provided during this trip was much more valuable than the lantern.

In particular, without having Su Ping’s assistance, it would have been a long shot for Nie Chengkong to obtain that Astral Spirit Fruit.

“Zhou Jing, stay here and guard the body. We will go and pick the fruit, then we’ll come back to clean this site,” Nie Chengkong said. The thought of having that Astral Spirit Fruit excited him. He didn’t want to wait another moment.

The others didn’t expect that Nie Chengkong would be in such a hurry but they discarded it as unimportant. The Flame Flood Dragon was dead. The corpse would not run away on its own.

Zhou Jing accepted the task. He had his hawk monitor the area while he found a place to hide.

Su Ping was surprised to see Nie Chengkong acting in such a rushed manner. It was almost as if Nie Chengkong knew what was inside the cave. In principle, according to their previous experience, Nie Chengkong would also know whether the treasure had been destroyed.

Nie Chengkong’s impatience intrigued Su Ping. He went after Nie Chengkong at once.