NOVEL SIMPLE Chapter 240: The True Demon and the Mythical Dragon Elephant (II)
Chapter 240: The True Demon and the Mythical Dragon Elephant (II)
Under the night sky, the golden-red and black streaks intertwined and collided incessantly. Wherever they passed, the ground collapsed and forests exploded, stirring up a violent rush of wind and earth-shattering roars.
In Chen Chu's hands, the two-ton halberd reached supersonic speeds with every strike, thanks to his full explosive power.
It wasn't just about speed and strength; his moves were as instinctive as they were skillful. He swept his halberd like a staff, pierced it like a spear, and the slashes were fiercer than a saber's.
Combined with the versatile backward hooks and twists, the halberd in his hands seemed to have infinite variations, blocking the overwhelming attacks from the spear, machete, and dagger.
Maximus, who claimed to be invincible when fighting opponents at the same level, was no weakling either. In his true demon form, his demonic qi surged tenfold, and his physical strength was immense.
At the moment, it seemed his fight with Chen Chu had come to a standstill. Their battle had destroyed everything around them.
Every time the golden-red halberd light struck the ground, it caused violent explosions, forming huge craters, with the overflowing beams from the halberd light shredding everything around it.
Despite the apparent balance between the two, Maximus' expression grew increasingly grim.
He knew that the longer he tangled with this human, the greater the likelihood of being surrounded and killed. Even now, his location might have already been compromised.
Moreover, maintaining his incomplete true demon form consumed vast amounts of energy. His true demon power could only sustain this form for so long, and on top of that, it also drained his bloodline power, which would take an unknown amount of time to recover if excessively depleted.
With this realization, a ferocious expression appeared on Maximus' face.
"Roar! Demonic Descent!"
With Maximus' roar, an endless wave of demonic qi exploded from him. A rolling black mist covered the earth and blotted out the sky.
In the darkness, countless ten-meter-long black spears descended from the sky, carrying devastating power as they fell toward Chen Chu.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
The dense bombardment of black demonic spears turned the surrounding area into a scene of utter destruction, with nothing but the shockwaves of the explosions reverberating between heaven and earth.
Roar!
At that moment, a menacing dragon roar echoed through the void at the center of the explosion, followed closely by an aura that made even Maximus tremble in fear.
Boom!
The black smog created by the Demonic Descent was dispersed to reveal Chen Chu at the center of the explosion. He looked like a different person. He had grown to 2 meters from his original height of 1.87 meters, his muscles expanded to the point of making his armor creak.
His body was engulfed in burning golden-red flames that reached the height of three meters, making him look like a dazzling human torch, as he emanated a fierce aura that shook even the air.
The light distorted, and the faint image of a ferocious beast formed behind Chen Chu, with scales, an elephant body, dragon tail, and dragon claws.
Accompanying the emergence of the dragon elephant phantom, an aura capable of collapsing the very air instantly permeated the surroundings, and a faint chant of power, strength, and the dragon elephant echoed in the air.
"Maximus, face my attack as well."
As Chen Chu’s voice fell, the halberd burning with golden-red flames swept through the air, accompanied by the dragon elephant’s roar, unleashing an explosive power similar to that of mythical colossal beasts.
Boom!
Under the impact, large swathes of the air collapsed, creating visual distortions due to its instant depletion within a radius of hundreds of meters. In that moment, Maximus felt as though the entire world was trembling, with an invisible roar echoing in the air. He was frozen by Chen Chu’s will, there was no escape, nowhere to hide.
Roar!
Facing the deathly aura, all of the demonic qi inside Maximus erupted, billowing like black pillars of smoke as it shot into the sky. A faint three-headed, six-armed shadow appeared behind him.
As Maximus wielded his spear, the shadow followed suit. It seemed to be empowered by some mysterious force, causing his entire aura to surge.
Amid the billowing demonic qi, the burning golden-red halberd clashed with the demonic spear.
Boom!
A dazzling golden-red halo exploded, illuminating the night sky and sending clouds of dust into the air like from a nuclear explosion.
Chen Chu had activated the Elephant Fury Rune to ignite his true power and vigor, and mobilized the power of a mythical colossal beast. The three-headed, six-armed shadow behind Maximus stood no chance and collapsed instantly.
Boom!
With one strike, half of the hillside collapsed. Massive rifts spread in all directions, creating a shape that looked like the sinister face of a crying ghost.
When the dust settled, Maximus stood in the collapsed pit, holding his spear.
However, he was now covered in cracks, including his shattered demonic spear, dagger, and machete. He looked like a broken porcelain doll.
"...I refuse to accept this..."
Poof!
An endless amount of black demonic qi sprayed out from Maximus's body as his spear shattered, and his body collapsed backward. In his eyes, there was a strong sense of disbelief as he looked up at the night sky.
He hadn't revitalized his family, hadn't grown into a great demon king. How could he die in this small place of humans, and be killed by a human whose level was lower than his?
Not far away, Chen Chu's body was engulfed in burning golden-red flames, emitting an unbearable pressure. He stirred up strong winds with every breath he took, just like a raging colossal beast.
Huff!
Feeling the disappearance of Maximus's life aura, Chen Chu exhaled deeply, slowly suppressing the burning vigor and true power within his body. His body returned to its normal size, only for a strong sense of weakness to immediately wash over him, so intense that it was like experiencing seven days of consecutive fatigue all at once.
Bang!
Leaning on his halberd, Chen Chu gasped for air, his expression grave. "Why does the side effect of the Elephant Fury Rune seem to grow stronger as we progress?"
As his power increased and his physical strength became more indomitable, Chen Chu realized the Elephant Fury Rune he had obtained in the Third Heavenly Realm was starting to fall short.
The Elephant Fury Rune could explosively increase his power and defense by tenfold, which had been very effective in previous battles. However, as Chen Chu's power continued to grow, its shortcomings became increasingly more apparent. In the middle stage of the Third Heavenly Realm, he could activate it and sustain intense battles for over ten minutes, but in the Fourth Heavenly Realm, he felt weak after just a few moments of activation.
While the power unleashed during activation remained terrifying, as evidenced by the instantaneous annihilation of Maximus's true demonic form, the subsequent weakness Chen Chu felt was becoming more severe. He estimated that he would need at least two days to recover from this battle, and that was considering he had only activated it for a few seconds.
It was clear that the incomplete rune of the low-level Dragon Elephant Art could no longer be used as his trump card. The lower the level of his power, the stronger the incomplete Elephant Fury Rune’s amplification had been, but as that power increased, it started to show its limits.
When he had been in the Third Heavenly Realm, Chen Chu’s power had been at 100, and with a tenfold increase from the Elephant Fury Rune, it became 1,000 during explosive bursts.
But now his power had reached 10,000, and with the same tenfold increase from the rune, it became 100,000. The difference was like night and day, which was why he felt so weak after only 3 seconds of explosive release.
However, this problem should be solvable.
When I return to base, I'll do a maximum enhancement of the high-level Dragon Elephant Tyrant Body, which should compensate for the shortcomings of the Elephant Fury Rune and make me even more powerful.
With this in mind, Chen Chu rested for a while before turning his gaze toward Maximus.
The strength of this Purgatory Demon Clan member had indeed been formidable. By fully releasing his demonic qi and activating the True Demon Body, his combat power had reached the late stage or even nearly approached the peak of the Sixth Heavenly Realm.
It was also worth noting that he had still had injuries, and his realm had been suppressed to the early stage of the Sixth Realm. If he had been able to unleash his full power while in his prime, his strength could even reach the Seventh Realm. Ordinary cultivators at the Sixth Realm would be completely outmatched against him. That was why he had been so arrogant.
In such a situation, even Chen Chu would need to unleash all of his power. After these two days of battle, he now had a good grasp of his own strength.
He was technically in the middle stage of the Fifth Heavenly Realm, but because of his robust physical strength, along with his Dragon Force, stage 6 art, heavy weaponry, and other factors, his combat power was equivalent to the stronger cultivators in the middle stage of the Sixth Realm.
When he activated the Tyrant Body Divine Might, his combat power was approximately between the late stage or peak of the Sixth Heavenly Realm. Under an explosive burst that released that colossal beast, he could even defeat late stage Sixth Heavenly Realm cultivators, albeit with the price of falling into a weakened state after.
Of course, combat power was just a reference, and the outcome would only become known after actual combat.
After defeating the enemy, it was time to harvest. However, Maximus's weapons had been destroyed by the power of the Dragon Elephant, and his armor had been shattered during the previous release of his demonic qi.
At that moment, Chen Chu's gaze fell on the small black pouch hanging from Maximus's waist. "What's this little pouch? Spatial equipment?"
With that, Chen Chu forcefully tore off the pouch. He tried to pull it open, but found it impossible to do so. There was a powerful force sealing it shut, which immediately piqued his excitement. Since this was spatial equipment, there was likely to be good things inside.
With this in mind, Chen Chu enveloped his hand in a golden-red light, and his spiritual will surged along with his true power.
Roar!
Just as Chen Chu's spiritual will and true power entered the small pouch, he heard a roar and saw a black shadow wielding a spear rushing toward him—it was Maximus's spiritual mark.
Killing a fully formed Purgatory True Demon could be troublesome even for Chen Chu, but dealing with spiritual thoughts was another matter entirely.
Hum!
The Dragon Elephant Phantom roared in Chen Chu's sea of consciousness, and the Blade of Void Rune flashed its third-eye. In an instant, it transformed into an invisible blade and slashed out.
Chen Chu hadn’t used this rune since the Third Heavenly Realm. It hadn’t been necessary, since Chen Chu hadn't encountered enemies proficient in spiritual attacks.
Poof!
With the Blade of Void’s special power, Maximus's spiritual mark collapsed and disappeared instantly, completely obliterated.
Without that spiritual mark, waves of golden-red true power continued to surge into the pouch. Large amounts of black demonic qi were expelled, which Chen Chu then refined.
Soon, a small cubic void space appeared within his consciousness.
"So small," Chen Chu raised an eyebrow.
Not only was the space small, but there weren't many things inside. Two black crystals, a large chunk of ore with flames inside, a half-meter-long golden horn, and a black bronze plaque with a grim demon face on the front and ancient patterns on the back.
Chen Chu recognized the black crystal as a Nightmare Crystal. It was similar to the Blue Crystals used by cultivators in the Sixth Heavenly Realm, but contained high-purity energy with dark attributes. These types of crystals were only used by cultivators who practiced arts possessing such attributes, and were worth 50 contribution points.
He wasn’t sure what the ore was and would need to look it up later, but judging from the aura emanating from it, it was probably quite valuable. After all, Maximus, being a noble, wouldn't collect junk.
The golden horn obviously came from a mutated creature, but the black bronze plaque didn’t seem to possess any special powers that Chen Chu could sense.
It was probably Maximus's identity token or something similar. He would have it evaluated by the school later to see if he could exchange it for some contribution points.
In addition, there was an aura of pure energy left in the small space, which should have contained resources before, but had likely already been used by Maximus to restore his strength.
Even so, Chen Chu felt that this guy was poor.
Didn't he claim to be a noble of the Purgatory Demon Clan? Was this what they called nobility? Or was he one of those impoverished nobles with only one destitute family left? That would explain why he appeared here.
After all, with even a bit of intelligence, one would know that sneaking over here is a death sentence. This is the heartland of the human race. Even if they’d succeeded in assassinating some human geniuses, they would be hunted down by enraged humans.
They’re not the only ones with king level fighters, humans have them, too. The human powerhouses would hunt them down, even if we had to cross into their world and risk being ambushed.
This made Chen Chu ponder.
These guys were likely disposable bait. If they succeeded, then that’s good for them, and they might even be able to ambush some king level human fighters. But if they failed, it didn't matter. After all, they were just demon cultists, or fallen ordinary nobles like Maximus. They’re all just cunning demons.