Chapter 140: Armed Evolution - Black Armored Dragon

Thud, thud, thud, thud! A barrage of magic missiles slammed into the bone dragon, battering small craters into its skeletal frame. A fierce gale followed immediately after, sweeping several red magic missiles into the small tornado summoned by Wen Hui. The missiles and the tornado fused, unexpectedly forming a combo-like skill that slightly boosted their destructive power.

The tornado, mingled with magic missiles, blasted against the bone dragon's skull. The weakness of a bone demon lay in the energy concentration within its brain, yet the hardest part of its entire body was precisely the cranium protecting that brain. Zhuang Xiaoyuan's magic missiles could inflict damage on the bone dragon's body, but combined with Wen Hui's storm, this superior attack failed to leave even the slightest scratch on the creature's head.

"Wind-attribute attacks are too weak. We must use fire, which restrains bone demons," Wen Hui said, glancing at Zhuang Xiaoyuan beside her.

Although disappointed that the enhanced attack failed to harm the bone demon, Wen Hui had anticipated this outcome. Judging by their experiences along the way, a bone demon's size generally determined the sturdiness of its bones; the larger the demon, the harder it was to deal with. However, no matter how sturdy the bones, they were vulnerable to fire and became easily damaged.

"All right, go ahead. I'll bring it down," Zhuang Xiaoyuan nodded, having grasped Wen Hui's intent. She began controlling the bats to encircle the bone dragon.

"I'm counting on you." With a trusting smile blooming on her face, Wen Hui dropped straight toward the ground. During her descent, her verdant green transformed into a vivid crimson. By the time she landed fully on the ground, the Valkyrie of verdant wind had metamorphosed into a warrior of blazing fire.

"Divine Spear Gungnir!" As Wen Hui began her descent, a crimson magic array manifested beneath Zhuang Xiaoyuan's feet. The demonic, glowing red divine spear materialized once more in her hands. "Let's have some real fun. Get down there!"

The moment the words left her lips, Zhuang Xiaoyuan vanished from her spot. Moving at a speed surpassing the naked eye, she descended right above the bone dragon's head, using the javelin Gungnir like a club to smash fiercely down upon the creature.

With a thunderous crash, the bone dragon—which had been maintaining steady flight amidst the swarm of bats—shuddered violently. Its entire skull jerked downward before it managed to barely regain its balance. "Roar!" Letting out an angry howl, the bone dragon lifted its head, its nasal bone-spike lunging toward Zhuang Xiaoyuan while its claws swept up to grab her.

"Vampiric Touch!" Facing the bone dragon's assault, Zhuang Xiaoyuan's crimson eyes gleamed with a faint, chilling light. At her command, the surrounding bats rapidly merged, transforming into several thick black tentacles that temporarily entangled the bone dragon's claws. "I told you, get down!" Her blood-red eyes glared, and Gungnir struck out once more.

CRASH! The sound was even louder than before. This time, the bone dragon finally failed to hold its ground and plummeted downward.

"Ignite, flames!" Waiting below for quite some time, Wen Hui's eyes lit up upon seeing the bone dragon fall. She sprinted quickly toward the crash site while manipulating the surrounding flames, causing them to blaze fiercely and spread toward the beast.

"Roar!" Plummeting into the fire, the flames ignited the bone dragon's withered skeleton, blazing even more furiously for a moment. Amidst the inferno, the bone dragon roared and beat its wings, attempting to take flight once more.

"Go." The bat wings behind her flapped gently. Looking down at the bone dragon below, Zhuang Xiaoyuan waved a hand at the bats circling her. Accompanied by the dense flapping of wings, the bats charged fearlessly into the fire toward the bone dragon like a squadron of bombers.

"Roar!" Suppressed by the overwhelming attacks of the black bats, the bone dragon couldn't lift off at all and was forced to endure the torment within the flames. Finally sensing a crisis, the bone dragon let out a heaven-shaking draconic cry. In response to its call, the earth trembled slightly, and visible black dust particles drifted up from the ground, converging entirely toward the bone dragon. The gathering of these black particles draped the bone dragon's skeleton like a pitch-black suit of armor. This dark armor insulated it from the heat of the flames and rendered it completely immune to the bats' attacks.

"Something's wrong. Xiao Hui, fall back!" High in the sky, noticing the bone dragon's bizarre transformation, Zhuang Xiaoyuan flapped her wings and darted toward Wen Hui, grasping her extended right hand and pulling her rapidly away into the distance.

"Roar!" Accompanied by the bone dragon's furious roar, a violent aura emanated from its body. This aura generated a visible pressure that directly extinguished the flames Wen Hui had ignited.

The vivid red faded, replaced once again by verdant green as Wen Hui began to fly under the protection of the gentle breeze. Speeding forward while turning her head to gaze at the bone dragon—whose aura alone was now completely different from before—Wen Hui wore an expression of astonishment. "This guy has a second transformation phase? What on earth is that black stuff on its body?"

"Absorbed from the earth, probably some kind of metal particles. But its transformation doesn't seem to stem solely from those metals," Zhuang Xiaoyuan said with a grave expression, noticing that the red glow within the bone dragon's eye sockets had deepened significantly, beginning to shift toward a dark crimson. Even in her noble lady state, Zhuang Xiaoyuan felt a powerful sense of oppression. This bone dragon was likely beyond the pair's ability to handle right now.

"Well? Are we running, or keeping up the fight?" Sensing the bone dragon's oppressive might—which surpassed even the evil gods and fiends they had encountered in the past—Wen Hui lost all trace of her previous eagerness.

"Run? How could this young lady possibly run from a mere lizard? We're merely making a strategic retreat, a strategic retreat! Before retreating, though, I plan to leave it a gift." Her expression remained completely unchanged, radiating an air of proud disdain. Yet her words sounded rather like a bluff; facing the imposing black-armored bone dragon, Zhuang Xiaoyuan raised the crimson spear in her hand. "Divine Spear Gungnir!"

"Let's go." Hurling Gungnir forcefully at the bone dragon behind them, and seemingly anticipating the ensuing chaos, Zhuang Xiaoyuan called out to Wen Hui and sped swiftly into the distance.

A red flash streaked past, followed by a dragon roar laced with intense fury echoing behind them.

"I have to say, Xiao Xiaoyuan, you've completely infuriated it." Flying at high speed, Wen Hui heard the roar behind her and glanced back, clearly catching sight of the red spear embedded a short way into the bone dragon's nasal bridge. She looked at Zhuang Xiaoyuan with an amused expression, as if watching a mischievous child.

"Hmph, that's the price it pays for chasing me for a day and a night." With a cold snort, Zhuang Xiaoyuan maintained her proud and composed expression, looking as though she were attending a tea party rather than fleeing from a bone dragon.

"So, the result of giving it a retaliatory parting gift is that we get to keep being chased for another day and a night? Look, it's coming. And it's so fast." Pointing back at the bone dragon, Wen Hui couldn't help but complain. Yet a flash of astonishment crossed her face as she noted the creature's terrifying speed.