Chapter 32: The Iron-Clad Dragon and the Black-Crested Golden Eagle
Atop a residential building.
Luo Feng raised his binoculars to survey a large Carrefour supermarket three miles away. The entire area surrounding the Carrefour was shrouded in white mist, with only the faint, low growls of monsters drifting from within.
On the windowsill, the energy creature in the form of a white cat was intently using its sensory abilities, reporting the information to Luo Feng.
"There is a very powerful energy fluctuation inside. Based on its external profile, it has over ninety percent similarity to the 'Iron-Armored Dragon' footage you showed me, meow~"
"Near that 'Iron-Armored Dragon,' there are two other energy fluctuations of similar intensity to mine. Judging by their appearance, they should be pig-type monsters, meow~"
"Furthermore, there are nearly a hundred mid-to-high-level commander-rank monster energy fluctuations in the supermarket, meow~"
Upon hearing Energy-Duo's description, Luo Feng's heart skipped a beat.
Pig-type monsters with energy intensity comparable to Energy-Duo? Luo Feng knew just how terrifying this seemingly harmless, cute white cat was. Thanks to consuming massive amounts of meat-essence pills daily, Energy-Duo’s physical fitness was now on par with an entry-level Warlord-rank martial artist.
A monster that could rival it must be an entry-level Overlord-rank monster. If it were a pig-type monster, it could effectively be identified as the number one among them: the "Fire-Scaled Three-Trident Pig"!
One high-level Overlord-rank Iron-Armored Dragon, plus two entry-level Overlord-rank Fire-Scaled Three-Trident Pig leaders, and nearly a hundred elite mid-to-high-level commander-rank monster guards?
This was excluding the tens of thousands of soldier-rank and entry-level commander-rank monsters scattered around the supermarket. In Luo Feng's mind, given his speed and flight capabilities, those outer monsters posed no threat or obstacle to him.
He only needed to consider the monsters guarding the Iron-Armored Dragon.
"Hiss, it's starting to get intense." Luo Feng licked his somewhat dry lips, the excitement in his eyes unconcealed.
He took a plastic bottle from his backpack, which contained hundreds of thumb-sized, blood-red pills—these were the meat-essence pills, also referred to by Luo Feng as "Blood Pills," an excellent treasure.
As long as one could completely digest the energy within, they could increase their strength by a hundred kilograms!
It was precisely thanks to the effects of these Blood Pills that Luo Feng’s physical fitness could improve by several thousand kilograms every day, reaching the peak of the entry-level Warlord rank so quickly.
And within at most two more days, he would reach the intermediate Warlord rank in terms of martial artist level!
Opening the plastic bottle, Luo Feng swallowed half of the pills at once—about fifty of them.
Feeling the Blood Pills digesting in his stomach, a massive influx of pure energy surged through his limbs and bones. His blood began to boil, bloodshot veins appeared in his eyes, and Luo Feng took a deep breath, squinting as he savored the scalding hot blood restless within his body.
A few seconds later, he opened his eyes wide, the veins in them becoming more prominent. With a low shout, Luo Feng leaped, soaring dozens of meters into the air. Controlling his shield with telekinesis, he landed on it and took flight.
His speed exceeded twice the speed of sound!
In the blink of an eye, he arrived at the Carrefour supermarket. Before the monsters inside could react, blood-red light flashed, and the slaughter... began without warning!
"How reckless, meow~" Energy-Duo shook its head, standing leisurely on the windowsill, gazing at the Carrefour supermarket shrouded in mist.
It used its sensory powers to the fullest, covering a radius of three kilometers.
Within this range, not even a King-rank monster or a Planet-level martial artist could escape its detection. Energy-Duo could use its special telepathic transmission combined with its senses to relay messages to Luo Feng at any time during the battle.
It was precisely because of this ability that Luo Feng dared to carry out such a reckless plan in City #003, known as the "Devil's Den."
Otherwise, if he were accidentally surrounded by several flying Overlord-rank monsters, even Luo Feng, with his ability to fly, would be in mortal danger.
Although a Spirit Reader at the peak of the high-level Warlord rank is called an "Invincible Warlord," that only refers to the terrifying attack power that far exceeds ordinary high-level Warlords. In terms of pure physical defense, even with the protection of an SS-grade combat suit and the four-fold defensive amplification from the Mingsha Blade technique, Luo Feng’s defensive capability was only about the same as an ordinary intermediate Overlord-rank monster.
Like a Silver Moon Fierce Wolf or a Black Cloud Tiger.
At the same tier, if compared to a monstrous "Dragon-species" monster like the Iron-Armored Dragon, Luo Feng’s physical defense was far inferior.
Other human Warlord-rank martial artists and Spirit Readers, unable to amplify their physical defense through force-multiplication techniques, would be even more fragile!
...
The Iron-Armored Dragon is considered an upper-middle-tier existence among dragon-species, a monstrous creature whose speed, defense, power, and physical structure have almost reached the limit.
*Huff...*
A behemoth covered in deep cyan scales was sleeping inside the Carrefour supermarket. Two breaths, filled with a foul stench, were exhaled from its nostrils; the air did not dissipate, rising to mid-air to transform into white mist.
This was the reason why the large Carrefour supermarket was enveloped in fog.
*Boom! Roar!!*
The commotion from outside reached here, and the behemoth was startled from its sleep.
A pair of fire-red, cracked pupils made one’s heart tremble. It stood over five meters tall, reached over ten meters in length, and its dragon tail behind it was an astonishing ten meters long! Its body shape appeared rather slender, and in the center of its forehead grew a curved, black horn that pointed forward, which was chilling just to look at.
This was the high-level Overlord-rank Iron-Armored Dragon!
As the Iron-Armored Dragon stood up from the ground, a cyan giant egg about a meter high appeared beneath it.
*Whoosh!*
The cyan-scaled monster moved, and it vanished from inside the supermarket.
Only after the Iron-Armored Dragon had disappeared did the sonic boom reach the spot where it had been.
...
"Haha, satisfying, truly satisfying!"
Luo Feng swung his SS-grade Blood Shadow battle blade, employing the techniques of the Mingsha Blade style. Every strike claimed the life of a mid-to-high-level commander-rank monster.
Heads flew!
Scalding beast blood sprayed out!
Kill!
Kill!
An intense murderous intent emanated from Luo Feng, but surprisingly, amidst his seemingly frantic slaughter, his eyes revealed an unprecedented calmness.
In this state, Luo Feng gained a deeper understanding of the first and second tiers of the Mingsha Blade technique he had already mastered, and his comprehension of the yet-to-be-mastered third tier was also growing rapidly.
Obsessed!
Blood boiling!
*Roar!*
A terrifying, deep cyan figure lunged at Luo Feng, who was busy slaughtering monsters.
Luo Feng sensed a strong threat of death approaching. His instincts trembled subconsciously, but he did not dodge.
"Giant Elephant Particles"!
Two Giant Elephant Particles inside Luo Feng—one large and one small, shimmering with hidden, violent power—erupted suddenly, providing him with 150,000 kilograms of force!
Combined with Luo Feng’s own base strength of nearly 120,000 kilograms, the power surging through his body at this moment reached nearly 270,000 kilograms, or nearly 270 tons!
"Mingsha Blade, Second Tier," four-fold force amplification!
A stunning blade beam slashed down. The terrifying force of over a thousand tons condensed on the tip of the SS-grade Blood Shadow blade, colliding head-on with the incoming deep cyan shadow.
*Puff!*
Upon the collision, feeling the rebound of the terrifying force on the blade's edge, Luo Feng's expression changed, realizing he had been a bit overconfident.
Fortunately, Luo Feng had a backup plan. At the critical moment, he used a technique from the Mingsha Blade to dissipate most of the terrifying rebound force. As his figure flew backward, he carved a hundred-meter-long trail of destruction through the supermarket floor.
"Cough, cough."
A trace of blood leaked from the corner of Luo Feng's mouth. He looked up at the Iron-Armored Dragon, which had been forced to a halt by his peak strike, his eyes revealing gravity and a hint of excitement.
"If I hadn't maintained a four-fold physical defense amplification, I fear that even with the Mingsha Blade's powerful force-dissipation technique, I would have been crushed to death." Luo Feng licked his lips; far from feeling fear, his blood surged even more fervently.
Through constant slaughter and battle with monsters, Luo Feng had discovered his own preference.
Compared to the Spirit Reader's method of long-range killing using flying blades, he actually preferred the close-quarters combat of blade-to-flesh. It brought him intense combat pleasure, making him inadvertently addicted to it.
Opposite him.
The Iron-Armored Dragon looked at the human martial artist it had injured with its full-force collision, scanned the surrounding monster guards, half of whom were dead or wounded, and saw the one severely injured and one lightly injured Fire-Scaled Three-Trident Pig leaders. Cold, murderous intent flashed in its blood-red dragon pupils.
Abominable human!
*Whoosh!* The next moment, almost without any prior movement, the Iron-Armored Dragon lunged at Luo Feng again.
Luo Feng had also adjusted his state within a few seconds. To him, the vomiting of blood just now was merely a way to alleviate the pressure on his body; in reality, it did not affect his combat effectiveness.
A flash of silvery-white light streaked by, striking the Iron-Armored Dragon on the forehead. The SS-grade flying blade, sharp enough to pierce the defense of a King-rank monster and carrying over 500,000 kilograms of impact, tore straight through the Iron-Armored Dragon's deep cyan scales—which were harder than super-alloys—and sank deep into its flesh.
Even as powerful as the Iron-Armored Dragon was, this strike left its head buzzing with unbearable pain, and a flash of terror crossed its dragon pupils.
If the force attached to the flying blade had been any stronger, it might have shattered its skull!
This was the first time since the Iron-Armored Dragon reached adulthood that it had felt its life threatened.
But this, instead of making it fearful, only deepened the rage within the Iron-Armored Dragon.
*Roar!* With a violent, ear-splitting roar, its deep cyan dragon tail lashed out toward Luo Feng.
Luo Feng used telekinesis to move rapidly, dodging the tail swipe. However, the ground behind him suffered; it was shattered by the ten-meter-long tail, creating a trench at least five or six meters deep.
Compared to the previous collision, the power of the Iron-Armored Dragon's tail swipe was even greater.
"I can't defeat this Iron-Armored Dragon with just a martial artist's strength; I must use more of my Spirit Reader power."
After dodging the tail attack, Luo Feng glanced at the spot where he had been standing, his heart palpitating.
If he had been hit, he felt that even an eight-fold defense amplification wouldn't matter; at best, he would be reduced from a pile of broken flesh to a recognizable human shape.
*Whoosh!*
Controlling a flying blade at maximum power, Luo Feng barely managed to maintain a combat equilibrium with the Iron-Armored Dragon. The battle was incredibly intense, causing the massive Carrefour supermarket to tremble, with large craters appearing from time to time.
The two injured Fire-Scaled Three-Trident Pigs and the remaining dozens of mid-to-high-level commander-rank monsters dared not intervene in this peak duel, only retreating constantly to guard the dragon's nest for their leader.
The monster groups scattered within a few kilometers of Carrefour, ruled by the Iron-Armored Dragon, became restless upon hearing the dragon's roars and began to converge on the supermarket.
On a street not far away, a young man in a cyan combat suit with handsome features turned his gaze toward the direction of the Carrefour supermarket upon hearing the noise.
"That area... if I remember correctly, is controlled by a high-level Overlord-rank Iron-Armored Dragon."
Wang Tong frowned, somewhat surprised. Who would dare provoke such a terrifying monster?
Even he, who held the title of "Shadow Blade" and had reached the high-level Warlord rank, would not dare to provoke this Iron-Armored Dragon!
"Let's go take a look; maybe I can scavenge something." Wang Tong's heart stirred, and he disappeared, his battle blade on his back, quickly heading toward the Carrefour supermarket.
On the way, all the monsters blocking his path, whether soldier-rank or commander-rank, were casually swatted away by Wang Tong’s punches and kicks; he didn't even use the blade on his back.
....
High above.
A giant Black-Crowned Golden Eagle was flying above the clouds.
Its body was about twenty meters long, resembling a large fighter jet. Its gray-white feathers shimmered with a cold, metallic luster, and the feathers on its head were jet-black, like a black crown. Its sharp, massive talons were golden yellow.
A pair of sharp, cold, blue-glowing eagle eyes overlooked the earth. Suddenly, hearing the furious roar of the Iron-Armored Dragon, the Black-Crowned Golden Eagle changed its original course and headed toward the source of the sound.
Predatory relationships also exist among monsters. The Black-Crowned Golden Eagle is ranked third among all eagle-type monsters based on equivalent strength.
An adult Black-Crowned Golden Eagle typically reaches a body length of 21 meters and a wingspan of about 36 meters. Its top flight speed can reach 3.9 Mach—a full 3.9 times the speed of sound. If the speed of sound is calculated at 340 meters per second, that is 1,326 meters per second, or 4,774 kilometers per hour.
This terrifying flight speed is far beyond what even a Planet-level Tier 1 martial artist can match, let alone a Warlord-rank powerhouse.
The same is true among monsters; few can surpass the Black-Crowned Golden Eagle in speed.
Therefore, the Black-Crowned Golden Eagle basically has no natural enemies. Their diet is also very broad, and among them, it includes the Iron-Armored Dragon.
Powerful eagle-type monsters have always liked to prey on snake and dragon-species monsters, let alone the Black-Crowned Golden Eagle.
However, under normal circumstances, the Black-Crowned Golden Eagle wouldn't dare to actively prey on an Iron-Armored Dragon of the same tier, because the Iron-Armored Dragon's attack speed and defense are extremely monstrous. If not careful, the Black-Crowned Golden Eagle could easily fall into danger or even be counter-killed by the Iron-Armored Dragon.
But whenever an opportunity arises, the Black-Crowned Golden Eagle would never let go of a delicacy like the Iron-Armored Dragon; consuming powerful monsters helps with evolution.
"*Ang...*"
After emitting an excited cry, the Black-Crowned Golden Eagle's speed instantly broke the sound barrier, closing in on the location of the Carrefour supermarket.
....
Energy-Duo, which had its sensory capabilities activated the entire time, suddenly detected two biological auras emitting strong energy within its sensory range. It immediately tensed up and transmitted a message to Luo Feng, who was engaged in a fierce battle with the Iron-Armored Dragon, honing his blade techniques.