Death… And Me

Chapter 4455: The Horror Fight

The Godly Horror was utterly enraged, yet it lacked the intelligence to understand what had just happened. It only knew that its prey had escaped its ambush and that the strange flying object ahead had suddenly stopped instead of continuing to flee.

*ROAR!*

Until now, it had remained well over two hundred meters away from the airplane, constantly launching attacks while chasing after it. It wanted to get close, but it simply hadn’t had the chance so far. It saw no reason to hesitate now. With a powerful flap of its blazing wings, the Magma Drake accelerated straight toward the motionless aircraft, determined to tear it apart.

The instant it crossed into the Sanctuary’s range, however, everything changed.

The Yin Yang Sanctuary had only been reactivated a few seconds earlier. Barely five seconds had passed since its cooldown had been reset, meaning it still had another one hundred and fifteen seconds of duration remaining.

As soon as the Godly Horror entered those two hundred meters, it felt an overwhelming change within its own body.

Its power plummeted.

Lukay’s earlier assessment had been correct. Before entering the Sanctuary, the Magma Drake possessed strength roughly comparable to that of an Initial Stage Law God. Now, under the Sanctuary’s suppression and its newly acquired weakening effect, its overall combat power dropped an entire stage, placing it back at the level of an exceptionally powerful Godly Predator.

Its speed fell sharply.

The blazing flames surrounding its body dimmed.

The Godly Energy circulating through its meridians suddenly became unstable as its body struggled to adapt to such an abrupt change in strength. For an instant, the enormous creature even lost control of its own flight, its wings faltering as it nearly tumbled from the sky.

Still, a Godly Horror was a Godly Horror.

Almost immediately, it forcefully stabilized itself. Its instincts quickly overcame the momentary confusion, and its burning eyes locked onto the cultivators ahead once more. The desire to hunt overwhelmed everything else.

With another furious roar, it lunged toward them.

Roan had already expected exactly that.

”Kentucky, deal with the last Predator,” he said before flying out of the airplane. ”Rean, Celis, Lukay... let’s go.”

Kentucky’s feathers twitched in frustration, but he immediately understood the assignment.

When the ambush had first been revealed, they had detected two Godly Predators ahead of them. After changing direction, another appeared behind them. Moments later, a fourth blocked the route they had attempted to escape through.

Four Godly Predators.

That was before the Godly Horror erupted from beneath the city itself.

Since then, they had already killed three of those Predators. Naturally, one still remained, and it was rapidly approaching from another direction while the rest of the group prepared to confront the Horror itself.

Roan had deliberately assigned Kentucky to intercept it.

Among everyone present, Kentucky possessed the greatest defensive power and was by far the most capable of surviving a prolonged aerial battle. His mission wasn’t to defeat the remaining Predator. He only needed to keep it occupied long enough for the others to finish the real threat.

Kentucky clicked his beak.

”Shit... fine!”

Without another complaint, he immediately banked away from the group, shooting off toward the approaching Godly Predator before it could interfere with the battle against the Horror.

—

Roan was the first to charge.

Even weakened by the Sanctuary, the Magma Drake remained an existence comparable to a Peak Stage Zone God. It was no opponent they could afford to underestimate.

Crimson-red lightning exploded around Roan’s body as he accelerated forward. Rean followed immediately behind him, brilliant crimson lightning wrapping around his own figure as the twins advanced side by side.

’Red Death, Third Movement Form, Crimson Lightning!’

The movement technique activated instantly.

*Kabrum!*

Their speed increased explosively, becoming little more than two streaks of red light racing through the sky.

The Horror’s eyes tracked them effortlessly.

Although its strength had fallen, its combat instincts remained terrifying. Rather than continuing to charge recklessly, it suddenly beat its wings backward, stopping itself in midair with surprising precision. At the same time, blazing magma rapidly accumulated inside its enormous jaws.

The next instant...

*GRHAAAAA!*

A torrent of molten fire erupted forward.

Instead of launching concentrated magma spheres as before, the Drake unleashed an immense stream of blazing magma that spread across the entire space ahead of it. The attack engulfed nearly every possible approach, transforming the sky itself into an ocean of crimson fire.

The twins never slowed down.

Flying shoulder to shoulder, Rean’s sword and Roan’s scythe moved at the same time. Yin and Yang Power surged together with Light and Dark Elements before converging toward a single point.

’Red Life, Crimson Stellar Piercer!’

’Red Death, Death Scythe!’

*Fiu!*

*KABRUM!*

The two techniques struck the center of the magma torrent simultaneously.

Instead of attempting to overpower the attack, they pierced directly through its weakest point. The blazing stream split apart under the twins’ combined assault, creating a narrow passage just large enough for them to continue advancing without losing momentum.

The Magma Drake immediately reacted.

Its crimson scales rose from its body one after another. More than half detached completely, revolving around it in rapid circles much like Kentucky’s Feather Blades.

Yet they never flew toward the twins.

Instead, they formed a spinning shield around the Horror while the torrent of magma continued pouring endlessly from its mouth.

Within moments, every revolving scale ignited.

The giant drake transformed into a blazing sphere of fire, its rotating scales feeding the inferno until the surrounding space itself began to shimmer beneath the unbearable heat. The vegetation below instantly blackened, while countless ancient ruins started melting beneath the temperature radiating from its body.

*ROAR!*

Without interrupting its torrent of magma for even an instant, the Godly Horror surged forward.

From afar, it resembled a blazing comet streaking across the sky. The endless stream of magma pouring from its jaws formed a fiery tail behind it, while the rotating shield of burning scales transformed its entire body into an unstoppable sphere of destruction.

The twins’ techniques couldn’t withstand such overwhelming force forever.

The Crimson Stellar Piercer and Death Scythe rapidly lost power as they continued carving through the torrent of magma. The opening they had created narrowed more and more until the blazing inferno swallowed them completely.

From the outside, Rean and Roan disappeared inside the sea of crimson flames.

However, they had never intended to face the Horror alone.

Far above the battlefield, Lukay and Celis had quietly moved into position while the Drake’s attention remained completely fixed on the twins charging from the front. Hidden by both distance and angle, they waited patiently for the exact moment the Horror fully committed to its attack.

Celis narrowed his eyes.

”Now. Go all out!”

Lukay didn’t understand why Celis had chosen this position, nor why he had been told to attack from above instead of joining the twins head-on. From his point of view, it made little sense. Even with the Sanctuary suppressing the Horror’s strength, that enormous sphere of rotating scales and blazing flames was still far beyond anything a Middle Stage Zone God should be able to break.

Even so, he trusted the twins’ judgment.

If they had arranged things this way, there had to be a reason.

Without another thought, he unleashed everything he had.

Golden and yellow lightning erupted around his core as Godly Energy poured out without the slightest reservation. Brilliant arcs of electricity spread through the sky, their crackling echoes reverberating throughout the ruined city.

Then, Lukay released the accumulated power.

’Voltari Thunderclap!’

A colossal pillar of golden lightning descended from above with overwhelming force. The terrifying pressure behind the technique was so great that even the exceptionally stable space of the Celestial Plane trembled ever so slightly beneath its passage.

The moment the attack left Lukay, however, he realized something was wrong.

No...

Something was different.

That wasn’t the strength of his Voltari Thunderclap.

He knew the limits of his own technique better than anyone. Even after fighting alongside the twins and improving himself considerably, he shouldn’t have been capable of producing an attack with power approaching the Law God Realm.

Yet the lightning descending toward the Horror clearly possessed that level of might.

Then he noticed Celis.

The Demon Plant floated calmly beside him, one vine pressed lightly against Lukay’s Core while an enormous amount of Godly Energy poured out of his body.

’Full Energy Repel!’

Rather than bouncing an enemy’s attack away as he usually did, Celis used the technique in an entirely different manner.

The instant the Voltari Thunderclap was released, Full Energy Repel activated.

Instead of rejecting the lightning, it compressed and redirected it, while simultaneously injecting Celis’ own Godly Energy into the technique. The repelling force accelerated the descending bolt even further, dramatically increasing both its impact, size, and speed.

Lukay stared in astonishment.

”So that’s what you meant...”

*KABRUM!!!*

The enhanced Voltari Thunderclap struck the Horror at almost the exact same instant it reached the twins.

The massive bolt slammed directly into the top of the blazing sphere protecting the Magma Drake.

The Horror never saw it coming. He knew Celis and Lukay existed, but the attack was just too fast!

Every bit of its attention had been focused on Rean and Roan directly ahead. It had poured nearly all of its defensive power toward the front of its rotating shield, leaving the upper portion significantly less protected.

That single decision proved disastrous.

The revolving scales shattered one after another.

The blazing sphere surrounding the Drake collapsed under the overwhelming impact.

The enormous bolt of golden lightning continued downward without losing much momentum before striking the Horror’s body directly.

*ROOOOOAAARRR!!!*

Pain exploded throughout the Magma Drake.

Golden and yellow lightning surged wildly across its scales, tearing through its flesh while countless electrical arcs ravaged both the inside and outside of its massive body.

For the first time since the battle had begun, the Godly Horror had suffered a truly serious injury.

Even so...

It endured!

Its body still belonged to a Godly Horror. Although the Sanctuary had suppressed its strength, its physical toughness remained far beyond that of an ordinary Godly Predator.

Its furious eyes immediately lifted toward the sky.

They locked onto Lukay and Celis.

The pair who had inflicted that devastating attack.

With another earth-shaking roar, the Magma Drake abandoned the burning remnants of its shattered shield and shot upward, murderous intent filling every movement as it lunged toward them to exact revenge.

It never reached them.

At that very instant, two figures burst out from the sea of flames below.

Their clothes had long since burned away.

Their skin was blackened and charred, countless burns covering their bodies.

Yet despite their injuries, there wasn’t the slightest hesitation in their movements.

Rean and Roan had finally emerged. Their eyes remained fixed on the wounded Godly Horror, and both of them still gripped their weapons tightly.

Now...

It was their turn to strike!