Dragonblood: Book 2 of the Coiling Dragon Saga
Page 67
The people on the Red List were to be killed on sight, but there was no need to expend too much effort on those targets. Those on the Black List were to be killed no matter the cost.
Actually, given Linley’s future potential, the threat he could pose towards the Radiant Church in the future should’ve been enough for him to be placed on the Black List. However, while the high levels of the Radiant Church were fleeing, they believed that since Linley was not a member of the Church, the chances of him being able to discover that his mother had been killed by the Radiant Church was very low. Thus, they only placed Linley on the Red List.
The Special Executors of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal all possessed astonishing power. These six Special Executors were all warriors of the ninth rank. They stealthily began to surround Linley.
In the little alleyway behind the back gate of Clayde’s manor.
Linley’s iron-whip-like draconic tail was still wrapped tightly around Clayde.
“Release your royal father?” Linley stared at Shaq. Letting out a cold laugh, he said, “I can release your father, but what of my mother and father? Although it was the Radiant Church that killed my mother, at least half of the responsibility lies with your father. And over half the responsibility for my father’s death lies on your father as well.”
As Linley spoke, he began to exert more pressure with his tail.
“Crack, crack.” All sorts of strange noises were emitting from Clayde’s body. Clayde was in such agony from the constricting draconic tail that he began to try and struggle again.
“Ah! Ah! Linley, kill me cleanly in one stroke!” Clayde moaned in agony.
“Crunch.”
Clayde’s two arms snapped off. Right now, Clayde had been constricted so tightly by Linley that his formerly broad waist was now more slender than a woman’s.
“Die.”
Linley looked at Clayde, then exert a bit more force with his tail.
“Smush!” Clayde spat out a large amount of blood from his mouth, and his entire face turned red. While spitting the blood out, he was coughing nonstop, and some bits and pieces of his internal organs were coughed out as well.
Right now…
Clayde had been ripped into two parts at the waist. Even his spine had been snapped apart. The only thing keeping his upper body and lower body connected was a bloody layer of skin.
Clayde let out a few more moans. “Ah… ah…” His entire face was red. A few seconds later, his breathing stopped, and his soul left this earth.
But right now, Linley didn’t feel any happiness or sense of accomplishment.
The only thing he felt was a deep grief, a deep sadness.
“Father. Mother. Can you see me?” Linley said to himself.
Shaq, Kaiser, the princess, and the Wildthunder knights all stared at Linley. Many of them had hearts full of fear. After seeing how Clayde had died, they didn’t dare to try and avenge him. They could only hope that Linley would leave now.
Linley’s dark gold eyes glanced at everyone present.
“Cough.” Shaq cleared his throat, beads of sweat appearing on his forehead. His father had died, but he didn’t want to die as well.
Linley’s draconic tail swayed slightly, then he turned and began to walk away.
“Bebe. Let’s go,” he called to Bebe.
Just as Bebe, who was off to the side this entire time, was about to scurry away with him, Bebe suddenly paused, all the hair on his body sticking up. Right afterwards, Linley as well sensed sudden danger, which seemed to come from all directions.
“Whoosh.”
Several gusts of wind could be heard as six violet-robed figures appeared, surrounding Linley from six different points. Linley and Bebe were both trapped within their encirclement. Four of these six were standing on nearby rooftops, while the other two were at each end of the alley Linley was in. There was no place Linley could flee to at all.
“Special Executors from the Ecclesiastical Tribunal.” Linley immediately understood who these people were upon seeing their uniform.
Seeing this formation, Shaq and the Wildthunder knights all turned pale. These six Special Executors hadn’t just encircled Linley and Bebe. They had also encircled Shaq and his men as well.
“Milords, I am the Second Prince of the royal clan of Fenlai. Please allow me to leave first,” Shaq immediately begged.
Kaiser recognized the Special Executors from their outfit. He also immediately said, “Milord Special Executors, I am Kaiser, and I am also a servant of the Radiant Church. May I leave first?” Kaiser knew very well about some of the special methods available to the Special Executors of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal. Given the current situation, he, Kaiser, wouldn’t be of any use to them, and would actually serve to disrupt their actions.”
“Kaiser, you can leave.”
One of the violet-robed men standing at one of the ends of the alley said in a cold voice.
“Yes.” Kaiser immediately began running towards one of the ends of the alleyway. The six violet-robed men didn’t block him at all, allowing him to flee past them. Kaiser was an expert of the Kingdom of Fenlai, true, but he was also a holy knight of the Radiant Church.
“Milords, what about me?” Shaq immediately said.
“Milord Special Executors,” that princess immediately begged the Special Executors as well.
But the six Special Executors didn’t even glance at them. The six Special Executors were clear-headed. When Kaiser left, he was but one person, and a warrior of the ninth rank at that. Linley definitely wouldn’t be able to find a chance to slip past. But if they allowed Shaq and the others to leave as well, given Linley’s current prowess, he definitely might be able to find a way to slip past at a critical moment.
Linley stared coldly at the six of them.
“You want to kill me?” Linley said calmly. He felt total confidence in himself. Even when surrounded by the attacks of that group of giant dragons, he was still able to flee and survive.
To these six Special Executors, killing him and Bebe wouldn’t be an easy affair. The protective scales on Linley’s body were no joking matter.
“Those on the Red List are to be killed on sight.” The leader of the Special Executors laughed coldly.
The six Special Executors stared fixedly at him and Bebe, ignoring everything else entirely. As high-level members of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal, they naturally knew that Linley was a Dragonblood Warrior. Dragonblood Warriors were one of the Supreme Warriors. They didn’t dare to look down upon him.
“Oh? Kill on sight?” Linley’s draconic tail began to swing.
“Swish!” Like a steel sabre, Linley’s draconic tail casually slashed across the ground, cutting a deep gouge into it. Linley’s dark gold eyes were fixed on this group of people as well.
“Milord Special Executors.” Shaq and his men were really terrified now.
“Let’s go!” One of the Wildthunder knights let out a deep roar, and immediately, a group of knights charged en masse towards one of the alleyway exits. The remaining Wildthunder knights numbered amongst them more than ten knights of the eighth rank. For them to charge en masse like this, even a combatant of the ninth rank would find it difficult to stop them.
Linley’s eyes lit up.
Linley immediately charged towards the wall on his left. Ignoring the wall’s existence, Linley slammed into it as though he were a large magical beast.
“BAM!” Linley knocked the section of wall over while fleeing at high speed to the north.
“Whoosh.”
The bodies of those six Special Executors suddenly began to emit a hot, burning white light. The light from these six Special Executors was totally interconnected, forming a strange, glowing hexagram.
Linley just happened to ram against one of the edges of the hexagram.
“Bam!”
Linley felt as though he had just been slapped by a Violet Tattooed Bear. His entire body quivered as he was sent flying backwards. He remained surrounded by
the six Special Executors.
“Ah!!!”
The bodies of those Wildthunder knights who struck against the glowing white hexagram all exploded, drenching the area with blood. Every single one of the Wildthunder knights who had touched the glowing white hexagram died.
“What is this?” Linley was shocked.
“Linley, quick, do your best to escape! This should be one of the combination attack methods of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal.” Doehring Cowart immediately recognized the danger that Linley and Bebe were now in. If they continued to be trapped in such a manner, it was very likely that Linley and Bebe would not be able to escape at all.
Those six Special Executors charged forwards towards Linley and Bebe in a very practiced manner. And as they did, the area of movement within the hexagram began to shrink at an extremely fast rate.
“Ah!” “Ah!” “Ah!” “Ah!”
Shaq and the remaining knights who had not touched the glowing white hexagram were unable to dodge with the six Special Executors drawing closer and closer. One after another was forced to come into contact with the glowing white hexagram, and when they did, their bodies began to vibrate before exploding.
In the blink of an eye, no one in Shaq’s party was left alive.
But Linley and Bebe were trapped in an increasingly small, tight space.
“Boss, that white thing seems really powerful. What should we do?” Bebe was frantic.
Linley had both felt and could sense the power of this glowing white hexagram. When it had struck his body, he still felt extreme pain despite his defensive powers, and all the blood in his body had been agitated.
“Bebe, you go down through the earth, I’ll go up from the skies. Flee!” Linley mentally directed Bebe.
This black-scaled aberration, Linley, and his freak of a Shadowmouse companion, Bebe, acted at almost the same time. One flew up into the sky like an arrow leaving the bow, while the other burrowed deep into the ground.
86
Passing Away
“Haaah!” The six Special Executors simultaneously stomped the ground viciously, and suddenly the light around them penetrated the earth. Bebe, who had just burrowed into the earth, struck against the white light and was immediately knocked back.
“Whoosh!”
At the same time, the six Special Executors retreated at high speed, suddenly expanding the area within the glowing white hexagram. With each leap, Linley was usually only able to travel a few dozen meters to a hundred meters at most. In the end, he still had to fall to the ground after all.
As for the Soaring Technique…
Under the current conditions, he simply didn’t have enough time to utter the incantations necessary to cast the Soaring Technique.
“Haaaaah!” Bebe didn’t dare to touch the glowing white hexagram the six Special Executors had created again. Bebe jumped up in the air as well. At this time, five of the Special Executors suddenly rose into the air as well. Of those five, four rose to the same height in the air as Linley, while the last one rose above Linley.
“Whoa!” One person was above him, four were around him, and one was underneath him.
Glowing with white light, the six Special Executors had formed a totally air-tight octahedron, keeping Linley and Bebe totally sealed in within.
“What the hell is this?” Linley was rather stunned.
Doehring Cowart’s voice sounded out in Linley’s mind. “This special combination attack of these Special Executors of the Ecclesiastical Tribunal consumes an enormous amount of light-style battle-qi. But perhaps they have some secret treasures of the Radiant Temple on them. Five thousand years ago, the Radiant Temple didn’t possess such mysterious, agile combination attacks.
Even if they practiced the same type of battle-qi, every person’s battle-qi would have fine, minute differences. To be able to totally combine battle-qi like these six Special Executors were doing, to the point of even being able to transform their battle-qi to dramatically increase its power was virtually impossible. But the Radiant Temple had succeeded.
“Whoosh.”
Above, below, front and back, left and right. These six Special Executors flew towards Linley simultaneously at high speed. All six of them were wielding very thin, slender longswords.
No place to dodge!
“Boss.” Bebe was frantic. Linley mentally roared, “Bebe, let’s go all out against the one below us. If we can kill one of them, this formation will be broken.”
“Got it.”
Linley and Bebe, man and magical beast, began to fall at high speeds, launching simultaneous attacks against the combatant of the ninth rank beneath them. But the combatant of the ninth rank didn’t seem to be afraid at all. On the contrary, his lips quirked up slightly, a hint of disdain and mockery on his face.
“Thruuuum.”
The white light flowed at high speeds. The light dimmed from the other five Special Executors, while the light from the one below began to blaze like the sun. Launching off from the ground, this Special Executor chopped towards Linley and Bebe with his sword.
“Ah!” Ignoring everything else, Linley struck out with his draconic tail, risking everything to try and constrict the Special Executor.
“Slash!” The sword chopped against Linley’s chest. Linley only felt an incomparable degree of pain, and his protective scales instantly began to crack. It felt as though an iron rod that had been heated until it was glowing white had been pressed against his skin, causing such pain that Linley’s entire body began to twitch, but he continued to constrict the Special Executor with his draconic tail. Fresh blood began to flow from Linley’s wound.
The scales of the Armored Razorback Wyrm weren’t able to block this sword.
“That sword blow’s power was only a bit weaker than the power of a Saint-level expert.” Doehring Cowart was astonished as well. After entering their combination attack formation, the attacks of the Special Executors could reach an incredible level of power.
The Radiant Temple was confident that unless the opponent was a Saint-level combatant, this formation attack would always be victorious!
“Ah!” The draconic tail gripping the Special Executor suddenly came under assault by that powerful light-style battle-qi. Linley felt enormous pain coming from his tail, but Linley continued to go all out, risking everything to constrict this opponent. Those dark golden eyes stared fixedly at the Special Executor.
“Hmph.” The Special Executor let out a cold laugh.
“Bam.”
White light exploded forth from the Special Executor, and Linley’s draconic tail uncontrollably slackened. Linley’s constrictive power simply wasn’t able to overcome the opponent’s counterattack.
At this time, the other five Special Executors came charging at Linley as well.
“Boss!” Bebe kicked off from Linley’s shoulders, charging directly towards those five Special Executors. But on his very first attack, Bebe was struck simultaneously by all five swords, and his body was knocked back downwards.
“Bebe!” Linley said worriedly.
“Boss, I’m fine.” Bebe flipped to his feet, but a hint of blood could be seen on his firm, tough fur. However, Bebe’s defense really was remarkably powerful. He barely suffered any damage to his skin and fur.
These six Special Executors stared at Bebe in astonishment.
Too monstrous. Even that hadn’t been able to pierce the skin of this Shadowmouse? As far as the Special Executors were concerned, even magical beasts of the ninth rank should have their defensive armor and skin be pierced by that blow.
Even someone with defense as monstrously powerful as Linley saw the scales over his chest crack and split from a single blow.
“The target is Linley!” The six of them knew that killing this monster of a Shadowmouse would probably force them to use quite some effort, but killing Linley would be much easier.
A single sword had been able to penetrate his defenses. Thus, a few sword strikes should be enough to kill him.
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“What on earth is going on?! Their light-style battle-qi seems to be limitless!” Linley mentally roared with fury, as he swept his claws to attack the Special Executors who were charging towards him.
“Shkreeeee!” Bebe’s piercing screech rang out as well.
Light wrapped around their bodies, the six Special Executors did a pincer attack against Linley and Bebe, while Linley and Bebe used all their force to try and counterattack.
“BAM!!!”
A wild series of attacks. Both sides totally ignored their defense, only focusing on attacking.
The six Special Executors retreated at high speed.
More than half of Linley’s black scales were shattered now, revealing multiple wounds beneath. Fresh blood oozed out past the scales, and even the scales on Linley’s tail were shattered.
Linley wasn’t able to suppress the fresh blood which had risen to his throat, and he vomited it out.
“Their defense…” Linley was truly angry and frantic now.
He had finally met people whose defensive powers were even greater than his own. These six Special Executors were using light-style battle-qi in an extravagantly wasteful manner. Their combination formation attacks gave them both terrifying offense as well as astonishing defense. Linley’s attack hadn’t managed to wound them at all.
“Boss, are you okay?” Bebe said in shock and fright. Those beady eyes of him stared at Linley with concern.
Bebe was in much better shape than Linley. The primary target of those six Special Executors had been Linley. In addition, Bebe’s defense was even more monstrous than Linley’s. Once again, only a hint of blood could be seen on Bebe’s fur.
“Fi-fine.” Linley wiped the blood from his mouth.
“That was the first attack.”
One of the violet-robed Special Executors standing on a distant rooftop said calmly, “Your defense isn’t bad. Let’s see how many of our formation attacks you can take.”
“Waiters, let’s not waste time,” one of the other Special Executors also standing on a rooftop said coldly.