Coiling Dragon

by welyjesch

  For example, Linley and Bebe. Bebe was here as an ordinary soldier, but in terms of power, was Bebe weak? It was the same principle. In the Planar Battlefield, there were perhaps only a hundred or so true ‘commanders’, but there were more who held commander-level power.

  Over the course of countless years, quite a few supreme experts had given up their positions, possibly because they knew that they were weaker than their challengers. Some couldn’t be bothered to fight over power, and so gave up their positions. As for others…well, it wasn’t good to underestimate anyone.

  “Only very few dare to act arrogantly in the Planar Wars.” Linley shook his head and laughed. Those who were arrogant without sufficient strength died early on. The only people who dared to be arrogant now were the likes of Dunnington. “Thus, that person who attacked me can be considered to have used an excellent method. If the first blow was unsuccessful, immediately flee.”

  “Too diabolical.” Bebe muttered.

  “It is diabolical, but it is also safe.” Linley took a deep breath. “Bebe, as I see it, we should use his method in seeking out targets! We’ll launch sneak attacks…and if we fail, immediately leave without any hesitation.”

  “Heh heh, it feels bad being ambushed by others, but pretty great ambushing them.” Bebe’s eyes lit up.

  Linley laughed resignedly.

  Who wanted to be ambushed? But there was nothing they could do. If they fought openly, they would die upon encountering more powerful experts.

  “When ambushing, the two of us will work jointly.” Linley had been planning this on the way back. He immediately said, “When we find a target, Bebe, use your innate divine ability, ‘Godeater’. I’ll immediately execute a material attack! There are very few people capable of blocking my Mirage sword!”

  Linley was very confident.

  Bebe’s ‘Godeater’ ability acted on a person’s soul and divine spark, while Linley used material attacks.

  “Bebe, against what sort of person would your ‘Godeater’ ability fail?” Linley asked.

  He had to know the power of Bebe’s ‘Godeater’ ability in order to plan things out.

  “Oh. Grandpa mentioned a few things before. Those who are at the Paragon level should be able to resist my innate divine ability.” Bebe said.

  Linley nodded. “Anyone else?”

  “Those who have soul-protecting Sovereign artifacts should be able to block as well.” Bebe said, then began to laugh. “But don’t worry. Very few people have Sovereign artifacts. Most likely only a portion of commanders have Sovereign artifacts, which are divided into three types. There are very few soul-protecting Sovereign artifacts, and also very few people in possession of them.”

  Linley wasn’t too surprised by Bebe’s response.

  Soul-protecting Sovereign artifacts were made by Sovereigns to protect their own souls! It was natural that an artifact which a Sovereign used to protect his own soul would be effective against Bebe’s technique.

  “Bebe, if the enemy uses Sovereign’s Might, would he be able to block it?” Linley asked. This was the real question which he cared about.

  “Heh heh, someone who uses Sovereign’s Might…won’t be able to block me.” Bebe said confidently. “My innate divine ability, ‘Godeater’, will go through any possible opening. Unless the soul protection is completely flawless, as soon as it encounters any opening, it will seep through, locking onto the soul and divine spark!”

  Linley nodded slightly.

  “It seems that it would be hard for me to block this technique as well.” Linley laughed.

  “Heh heh.” Bebe nodded smugly. “Unless, Boss, you completely repair that soul-protecting Sovereign artifact!”

  “Completely repairing it…how difficult a task it is!” Linley laughed in response.

  During the course of this conversation, Linley had come to understand how terrifying Bebe’s innate divine ability truly was. Any commander who was not a Paragon or who did not possess a soul-protecting Sovereign artifact, upon encountering this technique, would probably find it hard to escape! The only method was to do what that violet-robed man had done; immediately pull away.

  Once one was attacked within the range of the technique, one would be finished.

  “Amongst the commanders, only a portion of them possess Sovereign artifacts. Even fewer have soul-protecting Sovereign artifacts.” Linley was filled with confidence. “Bebe, just by relying on this technique, should be able to deal with the vast majority of commanders. No wonder Beirut said that by relying on this technique, Bebe’s attack power would be close to Beirut’s own.”

  Linley was already filled with confidence regarding the Planar Battlefield.

  After all…it wasn’t just Bebe who had a supreme technique. Linley’s ‘Blackstone Space’ and innate divine ability, ‘Dragon Roar’, when combined with his godly weapon ‘Mirage’…this was also a very frightening triple threat.

  In the blink of an eye, two months passed.

  Within the cave.

  “Boss, it’s been two more months. We only found a single person, and it was someone on our side. This rate is really low.” Bebe was rather impatient.

  They wanted to hunt enemy commanders, but they hadn’t even found any targets. They had power stored up but nowhere to spend it.

  Linley nodded. “Bebe, there should be enemies on this side of the Stellar River as well. But although they have come over, all of them are extremely careful. Finding them is very hard. As I see it…let’s go straight to their base!”

  “Boss, are you saying…?” Bebe’s eyes lit up.

  “Pass through the Stellar River and go to the other side!”

  The Planar Battlefield didn’t have a sun, a moon, or stars. Upon raising one’s head, all one would see was the multicolored patches of chaotic space high in the skies. Although it was beautiful, it was also very dangerous. The only reason the battlefield had any light at all and wasn’t steeped in utter darkness was because of the chaotic space high up above.

  The Stellar River!

  It divided the battlefield into two sides, and was one of the danger zones of the Planar Battlefield.

  “Boss, so this is the Stellar River? How can you call this a river?” Bebe and Linley were currently standing amidst the grass, staring towards the distant Stellar River.

  The Stellar River was extremely long. According to the descriptions on the map, it divided the entire Planar Battlefield in two, and so naturally it was a million kilometers in length. There was no way one would be able to see to the end of it with the naked eye. And its width…

  “It must be a thousand kilometers wide.” Linley looked towards it.

  The Stellar River was a thousand kilometers wide. At a glance…it seemed incomparably brilliant and beautiful. But upon taking a closer look, they discovered…that the brilliance wasn’t generated from ‘river water’. Rather, it was from countless spatial flows. The Stellar River was filled with countless spatial tears, which could be seen everywhere.

  The spatial tears were so common that they formed into a thick, dense ‘river’, a river completely formed from chaotic spatial tears!

  “How are we supposed to go past this damn place?” Bebe said with a frown.

  Linley looked carefully as well. The number of spatial tears that appeared and disappeared here were innumerable. But of course, given that it was a thousand kilometers wide, there were some safe zones as well. There were some meteors, mountains, and hills that floated throughout the Stellar River. They just hovered there. Clearly, the regions in which they resided had no spatial tears.

  However, they were in the center of this ‘river’. Linley couldn’t just teleport there.

  “The Stellar River has two wide corridors!” Linley said. “Only, these two corridors both have army headquarters stationed at each end and are under guard. Our side isn’t so bad; our people guard it and won’t attack us. But if we pass through the wide corridor to reach the other end, we will suffer enemy attacks!”r />
  The two sides of the Planar Battlefield were actually connected to each other solely through those two corridors.

  “Boss, are we really going to…?” Bebe raised an eyebrow.

  “Right! All we can do is find a safe corridor through the regions of chaotic space and spatial tears.” Linley looked forward carefully as he spoke. “Bebe, some places have no spatial tears. Let’s look carefully for them.”

  “No other choices.” Bebe mumbled.

  Linley and Bebe both focused their attention on the Stellar River.

  Linley quickly discovered that within the Stellar River, there were some places with neither spatial tears nor chaotic space. By connecting these safe spaces…a sinuous pathway could be traversed. What Linley had to do was to find a small pathway that would allow him to reach the other side.

  “Boss, look over there. It seems that place is passable.” Bebe pointed and said. “However, I can only see to a distance of a few hundred kilometers. It gets blurry after that. The small spatial tears can’t be seen clearly past that distance.”

  Linley gave it a look, then shook his head. “Doesn’t work. The path that I found is the same; there’s no way to be certain as to whether or not the latter half is passable. How about this, Bebe…let’s head to those floating boulders in the center. Once we reach those spaces, we’ll look for a path that reaches the opposite shores.”

  “Alright.” Bebe had no options as well.

  “Then let’s follow that path. It just happens to lead to the millstone-like boulder over there in the center.” Linley immediately decided.

  Linley and Bebe, while paying attention to their surroundings, transformed into two rays of light, quickly advancing to the sides of the Stellar Sea. But upon reaching the sides of the Stellar Sea, Linley and Bebe felt pressure from what they were going to do. The ‘river path’ they had selected was filled with countless spatial tears above and below it, as well as regions of chaotic space.

  “Let’s go.” Linley sent.

  Linley and Bebe instantly passed through the Stellar River. The two agilely and nimbly threaded their way through, moving up, down, left, and right at high speed, avoiding one dangerous region after another.

  At this moment, it was as though Linley and Bebe were dancing atop the blade of a knife. The situation was extremely dangerous.

  But at their level, their self-control was at a very high level as well. They didn’t make a single error in any of their movements. Sometimes, they all but pressed against those spatial tears as they moved past them, but they still managed to dodge one danger after another.

  “Up ahead.” Linley said, delighted.

  Up ahead, there was an enormous floating boulder that was tens of meters wide. It hovered there, and despite having been there for so long, there were no cracks on it. Clearly, this region didn’t have much danger.

  “Swoosh!” “Swoosh!”

  Linley and Bebe advanced, one up ahead, one behind. They landed on the surface of the millstone-like boulder.

  “Whew.” Only now did Linley let out a sigh of relief.

  He looked at his surroundings. The surrounding area was filled with spatial tears and chaotic space. Linley couldn’t help but say with a laugh, “Bebe, this…I feel as though we are back in the Yulan continent, in the secret room below Dragonblood Castle. However, that secret room had that membrane which blocked out the spatial tears and the chaotic space. Now, however, we don’t have any protection.”

  “Boss…” Bebe suddenly said. “Do you think there might be commanders hidden within the central boulders of the Stellar Sea?”

  Book 19, Metamorphosis – Chapter 16, Murderous Blows!

  In the center of the Stellar River. Atop the giant, millstone-like floating boulder. Linley and Bebe were standing there.

  “If we were to be surrounded and attacked, it would be dangerous.” Bebe looked at their surroundings.

  “Hiding around the central boulders of the Stellar River?” Linley couldn’t help but look at the surrounding areas, then laughed. “Bebe, stop imagining things. I think no commander would be willing to battle within the center of the Stellar Sea. If you aren’t careful, you’ll immediately fall into the spatial tears or the chaotic space, and be finished.”

  “Oh. Makes sense.” Bebe couldn’t help but rub his nose and chortle.

  “Enough. If we stay here in the center of the Stellar River, we’ll easily be discovered. Let’s hurry up and find a way out and arrive at the opposite side in a hurry.” Linley said quickly.

  “Right.” Bebe also began to immediately inspect the surrounding spatial tears and chaotic space.

  If someone from the other side was paying attention to the center of the Stellar River, Linley and Bebe would be easily discovered.

  “No, this route doesn’t work either.” Linley shook his head, negating another pathway he had just discovered. Sometimes, a pathway seemed promising, but after a hundred meters, spatial tears and chaotic space completely blocked it off, providing no chances for advancing.

  Linley and Bebe continued to search rapidly.

  “Boss, I found a path.” Bebe said in surprised delight.

  “Oh? Which one?” Linley couldn’t help but feel delighted.

  “Right over here. Look, follow this line, then there…take a big turn. The route after that is fairly clear.” Bebe said excitedly.

  Linley’s gaze quickly swept down and followed the route, all the way to the other end. He wanted to make sure this route was passable.

  “Let’s go.” Linley immediately gave the order.

  Tarrying too long in the center of the Stellar River would make it easy for those on the other side to find them. Generally speaking, the easiest time for others to discover and ambush you would be during the process of travelling from one shore to another.

  “Whoosh!” “Whoosh!”

  Two figures flashed through the Stellar Sea like bolts of lightning, occasionally curving and occasionally shooting forward, then curving again…in short, constantly dodging past one dangerous region after another.

  “Captain, look, over there! Two people.” On the other side of the shore, a group of soldiers had discovered Linley and Bebe, advancing at high speed.

  “Just two of them?” The leader, a silver-haired, sharp-eared, callous looking youth looked over, then gave the instructions. “These two definitely are commanders, or perhaps just one of them is. Let’s immediately move out, while at the same time…Second Bro, you go make the report to the Lord Commander. Should we let them go, or should we attack?”

  “Understood.”

  A figure left, flying at high speed.

  Linley and Bebe had no idea that there was a camp located right at the part of the shore they had selected as their destination. Unfortunately, the camp was blocked by a small hill, and so Linley and Bebe didn’t discover it at all. Linley and Bebe’s attention was completely focused on the dangerous path they were traversing, and didn’t realize at all that people in the distance were staring at them.

  “My brothers, all of you, step back. Don’t fight head on. The few dozen of us present won’t be able to stop them.” The silver-haired, sharp-eared youth instructed. “When the main army arrives or the Lord Commander arrives, then we’ll see.” They were nothing more than a small patrol of the camp, and were more than ten kilometers away from the headquarters.

  They were no fools. The few dozen of them, go fight head on against a commander-level expert? That would be suicide.

  If there were hundreds or a thousand of them present, then they might be confident.

  “They’ve almost arrived.” The soldiers stared. They had retreated long ago, drawing close to the tall grass close to the hill next to the headquarters.

  “The commander orders them to be killed!” The order from the commander came.

  “Brothers, let’s go!” The silver-haired, sharp-eared youth immediately shouted. It wasn’t just them, now; a large number of people had arrived from the main camp as w
ell.

  “Rumble…”

  The soldiers of the camp located in other areas had all come, and they too charged forward, attacking alongside the patrols. There were more than a thousand attacking soldiers.

  “Swoosh!” “Swoosh!” Linley and Bebe landed on the shore, moving lightning-fast.

  “Boss, there are people here! Many!” Bebe said, stunned. Linley now noticed as well that in the distant grassy area, a large number of figures had suddenly emerged and were moving towards them at high speed. At the same time, more than ten meters away, in the distance, there was a short tent, with other tents blocked by the hill. “Not good. This is an enemy camp. We need to hurry and leave.”

  Linley didn’t dare to hesitate, immediately fleeing alongside Bebe.

  “Attack!” The order came. There was nothing they could do; in terms of speed, these soldiers couldn’t compete with Linley and Bebe. If this continued, the distance would only grow greater and greater. It was better to immediately attack. With that order, instantly…

  “Rumble…”

  “BOOM!”

  All sorts of rays of light, translucent soul attacks, and other things shot forward at high speed, traversing the kilometers of distance and attacking Linley and Bebe.

  But Linley and Bebe fled very quickly as well.

  “Bang!” “Bang!”

  The various attacks rained down, covering Linley and Bebe. Multiple attacks landed on Linley and Bebe’s bodies.

  Within the exploding sounds, Linley and Bebe continued to flee quickly, soon disappearing from the field of vision of the pursuing soldiers.

  “Commander!” The thousand soldiers suddenly all turned and bowed towards a single person.

  This person was a man with long golden hair as brilliant as the sun, a face that was as white and pure as a woman’s, and who was dressed in a long golden robe. He casually glanced at them. “You let them escape?”

  “We didn’t catch up to them.” The military officer who gave the order to attack said.

  “If you didn’t catch up to them, then forget it. We were already quite lucky to even encounter them, given the close distance to the Stellar Sea and how fast commanders move. If we were able to so easily kill one or two commanders, then my luck would have been too great. Enough, let’s return!” The golden-haired commander laughed calmly as he gave his orders.