novelraw Chapter 404: Legend, nothing more than this
Chapter 404: Legend, nothing more than this
The Silent Plains, vast and desolate.
Only drought-resistant thorngrass grew from the hard ground, the wind howled and sighed, whipping up fine dust.
This place sat at the border between the central and southern Ser Wilderness, a natural arena for clan clashes and monster fights since ancient times, burying countless corpses.
Today, however, it would witness an even higher-level duel.
To the north of the plain, a pitch-black legion stood at attention.
Warriors of the Molten Iron Tribe formed a solid line.
Ogres in heavy armor wielding explosive great axes looked like a forest of steel; gnoll hunters' eyes gleamed like wolves, bows half-drawn; dragon-blooded wearing the first-stage dragon-forge modified scale armor reflected a cold sheen, dragon might and murderous intent mixed and shot toward the sky.
Above them in the air.
Huge dragon silhouettes spread their wings, casting shadows, low rumbles of dragon roars.
Amethyst Dragon Lion, holy spirit deer, phoenix and other liege beasts were arrayed at the front, their auras extraordinary.At the same time, every warrior’s gaze focused on the magnificent figure in the very center of the formation,
the Lord of Molten Iron, Garoth Ignas.
He stood at the forefront, his black-red scales fierce and intimidating, his bulk far larger than any other dragon behind him; merely standing there he resembled
an impassable mountain, radiating a suffocating pressure.
To the south of the plain, the Divine Kingdom of Theo’s legion waited in strict formation as well.
Their soldiers wore crisp armor, spears bristling like a forest, shield walls flashing cold metallic light.
Attached mages held staves, elemental auras swirling around them; alchemical golems’ heavy steps made the ground tremble.
Their lines were even more disciplined, marked by the order and severity of a civilized nation.
Yet every soldier, even the breathy commanders, showed an unmistakable thread of tension in their eyes.
Compared to the Molten Iron Tribe’s legion, they were far inferior in both numbers and quality; after all, they were not the kingdom’s main army, only accompanying and assisting the Sword Saint in wilderness affairs.
Still, when they saw the figure at the front line, that tension immediately faded.
Legendary Sword Saint, Unfinished Sword, Kailos.
He stood alone, a hundred meters in front of his legion.
Compared to the Lord of Molten Iron’s enormous body, his frame looked so tiny, clad only in simple light armor with a short cloak bearing a mountain-lion sigil, the Sun-Chaser sword hanging at his waist.
Yet just by standing there, he was the legion’s soul and blade.
His face was calm, eyes like polished gems, sharp and deep.
His aura was restrained, not as direct or overpowering as the Lord of Molten Iron’s, yet even the wind near him became meek and quiet, as if he himself occupied the center of the world.
Dragon and man locked eyes across thousands of meters, meeting in the air.
No sparks, no killing intent—only cold appraisal.
Kailos spoke first.
His voice was not loud, but it cut over the plain’s wind and reached far.
“Lord of Molten Iron, your direct challenge is... unexpected.”
“Indeed, it will save me much time.”
The Legendary Sword Saint smiled, looking supremely confident.
Across from him, the Lord of Molten Iron’s low dragon rumble rolled like distant thunder across the plain.
“The might of a legend—I have longed to test it. I hope you will not disappoint me.”
Those words also carried overwhelming confidence.
“You will soon find out.”
Kailos said, “For you to make me act personally, you have reason to pride yourself. Pity your throne ends today.”
The red iron dragon’s limbs sank slightly; he said no more, only regarding the human legend with cold focus.
A brief silence.
The atmosphere of both legions froze to a cutting point; everyone held their breath.
“It seems there is no need for further words.”
Kailos’ hand lightly rested on the Sun-Chaser’s hilt.
Almost the instant his fingers touched the hilt.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Like ancient war drums, like the rumble before a sleeping volcano awakens, heavy, oppressive heartbeats exploded from the red iron dragon’s chest, clearly reverberating across the plain; countless tiny arcs of golden electricity cracked across his black-red scales, leaping and surging.
At the same time, his already mighty muscles bulged anew.
The red iron dragon’s enormous body visibly expanded another circle, the earth beneath him unable to bear his weight, cracking inch by inch, great fissures spreading like a frenzied web.
Roar—!
He unleashed a sky-shattering roar; his massive wings slammed once and the ground collapsed.
His huge form shot into the sky, so fast that it left behind a lasting sonic boom cloud.
He did not immediately pounce on the Legendary Sword Saint; instead he spiraled at high speed in the air, his scales turning forge-red from friction, the red patterns on his body brightening, then flaring into blazing filaments that quickly spread over his skin, weaving into lotus-like crimson battle patterns.
He initiated his Crimson Lotus Form.
Rolls of dragon might mixed with scorching Heat Waves, pressing down over the world.
Kailos was the first to feel it, his expression growing serious.
He could clearly sense that the energy level and threat the dragon now emitted had already approached the Legend threshold, even surpassing some newly ascended Legendary beings in certain aspects!
“Sure enough, there’s more going on—stronger than that Fungus King.”
Kailos murmured inwardly, his legendary pride and Domain confidence keeping him steady.
“In a Domain, mundane strength has limits. It’s only a matter of time.”
He did not wait further; Sun-Chaser rang as it was drawn.
At that moment, Garoth moved!
His wings suddenly unfurled, red light flashing, revealing a terrifying wingspan over a hundred meters.
Then his dragon-qi great wings folded inward, wrapping his massive form.
Like a crimson meteor falling from the sky, the red iron dragon dove at an almost visually untrackable speed toward the ground and Kailos, trailing a long streak of searing tail-fire.
Faced with this catastrophic strike, Kailos’ pupils tightened.
The Kaleidoscopic Sword Domain—deployed!
Endless dazzling sword lights flowed like a galaxy; without hesitation he activated his Domain.
The next second, the meteor slammed into the Domain.
Boom—!!!
An indescribable, terrifying blast erupted.
The impact point flared brighter than the sun; the violent shockwave spread in rings, tearing thorngrass from the ground and hurling it skyward, gouging the earth, causing layer upon layer of collapse.
Far away, the front-line soldiers of both legions staggered under the shock.
Under the dragon’s impact, the Sword Saint’s small frame was pressed into the collapsing earth.
His Domain shuddered violently, its light flickering.
Countless ripples formed across it like raindrops on a lake surface.
Cracks even began to appear!
Although those fissures nearly instantaneously resealed, his Domain had been ruptured by a creature below the Legend threshold?
It was brief, but beyond his expectation.
Meanwhile, Garoth’s assault did not end.
The surrounding soil and rocks could not hinder his moves.
His massive body twisted, his red wings fully spread; the blade-like wing bones vibrated at high frequency, like divine weapons tearing the earth, slashing toward the Domain’s light barrier with a merciless edge.
Screeeech!
An ear-splitting sound of energy tearing rent the air.
The red iron dragon’s wing-blades collided with the Domain, spitting countless sparks.
The Kaleidoscopic Sword Domain rocked violently, ripples forming across its light wall; an even clearer, larger crack opened, unable to fully close for a time.
Kailos’ brow tightened.
The pressure fed back by the Domain exceeded his expectations.
He dropped all frivolity; his gaze grew sharper than ever.
“Danger!”
The red iron dragon’s pupils contracted suddenly; his wings beat fiercely, his massive form pivoting and vaulting into the sky.
Whoosh!
A streak of sword light cut through dust and debris, piercing the sky.
Garoth had already ignited Face of the Self, his perception and reaction pushed to the limit, yet even so the sword light left a deep cut on him.
However.
The wound’s dragon blood had barely flowed before it burst into flame, turning into a black-red high-density blaze, adding a savage aura to the red iron dragon.
After this probing clash, the true battle began.
Kailos grew utterly serious.
He swung his sword; brilliant blade-light sliced through the air toward the red iron dragon.
The dragon turned its right wing to parry, diverting the blow.
At that instant, the Sword Saint’s body on the surface vanished; the sword-light that had crossed Garoth’s blade froze, revealing the Sword Saint’s corporeal form.
Sword-teleportation—he could instantly teleport to a predetermined sword-light position.
Kailos’ gaze sharpened; the Sun-Chaser spat dozens of meters’ worth of blade-light, slashing toward the red iron dragon’s nape as if to behead him.
Garoth’s reflexes were extremely fast; he dodged, but Kailos’ attack was so swift it still struck his back, splitting scales and leaving a bone-deep wound.
“To think my defense still couldn’t fully stop that, that almost cut to the bone.”
“Legends truly are powerful.”
The red iron dragon felt sober inside, more blaze igniting on his body.
Unknown to him, Kailos’ heart was even graver.
“Did that single strike only cut scales and flesh?”
Garoth’s defense strength was hard for Kailos to believe.
He was a Sword Saint; his attack carried peerless edge. That last sword should have at least shattered ribs, if not bisected the dragon. The result was unacceptable.
His eyes flickered; a flash of sword-light passed through his pupils.
At the same time, across the red iron dragon’s body, lines appeared that only Kailos could see.
Weakness Insight—the Sword Saint could perceive weak points and penetrate defenses.
This was a key skill of the Sword Saint Path, allowing partial penetration of a target’s defense. When a Sword Saint ascended to Legend, Weakness Insight evolved so that hitting a weak point could almost ignore defenses and deal decisive damage.
Now, Garoth had few weak points, most of them fleeting.
But for the Sword Saint, that was enough; he could sharply detect every weakness change.
“Your body is very strong, beyond expectation.”
“But every one of my swords can wound you. How many swords can you withstand?”
As he spoke, Kailos flicked his wrist; Sun-Chaser’s blade instantly released hundreds of sword-lights, converging on the red iron dragon.
However, as they drew near, they did not strike; instead they whirled rapidly around him.
Meanwhile the Sword Saint’s body teleported among those blade-lights, closing to Garoth to strike.
Each slash was cunning and vicious, aiming at scale seams, joint connections, the nodes where dragon-qi flowed—weak points an ordinary foe would not consider, but under Weakness Insight became openings.
!!
Wounds kept appearing across Garoth’s vast body.
Legs, shoulders, even the side of the neck, the faceplate—each cut deep enough to see bone.
His proud defense looked fragile before the Legendary Sword Saint.
Northern legion warriors watched in horror; the dragon flock roared anxiously, while the southern legion’s morale surged, convinced the scales of victory were tipping.
Yet Garoth never showed weakness.
Dragon-blood flowed, became flaming qi, then he reabsorbed it into his body, converting it back into blood.
During this process his aura did drop, but only a little.
Kailos had used suppression of regeneration, but Garoth’s blood-to-qi conversion was not ordinary regeneration; the Sword Saint’s suppression had minimal effect.
At the same time, Garoth launched ferocious counterattacks.
His wings beat wildly, leaving countless afterimages in the sky.
He had already shown a four-armed form, attacks raging, four arms, wings, talons, tail—every strike upon Kailos’ Domain birthed fresh cracks.
Especially his wings.
They were true weapons.
Not only sources of speed and impact, they seemed two giant unbreakable blades, sometimes slashing like heavenly knives, carving great fissures in the Sword Saint’s Domain, sometimes guarding like bulwarks to block blade-light; even when torn they rapidly repaired with surges of dragon-qi.
Before this, Kailos had never heard of a dragon developing wings to such a degree.
But even now he remained calm.
“This creature is in some sort of burst state; it can’t hold forever.”
“Now it only resists stubbornly.”
Kailos believed the advantage remained with him.
As time passed, the fight turned into a brutal war of attrition.
The Unfinished Sword and the Lord of Molten Iron fought from ground to sky and back again, leaving devastation in their wake.
Kailos, with his unanswerable Domain and peerless swordsmanship, kept adding wounds to the red iron dragon.
Garoth relied on Crimson Lotus Form’s terrifying power and defense, the extreme mobility of dragon-qi wings, and the blood-conversion granting staggering stamina and recovery to withstand the Sword Saint and seek counterattacks.
After a while,
Garoth’s body was covered in blood, blazing qi enveloping him, surging and burning; Kailos, by contrast, showed no outward change—no wounds, not even a speck of dust.
But only Kailos knew how much he’d spent; his energy was already nearly halved.
A Domain that powerful did not run without cost, and among Legends the Sword Saint was not known for prolonged battles.
He was no longer fully tanking Garoth’s attacks, choosing selective evasion.
Yet Kailos showed no sign of wanting to stop.
With a Domain active, he stood unbeatably—he only had to watch his consumption.
Screeeech!
He wielded Sun-Chaser, locked onto a weak point; blade-light sliced across the red iron dragon’s right neck, leaving a deep bone-visible wound.
Garoth’s counterstrike came at once: his bulk twisted, right wing bursting into roaring flame, slamming against the Sword Saint’s Domain.
Cracks multiplied; the Domain faltered.
Kailos used offense as defense, eyes cold, striking again.
Brilliant blade-light tore the air and pierced Garoth’s scales, leaving several deep blood holes.
Garoth roared, ignoring the new wounds, gaped his jaws and expelled a maximally concentrated Destruction Breath, hammering the Domain.
Crack... a dense fracturing sound rang.
A gap more obvious than any previous crack opened in the Domain.
The Destruction Breath pressed the Domain back meters; the breath burned into it, incinerating a corner of the Sword Saint’s clothing to ash and turning a lock of his hair to dust.
Though the breath was quickly dissipated and the Domain’s cracks rapidly mended,
this was undeniably a dangerous signal.
Kailos’ eyes turned utterly icy.
He realized he could not keep stalling.
This red iron dragon’s tenacity exceeded any opponent in his campaign life; its toughness, recovery, and offense reached a baffling level.
He already treated it as a Legendary.
“I must finish this quickly!”
“Otherwise he will wear me down to death.”
“His state looks like a burst, but its duration is far too long; I can’t see its limit.”
Kailos inhaled deeply.
His Domain flared; countless sword-lights converged on Sun-Chaser, sharpening its edge to a brightness harsher than the sun; those edges were highly compressed into a single point on the blade that radiated an unstoppable feel.
This was an overtaxed, life-draining Domain technique.
With this strike, Kailos would shorten his life by at least twenty years, so he reserved such a move unless absolutely necessary.
Until now he never imagined a non-Legend creature could drive him to such lengths.
“Dying by my sword will be your honor.”
Kailos’ voice went cold; the blade’s glare grew blinding, surrounding space cracking like mirrors shattering.
He had not yet struck,
but countless sword-qi already sprouted around the red iron dragon, leaving shallow, uneven scars on him.
Garoth’s gaze grew solemn.
He knew it was time to show his trump card.
No more reserve.
Victory might come in the next instant.
The red iron dragon raised his head slightly; space in his gastric pouch’s storage item lit up—nine bottles of different magical medicine appeared and shattered at once.
At the same time, streams of golden light flew out from his open mouth and then reattached to him.
Boom!
Garoth beat his wings and lunged at the Sword Saint.
The nine-fold magical medicine in his body transformed into ferocious energy, like pouring oil on fire.
The Crimson Lotus patterns on his skin instantly boiled, their hue shifting from blazing red to a deeper, more regal dark gold! Dark-gold flames spat from the seams of his scales.
At the same time, armor completed forming over him.
“Cang—Yi—Tian—Yi...—one! Da—Yi—Di—Yi—...—only I—alone—one—venerated!”
The red iron dragon roared, shouting the full command to fully activate the armor.
Crackle!
All the runes lit, golden light wrapped him, turning him almost into a blazing sun.
Power!
The sense of crushing and ruling everything filled his body!
Time seemed to slow.
Kailos’ pupils constricted, an ice-cold alarm dousing his head.
He roared; the Kaleidoscopic Sword Domain flared massively, the blade’s edge condensed to an unprecedented apex.
Sun-Chaser!
The Sword Saint thrust with deceptive slowness yet extreme speed.
The tip’s glare moved like no other, piercing the dragon’s sun-blazing silhouette, penetrating its armor, scales, flesh, bone... driving clean through and leaving a hole front-to-back.
Sensing the strike land,
a slight smile tugged at the Sword Saint’s mouth.
He would win after all...huh?
The golden sun in his sight showed no slowing; dragon might melted the sky, already almost upon him.
Black-red fire flamed inside the blood-hole; Garoth roared and lunged at the Sword Saint, claws raised.
“Break it!”
Garoth poured everything into his right claw—the most direct, brutal force—and then slammed it toward the brilliant, resilient Legendary Domain ahead!
In front of the talon, space bent like a dented mirror, showing unnatural collapse.
“A dragon has a Domain; I am invincible!”
Kailos fueled the Domain with energy and even his own life to sustain it.
Under all eyes, the red iron dragon’s talon and the Domain condensed to the utmost collided again.
There was no explosion, only a crisp sound that chilled the heart.
Crack—!!!
In Kailos’ disbelief, the supposedly absolute, unbreakable Domain was shattered by Garoth’s explosive talon, from the front, in the most brutal manner—completely, utterly—smashed to pieces!
Like glass struck by a heavy hammer, his Domain collapsed.
Whether the wild warriors of the Molten Iron Tribe or the disciplined troops of the Divine Kingdom of Theo, all eyes that witnessed this were struck dumb with shock.
A Legendary Domain... had been obliterated by raw force!
It overturned all assumptions!
“Perverted, too perverted!”
“Is Garoth even a dragon? Or some godly abomination wearing dragon-skin?!”
Even allied Gold Dragons felt stupefied.
At the same moment, Kailos had not yet regained his footing when the sky over him darkened; after the Lord of Molten Iron shattered the Domain, the talon descended like a cage.
A cascade of swords reversed!
Kailos roared; Sun-Chaser rose and countless blade-lights counter-rushed, trying to tear the talon apart.
Garoth’s talon paused only slightly; flames bloomed across it, then it struck down with unstoppable momentum.
Crack!
Another crisp sound rang; Kailos’ Sun-Chaser shattered.
Yet the dragon’s assault continued wild, its talon forcing the Sword Saint’s body to the ground in a straight plunge.
Boom!
The earth rolled and bulged like waves; a massive deep pit appeared on the plain, Kailos pressed at the center bottom.
“Heavenly—human!!”
The southern legion erupted in alarm; countless cried out, trying to rush to rescue, but the Molten Iron legion’s roar and dragon rumbles blocked them, they dared not move rashly.
At the pit’s center.
The Lord of Molten Iron spread his wings, dispersing the dust.
He slowly lifted his talon; the Sword Saint’s body was gone, replaced only by a humanoid mound of ash.
Earlier, the Sword Saint had left innumerable wounds on the red iron dragon, but at the crucial moment Garoth’s single strike completely killed him.
The Unfinished Sword... broken before completion.
“Legends, after all, are only so much.”
Garoth slowly exhaled, finally arriving at a clear self-understanding.
Before this, he had overestimated a legend’s strength, or rather, underestimated his own might.
In this fight he had used the Dragon Pearl, but had not yet entered Rage State; even without the nine-fold magical medicine or the armor, he could have beaten a legend.
Though an overly cautious opponent would be hard to kill.
Garoth drew a deep breath, reabsorbing the blazing qi into his body where it turned back into blood, stabilizing his wounds.
Though he still looked battered, the red iron dragon’s ferocity remained undiminished.
Then he flicked his wings and rose into the sky; the Legendary Sword Saint lay forever in the earth below.
The entire plain fell into silence; the human legion’s morale dropped to freezing point, while countless roars and dragon rumbles erupted, celebrating their lord.