Chapter 118: Unexpected Breakthroughs

Two pairs of claws sliced through the air, producing razor-sharp winds that whipped towards Ray with speed so incredible a Bronze Ranker couldn’t possibly outrun them, not that Ray had any intention to.

Furthermore, if he wanted to, he could easily dodge them with Lightning Step, but it cost a lot of stamina, and stamina was something he didn’t have much of.

So, he settled on canceling them out with the Azure Wind Skill.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

With a thought, dozens of Azure Blades formed around him, quickly shooting forward to meet the enemies’ attacks head-on.

Violent shockwaves that sent swamp water spraying in every direction burst out as the Azure Blades collided with the razor-sharp winds.

When the commotion died down, it was revealed that neither side had come out on top. Their attacks had canceled each other out!

Ray sported a smug smile on his face as he spoke,

“What you can do, I can also do. It looks like you have no advantage over me.”

“What’s there to be smug about?”

“Human brat, we are evenly matched!”

The Demonized Flying Lizards spoke one after another in retort.

“Evenly matched?” Ray scoffed. “Keep thinking like that. It’ll make it easier to end you.”

“Who are you thinking of killing?!”

The two Demonized Flying Lizards roared and charged towards him, murduorus intention gleaming in their eyes. They’ve totally forgotten about their main purpose behind seeking him out.

Ray watched them come evenly as one fiery wisp after another blasted into existence around him.

In total, twelve fiery wisps formed.

With four wisps enough to create a fireball, a total of tgree fireballs were created.

These fireballs radiated fierce, pulsing heat, resulting in such a great increase in temperature around him that the swamp water below began steaming violently.

As soon as the fireballs fully formed, Ray flicked his wrist sharply.

Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!

The fireballs hurtled through the air, blasting toward the incoming Demonized Flying Lizards like miniature suns streaking through the mist.

The two Demonized Flying Lizards didn’t even bother dodging.

“Fool! Fire won’t work on us! We breathe fire for a living, and you expect to harm us with the thing we can give birth to?! Your ignorance is laughable!”

Their laughter echoed in the air as they decided to go through the fireballs to get to Ray faster, but when the heat of the fireballs reached them, their expressions twisted in shock.

The flames were far hotter than what they were used to dealing with. They might not come out of it uninjured!

By then, it was already too late to backtrack.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The Level 2 Fireballs detonated directly against their faces, bathing the swamp in a blinding surge of orange-red light.

The noises produced by the explosions were deafening, and the blastwaves that rippled outward from the point of impact turned trees into splinters and flattened the surrounding fog in an expanding ring.

Everything inside that ring became as visible as day. Everything outside of it was obscured by a dense layer of mist.

Graggghhhh!

The Demonized Flying Lizards writhed in pain as high-temperature flames that could melt even copper like butter melted half of their faces and latched onto their bodies like leeches.

The terrifying flames spread across their bodies. Soon, they were wholly engulfed in Ray’s Level 2 Flames.

He watched with a cold gaze as their scales melted away, dripping like liquidised metal from their bodies.

With the natural layer of defense they were so proud of gone, their flesh started to face the disastrous might of flames gotten than 2000° celcius.

“SKREEEE!!”

They retreated. Ray was too much for them to handle.

He immediately gave chase.

Seeing him come after them, they took flight.

Normally, only hunters above the bronze rank could fly. So, they believed they would be able to get away, but things went in an entirely different direction than their expectations as Ray used the Fire Dragon Magic skill to propel himself into the air by blasting fire out of his boots,

Seeing him fly closer and closer every second, their hopeful expression fell, replaced by despair.

“Die!”

A single thought for him gave birth to several Level 2 Fireballs. With a flick of his wrist, they launched all at once towards the retreating demonic beasts, leaving trails of flaming vapor that twisted through the air in their wake.

Before the two demonic beasts could respond to the vicious assault, the Level 2 Fireballs made contact with their vulnerable backs.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The swamp erupted in another series of detonations. The explosions overlapped, merging into a blinding inferno.

The Demonized Flying Lizards didn’t even get the chance before they were killed.

Their burning corpses fell from the sky and crashed into the swamp bed, sending geysers of boiling water and black smoke shooting into the air.

♦️ “You have killed two Demonized Flying Lizards.”

♦️ “You have gained +200,000 EXP.”

♦️ “You have gained an additional +100,000 EXP for defeating enemies one major and four minor realms above you.”

The notifications that rang out confirmed their death.

He have won. This battle was over.

Ray let out the breath he didn’t know he was holding, relaxing.

Ray landed next to the burning corpses.

The reason he chased and hunted them down was simple. He wanted to absorb their memories to gain a clearer understanding of the overall picture!

Who had sent them here? Were the Demonized Flying Lizards acting on their own, or was there someone else pulling the strings from the shadows? And if so, who was it?

Each question carried weight, and each answer would help him piece together the invisible web of schemes tightening around him.

And all these questions would be answered once he used the Devour skill on them.

With a thought, he snuffed out the flames consuming the corpses. The Fire Dragon Magic granted him full control over every flame he summoned into existence, making it possible for him to extinguish them instantly after making use of them to kill his enemies.

When the flames subsided, what remained of the two Demonized Flying Lizards were nothing but two badly charred husks, their forms still faintly smoking and reeking of the nasty smell of burnt flesh.

Ray’s pupils thinned as he saw something that left him breathless.

His breath hitched in his throat when he saw faint light shimmering from within the charred remains.

“Could it be???”

Without hesitation, he crouched beside the corpses and dug his fingers into the burnt flesh. His fingertips gleamed faintly with a metallic sheen, having been metallized through the Fortification Skill, making them as sharp and durable as blades and safe to put into the charred and incredibly hot remains of the Demonized Flying Lizards.

After a few seconds of scraping through the carbonized remains, he extracted a crystal from each corpse.

They were similar in shape to Level 1 Soul Crystals, but their color was entirely different.

They radiated a deep bronze-gold light.

These were level 2 soul crystals!

Each of them contained astonishing power, enough for a Bronze Ranker to make a minor breakthrough, and if a Peak Iron Ranker were to absorb one, they could ascend directly into the Bronze Rank Realm.

There were two of them.

Ray’s lips curled slightly. Simply by absorbing both, he could leap from Peak Iron Rank straight to the Intermediate Stage of Bronze Rank.

He immediately put one in his mouth.

♦️ You have consumed a Level 2 Soul Crystal.

♦️ The rank of your soul has upgraded.

♦️ Your soul has upgraded into a Bronze Soul. You have reached the initial stage bronze rank.

♦️ Your soul quality has increased from 430 → 1,290.

♦️ Your Magic Power Capacity has increased from 5,000 → 17,900.

♦️ Your Magic Power Recovery Rate has increased from 30 units per second to 50 units per second.

Ray was incredibly happy. After all, he had never expected he would reach the Bronze Rank this way. He had always thought he would need to win the Blue Spirit Fruit with 50 thousand Enlightenment Points to achieve it.

Now his soul was greater than that of average peak Bronze Rankers, but it was still less than the average Initial Stage Silver Rankers. But one more breakthrough would be enough to push the quality of his soul beyond the average Initial Stage Silver Rankers, and then he might end up developing more another characteristics unique to high rankers.

And he had the resources to chase after such a lofty goal.

♦️ You have consumed a Level 2 Soul Crystal.

♦️ You have advanced to the intermediate stage bronze rank.

♦️ Your soul quality has increased to 3,870.

♦️ Your Magic Power Capacity has increased to 53,700.

♦️ Your Magic Power Recovery Rate has increased to 75.

♦️ Your soul has reached a level of saturation unique to Silver Souls.

♦️ Your soul has developed the characteristics unique to high tier souls.

♦️ It now emits a radiation capable of converting a thousand units of Magic Power into a single unit of Soul Force.

♦️ Your Magic Power is being converted into Soul Force under the radiation of your Bronze Soul.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep