Chapter 885: A Flight of Humerus Wyrms
The Mithril Alliance consisted of five major families, so their expedition team was a bit larger in size compared to the other three factions. However, due to the fact that they didn’t possess any Life Potions to heal their wounded fast, their fighting strength was now less than half compared to their full strength. Thus, the two consecutive battles caused the greatest harm to them out of the four factions. Now, they were almost equal to the other factions in terms of numbers, but couldn’t match them in terms of power.
Claus could totally imagine how it would’ve looked like for the Caesar Family if he hadn’t gotten the Life Potions from Lin Li. The damage from the battle just now would have been so immense that his faction would be forced to quit this expedition.
No matter what, the expedition would still continue forward. Although they had encountered two consecutive battles, signifying the dangers lying in this valley, no one could resist the temptation of the immense benefits this mausoleum could possibly bring.
Strangely, the team didn’t encounter any obstacles along the way after that, but no one knew whether this stillness was a good thing or not. The team’s anxiety was finally relieved a little after they had seen the mausoleum appearing in the Warlock’s Eyes.
Seeing that the team was almost reaching the mausoleum, Lin Li didn’t order the team to speed up. Instead, he told everyone to be extra vigilant and slowed down.
Since the Tower of Dusk’s team had slowed down, the teams following them naturally slowed too. Hoffman knew that Lin Li had his reasons for doing this, so he ordered the same for the Glittergold Trade Union’s team without any questions or complaints. However, Joseph and other leaders from the Mithril Alliance were unhappy with this. The target was so close and there wasn’t any danger in sight. Why did the Tower of Dusk slow down now?
Joseph couldn’t help coming to the front and asked Lin Li, “President Felic, why did you suddenly slow down?”
“Patriarch Joseph, don’t you think it’s a little too quiet along the way?” Lin Li didn’t have any intention of inviting Joseph for a conversation.
“What’s wrong with being quiet? We’ve just had two battles, do you want another one—” Before Joseph could finish his sentence, wind gushed through the valley wildly, making him stop in the middle of his sentence. Although this was a valley, it was impossible for such strong wind to exist—it was an underground valley, after all. As such, clearly something was coming.
“You see, some things will happen even if you don’t wish for it to happen.” Lin Li raised his Helios’ Scepter, and pointed it towards the sky not too far from where they were standing.
By then, everyone saw a large flight of Humerus Wyrms in the direction Lin Li was pointing to. These Wyrms were flying towards the team, and there seemed to be hundreds of them. Could they be the Humerus Wyrm Legion mentioned in Caleross’ diary? Everyone thought of the contents in the few pages of Caleross’ diary at that moment.
Seeing that the situation had taken a turn, Joseph didn’t have time to ask Lin Li any more questions. He flew towards his faction’s team instantly to make arrangements for the tough battle to come.
As the most powerful presence out of all Undead creatures, each Humerus Wyrm possessed at least level-20 power. The Skeletal Behemoths and Ghost Behemoths were no match for the Humerus Wyrms. Nobody knew how long these Humerus Wyrms had been in Prince Brahere’s mausoleum. Thus, their abilities would most likely be more than level-20.
To make matters worse, there was one Humerus Wyrm whose body was evidently larger than the others’. This Humerus Wyrm also released icy-cold aura that seemed to seep into one’s bones. With the presence of this Humerus Wyrm, the temperature in the valley dropped into negative. Every member of the expedition felt as if their soul was going to be frozen too.
Lin Li could clearly feel that the aura this giant Humerus Wyrm released contained not only the unique scent of Undead creatures, but also a blood-freezing coldness.
Caleross had mentioned in the research log that the Humerus Wyrm Legion they created was difficult to control. Thus, a king-level Humerus Wyrm was required to act as the alpha of the legion. It seemed like this Humerus Wyrm with an icy-cold aura was likely to be the head of the Humerus Wyrm Legion Caleross had mentioned.
However, this Humerus Wyrm gave Lin Li the feeling that it wasn’t just a king-level wyrm. After all, Lin Li had seen quite a number of Humerus Wyrms before, including the king-level ones. One of the three Skeletal Lords of the Shadowglen was a king-level Humerus Wyrm, not to mention that his own Humerus Crimson Dragon could also be considered king-level. However, neither of these Humerus Wyrms were on par with the Humerus Wyrm he was seeing now.
Feeling its icy cold aura, Lin Li suddenly thought the few pages of the diary Elvis had shown him during the negotiation with the Mithril Alliance. Didn’t Brahere mention capturing an Iceblast Wyrm?
Thinking about this, Lin Li felt a cold chill running down his spine. If this Humerus Wyrm was really the Iceblast Wyrm Brahere had mentioned, this battle would be more than a tough fight!
“Iceblast Wyrm Sindera! Impossible! How can he be here?”
Just as Lin Li was thinking about the origins of this Humerus Wyrm leader, Connoris suddenly exclaimed in shock beside him.
Connoris’ words made Lin Li recall some information he had seen before. After he had left the Big Crack in the Eternal Darkness Altar, he had searched for information about the ancient dragons in order to better understand Flame Dragon Lothar. Although he didn’t find a lot of information, and its credibility couldn’t be confirmed, most of the legends regarding Flame Dragon Lothar contained another name—Iceblast Wyrm Sindera.
In some legends, Iceblast Wyrm Sindera and Flame Dragon Lothar were foes. Other than the battle with the Titans, these two dragons would engage in earth-shaking fights every time they encountered each other. In other legends, however, these two dragons were the closest of friends. They were the best partners during the battle with the Titans. No matter how true these legends were, the thing that could be confirmed was that Iceblast Wyrm Sindera was an entity as terrifying as Flame Dragon Lothar.
Lin Li was clear how terrifying a wyrm with the same level of power as Flame Dragon Lothar would be. Back at the Big Crack, even two Sanctuary-realm powerhouses, Rogge and Nefa, were powerless in the face of Flame Dragon Lothar. Since Iceblast Wyrm Sindera had the same level as Flame Dragon Lothar, its power would certainly be very high even though it had been turned into a Humerus Wyrm.
“Angelano, you have to depend on yourself now. I probably won’t have the ability to protect you anymore,” Lin Li said helplessly to the goblin hiding behind him. The hundreds of Humerus Wyrms, with a leader that was likely to be Iceblast Wyrm Sindera, made Lin Li unsure about whether he even had a chance in a battle where the difference in abilities was so great, let alone room to take care of others.
Lin Li wasn’t the only one who felt this way. Everyone who had seen the flight of Humerus Wyrms, together with its leader that appeared unusually powerful, would bear ominous feelings about the fate of the expedition. Although this expedition team was rather strong in terms of abilities, its enemy now was a flight of 100-odd Humerus Wyrms, each at least in the Legendary-level. Not to mention exploring the mausoleum, it was uncertain if they could even escape.
The wyrm leader at the center had made the team feel its crushing aura from so far away. It felt as if the sky was slowly sinking down. Even the most powerful Legendary powerhouses in the expedition team felt a sense of helplessness before the battle started.
All the leaders from the four factions had seen Caleross’ and Brahere’s diary, and confirmed the relationship between these two during the discussion. Thus, they were somewhat mentally prepared for the Iceblast Wyrm to appear in the mausoleum. This was the exact reason why these four factions could come to a consensus and put down their personal grudges to merge two expedition teams into one.
They didn’t know how strong the Iceblast Wyrm exactly was. After all, the end of the prehistoric times and start of the Dark Age marked the decline of the ancient dragons and Titans, and they had completely faded into history. By the time Prince Brahere left the dairy, there were already very few legends about the true ancient dragons circulating around. In the pages of Brahere’s diary which the Mithril Alliance held, Prince Brahere used an extremely calm and matter-of-factly tone to write about the Iceblast Wyrm, making it impossible for people to have any grandiose idea of it. Thus, almost everyone thought that the Iceblast Wyrm Prince Brahere had mentioned in his diary was most likely a direct descendant of the ancient Iceblast Wyrm.
However, while the legion was still quite a distance from the team, the Iceblast Wyrm that acted as the leader of the Humerus Wyrm Legion appeared much stronger than they had expected. Other than the Legendary powerhouses who could barely withstand its suppressive aura, the rest felt difficulty even standing up straight.
By then, the Legendary powerhouses had realized that their speculations about the Iceblast Wyrm were too naive. Could it be that this Iceblast Wyrm leader was really the legendary ancient Iceblast Wyrm that had ruled the skies of Anril? While it seemed rather shocking, they couldn’t think of any other explanations for this extraordinary aura the Iceblast Wyrm had released.
There was a huge difference in terms of abilities between true ancient dragons and their direct descendants. While their direct descendants possessed powers unmatched by the wyrms present in Anril today, only the best could step into the Sanctuary-realm. On the other hand, ancient dragons possessed Legendary-level abilities when they were born, making it easy for them to reach the Sanctuary-realm in adulthood. This made them the most powerful presence in the world.
If it was just an ordinary Sanctuary-level wyrm, the expedition still stood a chance against it given the numerous Legendary powerhouses in the team. However, if it was a true ancient dragon that matched the power of gods, the team would likely perish unless there were true Sanctuary powerhouses in the team.
“Master Felic, the situation isn’t looking good now. Do you have any way…” Hoffman ordered Thomas to take care of the team and hurried towards Lin Li. Seeing the approaching Humerus Wyrm Legion, inconcealable worry and anxiety loomed over Hoffman’s face, and his voice was trembling slightly.
“It’s too late to retreat now. Other than battle, we have no other way,” Lin Li replied bitterly, looking into the distance while grasping his Helios’ Scepter so tight that his fingers went pale.
“Unless we have a Sanctuary powerhouse here, even if we give our all…” Joseph and Claus came to the front of the team too, and stood beside Lin Li and Hoffman. In the face of the ancient dragon’s suppressive aura, no one had the energy to care about their past grudges anymore.
A Sanctuary powerhouse? Lin Li laughed bitterly in his heart. If they could deal with the Iceblast Wyrm with a Sanctuary powerhouse, would he need to be so worried here? With his abilities at the peak of Legendary-level, coupled with the seven pieces of the debris of the stars, he might still stand a chance when battling an ordinary Sanctuary powerhouse. However, if his opponent was the legendary Iceblast Wyrm Sindera that had the same level of power as Flame Dragon Lothar, how could a Sanctuary powerhouse compare?
Ancient dragons possessed the power of the world’s origin when they were born. Thus, they didn’t need to realize any World Rules like human or High Elven mages. It was as natural as heartbeat for them to control the power of the world’s origin derived from the fundamental Rules of the world. This was the reason why these ancient dragons possessed Legendary-level abilities since birth, and were able to grasp the purest form of nomological power when they had successfully reached the Sanctuary-realm in adulthood.
Out of all the ancient dragons, the Flame Dragons that possessed fire element Rules and the Iceblast Wyrms that possessed water element Rules were the strongest species. Flame Dragon Lothar and Iceblast Wyrm Sindera were the best in their respective species. Both had already reached the peak of Sanctuary-realm, and were halfway into divinity. Their power was probably only lower than that of the five Dragon Aspects.
Such a powerful opponent would definitely not be defeated by just one or two ordinary Sanctuary powerhouses. Even Sanctuary powerhouses who were at the same level could probably only guarantee their survival when battling Iceblast Wyrm Sindera.