Chapter 33 – Withered Wood, Dragon’s Roar > (II)
Ye Yin Zhu’s eight fingers moved at the same time. A clear, chilling, bloodthirst brimming zither melody gracefully emerged from his fingertips. Every simple note now resembled the downcast sobbing of a dragon, touching the soul with its sorrow that spread far and wide to affect everyone present.
Focusing the spiritual forces of forty mages, a qualitative change finally happened at this exact moment. The deep yellow radiance disappeared and was replaced with a layer of faint violet light. Unfortunately, because the mages beside Ye Yin Zhu were releasing their spiritual forces in vast quantities, they were currently unable to sense the change in Ye Yin Zhu. If not, they would certainly be astounded to see a miraculous ascension from Yellow Rank to Violet Rank.
That was right! Violet Rank, which was the most powerful rank on the continent.
Ye Yin Zhu suddenly opened his eyes, an electrifying, deep violet light shooting outward from his two black eyes. At this moment, however, his eyes were no longer clear and graceful; in fact, within his irises, only a chilling, lethal light remained.
Sura was frightened.
Fisichella was frightened.
They were both frightened because of the incomparably vast desire to murder emitting from Ye Yin Zhu’s body.
The Zither Sect cultivated the zither; the system was divided into three major ranks with twenty-seven levels, the latter part matching the Rainbow Ranking System’s twenty-seven levels. Upon entering the Violet Rank, there wouldn’t be a disparity in magical strength between the Zither Sect and Rainbow Ranking System. To Ye Yin Zhu, these three major ranks were divided into the Pure Zither Heart, Courageous Zither Heart, and Profound Violet Zither Heart. At this moment, he was focusing the spiritual forces of forty mages which initialized a fundamental change within himself. He transcended past the Courageous Zither Heart and directly into the Profound Violet Zither Heart Realm. The Profound Violet Zither Heart also had another name, which was—Zither Heart of Slaughter.
Atop the city walls, if any of them were clear-headed, they would, without exception, be stupefied by the scene happening before them. A ring of violet light surrounded Ye Yin Zhu. In this moment, he seemed to have become the center of the entire world.
The beastmen forgot to attack.
The Dragon Cavalry Knights felt panicked.
At this moment, listening to that gradually quickening, gradually chilling and bloodthirsty zither music, both sides seemed to forget about the enemy opposite them.
Perkins sucked in a breath of cool air. “Violet Rank Great Magister, the peak of strength amongst the humans.”
Dis bellowed, “What are we waiting for? Get me to the top. Don’t tell me we’re waiting for him to finish his magic spell before we attack?” At his bellow, the beastmen legion finally began to move. But except for the Behemoths, the Apemen, Tigermen, and Leopardmen’s speed had clearly slowed down significantly. This was because they could feel the dense pressure within the air, one that came from the powerful pressure of dragons.
At this moment, Ye Yin Zhu’s mind could not fully control his magic. The ascension to the Profound Zither Heart Realm had actually destabilized his control. His dark eyes flickered with a tremendous desire to slaughter the heavens and earth. The eight fingers that moved across the Withered Wood, Dragon’s Roar Zither transformed into a phantom.
Within the zither music, the clear and chilling tones completely disappeared. All that remained was the bloodthirst.
Fisichella glanced at Ye Yin Zhu and, with difficulty, suppressed the fear in his heart. Concentrating all of his dou qi, he nearly shouted himself hoarse. “Milan soldiers! Abandon the dragons and retreat!” Yelling this line was precisely the task Ye Yin Zhu had assigned him.
When they heard his first shout, the Dragon Cavalry woke from the stupor the zither music had placed them in. When he shouted the second command, everyone was able to clearly hear it. At this moment, as the strongest amongst the human species, the Dragon Cavalry Knights could feel a tremendous change occurring within their dragon mounts. The dragons’ bodies unexpectedly expanded. That was right; they expanded. The dragons regained their breaths, but their breathing became several times heavier than normal. Their low roars resembled the rumble that preceded an approaching rainstorm.
The beastmen army were already dashing forward, and the three beastmen races, in a pair of wing formations, pincer attacked the Dragon Cavalry. The Behemoths advanced with heavy steps, the rumbling resembling a meat grinder. Oliveira could already see the intense, bloodthirsty light within the Gold Behemoths’ eyes.
Abandon the dragons? And then, without a moment to spare, renounce any resistance? The beastmen had already arrived!
At this moment, Oliveira’s potential to become a famous general in the future emerged. With a clear head, he connected Ye Yin Zhu’s final warning before he left with the current situation and reacted quickly. He shouted, “Dragon Cavalry, listen to the command! Abandon the Gigantic Dragons. Retreat!” Grasping the dragonspear in hand, he immediately dismounted his Gigantic Dragon.
Regardless of the Dragon Cavalry Knights’ hesitation at the prince’s order, they wouldn’t dare disobey their commander. This was the Dragon Cavalry Creed. With the inclusion of the Milan Institution for Magic and Martial Arts students, the five hundred and sixty strong Dragon Cavalry quickly dismounted their dragons and retreated in the direction of Konya City. This order felt strange to them. Their Gigantic Dragons unexpectedly stood motionless, not moving even a fraction.
The Leopardmen’s weapons were their sharp claws and rapid speed. Apart from the Apemen’s navigation skills, their weapons were enormous wolf tooth clubs. The strong Tigermen used excessively heavy hammers. At the same time that the Dragon Cavalry Knights pulled back, with the dragons still arranged in a horizontal line formation, the beastmen had already made contact.
Hong——
A Tigerman swung his heavy hammer, smashing it heavily against an Earthbound Swift Dragon’s back. At first glance, a Tigerman wouldn’t suffer any losses from confronting an Earthbound Swift Dragon. But something happened that shocked the beastmen. The head of the Earthbound Swift Dragon bore the heavy hammer’s smash, and to that unexpected and unimaginable attack, the dragon’s weaker body actually didn’t move a single bit. Its dragon head merely turned toward that Tigermen.
The Tigerman stared back, looking into a pair of bloodshot dragon eyes. That bloody red color held a trace of black within it. This was the first time the tigerman felt this, and also the final time he would feel this in his entire life. Because in the next moment, his strong body was already torn to shreds by this Earthbound Swift Dragon.
The tamed dragons went insane. Five hundred and sixty tamed dragons of the Dragon Cavalry went mad at the same time. The beastmen who were dashing closer didn’t know when, but all of the tamed dragons’ eyes had become bloodshot. In a flash, the tamed dragons broke out and charged wildly into the beastmen in front of them.
As the most powerful beastmen army division, the Tigermen could completely contend against tamed dragons. But at this moment, in front of these tamed dragons, they were as weak as paper paste. They actually confronted the tamed dragons, but regardless if whether it were an Earthbound Swift Dragon or Maginot Iron Dragon, the moment the dragons went berserk, their attack, defense, and speed tripled at the very least. The dragons went completely berserk and charged into the horde of beastmen.
Originally, the beastmen should have been able to unilaterally slaughter the dragons. Who would have thought a complete reversal would occur when the knights dismounted from their dragons. The five hundred and sixty berserk tamed dragons resembled five hundred and sixty of the sharpest daggers to exist, ruthlessly tearing apart the beastmen plundering legion inside out.
The bloodthirsty zither music still resounded throughout Brenner Pass. That violet light emitting from Ye Yin Zhu’s body was a chilling brilliance, a result of Level 1 of the Profound Violet Zither Heart. On the battlefield, the wind dripped with bloody mists, as if it were accompanying the zither melody.
> was one of the great nine famous songs of the Zither Sect, the effect: Exploding Dragons.
This song, >, had another name. It was also known as the Dragon Extinction Melody. Only with the Withered Wood, Dragon’s Roar Zither could this song’s might be truly brought out. Level 1 Violet Rank of > could affect any creature with dragon blood of rank 8 or below. Who would have thought that Ye Yin Zhu’s long preparations was for this zither song that, rather than targeting the enemy, targeted his own side?
✶
Dis was rushing forth and only sent a Maginot Iron Dragon flying explosively. The sudden change had caught him and Perkins unprepared. As a rank 9 magical beast, their attacks on a Maginot Iron Dragon’s defense should originally be like smashing apart soft tofu—their own attacks completely useless against him. Now his violent fist could only send a Maginot Iron Dragon flying explosively instead of killing it explosively. While the Behemoths were shocked, the five hundred and sixty tamed dragons were already tearing apart the beastmen army.
“Crazy, these bastards are crazy. I’ll kill them,” Dis angrily thundered, using this roar to gloss over his current panic. This was the first time he had come across such a change in the tamed dragons in all his years at war. Were these still tamed dragons? This increase in firepower, in the blink of an eye… these tamed dragons could even match up against a Genuine Gigantic Dragon.
Hong——
An explosion made the earth and beastmen plundering legion suddenly shake at the same time. The violent explosion was the result of an Earthbound Swift Dragon’s body suddenly detonating. Its blood became bloody arrows, its scales and bones shattering to pieces instantly and becoming frighteningly lethal weapons. With the head of this Earthbound Swift Dragon as the explosion’s epicenter, all of the beastmen in a range of thirty meters were unable to withstand it and were being run through by a dragon horn or dragon bones. Struck down, the beastmen’s corpses slowly fell to the ground one by one, causing the battlefield to appear to have a circle of open space on it.
The head of this Earthbound Swift Dragon exploded and commenced the start of a massacre. That bloodthirsty zither melody, which seemed like hell itself, was accompanied by roaring explosions, the tamed dragon’s detonating body signaling a surging bloody light that appeared within the beastmen plundering legion like a scythe. Apart from the Behemoths, the remaining three great beastmen corps’ numbers were steadily cut down.
A Maginot Iron Dragon’s explosion’s destructive power was greater than an Earthbound Swift Dragon’s as they wore heavier armor. The moment they exploded, that armor accompanied the huge body and became a terrifyingly lethal weapon as well. Not to mention the Apemen, Tigermen, and Leopardmen, even the Berserk Behemoths that came across an exploding Maginot Iron Dragon would be sent flying away by the bombardment, riddled with cuts.
“Not good, it’s waves of iron shrapnel,” Perkins snarled crazily. A succession of several exploding tamed dragon heads had him command the Behemoths to no longer save the other three beastmen forces nearby and to completely focus on gathering together. Relying on their incomparably strong defense, they huddled together like tortoises. The nearby Berserk Behemoths’ rampage changed in a flash, allowing them to withstand the frightening destructive power of the tamed dragons’ explosion.
>
This was the Dragon Extinction Melody. Relying on the Withered Wood, Dragon’s Roar Zither to play it, the song resonated with the souls of the tamed dragons. Like the most frightening stimulant ever, it caused the dragon’s blood and life force to immediately flare up and combust. Based on the different dragons’ strengths, the duration of the zither song’s influence was also different. But as long as they were affected by the zither song, the final outcome would always be an exploding dragon.
Five hundred and sixty tamed dragon heads exploded. These five hundred and sixty violent explosions struck Brenner Pass like an earthquake. The tamed dragons of the Dragon Cavalry had not a single one with strength exceeding rank 6. Under the influence of the >, which echoed by means of the Sound Magnification spell and was Violet Rank in strength, the tamed dragons were unable to escape.