Chapter 51: Mortal Reminder
“Thump, thump, thump, thump—”
In the hunting ground’s jungle, towering trees were knocked down one after another, collapsing like dominoes.
Although something similar had happened not long ago, this time it was definitely not Yonglan’s doing. The scale of the two events was vastly different; no matter how much he unleashed, he couldn’t achieve this.
Wherever the Mad Hunt Heaven charged, large swathes of the jungle were crushed within the curse domain, not even qualifying to be turned into dust, but directly vaporized and pulverized within it.
This was far superior to sweeping through a forest with the left bow. Yonglan was just a child playing around; he couldn’t compare to the Mad Hunt Heaven, which aimed to uproot the entire jungle.
However, no matter how hard the Celestial God’s phantom tried, it only appeared intimidating and raged in vain.
It could never catch up to the two in front, only enduring one-sided attacks.
Even when the Mad Hunt Heaven brought out the Dark Star Great Bow again, it lost its accuracy under the burning Dragonflame. The dignified Celestial God’s phantom couldn’t achieve a hundred percent hit rate.
Yonglan didn’t even need to intercept precisely; he could block the aftershocks by continuously generating shields with his Soul Forging Technique.
As one side weakened and the other grew stronger, the dawn of victory could be glimpsed—this was no illusion, but a tangible victory within reach.
Having recovered, Yonglan could now get off Enesyin’s shoulder. He was now unleashing a barrage of firepower at the Mad Hunt Heaven while laughing heartily:
“Myriad martial arts, this is the victory of knightly spirit!”
Even though I used abnormal burning, marathon, direct cancellation, and the left bow’s safety… doesn’t that count as a knight?
All these martial arts and skills are genuinely of the knight class!
“Knightly spirit? My education tells me that such a fighting style is quite despicable.”
Enesyin couldn’t help but retort, but before Yonglan could glare back indignantly, she murmured to herself:
“However… against a mortal enemy, there’s no need for a code of honor. Anything goes if it can defeat the great enemy.”
As she said this, Enesyin turned and unleashed another Dragonflame at the fiend, ensuring the burning and slowing effect persisted.
After this sustained bleeding of the Mad Hunt Heaven, as they approached the edge of the jungle, this towering fiend paused its pursuit for the first time, changing direction.
Yonglan noticed its lower body, illusory like mist, transform into the body of a deer, as if fleeing from a startled predator.
The roles of hunter and prey had reversed.
If the Mad Hunt Heaven still possessed a will, it would never have made such a cowardly retreat, as the dignity of a Celestial God would not allow such a disgrace.
But the being before them was a corpse, completely driven by the instinct to avoid danger. Upon realizing it might be annihilated, it naturally chose to escape.
But Yonglan wouldn’t give it that chance.
Hmph, trying to escape!
He snorted coldly and immediately changed direction, charging straight towards the fiend’s phantom.
Under Enesyin’s constant Dragonflame burns, the Mad Hunt Heaven’s speed was already diminished, allowing Yonglan to catch up with ease.
Then he pressed the Bow of Chasing the Distant Hunt against the Mad Hunt Heaven…
Close-range shots! Close-range shots! Still close-range shots!
“Bang, bang, bang—”
Each explosive light arrow staggered the Mad Hunt Heaven, forcefully altering its trajectory.
“Roar—”
A low growl emanated from beneath the pale mask, the sound waves vibrating, visible even to the naked eye.
Why are you roaring so loud!
Yonglan immediately bit his tongue, enduring the ringing in his ears as he continued to shoot, further tearing at the Mad Hunt Heaven’s body.
“Ain, let’s go together and drag it out of the hunting ground!”
At Yonglan’s call, Enesyin quickly joined him beside the Mad Hunt Heaven, becoming the final straw that would crush this fiend’s phantom.
They forcefully altered the Mad Hunt Heaven’s trajectory with their attacks. Whether it was the light arrows or the Dragonflame, they continuously pushed back the Celestial God’s phantom.
Seemingly having exhausted its reserves from the sustained burning and shooting, the Mad Hunt Heaven’s resilience was now so low that Yonglan had even abandoned his weapon and was clearing a path with his fists.
“Hoo…”
He exhaled hot breath, his Ember Forge operating at extreme capacity, pumping countless sparks from his heart to envelop Yonglan in embers, then unleashed a punch!
“Dong—”
A muffled thud, so loud it even reached the Burefawa Knights waiting in formation outside the jungle.
After Yonglan and Enesyin entered the jungle, the Burefawa Knights had positioned themselves at the Sanctuary to observe. If the former two succeeded… well, they wouldn’t dream of that yet.
In any case, after the two were defeated, the Burefawa Knights were supposed to take over the battle. However, what they witnessed instead was chaos erupting within the jungle.
“Captain, look, what is that?”
Ezlot was alerted by his subordinate and looked towards the edge of the jungle.
Then he froze.
In the gloomy, lightless jungle, a great crimson star ascended from the ground, accompanied by blinding, brilliant flames, pushing the Mad Hunt Heaven’s body, plowing through the earth.
The moment it appeared, the entire ground seemed to pause. The knights, who had been watching from the periphery of the aftershocks, instinctively looked up at the distant sky.
The crimson light pushed the Mad Hunt Heaven’s vast, mist-shrouded body across the ground, heading directly towards the Sanctuary.
“Quick! Disperse immediately… but not too much, prepare for support!”
The knights moved with slight disarray, and Ezlot made an immediate decision.
The dark and dense mist was torn open by the crimson point of light, as if ripped apart by an ancient giant wielding lightning and storms. This rift continued to widen, and the Mad Hunt Heaven, suppressed by the great crimson star, was rapidly advanced towards the direction of the Sanctuary.
Then…
“Bang, bang—”
With world-shattering tremors, the Mad Hunt Heaven was embedded into the Sanctuary.
The candelabra that had isolated the curse domain’s influence was crushed by the fiend, but simultaneously, it inflicted another severe blow on the Mad Hunt Heaven with mutually repelling energy.
“Roar— Roar ah ah ah ah ah ah ah—”
A roar, similar to an elephant’s cry but deeper and more terrifying, instantly drowned out all other sounds. The fiend, reappearing before everyone, had a massive wound in its abdomen, clearly revealing mangled internal organs and writhing muscles.
But dark purple mist converged madly around the wound, stopping the bleeding instantly. With a disgusting squelching sound, tumor-like fleshy growths rapidly enlarged near the wound.
However, before the fiend could finish repairing itself, Enesyin thrust her silver sword, imbued with Blazing Steel Flames, into the wound, its crisscrossing flames halting the regeneration.
On the fiend’s colossal body, the warrior, wreathed in crimson embers, looked up, his soul-forged armor breathing sparks like a living creature.
Yonglan climbed up the giant’s body, reaching the pale mask, where crimson cracks were now clearly visible.
Yonglan gazed at the immobilized Mad Hunt Heaven and grinned:
“What a satisfying battle. I will probably never forget you.”
Then he raised his arm.
“But now, be defeated!”
Ember Forge activated! Ninety-nine thousand nine hundred horsepower!
The soul-forged black gauntlet turned crimson, as if completely dyed in magma.
When it came to a lethal blow, the Ember Forge was ultimately needed to finish it off. As a talent for harvesting souls, the Ember Forge had an innate execution effect, directly extracting the soul of an enemy unable to resist.
Although it couldn’t be quantified, Yonglan estimated it to be about a 15% execution chance.
“Pfft—”
The arm, infused with crimson, pierced directly through the mask and into the Mad Hunt Heaven’s head. Then, the soul-devouring ember flames filled the crimson cracks on the mask before seeping into the fiend’s divine body. The furnace churned greedily, madly consuming its blood and soul from within the fiend.
“Boom, boom— Boom, boom—”
The Ember Forge emitted engine-like roars. The energy contained within a Celestial God—even a fallen phantom, merely the dregs of its original form—was excessively abundant.
Even just drawing from it made Yonglan feel almost bursting with fullness. Crimson cracks continuously bloomed and disappeared on his skin.
Yet, even this bone-melting, flesh-dissolving pain did not hinder Yonglan’s execution; it only intensified his brutality, madly fanning the ember flames.
Moment by moment, the fiend’s colossal body was stripped of its outer shell in the flames, and chaotic primordial essence flowed from its wounds…
Until the mountain-like Mad Hunt Heaven turned into a pile of charcoal, the execution was finally declared complete.
“Hoo, hoo, hoo…”
After finishing everything, Yonglan finally felt a burden lifted. He stumbled off the Mad Hunt Heaven’s body. His condition was probably not much better than the executed; he could barely stand.
But the prompt he received instantly straightened him up.
“Exerting valor, employing strategy, upholding resolve, confronting the enemy head-on… You have demonstrated the path of Dominance through an extreme and spectacular battle.”
“Dominance: 7 → 9”
“Awakened the Authority of Dominance—Mortal Reminder”
“Mortal Reminder”
“Transform will and oaths into the purest azure lightning, indestructible and invincible.”
“Lofty Celestial Gods look down upon all in the mortal world; mortal swords and sorcery cannot harm the supreme even slightly, as laughable as ants trying to shake a tree. But if there is the resolve to pierce through infinite barriers… then I shall question the heavens with sword and spear.”
“Gods, do you also bleed?”
Oh wow, armor-piercing true damage!
Yonglan’s eyes lit up. This Authority, Mortal Reminder, was a timely gift, directly dispelling his newfound worries.
Defeating the Mad Hunt Heaven was entirely due to a mechanic kill; Condense the Past had usurped divine power without obstruction. But for any intelligent being, this tactic would be completely ineffective.
Yonglan had been worried about how to deal with similar existences in the future, but now it seemed he didn’t need to rely on trickery. He had guaranteed damage himself!
Bring on the high-armor dogs and damage-reduction monsters for a duel!
Excited, Yonglan then looked at his other spoils.
“Incomplete Divinity of the Mad Hunt Heaven”
“The root of law for the Mad Hunt Heaven. This Celestial God believes that the law of the jungle, survival of the fittest, is the most natural and primal truth.”
“Striving fully for resources, proliferating and surviving through any means, with absolutely no room for hesitant combat competition… Following this law, respecting the hunt where all hunters and prey stake their lives, is the true meaning of life’s existence.”
“Divinity is the source of a Celestial God’s existence, their soul, and the core material for weaving laws.”
“The Mad Hunt Heaven once used this law to construct its divine realm, intending to transform the world into a hunting jungle.”
“It can be used as material for crafting divine items or as a consumable for rituals.”
I don’t understand! But it’s definitely a very important item. I’ll keep it for now.
He tossed the light sphere containing divinity into his inventory and finally relaxed, letting himself lie down on the scorched grass.
“Plop—”
Enesyin, who had sprinted over, also lay down beside Yonglan.
The Platinum-haired Dragon Maiden hugged her companion, her face flushed. Her deep violet eyes sparkled with indescribable joy and excitement:
“Yonglan, we did it! We did it!”
“A fiend… even if it was just a fiend’s phantom, we defeated it!”
“Is this really something my Dragonflame can achieve?”
“………….”
Slaying a fiend, even if it was just within the Echo Realm, the experience itself was enough to make her ecstatic.
For a Royal Knight, fiends were mortal enemies, and defeating one was the highest honor.
Even though the Sword of Blazing Sun had long since been shattered, and she wasn’t even a formal family knight, this honor and achievement were enough for her to be worthy of her family’s name.
The past oppression and gloom seemed to be swept away at this moment, leaving no trace of inferiority or doubt.
Damn it, even a fiend was blown to bits, what else could possibly question me?!
Absolutely nothing! Not easily, anyway!
Unbeknownst to herself, the once humble, even somewhat self-deprecating Platinum-haired Dragon Maiden was also becoming a bit wild under Yonglan’s influence.
Her gaze towards Yonglan became even more fervent, and her embrace seemed as if she wished to merge into one with him.
“Ain.”
Yonglan suddenly called the Dragonborn girl by her nickname, interrupting her incessant outpouring.
Enesyin immediately stopped talking and looked at Yonglan expectantly.
“From now on, I won’t see you as a newbie anymore.”
Yonglan knew what kind of recognition the Platinum-haired Dragon Maiden desired; he always had, but he also had his principles.
If Enesyin only wanted closer interaction and pretty compliments, Yonglan wouldn’t mind indulging the young girl. But when it came to defining her as a newbie, as an old-timer, he had a sense of responsibility.
However, at this moment, Yonglan could honestly acknowledge Enesyin’s transformation.
Not just in ability, but also in mindset and will, she had become a warrior fighting alongside him.
Enesyin’s beautiful eyes widened at his words, then she nodded vigorously:
“Mm!”
She burrowed into Yonglan’s embrace with all her might, closing her eyes in contentment.
They lay nestled together on the scorched, smoke-filled lawn, but this rest did not last long. Soon, they heard footsteps.
It was the Burefawa Knights.
So Yonglan forced himself to stand up. The ragged edges of his cloak were covered in never-extinguishing embers, and his soul-forged armor was also tattered. Yonglan didn’t even have the energy to repair his armor after the great battle.
The Burefawa Knights quietly looked at Yonglan. The scene fell silent for a moment.
“Are you here to witness my victory and cheer for me?”
