"Positions!" Arthev shouted over the Wyvern's deafening roar.
"Do not die."
The Royal Team scattered without hesitation.
The hunt had begun.
BOOM!
The Thunder-Scale Wyvern slammed a massive foot into the ground.
Violet lightning burst across the muddy earth in every direction. The violent shockwave uprooted nearby pines, sending them crashing through the forest.
"Up!"
Yu Feng's spirit rings flashed.
Emerald wings spread from his back as wind gathered beneath them.
"Third Soul Skill: Wind Surge!"
A cyclone wrapped around his body, launching him skyward like a green arrow.
The Wyvern's golden eyes immediately tracked the movement.
"Over here, you oversized lizard!"
Yu Feng banked sharply through the air.
"Second Soul Skill: Wind Sweep!"
He slashed his wings downward.
Dozens of crescent-shaped wind blades screamed through the sky.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Sparks erupted as the attacks slammed into the Wyvern's scales.
None pierced its armor.
But they forced the beast to shut its eyes and shake its massive head in irritation.
"It's distracted!" Yu Tianheng shouted. "Yan!"
"I'm already moving!"
Dugu Yan glided across the soaked ground with snake-like grace. Her third spirit ring lit up with an ominous purple glow.
Her pupils narrowed into vertical slits.
"Third Soul Skill: Jade Phosphor Purple Poison!"
She exhaled.
A thick wave of violet mist surged forward, swallowing the clearing.
The poison hissed wherever it touched, turning wet grass black and lifeless.
The Wyvern inhaled instinctively.
Its massive head jerked backward.
A harsh cough echoed through the forest.
The poison could not penetrate its ten-thousand-year scales, but it scorched its nostrils, irritated its eyes, and disrupted its heat perception.
"It can't see properly!" Osler's voice echoed from somewhere within the fog.
"Then let's pin it!"
The two Shi Mo brothers charged together.
Heavy Black Tortoise shields materialized in their hands.
Yellow spirit rings pulsed beneath their feet.
"First Soul Skill: Turtle Shell Shock!"
Instead of striking the Wyvern, they slammed their shields into the earth.
BOOM!
The ground collapsed beneath the beast.
Mud and shattered stone exploded upward as the terrain caved in around its front legs.
The Wyvern lurched sideways.
One foreleg sank deep into the crater.
It roared in fury and lashed its tail blindly through the poisonous fog.
WHOOSH!
One Shi Mo barely ducked.
The tail swept over his head, tearing away his topknot before smashing a towering pine clean in half.
His eyes widened.
"That was way too close!"
"Focus!" Tianheng barked.
"Osler!"
A shadow slipped silently through the poison.
"Third Soul Skill: Night Walk."
Osler's figure blurred until he became nearly invisible inside the darkness.
His presence disappeared completely.
Without slowing down, his second spirit ring ignited.
"Second Soul Skill: Phantom Speed!"
His speed exploded.
Several afterimages trailed behind him as he rushed beneath the Wyvern's body.
In an instant, he reached the trapped leg.
"There."
The scales separated ever so slightly around the knee joint.
It was the only opening.
His first spirit ring flashed.
"First Soul Skill: Leopard Claw!"
Both daggers crossed in a single explosive slash.
SHRRAAK!
"Tch!"
The impact nearly shattered his wrists.
The Wyvern's hide felt like striking solid steel.
Even so...
A thin cut opened along the softer membrane between the scales.
A single drop of glowing purple blood struck the mud.
Sizzle.
The ground smoked where it landed.
The Wyvern froze for the briefest moment.
Then...
"ROOOOOAAAAARRR!"
Its roar shook the entire forest.
Pure rage exploded from the beast.
With terrifying strength, it ripped its trapped leg free from the crater, sending chunks of earth flying in every direction.
Lightning crackled wildly around its twisted horns.
Its burning eyes locked onto Osler.
The assassin's instincts screamed. He immediately retreated.
Too late.
The Wyvern swung its enormous head toward him, electricity gathering around its horns as murderous intent flooded the battlefield.
But a shadow had already fallen over it.
"Look at me, lizard!"
Yu Tianheng was in the air, directly above the beast. His third purple ring was shining like a miniature sun.
"Third Soul Skill: Thunder Fury!"
Tianheng's eyes turned completely blue. A terrifying aura of absolute rage erupted from his body. His physical strength, lightning attribute, and attack power surged exponentially. The blue lightning around him turned wild, thick, and untamed.
His right arm completely transformed into that of a dragon, covered in jagged blue scales and swelling with concentrated thunder.
"First Soul Skill: Thunder Dragon Claw!"
Tianheng came crashing down like a meteor. He drove his electrified, monstrous claw directly into the center of the Wyvern's snout.
BOOOOOOM!
The collision of blue and violet lightning created an explosive shockwave that blew Dugu Yan's toxic mist completely away.
The sheer concussive force slammed the Wyvern's massive jaw into the mud, cratering the ground beneath its head and sending a massive plume of dirt into the air.
Tianheng backflipped off the beast's nose, landing gracefully on his feet. He was panting, his dragon arm smoking, but a wild, exhilarated grin was plastered on his face.
'Arthev was right,' Tianheng thought, his heart hammering against his ribs.
'If we fight perfectly... if we trust each other... even a 10,000-year beast can be pushed back!'
"Don't get cocky! Brace!" Teacher Qin Ming's voice barked frantically from the treetops.
The Wyvern's eyes snapped open. They weren't just angry anymore. They were burning with apocalyptic, primeval fury.
BZZZZZT!
A terrifying pulse of violet lightning erupted from the beast's body in a 360-degree radial blast. It was an indiscriminate area-of-effect attack, a raw display of a 10,000-year-old monster's pure soul power.
"Shields!" Shi Mo screamed.
"Second Soul Skill: Shield Form!" the brothers roared together. Their tortoise shields expanded, generating a massive, interlocking wall of heavy yellow light in front of Tianheng and Dugu Yan.
The lightning wave hit them like a tidal wave hitting a cliff. The brothers groaned, blood leaking from the corners of their mouths as their boots slid backward through the mud, leaving deep trenches.
The residual electricity slipped past the glowing shields, shockingly bypassing their defenses and striking Tianheng, Dugu Yan, and Osler, throwing them roughly into the grass.
"Ugh... my muscles..." Osler groaned, trying to push himself up, his limbs trembling uncontrollably from the paralyzing voltage.
Suddenly, a soft, ethereal pink light bathed the entire clearing.
Standing safely in the backline, Ye Lingling held the gorgeous, glowing Nine Heart Begonia flower in both hands.
" Heal."
Petals of pure, warm light drifted down upon the Royal Team. The moment the light touched them, the paralyzing static vanished. Bruises faded, the numbness from the electricity was purged, and their depleted stamina instantly surged back to full capacity.
"Ah! I feel completely new! I love you, Lingling!" Yu Feng laughed wildly from the sky, doing a loop in the air.
"Good job, Lingling!" Dugu Yan praised, wiping a smudge of dirt from her cheek.
She smirked, her fighting spirit burning brighter than ever.
"Alright, team! Let's hit it again!"
They formed up flawlessly. Tanks in the front, support in the back, DPS flanking. They were a well-oiled machine, completely locked into the rhythm of the battle. For a brief, glorious moment, the Royal Team felt like absolute legends.
From the edge of the clearing, Arthev stood with his hands casually stuffed into his pockets. He watched the perfectly coordinated assault, an unreadable expression on his face.
"Not bad," Arthev murmured quietly, chewing on a piece of dried fruit.
"They actually have fangs."
But his sharp eyes narrowed, shifting to the Wyvern. The beast had stopped thrashing. It had stopped snapping blindly. It simply stood up, towering over the clearing, completely ignoring the wind blades bouncing off its head and the poison lingering at its feet.
Its massive chest expanded, drawing in a terrifying amount of air. The violet scales along its spine began to light up, one by one, like a massive battery hitting maximum charge.
"It's done playing," Arthev noted, his posture shifting ever so slightly.
The air in the clearing suddenly became so heavy it was hard to breathe. The ambient ozone thickened until it tasted like copper on the tongue.
The Thunder-Scale Wyvern lowered its horned head, locking its burning golden eyes squarely on the heavily armored Graphite Brothers. It dug its grotesque claws deep into the bedrock.
It was no longer reacting to them. It was preparing to blitz.
To be continued.....