Above The Sky
Chapter 281 - 281 267 Hongtao Sword 710

281: Chapter 267: Hongtao Sword (7/10) 281: Chapter 267: Hongtao Sword (7/10) “Is the Tenglan Giant Eel chasing Shasha?”

After seeing this scene, Ian immediately turned back, his eyes locked on Patrick.

Without any hesitation, the young man now grasped his sword with both hands.

In the past four years, he had never slacked off in practice, nor had he ever forgotten the battles of the past.

Through the Silver Chip, he constantly retrieved memories from his past, fighting every night against all the enemies he had faced back then.

The most powerful among them was the Melodious Knight Weyges, a knight who truly stood at the Second Energy Level Peak, who had been evaluated by Teacher Hiliad as a “genius” who “could have easily entered the Fourth Energy Level if not for wasted years.”

Although, after clashing with Teacher Hiliad thousands of times, he had been badly injured in the end, only managing to hurt the old man by fighting desperately to the death.

But being able to exchange a thousand blows with someone on the same level as Hiliad was essentially the highest affirmation of his talent and abilities.

Ian had also battled him, if it weren’t for the opponent’s waning strength and the accumulation of injuries that left him on the brink of death, even with Ian entering the state of the Sword of the Seer, he might not have been able to withstand a few direct encounters with him, with Weyges.

But that was then.

Nowadays, Ian was not arrogant enough to believe that he could confront someone like Weyges, who could wield a sword against armor suits and even Aether Armament at the Second Energy Level Peak, simply with his swordsmanship.

However, he had at least learned the strongest sword move of his enemy.

The Enamel Scorpion Spider’s ‘Knock’.

As the white-haired young man solemnly raised the Heavy Abyss Iron Sword in his hand, dim gold and cyan hues of Origin Quality brilliance shone on the pitch-black sturdy sword body.

A breath as unyielding as mountains and as overwhelming as the sea rippled out from his body as the center, spreading in all directions, making Ian seem like an ancient rock stoically standing amidst a tsunami.

The Sand Armor Apprentice did not possess the power to freely control his balance, only able to root himself firmly upon the earth, but the Wave Singer did, and the Fairy Wings did even more so, controlling the earth’s power like controlling water flow, crushing it towards the enemy.

No thought was necessary; the sword technique he had practiced countless times flowed like water as Ian let out a soft cry.

And then he swung the sword.

Muscles, flowing water, and the strength of the earth beneath his feet burst forth simultaneously.

The longsword in his hand tore through the air with a shrill sonic boom, all happening in the blink of an eye, while the blond noble, who was still shocked at the appearance of the Tenglan Giant Eel, had only just turned his head around.

That moment, before the surprise had left Patrick’s face, he barely raised his sword, the Mithril Longsword, and his eyes lit up with bright electrical sparks.

Visible currents of electricity crackled and flickered within his muscles and the air, converging into pure destructive power.

But destructive power does not equate to strength.

If one were to observe from a bystander’s perspective, it appeared as though Ian grasped the sword with both hands, then took a step forward, slashing out smoothly with a fierce strike that tore through the atmosphere completely.

Seemingly intending to block, Patrick ended up being directly blasted away by the sudden outburst of immense force, smashing towards the seemingly frenzied Gargantuan Eel—

In that instant, Patrick seemed to see tides and mountains emanate from Ian.

When he swung his sword, it was like surging waves and an irresistible landslide.

Wherever the young man directed his sword, that place would be engulfed by this force.

“Great Knight—”

In the moment he was knocked away, he couldn’t help but think, “Swordsmanship of a Great Knight at fourteen years old?!”

“And, he summons Origin Quality faster than me?!”

In terms of sheer strength, the blond noble did surpass Ian, who was at the First Power Level Peak, but he had never relied on overwhelming opponents with sheer force.

Lightning Swift Sword was a high-efficiency killing technique meant to harm with speed and the sharpness of the weapon; when the enemy’s skills were on par with the user, the amount of strength became irrelevant.

Not to mention, Ian summoned power far more smoothly than Patrick.

But this was his limit; the young man knew well that his strike could not truly injure the other party, so after sending Patrick flying towards the Gargantuan Eel, he had no intention of pursuing further.

Instead, he turned and leaped toward Shasha, who was ahead of the Gargantuan Eel.

Hum—The power of the Fairy Wings acted simultaneously on Ian and the Ironclad Shark, and it seemed that Shasha had also detected Ian’s arrival.

It cheered soundlessly and, cooperating with the power of the youth, accelerated.

In an instant, a boy and a shark, along with a still-screaming Pirate Captain, were propelled by a tremendous force that instantly accelerated the Ironclad Shark to the peak speed attainable in this environment.

The water currents vibrated and then naturally parted in front of Big Shark and then pushed from behind to propel it forward.

Boom!

In a single breath, Shasha had accelerated to the limit, distancing itself from the Gargantuan Eel.

Meanwhile, Patrick, having been slammed against the Gargantuan Eel, provoked the fury and hissing of the Second-Level Magical Beast, but it continued to surge forward at high speed.

In less than three seconds, the area of the Native Sacrificial Ground, which had been the scene of intense fighting, was now void of people, leaving only the echoes of the Behemoths.

“Tsk…

Lost a move there,”

Patrick, who was hurled into the Gargantuan Eel, quickly came to grips with his situation.

Being carried forward by the beast through various tunnels and passages, he realized he had little chance of swiftly returning to the original Sacrificial Ground, let alone turning back to find Yisen Gard.

But that wasn’t the main issue.

“These parasites…”

At that moment, the Gargantuan Eel in the riverway couldn’t turn back to deal with the Humans on its back, and Patrick wasn’t scared of the dumb brute, but what he did notice was that the flesh and blood of the eel were being rapidly infested by a massive amount of blue parasites.

He had seen these parasites before.

The indigenous labyrinthine creatures and beasts usually had their ways of countering these parasites, either through extremely high or extremely low body temperatures, hard shells that left no gaps, or by seeking out other dominant but less harmful parasites for preemptive infestation or symbiosis.

However, for foreign creatures and those beasts raised by parasites, the rate of infestation was terrifyingly fast.

Initially, Patrick thought that this was typical of the parasites—either they were utterly useless and couldn’t infest, or they would take over the body and devour the brain outright.

Now, he saw a third possibility…

“Enhancement?!”

With his Eclipsing Light Refining Dragon Bloodline’s sensitivity to bioelectricity, Patrick immediately sensed that these peculiar parasites, after successful infestation, instead of devouring the Gargantuan Eel’s nervous system or attempting to replace the brain…

They started to connect, or rather, ‘fuse’ into the Gargantuan Eel’s nervous system, aiding the enormous beast to better and more quickly control its body, significantly enhancing its reflexes and speed!

This was also why the Soaring Surge Gargantuan Eel, which normally shouldn’t have been able to catch up with the Ironclad Shark, could almost catch the shark in the unfavourable terrain of the subterranean relic sinkhole cluster!

“…These parasites definitely have an intricate connection with the Redwood Natives.”

Becoming certain of this, he also recalled the correspondences with Ailes, hearing of the Great Shaman Lineage’s inheritance that could merge with Magical Beasts: “These Native Totem Masters can exempt themselves from the parasite infestation and instead transform it into an enhancement that boosts their physical prowess and reflexes.”

Patrick mused, “Seems to be an Inheritance of the same type as the Sun-eclipse Refining Dragon.

What a pity…”

“If it weren’t for the current situation, bringing these parasites back to the family would definitely take our Bloodline’s optimization a step further.”

Meanwhile, Ian, who had almost entirely lost the Gargantuan Eel, also noticed the strange swellings on Shasha.

He frowned, “Damn it, no wonder the speed seems to have slowed down quite a bit.”

“Shasha has been infested too.”