Chapter 7

The situation was not good.

Both Rhod and Carter had the same thought at this moment: this Wind Serpent Lord was truly a tough opponent. Although the airship was rapidly descending and the forest not far away was already visible, at this rate, the airship would disintegrate in the air before it could land!

"Ha!"

Carter lunged forward, the twin swords in his hands flashing with a cold light as they stabbed directly at the Wind Serpent Lord's massive claws. However, just as he was about to succeed, the Wind Serpent Lord suddenly opened its mouth, and Carter felt a foul breath rush towards him. He didn't even have time to confirm the danger before he rolled on the spot. Although he avoided the Wind Serpent Lord's bite, this also marked the failure of his attack. As Carter tried to create some space to stand up, the Wind Serpent Lord, seemingly finding this little insect too annoying, suddenly struck at him with its claw. Carter, who did not expect the Wind Serpent Lord to release the ship's body, was caught off guard. He instinctively raised his twin swords to block, but was still heavily thrown away. After sliding several meters on the deck, he finally crashed into the mast and stopped.

This couldn't go on.

Rhod frowned and then looked at the anxious young girl standing not far behind.

"Liz, I need your help!"

"Eh?"

"I will draw its attention. When it attacks me, I hope you can cast a Shield of Protection on me!"

"Okay!"

Hearing Rhod's words, Liz nodded without hesitation. She tightly clasped her hands, and a bright, gentle light appeared around her body. Seeing this, Rhod didn't say anything more. He just turned his head, raised his longsword, and thrust it forward.

Blade of Destruction.

A shining, snow-white blade of light once again sliced through the air, striking the Wind Serpent Lord heavily. Although Rhod did not consciously concentrate the light blades this time, allowing them to disperse and attack, the power was somewhat less than before. Therefore, they did not penetrate the Wind Serpent Lord's scales. However, the dispersed attacks tore several clear blood marks on the Wind Serpent Lord's wing membranes, causing it to cry out in pain.

"Hisss!!!"

The Wind Serpent Lord's movement suddenly paused. It quickly turned its head, its two bright red eyes burning with anger, and stared intently at the young human on the deck. Then, it opened its mouth again and swiftly pounced on Rhod.

The Wind Serpent Lord's speed was indeed not slow. In the blink of an eye, Rhod could see its blood-red mouth above his head. This made Rhod tense up, as it was a very risky choice. He deliberately did not use Shadow Flash, but maintained a relatively slow speed to lure the Wind Serpent Lord into attacking. Although this made the danger greater, when the enemy was fully attacking, its weaknesses would also become more apparent—this was the opportunity Rhod was waiting for!

The Wind Serpent Lord's massive mouth was just a few seconds away from swallowing Rhod.

But it still did not achieve its goal.

Because at that moment, a faint, white, egg-shaped barrier suddenly appeared around Rhod, blocking the Wind Serpent Lord's fangs. Although the Wind Serpent Lord's movement was momentarily slowed, it quickly shattered the barrier, but it did not bite anything.

Because just as the Shield of Protection enveloped Rhod, he had already activated Shadow Flash.

He moved like a ghostly shadow, evading the Wind Serpent Lord's bite, then raised his pure white longsword and slashed across its throat.

This was the Wind Serpent Lord's weakness, the most vulnerable part of its body. However, it had always kept its neck retracted, making it difficult to attack. This time, the enraged Wind Serpent Lord had fully opened its attack, leaving it no time to protect its most fatal weakness.

"———!!!"

A sharp, mournful cry echoed as the Wind Serpent Lord raised its head as if struck by lightning. From its throat, murky blood spurted out, splattering the entire deck. Then, its body softened and fell heavily onto the deck, lifeless.

At this moment, Rhod also saw a deep green color rapidly expanding before his eyes.

"Boom!!!"

Then, he felt the ship's body suddenly shake, and his body seemed to float into the air for a moment. Subsequently, Rhod's vision went black, and he lost consciousness.

When he woke up again, the first thing he felt was the bone-chilling wind.

"Where am I...?"

Opening his eyes, the first thing he saw was a beautiful night sky. Unlike ordinary nights, the night here was very "bright," with the gentle moonlight illuminating the shadows of every leaf on the ground. In the night sky, besides the twinkling stars, there were also light bands floating, forming a light ribbon that extended in all directions.

This was a characteristic of the Dragon Soul Continent—according to ancient legends, this was originally a chaotic and dangerous space. Then, five dragons came here and used their bodies to create the sky, earth, and all things in this originally empty space. To suppress the evil chaos, the five dragons also invested their souls into the world after creating it, to suppress the evil chaotic forces and protect the order of the world.

Each dragon's soul had its unique form, like the sky above Rhod's head, which represented the protection area of the Light Dragon Soul. Its characteristic was that even in the darkness, there would be light shining. In contrast, in the protection area of the Dark Dragon Soul, even during the day, it was dark, with no trace of light.

Because of this, the distribution of species on the continent was also quite regular.

In the area protected by the Light Dragon Soul, various green plants grew luxuriantly. In the area protected by the Dark Dragon Soul, only the traces of bioluminescent plants could be seen. This characteristic also influenced the distribution of various races on the continent. Humans mostly gathered under the protection of the Light Dragon Soul, followed by elves and angels. The undead, vampires, and nightmares, among the dark races, naturally became the inhabitants of the dark kingdom.

There were no gods on this continent. If one had to say, the five dragons that created the world were the objects of their worship. Similarly, this included the bearers of the Dragon Souls.

Souls have their core, and even the dragons that created the world are no exception. Their soul cores would reside in someone's body, and this person could use this power to adjust the Dragon Soul's protection of the continent. For example, if chaos is a virus and the Dragon Soul's power is a firewall, then the person with the soul core is equivalent to a CPU. As long as the CPU can still operate, the firewall will not fail and can completely block all chaotic forces from entering the world. These bearers of the soul cores are also considered the inheritors of the Dragon Souls.

However, this was not significant to Rhod at the moment.

Rhod slowly stood up, and intense pain swept through his body, especially the wound on his left chest, which seemed to be more severe now. Previously, Rhod could still勉强 use his left hand, but now he couldn't even move it, and even a slight movement of his fingers felt like his entire arm was immersed in a sea of fire.

However, this made Rhod feel relieved. Having a sensation meant his arm was still there; if he felt nothing, that would be a bigger problem.

Lifting his head, with the help of the bright moonlight, Rhod first saw the wreckage of the airship. The tall trees around them indicated they were in a forest. This made it clear what had happened. Although Rhod had killed the Wind Serpent Lord, the already fragile airship had been destroyed upon landing due to the intense impact.

The forest was now silent, not even the sound of insects could be heard. Rhod looked around and saw bloodstains and bodies everywhere, both of wind serpents and humans. Not far from Rhod, a small figure lay motionless.

"Liz!"

Rhod hurried to the girl's side, bent down, and carefully examined her condition. Fortunately, although the girl looked pale and her hands were tightly clenched, her breathing was relatively steady, and she opened her eyes after Rhod called her.

"I... I'm...?"

Liz opened her eyes blankly, staring at the man in front of her. After a while, she seemed to regain her senses, indicating that she had not been seriously injured.

"Am I still alive?"

"Yes."

Seeing Liz respond, Rhod felt relieved. The girl slowly stood up, shook her head, and bit her lip, still not fully recovered. However, there were more important things to do at the moment.

"What about everyone else? What about the captain? How are they?"

"..."

Rhod did not answer, but Liz didn't need an answer. She had already seen the scene around her. Her pale face now wore an abnormally stiff expression.

"How could this... Cret! Char! Captain!"

The girl rushed to the bodies of the mercenaries, desperately calling their names, but no one responded. However, Liz did not give up. She knelt down and carefully examined the mercenaries, and when she confirmed they were dead, she did not cry but gritted her teeth and ran to the next one.

However, her efforts did not yield the desired results.

Faced with the already cold and stiff bodies, she could do nothing. Although Liz persisted, when she saw Carter's body, she couldn't help but feel her legs give way, and she sat on the ground.

The once spirited captain of the mercenary group was now a cold, lifeless body. His body was caught in the gap of the deck, and a broken wooden stake had pierced his abdomen.

"Captain... Captain..."

Seeing this, Liz sat on the damp grass, the flame of hope in her eyes completely extinguished, replaced by a blank and sorrowful look. Finally, she lowered her head, and although she did not speak, the faint sobs carried by the night wind reached Rhod's ears.

Looking at the trembling shoulders of the blonde girl, Rhod could only stand silently behind her, unable to say a word. During the battle, he had not paid attention to these things because of the life-and-death situation. But now, with everything over, looking at the bodies scattered around, Rhod felt a complex mix of emotions. He had seen bodies before, but those were just simulated in the game. In the game, people could be resurrected with magic or their souls could return to their bodies. But this was not a game; when people died, they did not come back to life, nor did their souls return.

Dead is dead.

At this moment, Rhod was reminded of the night seven years ago, when he could only watch helplessly as death passed by, unable to do anything to stop it.

Just as he was about to say something to comfort the girl, a weak cry for help suddenly came.

"Hey... Is anyone there? Help...!"