Elite Mages' Academy

If the mysterious girl’s dead soul was on the level of an old woman, then the dragon lady before them who had lived a longer life would probably be on the level of an old witch. Even though their appearance was considered quite superior even by Earth’s standards, one could not help but feel speechless at the thought of their age.

For some reason, Xiao Lin suddenly thought of all that before the inevitable battle. Of course, he could only chastise himself for thinking like that, as the black dragon’s words suggested that she did not take either of them seriously and merely took them for a temporary plaything.

The black dragon was getting a little impatient. “How long more are you going to wait?”

“Can you let me make the first move?” Xiao Lin laughed self-deprecatingly. He knew that the dragon race was very prideful, and in their disdain, would only allow their opponents to make the first attack. The courtesy of giving him the upper hand might as well be likened to charity and pity.

“Now then, show me how strong the dragons in this world are!”

Xiao Lin focused his attention in an instant. His knowledge of dragons originated from the dean’s golden dragon, and Lilith’s remark that the black dragon was of the same level as a golden dragon could perfectly explain the strength of the woman before him.

“Holy Soul Summoning!”

Xiao Lin lifted the Holy Soul Sword. A gray mist engulfed it and he summoned the undead swordsman at once. Death energy was abundant in a world full of skeletons and the swordsman could therefore be summoned without a need to stain the sword with blood.

“Undead creatures?” The black dragon was not too surprised, but frowned and said, “I hate the undead.”

She then squinted and looked indifferently at the undead swordsman, causing the latter to tremble violently all of a sudden. Emotions ought not to have been present in an undead creature like that, but the fear seemed to stem from the most primitive instinct of life—it was a direct reaction of inferior creatures when facing superior ones.

“Dragon power!” Xiao Lin murmured in a deep voice, but only the undead swordsman was affected by it, an indication that the woman did as she said and deliberately lowered her strength to a certain level. The dragon power affected only the undead swordsman, not Xiao Lin himself.

Xiao Lin did not expect the undead swordsman to accomplish much, because the most it could do was help him stall for some time. Taking advantage of the distraction to his opponent’s attention, Xiao Lin did not hesitate to activate Miracle and quickly entered his Ruin state.

It was the strongest combat power he could use as of that point in time. Xiao Lin has done a thorough analysis of his own strength. Apart from his own skills, his abilities could only be considered satisfactory at best, but his explosive qualities were very strong, and his Ruin state was nothing more than a strengthening of that explosive quality.

By converting all his attributes to strength while in the Miracle state, Xiao Lin could achieve an explosive strength that exceeded 60 XP. According to Xiao Lin’s experience in the Ruin state, his strength attributes would further increase to nearly 100 XP.

That kind of strength attribute was about the same level as a Bronze-rank individual, which was equivalent to Xiao Lin gaining an instant increase to Bronze-rank strength while still at Black Iron-rank. Therein lay the reason why he requested the black dragon to lower its strength in the fight.

The instantaneous strength that burst out startled the dragon lady tremendously. Although she was still using the dragon power to tease the undead swordsman, her attention on Xiao Lin was never really drawn away. In fact, she found it quite laughable to see Xiao Lin approaching her at a tortoise-like speed.

When Xiao Lin hacked the Holy Soul Sword down, the black dragon only slightly raised her right arm and was prepared to use her armor to defend against it. Xiao Lin’s sword was indeed very slow. After converting all the attributes into strength, his speed was obviously affected, not to mention how trivial the Phantom Step was in the eyes of an opponent with the level of a black dragon. In truth, Xiao Lin was actually betting on the woman being too full of herself, and that the dragon race’s arrogance precluded her from actually evading the attack.

The bet seemed to have paid off when he saw that woman showing no intention to dodge. Xiao Lin was decisive, and he practically unleashed his strongest sword aura just as his attack was about to land. The fusion of sword aura and sword wave spread like wildfire.

Boom!

A huge explosion ensued, with the pressure of heat and the rebound almost knocking Xiao Lin to the ground. It was the strongest slash he could wield at the moment, and everything else after that was left to fate.

The explosion gradually subsided, and the woman slowly walked out of the smoke while coughing. She looked at Xiao Lin in some surprise and nodded before saying, “Wonderful! This is more interesting than I thought! Hmm, I thought I’d only be able to play for a little while, but it appears I won’t feel too bored in the next few days.”

The excitement on her face sent a chill down Xiao Lin’s spine. Although it was to be expected, he felt despair after seeing her nonchalant tone of speech as soon as she received his strongest attack.

“Armor! What’s the level of armor on your body?” Lilith, who was watching the battle, suddenly raised her eyebrows and asked in a loud voice.

“Oh?” The dragon lady turned her head to look at Lilith, then said in a strange and confused tone, “Do you think I’d wear inferior armor?”

Lilith could not help but remain speechless for a moment. She then sighed at Xiao Lin, “Told you. Why would you be so naïve as to think that we’re fighting on the same level as her?”

Xiao Lin sensed that something was wrong and looked over. The explosion and impact were incredibly strong earlier. The black dragon’s body was so powerful that it could not be injured, while there was not the slightest scratch on her armor, let alone signs of damage. The sheer quality of that armor was simply unimaginable.

“That’s Legend-rank equipment,” Lilith lamented. Even she was beginning to feel a little envious. Although Lilith might be Judge Academy’s most cared for individual, she had never seen a Legend-rank weapon before. The level of such equipment could even be considered useful in all situations.

Xiao Lin wanted to cry, but the tears would not come. There was no way he could fight that battle. Defeating the dragon was a tall order, and Xiao Lin’s initial plan was to use the black dragon’s condescending attitude and at least deal a blow to her by pairing his Miracle with the Ruin state. In hindsight, he was simply too stupid and naïve because her Legend-rank equipment was a total slap in his face.

“Come on now, come on! What other moves do you have? Use them all!”

Xiao Lin was uninterested, but the dragon lady was thoroughly enjoying herself at the moment. The attack gave her a lot of unexpected surprises earlier, and after seeing Xiao Lin’s silly daze, she urged him in dissatisfaction while remembering to praise him, “Your earlier attack was superb! Being able to exert a power one-and-a-half times more than your own ability isn’t easy, especially at this stage of yours. I haven’t seen such swordsmanship in a long time.”