The Devil's Cage

Tsss!

Plague Calamity Dragon had shut its left eye when [Arrogant Word] was slashed towards it, yet the purplish radiating sword plunged into the eye nonetheless.

The plague form wasn't Calamity Dragon's true body.

Pride wielding [Arrogant Word] was the best match, their presence complemented each other, like adding wings to a tiger, reaching extreme heights while being perfectly in sync.

The best match state allowed Pride to wield [Arrogant World] skillfully, like its own arm and [Critical Rate] and [Critical Damage] were triggered altogether.

[Arrogant Word] had Extreme attack, and under [Fury Slash], its attack was boosted to rank II.

[Critical Damage] had a certain rate to inflict twice the damage; [Critical Rate] doubled the damage struck at an enemy's weak spot.

When all the attributes were triggered, the overall attack escalated beyond rank III, reaching almost twice the attack of rank III and nearing rank IV without a doubt, but there was still [Arrogance] and [Untamed] attributes in the greatsword that hasn't been activated.

Kieran would never let his equipment's advantage slip.

He purposely left behind some souls in order to trigger [Arrogance] after [Untamed] was used.

[Untamed] allowed the wielder to save 90% of the Stamina used when slashing a target 10 times the size, and would boost the attack by 1 rank. Together with [Arrogance], [Untamed] boosted the attack higher.

The slash Pride performed contained the attack of rank IV twice, nearing rank V in total.

More importantly, this slash was the product of countless meticulous calculations.

Further away in the darkness, Sloth laid down his hands and yawned loudly.

He really wanted to fall back and sleep but he knew the battle was far from over, meaning he would still be needed for a while.

"What trouble!"

While complaining, Sloth glued his eyes on the Plague Calamity Dragon after Pride landed his slash on the eye.

Splat!

As though a balloon with water broke, the eye, which was 4 stories tall, was split in half.

A crystal-like substance gushed out from the wound.

"Aaaaaargh!"

Plague Calamity Dragon screamed loudly in agony, but the screams did not affect its attack. It endured the pain and shook its head, shaking Pride down and slamming him down with its claw.

This claw strike was faster than the previous ones and an unknown suction force appeared in the center of the claw, sucking the flying Pride back.

"DIE!" shouted Plague Calamity Dragon.

Fuuung!

Violent gales encased Pride's body, the claw getting closer but Pride didn't react to the attack.

His arrogant look was fervent and calm, as though he was ready to die for honor, his expression did not change even though the claw was right in front of his face.

BANG!

The mountain-like claw hit Pride.

Pride faltered, his body even fading a bit.

Even though he used his dark sword on top of the original [Arrogant Word] to perform Transcendence [Greatsword Blocking], he wasn't able to mitigate the attack.

PAK!

The dark sword on top of [Arrogant Word] shattered upon impact and [Arrogant Word] also buzzed violently, but the more it buzzed, the brighter the purple radiance was.

The reaction was similar to Pride's arrogance.

Both sword and man would rather die than retreat!

The two similar auras started to converge, especially when Pride wielded [Arrogant Word] forward, the purple radiance as bright as the sun and amid the blinding radiance, an image of a striped tiger jumping out from the blade.

[Sword Skill, Tiger Force]!

The fierce tiger crosses the ravine and hunts beyond a thousand mile!

The fierce tiger image that jumped out from the blade was hyper realistic, each strand of its fur visible and its roar powerful as it blasted the Plague Calamity Dragon.

Another dragon roar accompanied the tiger's!

Pride swung his greatsword down and performed another upward slash!

[Sword Skill, Rising Dragon]!

The gray image of the dragon appeared majestically, the dragon's roar shaking the heavens!

The tiger and the dragon roared together!

The fierce tiger jumped forth with a powerful gale, wreaking havoc on its target.

The majestic dragon rose to the sky, clouded by a layer of mist.

When the wind blew away the clouds, the clouds converged with the wind.

The tiger approached the dragon, the dragon swirled around the tiger.

The tiger and dragon converged and displayed a technique that was long forgotten, except for the founder of the respective sect.

Maybe Pride, who performed the technique, had an inkling what the technique was, but he too didn't know the name.

All he knew was the tiger and dragon were enough to hurt the enemy in front of its eyes and that was all that mattered.

The tiger and dragon lunged towards the Plague Calamity Dragon!

The two majestic beasts danced in a fury!

Claws and fangs were lashed out at the Plague Calamity Dragon!

Even the sky felt darker!

The tiger and dragon images moved very fast, their movement transforming into ten, hundred, thousands of afterimages, performing slashes and bites on their target in that limited space!

The sheer power from the beasts caused an explosion!

Kaboom!

Slash! Slash! Slash!

The skin at the claw of the Plague Calamity Dragon burst, a blood-like substance spraying all over the sky and one of the talons suffered a huge crack.

After Pride unleashed the tiger and dragon slash, his expression didn't change but he was panting heavily.

Plague Calamity Dragon wailed in pain again. It looked at Pride nervously and doubtfully, as if it was frightened. At the same time, realization came afloat in its mind.

"I knew those bastard knights wouldn't have chosen a high-tier devil descendant as a heir! You are the one they appointed, am I right? And you are the true host! And that one there is just another one of your clones!"

The more Plague Calamity Dragon explained, the more it thought it had realized the truth and when it saw many other Kierans standing further away, it solidified its guess.

It finally made sense!

"You have some interesting thoughts as a high-tier devil descendant! What do the other clones carry? That yawning one, is he Heart Demon or Mind Demon? And that one, who keeps eating my flesh, is he the pup of Amodrela or the last blood descendant of Star-devourer?"

Plague Calamity Dragon kept guessing. It tried to sound as calm as possible but the pain of losing flesh made it twitch uncontrollably.

It endured the pain and observed Pride carefully.

It knew the nature of those bastard knights after fighting them many times. They'd sacrifice their lives to seal it, expel it from civilization, and it seemed like this time was no exception either.

This time was even considered the best attempt the bastards knights made for over a millennium.

Using the void breach to trap its body and the pup of Amodrela or the last blood descendant of Star-devourer to eat its flesh, if he had enough time, he would really succeed.

However, it seemed like he did not factor the digestive system of the pup of Amodrela or Star-devourer last blood descendant.

Although either one of them would grow into a very scary monster, even Calamity Dragon itself would have to back off against them, but the pup and last blood descendant wasn't as fearsome as the originals.

As the heir of the knights, he should have noticed it and factored it into his plan, so this must be a trap!

What kind of trap though?

Plague Calamity Dragon squinted its remaining eye but no matter how hard it looked, it couldn't spot anything weird, only an exhausted Pride.

However, the more normal it seemed, the more vigilant it was. Plague Calamity Dragon dare not simply make a move, it had suffered a great loss from the start of the battle until now.

In its memories, those bastard knights and their heir tricked it before using the same methods, it was then expelled and sealed because of its carelessness.

This time, it will not fall for the trick!

Fung!

Plague Calamity Dragon took a deep breath and unleashed its Plague Breath again but this time, it wasn't the cone shaped one, but fired in a straight line!

Compared to the cone-shaped breath, the straight line one was weaker by a lot but it possessed the force and penetration that its previous form did not.

Pride dodged it in a flash.

Booom!

The tall building behind him was perforated, not one, but almost a dozen more!

All the buildings along the breath's trajectory were instantly turned into ruins.

Fuuuuah!

Plague Calamity Dragon fired out it's straight Plague Breath again; Pride dodged it again.

Dodging a straight line of attack was too easy for Pride, and as he dodged, he seized the window to regulate his breath, calming himself down.

He locked onto his target and swung his greatsword upwards again.

The tiger and dragon roared again.

Hundreds and thousands of slashes and bites burst out with that slash.

This time, the slash landed on Plague Calamity Dragon's chest.

Plague Calamity Dragon looked down at the wound at its chest, squinted its eye and mocked, "I won't fall for that again. One of your seniors used the same tactic against me before! He repeatedly used a seemingly powerful technique, misleading me to think that was his strongest move but in the end, when I counterattacked, he finally unleashed his true killer move! Did you think the same move would work on me twice?" Plague Calamity Dragon laughed coldly.

It looked at the heavily panting Pride and its laughs grew louder.

"Or do you think you can grind me down with that technique of yours? Are you placing all your hopes in that pup or last blood descendant to devour my body? Stop dreaming! You are really a fo-"

Before it could finish, a golden radiance shone from Pride.

The panting Pride instantly recovered and all his injuries were healed. His stamina even got extended!

[King's Praise: Praise a target to recover all its injuries and stamina, gains temporary buff that varies according to the power level of the king and the number of followers.]

…

Plague Calamity Dragon turned to the real Kieran that was standing on top of its true body.

"You are still hiding some tricks eh? But how long can you keep it up?"

Plague Calamity Dragon grunted coldly and simply allowed Pride to land another tiger dragon slash on its body without moving a muscle, as though it didn't care about the attack.

The golden radiance shined again and with [King's Praise]'s effect, Pride recovered again; the tiger dragon slashed landed on the body again.

Plague Calamity Dragon did not move or dodge, trying to find out how many slashes Pride could perform.

The monitors in the shelter clearly displayed the situation on the surface.

The civilians prayed deeper and showed more devotion after they saw Glutton Emperor block that enormous monster.

Their thoughts were simple: they hoped Kieran would kill the monster that plagued their city.

Denser amounts of Power of Faith gushed towards [Lionheart].

The consumed Power of Faith was instantly replenished and on top of that, the maximum amount increased either.

Therefore, Pride performed the tiger dragon slash time after time under that endless golden radiance.

At the first few slashes, Plague Calamity Dragon was still able to maintain calm but as seconds turned into minutes, its body started to falter.

It was currently in its plague form, not its true body, which was nearly invincible and immortal as long as its core wasn't damaged.

This special form would accumulate all the damage received and once it reached a certain threshold, it would damage itself severely or even fatally.

It must take out that high-tier devil descendant!

The thought came afloat in its mind, a ferocious glare flashing over its only eye and it moved its enormous body towards Kieran, disregarding consequences.

Even though it suffered two more tiger dragon slashes from Pride as it traveled, it had no intention to alter its thoughts.

"I knew I should have taken out your clone from the beginning!"

Its claw smashed down towards Kieran, it ought to smash Kieran into a pile of meat, crushing every bone in his body!

Fung!

The golden radiance appeared again but this time, it wasn't on Pride but on top of Plague Calamity Dragon!

[King's Prestige]!

Those who dared offend the king would be punished severely!

While clouded by the golden radiance, Plague Calamity Dragon felt its body weakening, and not only its stamina, its strength was halved too.

"Trying to weaken me? So what? I still can smash you into pieces!"

Plague Calamity Dragon roared and continued its claw attack.

Kabam!

An explosive thud sounded as the claw drowned Kieran, his figure nowhere to be seen while Plague Calamity Dragon laughed out loud.

"You really overestimate yourself, trying to block my claw with your body?! You have no idea what true power is! Do you think…"

Plague Calamity Dragon halted its laughter because a burning sensation came from the center of its claw. It has been a while since it felt the burns on its body and a blazing force was coming out from its claw, pushing its whole front limb upwards.

"How is this possible!? DOWN YOU GO!"

Plague Calamity Dragon shouted in disbelief, pressing its claw down with all its might and hoping that it could crush Kieran to death, but it was useless!

Second after second, the mountain-like claw didn't go lower, instead pushed upwards, little by little.

And when the claw was pushed up completely, a magma figure appeared in everyone's sight.

Its long horn was as sharp as a blade and could pierce the sky; its blazing wings were hot and covered in mythical runes.

Even though they were a monitor apart, the civilians that watched the scene picked up a sulphuric smell.

But before the civilians regained their senses, they saw the burning devil who pushed the mountain-like claw away walk forward step by step.

'What is he going to do?'

The question rose in everyone's heart and soon they were given an answer.

Devil Kieran walked towards the tip of the talon, he raised his magma arms and hugged it tightly, twisted his back to hurl it forward.

"I admit I've underestimated your strength but as a mere high-tier devil descendant, you hope to…"

Plague Calamity Dragon eased its strength on its claw while waiting for Kieran to die of his overestimation, it ought to seize the window to put its body over Kieran, crushing him once and for all.

It never believed, or even imagined, a high-tier devil descendant could hurl it away, even in its plague form!

However, the next moment, Plague Calamity Dragon felt an unstoppable force from its talon and at the same time, it saw the aura on that blazing figure transformed.

A blazing scale appeared on top of the figure in a flash.

"Devil Libra! You are not a high-tier devil descendant but the descendant of the Devil Overlord!?"

Plague Calamity Dragon screamed in shock, instinctively wanting to struggle but it was too late.

Its enormous body was out of control as it was hurled away, together with a devilish roar. It was swung upwards and then crashed beside the void breach, where its true body was stuck.

KABAAAAAM!!!!