CHAPTER 35: CHAPTER 32 : LIN VS ISPHYRIELA

After Lurzak’s body vanished, Lin tilted his head, his pitch-black eyes fixed on Isphyriela. In the next instant, he disappeared, only to reappear before her, launching his attack.

Isphyriela raised her hand, and with a surge of rippling energy, she hurled him toward Elinius and Oriliana’s direction.

While flying through the air, Lin stretched out his hands, seizing both Elinius and Oriliana by the head. With a single leap above them, he smashed their skulls together with brutal force. Then, with a swift motion, he caught the white snake around Oriliana, bit through its head, and swallowed it before it could transform. Slowly, his gaze shifted back to Isphyriela, his eyes dark and uncertain, as if he could not comprehend what was happening.

Oriliana froze, the sound of the two skulls colliding still echoing in her ears. The serpent that had been coiled around her was torn apart in an instant, and she felt her very soul bleeding with it. Her hand instinctively rose to her stomach, as if to shield what was within, but her legs refused to obey. Her eyes widened, staring into emptiness, her body trembling in utter helplessness.

Elinius quaked with terror. Before his eyes stood the same monster who had nearly ended his life.

The White Ghoul Princess stood frozen in disbelief, unable to accept that her brother had just vanished before her eyes.

Then Isphyriela’s voice cut through the air, heavy with authority. “The rules have changed,” she declared. “Whoever slays this felsy first will see their clan spared.”

Isphyriela was furious. For the first time in her life, a lowly creature had dared to rebel against her, showing no regard for who she was. She respected only the Dragon King, the higher dragons, and the elite among them.

Lin was ambushed by the White Ghoul Princess, the wolf-man, and the White Wolf Queen, accompanied by her massive beast.

With both hands, he twisted his body, executing a flawless Kaiten-nage, an Aikidō rotary throw, that sent the three hurtling through the air.

Without pause, Lin raised his hand, thumb and middle finger forming a circle. Black spinal pulses erupted from his body into the sky. Unlike Lurzak’s, his were laced with poison and shadows, slicing straight through the princess and her companions. Their screams tore through the air as the pulses drained their life force, twisting and grinding within their bodies. Flesh and bone warped under the relentless rotation, transforming them into living torture chambers.

But before he could notice, sharp fangs sank into his back. Poison seeped from the wolf’s bite, but Lin’s body felt nothing. The great beast had lunged in a desperate attempt to avenge its master, yet Lin only leaned into the bite, seizing its jaws with sheer force. With a brutal snap, he tore the wolf’s mouth apart, splitting the creature into two bloody halves.

“Lin was then shrouded in dark energy as the wound closed before their eyes, the torn flesh knitting together until not even a scar remained.

‘Worthless slaves,’ Isphyriela spat coldly. ‘If I had known you were all this useless, I would never have bothered keeping you alive.’”

The Queen of the Blue Elves and her last daughter did not intervene. It was as if they saw Lin enacting their vengeance for them, and knew that approaching this monster would only lead to destruction. Yet at the same time, they trembled, horrified by the creature standing before their eyes.

Lin slowly tilted his head toward Isphyriela, his movements unnaturally swift, like a shadow slipping through the cracks of reality.

Isphyriela instantly conjured an ice shield, layers of crystalline frost spiraling into existence before her. But the barrier didn’t last as cracks spread like spiderwebs. It wasn’t that his attack was overwhelmingly strong, but rather that it was filled with something that devoured mana. With a sharp shatter, the shield broke apart.

From within the fragments, Lin’s strike pierced through. His dark poison, fused with the mana of his shadows, seeped into the broken shield like venom in an open wound. The corrupted energy surged forward, wrapping around Isphyriela like a living curse.

She touched the scar on her face, and a single drop of blood trickled down her cheek.

Her eyes narrowed. For the first time in ages, Isphyriela felt fear, madness, and the presence of true danger.

Without hesitation, she unleashed her strength. A vast surge of white energy erupted around her, obliterating the ring. In an instant, the battlefield transformed into a boundless snowfield, leaving only Oriliana, Elinius, the Elf Queen and her daughter, and Isphyriela standing within it. Her power swelled even further, shaking all of the Eternal ice Abyass with a great earthquake.

Without a second thought, she raised her hand, sending every last member flying. Then she ascended into the sky, her aura pressing down on Lin, locking his body in place.

Madness overtook her. She unleashed wave after wave of rippling energy, forcing Lin’s face into the snow.

Again, the ripples struck once, then twice. No, they were increasing, one after another, like the fury of a madwoman bent on destroying everything.

After countless strikes, Lin began to rise to his feet, adapting to her relentless assault.

Isphyriela lunged from the air, her kick crashing into his face like a meteor from the sky.

Lin’s hand glowed with black energy as he shifted into a smooth Tenkan. With a casual sweep, he redirected her full force, twisting her momentum aside. Helplessly, she was sent veering off course, her body smashing through one ice wall after another .

Sensing the danger, Elenius and Oriliana kept their distance, while the Queen of the Blue Elves began casting a great magic circle upon herself and her daughter. Her golden eyes glowed brightly, as if she were invoking one of her eye’s hidden abilities, radiating immense power.

“Elpharia, has the clan left the Eternal ice Abyass?” the queen asked her daughter through their mental link.

Yes, Mother. They’ve already departed. In three days, they’ll reach the Yellow Elf territory. Our plan succeeded.

Good. Then let’s leave this place—this is our chance.

Through the same link, the queen reached out to Oriliana. “Oriliana, will you escape? Isphyriela has gone mad. Once her battle with your boy ends, she’ll kill everyone.”

“Yes,” Oriliana replied.

Then run west. There is no storm in that direction.

The Queen of the Blue Elves gave her advice sincerely, with the tenderness of a mother.

“Swallowing her grief, the Queen of the Blue Elves resisted the urge to recover the bodies of her fallen kin for a proper funeral. Her priority was clear: to protect her daughter and ensure their clan’s survival. Her daughter and brother had already given their lives for that cause.

Then, in a flash of light, the queen and her daughter exchanged places with two other blue elves, who immediately began running to escape the Eternal ice Abyss."

Oriliana and her brother remained silent. They had no intention of interfering in the Blue Elves’ plan; their focus was solely on the battle between Lin and Isphyriela.

Isphyriela emerged from the shattered ice wall, fury burning in her eyes. Power surged wildly around her as she vanished and reappeared right in front of Lin. With a savage punch to his stomach, she sent him flying, giving him no chance to recover.

Before he could catch his breath, she clasped both hands together and smashed him down, his body slamming into the ground and bouncing back like a broken doll. She seized him by the face, dragging him across the battlefield and shattering every wall in their path.

But Lin retaliated, using his heel he struck her mid-grapple, breaking free of her hold. Darkness erupted from him as he released his black Spinal Pulses, hurling them at her.

Yet Isphyriela intervened. She conjured a layered shield of ice mana upon her hand, intercepting the pulses before they could pierce through. With a swift twist, she redirected their force, sending Lin hurtling back.

Even unconscious, Lin’s instincts carried him. His body twisted mid-air, feet planting firmly against the ground. Slowly, he lifted his gaze toward Isphyriela. Her breath came ragged, her eyes sharp, at last she faced a true threat.

In a blur of speed, Lin vanished, reappearing before her. His knee drove deep into her stomach, the impact launching her skyward as blood burst from her lips. He pursued instantly, leaping into the air. With brutal precision, his knee crashed against the back of her skull, driving her into the earth. Spinning mid-descent, he unleashed a merciless heel kick.

But Isphyriela only smiled. At the last instant, she conjured a glacial sphere of spines, an icy shell shielding her from destruction.

Lin twisted, using his Spinal Pulses as propulsion, reversing his trajectory like a black comet. His movements were erratic, insect-like, defying all logic.

“I’ll show you the true power of the dragon,” she declared. “EIGHTY percent of my strength!”

The air quaked as Isphyriela’s aura surged violently, shaking the ocean itself. From her back, two radiant white wings unfurled.

With madness in her eyes, she raised her hands. A hundred magic circles erupted around her, freezing the battlefield in an instant. Lin sensed the danger and leapt into the void, only for her to soar after him like an arrow. Her fingers interlocked into a brutal strike that sent him crashing into the earth.

The ground split as she lifted her hand again. Thousands of ice arrows rained from the heavens. Lin dodged, his body whipping through the air, dark energy swirling at his back.

Isphyriela smirked. “Ice Trap, activate.”

The battlefield erupted in glowing explosions of frost beneath him, forcing Lin to accelerate. From the mist of ice, a presence above him emerged—greater, overwhelming power.

Driven purely by instinct, Lin gathered his strength. Dark mana condensed between his hands, forming two black orbs of raw energy. They began to spiral around one another, and from their friction a crackling black spark was born in the sky."

Isphyriela sensed the danger of the two dark orbs but had no time to stop them. She chose to change the battlefield, knowing it was better than getting closer. Lin leapt, launching his black Spinal Pulses at her, only for Isphyriela to deflect them with her right wing and freeze them in place. Lin crashed to the ground, and she immediately rushed at him.

With a swift kick, Lin’s body slammed into the snow, stamping deep marks across the frozen earth. He struggled to stand, but his body could not endure much longer. Black blood poured from his hands, eyes, nose, and mouth, and his skin began to flake apart. Without awakening it fully, he summoned his Noctarine Insect.

SHE spoke with a piercing voice. “You cannot use magic.”

Lin fought to regain control of his body. One of his eyes turned blue, the other black. But Isphyriela gave him no chance. She seized him by the neck and sneered, “Is that all you’ve got?”

Lin lifted two fingers, channeling the fast rotating orbs of energy that spiraled around the center. Suddenly one of the spheres ruptured, shattering apart into dozens of dark arrows that shot outward in every direction. Isphyriela quickly raised an ice shield, blocking the ones aimed at her.

“Is that your final, pathetic attack?” she mocked.

Her grip on him tightened as though she meant to tear his head from his shoulders.

“You are neither human nor serpent. This is the first time I’ve seen a creature of your kind. I have knowledge of many races, yet you are something new. Even your scent is strange, and this dark mana of yours is far from normal. Your age is young, yet your experience is great. Strange indeed.

It doesn’t matter now. I’ll end you here.

She raised her voice proudly. “I am Isphyriela, the White Dragon Queen. I am a dragon, and yet here I am, forced to use eighty percent of my power against some random child. Pathetic.

Your clan will be erased. You and your bloodline are a threat to my kind. Even if I cannot extract information from your mouth, your corpse will suffice. On the Continent of Sacred Majesty, I will uncover everything.”

Lin smirked and spat toward her face, missing and landing by her eye. The spit sizzled, lightly burning her skin.

Furious, Isphyriela seized his arm and, with overwhelming strength, tore it from his body. She cast him down at her feet, pressing her leg against his chest.

Raising her hand, she declared, “By the blessing of the White Dragon Queen!” A massive magic circle flared into existence in her palm. “Ice Dragon Blast!”

Frost swirled violently in the air.

But before she could unleash it, Lin whispered to the Forgotten One, “Now... do it.”