Just as Baelin was about to fall unconscious, time seemed to stop, and his surroundings turned black and white. His body seemed to be stuck in mid-air.
“It’s Lord Leylin’s voice! He’s finally acknowledged me as his student!” Baelin was overjoyed, his thoughts on this while he was on the verge of death.
Next, he felt the steel sword on his right hand constantly becoming warmer till it became burning hot as if he was holding a soldering iron.
*Weng Weng!* The sword constantly shook, and a crimson rune appeared on its own accord on the blade.
“Ahh!”
Baelin felt a stream of heat being transmitted from the steel sword, rushing to his lower abdomen where his life essence was congregated.
*Bang!* Like the sound of a bottle exploding, the bottleneck to becoming a Grand Knight — the issue which had been bothering Baelin for a long period of time — was crossed!
Life energy that was at least ten times more powerful than before congregated from the life essence at his lower abdomen, and flowed through Baelin’s limbs.
“Shaaa!”
Baelin held his sword and slashed forward. On the surface of the steel sword, red rays from the rune suddenly brightened, and the sheen from a sword streaked through the sky, appearing in front of the Earth Dragon.
Under the black and white rays that had frozen time, the Earth Dragon was motionless, allowing Baelin to aim a slash at its neck.
*Whoosh!*
A cold wind blew, and the black and white faded, returning to the usual colourful world.
*Ka-cha!*
A fine red line appeared at the Earth Dragon’s neck.
This line began to spread till it covered the entire neck, and then reddish-green blood constantly flowed out, the gigantic head of the beast fell to the ground.
*Rumble!* After losing its head, the huge body of the Goat-Horned Earth Dragon crashed to the ground, like a little earthquake, causing a large amount of dust to fly.
“What happened to him?” Jenny felt a little dizzy.
“He broke through! He broke through the bottleneck of a Grand Knight!” James mumbled to himself, and then helped Jenny up.
“Haha, I knew I was a genius! How could I just die like this!”
Baelin, who had escaped death, patted his chest and began to laugh.
Seeing him in this state, Jenny felt there was a fire in her chest, almost causing it to explode.
“You idiot!” Jenny threw a white handkerchief at Baelin’s face. Leaving him alone, she entered the cave with James.
“Why is she being like this?” Baelin held the handkerchief in a daze, bewildered.
The surviving mercenaries and adventurers silently cleaned the area.
They had lost a lot of people, and many of them were their friends or even family!
It was very quiet on the battlefield, and not one animal came to disturb the silence.
The sun’s rays were extremely annoying for the beings that were used to the darkness. Potter Town of Twilight Zone had made use of this aversion and used the sun stones to disperse the creatures of darkness, and could thus develop.
James had considered this at the beginning when he threw out the sun stones.
Ten minutes later, Jenny and James came out with excitement.
“Is this the Dragon-Blooded Flower Bud?”
Baelin noticed the plant that seemed like a flower in Jenny’s hands.
This red flower was the size of a bowl, and there were webs that seemed like blood vessels and veins on the petals. It looked very bizarre.
Jenny carefully held the flower bud, as if she were holding some treasure that was as valuable as a city.
“Yes! With this, my father can be saved…” Jenny finally relaxed.
Ever since her father had been poisoned, immense pressure had been put on the shoulders of this young girl. Now, she could finally heave a sigh of relief.
“Thank you!” Jenny was so emotional that she hugged Baelin, leaving him stunned at the spot.
“And all of you!” Jenny turned back to the adventurers and mercenaries, “Your loyalty and devotion to your role has earned you your rewards! I will give out twice the amount promised, and five times that for those who have died!”
“Thank you so much, my lady!” “A kind and generous person!” “May the lord of darkness protect you!”
As expected, Jenny’s declaration made everyone present cheer.
They packed up and began their journey back.
On the way back, Baelin kept swinging the steel sword in his hand, wanting to find any strange marks on it. However, after that one burst, this sword had used up all its energy, and no matter how much Baelin prodded it, it did not exhibit any strange features.
“What a fool! However, only a person with a one-track mind like him is suitable for my cross blade breathing technique!” Baelin’s actions were all seen by Leylin, who was in Potter Town, through a transparent crystal, and he shook his head.
Beside him, a test tube full of reddish green liquid was thrown aside like rubbish.
“