Chapter 159 – Magno-Saurus
Magno-Saurus.
A monster covered in lava and fire.
It had gone beyond the usual category of dinosaurs.
Actually, even the Tang family’s Dilophosaurus had long since transcended the boundaries of typical dinosaurs.
Rather than being a true dinosaur, it possessed abilities that seemed like something out of a fantasy novel.
Of course, it also had the overwhelming physicality of a dinosaur.
In other words, it was an absurdly overpowered character.
Though, I wasn’t one to be underestimated either.
I focused my gaze.
My wild eyes had two main functions.
One was to identify the level and name of my opponent, and the other was to check their status and characteristics.
The first option didn’t put much strain on my body, so I used it frequently, but checking status did put a strain on my eyes.
It wasn’t a permanent condition, more like just a temporary eye pain.
It was something I’d avoid unless absolutely necessary.
However, at this moment, it was worth enduring that pain.
After all, there was only one opponent, so the burden was lessened.
【Magno-Saurus lv65】
【Characteristics】
「Flame Skin」「Fire Resistance」「Yang-Extreme Body」
【Status】
「Rage」「Fear」「Confusion」
Aside from the Yang-Extreme Body, the characteristics were more or less what I expected.
What I needed to focus on was its status.
Rage, Fear, Confusion.
Rage was obvious without even needing to see it.
But fear and confusion?
This was suspicious.
What in the world was it afraid of, and what was confusing it?
*Boom!*
The Magno-Saurus crushed a fur-covered beast that had been fighting nearby with a single blow.
It was over as soon as its huge hind leg came down.
The prey it hunted was burned to ashes by the flames spewing from its mouth.
Though I hadn’t seen its combat style up close, I could guess how it fought.
“Gagagaek!”
I kicked off the ground and charged towards it at high speed.
“Krrk?”
The Magno-Saurus immediately turned its head.
Its mouth opened wide.
“You idiot! You should’ve kept quiet!”
White Wolf shouted, almost simultaneously with the flames bursting from the Magno-Saurus’ mouth.
And then.
*Crack!*
A large ice wall formed right in front of me.
It seemed like White Wolf’s doing.
Despite his harsh words, he was helping out.
With his assistance, we could take down this thing safely.
But that didn’t suit my style.
It would be faster to finish it off my way, with close combat strikes.
Even if I got injured, defeating a monster like this would definitely level me up, so I wasn’t too concerned.
As long as White Wolf continued to support me from a distance with his ice, that would be enough.
*Tat-tat-tat!*
Utilizing the subtlety of the Soaring Dragon’s Ascension Step, I rapidly closed the distance to it.
Without wasting any momentum, I immediately followed up with Dragon Claws.
My front paws swung down at lightning speed.
“Kraaaaah!”
*Swoosh!*
But the Magno-Saurus quickly countered by whipping its bladed tail to block my attack.
*Clang!*
The impact was strong enough to make my wrists throb.
Judging by the strength of its tail muscles, its main weapon was probably its tail.
As long as I was careful of that, I’d be fine.
“Krrrk.”
*Swoosh!*
Once again, its tail lashed out.
It flew at me with the fluidity of a whip, tracing a flexible path.
I ducked my head to dodge its attack, but as if it anticipated this, it swung its bladed tail upward from below.
*Clang!*
Crossing both hands, I barely managed to block its attack.
…I hated to admit it, but this thing was using swordsmanship.
According to White Wolf, this was the so-called “Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Technique.”
No, it was just the name.
I couldn’t feel any plum blossom scent at all.
The Magno-Saurus moved its tail as if it were wielding a sword.
Its attacks came from angles impossible with an ordinary blade.
Its strikes were so disorienting that they clouded my mind.
But I wasn’t going to sit back and let myself be hit.
I had to disrupt its swordplay and steal the flow of its attacks.
*Twist and Parry.*
My right hand mimicked the movement of a snake, while my left hand imitated a bird’s grace.
*Clang! Crack!*
I deflected all of its incoming plum blossom sword strikes.
The lava-made plum blossoms were pierced by the eagle’s claws, while the venomous snake climbed up the lava branches.
*Sssst.*
*Fwoosh!*
Suddenly, flames spewed out from it.
*Crack!*
The ice wall blocked its attack.
I countered its plum blossom sword with my twisting and parrying technique, while White Wolf blocked its flame attacks.
That must have been frustrating for the Magno-Saurus.
All its offensive means were being neutralized.
“Krrrr….”
But of course, I couldn’t just stay on the defensive.
I had to either use a big technique or slowly chip away at its health.
Since it was clear that it was hiding some sort of secret move, I’d have to approach this cautiously.
*Sssst.*
*Shaaah….*
I spewed out a large amount of venom from my mouth.
Komodos naturally wield venom.
And since I had evolved after consuming Dilopho’s core, it was no surprise.
I spread a cloud of poison everywhere, applying both venom creation and venom accumulation.
I hadn’t been able to fully utilize this in the jungle.
Because the Snake Queen also wielded poison, the Bird King’s side had measures in place to counteract it.
But now it was different.
The Magno-Saurus had no immunity to poison.
There was no reason not to use the most powerful weapon of the Komodo.
“Kreeek!”
The effects were immediate.
This beast was too large for it to be fatal, but it would definitely be a nuisance.
*Fwoosh!*
The Magno-Saurus immediately spewed fire to disperse the poison cloud.
Of course, I wasn’t just going to stand by and watch.
*Crack!*
I swung my Dragon Claws down on its head.
“Kraaaah!”
*Crunch.*
Its neck was so thick that it withstood the blow.
But with the poison still accumulating and the wounds from my previous attack, it was bound to weaken over time.
“Krrrk, Krrraaaaak!”
The Magno-Saurus let out a furious roar.
At this point, the enemy would have realized it had no room to leave anything behind.
*Swoosh!*
The fierce plum blossom sword strikes came flying toward me.
And then.
*Whoosh!*
A rain of fire poured down from the sky.
The beast’s secret technique, **Mancheonhwau**, was unleashed.
At first, it didn’t make sense to me why a volcanic dinosaur would use **Mancheonhwau**.
But it was indeed **Mancheonhwau**.
The flames beautifully adorned the sky.
It was fire (*hwa, 火*) and also a flower (*hwa, 花*).
There was no time to be mesmerized.
No matter how beautiful the attack appeared, I wasn’t a fool who would just sit and take it.
[「Dragon’s Reverse Scale lv5」 is activated.]
To counter a fake **Mancheonhwau**, I had to respond with a fake as well.
[「Mancheonhwau」 is temporarily acquired.]
I crafted scattered poison into thin throwing knives.
*Shwak!*
The poison knives shot forward at great speed.
The rain of fire collided with the poison knives.
*Sizzle!*
The flames were more powerful in momentum, but they expended their strength piercing through the poison.
In other words, those flames posed no real threat.
“Krrk?”
The Magno-Saurus showed signs of confusion.
It must have been some sort of signature technique.
I could see its psyche was shaken, and its body was visibly exhausted.
*Ssss.*
[「Dragon’s Reverse Scale lv5」 is activated.]
It was time to finish this.
[「Gecko Death Beam lv5」 is temporarily acquired.]
*Zzzang!*
A powerful blue beam created a huge hole in the creature’s neck.
“Keheeeek!”
I was a little surprised.
It was still alive.
*Fwoosh!*
The Magno-Saurus’ entire body ignited into a blazing inferno.
It was likely a technique similar to the venom attack that the Dilopho had shown.
The difference was that this creature was in a much more precarious, yet stronger, state.
It charged at me recklessly, seemingly intent on taking me down with it.
“Awooooo!”
But its attack never reached me.
*Crunch!*
White Wolf’s fierce cold froze the creature’s body.
And now that the flames had weakened.
*Crack!*
I swung my Dragon Claws powerfully, striking its neck.
*Snap!*
With a crisp sound, the Magno-Saurus’ neck bones broke.
[Your level has increased.]
It seemed certain that it was dead, as my level had risen.
“Gegegek!”
I let out a triumphant roar to celebrate the victory.
Honestly, defeating this thing hadn’t been that difficult.
If I had continuously activated **Dragon’s Reverse Scale** and landed powerful attacks, it wouldn’t have been able to resist and would have collapsed quickly.
Though not fully mastered, if I had coated my hand with energy, I might have been able to snap its neck with a single strike.
But there were two main reasons I didn’t do that.
The first was that opponents of this caliber weren’t common.
So, I took the opportunity to use venom techniques I hadn’t employed in a while.
…Of course, I also wanted to show that thing, which called itself **Mancheonhwau**, what real technique looked like.
The second reason was that this creature wasn’t the final boss.
My goal was the Guardian.
This was just one of its underlings.
Revealing all my cards in this situation wasn’t ideal.
At least not until I fought the Guardian—if I showed my techniques now, the Guardian might prepare countermeasures.
That’s why I only revealed **Gecko Death Beam** and venom techniques.
Showing two vastly different techniques would likely make it hard for them to guess that I had more cards up my sleeve.
“Gekgekgek…”
By the time they came up with countermeasures for the poison and beams, I would hit them with new techniques using **Dragon’s Reverse Scale**, turning them into nothing but a helpless mouse.
I was laughing like a brave lizard when.
“Well done!”
White Wolf came running, panting.
Though I had some resistance to fire, without her support, I would have been injured.
The reason I was able to defeat the beast so quickly was because White Wolf had handled the fire attacks.
As a mystical creature that wielded cold, she likely chose to provide support rather than engage directly, but we were a good match.
I wondered if I could take her along when I fought the Fire Rat.
“Oh, good job. You did well.”
*Lick.*
…Huh?
White Wolf began licking my body enthusiastically.
“Look how hot your body’s gotten.”
Each time her tongue touched me, my heated body slowly cooled down.
I appreciated it, but did she know what she was doing right now?
“Gekgek.”
“…Huh?”
White Wolf and I locked eyes.
Just like a startled cat, she jumped in place.
“Yikes! Wh-what’s going on!”
What do you mean, what’s going on?
I should be asking you that.
“Uh, well, it’s just….”
White Wolf stammered.
“When my younger siblings succeeded in a hunt… I did this….”
White Wolf tried to explain herself in a hurry.
“It’s just a habit….”
So, whenever her younger siblings succeeded in a hunt, she celebrated by doing this?
And it had become a habit, so she licked me without realizing it?
Hmm….
I stared at White Wolf’s face with the eyes of a lizard that could see the truth.
White Wolf, who had been nervously shifting her eyes, suddenly slapped my shoulder with her front paw.
“I don’t know!”
Then she stomped off in the opposite direction, her tail wagging furiously.
Why was she mad when she was the one who did it?
And why was her tail wagging as she ran away?
Was it because we were from different species? It was hard to understand.
Did she not like me?
“Heh heh… some sort of… polygamist…”
Whoa, I was startled.
Out of nowhere, the **Bicorns** were staring at me with sinister eyes.
“Gekgek!”
Not just the unicorn, but these guys too.
Were they really beasts?
They were mystical creatures, but there was something strangely different about them.
Something that couldn’t be explained in words.
…For now, I decided to ignore it.
The first thing to do was catch White Wolf, who was running away.
After all, I’d need to use the Magno-Saurus’ by-products.
And only White Wolf knew how.
“Gekgegek!”
I eagerly chased after White Wolf.