Around the crystal core, space began to fracture.
Hairline black cracks spread outward like a spiderweb.
This was the beast core the Golden Dragon Falcon had cultivated for two hundred years.
The condensed essence of its entire life.
And now it intended to detonate it.
"Die!"
With a roar, the Golden Dragon Falcon hurled the unstable core forward.
It became a golden meteor filled with enough destructive force to erase everything in its path, charging straight into the descending cyan blade light.
A peak Rank Five beast king detonating its own core.
The blast would be enough to flatten half of Norcrest in an instant.
Even a Rank Six expert would think twice before taking such an attack head on.
[Heaven’s Sin] vibrated in Joren’s hands.
Violet thunder plasma and dark green nether fire twisted around the black blade, snarling against one another before fusing into something even more violent.
"That is it?"
The words had barely left his mouth when [Garuda Skyfall Wings] folded tightly behind him.
Then they snapped open.
Boom!
Joren was already moving at Mach 20.
His speed surged again.
At that point, it no longer looked like movement produced by flesh and blood. It felt closer to a physical law given human form.
Even time seemed to stretch around him.
The crystal core rushing toward detonation slowed within his perception.
Almost motionless.
Like a balloon hanging in the air.
"Break."
One word.
One blade.
A vertical cut with nothing complicated behind it.
Pure violence, refined to its absolute limit.
The black blade light swallowed the surrounding glow like a void.
Distance ceased to matter.
So did the warped space around the beast core, and the violent energy field already on the verge of exploding.
Slice.
A soft sound.
The crystal core containing two centuries of cultivation split cleanly in half before it could detonate.
The raging energy within never found a chance to escape.
Something even more absolute cut through it first, severing the entire eruption at its source.
The blade continued.
Through the core.
Through the air.
Into the Golden Dragon Falcon.
Its expression froze.
The madness and hatred in its eyes gave way to the final image reflected there.
A young face.
Cold enough to seem almost divine.
Then Joren’s quiet voice reached it.
"Next life, remember two things."
"Do not provoke me."
"And do not fly so high."
Crack.
A thin line appeared between the Golden Dragon Falcon’s eyes.
It traveled down its face, through its chest, across its abdomen.
Then the sky bloomed red.
At ten thousand meters above the ground, blood scattered through the clouds like a terrible flower.
Peak Rank Five beast king.
Golden Dragon Falcon.
Dead.
The two halves of its body fell helplessly toward the cloud layer below.
[Ding!]
[Peak Rank Five Voidbeast Golden Dragon Falcon killed. Bloodstars obtained: 7000.]
The cold system notification arrived exactly on time.
Joren hovered inside the drifting blood mist.
Hot beast blood struck the [Black Dragon Nano Symbiote Armor] and evaporated almost instantly.
He closed his eyes for a moment, feeling another surge of power roll through his body.
"System."
"Plunder the Talent."
His gaze followed the falling remains.
He had already evolved [Garuda Skyfall Wings], but having more abilities had never hurt anyone.
The Golden Dragon Falcon had ruled the skies for years.
There had to be something worth taking from it.
[Purple Talent discovered: Sovereign of the Skies.]
[Spend 10000 Bloodstars to plunder?]
"Plunder."
No hesitation.
The Bloodstars he had only just earned disappeared again.
Buzz.
A current of impossibly pure air formed from nothing and entered his body through every pore.
In that instant, flight ceased to feel like a skill.
It became instinct.
As natural as breathing.
The system panel opened.
[Talent: Sovereign of the Skies]
[Grade: Purple]
[Description: The sky itself has granted you authority. You are a sovereign of storms. So long as your feet leave the ground, you become an undefeated legend.]
[Skywalker, Passive: While flying or remaining airborne, all attributes including strength, speed, Mental Force, and recovery are increased by an additional 50 percent. The higher you fly, the greater the increase. Maximum enhancement reaches 300 percent above the stratosphere.]
[Rhythm of the Wind, Passive: You are immune to all wind based damage. Any wind based attack that strikes you is forcibly converted into stored kinetic energy.]
[Near Yet Beyond, Active: Consume a large amount of energy to fold the space in front of you and instantly move anywhere within sight. This is no longer pure speed. It has begun to touch the laws of space. Cooldown: 5 minutes.]
Joren gave a low whistle.
This Talent had been built for aerial combat.
[Skywalker] was brutally simple.
Take every attribute and increase it by a percentage.
That meant Joren would naturally become far stronger in the air than on the ground.
Then there was [Near Yet Beyond].
It filled the one weakness left by [Voidshadow Execution], which could only move through shadows.
Now, if Joren could see somewhere, he could reach it instantly.
"That bird really was treasure from head to tail."
His mood improved considerably.
Joren casually rolled [Heaven’s Sin] through one hand and shook the last traces of blood from the blade.
"All right."
"The flying one is done."
He lowered his head.
His eyes pierced through the thick cloud layer and locked onto a stretch of wilderness dozens of kilometers below.
On the ground, deep inside a forest of jagged stone, an unremarkable patch of darkness crawled frantically through the cracks between rocks.
The Shadow Fiend.
It was in miserable condition.
To escape Joren with its forbidden Shadow Escape technique, it had destroyed both arms and badly damaged its foundation.
Its aura had already fallen close to Rank Four.
"Damn it."
"Damn it!"
"What the hell is that monster?"
The Shadow Fiend fled while cursing inside its own mind.
"He only just reached Rank Five. How does he have that kind of explosive power?"
"The snake is dead."
"That idiot bird is probably dead too..."
It glanced back toward the sky.
Nothing.
No pursuit.
A thin thread of hope appeared.
Maybe that madman had exhausted himself killing the Golden Dragon Falcon.
Maybe he simply could not be bothered chasing an assassin that specialized in hiding.
Yes.
That had to be it.
As long as the Shadow Fiend concealed its aura completely, even a Rank Six expert would never find one shadow among endless ruins.
"Once I recover, I am going straight to the beast emperor!"
"I swear I will have revenge!"
The vow had barely formed when cold crept across its body.
No warning.
No sound.
Just the unmistakable feeling that something had already placed a weapon against the back of its head.
The Shadow Fiend slowly looked up.
The bright sky above the stone forest had somehow gone dark.
A figure hovered overhead.
Wings spread behind him.
A demonic heavy blade in one hand.
Joren lowered his head.
Even from several hundred meters away, his gaze rested directly on the rock where the Shadow Fiend had hidden.
Then he smiled.
"Found you."
Everything inside the Shadow Fiend seemed to freeze.
Impossible.
It had merged perfectly with the shadows.
It had even stopped its heartbeat.
Joren offered no explanation.
With [Worldheart Awareness], not even an ant could escape his perception within three thousand meters.
A badly wounded Rank Five beast king still leaking life energy?
There was nothing hidden about it.
"Goodbye."