After getting the ancient ice core from the Aqua auction and Blacksmith trait, Michael infused the ancient ice core with the Doom bringer. As a result, the doom bringer could summon frost and freeze its target upon hitting. Michael didn't let the monster stand up and attack him again. Instead, he threw the doom bringer, aiming for the monster's head. The war hammer soared through the air, leaving a cold trail in the air. The coldness emanating from the doom bringer caused the temperature to drop by several degrees. It hit the monster in the head as the scales covering its head cracked but didn't break down. Michael dashed at the monster using the lightning dash. The black lightning bolts crackled around his body. Even from afar, Sarba could sense the electricity in the air. On his way to the monster, Michael raised his hand in the air as the doom bringer flew straight back into his hand.
Fighting against gravity with his sheer brute strength, Michael leaped into the air. Vedora was stunned to see how high Michael could jump in the air. Gravity pulled him down, increasing the force of his descent. Upon nearing the monster, Michael clenched the doom bringer's handle as bone-chilling ice covered the doom bringer from top to bottom. Michael brought down the war hammer on the monster's head while it was preparing to fire a poison blob at Michael. The collision produced a thunderous boom. Several scales on the monster's head cracked. They weren't frail by any means, but Michael was strong enough to crack them with his brute force. The monsters in the demons grave defied all the typical rules of the world outside. Usually, a Half Immortal would be no match for an Immortal. However, inside the demons grave, the monsters had traits and attribute to match the cultivation power of a higher being. For instance, the Salamandepede was covered with silver scales that protected it from even the most powerful spells and attacks. If anyone else at the Immortal stage fought the Salamandepede, they would have been devoured by now. Its poison blobs were powerful enough to melt down an Immortal to jelly. In other words, the monsters inside the demons grave didn't need Immortal killing weapons to kill Half-Immortals or Immortals. Hence, why even the most powerful cultivators didn't dare to visit the demons grave.
Still, Michael fought the monster head-to-head without going all out. After receiving a blunt force trauma to its head, the monster roared. Emerald-green poison splattered out its mouth. Although the monster lacked facial features, it looked very pissed off. The monster swung its long tail and hit Michael in mid-air. Fortunately, Michael clenched his fist at the right time to bring out his black shield.
The sheer force of the monster's brute force sent Michael flying. While he was in the air, the monster fired blobs of poison at Michael. These blobs took the shape of arrows and soared through the air to hit Michael. Once again, Michael raised his shield and shrouded himself with the cloud of darkness to protect himself from the poisonous arrows. The arrows splashed across the ground after hitting the black shield. Unfortunately, a drop of poison hit Michael's boots, making a sizzling noise. Michael immediately swung his legs, throwing away the boots before the poison could touch his skin.
"You owe me a pair of boots, mister," said Michael after landing on his bare feet on the ground. Michael stared at the monster with the doom bringer and black shield in each hand. He cracked his neck. On the other side, the monster hissed before digging down into the ground. Despite its colossal size, the monster was quick to dig down and hide. Thanks to Michael's X-ray vision, he could see the tunnels down the ground and the monster. The monster was holding to catch Michael off guard, but he was waiting for the right movement to hit the monster with the doom bringer. He raised the doom bringer in the air as cold energy swirled around the battle hammer. Even from afar, Vedora felt the bone-chilling coldness of the doom bringer. This was the first time Vedora had seen Michael use the doom bringer to its full potential. Typically, Michael would finish the battle without using any weapons. But the monster forced him to take out the doom bringer, which showed how powerful the monster was.
The ground beneath Michael kept trembling. He waited for the monster as it crawled toward him underground. Michael took a few steps back as the monster raised its head out of the ground. The moment its head came out of the ground, Michael hit its head with the doom bringer once again. This time, he covered the doom bringer's head with a block of ice to add extra damage to the monster. The monster dashed out of the ground and squirmed in pain. Michael immediately followed up his attack with the ring of fire. The monster's head was already covered in a layer of frost, and when the dark flames hit the ice, the scales shattered. Finally, Michael figured out the monster's weakness.
The sturdy scales were vulnerable to ice plus fire attacks. They could withstand one element but not both. Since the scales were shattered, the monster's head was exposed. But when he was about to fire dark beams, the monster spewed poison from its mouth. It formed a cloud of green mist around the monster. To avoid an explosion like earlier, Michael immediately dashed away from the monster. To Michael's surprise, a strange glow appeared in the monster's head. Soon, the scales grew back, covering its exposed head. Michael creased his brows. Having a regeneration ability brought the battle to the next level. It was time for Michael to change his tactics. The cloud of poisonous mist gave Michael an idea. He dashed away and fired a bolt of lightning at the monster. As Michael planned, the lightning bolt lit the highly flammable poison cloud. The sound of the explosion echoed through the air, but the creature's roar overshadowed the explosion.
Both Michael and the monster were blasted into opposite directions. Even a thirty-meter distance between them didn't prevent Michael from getting blasted away. Luckily, he just suffered some trauma that healed up in a few seconds, thanks to the APD. The same could not be said for the monster. Dark smoke enveloped the area around the monster. Michael had to use his thermal vision to locate the monster. As far as he could see, the monster was squirming as green slimy blood oozed out of several places in its body. Furthermore, it lost several of its legs to the explosion.
Instead of dashing at the monster headstrong, Michael clenched the doom bringer around its pommel and its neck right beneath the head. His grip tightened as he pointed the head toward the monster. The runes engraved in the head glimmered with icy blue color. Soon, a stream of frost energy shot out of the doom bringer toward the monster. Everything around Michael froze by the frost energy shooting out of the battle hammer. Crystal ice rocks formed around the monster, slowly freezing it from head to toe. The monster squirmed as the crystals forming around it crumbled down. Yet, Michael did not stop freezing the monster. He poured more energy into the doom bringer, creating colder frost energy. The frost energy was cold enough to create a rain of snowflakes around Michael.
The monster hissed as the frost covered its body with a thick layer of ice. If gaze could kill one, Michael would have died by now. Squirming and hissing did not help the monster. Therefore, it fired poison blobs out of its mouth. Michael slowly moved toward the monster while keeping the frost beam focused on the monster. Coldness ran down Michael's spine. Even he wasn't spared by the coldness as a thin layer of ice formed on his skin. Nonetheless, Michael chose not to conjure the dark flames. Gradually, the frost energy formed a thick shell around the monster, preventing it from digging into the ground or moving its body freely. By the time Michael reached five meters distance from the monster, the ice had covered every inch of the monster's body except its eyes.
Without wasting a second, Michael cast the ring of fire. A powerful wave of dark flames shot out of Michael's body. At that moment, extreme coldness met its opposite. The ice crystal layer on the monster's body shattered along with its silver scales. Green slimy blood splattered across the ground as Michael raised his shield to protect himself from the poisonous blood. With no scales, the monster's pinkish body was exposed to the world. Fear and shock emerged in the monster's tiny eyes. It hissed with fear. When Vedora thought the monster's life was over, the monster pulled its trump card up its sleeves. The monster slowly opened its mouth as Michael felt a powerful force sucking him into its mouth. Michael was left with no time to react. In a blink of an eye, he was in the monster's mouth. However, the monster couldn't close its mouth. Michael held its mouth wide open with the doom bringer on its palate.
"We have to help him," said Ayag as Vedora flew toward Michael and the monster.
The monster frantically shook its head, trying to close its mouth and devourer Michael. The light of life was slowly leaving away the monster's eyes. If one had to guess, one would say the monster had pulled a trick to kill both Michael and itself. Every bit of muscle in Michael's body tensed as veins bulged up on his face. As soon as Vedora reached the monster, they were surprised to see Michael smiling. No one in their right mind would smile stuck in a monster's mouth, but he did.
Vedora was speechless. Judging by the smile on his face, they could tell he did not need their help. The monster, on the other hand, completely ignored Vedora and frantically shook its head left and right, hoping Michael would let go of the doom bringer in his hand.