Second World

"Curse you, you damn bird…!!" Eoranth bellowed. The fury in his voice was unmistakable. His silvery white scale glowed. His presence seemed to further enlarge. His strength and speed increased.

The fiery explosion caused by Suzaki was still raging. Eoranth barged into the fire without care. With one claw he grabbed Suzaki's neck. His other claw clenched a part of Suzaki's right wing. With a wrathful roar, Eoranth pulled to opposite sides.

Suzaki's screeched in pain. The flame from her body intensified following her suffering. Everything in the vicinity was burnt.

Despite his high defense and resistance, Eoranth also suffered from the heat. Damage numbers continued to pop up above his head, but he didn't let go. If anything, he increased the pressure of his pulling.

Damage numbers also appeared non-stop above Suzaki's head while she was in Eoranth's grab. Her wing finally couldn't resist the pressure any further and half of her right wing was torn apart.

A huge damage number accompanied that savage rip. Suzaki screamed from the pain. The flame that was raging as a self-defense mechanism died down abruptly. The huge gap in the capital wall was now plain for everyone to see.

Eoranth didn't show any mercy. His one claw was still grabbing Suzaki's neck. He lifted Suzaki before slamming her hard into the ground like a ragged doll. He then used his feet and repeatedly stomp on the bird, delivering huge damage with each stomp.

Eoranth was so in a rage that he ignored everything, even the land behemoth who had repositioned itself and was now charging at him. The land behemoth's heavy frame crashed into Eoranth and pushed him back.

At the same time, the closest enemy soldiers started pouring into the large gap in the wall. Reserve Hydrurond soldiers that were not on the wall immediately rushed to that side to block the enemy from entering.

"Get away from me!" Eoranth roared and smacked the land behemoth's head. His body was still glowing. Under that buff effect, he was even stronger than when he first threw the land behemoth away. The land behemoth reeled back upon every impact.

Using the force from the impact, the land behemoth swiveled its body and hit Eoranth with a tail swing, but the tail swing was as if hitting a solid mountain. Eoranth didn't even budge. Instead, Eoranth caught the tail and then pulled the land behemoth's entire body. He spun a few times while holding the land behemoth and then threw the giant monster a very far distance away.

As the land behemoth flew away, Eoranth noticed the flood of enemies entering via the crumbled wall. He flew to the gap and unleashed his soul breath onto that flood of enemies breaching the wall.

In a short time, the soul breath cleared the gap of any enemies. Eoranth then placed himself before the gap. Anyone who wished to enter would have to go past him.

*

"Hey, your country guardian lost," Spring Crown said to Master. Suzaki was on the ground, writhing in pain. Her HP bar was critical. She couldn't fly anymore with one of her wings torn in half. "Aren't you going to help her?"

"I'm not that dragon's opponent… yet," Master said. "But there is a reason why I chose that phoenix as my country guardian instead of the others."

"Yeah, I'm sure there is a large selection of these eternal beings for you to choose from," Spring Crown remarked.

Master ignored the sarcasm. "This phoenix has another title, the immortal one. It can't die. Just like us, it will come back to life again after dying. And she has one ability that is available to her when her life is critical. A skill that can be used at the expense of her life…"

Master made a wide smile with his mouthless face. "… Which she should be using soon."

*

No one dared to enter the gap in the wall with Eoranth guarding it, except for the dead soldiers who knew no fear. Eoranth stomped on these undead and reduced them to paste.

Some higher-level undead soldiers tried to use their speed to sneak past Eoranth. Eoranth's wings beat and created a gale that caused those soldiers difficulty in moving. They were then either snatched or slapped away.

Eoranth saw the land behemoth was coming back again. His eyes shone and then fired a straight beam at the monster. This beam was the same one that hit Kimat from behind the clouds. The beam dealt light damage and had a strong knockback force. Even a monster as heavy as the land behemoth was knocked back, sending it away again.

Eoranth then noticed Suzaki who was crawling to his feet. She was close to the destroyed wall from the start, so it only took her a few crawling attempts to approach.

Eoranth didn't finish her because he didn't want to leave the gap in the wall. Also, he knew that killing Suzaki would just send her to her rebirth cycle, recovering her body. He wanted her to suffer the pain for a while longer before that happened.

He grunted at her, "It seems that you are in a hurry to get into your rebirth cycle. Fine, I will show you mercy and give you the death you seek."

"Hehehe."

Eoranth stopped when he heard Suzaki's laugh. "What is so funny?" He asked.

"It seems that you have lived so long that you forget about what I can do when I am dying," Suzaki said, smiling.

Eoranth's eyes turned wide upon realizing what Suzaki meant. His leg came up in a hurry. He attempted to stomp Suzaki to death before she could react, but Suzaki was a second faster.

Raging flame again burst from her body. A flame that was even fiercer than any she had released before. That flame burnt even herself, turning her into ash. This flame didn't disappear with her, though. The flame grew even larger and stronger, so large that it enveloped Eoranth in a flaming sphere.

"You, despicable bird! Release me…!!" Eoranth roared.

The flame sphere lifted Eoranth into the air. The fire continued to grow and turned denser. Eoranth fired his soul breath. The fiery cage was blasted at first, but the fire quickly reformed and covered the part that was broken. The Soul Breath that was still ongoing was slowly reduced to a small beam as the hole was patched. The hole was then completely covered and all that was seen was a large fireball floating in the sky.

Spring Crown, who was watching from the ground, uttered, "Holy… So, that is your plan?"

"That fiery cage is Suzaki's Immortal Prison," Master answered. "Not even a being such as Eoranth can break free from it easily."

Master turned his attention to the gap in the wall. "Now, no one will be able to stop us from entering the capital."