Chapter 345: Monstrous Might

"Bang! Hiss, crack-crack-crack-crack!"

The dragon’s body collided head-on with the Fire Elemental Lord at immense velocity. The sheer force of the impact shook that mountain-sized frame, a construct of fire and stone, causing the magma pool beneath their feet to churn with scorching waves as the titan toppled backward.

"Boom!"

This was no mere explosion of matter, but the roar of the Fire Elemental Lord. The cries of elemental beings are unlike those of ordinary life, and the Lord’s dim-witted mind was now plunged into a frenzy by the assault.

The full-power thrust of the steel wings provided Zig with staggering momentum. Under the dragon’s immense strength, his claws sank meters deep into the Lord’s chest, piercing the solid, searing stone skin to reach the energy-and-lava-filled core within.

The Fire Elemental Lord’s incineration domain suddenly spiked in temperature. Within the hell of scorching flames created by its elemental core, the destructive heat melted everything indiscriminately; outside the dragon’s body, a layer of flame, like a second skin, burned without fuel.

At this moment, the Lord’s massive arm swung down from above, aiming to crush the dragon that clung tightly to its chest, having used enough force to topple the giant’s entire frame.

"Hum! Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh-boom!"

The nameless magic armor covering Zig’s dragon form lit up with the brilliance of magical circuits. High-purity compressed magic crystals, pre-stored within the armor, were ignited, flooding the autonomously generated circuits with abundant mana and unleashing the magic Zig required.

A layer of red light, nearly indistinguishable from the flames, enveloped the steel wings. A molten shield protected this alchemical construct, which sustained Zig’s flight, from being incinerated by the terrifying heat.

Zig’s own body lacked this defensive layer; as a red dragon, he possessed fire resistance that surpassed most alchemical metals and magical protections. The Fire Elemental Lord’s heat was not enough to breach this barrier.

The living dragon armor, having absorbed some of Zig’s traits, also possessed extreme fire resistance, allowing it to perfectly fulfill its role as an external magic circuit during combat.

The instant the molten shield appeared, Zig pulled one claw from the Lord’s chest, reached back, and grasped at the empty air. From a spatial rift torn open by mana, he caught a massive metal weapon that fell from within.

It was a heavy greatsword of absurd proportions—to call it a weapon for a dragon was an understatement. Its length was half that of Zig’s body, its thickness over two meters. Had it not been for the purple arcs of gravity magic coiling around it, one could hardly imagine how Zig could wield such a bladeless tool.

"Whoosh! Boom-boom-boom-boom!"

A deafening roar erupted from within the greatsword. Under the surge of overcharged energy, mechanical structures popped from the blade’s surface. Thick, rugged, toothed chains began to rotate around the sword’s body; after a brief slack and acceleration, the chains pulled taut, spinning at breakneck speed.

"Zzzzzzzzt!"

The shrill, wild, and manic shriek seemed to announce the terrifying destructive power of this spinning saw-blade—or rather, this chainsaw.

This item was originally a mining tool designed specifically for a dragon of Zig’s size, the same model as Wang Yu’s saw-wheel. The only difference was that Wang Yu’s had been purchased from the Sky Mechanical City, while Zig’s had been modified by him and Avia.

After confirming the chainsaw’s horrific destructive potential, Zig and the girl had decided to simply convert it into a weapon he could use.

The mining function was not lost in the transition to a "chainsaw sword," and just now, Zig intended to do some serious mining on this Fire Elemental Lord!

"Bang!"

The nozzles of the steel wings let out a blast. As the flames extinguished, a surge of internal thrust erupted. The energy conversion spiked the propulsion force in a fraction of a second, causing the strength of the claws pinning the Lord’s chest to surge.

The Fire Elemental Lord’s massive body toppled completely under this sudden increase in force. The giant frame of rock and fire slammed into the magma pool, sending viscous, glowing lava splashing like water—splashes that touched Zig but failed to harm him in the slightest.

The Lord’s giant arm descended from the sky; even in its fallen state, it did not cease its attack on the dragon pinning it down.

Having successfully pinned the Lord with one arm, Zig pulled his other claw from the chest, gripped the gravity-enhanced chainsaw sword with both hands, and, amidst the roaring of the chains, slashed at the descending arm.

"Crack-crack-crack-crack-zzzzzzzzzt!"

The violently spinning chainsaw collided with the falling arm of flame. The initial sound was the saw cutting through the Lord’s outer shell of solid rock.

At the moment of impact, the chain’s rotation speed dropped uncontrollably due to the resistance, but then, under the influence of external pressure on the internal mechanical structure and the engine’s full-throttle ignition, the blade’s speed returned to its previous level.

The incredibly sturdy alchemical alloy teeth bit into the Lord’s arm, which seemed fragile by comparison, and plunged deep into the internal tissues composed of lava and energy, the destructive cutting churning through the Lord’s "flesh."

Sparks flew, and liquid flame sprayed everywhere. After a brief stalemate, the lava arm, struck at the wrist, snapped in two. The scorching liquid drenched Zig’s dragon body and the chainsaw sword, but the flame shield clinging to them prevented any damage.

"Bang!"

The Lord’s massive severed hand plummeted into the magma pool, causing another surge of fire. Zig, meanwhile, rotated his dragon body in mid-air, flipped the chainsaw sword, and aimed it at the Fire Elemental Lord’s chest.

"Roar!"

A beam of light erupted from Zig’s wide-open maw. The target was not the Lord’s body—such high-heat energy attacks were ineffective against a being made of scorching flame—but Zig needed the recoil thrust from this red dragon breath!

Once released, the breath rapidly diffused from its focused state, the fan-shaped energy acting as a reverse thrust that accelerated Zig downward.

Instantly, Zig drove the heavy, roaring chainsaw sword deep into the Fire Elemental Lord’s chest. Beneath the roaring flames and layers of ore-like material lay the source of the Lord’s life: the Fire Elemental Core.

The chainsaw spun violently, venting its full destructive power into the chest. The gravity magic reversed itself; the force that allowed Zig to wield the excessively large and heavy sword was now fully applied to the blade, pressing it into the Lord’s chest with even more absurd pressure.

Just as when Zig used this chainsaw to mine the earth’s crust, it tore through the rigid rock on the Lord’s surface, breaking through obstacles with unstoppable force. Once it entered the fluid-like interior, it surged forward, digging madly downward.

"Boom!"

Feeling its body being continuously breached, the weapon approaching its fragile life source—the elemental core—the Fire Elemental Lord’s dim-witted brain realized the danger. Without hesitation, it detonated a massive amount of energy from within its own body.

A scorching explosion erupted around the Lord. The ground was torn open, and the giant magma pool beneath the Lord became a dry void as the explosion, fueled by the sacrifice of part of its own body, blasted all the lava away.

"Roar!"

A dragon’s roar echoed. Zig’s body emerged after the flames dissipated; the explosion triggered by the Fire Elemental Lord had not left a single mark worthy of being called an injury on his body.

This diffusive use of energy was simply incapable of harming a dragon body that had reached the pinnacle of fire resistance and physical defense. Perhaps if the Lord had concentrated all its energy into a highly focused laser, it might have pierced Zig’s defenses.

But now, it was too late.

With a flash of magical light, Zig retracted the slightly damaged chainsaw sword into the spatial rift, then lunged with both claws, tearing into the massive wound on the Lord’s chest.

"Crack-crack-crack-crack!"

Rock split. The muscles in Zig’s claws bulged as he exerted immense force to pull the wound apart. This was his specialty—strength surpassing that of ordinary dragons. The Lord’s wound was easily ripped into a gaping chasm, revealing the thick lava and energy substances beneath.

Without hesitation, Zig charged straight into the massive tear, his entire dragon body diving deep into the Fire Elemental Lord’s interior.

For any other creature, this would be suicide. The energy and temperature inside the Fire Elemental Lord were far more potent than what it released externally; rushing inside was akin to meeting the full force of its most powerful attack, resulting in nothing but total annihilation.

But this was a red dragon—an exotic red dragon with an exceptionally powerful constitution, clad in living dragon armor. The Fire Elemental Lord swung its arms frantically, pounding the ground and letting out a heart-wrenching roar; it was suffering intense destruction from within.

Zig wove through the lava and energy that composed the Lord’s body, searching for the elemental core. With the Lord’s most terrifying heat and pressure unable to harm him, the Fire Elemental Lord had no way to stop the red dragon, forced to let him traverse its body and await the fate of death.

The Fire Elemental Lord’s head, which looked like a burning skull, twitched abruptly. Then, the flames covering it suddenly extinguished, and the light across its entire body faded rapidly. The massive frame crumbled layer by layer, the lava and solid stone separating and scattering across the ground.

The red dragon, bathed in lava, emerged from the site where the Fire Elemental Lord had disintegrated. He held a massive crystal that emitted a blinding light, walking slowly toward the stunned members of the Truth Supervisory Council, his dragon’s pressure shaking the world.