Game’s Dogma

Drako Yau’s gaze turned chilly. He thrust his left palm and fired off Dragon Capturing Hand at the flaming whipsword. Not at the separated snakes, but where the snakes split off.

As Drako Yau got more proficient with Dragon Capturing Hand, the skill had become utilisable in more situations, be it attacking, countering, or controlling the enemy. The dragon aura lunged at the converging point of the snakes and bit onto it. When the nine dark snakes pounced at him, he triggered the skill’s effect.

The Balrog’s strength was far beyond that of humans. He couldn’t wrench the Balrog’s weapon out of its hand, but that wasn’t his goal. Dragon Capturing Hand could pull the target towards him—what if it wasn’t strong enough to do so? Drako Yau slung himself towards the Balrog!

Even the Balrog hadn’t expected the puny human to fly towards it. It widened its jaws, forming several massive fireballs that were several dozens metres in diameter. The Balrog, as a demonic being with immortal flames, commanded great fire magic.

Everything’s trying to kill me, geez!

The Balrog had great reflexes, unlike the sluggish Nin. Still, Drako Yau wasn’t going to wait for his death. Two shadows appeared out of thin air and took on the fireballs. They were the fire crystal giants which he hadn’t summoned in a long while. At his current strength, the giants were useless apart from serving as a meat shield; they also instantly vaporised after the fireballs struck them.

‘Grr!’

The Balrog got impatient as Drako Yau landed on its hand. It swung its right arm, trying to knock him off, but he struck his spear into its hand. He climbed up its arm using his spear as a pike, and no matter how hard the Balrog swung itself around he continued the climb steadily.

The Balrog howled when Drako Yau reached its shoulder. Its ferocious face turned sinister as it snatched its right shoulder with its left hand. Drako Yau grunted and quickly repositioned over to the back of its shoulder, but the Balrog grabbed its own shoulder. It yelped as it tore its entire arm off and dropped it to the ground.

Drako Yau cursed as he leapt from the falling arm and launched himself at the Balrog’s face. It greeted him with its widened jaws—it planned on devouring him alive!

‘Wanna eat me?’

Drako Yau’s gaze turned fierce as well. Now was the time to go all out, and the one who pushed their limits further would become the victor. He went with the momentum and pointed his spear forwards as he dove straight into its mouth.

A Balrog was a spirit in nature. As a fire wielder, its physical form was composed of flames. Its breath was already over a thousand degrees Celsius, let alone inside its body. 

‘Let’s see if your stomach can take this!’

Feeling the Balrog’s intense flames around him, the fire elemental force within him started circulating to repel the invading heat. He glided through the Balrog’s body of flames as he lifted his spear…

Blizzard!

The Balrog shrieked in pain and got anxious as searing pain engulfed its stomach. Never had a creature survived upon being devoured! For it, this was an unexpected situation.

Similar to Drako Yau’s forces, ice clashed against flames. The Balrog wouldn’t be bothered by ordinary ice as its flames originated from the Abyss and were on an entirely different level. However, Drako Yau derived his ice and flames from the Vitality Mantra, the foundation of all cultivation styles. The forces had been cultivating within him for over a decade and were out of the ordinary as well.

The blizzard wreaked havoc in the Balrog like a shredder. Knowing this couldn’t go on, it clawed through its stomach and tossed Drako Yau out of itself—at the price of tearing a hole in itself. Ironically, the Balrog was the one who injured itself the most throughout the fight.

Drako Yau tumbled across the ground. While he could withstand the Balrog’s flames because of his internal forces, his equipment wasn’t as sturdy. His Skeleton King Armour set had long since depleted its durability and crumbled. He shook off the shards of armour and was left with the Devil King’s Cloak, Tattered Armour, Mask of the Hidden Dragon, Fire Crystal Master Bracelet, and his spear.

The Balrog flickered as molten lava gushed out from its wounds. In a few breaths’ time, it had completely healed its wounds.

No.

Drako Yau, still under Frost Form, noticed that the Balrog was a lot dimmer than it used to be.

‘Hahhh!’

‘Grrrraaaa!’

Both of them had no intention of halting their fight. Man and monster clashed once again.

The Balrog lay on the ground with its limb spread out, its bodily glow waning and flickering. Drako Yau lay a hundred metres away in a similar shape as his chest heaved up and down.

In this strange place, there was no way of telling how much time had passed, but Drako Yau guessed that they had been fighting for half a day. Even stranger, the two clashing forces within him were surprisingly docile here. No matter how much he circulated and utilised the forces, they didn’t lash back at him. The Ghost Flame barrier didn’t react either when he activated both Frost Form and Flame Form while the Cryoflame Jame turned dull.

In short, the two forces didn’t clash and explode regardless of how he used them. It was an invigorating discovery! Finally able to bring out his full powers, he could now fight toe-to-toe with the Balrog!

Drako Yau’s body and mind had reached their limits before he consumed all of his internal forces. The same went for the Balrog as they both dropped to the ground, but that was only the start of another contest—a contest of recovery rate.

Whoever recovered first can strike first!

While that was his thought, he didn’t have a single bit of energy left in him after engaging in a high-intensity fight for over six hours. He fell asleep the next moment!

The Balrog’s flames also seemed to have extinguished. It lay there like a lump of charcoal, with tints of redness barely seeping through from its core.

Just like that, man and demon slept peacefully together.

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