Ultragene Warlord

Chapter 421: Fortified by Rage

The elder of the crag eagles honed in on a golden roc.
As he slid past the roc, blood began to spray out of its neck like a faucet that couldn't be closed.
The roc tried to shriek, but it was no longer able to make noise.

The elder was a considerable fighter in his own right, and his skills dwarfed even the crag eagle chief's.
Furthermore, he, Zhang Lie, and Yu Xuanguang were launching sneak attacks while their opponents were stunned and disoriented, and it was particularly easy for them to land their hits.

The next moment, before the golden roc realized precisely what had happened, a claw had pierced through its back and crushed its heart.

Yu Xuanguang's attack emulated the elder's.
Blood sprayed out of the roc's neck, but it still managed to let out a piercing cry.

Yu Xuanguang's eyes widened.
“This isn't good—the wound was too shallow!”

The rock giant shouted, “You idiot! Can't you even kill a bird properly?”

Yu Xuanguang wouldn't have made such an elementary mistake under ordinary circumstances, but he was unable to use his skills fully on account of his injuries.
He hurriedly tried to give the golden roc another blow, but it was too late.
He had missed his best opportunity to launch a killing blow.
The golden roc began to flap its wings, conjuring a storm out of thin air, as it retreated.

The elder rushed over to help, but the wary roc noticed his advance and shot a flurry of feathers toward him to deter his advance.
The elder dodged the knife-like feathers, but the golden roc sent him flying with a swipe of its claws.

In a contest of brute strength, the golden rocs were far superior to the crag eagles.

Yu Xuanguang rushed toward the golden roc, aiming to rectify his mistake, but the golden roc dodged his claws with a casual flap of its wings and struck back with its own.
The injured Yu Xuanguang reacted slightly too slowly to be able to defend himself.

“[Rune: Seal]!” The image of a dragonturtle appeared before Zhang Lie as he raised an arm, sending the sealing tablet crashing down on the golden roc's head and forcibly canceling its attack for a moment.

The crag eagles had been so caught up in their attack that they had forgotten about Zhang Lie, but it was Zhang Lie who, at the most critical moment, tipped the scales of battle in their favor.

He sauntered up to the golden roc, not because he was much faster than it was, but because he could predict what it would do next.
Indeed, he had anticipated the outcome of the fight with the three golden rocs, a result of years of experience from his past life.

Of course, the elder and Yu Xuanguang played an important role in the affair as well—without their presence, Zhang Lie wouldn't have been able to predict the rocs' actions so easily.
He, who had been watching the two crag eagles' fight, was able to strike at the precise moment in which he would have the most impact.

Sweat beaded on the elder's forehead.
It was lucky that the golden rocs had appeared before the crag eagles could attack Zhang Lie en masse, or their clan would surely have perished that day.

Yu Xuanguang was likewise shocked.
His legs couldn't stop trembling, and he wondered at his foolishness in challenging the youth before him.
If they really were to fight, he would have died an ugly death—and likely dragged the rest of his clan down with him.

Both the elder and Yu Xuanguang were very glad that Zhang Lie was their companion, rather than an enemy.

On the other hand, the rock giant seemed wholly unperturbed by Zhang Lie's actions: he knew of Zhang Lie's strength, after all, given how badly Zhang Lie had beaten him himself.
Furthermore, he even came to realize that Zhang Lie was far from using his full strength at that point.

Venombane thrust into the wound that Yu Xuanguang had created, cleanly beheading the golden roc with a flick of seemingly casual effort.
The fight had lasted, all in all, no more than a few dozen seconds. 

With the three golden rocs dead, the elder and Yu Xuanguang let out a relieved smile.
Their clan would be at peace once again.

However, Zhang Lie didn't seem quite so casual.
“Elder, you mentioned that there were five golden rocs, didn't you?”

“Yes, I did.”

“I killed one, and we've now killed three more.
Where's the last roc, the strongest of them all?”

The first elder's smile was wiped clean, and his wings and claws turned cold.

The answer was made clear, moments later, without the elder speaking a word.
Giant golden wings covered the sky as a shadow fell on Zhang Lie, the rock giant, and the two crag eagles.
They raised their heads to see a golden roc swooping down toward them. 

His body was so massive that it was larger than the three slaughtered rocs' combined.
It glowed a bright, fiery golden, and his feathers looked as sharp as whetted knives.
The radiance of this golden roc alone marked him as a strong enemy, one that would be a more challenging foe than the three rocs they had slaughtered.

Zhang Lie, who had once fought against a disaster-grade lifeform, was certain that the golden roc in front of them was at the threshold between peak- and disaster-grade.

Upon seeing his family's fate, he shrieked in agony and rage, causing even Zhang Lie and the others to clutch their ears in pain.
His eyes turned blood-red: there was no doubt that his family had been killed by this motley crew.
Hatred caused him to swoop down on them at extreme speed.

The rock giant began to pelt him with rock after rock, but it was unable to stop the roc's advance.
The roc flew so quickly that it broke the sound barrier, as though it were a fighter plane.
The rock giant continued sending rock after rock his way, but the golden roc made no effort to dodge.
His body flared golden, and the rocks broke down even before they could impact his body.

He would slaughter the tiny lifeforms in front of him who had killed his family!

The roc had lost all semblance of logic in his rage.
Against Zhang Lie and the others, the golden roc's advance was a poor decision.
With his speed, he would have been a troublesome foe indeed in an indirect confrontation, but now…