The Head of the Nine-headed Demon Serpent, "Ice Wind."

It was about the size of a normal human head. Its entire body was an eerie ice-blue, covered in mysterious black-and-red patterns. Though the serpent head’s eyes were shut tight, it still radiated a heart-pounding ferocity and pressure.

Raylo knew this was "Ice Wind," one of the nine heads of the Nine-headed Demon Serpent. It had undergone a special magical process to shrink it to this size.

He slowly extended his right hand, approaching with extreme caution.

The instant his fingertip touched the Ice Wind Snake Head, a will—violent, chaotic, and filled with the lust for slaughter and destruction—surged into him. Like the torrent from a burst dam, it rushed madly up his arm and flooded his Sea of Spiritual!

That was the residual will of a Catastrophe Level Magical Beast—the Nine-headed Demon Serpent!

Raylo let out a muffled grunt, his face instantly turning deathly pale.

Monstrous waves churned in his Sea of Spiritual. Countless bloody and cruel images assaulted his mind as a tyrannical voice roared in his head, attempting to destroy his sanity.

Had it been any other Knight of the same level—even a Sky Knight, renowned for their spiritual tenacity—their mind would have likely shattered in an instant from the force of this will.

But Raylo’s greatest strength had never been his Fighting Spirit or his Sword Skills.

Thanks to his Soul Contract with Moonlight and Coal Ball, his Spiritual Power was far stronger than an ordinary person could possibly imagine.

He desperately defended the final bastion of his Sea of Spiritual. No matter how the will battered him, he remained like a reef amidst torrential waves, unyielding and steadfast.

"ROAR!"

"AWOOO!"

Perched on his shoulders, Moonlight and Coal Ball simultaneously sensed Raylo’s pain and danger.

A silver light flickered in Moonlight’s eyes, while ripples of space emanated from Coal Ball’s entire body.

Two powerful streams of Spiritual Power, both originating from Giant Dragons, instantly poured into Raylo’s Sea of Spiritual through the Soul Contract.

If the will of the Nine-headed Demon Serpent was a tainted flood, then the Spiritual Power of Moonlight and Coal Ball was a clear and sturdy levee.

The three forces engaged in a fierce clash within Raylo’s Sea of Spiritual.

Finally, beyond the raging will, Raylo could almost see the phantom of a colossal, nine-headed serpent that blotted out the sky. It was letting out a furious roar.

With the help of the two Giant Dragons, Raylo launched a counterattack.

He gathered all of his Spiritual Power and slammed it violently into the core of that will.

BOOM!

The phantom of the Nine-headed Demon Serpent let out a mournful wail and shattered violently.

That rampaging will, as if it had lost its source, rapidly receded.

Raylo panted heavily, his forehead beaded with cold sweat, yet a faint smile touched his pale face.

He had succeeded.

He reached out. This time, with no resistance, he firmly gripped the ice-blue serpent head—"Ice Wind"—in his hand.

As Ice Wind settled in his hand, a cold and pure Magic Power emanated from it, faintly resonating with the Fighting Spirit within his body.

Raylo lingered no longer. He placed the serpent head into his Spatial Bag and immediately vaulted onto Baofeng’s back.

"Retreat!"

The golden Giant Dragon and the sixteen Griffin Knights immediately took to the sky. Showing no inclination to fight, they flew swiftly back the way they came, leaving behind only the ravaged ruins of the Temple.

The wind howled past his ears. With every beat of Baofeng’s iron-feather wings, they gained several meters in altitude, leaving the earth far behind them.

Raylo lay on the Griffin’s broad back and glanced behind him.

In the sky, back in the direction of the Temple, a few black specks were in relentless pursuit. They were the alerted Flying Magical Beasts of the Demon Serpent Sect.

A few reckless Two-legged Flying Dragons shrieked sharply, tenaciously pursuing the rear of the group.

"A bunch of flies."

Sun let out an impatient growl. He couldn’t even be bothered to look back, merely projecting his immense Dragon Mighty behind him like a tangible force.

The Two-legged Flying Dragons were thrown into disarray, as if they had slammed head-on into an invisible wall. They let out terrified shrieks as their flight paths descended into chaos.

They circled a few times in the air, but ultimately didn’t dare to get any closer, and fled into the distance with their tails between their legs.

The brief interruption didn’t slow the party’s pace in the slightest.

They flew southwest at top speed, their destination clear.

「A few hours later.」

The thunderous shouts of battle and the roars of Magical Beasts drifted up from below, clearly audible even from high in the sky.

A large-scale war was unfolding in the swamp below.

"It’s the Black King."

Sun rumbled, his golden eyes surveying the battlefield below.

Raylo’s gaze also shifted downward.

Just as Sun had said, one side of the war was indeed the Magical Beast Legion led by their old neighbor from the Black Stone Mountain Range, the Black Dragon who called himself the "Black King."

Jackal-Wolf Folk, wielding Bone Staffs and Cleavers, surged toward the Snake-man lines like a tidal wave;

Hordes of Kobolds followed, providing ranged support with their crude Stone Throwing Ropes and Short Spears;

The massive Earth Dragons were the heavy vanguard of the Black Dragon Legion. Every charge they made tore a bloody, mangled gap in the Snake-man ranks.

The skies were no more peaceful. The Black Dragon’s Griffins and a vast, dark swarm of Demon Crows clashed with the Flying Serpents of the Jade Swamp. Bodies rained down from above, crashing into the mire below and sending up foul sprays of blood. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

And at the very center of the battlefield, two reserves of Domain Power were clashing violently. Each collision sent out visible ripples of energy that tore the surrounding common soldiers to shreds.

The Black Dragon’s opponent was his old rival: the Domain Level Snake-man powerhouse, the Three-headed Snake Monster known as "Blood Throat."

It stood a full twenty meters tall, its three menacing heads held high, each a different color: one ink-green, one dark violet, and one reddish-brown.