After going into the sea, I met the witch lady

Chapter 264 Upgrade again, rusty surprise attack!
The long blood-red rainbow lingered in the air for a long time.

Ryan blinked in surprise as he looked at the [Dream] Lion Flame King Dragon with a hole running through its chest and bleeding profusely.

After awakening, the [Holy Relic: Embrace of Blood], with the blessing of the physique of the traveling clone 3606.42, has reached an incredible level of power.

In terms of penetration alone, it even surpasses the top artifact [Cinders Greatsword·God Devourer].

Although he was surprised, Ryan would not be considered a qualified hunter if he did not pursue the victory in this situation.

The "Heart of Blood" was broken, and the depleted blood energy was immediately replenished, and a "True Blood Spear" appeared in Ryan's hand again.

Although [Blood Burst] can only be used once a day, each time it lasts for one minute, which is enough for Ryan to complete a burst.

The blood-red light once again penetrated the sky.

The [Dream] Lion Flame King Dragon, which had just used the lava in its body to fill its bleeding wounds, let out another mournful cry.

"Pfft!"

This is not over yet.

Another "Blood Heart" was consumed, and a new penetrating wound appeared on the body of the [Dream] Lion Flame King Dragon.

There were three serious penetrations in succession, one of which pierced the heart. Even though the vitality of the [Dream] Lion Flame King Dragon was extremely terrifying, it could not help but fall into a state of serious injury at this moment.

A hint of fear appeared in its huge dragon eyes, but in an instant, it was filled with rage.

"Roar!"

With a terrifying roar, the body of the [Dream] Lion Flame King Dragon began to swell, and its gorgeous lion mane not only changed from its original golden red color to a crimson radiant color, but every strand of its hair also floated up like a stream of light.

Countless golden-red dust swept across the entire place, turning it into a hellish hell.

"It's okay..."

Feeling the extreme heat surrounding him constantly eroding his body, Ryan twisted his neck and felt that it was not unbearable.

If he wanted to continue to explode and activate [Rage Reversal], Ryan could throw out three more True Blood Spears, but there was no need.

He wanted to try out how his upgraded traveling clone would perform when facing a powerful special species at the pinnacle of the Dream One Star.

The moment Ryan's hand grasped the hilt of the greatsword behind him, his body disappeared.

With green light flowing, he came to the top of the [Dream] Lion Flame King Dragon's head, and chopped down the big sword slowly but quickly.

The huge azure sword of spiritual light fell down, and the huge air wave cut through countless red dust, causing it to roll to both sides like sea waves.

After entering the Red Flame's violent state, the [Dream] Lion Flame King Dragon's strength suddenly increased significantly.

With its wings flapping, it charged head-on at the giant azure sword like a meteor rising into the sky.

The next moment, the two of them were like Mars hitting the earth, and a terrible explosion occurred.

"Boom!"

The huge impact force forced Ryan to raise his sword-holding hands upwards, and his body floated hundreds of meters up.

The [Dream] Lion Flame King Dragon below was not in a much better situation. Its entire body fell to the ground under the violent collision. The stone platform, which had already been riddled with holes, could no longer hold on and fell apart, leaving a huge lava pit.

"It is indeed much stronger than the [Fantasy] Golden Flame Lion..."

Ryan sighed, his eyes became sharp: "Then I will go all out!"

"Tear!"

A huge column of red flame shot up into the sky, engulfing Ryan's remaining shadow.

[Dream] The Lion Flame King Dragon rushed out from the huge lava pit. The strong wind brought by the flapping of its wings catalyzed the flame column and turned it into an enormous fire tornado.

But soon, the fire tornado was directly dispersed by a green light that swept across.

Ryan appeared in front of the breastplate of the [Dream] Lion Flame King Dragon. At this distance, he could clearly see every scale of the [Dream] Lion Flame King Dragon, and the [Dream] Lion Flame King Dragon could clearly see Ryan's eyes filled with fighting spirit and excitement.

At this distance, once the flame power in the [Dream] Lion Flame King Dragon explodes, it can burn Ryan to ashes in an instant.

However, [Dream] Lion Flame King Dragon had no such opportunity.

The moment his hand grasped the hilt of the greatsword behind him, time and space seemed to freeze.

Countless densely packed green and red sword threads split the [Dream] Lion Flame King Dragon into hundreds and thousands of pieces.

"Crack!"

That was the wail of space, and also the sound of the "Purgatory World" being shattered.

The [Dream] Lion Flame King Dragon flew into the air, blood bursting all over its body, and crashed down.

Even with the protection of the red crystal, its defense was as fragile as paper under such a strong force.

In the huge pit, [Dream] Lion Flame King Dragon struggled to get up.

Even with such injuries, it still did not die.

It raised its head and let out a lion's roar full of pride and indomitable spirit. Then, the entire dragon soared into the sky at an extremely fast speed, with its huge wings wrapping around its body and suspended in the air.

Dark red and red-gold light lingered on its surface. An unprecedented sense of crisis surged into Ryan's heart, forcing him to give up his intention to pursue.

Without any hesitation, Ryan clenched his fist hard in the direction of the [Dream] Lion Flame King Dragon.

【Gospel】, explode!
A dark purple light lit up, and the shadow of the Grim Reaper emerged, and the sickle blade slashed through the body of the [Dream] Lion Flame King Dragon.

The fire of life dimmed and the vitality was extinguished, but the accumulated "supernova explosion" did not stop there.

After a brief silence, huge light and heat engulfed every inch of Ryan's sight.

"Boom boom boom!"

After an unknown amount of time, Ryan walked out of the "Feast Space" and looked at the messy battlefield, and couldn't help but sigh.

Without a doubt, the [Dream] Lion Flame King Dragon is the most powerful species he has ever seen.

Even if I die, I must give the enemy a big blow at the end of my life.

If there was no "Feast Space", even if he was wearing the [Innocent Dragon Armor], Ryan could not guarantee that he would be safe.

Glancing around, he saw the fallen corpse of the [Dream] Lion Flame King Dragon, and the trophies floating next to the corpse, but what Ryan was more concerned about was a translucent vortex entrance that appeared in the center of the stone platform.

"The entrance to the second level of the Gathering Demon Land?"

"In each level of the Demon Gathering Ground, you must defeat three guardians before you can enter the next level? Or is there some other principle?"

Ryan couldn't figure it out.

Time was running out, and no one knew when the entrance would be closed. Ryan didn't dare to delay, and rushed to the remains of the [Dream] Lion Flame King Dragon as soon as possible, picked up the spoils, and peeled off the useful materials from the remains of the [Dream] Lion Flame King Dragon as quickly as possible.

In less than ten minutes, after a simple peeling, Ryan came to the entrance of the translucent vortex and jumped in.

The world before my eyes was slightly distorted, and in the blink of an eye, everything changed drastically.

The lava and boulders are gone, replaced by lush and towering ancient trees.

The unique fresh smell of the forest after the rain rushed into my nose, and the shallow puddles on the ground reflected a pair of astonished eyes. "Is this the second level of the Demon Gathering Ground?!"

If Ryan had not been conscious, he would have thought he had dreamed of returning to a mysterious island.

Is this kind of environment possible in a permafrost continent?
Even though we know that the ecology of the Monster Hunter world is very magical, it is still too exaggerated that the upper layer is a lava zone and the lower layer is an ancient forest.

"call……"

Ryan took a deep breath, suppressed his chaotic thoughts, and observed carefully.

There is indeed not much difference between it and the mysterious isolated island forest area, and there is no strong aura within the perception range.

A few weak ordinary monsters were stimulated by Ryan's breath and fled in panic.

Without immediately starting to explore the second floor of the Demon Gathering Land, Ryan lowered his head and looked at the golden-red reverse scale in his hand. This thing was the trophy dropped by the [Dream] Lion Flame King Dragon.

-

[Lion Flame King Dragon's Gem]: A colorful trophy, a fantasy gem generated in the body of the Lion Flame King Dragon, which contains inestimable power. Because of its identity as an ancient dragon, its color has a deep and restrained color. Attached special skills: [Flaw lv.5], Ancient Dragon Specialization [Flame King's Martial Arts lv.1 (max)]

——【Flaw lv.5】：Critical hit rate +25%
——【Flame King's Martial Arts lv.1 (max)】: When a critical hit occurs, the sharpness of the weapon will not be consumed.

(ps: The king of killing has arrived, the king of fire has appeared, the dragon's face is angry, he decides life and death, and sentences people to hell.)
-

After seeing the attributes of the spoils, Ryan's eyes showed joy.

With this fifth-level [Flaw] skill, his [Flaw] has been stacked to an exaggerated seventh level.

——【Flaw lv.7lv.max】：Critical hit rate +40%
Normally, the [Flaw] skill gains a 5% critical hit rate per level, but perhaps because the 7th level is special, the critical hit rate is increased by 10% all at once.

Level 7 [Flaw] is the highest level of this skill. Unless you get some skill that breaks through the level cap, there is no possibility of further improvement.

However, enough is enough.

With a 40% critical hit rate from naked running, plus a variety of other special skills that increase the critical hit rate, every attack of Ryan will inevitably result in a critical hit.

On the contrary, the ancient dragon's specialized skill [Flame Dragon's Martial Arts] is of little use to him.

The greatsword is not a weapon that relies too much on sharpness.

But it's better than nothing, isn't it?

In addition to the spoils, there is also experience gained.

-

[Level]: 25 (55%) → 26 (1%)

[Spiritual value]: 470722635 (4.7 million) → 620722635 (6.2 million)
[Spirituality]: 2365.6
【Physique】：3606.42→4271.50
-

The further improvement of [Physical Strength] makes Ryan full of explosive power.

In the previous battle against the [Dream] Lion Flame King Dragon, although he was startled by its final "supernova explosion", overall, Ryan was able to suppress it from the beginning to the end of the battle.

This also means that the strength of Ryan's traveling clone has surpassed the peak of the Dream Star One, but it is still unknown whether it can fight against the Dream Star Two.

Now that he has upgraded again and his physique has been further improved, Ryan thought to himself that even if he is not yet a match for the Dream Two-Star Special Species, he will not be too far behind.

The improvement in strength gave Ryan a huge boost in confidence.

After summarizing his harvest, he lit a bonfire on the spot and planned to take a rest for a while.

Although the battle with the [Dream] Lion Flame King Dragon was short, it was still quite exhausting.

No matter how you think about it, the special species living on the second floor of the Demon Gathering Land cannot be weaker than those on the first floor.

Therefore, before exploring challenges, restoring your condition to its peak is of utmost importance.

The most important ones are the two "Blood Hearts".

The powerful effect of [Holy Relic: Embrace of Blood] after awakening surprised Ryan.

Finding an opportunity to fire three shots before the battle will bring you an excellent first-mover advantage.

This is because the special species have thick skin and strong vitality. If it were a professional, with their small bodies, well... if there were no special countermeasures, one shot would kill the kid.

Ryan was looking forward to it.

After returning to the human world, his strength increased again, and he was able to injure a true god-level with a single True Blood Spear.

About three hours later, Ryan, who had adjusted his condition to its peak, stood up and walked towards the depths of the ancient forest area.

Similar to the first floor of the Demon Gathering Land, the outer area of ​​the second floor is also home to many weak and ordinary monsters. Ryan naturally has no interest in them and is too lazy to even use his aura to drive them away.

Not far ahead, Ryan was surprised to find a bonfire spot in the tree hole of an ancient tree.

-

[You have discovered a place where spirituality gathers - the second floor of the Demon Gathering Land.]

[You can set up a "bonfire" here to achieve rapid teleportation to the "starting point" and other "bonfire points" (cross-world teleportation is not possible). 】

[When you are in the "Bonfire", you can use other functions except "Return". 】

[——Whether you are a navigator, a hunter, or an angel, adequate rest is a very important thing. 】

-

As the bonfire was lit, Ryan's eyes were filled with joy.

The appearance of this bonfire spot solved his urgent problem.

Ryan was worried before. If the entrance to the second floor disappeared during his next trip, wouldn’t he have to wait another three days and kill enough special species before he could enter the second floor?

It’s not that Ryan is unwilling to kill more of the special species on the Dream Star.

After reaching level 26, Ryan estimated that the experience points required to upgrade again would increase nearly fivefold.

Extremely exaggerated!

This means that if he only relies on defeating the one-star fantasy special species to gain experience points, he will have to defeat ten before he can level up again.

Regardless of whether there are so many dreamy one-star special species in the Demon Gathering Land, even if there are, he doesn't have the time to wait another ten days.

There are only three days left before the return ceremony. No, after tonight, there are only two days left.

By then, the decisive battle between Ryan and the Golden Church will begin.

Although the current strength has been further improved, it is still not safe enough to deal with the Golden Church.

If he could upgrade one more level, Ryan was sure that he would gain the strength to confront a true god head-on.

If you want to level up again in two nights, you must try to defeat more powerful special species!
After leaving the campfire, Ryan continued walking deeper into the ancient woods.

Soon, when he was near a large ancient forest area, he felt a unique and dreamlike sense of restlessness in the air.

Before Ryan could step in, a huge dragon claw flashing with metallic rust suddenly fell from the sky. Its speed was so fast that no other special species Ryan had ever encountered could compare to it.

boom!
(End of this chapter)