Swords, magic, and martial arts

With bloodshot eyes, Rhodes unleashed a powerful sword strike, but the dragonman flapped his wings and floated behind to dodge the immense blow.

With his eyes already bloodshot, Rhodes seized the opportunity to quickly turn around, run to his backpack, take out the dragonman's head, tear off a piece of flesh, and swallow it.

The dragon-man had sensed the aura emanating from Shengxie and guessed that Rhodes must have been influenced by Shengxie to do such an incomprehensible thing in the battle. It stood there with a mocking expression, watching Rhodes devour the head left behind by its previous death.

Rhodes only ate a little bit before he vomited it out. If he were still conscious, he wouldn't have tried eating raw meat, let alone the meat of a humanoid animal.

The dragon-man stood not far away and made strange noises, as if mocking Rhodes. It watched Rhodes tear at the flesh like a wild beast and began to think.

It felt that attacking Rhodes might provoke a furious counterattack, and since he wasn't its primary target, it should first retrieve the power from the little girl before dealing with him.

So it stopped paying attention to Rhodes, flapped its wings and flew toward Aya, who was leaning against a tree and still unconscious.

Seeing Aya in her unconscious state, the dragonman trembled with excitement as it reached out its claws. Just as it was about to touch her, it felt a sharp pain in its left chest. Looking down, it saw a blood-soaked sword. It turned and desperately reached behind it, only to find no one there.

The dragon-man was extremely grateful that its heart was on the right side; otherwise, it would have died again. It was somewhat puzzled as to why the human hadn't made a sound when he approached.

Rhodes stood not far away, putting on brass knuckles. After piercing the dragon man's body with Shengxie, he released Shengxie and retreated.

After swallowing a piece of flesh from a dragonman's head, he inexplicably regained his senses and felt his body filled with power.

Rhodes' body ignited with dark green flames again as he charged toward the dragonman. The dragonman's intuition told it that if it killed the little girl now, it would surely be killed by the insect again. So it pulled out the Shengxie from its chest and controlled the muscles in its chest to stop the bleeding from the wound. Then it kicked out at Rhodes, who had already rushed in front of it.

Rhodes, now engulfed in dark green flames, reacted swiftly. He dodged the kick and circled around to the dragonman's side, unleashing the Taizu Long Fist. His fist struck the dragonman's abdomen like a cannonball, shattering its scales.

The dragonman grunted, grabbed Rhodes' arm with his claws, and yanked hard, tearing off the armor from his arm.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Rhode clenched his other fist and punched the dragonman in the already injured abdomen again. The dragonman cried out in pain, lowered his head and bit Rhode's shoulder.

Rhodes felt a sharp pain in his shoulder. The Radiant Armor had been bitten into his flesh by the dragonman. He gritted his teeth and endured the pain, forcefully shoving his fist, which was aimed at the dragonman's abdomen, into the wound. Dark green flames burned the dragonman's wound, emitting the aroma of roasting meat.

Unable to endure the excruciating pain, the dragonman flung Rhodes away with his mouth.

Rhodes' injuries, enveloped in dark green flames, were steadily healing. He ripped off the luminous armor from his shoulder, pulling off the armor plates embedded in his flesh along with it, leaving his shoulder covered in blood.

He charged at the dragonman again. The dragonman opened its mouth wide, flames flickering in its throat. The next moment, a pillar of fire shot out of its mouth, and Rhodes crossed his arms in front of his head to protect himself.

His dark green flames and the dragonman's red flames canceled each other out. In the end, the dark green flames on Rhode's body were consumed first, and the dragonman was left with only a little flame. The last bit of flame that it spewed from its mouth completely deformed the bright armor on Rhode's hands, and his hands turned bright red.

Rhode put the arm guards directly into the system space. The metal knuckle dusters on his fingers were also incredibly hot, so Rhode took them off and put them in as well.

Perhaps due to the influence of his own dark green flames, Rhodes' resistance to fire has increased significantly.

The dragonman's flames can deform steel. An ordinary person's arm would have turned to ashes under the dragonman's flames, but his skin only turned red, just like a normal person encountering slightly hot water.

The dragonman flapped its powerful wings and flew towards Rhodes. Rhodes rolled away to avoid the attack and picked up Shengxie from the ground.

After seeing Rhodes pick up the Evil Spirit, the dragon-man became cautious again, standing still and waiting for Rhodes to attack.

Rod ran to the backpack and took a bite of the dragonman's head. He forced the stench to his mouth and stuffed the meat in. The meat was harder than wood, and he chewed it until it was soft before swallowing it.

The dragonman glared angrily at Rhodes, whose mouth was full of blood, but he didn't fly over to attack him. Rhodes used Shengxie to cut off a piece of flesh, put it in his mouth, closed his eyes, and swallowed it directly.

"This is awful!" Rod exclaimed. "Even rat meat tastes better than yours."

Just as he was about to cut off another piece of flesh, the dragonman, unable to contain his anger, flew towards him.

Rhodes raised his sword and used the White Rainbow Sword Technique to counterattack. After eating a few pieces of dragon meat, Rhodes felt his body full of power again. Even though the dragon's power had recovered somewhat, he was able to keep up with the dragon's speed and even had a slight advantage.

"Brother, since you can't do anything to me, why don't you go back and rest for a few days before coming to find me again?" Rhodes said while using the White Rainbow Sword Technique to counter the dragonman's attacks.

He wanted to buy himself more time to absorb the power from the dragon's flesh and restore his strength.

I don't know if it doesn't have a heart, or if its heart is on the right side?

It's a pity my sword strike didn't kill it directly; I wish I had stabbed it in the back of the head. But if its heart is on the right, its lungs should be on the left. I just stabbed it in the left chest, and it's not having any trouble breathing.

"Forget it, a monster like this that can survive for thousands of years without food probably draws energy directly from its surroundings and doesn't need these organs at all. It seems the only way to kill it is to pierce its head, like last time." Rhode thought rapidly as he attacked the dragonman.

The dragon-man roared angrily a few times.

"Today I will tear you to pieces, you little bug." That's what Rod understood it to mean.

"Go back and rest for a few days. You can tear me apart on this day next month," Rod replied.

The dragonman was surprised that Rhodes could understand his words. He took a few steps back, stopped attacking, and roared a few more times, "You can actually understand our noble language!"

"What is a noble language? The language used by the ancient dragons?" Rhode stopped attacking when he saw that it could communicate, but he still held it in his hand despite Shengxie's influence.

"I'll spare your life today since you can understand my language, but that girl must die," the dragonman roared again.

Rod looked troubled and asked, "Does she have a grudge against you?"

"Her ancestors were my enemies. They sealed me away, leaving me in that dog hole to keep them company for thousands of years. Not only that, they constantly drained my power, which is why I'm so weak. Otherwise, I could just blow a breath at you and you would turn to ashes." The dragon-man, who hadn't spoken to anyone in a long time, became very talkative. "If you hand her over to me, I won't kill you today. I can even teach you a combat technique that I created over the past few thousand years. However, I will personally test your progress a year later. Unless you can defeat me, I will kill you."

This dragon-man said he would teach me combat skills and come back to test my progress in a year. Actually, he's not confident he can kill me right now and wants to recover some strength before coming back. But I just want to stall for time. If I feign surrender now, I might be able to launch a sneak attack.

"Alright, but you have to teach me your combat skills first before I hand her over to you," Rhodes replied.

"No, I must kill her first. She contains a portion of my power," the dragonman roared.

Rhode recalled that after the wall with the magic circle was broken, a lot of white light entered Aya's body. It seemed that this should be a part of the dragon people's power.

"Alright then, you must keep your promise." Rhodes hesitated for a moment before replying. He took a few steps to the side to make way and planted Shengxie in the ground.

The dragon-man flapped its wings, but ultimately chose to walk over, one hand clutching the wound on its chest as it passed by Rhodes.

Taking advantage of the instant the dragonman walked past, Rhode instantly cast a spellball, pulling Shengxie into his hand, and thrust his sword towards the back of the dragonman's head.

The dragon-man flapped its wings, blocking the fatal attack at the cost of damaging half of its wing. The dragon-man's lips curled up in a mocking smile as it said, "I knew insects don't keep their promises."

……