Chapter 276 - Ambushed?!
Owen felt the world swirl around him for a moment.
As the bright white light faded, he felt his feet touch solid ground once more.
’’Huh?’’ he muttered, suddenly frowning.
This wasn’t the warehouse he’d left behind.
His gaze slowly swept across his surroundings, finding everything reduced to ruins.
That’s when his gaze landed on several black-clothed figures lying motionlessly on the ground.
Some had gaping holes disintegrated through their chests, some had been frozen by bright-white ice, while others were actively bleeding out on the floor.
Hell, he could even spot a few unconscious individuals bound by spiked tree roots!
’’What the hell happened here?’’ Owen muttered, frowning.
BOOOOM!!!
A deafening explosion suddenly echoed out from in front of the warehouse.
The ground violently trembled beneath his feet, yet a wide grin had already spread across Owen’s face.
’’A fight?’’ he mumbled manically. ’’Isn’t that the perfect time to test my new toy out!’’
Without another word, a large dark mass opened up beside him.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
A broad skeletal dragon slowly walked out, pale green light still flickering in its eyes.
It was only a fraction of what it had been in the other plane, but it was enough for Owen.
He immediately jumped on top of it, grinning like a maniac as he kicked its bones.
’’Let’s go!’’ he shouted, pointing ahead.
A pale green flame spread between the skeletal dragon’s wings.
Finally, the flaming dragon flapped its powerful wings.
WHOOSH!
Owen laughed loudly as they shot forward.
It only took a moment before they burst out of the open warehouse gate.
The moment they burst outside, Owen’s eyes narrowed slightly.
The street around them had already become a battlefield, with pits, grooves, and molten holes everywhere.
Over a dozen more black-clothed figures laid scattered across the road.
’There,’ he thought, finally spotting them.
Far ahead, Theo stood calmly on the street.
Yellow lightning crackled around his body as he exchanged attacks with a burly man wielding two enormous axes and two small twins both wielding knives.
’Gold Cores?’ Owen frowned. ’What is even going on in the first place?!’
Not far away from there, Iris stood atop a large, elegant, silver-brown beast with countless metal blades orbiting around its body.
Opposing her was a woman with large pink flames swirling around her fists.
On another side of the street, Jim yelped loudly.
A man with lightning coiling around his katana chased after him, clearly frustrated by the stag’s constant dodging.
’Wait,’ Owen thought, frowning. ’Where’s Lyra?’
He glanced around worriedly for a moment.
That’s when he spotted several beasts fighting two people in the far distance.
Lyra sat atop her own manta, while an unfamiliar green, plant-like creature poured out nasty-looking vines.
’’Now this is something,’’ he muttered with a grin. ’’It seems like everyone got some pretty nice pets.’’
He paused for a moment, his grin widening further. ’’But I can’t believe I was the last to return...’’
To think his friends had started fighting enemies all on their own.
Owen just couldn’t believe it!
’’How disrespectful,’’ he mumbled, patting the skeletal dragon below him. ’’Hey, bonehead, let’s go wreck some people.’’
The dragon’s pale green flames burned even brighter.
BOOOOOM!!!
Green soul fire erupted beneath the dragon’s wings.
Like a cannonball, the skeletal dragon shot across the battlefield, its enormous jaws opening wide as a terrifying roar shook the entire street.
One of the twins fighting Theo barely turned his head before his eyes widened.
’’What the—’’
CHOMP!!
The dragon’s enormous jaws snapped shut around his entire body.
’’AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!’’
The man’s scream only lasted for an instant.
Pale green soul fire suddenly erupted between the dragon’s teeth.
FWWOOOOOSH!!!
The Gold Core desperately struggled inside its jaws, but his flesh, mana, and even his protective aura rapidly dissolved beneath the terrifying undead flames.
A moment later, silence fell across the battlefield.
CRUNCH.
The dragon casually swallowed the remaining bones.
Owen burst into laughter atop its skull.
’’HAHAHAHA! That’s what I call a fucking dragon!’’
The two other Gold Cores stared at the dragon, completely flabbergasted.
’’B-Brother?’’ the remaining twin said, his voice cracking.
’’Fuck,’’ the burly man muttered angrily. ’’A bone dragon now too... after we’ve already lost this many forces...’’
Theo glanced at Owen disappearing figure from the corner of his eye.
’About time,’ he thought, his eyes narrowing. ’And since he killed that annoying chaos user, I can finally use Ocean’s Dominion.’
Water immediately surged beneath his feet, rapidly expanding dozens of yards around him.
The two distracted Gold Cores had little time to react.
As the water touched their feet, an immense pressure immediately anchored them in place.
’’Shit!’’ the burly man cursed, slamming his enormous axes into the water.
Yet, much to his disbelief, the water didn’t budge.
Instead, his axes only got sucked in deeper.
’’Hey!’’ he shouted, glancing up at the second twin. ’’Get to your senses!’’
But the man only continued staring ahead with empty eyes.
As the water rose to the burly man’s middle, he gritted his teeth and slammed his fists together.
Huge stone pillars burst from the ground beneath him.
At first, they crumbled under the sheer pressure of the water.
But as earth mana kept pouring into the pillars, one finally rose beneath his feet, boosting him high into the sky.
Before he could celebrate, though, a loud sloshing noise echoed out behind him.
SHHHHS!!!
As he turned slightly, a massive dragon-like head, completely made of water, entered his vision.
The burly man’s eyes widened instantly.
’’What the fuck is that?!’’
Theo calmly raised a single finger.
WHOOOOSH!!!
The massive water dragon shot toward the man at lightning speed.
The burly man instantly formed dozens of huge, spinning wind arcs beside him.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
The attacks tore straight through the water dragon’s head.
But... it didn’t matter.
All the severed water simply merged back together a second later.
As the water dragon closed in and opened its jaws, the man’s face paled.
’’No...’’ he muttered. ’’All we wanted were some resources... how did this happ—’’
SPLASH!
The water dragon’s jaws snapped shut around him before swallowing him whole.
’That’s one,’ Theo thought, calmly flicking his finger downward.
Instantly, the colossal dragon twisted through the air.
The burly man’s silhouette was still visible inside its translucent body, desperately struggling against the immense pressure.
Yet the more he struggled, the worse it got.
’’GHHHHH!’’
The immense force drove the air out of his lungs.
His mouth opened instinctively.
Water rushed inside instantly, only making him thrash even more wildly.
SPLASH!
The dragon crashed into the final remaining twin, swallowing him whole as well.
Only a split-second later, the water dragon hit Theo’s ocean.
Its body seamlessly merged with the surrounding water, dragging the two Gold Cores beneath the surface alongside it.
The burly man desperately clawed at the water, while the remaining twin had long given up on life.
Theo only quietly looked down at them.
’’You came here for our resources, huh,’’ he said, narrowing his eyes. ’’Someone in the auction house sold us out.’’
He didn’t pity these people even slightly.
From the moment they’d burst through the warehouse doors with dozens of silver cores and nine gold cores, they’d been trying to kill him and his friends once they reappeared.
Theo kept staring at the two figures as all air left their bodies.
And before long... they stopped moving altogether.
Only then did he release the Ocean’s Dominion spell, allowing the water to wash away.