"Let's fight! I've been bottling up all that frustration from the frozen wastes—now I'm going to take it out on these bastards. Leave them to me and King Victor Zhao. Evan, you just sit back and enjoy the show!" the Beast King barked.
King Victor Zhao shot the Beast King a look and snorted, "There's more than thirty of these things, and we don't even know how tough they are yet. Big words—let's see you talk when things get ugly."
"Go ahead, try your luck. If they're really tough, I'll jump in. Everyone knows the top dogs always make their entrance at the last second—gotta show off my status at the critical moment!" Evan laughed.
Both the Beast King and King Victor Zhao burst out laughing at Evan's cocky attitude. Then, with a flash, they whipped out their weapons and charged into the air, hacking straight into the fire-attribute Netherbeasts.
King Victor Zhao's longsword unleashed savage sword-qi with every swing, shaking the air. The Beast King's bronze hammer whirled with wild force, smashing straight into one of the fire-attribute Netherbeasts.
The monsters spat searing flames and fireballs, launching attacks from all directions. King Victor Zhao's sword struck one, sending it flying dozens of meters and splitting it clean in two. He expected it to be dead, but what happened next stunned all three.
The split body instantly burst into two blazing fireballs, burning fiercely in midair. After just a few heartbeats, a massive Netherbeast was reborn from the flames—bigger and meaner than before.
The Beast King's bronze hammer flattened another Netherbeast, but it too burst into flames and instantly reformed into a hulking monster, even stronger than before. If this kept up, they'd just keep getting tougher—killing them would be impossible.
Evan hadn't attacked yet, but the Netherbeasts turned on him anyway, forcing his hand. As one lunged and spewed flames at him, Evan snapped:
"You think I'm some pushover? I didn't bother you, but you just had to come at me! Fine—today I'll show you what real power looks like!"
He swung the Frostbane Divine Sword, unleashing a devastating slash that split the Netherbeast in two. Their defenses weren't much, but the pieces instantly reformed into an even bigger monster.
Evan grinned, "Let's see how many times you can morph!" He unleashed a Star-Cleave with the Frostbane Divine Sword, splitting the beast again. It turned into flames, then reformed into an even larger monster after a few breaths.
This new monster was several times larger than before, its aura downright terrifying. Evan unleashed Divine Cleave, his sword hacking it into countless flaming fragments—instantly, the air exploded into a storm of raging fire.
This time, no Netherbeast came back—the monster was finally dead. Divine Cleave's shockwave also wiped out all the beasts nearby, but those didn't go through a third transformation and soon revived again.
Seeing Evan's move, King Victor Zhao and the Beast King went all out, fighting like madmen. Even with all their power, it took half an hour of brutal combat to clear out the Netherbeasts.
Above, the sky had become a blazing sea of fire—pure fire-attribute energy, but the grade was low, not even earth-fire, so it did nothing for Evan.
King Victor Zhao and the Beast King were drenched in sweat—the heat was already insane, but the fight and the firestorm overhead made things even more unbearable.
"These fire-attribute Netherbeasts are probably mid- or late-stage Nether Emperor strength, but their ability to recombine is a real pain. Looks like this place is just as deadly as the frozen north," Evan said.
"I've never seen Netherbeasts like this before—having to kill them three times, each time they get stronger. If you aren't strong enough, they're basically unkillable. It's like fighting immortal monsters," King Victor Zhao said.
"Not quite, King Victor. Remember those Ice Beasts back in the snowfields? They could recombine too, so it's no shock these fire beasts do the same. Still, they're weaker than the Ice Beasts in both strength and defense," the Beast King laughed.
"Don't celebrate yet! We're in for it now—never thought we'd run into monsters like this here. Get ready, the real battle's about to begin!" Evan warned, eyes blazing.
As soon as Evan finished speaking, the massive sea of fire overhead began to churn. The three instantly retreated dozens of meters as the flames twisted together, forming an uncanny human figure.
"No way—the flames are merging into an even stronger Netherbeast? How powerful is this thing going to be? Looks like we're way out of our depth now," King Victor Zhao exclaimed, shocked.
"This is no joke—it's life and death. We'll have to go all out. And we're not even at the central zone yet, haven't seen the Golden Crow either. The road ahead is only going to get deadlier," Evan said.
Suddenly, a thunderous roar ripped through the sky. A flame giant, easily over ten meters tall, towered over them, clutching a blazing red longsword.
Its form was hideous—eyes as big as lanterns, a maw so wide it could swallow a whole cow, vicious fangs jutting out, and strangest of all, a long tail trailing roaring flames behind it.
All three stared at the monstrous flame giant. "That thing's got insane power. Who's up for testing its strength?" Evan challenged.
"Just what I was hoping for. It's just another fire-attribute Netherbeast—watch me crush it!" the Beast King roared. With a flash and a dragon's bellow, he transformed into a massive black dragon.
This time, his body was hundreds of meters long. Even so, the flame giant was like an ant next to an elephant.
The Beast King soared into the sky and spat out a torrent of dragon flame at the giant. His dragon flame was infamous for melting most enemies in an instant.
But just as the Beast King unleashed his dragon flame, the flame giant swung its longsword, unleashing a barrage of sword-qi and fire that crashed into the dragon flame.
To everyone's shock, the Beast King's dragon flame was wiped out by the giant's flaming sword-qi. Worse, the sword-qi flames engulfed part of the Beast King's body.
The blazing heat made the Beast King howl in pain. Seeing his companion ablaze, Evan's heart jolted—he couldn't help but shout, "That's Heavenfire! Are you kidding me?!"