Chapter 1250: Chapter 197: Show Them Your Might, Mahdi!

——What does The Unyielding Fortress truly represent?

Clad in armor with a silver-gray base and flowing crimson patterns, the knight marched forward with heavy steps.

The outermost members of the exploration team instinctively stepped aside, sensing a dangerous aura, an unavoidable death crisis not to be challenged.

No one blamed them for their retreat and weakness, for everyone present felt the suffocating oppression, as if plunged into the icy waters of the polar regions.

Yet the young knight paid no heed to those around him, parting like seawater against a reef; he simply took a deep breath.

In the air, the golden-red mist formed by the power of the Source of Dragon Blood swirled and was now swallowed by the knight as if he were a whale swallowing the sea. As this pure dragon power was gradually absorbed into his body, a marvelous sense of comfort welled up within.

In a physique already refined to the extreme, muscles and veins even tougher than steel, bones, and organs began to exhibit lattice-like patterns as they absorbed the power of the Source of Dragon Blood.

Under skin so pale it seemed almost transparent, like fragile porcelain, lay a dense and heavy high-density muscle body, now shining from inside out like an electrified metal crystal.

The patterns, near metallic silver-white structures, proliferated within the flesh and blood, like densely proliferating neural blood vessels, uniformly covering every inch of the knight’s body inside and out, as if another layer of tougher skin had grown beneath the natural one.

Those were dragon scales. The intricate silver-white structures formed scale-like textures, akin to Hiliard’s former ‘Dragon Scale Armor.’ This sublimation organ, supposed to evolve from the ‘Silver Scale Armor,’ had temporarily ceased developing without the perfect True Dragon Origin Quality, but now it reached perfection with just one breath.

The Ancient Dragon Heart Core was vibrating, once heavily damaged, it had recuperated in recent years, yet sensing the very power capable of fully healing it before it, it couldn’t help but rejoice.

The knight, too, rejoiced, his body never feeling so powerful and at ease. So this was what it felt like to exhibit one’s full strength to the fullest? Too exhilarating, truly envious of those who need not disguise themselves, those who can freely exert their full power…

“Wait… you cannot proceed any further!”

At this moment, someone from the exploration teams of various major factions awoke from silence; they sensed the dragon blood within them vibrating, their Origin Quality resonating.

They finally realized that the knight before them, exuding danger, was someone with dragon blood, vying for the treasure as well!

Swish—two figures stepped boldly from the crowd, one tall and stern-faced, gripping a sword hilt tightly; the other well-built, his firm muscles concealing formidable power, with crystal-clear fists akin to steel hammers, embodying immense destructive power.

One hailed from Whale Song Cliff, the other from the Seven Cities Alliance. They blocked the knight’s path.

“Halt!”

The tall swordsman said in a deep voice, taking a stance to draw his sword, slightly leaning forward, warning: “Do you not know what you face? This is a contest within the official representative teams of Terra’s major kingdoms; an adventurer without background, nameless, cannot possibly succeed!”

He clearly mistook Ian for an adventurer who stumbled or willfully entered the Exotic Species Research Institute seeking opportunity, and the other martial artist also scrutinized the knight’s stance, nodding: “Your power is strong, but you cannot succeed. Step back now to retain your life.”

The knight did not speak.

He continued walking forward slowly.

The swordsman and martial artist exchanged a glance, realizing through wordless communication that words alone would not suffice.

They had to act, to block this obstinate interloper.

Thus. In the next moment.

The attack began.

——The Unyielding Fortress is the Imperial Capital. And what is the Imperial Capital? It is a towering, vast, advanced, and solid city.

——No one can destroy it, neither calamities nor war.

Crimson red streaked through the air, an ‘Extreme Flame Sword’ formed of pure light flame emitted dazzling brilliance, igniting the sky in fiery flames.

The towering swordsman struck first, silently, a point of fiery light traced across the retinas of all who watched, a red line extending from the void, followed by a heat wave capable of melting metal, sweeping to slash the knight’s right hand before him.

This was the Secret Sword ‘Extreme Flame Sword’ from Whale Song Cliff, a demon-slaying sword passed down from Melting Mountain Island, originally meant for slashing the slippery shells of sea trolls, a swordsmanship capable of cleaving and igniting the ocean.

Meanwhile, on the other side, purple lightning spread across the martial artist’s body, deep purple thunder patterns extended beneath his skin, covering his entire form in thunder as if donned in armor forged of lightning.

But this was merely the surface— in the next moment, the entirety of the thunder transmuted into two poles, positive and negative, pouring into his fists.

The martial artist clenched both hands, his steel fists, honed through a thousand strikes, now served as the vessel for thunder.

Right fist, Thunderclap! Left fist, Hidden Thunder!