CHAPTER 243: CHAPTER 243: BATTLE WITH MOUNTAIN HUNTER, DUAL-ELEMENT DOMAIN

After the Slime leader died, the number of Slimes here dropped a lot—there weren’t even five hundred thousand left.

It was clear Johnnie couldn’t finish Stage 6, The Mage of the Five Elements, in a short time.

He wasn’t in a rush, though. First, he would deal with Mountain Hunter.

The team moved quickly through the mountain forest and re-entered Mountain Hunter’s territory.

No monsters showed up around them.

"Humans, why are you here again?" came Mountain Hunter’s voice. They had been noticed the moment they stepped in.

A huge black bear appeared right after.

Nalorin Sylvia frowned and stepped in front of Johnnie. She whispered, "Master, this guy got stronger."

Johnnie gave a small nod. He felt it too.

Last time, this black bear had just stepped into Half-God.

Now its aura was clearly stronger. So their guess had been right—it could absorb Slime goo to grow in power.

Even so, Mountain Hunter was far weaker than the fused Slime leader.

Johnnie was confident he could kill it.

He didn’t strike right away. With a faint smile, he moved his hand and took out a large pile of Slime goo. "We’re here to trade for Spirit Stones." he said.

"Hm? That much?" Mountain Hunter swallowed, eyes lighting up.

The nasty slime was piled high like a small hill—well over a million portions.

The Slime leader had been a powerful Domain. Even he hadn’t dared to slaughter Slimes on this scale.

"You’re really lucky." he said. "You killed that many Slimes without alerting the Slime leader."

"Didn’t alert the Slime leader?" Benz curled his lip, ready to mock him, but Johnnie stopped him with a look.

He didn’t want to show his true strength yet.

Besides, they had gathered over five million portions of Slime goo. What they had taken out was less than one-fifth of it.

Mountain Hunter’s eyes shifted. "Normally, since you’re humans, I shouldn’t trade with you." he said. "But for Jack’s sake, five hundred portions for one Spirit Stone."

"Five hundred?" Johnnie frowned. This guy was greedy. It had been one hundred portions for one Spirit Stone before. Now it was five times that.

"Don’t be unhappy. I’m already giving you face for Jack." Mountain Hunter said proudly, as if he were doing them a great favor.

Johnnie snorted and looked at Jack. "Is your face really worth that much?"

"Heh..." Jack let out a dry laugh and didn’t dare say more.

Mountain Hunter took a step forward to scoop up the Slime goo.

But with a thought, Johnnie put it all away into The Map of Heaven and Earth.

"Hm?" Mountain Hunter grabbed at nothing. His face darkened. "Boy, what do you mean by that?" he said coldly.

Johnnie said calmly, "Your price isn’t fair. We refuse to trade."

"That’s not up to you!" Mountain Hunter roared and charged at Johnnie.

"You’re asking for it!" Nalorin Sylvia’s eyes went cold. Her longsword shook, and a blade of light screamed out.

Slash!

Blood sprayed. With a shrill cry, one of the bear’s paws was cut off.

"A divine artifact!" Mountain Hunter staggered back again and again, staring warily at Nalorin Sylvia.

"He’s this weak?" Johnnie was a bit surprised. The guy was a Domain, yet Nalorin Sylvia took off his paw with one strike.

Nalorin Sylvia explained, "Master, he became a god through divine essence. He never faced a heavenly tribulation, so his body is very weak."

So that was it.

Refining divine essence to become a god is the safest path—you skip the heavenly tribulation—but without that baptism, you end up the weakest.

"Hmph. Even if my body’s weak, the likes of you still can’t handle me!" Mountain Hunter snorted. Earth-Element law power surged around him, and he formed a new hand.

Whoosh!

A giant palm of force slammed toward Nalorin Sylvia.

"Know your place."

She didn’t flinch. She swung her sword and met it head-on.

Clang, clang, clang—

A series of hard impacts rang out. With Earth-Element laws guarding his body, her blade could no longer threaten the black bear.

Johnnie moved. Seven Sword flew out with a howl.

Pft!

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...

Several damage numbers flashed—true damage.

The Earth-Element laws around the bear couldn’t fully block Johnnie’s strikes.

This could work.

Johnnie’s eyes lit up. As long as he could deal damage, he could trigger Seven Sword’s Instant Kill effect.

Seven Sword screamed through the air, and damage numbers kept popping up.

"Damn it!" Mountain Hunter was furious. Johnnie’s damage couldn’t really hurt him yet, but for some reason it filled him with dread—like the breath of death.

"Giant Lava Bear!" he roared. Flames wrapped around him. He was actually wielding both fire and earth element laws at the same time.

And like the Slime, those two opposite laws were slowly fusing.

The wind howled. His pressure kept rising. His body swelled into a lava behemoth.

Clang, clang—

Johnnie’s flying swords fell, but they couldn’t hurt him anymore.

The lava body blocked everything.

"Gravity Domain!" he shouted again. The pressure around them spiked. Johnnie felt his blood churn as his organs were crushed by the weight.

This was the Gravity Domain within the Earth-Element laws—up to a thousandfold.

Even as a Divine powerhouse, Nalorin Sylvia was badly affected. Her attacks slowed.

Jack was killed on the spot.

Benz coughed blood and was severely hurt. Luckily he had some defenses—golden light flashed around him, and he barely held back the crushing force.

"Die!" Mountain Hunter leaped, his massive paw smashing down at Johnnie.

Under his own Gravity Domain, he wasn’t hindered at all.

Space flashed!

Johnnie knew he couldn’t take that hit. Space power rippled, and he blinked dozens of meters away.

Boom!

The ground shook with a roar. Johnnie barely dodged, but the shockwave still sent him flying.

"Hm, a space skill." Mountain Hunter’s huge eyes fixed on Johnnie, a bit surprised.

"Human, I didn’t expect that. But you’ll still die today! Petrify!" he roared, and vast Earth-Element law power surged.

A control skill!

"Master, careful!" Nalorin Sylvia shouted, but it was too late.

Buzz!

Johnnie’s body went rigid in an instant. He turned to stone on the spot and couldn’t use any skills.

"Die!" Mountain Hunter went berserk again, his giant palm crashing down.

Crack!

Johnnie’s stone body shattered into pieces. As expected, he was instantly killed.

[Ding, You were killed by Mountain Hunter. Law blessing: You revive on the spot]

System prompts flashed, and Johnnie revived where he stood.

His revival ring was still on cooldown. Luckily, the Demon race blessing— a law effect—brought him back the moment he died.

"Hm? You can revive in place?" Mountain Hunter was surprised, then said coldly, "In that case, I’ll wipe you out for good!"

A wave of white flame swept toward Johnnie.

"Master, watch out—it’s a soul attack!" Nalorin Sylvia warned, stepping in front of him without hesitation.

Whoom!

White flame flared up and swallowed them both.

[Ding, You were killed by Mountain Hunter...]

Johnnie was instantly killed again, then revived on the spot. A stabbing pain hit his head—his soul had taken heavy damage.

His Soul Power was strong, but earlier he had used heavenly tribulation to kill the Slime leader, which hurt his soul. Now he couldn’t block Mountain Hunter’s soul attack.

"Still not dead? How is your soul intensity this high?"

Mountain Hunter was shocked and tried to cast another soul skill.

Buzz!

Sword Intent hummed. Nalorin Sylvia was already upon him.

He didn’t dare be careless and hurried to cast Petrify again.

Crack, crack—

A bit of stone spread across Nalorin Sylvia’s skin, but then powerful ice-and-snow energy surged from her body and dispelled the petrification at once.

Johnnie didn’t dare to be careless. With a thought, he summoned Maiev and the Dark Golden Golem and ordered, "Tie him down."

Boom!

Under the crushing gravity, the Dark Golden Golem dropped straight to the ground.

His stats were synced with Johnnie’s and he was strong, but he still couldn’t offset the gravity.

"Master, leave it to me!" Maiev wasn’t affected. Her Dark Moon longbow appeared in her hands, and arrows filled the sky.

"Another Divine powerhouse!" Mountain Hunter was shaken.

He was already struggling against Nalorin Sylvia. With another Domain user here, he was no match.

He was about to flee when a figure appeared behind him—the Dark Golden Golem.

"The Mechanical race?" Mountain Hunter was surprised, but didn’t care. "Out of my way!"

He roared and charged at the Dark Golden Golem.

The golem didn’t flinch. Sword Intent surged around him. Thousands of sword lights gathered into a rain of blades and howled forward.

It was the Myriad Sword Technique.

The Dark Golden Golem had the exact same strength as Johnnie and couldn’t truly threaten Mountain Hunter. But his interference gave Nalorin Sylvia and Maiev time to close in.

Both women unfolded their Domains and worked together, completely suppressing Mountain Hunter.

"Maiev, Sylvia, break his defense." Johnnie called out.

"Got it!" they answered. Sword light flashed, arrows flew, and Mountain Hunter was forced back again and again.

Slash—

Blood sprayed. The two of them tore open Mountain Hunter’s defense with ease, and scary damage numbers flashed.

Even without Johnnie, the two women and the Dark Golden Golem were enough to kill him.

But he was a Domain. If Johnnie landed the killing blow, he could trigger God-killing power and gain a huge boost.