97: Chapter 97: The Despicable Outsider 97: Chapter 97: The Despicable Outsider By now, Leon finally understood why Betty, despite having the map, was so reluctant to come herself to retrieve the refined gold, and why someone would rather make a map than take the gold themselves.

All because there was a Magma Land Shark there.

Appearance-wise, the Magma Land Shark resembled the commonly seen Bulette, but its body was filled with surging elemental power, and its combat power far surpassed that of a Bulette.

A Bulette has a Challenge Level of 5, which, honestly, isn’t high; a team of experienced adventurers could easily take it down.

But the Magma Land Shark was a monster with a high Challenge Level of 14, even higher than an Efreeti, a Beholder, or an adult Brass Dragon.

“We still need to continue…” Evil Wolf swallowed nervously, warily looking at Leon.

He believed in the power of the Red Dragon, but the Magma Land Shark was also not to be underestimated.

Leon didn’t speak.

He looked at the size of the Magma Land Shark with concern.

Reluctant to give up just like that, after all, it had taken some effort to come here from Crossroads City.

Leon pondered if there was a way to bypass the Magma Land Shark, like using Gathering Form and Scattering Energy to become invisible and avoid battle, grab the refined gold, and run.

But after serious consideration, it was no use; the duration of his Gathering Form and Scattering Energy was simply too short, especially after one use, he needed to wait for his body to acclimate before he could use it again.

Leon watched the Magma Land Shark take a deep breath before sinking back into the Molten Lava Lake.

After thinking hard for a long time and wandering in front of the lake, an idea suddenly struck him, and his eyes lit up.

“This battle is not something you can join in,” Leon glanced at Evil Wolf.

He couldn’t bear to see his future subordinate dying just like that.

“So now you can leave, go farther away.”

“You, are you really going to fight that kind of monster?” Evil Wolf asked worriedly.

“Should I take that as you underestimating me?” Leon said and transformed back into his Dragon Form, becoming a Red Dragon, only of large size, barely reaching gigantic.

“I have my ways.”

Leon ignored Evil Wolf, wouldn’t care about him anymore, whether the other felt unwilling to spectate or participate in the battle, and even if Evil Wolf ended up as collateral damage in the crossfire, getting chewed up by the Magma Land Shark, Leon would not save him; he was focused on defeating the Magma Land Shark.

First, Leon activated Sleeve of the Universe, pulling a greatsword out of a spatial rift and setting it aside.

He then forcefully smashed his front paw on the ground, creating a massive tremor.

The tremor sensing range of the Magma Land Shark was huge, let alone the big tremor created by Leon, a smaller one would have been detectable too.

Soon enough, it emerged from the Molten Lava Lake.

“Beast, look over here!” Leon shouted, tossing the greatsword, activated the Sword Control Technique to direct the Flying Sword towards the Magma Land Shark.

The sword bounced off its thick Armor undeterred.

Leon flipped his palm, lifted up his claw, and then controlled the Flying Sword to ascend into the air.

As a top predator, the Magma Land Shark had never known fear.

It let out a deafening roar, dove into the Molten Lava Lake and swam rapidly to the shore, only to find that the Red Dragon was already standing on a high platform in the distance.

Of course, Leon flew there, while the Magma Land Shark dove into the Molten Lava Lake.

That was a Magma Land Shark, a giant elemental being.

It could gulp down large-sized creatures in one bite.

But of course, it wouldn’t be easy to swallow him.

Not kite-flying, does it mean that melee combat was not an option?

Right, Leon’s strategy was to only use ranged attacks, never engage in close combat.

He planned to kite the Magma Land Shark to exhaustion.

Standing on the high platform, Leon looked at the furious Magma Land Shark and activated the Sword Control Technique again.

This time, the Flying Sword targeted the Magma Land Shark’s weak spots, like the underarms…

sparking some fire, seemingly with some effect.

The Flying Sword danced around him, the Magma Land Shark tried to snap at it twice to no avail and decided to ignore it.

It focused on the Red Dragon, which suddenly crouched down and leaped mightily, jumping dozens of meters high…

It had no ranged attack tools, but that didn’t mean it had no way to deal with distant foes.

This move was called standing jump.

Whether with a run-up or not, the Magma Land Shark could leap far in one bound, knocking down all enemies where it lands, causing massive damage.

The Magma Land Shark’s jump was incredibly swift.

Most adventurers would struggle to escape the wide shadow cast by its huge body—a typical dragon might have just unfurled its wings to take off, but Leon had Gathering Form and Scattering Energy at his disposal, granting him invisibility and a burst of speed.

Leon kicked off with his legs and zipped through the air, not only evading the Magma Land Shark’s lethal leap but also avoiding its subsequent attacks.

Now under the effect of Gathering Form and Scattering Energy, Leon didn’t dare to retaliate against the Magma Land Shark, even though this strike would have dealt additional damage, but instead, he flew away from the Magma Land Shark until he landed on another platform…

There were platforms all around the edge of the Molten Lava Lake; otherwise, it wouldn’t be a lake but a flowing Molten River.

Once more, Leon activated the Sword Control Technique to strike the Magma Land Shark.

As soon as the beast turned around, Leon immediately spread his wings and took to the skies, not daring to linger for even a moment.

Having experienced the recent events, Leon already knew how fast the Magma Land Shark could jump and dared not to act recklessly, especially since he had just used Gathering Form and Scattering Energy, and an immobilization spell was unlikely to work on the Magma Land Shark.

After several failed jumps, the Magma Land Shark finally realized what was happening.

Its gaze fixed on the circling Red Dragon, which kept spiraling in the air without landing.

Luckily, the Magma Land Shark’s home, the Molten Lava Lake, was large enough.

If it weren’t, it wouldn’t have been a suitable habitat for the Magma Land Shark.

There was ample space around for Leon to circle again and again.

One minute, two minutes…

five minutes.

The Magma Land Shark eventually showed less patience than Leon; ten minutes later, it decided to return to the Molten Lava Lake.

Seizing the opportunity, Leon promptly landed on the platform and once again activated the Sword Control Technique.

Thus, a surreal scene unfolded.

Evil Wolf, who couldn’t resist watching, was stunned.

He originally thought he would see two colossal beasts clashing head-on, but instead, he watched a Red Dragon attack the Magma Land Shark with a bizarre Flying Sword, with the Magma Land Shark sprinting away every time it tried to counterattack…

What kind of mean and despicable fighting method was this?

This was simply bullying.

Yes, Leon was bullying the Magma Land Shark, relying on his ability to fly and his excellent ranged attacks that were sufficient to injure the Magma Land Shark.

Bullying it for its lack of ranged attacks and having a Gathering Form and Scattering Energy as a backup, in case he couldn’t dodge the Magma Land Shark’s lethal leap, he could use Gathering Form and Scattering Energy…

Primarily, he was bullying the Magma Land Shark for its low intelligence, with only an intelligence of 2, no different from wild animals, and even more foolish than the legendary Ogre with an intelligence of 5.

Otherwise, if it were a Beholder or an Elder Brain, he wouldn’t dare to play like that; those creatures might even be smarter than him.

It’s a kind of bullfighting in another sense, with Leon as the Bullfighter and the Magma Land Shark as a fierce North African bull.

Clearly, the bull could easily overturn the Bullfighter, but in the end, it was inevitably stabbed to death by one sword thrust after another by the Bullfighter.

Humph, compared to a Bullfighter, Leon has a much higher margin of error and can fight head-on; he just doesn’t want to get hurt.

Leon’s Sword Control Technique is not weak.

Of course, the Flying Sword driven by Mana does less damage than when he’s wielding and swinging it in his hand, but the Magma Land Shark is more resistant to damage.

Its head and back are all armored, so out of ten attacks from the Flying Sword, only about a third might cause damage.

With this, the battle dragged on for half a day.

The Magma Land Shark finally stopped moving, and Leon was exhausted, with almost all of his Mana consumed.

A small amount was used for Gathering Form and Scattering Energy, but the vast majority was spent on the Sword Control Technique.

“Is it dead?” Evil Wolf ran over.

Today’s battle had somewhat shattered his worldview.

Is this how Red Dragons fight?

He had only heard that Blue Dragons were fighters full of patience and method, often stretching battles for hours or even days, frequently attacking from afar with Lightning Breath and then flying out of the enemy’s range, waiting for the next opportunity to attack.

“It’s so hot.” Evil Wolf walked closer, reached out to touch the corpse of the Magma Land Shark, and felt as if he had touched a piece of red-hot steel the moment he made contact.

“Lucky it’s already dead; otherwise, just approaching it would have burned you,” Leon laughed.

He knew the Magma Land Shark had a skill similar to an Efreeti’s Flame Spirit Light, causing flame damage to enemies who started their turn close to it.

“Step back.” Leon said, as he mustered all his strength to flip the Magma Land Shark over, then he took out his greatsword to pry open the Magma Land Shark’s belly, and took the opportunity to bite off a piece of its flesh to fill his stomach and replenish the energy he had just expended.

He started searching within the stomach of the Magma Land Shark…

Magma Land Sharks were always in a state of hunger, with exceptionally powerful digestive abilities.

If there were anything that a Magma Land Shark couldn’t digest, it was sure to be something good.

With this search, Leon indeed found something good—an indigestible ore within the Magma Land Shark.

“Is this refined gold?” Leon pulled out a piece of ore, unrefined and rough.

“I don’t recognize it, I’ve never seen refined gold ore, only refined gold weapons at most,” Evil Wolf shook his head and then suddenly realized, “Did you come to the Dark Territory for refined gold?”

“Do you think it’s worth it?” Leon asked in return.

“Definitely worth it,” Evil Wolf gestured.

“Such a piece of refined gold ore would sell for at least a hundred Gold Coins.

If you find a craftsman to smelt and forge it into weapons or armor, it would sell for at least hundreds, if not thousands of Gold Coins.”

Leon remained noncommittal, busy dealing with the Magma Land Shark’s stomach.

However, after rummaging through its belly, all he found were two pieces of unknown ore, which presumably should be refined gold ore, especially since this was the place Betty repeatedly claimed produced refined gold ore.

“Just two pieces…

definitely not enough.” It wasn’t that Leon was insatiable; one piece of refined gold ore was not even as large as a football, and the other was even smaller, hardly enough to coat his current greatsword with a layer of refined gold.

“There’s definitely more in the Molten Lava Lake,” Evil Wolf reminded him.

“I know, you don’t need to remind me,” Leon said, somewhat haughtily in his Dragon Form.

Leon was just about to jump into the Molten Lava Lake when he remembered the ding-dong sound he had just heard.

Can I actually get a Golden Finger reward for this?

That shouldn’t be right; it feels like I haven’t done anything.

That’s what he thought, but Leon’s eyes narrowed slightly, losing focus.

“A brain is a good thing, but not everyone knows how to use it—defeat a worthy opponent without injury.”

It’s actually true, there is a reward?

Can it be?

Wait, isn’t this reward sarcastically implying that he never uses his brain in battle?

“Ordinary Reward: Scratching Skill.”

“Error!”

“Error!”

“Error!”

“Not a match!”

“Re-searching!”

“Searching…

Match successful.”

He originally didn’t want to pay attention to those error prompts, those unattainable rewards that seemed quite regrettable, especially the latter.

Today, unfortunately, he had to take notice.

The focus was on the following—

“Ordinary Reward: Hand Palm Bomb.”