Haoyuan struggled to swim a few meters before a sudden wave of frigid cold struck from behind.
“This feeling...”
His pupils instantly dilated.
Whirling around, he forcefully blasted a thick stream of Icy Mist!
BOOM!
Ice shards exploded in all directions, and the frost-chilled mist surged outward.
Haoyuan's eyes widened, his breathing nearly coming to a halt.
He saw it crystal clear!
The frigid chill that had ambushed him was none other than the Icy Mist he knew intimately well!
His eyes flashed, and a surge of joy nearly bubbled up from within.
“It's actually a mimic monster!!”
“Fantastic!”
“In that case, it must be afraid of fire!”
“Although I don't know where it got those golden eyes and water control abilities, judging by that strike of Thunder earlier, it's still afraid of high temperatures... If I can hit it with the sustained heat of fire...”
Haoyuan's eyes gleamed with intellect as a plan began to form in his mind.
Having failed its ambush, the water monster was visibly taken aback. Seeing the massive white dragon unleash Icy Mist that was far thicker and more solid than its own left it utterly stunned.
Haoyuan gave it no time to daze off.
He unleashed his heavily reinforced Icy Mist with everything he had.
Under the water monster's shocked gaze, the blast poured down irresistibly like a rushing mountain torrent.
It effortlessly swallowed up the monster's mist—which looked like a mere thread in comparison—and slammed into its head.
BOOM!
The water monster's head sank violently, forcing its massive body to flip upside down.
The Icy Mist crashed down like an avalanche, shattering into a frost-white cloud that surged and churned outwards in all directions.
Without hesitation, Haoyuan immediately activated Wind Grace and Water Surge, shooting straight toward the surface.
“Faster, even faster... As long as I get close to the surface...”
He thrashed his massive, snow-white, jade-glistening fish-scaled tail with all his strength, churning the water to generate tremendous forward propulsion.
In the blink of an eye, he shot forward over ten meters.
Suddenly, the water ahead blurred, and an unprecedented, earth-shattering water pressure crashed down upon him.
Haoyuan took a deep breath.
“ROAR!!!”
A terrifying soundwave exploded outwards. Channelling both Water Surge and Wind Grace, it kicked up towering waves that spiraled upward in a massive cone.
BANG!
The dragon roar, empowered by the fusion of two supernatural abilities, was insanely dominant, instantly shattering the crushing water pressure to pieces.
The heavy sensation suffocating the surrounding water vanished without a trace right after.
“I'm almost there...”
Catching his breath, Haoyuan continued ascending. Suddenly, a surging sensation closed in from behind.
Through his dragon whiskers' perception, a massive body of water was rapidly approaching—nearly eighty meters wide and radiating a bone-chilling cold.
Haoyuan frowned slightly. Before he could process it, the freezing water engulfed him.
Ice shards scraped across his scales amid a dense, frost-white cloud of mist.
It was the very Icy Mist he had spewed earlier!
His vision was reduced to a hazy, blinding white.
“Trying to play ambush with me?”
Haoyuan raised an eyebrow. He had already mastered this exact trick when dealing with the pseudo-wyrm.
“Looks like this water monster's water perception is pretty good.”
“However...”
“I'm not bad myself!”
His swaying dragon whiskers twitched violently. Haoyuan whipped his head around and let out a furious dragon roar toward his rear.
“ROAR!!!”
The dense frost clouds surging behind him were shattered instantly by the dragon roar the moment they tried to rise.
The thing hidden inside was revealed.
It was actually a massive water projectile shaped like the water monster itself!
“What!?”
Haoyuan's pupils shrank.
“A decoy!?”
“It knew I had water perception!!”
In the corner of his right field of vision, a black dot suddenly appeared and rapidly expanded.
It was already too late for Haoyuan to dodge.
Before he could turn his body, a colossal force slammed right into him.
“ROAR!”
A pained roar escaped his mouth. Haoyuan's underbelly suffered heavy impact, causing excruciating internal cramps that made him twitch in agony.
The water monster had deliberately avoided his Kirin Arms, striking directly at his abdomen. After landing the hit, it immediately disengaged.
It looped around and accelerated for another strike.
It refrained from biting, refusing to give him any opportunity for prolonged contact in order to guard against the high heat of his Thunder.
“Looks like it thinks it's got me cornered!”
Haoyuan endured the pain and hastily used Water Surge to wrap a thick cocoon of water around his entire body.
The water monster charged at him once more.
“Now!”
BANG!
The water monster smashed into Haoyuan's body, bringing a sweet, bloody taste to the back of his throat.
Thanks to the buffering effect of the water cocoon, its momentum slowed.
Haoyuan seized the opportunity, instantly unleashing his Trunk Strength to pounce and wrap around it like a tiger.
His powerful Kirin Arms grabbed the water monster's neck from behind, his sharp sickle-claws slicing deep through its thick, armored skin and blubber.
Pale flesh rolled back as bright red lines of blood immediately surfaced.
CRACKLE!
With a sound like shattering crystal, blinding blue-white arcs of lightning shot forth from his sickle-claws, scrambling to bore deep into the exposed flesh.
The water monster shrieked in agony, struggling violently while manipulating the dense frost clouds to surge over and smother the lightning.
Seeing this, Haoyuan didn't linger in the fight. He pushed off the back of its neck with both palms to propel himself upward, giving it a vicious tail whip as he swam up.
While knocking the water monster downward, he whipped his tail repeatedly to shoot straight up into the air.
The lightning strike on the back of the water monster's neck certainly caused intense throbbing pain, but it was much more manageable than having lightning explode inside its mouth earlier.
Furthermore, the dense frost clouds had absorbed most of the high heat.
Thus, it quickly recovered.
Seeing the giant white dragon escape again, the water monster grew beyond enraged.
It felt this creature was absurdly cunning, never missing a chance to land a kick on the way out, boasting endless tricks, and being extraordinarily difficult to catch.
Suffering setback after setback had whipped its fury into a blaze.
Furious, it whipped up the dense frost clouds and pursued without a moment's rest.
If it didn't take down the white dragon today, it wouldn't be able to sleep.
Haoyuan swam upward with all his might. Within his dragon whiskers' perception, the dense frost clouds were rushing toward him at extreme speed, as if completely immune to water resistance.
“Tsk, what a pain in the ass!”
Gritting his teeth, he pushed Wind Grace and Water Surge to their limits, sprinting with everything he had.
Soon, the area ahead suddenly brightened, and the boiling surface reflecting the orange-red firelight came into view.
Haoyuan wept with joy, surging upward with newfound vigor like a shot of adrenaline.
“I finally made it!”
The higher the water monster swam, the more uncomfortable it felt. As the temperature gradually rose, an unbearable, oppressive heat clung to its body like a suffocating sweater.
Yet the uncontrollable rage in its heart drove it relentlessly onward!
It knew the white dragon was trying to escape, and it couldn't let him leave like this!
It had to devour him before he could break free!
However, when it furiously rocketed upward, it was stunned to find the giant white dragon hovering vertically beneath the orange-lit surface, looking down at it with utter disdain.
There was not a shred of fear or intention to flee—only an indefinable, sharp dominance.
The water monster couldn't process this situation; its brain completely froze up.
Evolution Path: Whale Gulp Dragon Inhale (???)
Haoyuan glanced at his status panel and poured down his vast pool of energy without hesitation.
Splash!
An indescribable sensation rapidly seeped into every limb and bone, refining his body, tempering his blood and marrow. Every cell in his body vibrated with a humming roar before quietly undergoing a rebirth-like metamorphosis.
All of this seemed slow, but it occurred in the blink of an eye.
“Whale Gulp Dragon Inhale!”
Haoyuan threw back his head and inhaled deeply. His mouth acted like a giant funnel as the boiling lake water reflecting the orange-red flames was drawn in by an invisible force, pouring into his maw in a steady, continuous stream.
There was no swallow motion; it was drawn directly inside.
Like a long, deep breath, his body gradually filled out, and the lake's water level began dropping at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Fortunately, his flood dragon body retained sufficient elasticity from his serpent form.
He could feel his ribs expanding outward, making his body significantly larger as a result.
His spine had also quietly transformed after the evolution, stretching and expanding section by section, extending his length considerably.
His massive twenty-five-meter body was stretched directly to thirty meters.
Upon reaching his limit, his entire flood dragon body was plump and rounded, yet naturally exquisite and perfectly streamlined.
Rate on N.U.
