1445 Making Friends Part 1 (1/2)

Imposa apparently knew that the level of those monsters was too high. If they had gone on a rampage, they would have soon faced repercussions from Myers Mainland.

However, that silver fish was of a very high level—and it was highly intelligent to boot. Even if the berserk potion actually worked, it probably wouldn't have been punished by the rules right away, which meant that anyone who got in the way of its lethal attack would have been out of luck.

By charging at Saleen's face, Imposa was definitely up to no good.

The grand duke was livid about this! That was no way to treat an ally. Imposa was working for the grand duke, and his nefarious actions could have put him at odds with Saleen.

Consider the facts. Saleen had his teacher, who was a terrifying mage, for support. He also had Lex, empress of the Qin Empire. There were only two reasons why Lex hadn't yet attacked Grand Duke Iron Blood's territory. First, she lacked the strength to do so at the moment, since she had to divert her attention to solving internal conflicts. Second, she knew that the grand duke had to give up those territories sooner or later.

He would have been opening up farms instead of building fortresses otherwise.

That meant the grand duke would be in a position to state his conditions in exchange for benefits, using the Qin territory he already held in his hand as a bargaining chip. Even if he decided to leave, he would still have been able to maintain a good relationship with Qin. As to whether he would be able to use what he'd set up on those lands as foundations to retaliate, that would have depended entirely on how things worked out in the future.

The foregoing allowed him to get in or out without putting himself at risk.

If Imposa's actions created major misunderstandings with Saleen or made him feel resentful toward the grand duke, all the grand duke's efforts thus far would have been for naught. It wouldn't have mattered if Saleen had died. None of those people around him were easy to take on. The grand duke was a Dragon Knight after all, and he wouldn't have been able to deal with them on an equal footing unless they were fighting at the dragon plane.

A sword was held in the grand duke's hand at that thought.

That was a longsword, and it exceeded what its name implied: its blade was as long as a soldier's spear. It was a dark golden color throughout. Imposa's face turned grim when he saw that thing. He never expected the grand duke to sacrifice him for Saleen's sake.

The longsword had its history, so there was no need to elaborate on that. Suffice to say, Imposa knew perfectly well why the grand duke had chosen to brandish that particular weapon instead of a dragon spear: he intended to kill him.

All attachments and sentiments were cast aside once the longsword was brandished. It was too late in the game to reverse the course of action. Grand Duke Iron Blood hadn't gained his moniker for nothing! Even though Imposa had always worked well with him in the past, this wasn't the first time he'd made his own decisions without first seeking the grand duke's approval.

To be sure, what Imposa had pulled off that time was within the limits of the grand duke's tolerance, but there was no telling what could have gone wrong—or if there would even be a next time.

Imposa was to be killed with extreme prejudice!

Not expecting Imposa's reaction, Saleen gritted his teeth and pulled out all the stops. He saw how the grand duke had made his stance clear: to continue working with him to the point of eliminating that maverick Imposa.

Snap! Pop! His Thunder Dragon Bangle burst open. The Thunder Dragon Blaster inside his magic amplifier fired seven lightning icicles and four-ball lightning. ZZZ. ZZZ. ZZZ.

The Thunder Dragon Bangle was formed with 24 thunder dragons coiled around one another. For the past thousand years, those dragons had only been able to advance to level-12, lower than Saleen's level. There was nothing he could have done about it, for advancements of magic beasts were usually slower than for humans. Though the thunder dragons were considered odd in that respect, they still paled in comparison to humans.

The 24 level-12 thunder dragons were, however, the highest beings found on that plane. After they reverted to their usual forms, they surrounded the big silver fish and sparkled with electrical charges. Then they fired lightning bolts from their mouths at the fish. Oh, how It writhed and twisted in pain! The electrical discharges were too weak to cause total paralysis. But the pain they inflicted was excruciating.

Saleen's lightning icicles kept firing at the scales of the silver fish. ZZZ. ZZZ. ZZZ.

All seven lightning icicles broke. It was the first time Saleen saw natural scales of a living being stopping the lightning icicles' penetration. Those scales would have been equal to godly items in terms of material quality.

Nevertheless, the four-ball lightning had all seeped through the scales. The only reason they were able to withstand those lightning icicles was that they were mainly physical attacks. The ball lightning, on the other hand, was capable of phasing through anything. Defense depended solely on the one defending and the proficiency in warding off lightning attacks.

But then again, there was virtually no one on the plane who had learned how to defend against lightning attacks. Even if there were people who learned to do this, they had no one else to test their knowledge on. In other words, they had no way of testing the effectiveness of those newly acquired skills.

They might have gotten themselves into the clouds during thunderstorms, but failure would have resulted if they had been struck to death by lightning, their souls broken to nothing.

When Saleen's four-ball lightning hit the big fish, 24 thunder dragons all charged at once. They were much bigger than the fish and clad in lightning. The fish couldn't even get a bite on them.

The fish was getting really frustrated. Its power, offense, and defense capabilities were the most formidable among magic beasts. But could it deal with the thunder dragons? Absolutely not!

The thunder dragons tangled with the fish and lightning magic patterns on the thunder dragons kept changing, charging up to unleash a lethal attack.

Meanwhile, on the other side, the fighting between Grand Duke Iron Blood and Imposa reached a critical point. Rafel disabled Imposa's metal flying device with one thrust of her spear. She waited on the side, spear in hand, poised to charge as soon as the grand duke was at a disadvantage.

Imposa's mind slumped when he saw the wings on Rafel's back. He realized they weren't equipment. They flapped about in water unaffected: Those were the wings of angels.