Hearing this from Federigo, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. So the group of guards escorted everyone, left the VIP seats, and evacuated to a place outside the competition venue.
During this period, Federigo whispered to his eldest son, Zulchio, beside him: "Replace those who were preparing to do things on the ships. Replace them with truly experienced captains and sailors."
"Father?" Surprise was evident in Zulchio's eyes.
"Just do it." Federigo instructed without explanation.
Seeing this, Zulchio agreed.
Then Federigo glanced at Farnese and saw that instead of being frightened by Nidhogg's battle with the Fire Dragon, she frequently looked back with curiosity. A certain suspicion arose in his heart.
My world and reality are probably about to change.
At the same time, on the chaotic battlefield, the air was filled with gunpowder smoke, and flames raged.
The fire dragon, covered in crimson crystals, swept away the smoke and dust with its thick tail whip. Its pair of golden vertical pupils scanned the sunken field.
"Where is that guy?"
"Right in front of your eyes."
Suddenly, a voice burst out. This made the already nervous fire dragon swing its dragon claws and lunge towards the source of the sound. But it was empty!
A deadly figure appeared before the fire dragon's eyes. Nidhogg swung Bloodhound's Fang and slashed at its chin.
At this distance, the fire dragon had no time to dodge. But it also thought dodging was unnecessary. The crimson light shone. The crystalline scales on its chin were much stronger than it had imagined!
CRACK—!
But Bloodhound's Fang still shattered the crimson crystalline scales and severed half of the fire dragon's lower jaw and one fang!
Blood gushed out and spilled onto the ground!
The fire dragon retreated in agonizing surprise. It didn't care how its stone scales could be broken. It gathered its dragon fire and spewed it at Nidhogg from close range!
FWOOSH—!
The flames blazed!
Nidhogg put away Bloodhound's Fang and the wyvern. Then he raised his brass shield with both hands and activated "Iron Wall."
The brass shield, the Vagabond Knight armor, and the Fire Dragon Crest Talisman +2 allowed him to resist the dragon's flame breath at close range. The Iron Wall defense made him almost immovable as a mountain. His feet were planted firmly, resisting the impact!
When the dragon's breath ended, Nidhogg was shocked to see that he had lowered his brass shield and remained unharmed!
"Now it's my turn."
Nidhogg leaped into the air. His body curled up. A cold, dark moonlight rose and soared towards the fire dragon!
Ranni's Dark Moon!
CRASH—!
At such close range, the weakness of the slow-flying Ranni's Dark Moon—its travel time to the enemy—was eliminated. It almost instantly exploded and rapidly released cold air!
The cold air instantly froze the fire dragon's head, causing it to freeze for a moment!
Nidhogg landed on the ground, calmly approached the fire dragon's throat, and drew Bloodhound's Fang, its blade glinting with cold light. With a sharp SCHLICK!, the sharp blade thrust upward—from the throat to the depths of the dragon's head!
CRACK—!
At that moment, the ice blocks brought by Ranni's Dark Moon fell off one by one, turning into flashes of frost.
The fire dragon's dragon's mouth was half open. It had no choice but to feel the entire process of Bloodhound's Fang piercing into its dragon head, and then gradually cutting its throat!
FWOOSH—!
A large pool of dragon blood gushed from the sky, splashing hot and steaming white mist.
Nidhogg turned around, took his sword with both hands, aimed at the back of the fire dragon's head, and struck with his sword!
The silver arc was like the moon, sharply cleaving!
The dragon's head was severed and crashed to the ground. Its pair of dragon eyes involuntarily stared at Nidhogg, but it couldn't move.
Immediately after, the fire dragon's crystalline scales began to crumble. Even more white mist burst from the dragon's body. A great mass of vengeful spirits erupted from the entire body of the giant dragon as it shattered!
Nidhogg was not surprised at all. He saw a large group of vengeful spirits, dragging each other, rushing into a vortex that had suddenly appeared in the sky.
And indeed, it was here again.
"Ah... Ah..."
Nidhogg turned his head and saw Grumblebundo, who was dying and reverting to human form, roaring angrily and staring at the group of vengeful spirits.
He saw Grumblebundo reaching out again towards the vengeful spirits, as if trying to save something. So he looked and noticed something unusual.
Among the large group of vengeful spirits, two vengeful spirits were clearly female figures. They were surrounded by other vengeful spirits. Their limbs were being torn and gnawed by the group of vengeful spirits with great cruelty!
What a wicked and bloody scene!
These were the witch and his childhood sweetheart that Grumblebundo had sacrificed at the beginning.
In the Berserk novel The Fire Dragon Knight, Grumblebundo might think that sacrificing and absorbing them into his body was a form of protection. But it was clearly not.
Those souls also absorbed by Grumblebundo, unable to harm Grumblebundo himself, turned their attention to the two close to Grumblebundo.
To avenge themselves on Grumblebundo, this group of vengeful spirits never stopped tormenting them. They couldn't even escape. They had been trapped in Grumblebundo's body for a small century.
At this moment, the vengeful spirits roared, lifting Grumblebundo's soul and dragging it towards the vortex along with them. They couldn't wait to take revenge with all their might!
Grumblebundo struggled with all his might, pushing away the vengeful spirits that were intertwined and binding him. He tried to grab the two women nearby, but watched as they were dragged, a step ahead, into the endless abyss.
The two women, numb with pain, did not turn to Grumblebundo for help from start to finish. They simply gave up, as if nothing mattered.
Grumblebundo let out a furious and feeble roar. The vengeful spirits drove him into "hell."
A new round of vicious torture had only just begun.
This is why Nidhogg said that this group of Apostles would do anything to survive.
They didn't want to think about it. Was the little humanity and life they had sacrificed really enough to exchange for such powerful strength and longevity?
For the Abyss, an Apostle born from the demon-subduing ritual brings stable profits and no losses.
They can create and devour even more vengeful spirits that fall into the Abyss while they are alive. When they die, they destroy them all at once, absorbing the already plundered vengeful spirits into the Abyss's vortex.
This is a group of players who believe that as long as they are alive, they deserve it.
But they just didn't think that whether it was Nidhogg, the skeleton knight, or the Abyss and the God Hand, they never thought they would live forever.
They are just a group of walking, ever-expanding blood packs.
Nidhogg indifferently watched the familiar scene, waiting for Grumblebundo's cold corpse to transform into his experience points.
Level Up: LV 97 → LV 98
Weapons: Brass Shield +4 → Brass Shield +6, Grafted Wyvern → Grafted Wyvern +3
Talisman: Fire Dragon Crest Talisman +2 → Fire Dragon Crest Talisman +3
LV 108 was the limit for the next stage. Only the last stretch remained.