210: Chapter 209 Decapitation Tactics

Chapter 209: Decapitation Tactics

The flame dragon armor only felt immensely blessed. The fire giant Surtur held a natural attraction for it, like an exquisite delicacy.

Although that massive magma pillar had been somewhat tasty, it was completely insufficient to satisfy its appetite, making it feel even hungrier at this moment.

While getting smashed by that giant pillar had hurt quite a bit, an inexplicable power inside its body constantly healed its injuries. Thus, even though the flame dragon armor possessed only an infant-level intellect, it now understood that this "big cake" of a fire giant could do nothing to harm it.

However, it was still unsatisfied with how it was eating—it felt its eating speed was too slow and uncomfortable, far less invigorating than eating in its original form. What was even more aggravating was that this "big cake" was actually trying to run away!

Li Tiance watched from the side in utter shock. Just the aura emitted by the fire giant Surtur was enough to set off alarm bells in his mind, nearly forcing him to go all out.

Yet the red-armored figure brought out by Sun Po was able to chase the fire giant across the battlefield, appearing to counter it entirely.

Unable to contain his curiosity any longer, he asked, "Brother Sun, I've never seen you use this one before. Is it a new card of yours, or..."

Sun Po was also deeply awed by the flame dragon armor. Hearing Li Tiance's question, he snapped back to reality and said, "Well, you could consider it my new card. It's related to the cluster of flame sent by Venerable Vermilion Bird earlier."

Li Tiance recalled Vermilion Bird Jiang Yan once more as he watched the flame dragon armor chasing the fire giant Surtur all over the place.

He could not help but think about how the potential Sun Po displayed had already caught the eye of many prominent figures. Among them, two Titled Card Makers had explicitly invested in Sun Po: Vermilion Bird Jiang Yan and Coachman Ranger Xuanyuan. Their backgrounds were clear from their surnames.

Although they could not fully represent the will of the Jiang Family and the Xuanyuan Family, it was hard to say that this did not reflect the inclinations of both families.

In particular, the fire seed Vermilion Bird Jiang Yan gifted to Sun Po was so extraordinary that her level of investment was likely far greater than Coachman Ranger Xuanyuan's.

Upon entering the secret realm, Jiang Cha of the Jiang Family had also shown a strong interest in Sun Po. Li Tiance could not help but think that perhaps he still hadn't placed enough importance on Sun Po—or rather, the Li Family's valuation of Sun Po was still insufficient. While Li Tiance was still pondering, another shift occurred on the battlefield.

The massive fire giant Surtur felt that its Flames of Destruction could do nothing to the flame dragon armor, so it reached out, attempting to swat the flame dragon armor to death like a tiny insect.

Yet the flame dragon armor made no attempt to dodge, charging directly at the fire giant Surtur every single time.

The fire giant Surtur clearly felt it had landed a hit, but whenever it opened its hand, it still saw a lively flame dragon armor continuing its forward charge.

Once, twice, thrice... The fire giant Surtur felt as if it had seen a ghost.

—

No, this was far terrifying than a ghost.

The flame dragon armor was naturally not a ghost. Having watched the fire giant Surtur strike so many times, Sun Po also noticed a few subtle details.

The flame dragon armor was not immortal, nor did it possess the absurd defense of the Black Rhino Armor.

Whenever it was hit by the giant flaming palm, the layer of five-colored fire light floating around it would suddenly surge, perfectly blocking Surtur's attack.

And when the flaming palm released its grip, the five-colored fire light would return to normal. Though it grew brighter overall, it was impossible for it to surge so drastically all at once on its own.

Sun Po suddenly remembered what Vermilion Bird Jiang Yan had said when she gave him the chaos fire seed, and a theory gradually formed in his mind.

Sun Po muttered under his breath, "Power transfer? Does this mean I'm indirectly using a cheat?"

After all, only Card Makers below the intermediate rank could enter this secret realm, yet because of the flame dragon armor, he was borrowing a portion of power at the Titled Card Maker level.

Even though the flame dragon armor couldn't borrow all of Vermilion Bird Jiang Yan's power, even a small portion was still the power of a Titled Card Maker.

If it could keep borrowing this power, then even when facing non-fire-attribute monsters, the flame dragon armor could probably function as a Gold Card.

Realizing this, Sun Po knew that Vermilion Bird Jiang Yan must be watching the live stream right now. He cupped his hands lightly toward the camera to express his gratitude.

Li Tiance was completely bewildered. He did not know that the flame dragon armor could borrow the power of Vermilion Bird Jiang Yan; otherwise, his valuation of Sun Po would have jumped to yet another level.

Meanwhile, on the battlefield, Surtur had exhausted all its tricks.

Breathing fire, smashing fists, slapping palms, stomping feet—no matter what it did, it couldn't destroy the flame dragon armor. To make matters worse, the flame dragon armor's own five-colored fire light acted like a deadly toxin to it. Surtur even tried grabbing the flame dragon armor with its huge hand, but it quickly dropped it like a hot potato.

After grabbing it for just a few tens of seconds, Surtur felt its body rapidly weaken.

As the incarnation of the Flames of Destruction, it naturally understood the reason behind its physical weakness.

This ant-sized creature actually fed on the Flames of Destruction! The fire giant Surtur realized it had encountered a true natural predator.

It couldn't kill it, nor could it stop it. The fire giant Surtur seemed to have only one path left: flee.

In the next second, the fire giant Surtur actually leaped straight up out of the abyss, looking as though it was truly going to flee. The audience outside the arena was struck speechless with shock.

“I told you Master Sun isn't just about flashy tricks, he's got real strength!”

“Bullshit! When Master Sun's red armor card got smashed by that stone pillar earlier, you were doomposting the loudest!”

“Is Master Sun a bit too weird though? Why does this card feel both strong and weak? Its combat movements and awareness are a complete mess, yet it can chase a Gold-quality monster all over the place!”

Of course, there were sharp-eyed viewers among the audience as well.

“I suspect Master Sun is cheating. Every time that red armor card is about to get hit, the five-colored fire light on its body surges massively, and then quickly dims down, just like—”

“Just like a light bulb with unstable voltage! In other words, either this red card possesses a powerful energy inside its body that it can't fully control yet, causing these fluctuations in strength, or someone is intermittently transferring powerful energy to this card! Also, this card is indeed very special. Though its combat skills are a mess, its progress is visible to the naked eye.”

“Yeah! The first time it took the fire giant's magma pillar, it was so clumsy it practically ran straight into it. Now it already knows how to dodge!”

“Not only that, besides rushing over to throw punches, it even condensed a long blade just now to attack the fire giant. It only put it away quickly because it wasn't very effective.”

“All the cards Master Sun has used so far, even the card summons, surpass what an ordinary civilian Card Maker could reach in a lifetime. Maybe this is what a true genius is.”

“Describing Master Sun as a genius? Isn't that looking down on him too much? There are plenty of geniuses, but there's only one Master Sun!”

“Master Sun even cupped his hands to the camera. Looks like he really is taking it easy. Isn't he a bit too relaxed though?”

“Uh oh, looks like Master Sun is about to witness a palm technique descending from the sky!”

Indeed, Sun Po was thinking the exact same thing at that moment—or rather, he wasn't about to witness it, he was already witnessing it.

The fire giant Surtur had a colossal body. Leaping straight up from the abyss, it brought along waves of magma and black smoke that seemed to submerge the entire world.

Sun Po and Li Tiance had already retreated thousands of miles away, yet they still had to keep their protective skills active.

Sun Po quickly felt the flame dragon armor's emotions. It said it was just about to change forms to eat the "big cake," but the "big cake" ran away before it could catch up.

Sun Po's surroundings were engulfed in dark red, with even the sky completely obscured. Before he could say anything, he suddenly felt the heat overhead rise drastically.

When Sun Po looked up, he saw the previously dim sky abruptly light up.

What met Sun Po's eyes was a vast sea of fire. Sun Po was very familiar with this sea of fire—wasn't this the exact same thing that had been attacking the flame dragon armor palm by palm thousands of kilometers away just now?

However, the fire giant Surtur was not a fool like Sæhrímnir. Although it could do nothing to the flame dragon armor, it had noticed these two equally tiny ants.

In particular, Li Tiance was someone the fire giant Surtur had spotted from the start, whereas Sun Po and the flame dragon armor had entered this small magma world later.

The fire giant Surtur quickly determined that Sun Po and the flame dragon armor definitely had a connection. Since the flame dragon armor was its natural enemy, it would deal with this black-armored ant first.

Yes, even though the fire giant Surtur didn't know that the flame dragon armor was summoned by Sun Po, once Sun Po died, the flame dragon armor would indeed disappear.

Although the fire giant Surtur didn't know the working process, it had inadvertently picked the correct answer.

Sun Po was speechless in his heart. It truly was a case of bullying the weak and fearing the strong.

Besides, when dealing with Card Makers, decapitation tactics were truly a constant theme. Ever since Sun Po encountered Lu Shan in the municipal tournament, he had been subjected to decapitation tactics.

Now, even facing a Gold-quality monster from beyond the realm, it was still using the exact same trick.

Thankfully, when Sun Po originally chose the Five Elements Bloodline as his personal MOD, he had anticipated that such a day would come.

The battlefield changed in the blink of an eye. If he had to learn various secret arts from scratch to boost his self-defense capabilities, it would take far too long.

If he summoned a card specifically to act as his bodyguard, it would be too much of a hassle and consume a valuable card slot.

Thus, the optimal solution was indeed armor like Sun Po's.

In particular, the armor manifested by the Five Elements Bloodline didn't just serve as protection; it was linked directly to Sun Po's bloodline, directly enhancing his combat power and battlefield survivability.

Therefore, while this flaming giant palm looked terrifying, in Sun Po's eyes, it was throwing itself into a trap.

Beside him, Li Tiance was also caught within the area of effect of this palm strike.

Having been on battlefields since childhood, Li Tiance naturally knew that monsters would sometimes bypass cards to directly attack the Card Maker.

Reacting instantly, he summoned the Xuanwu Gate field card straight from his mind.

Appearing alongside it were two fierce generals, Qin Qiong and Yuchi Yigde. Upon appearing, both transformed into giant dark-gold Door Gods, quickly replicating eight hundred copies of themselves within Xuanwu Gate.

When the flaming giant palm crashed down, the entire Xuanwu Gate stood towering like a dark giant gate empowered by the eight hundred Door Gods, looking indestructible.

As a field card, Xuanwu Gate already possessed impressive defensive capabilities, and backed by the protection of eight hundred Door Gods, it was virtually impregnable.

Although the fire giant Surtur was a Gold-quality monster, breaking through Xuanwu Gate in this state with a single palm strike was completely impossible.

With his own safety assured, Li Tiance looked over at Sun Po beside him, only to see the Black Rhino Armor on Sun Po automatically fade away.

Facing a formidable enemy, Sun Po had deactivated his defensive measure. Just as Li Tiance was about to ask why, he saw crimson light burst from Sun Po's side.

This crimson light was interspersed with five-colored flames, appearing extraordinarily divine.

When the light dissipated, Sun Po was no longer wearing that dark heavy armor, but rather a set of red armor identical to the distant flame dragon armor.

That's right! This was Sun Po's very first time merging with the flame dragon armor!

Li Tiance thought to himself that it was just as he suspected. Earlier, he had felt that this red armor shared a striking similarity in style with Sun Po's Black Rhino Armor.

Now it seemed that this red armor was indeed another form of protection for Sun Po; one leaned toward water-attribute attacks, while the other specialized in fire-attribute attacks.

This ability to summon different armors was far too similar to the Chi Family of the Upper Three Clans.

If Li Tiance hadn't used the Arrow of Fate to catch a glimpse of the script back then, he would have found it hard to believe that Sun Po had no connection to the Chi Family.

What Li Tiance didn't know was that outside the arena, the members of the Chi Family were watching Sun Po's methods with even greater shock and uncertainty.

“This kid's two sets of armor look so cool, so unique, and incredibly powerful! Why isn't my armor like that?”

“To be able to contend with a Gold monster, and even materialize two sets of armor simultaneously... Does our clan have anyone who can possess two Natal Armors at the same time?”

“Of course not! Why is it called a Natal Armor in the first place? If there are two armors, can it still be called natal?”

“But Chi Kuang's Natal Armor seems to have different forms. Could the armor on this kid actually be different forms as well?”

“But which outer branch of the clan is he from? How could someone with such talent fail to pass the family assessment?”

“Could he be an illegitimate child of one of the elders? Left outside because it was dishonorable?”

Suddenly, the aged voice of an old woman echoed out, and everyone fell silent.

“Although the armor on his body also originates from bloodline, it has absolutely nothing to do with our Chi Family's bloodline secret arts.”

In an instant, the discussion flared up heatedly once again.