My mom is waiting for treatment, and you're summoning me to be a hero?

When the Thousand-Eyed Sea Demon's tentacles lowered the last rogue demigod hanging from the tree, the area under the ancient tree was already crowded with people.

The elven elders, Aize, Ailin, Yinxue, Mianmian, and the twenty-odd demigods who were brought back by tentacles, walked back on their own, or were forced to retreat.

Hong Yuan's final sprint was more powerful than any of his previous ones.

What he was burning was no longer dragon blood, but the dragon soul.

Dark golden flames erupted from the gaps in each dragon scale, burning the entire dragon into a golden torch.

With each swing of his dragon claw, five visible wind blades of law emerged from the claw tip. These wind blades overlapped, forming an impenetrable wind wall in front of him.

The trees around the ancient tree were uprooted by the wind pressure, and the trunks were shredded into pieces by the wind blades in mid-air. The wood chips mixed with soil spun wildly in the night wind.

"This claw strike has already surpassed the capabilities of an ordinary demigod."

Sag's voice was hoarse and deep. The Eye of the Ancestor could not focus on Lin Mo, so it could only turn to observe Hong Yuan.

He saw the golden flame deep within Hong Yuan's dragon soul rapidly consuming; for every inch the flame burned, Hong Yuan's cultivation level permanently dropped by one level.

Regardless of the outcome of this battle, Hong Yuan will never be able to return to his peak.

But the power gained in return is real and substantial.

"If I were in Lin Mo's position, I wouldn't have been able to defend this round."

These words, coming from Sager, carry considerable weight.

He was an old shaman of the orc race, and among the demigods present, his strength was undoubtedly among the top five.

Since even he said so, the other demigods naturally had no room for rebuttal.

"hehe."

Dracula's tone was unusually serious for once.

"From the time Lin Mo drew his sword until now, at least half an incense stick's time has passed. Which of us could last that long? Just based on that alone, he is stronger than any of us here."

The Stone-Skinned Clan demigod rarely spoke, uttering only four words in a voice as sharp as granite grinding.

"As expected of Hong Yuan."

No one under the ancient tree refuted Dracula's assessment.

The rogue demigods who had been brought back by the tentacles kept their heads down and remained silent.

After moving his lips for a long time, someone finally managed to squeeze out a "Indeed".

But no matter what, the ending is inevitable.

Hong Yuan's dragon claws were fast, but Lin Mo was even faster.

The wind wall was impenetrable, but Lin Mo's movement technique was even more impenetrable.

With each swing of Hong Yuan's claw, Lin Mo's figure would appear half an instant earlier on the other side of the claw's landing point.

Hong Yuan swung his dragon claws countless times, but each time he missed by just a little bit.

Each time, it only brushed against the edge of Lin Mo's black robe, which was lifted by the wind pressure.

"Just once!"

Hong Yuan's voice was hoarse, like two pieces of sandpaper grinding against each other; the burning dragon soul had already reached his vocal cords.

With each word he uttered, a mouthful of blood foam, streaked with golden sparks, spewed from the dragon's mouth.

"Just let me hit it once!"

His voice was filled with resentment.

The most senior demigod in the Dragon Clan has not even touched a single hem of Lin Mo's clothes since the start of the battle.

He had resigned himself to his fate, but he wanted to prove before he died that he could at least hit Lin Mo once.

Even if it's just a scratch, even if it's just a shallow scar.

Just as the boiling dragon blood was about to burn out.

*Sizzle*

A very faint tearing sound was heard, so faint as to be almost inaudible amidst the roar of the dragon and the rumble of the wind.

But every demigod present heard it.

Because that was the only time Hong Yuan hit the target from beginning to end.

Hong Yuan's dragon claws sliced ​​through Lin Mo's black robe, tearing a gash in his chest.

The tear was small, only about a palm's length long, with jagged edges. It was torn by the force of the dragon claw's tip, not by the claw itself, but it was still torn open.

The skin exposed beneath the black robe was completely unharmed, without even a white mark.

Hong Yuan paused.

His golden vertical pupils were fixed on the crack for a full three breaths. Then he smiled.

It wasn't a triumphant laugh, nor a ecstatic laugh, but a quiet, bittersweet laugh, as if making peace with oneself.

"Finally... I hit it."

Then, in the next moment, Lin Mo's figure vanished into nothingness before him.

The black mist dissipated, the afterimage vanished, and even the crack disappeared along with the dissipation of the mirror image.

Hong Yuan's dragon claw froze in mid-air, its five fingers clenching loosely, grasping only a wisp of air.

His smile froze on his face, and the light in his golden vertical pupils suddenly shone brightly for a moment, a manifestation of the dragon soul burning to its extreme, before quickly dimming.

"This is... a mirror image?"

Hong Yuan's voice was very soft, so soft that only he himself could hear it.

He recognized the skill.

This is a clone that possesses only 20% of the original's strength.

From beginning to end, he was only chasing and attacking one clone.

Lin Mo's true form watched from the beginning, watching him use the power gained from burning his dragon soul to strike the air, watching him miss his claws time and time again, and watching him shout, "Just once is enough."

Lin Mo emerged from the shadows.

The black robe was intact, with no tears on the chest.

"Well, after all, you're immortal, and I don't want to waste my energy."

Upon hearing these words, Hong Yuan slowly lowered his dragon head.

He wanted to laugh, but he found that his dragon mouth could no longer make a laughing expression.

It wasn't that his muscles were out of control; it was that he didn't know what expression to wear when he said that.

He used up his cultivation accumulated over a thousand years, at the cost of burning his dragon soul.

Lin Mo simply didn't want to waste his energy.

He didn't even have the right to let Lin Mo fight him in his true form.

This is the most utter despair.

It's not failure, it's not death, it's not even deserving to be taken seriously.

The light of evolution shone at Lin Mo's fingertips.

Evolution—the fatal blow.

The basic effect of this skill is a 50% chance to deal double damage in a single hit.

After being evolved and enhanced, it became 100% triggerable.

Lin Mo imbued the evolved Fatal Strike into the blade of the black sword and raised his hand.

There was no charging up, no roaring, no announcement, and not even any unnecessary movements.

He didn't care about Hong Yuan's resentment, nor did he care about Hong Yuan's final decision.

In his view, Hong Yuan was just experience points for him to reach level 100, nothing more.

The black sword drew an extremely thin red line, cutting into Hong Yuan's neck from the left and exiting from the right.

The thin red line flashed and disappeared in an instant, so fast it seemed like an illusion.

Then Lin Mo sheathed his sword.

Hongyuan's dragon head slowly slid off his neck, the cut as smooth as a mirror.

The light in the golden vertical pupils went out completely.

The dragon swayed twice, then crashed to the ground with a thud, kicking up a cloud of dust.

All eight demigods of the dragon race were wiped out.

Dracula's glass stopped sloshing.

Sager gripped the bone staff tightly.

The defensive patterns of the Stone-Skinned Clan demigods have thickened once more.

Goldtooth Gru held the abacus in his arms, the beads clinking together and making a soft, tinkling sound that sounded to him like a heartbeat.

Lin Mo slung the black sword back over his shoulder and turned around.

The black robe was stained with dragon blood, and the blood on the sword had dried into dark red scabs.

His gaze slowly swept over the twenty-odd faces under the ancient tree.

Dracula, Sagar, the Stone-Skinned Demigod, Gold-Toothed Gru, and those who had just been released after being bound by tentacles...

The tentacles of the Thousand-Eyed Sea Demon slowly writhed at the edge of the forest, sealing off the last escape route completely.

Moonlight filtered through the gaps in the ancient tree's branches, illuminating half of Lin Mo's serene face.

"Killing you all will bring me to around level 100."