The Assassin Sect Leader blinked and saw the giant dragon blurring as she sped toward him. 'Fast!'
She was still within his reaction time, but the current sped, and the previous one was incomparable.
He grabbed his large harpoon-like spear with two hands and prepared to retaliate. However, Yasenia changed tactics.
When she was about 200 meters apart, neither too long nor short distance, the dragon abruptly stopped and took a deep breath…
ROAAARR!!!!
Her energy and soul circulated and burst in an ethereal golden light. The water around her shook, and the dragon's voice spread in a tidal wave.
The Assassin leader didn't know what it was, but he either way tried to use his defensive skill to harden his body.
Then, the golden shockwave hit him like a hammer in the head would.
BANG!
His vision flashed white, and his ear rang. His body burned because the [Sun Dragon Breath] directly attacked his soul.
Being completely unprepared, he was wholly dazed for a moment, which Yasenia took advantage of.
With [Celestial Dragon Body], [Celestial Cosmos Dress], [Ursa's Grasp], [War Intent], and other similar buffing skills active, the dragon appeared in front of the man and punched at him using one of her strongest melee skills. "[Empyrean Sun Collapse]!"
The water around them boiled, and as her arm descended, the scales on Yasenia's right arm became golden.
From the outside, it felt as if the enormous dragon had suddenly grabbed a golden star that dyed part of her body in it, radiating intense heat.
The small-building-sized fist descended like a golden meteor and impacted him.
BOOOM!
The merman felt a scorching heat impacting his body, and all his muscles, bones, and organs cried in protest at the ridiculously strong attack.
Still, he was a high-level Epoch Core, so his defenses didn't crumble completely, managing to resist the sneak attack. Moreover, he had defended himself previously, and that defense remained half-erect after the Sun Dargon Breath struck, which is what saved him from receiving a heavy injury.
Seeing their leader being blasted like a shooting star against the distant cliff, many wanted to move and help, but some elders stopped them.
They had been observing the small group of 70 for a while, and the threat level they felt from them gave their souls chills as their limbs became numb. 'The moment that person moved to help, most of the people on the other side had shifted their eyes toward them. The feeling of death became extremely clear at that time.'
As assassins, they were trained to sense these things. Of course, with a limit, but this time, the threat was so clear that the elders that noticed doubted their senses and had to confirm with others.
Meanwhile, Yasenia knew that although her attack did damage, the fight was long from over. 'My attack power and lethality are still lacking against high-level Epoch Core defenses.'
She used her senses to feel her skills and frowned. 'My [Celestial Dragon Body] is soon coming to an end. Once it ends, I'll need to use another buffing Celestial Skill, which will take one chance to finish off the battle. After all, killing him with anything else but a Celestial Skill seems impossible.'
BOOM!
The cliff exploded, and from the dust cloud, the Merman appeared, his body scalded in many parts as blood poured out of his mouth. However, he didn't stop at all and rushed toward Yasenia with cold rage burning in his eyes.
Yasenia rushed forward to meet him as well and controlled her [Empyrean Galaxy Domain].
A profound ripple spread around, and the stars in the sky began falling.
Hundreds of stars, one after another, descended like meteors of light. When they were close, Yasenia didn't make contact as she switched to a ranged attack method. "[Celestial Field Master], [Starfall], [Cosmic Sun Nova]."
A golden explosion of flames, this time physical, burst around Yasenia and caused a reaction with the water, forcing a massive underwater detonation to occur that hurt even Yasenia.
However, thanks to that, whatever attack the merman was prepared to retaliate with was completely nullified as he used it to defend himself.
A massive spear of water pierced through the explosion, creating a void that connected both Yasenia and him.
Still, the merman couldn't use the gap he created as the hundreds of descending stars were already on top of him.
The perfectly layered attack made it impossible to approach for the time being as the enormous dragon began throwing ranged attacks without pause.
A giant silver crescent, a wave of stars, phantom palm strikes, dragon breaths, and many more skills flew the merman's way.
Yasenia fought with otherworldly proficiency. Her breath attacks pierced the water as if it were air, her claws released hundreds of shadows when [Sun Dragon Claw] and similar skills were used, and her tail constantly intertwined with her attacks, releasing [Draconic Crescent Moon] one after another.
Then, with the help of her Body Path skills, like the nova skill and the palm skills, she managed to fill the gaps the sect leader managed to create, pushing him out constantly even when the Assassin Leader used his skills to suddenly close the gap.
The merman snarled. "Arrogant Dragon! Did you really think that you could win with such strength!? No matter how many of these skills you use, you are courting death! Once you get tired, it will be my win! [Water Traversing Silent Step]."
He used his tail to accelerate and tanked many attacks, receiving injuries but reaching Yasenia's side. The dragoness's eyes flashed. '[Celestial Dragon Body] is going to fizzle at any moment. This is a good chance.'
Yasenia used her wing and tail to shift her colossal body through the water extremely agilely, aided by [Pegasus Gallop]'s explosive acceleration and not losing to the merman's dexterity.
Instead of widening the distance to continue with her ranged bombardment, she retaliated.
Once the merman missed his attack, creating a massive blue wave that twisted the ocean in terrifying whirlpools, her enormous tail used her position shift momentum and fell at him, reinforced by [Draconic Dawn].
Her tail glowed silver and golden as it descended, squarely landing on the merman's back. Blood exploded as Dawn's opposing chill and heat and Yasenia's hard scales peeled off the skin.
At the same time, all her accumulated Moon energy transformed into Sun Energy, and Yasenia's scales gained a golden sheen.
BANG!
The merman was thrown into the cliff, but the dragoness never showed satisfaction.
Yasenia extended her arm and growled. "Come, [Draconic Heart]."
ROAR!
Followed by a low and echoing dragon cry, a massive sword scaled up enough for Yasenia to hold appeared in her grasp.
The hill-sized sword, blueish scales covering its entire length, swirled with terrifying energies as Yasenia lifted it upward.
After the merman burst out from the rock, an enormous explosion occurred on the cliff, and the sand wave spread for a few kilometers, large chunks of rocks falling toward the chasm below them.
When the merman appeared with a twisted expression of anger, his eyes spewing killing intent at being played, Yasenia's sword radiated golden light.
Yasenia slashed down with a terrifyingly cold face. "[Draconic Noon]."
The people looking from a distance saw the enormous sword descending, and then they saw white.
A Sun was born in the depths of the ocean, illuminating the dark chasm as the water around Yasenia superheated.
Thanks to the pressure, the boiling point was much higher, so instead of water, those outside the evaporation radius felt as if they had fallen inside lava.
WHOOM!
The Titanic dragon-shaped golden beam rushed toward the merman with unstoppable momentum.
This was the strongest Noon Yasenia ever used.
Feeling actual danger from the attack, he stopped his charge forward and unleashed his strongest defensive skill. "[Oceanic Barrier]!"
The water in front of him solidified, creating a giant shield, and Noon impacted with enough might to raze a few mountains to the ground.
The explosion blinded everyone, but since the weakest present were at the peak of the Ethereal Soul realm, they were quick to recover and see the result.
The sect leader was primarily unharmed, with a few burns on his skin, but he had blocked the attack successfully. "Your attack was powerful, but you can't kill me. You lack firepower."
Yasenia opened her maw, and the deep blackness at the back of her throat got illuminated.
"I know. [Celestial Dragon Breath]."
The Sect Leader's eyes widened as a bluish light instantly swallowed his vision.
Yasenia's dragon breath's recoil pushed her body back into the water, and she used her Spiritual Sense to aim at the person swallowed by her attack.
Her neck muscles strained as she twisted her face, following the leader trying to escape. Her throat burned, her meridians swelled, and right as [Celestial Dragon Body]'s effects disappeared, Yasenia finally lost the Sect Leader's position, and her [Celestial Dragon Breath] also stopped.
Yasenia's attack had left a massive hole in the cliff that extended far into the distance, changing the landscape around her attack.
After she lost him, she stopped attacking, her mouth numb because of the burns created by her own breath attack.
Still, her self-healing kicked in, and with [Celestial Cosmos Dress] enhancing its effects, she regenerated her body quickly.
Yasenia didn't lower her guard even if she couldn't feel or see the leader. Her eyes constantly moved as she floated in the water, creating small whirlpools around her with her mere presence.
However, after a few moments, nobody appeared around her, confusing her. 'Where did he go? Is he preparing an ambush? He is, after all, an assassin. Has she concealed his aura enough for even my dragon sense not to feel him?'
Yasenia looked around warily, and her senses stretched to the limit. She could even hear the breathing of a few fish nearby that had miraculously survived until now.
Even the people from the Assassin sect looked around with puzzled expressions.
After ten more minutes, Tatyana's message reached her. 'Little treasure, he escaped. I felt a spatial fluctuation, so he probably used a life-saving treasure to flee.'
Yasenia blinked a few times, and she began stopping to use her auras one by one.
Even if Tatyana told her that he left, she needed to be careful. One aura disappeared, then another, then another, and finally, all auras except [Celestial Cosmos Dress] had vanished.
She then carefully returned to the maid's side, her long body moving from side to side as her wings undulated and her tail swished behind her to propel her forward.
Dragons were excellent swimmers, and Yasenia proved it perfectly in this battle. Naturally, without the pill Kali concocted before they entered, she might've had more problems when fighting the High-level Epoch Core cultivator.
Yasenia was somewhat confused as to why he fled. 'While my attacks were strong, even [Celestial Dragon Breath] should not be able to kill him after one hit. I had calculated that I needed to hit at least three or four of them before I managed to weaken him enough to kill him then. Whether my energy would last until then is a complete mystery, so my chances of winning this battle were actually less than ten percent.'
Her body was riddled with injuries created during their close-combat exchange, leaving an actual trail of blood as she swam back to her group.
The burden of receiving a High-level Epoch Core's all-out attacks was significant. 'It hurts everywhere, sigh.'
However, she was very happy with the result.
While a level five intent was powerful, her intents could match up after being taken into account as consideration. 'If he had a level 6 intent, I would have received quite a harsh beating.'
Moreover, his specialization was assassination, so he was at least ten percent weaker in a fight head one because he couldn't use many of his tricks.
'All in all, I assessed the situation correctly and placed myself in a winning situation that otherwise would've been impossible.'
Facing a high-level Fifth realm person at the peak of the fourth was nothing but insanity, but thanks to Yasenia's many considerations, even when she did them while utterly enraged, resulted in her winning.
She was dissatisfied that he managed to escape; after all, she very much wanted to capture him and lock him up in her torture rooms because of his decision to attack her precious Kaleina. 'Still, it was a perfect situation to test my strength against a proper enemy that could force me to use my all.'
She shook her head, finally seeing the people she had left behind while they moved around and fought. 'Well, I need to deal with the Assassin sect now.'