--- Chapter 18 ---
Hayate, Chu Yueli, and Xia Qingyue floated calmly above the Scarlet Dragon Mountain Range. They discovered a waterfall and decided to prepare a plan there.
"A real dragon is living there?" Xia Qingyue reacted with a surprised look.
"Yes." Hayate nodded slightly. "Two years ago, I sent an eagle to scout this mountain range two years ago, and it got burned to ash."
"It's on the day I met you." He continued while patting Xia Qingyue's head.
Chu Yueli frowned because a Dragon Profound Beast is a rare creature and usually possesses immense strength.
"Did you know this dragon's strength, Junior Hayate?" Chu Yueli questioned solemnly.
"Unfortunately, I don't know," Hayate answered with a shrug.
"Why don't we find it out right now?"
He summoned Thunderback Gorilla, which had become B-Grade Kaiju after four years of strengthening. He rarely paid attention to this core because [Hercules] has better physical enhancement ability.
A Kaiju with a body around 8 feet tall with massive muscles, bluish furs danced with wild electricity, and enormous arms appeared in front of them.
Even though Thunderback Gorilla wasn't comparable to [Hercules] in terms of strength and ability, it has a solid physique roughly at the 9th stage of Earth Profound Realm.
Chu Yueli and Xia Qingyue weren't surprised by Hayate's ability because he had shown them many bizarre things for years.
While Chu Yueli witnessed a miracle when living with him, Xia Qingyue saw Hayate's inner world personally, where thousands of Kaiju roared at her.
"Go," Hayate commented while pointing his finger at the Scarlet Dragon's lair.
"WOO!!" Thunderback Gorilla excitedly roared and ran through the forest without any hesitation.
However, when Thunderback Gorilla arrived at the cave, an enormous silhouette appeared and burned it to ash almost instantly.
Hayate's nose dribbled with blood, which caused him to frown and both ladies to stare at him in dread.
"What happened?!" Chu Yueli pulled a handkerchief to stop Hayate's nosebleed.
"Big brother!" Xia Qingyue tried to comfort Hayate's body with Frozen Cloud Art.
Hayate shook his head and said, "I'm okay."
"I just felt my connection with Thunderback Gorilla got cut off."
"Which means it died on the mission."
He closed his eyes and added, "The Scarlet Dragon is at the 9th stage of Sky Profound Realm, or maybe even higher."
"With such firepower to annihilate Thunderback Gorilla easily. Scarlet Dragon is a dangerous opponent."
There is a trace of the last connection with Thunderback Gorilla, and an image appears in Hayate's mind.
With a height that reached a hundred feet and an enormous body scarlet-red, like red-hot steel, its massive wings and tail lit with a blazing fire. Its two scarlet-red eyes were full of prestige.
"Well, I messed up." He commented while using minor regeneration.
Hayate wondered if he should give up or not on his revenge because Scarlet Dragon's strength was way beyond what he had expected.
"Senior Yueli, have you reached that stage?" He suddenly asked, to which Chu Yueli responded with a wry smile.
"I couldn't reach Emperor Profound Realm, Junior Hayate." Chu Yueli sighed because her mind couldn't focus for two whole months.
She wanted to bow down on her knees, but Xia Qingyue was around them. She could only put on a bitter expression and hope Hayate wasn't disappointed in her.
Xia Qingyue's cultivation is in the 1st stage of Earth Profound Realm, which was admirable for her age. However, bringing her to the Scarlet Dragon's lair would be a hassle for Hayate.
He also doesn't want her to get hurt unnecessarily.
"Qingyue, can you stay here for a moment?" Hayate smiled at her.
"No." Xia Qingyue responded with a pout. "I want to go with you."
"We haven't stayed with each other for three months."
"I can't let my precious time with you go to waste." She continued because Chu Yueli would bring her to the Frozen Cloud Asgard after this.
Hayate sighed and covered his mouth, thinking about something for a few seconds. He came up with a quick plan and stared at Chu Yueli.
"Can you protect her, Senior Yueli?" He stated, to which Chu Yueli responded with a nod.
'KYAAA!!! WHAT ARE THESE CREATURES!'
Hayate suddenly heard a girl scream in his mind, which caused him to frown immediately.
He peeked into his inner world, where Sky Poison Pearl resided, and saw the red-haired girl raising her arm against thousands of Kaiju.
She was ready to attack Hayate's hard work, but he quickly used astral projection and stopped her. "Stop." He said with an annoyed tone.
"If you dare to hurt them, I'll leave you alone with Absolute God Slaying Poison."
"Say goodbye to your life, little girl."
"Who are you?!" The red-haired girl released herself from Hayate.
"Your savior," Hayate answered while staring at her silently. "Without me, You'd have died already last night."
Jasmine put on a confused expression and remembered the last memory in her head. She ran away from the Divine Realm to the lower realm and met a person with a Sky Poison Pearl coincidently.
She bit the person's finger and consumed his blood so that she could enter Sky Poison Pearl.
"Ah..." Jasmine looked at Hayate and glanced at the thousand bizarre monsters behind him. Each of them had distinct appearances and sizes that rivaled beasts in the Divine Realm.
As for their strength, Jasmine isn't sure. Their profound energy is muddy and unstable for some reason, leaving her speechless because none of these monsters seemed recorded in Divine Beast's record.
She gradually moved her gaze again to the black-haired young man in front of her. He has a tall appearance with short black hair, golden eyes, and a healthy complexion.
"Your name..." Jasmine muttered.
"Huh?" Hayate responded with a confused expression.
"YOUR NAME?! This princess wants to know your name!" She added with an arrogant tone.
Twitch!
Hayate's mouth twitched because he expected her to be a gentle young lady, but her fierceness was worse than Thunderback Gorilla.
"My name is Hayate..." He answered while instructing his Kaiju to move away.
He smiled provokingly and continued, "Tell me your name now, little girl?"
"Jasmine." She replied casually.
They stared at each other, and Koro danced around them in a playful mood.
"??!" Koro jumped onto Hayate's shoulder and stared at Jasmine menacingly.
"What's that dog? I've never seen such a thing before..." Jasmine couldn't help but prepare herself to attack.
"It's koro, my pet." Hayate patted Koro, who suddenly jumped to Jasmine.
Jasmine panicked because she couldn't carelessly use her profound energy, or Absolute God Slaying Poison would affect her, but Koro only licked her on the face.
"Koro won't attack you." Hayate sighed casually. "He's a smart beast."
"I won't ask you anything for now because you didn't seem tobe in the right state of mind."
"You could play with Koro while I settle something outside."
Hayate glanced at Jasmine with a plan to make her calmer near him but couldn't come up with one at the moment. 'Her guard is high at the moment.' He thought solemnly.
"We'll talk more later." He added and left his inner world.
Jasmine looked around with a complicated expression and noticed she wasn't wearing anything but a blanket.
"D-Don't tell me he saw me in such a state..." Jasmine's eyes widened in realization.
She was about to throw a tantrum, but Koro licked her again on the face to divert her attention.
"Hmph, at least you're cute." She commented while covering herself in a blanket.
Hayate gradually returned to the real world and sensed Xia Qingyue's gaze on him. "We'll proceed to the Scarlet Dragon's lair." He said naturally.
"However, Qingyue. I want you to not part away from Senior Yueli for more than 5 meters."
"Is that okay?"
"Yes." Xia Qingyue nodded her head. "Qingyue understands."
"Very well." Hayate waited for Chu Yueli's response.
"I'm ready." Chu Yueli walked closer to her disciple and increased her sense around them.
They moved to the Scarlet Dragon's Lair and discovered an enormous cave opening with a high temperature.
Chu Yueli and Xia Qingyue used their Frozen Cloud Art and resisted the temperature.
Hayate smirked and used [Three-eyed Tigrex]'s core, which had become A-Grade Kaiju after two years of strength. It has better capability than Thunderback Gorilla and A high affinity with Fire Element.
'I'll not fight the heat. I'll accept it.' He commented while feeling his skin hardened.
Hayate's eyes turned into slitted eyes similar to reptiles, and his entire body became more muscular, but not to the point of breaking his clothes.
Jasmine, who watched from inside, stared at Hayate like he was a weird creature. "I've seen people from Dragon Clan transformed before, but this..." She whispered in astonishment.
They were about to enter the cave, but the Scarlet Dragon arrived in front of them with a cold sneer.
"Pest..." Scarlet Dragon speaks naturally like a human.
"If you steal my treasure, I'll kill you, human."
"Not really." Hayate picked a spear from his spatial ring. "I'm here for your life."
"You've killed two of my precious creations, big lizard."
"Did you just call me a big lizard?" Scarlet Dragon released a fierce heat from his enormous body, indicating his anger at Hayate.
"DIE..!"
An intense fire breath quickly was launched at them, and Hayate jumped forward with his spear.
Hayate wouldn't get harmed easily because the fire was like a tonic for him since he used [Three-Eyed Tigrex]'s core. He breathed in the fire and felt everything inside him energized.
Of course, Hayate wasn't safe because Scarlet Dragon's fire breath is not just a fire element but also profound energy, which could damage him.
He fled under fire breath and saw an ice path under his feet, making him move even faster.
"Broken Spear Manual: Heart Piercing." Hayate clenched his arm around the spear shaft.
He infused profound energy into the spear and covered it with a white flame.
"Let's see how hard your scales are." He threw the spear with all his strength.
SWOOSH!
Scarlet Dragon frowned and sensed a small spear approaching him at such a fast rate.
"Hmph, weak attack."
As Scarlet Dragon tried to smash the spear away with its claw, Hayate's spear exploded abruptly into hundred pieces and moved even faster.
ROAR!
Scarlet Dragon roared because his scales got stabbed by Hayate's broken spear, but what angered the profound beast was the poison inside the spear.
Hayate is a medical expert with the knowledge to heal and kill others. He could concoct a poison to kill a Sky Profound Realm Cultivator, but it would take time to create one.
He always had a series of poison-coated weapons in his spatial ring because they were effective against his opponent so far, even in his past life.
[Titleless Medical Book] didn't only guide Hayate to a good side of the medical field but also their horrible side.
'It won't do much for now, but you'll surely perish here.' Hayate observed the Scarlet Dragon.
ROAR!
"A spineless human!"
"How dare you use poison against me..!" Scarlet Dragon's eyes set on Hayate and stared at him furiously.
Chu Yueli, who heard their conversation, smiled faintly and sensed a sudden difference in Scarlet Dragon's Cultivation realm.
"Young master, go away quickly from that dragon!" She yelled with a panicked tone. "Scarlet Dragon wasn't in the Sky Profound Realm."
"It's true cultivation is Emperor Profound Realm!"
Hayate's eyes widened briefly as an enormous dragon claw smacked him swiftly.
BAM! Cough!
"Tch, the dragon hides its strength." He got launched to the cave's wall and coughed blood.
Scarlet Dragon flew toward Hayate and prepared a powerful fire breath for him.
"Die..."
'Do you need help?' Jasmine suddenly asked Hayate from his inner world.
Hayate ignored Jasmine and used [Hercules]'s core immediately. He spewed blood to clear his throat and breathed oxygen into his lungs.
Chu Yueli noticed Hayate's transformation and shivered in joy because she hadn't seen him in such a state for months. That form of Hayate was the reason she awakened her fetish.
"Chu Yueli, Xia Qingyue ran away from this place."
"Hurry up!"
Chu Yueli solemnly pulled Xia Qingyue with her and flew away from Scarlet Dragon's Lair.
"Heh, Do you want to sacrifice yourself for them?" Scarlet Dragon sneered viciously.
"How heroic."
"No," Hayate answered and shook his head. "I just don't want to hurt them by accident."
"I'll lose myself for a moment here."
"It's quite unsightly for them to see, you know."
A massive living ax-sword made of Kaiju emerged in Hayate's hand, which was A-Grade Kaiju, Flesh Edge, with an ability to harden and sharpen itself according to user will.
[Hercules]'s core possessed twelve abilities, which got locked because of Hayate's physical strength.
After reaching Sky Profound Realm, He could only use three of 12 abilities now, [Inner Strength], [Extreme Physical Empowerment], and [Mad Enhancement].
"Nine Lives..." Hayate's golden eyes lost a bit of their sanity.
Jasmine noticed Hayate's demeanor change abruptly as the color left his face. A red hue erupted from his muscle and covered his entire body.
Swing! BOOM!
Hayate swung Flesh Edge on the ground and caused the area to be separated by a few meters, leaving a line of a pit.
"Nine Lives..." Hayate whispered mindlessly.
Scarlet Dragon spouted an intense fire breath and saw a silhouette pass through.
Hayate appeared in front of the Scarlet Dragon and Swung Flesh Edge on its neck.
BAM! CRACK!
Scarlet Dragon's scales got destroyed, and Hayate's Flesh Edge went through its flesh.
ROAR!
Hayate grabbed into the Scarlet Dragon's wound and bombarded the profound beast with his sword.
Scarlet Dragon flew in the sky and rotated furiously to shake this human off his body. However, Hayate won't leave and keeps bombarding him with Flesh Edge.
They fell onto Scarlet Dragon Mountain Range and violently rolled for a mile, creating a mess.
BOOM! BAM! BAM!
Hayate quickly grabbed Scarlet Dragon's tail and swung it around like a pillow. The profound beast weighed at least hundreds of tons, but he didn't have a problem lifting it.
"YOU SMALL CREATURE!"
BAM!
"THIS HUMILIATION!"
BAM!
Hayate picked Flesh Edge and slashed Scarlet Dragon's Wing, making it unable to fly again.
ROAR!
"Nine Lives..." Hayate's eyes became redder.
"Beheading."
He instinctively used [Mystic Art of Body Cultivation], and Flesh Edge grew, reaching over 10 feet with a shining ebony edge.
"HUMAN!" Scarlet Dragon's eyes saw a black light reach its neck.
SWING!
A lifeless head separated from the giant body and rolled into Scarlet Dragon's lair.
BAM!.
"AAHHHH!" Hayate stomped Scarlet Dragon's body and released a victory cry.
Jasmine's eyes fixed on a black-haired young man with a massive sword on a headless scarlet dragon's body.
She shivered a bit and opened her mouth, "A Monster..."