--- Chapter 27 ---
"Chase them, Hydra!"
ROAR!
Hydra roared and swam in the air, destroying everything on its path.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The entire squad of Stone Dragon Warriors was bombarded with never-ending shockwaves and demolished by Hydra into oblivion.
ROAR!
Hayate gripped Flesh Edge tightly and stood still in his place while Hydra was causing havoc on the enemy line.
Stone Dragon Warriors couldn't counter or defend themselves because [Sky Fissure: Hydra] was profound energy and Hayate's battle intent combined.
"Come on, finish them all." Hayate's eyes shone with brilliant white luster.
ROAR!
Hydra destroyed one hundred Stone Dragon Warriors in one swipe and moved to another group swiftly.
Five seconds had passed, and Sky Fissure gradually was weakened, causing Hydra to disappear into the air.
"More."
Hayate won't let them approach Chu Yuechan and Little Ghost and launch another [Sky Fissure: Hydra] at them.
He has wiped out more than 900 Stone Dragon Warriors in less than ten seconds.
Dragon God stared in amazement and noticed Hayate's breathing was heavier now. 'He must be tired after using such a technique.' He thought solemnly.
Hayate wiped some dirt from his mouth to hide a smirk on his face. He was deliberately making himself look weakened in Dragon God's eyes.
He dragged Flesh Edge and advanced to kill the rest of the Stone Dragon Warriors.
After a few minutes, Hayate stood on a destroyed Stone Dragon Warriors. His clothes have become pieces of rags, which exposed his bare skin to the air.
As the 9th wave started, Hayate slowly moved his gaze to Chu Yuechan and Little Ghost. Storm Zinogre and Three-Eyed Tigrex still protected them.
"2048 Stone Dragon Warriors with 3rd stage of Sky Profound Realm strength." He commented while looking at the sea of enemies.
He shook his head and continued, "A normal practitioner of the same realm will die in such a situation."
"Yet, I'm here just to get an answer about a book from a perverted dragon."
"Aih, what a day."
Dragon God's eyes furrowed at Hayate's statement.
Hayate suddenly jumped and looked down with a calm expression. A sea of enemies entered his sight.
He clenched Flesh Edge's handle and pumped his profound energy again. He was ready to launch another Sky Fissure at Stone Dragon Warriors.
"Sky Fissure: Phoenix."
Ciau!
A beautiful bird cry echoed on the battlefield, and an enormous phoenix descended on Stone Dragon Warriors.
BOOM!
Phoenix swept over the entire Stone Dragon Warriors with a burning flame.
Dragon God was astonished by Hayate's action and said, "Hmm, so you can also combine that technique with the phoenix legacy you possessed."
"How versatile."
"However, at the 10th wave, it wouldn't be just Stone Dragon Warriors."
"You'll fight against Stone Dragon General." He added playfully.
BAM!
"I see," Hayate kicked the last Stone Dragon Warrior of the ninth wave. "Thank you for the information."
Since Dragon God won't give Hayate a break, the last wave started immediately and caused the entire place to shake violently.
A being with a body over three meters arrived, covered in thick and heavy golden-colored armor and a golden-yellow helmet.
Stone Dragon General held a gray-colored heavy sword with a weird shape similar to Dragon Bone.
Hayate's expression becomes solemn because Stone Dragon General has a different aura than Stone Dragon Warriors.
He blinked to clear some dust and noticed the heavy sword aimed at his neck.
CLANK!
'Heavy.' He hurriedly parried with Flesh Edge and was caught off guard by a punch on his stomach.
BAM!
Hayate's body abruptly was launched a few meters away, but Stone Dragon General won't let him off easily.
A few more heavy slashes chased over Hayate's neck.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
"Peak Sky Profound Realm."
Hayate dodged every attack with intuition and saw Stone Dragon Warriors quickly spawning one after one, coming to Chu Yuechan and Little Ghost with their weapons.
'This guy also can summon those warriors.' Hayate frowned while clenching his fist.
BAM!
He punched Stone Dragon General's armor.
Crack!
A crack appeared on Stone Dragon Warrior's armor, which staggered it for a second.
Storm Zinogre and Three-eyed Tigrex tried their best to defeat as many Stone Dragon Warriors as possible, but a few were still able to pass through.
Hayate stomped the ground and caused some rocks to bounce up. He kicked those rocks at Stone Dragon Warriors and increased his movement speed.
Stone Dragon General chased from behind and decided to throw the heavy sword at Hayate.
Hayate frowned because he couldn't dodge as the heavy sword would reach Little Ghost.
'You want chivalry? Fine, I'll show you one.'' He thought while grasping the heavy sword's blade with his right hand.
He was pushed to Little Ghost's location and received bleeding all over his hand.
Hayate's warm blood splattered on Chu Yuechan's face and woke her up.
Clank! BOOM!
Stone Dragon General's heavy sword stopped and landed on the ground. It was over or around 4 tons in weight.
Chu Yuechan's eyes quivered, and she saw Hayate in his Hercules form, stopping the heavy sword's blade with his bare hand.
"Don't get a wrong idea, Fairy Chu," Hayate commented while picking the heavy sword.
"Your position is just conveniently close to Little Ghost."
"I'm not doing this for you."
"Here, take it back, brick head." He threw the phoenix flame-coated heavy sword back to Stone Dragon General.
Stone Dragon General obviously dodged, but Storm Zinogre and Three-Eyed Tigrex anticipated this and attacked it from each side.
Since both Kaiju secured Stone Dragon General's arms with their fangs, Hayate entered a stance and sent a powerful punch onto the first trial boss's head.
"Lion Subduing Fist."
BAM!
Stone Dragon General's head quickly was demolished by Hayate's charged punch.
Chu Yuechan watched Hayate's back solemnly with a shiver in her body. "My profound veins." She noticed her strength returned slowly.
"Good, you've shown me so many interesting things." Dragon God commented with a satisfied tone.
"Strength, Bravery, and Compassion."
Hayate called Storm Zinogre and Three-Eyed Tigrex back to his inner world. He released [Hercules]'s transformation and breathed heavily.
Cough!
He coughed blood and wiped it off with his hand. "What's the next trial?" He asked while healing himself.
"Are you okay...?" Chu Yuechan asked silently.
Hayate ignored her and stared at the pair of calm azure eyes.
Dragon God blinked and answered, "Your second trial is to kill 999,999 profound beasts within one year."
"Since you could defeat Stone Dragon General, who possessed Peak Sky Profound Realm strength.
"Every profound beast in the second trial will have at the 1st stage of Emperor Profound Realm strength."
Hayate chuckled lightly because Dragon God's trials were no joke after all. Honestly, He was expecting something like the Phoenix trials.
Well, they are in a different league.
"Almost a million Emperor Profound Beasts."
Chu Yuechan's eyes widened in shock because she couldn't even kill two Sky Profound Beasts simultaneously.
She wanted to warn Hayate and realized her position here was nothing but a useless weight to him.
"One year, huh." Hayate closed his eyes.
"Unfortunately, I don't have that much time."
"I promised something to my big sister."
He stretched his body and added confidently, "Let's continue."
Dragon God observed Hayate and wondered whether he was confident or a straight fool. He had shown him so many bizarre things in the first trial, so he doubted him for being a fool.
Hayate still has 50% of his profound energy, which he saved earlier. It's not an optimal condition to kill almost a million profound beasts, but he could make it happen.
"Fairy Chu," Hayate glanced at Chu Yuechan. "I'll break my wish to get three tyrant beasts' cores."
"I want you to protect Little Ghost from any harm."
"Okay..." Chu Yuechan nodded her head with a complicated thought. A recovery pill suddenly dropped on her lap, which actually was thrown by Hayate.
"Recover your strength," Hayate instructed her casually.
"The Second Trial Began." Dragon God declared naturally.
Hayate and Chu Yuechan were alerted because the scenery around them changed into a vast land. A few profound beasts appeared and started to attack them.
Chu Yuechan shut her eyes and grasped Little Ghost's hand.
"Open your eyes, Fairy Chu. You can't protect Little Ghost like that." Hayate's voice entered Chu Yuechan's ears.
"Don't worry." He continued while pressing her shoulder. "I won't let any of these beasts get close to you."
Chu Yuechan gradually opened her eyes again and noticed the profound beasts around them disappear.
Hayate stood in front of her with Flesh Edge beside him.
Since Chu Yuechan couldn't see Hayate's face, she was unaware of his somewhat excited expression. After Hayate killed those profound beasts with Flesh Edge, raw spheres dropped from them.
'Well, I just gained some peak B-Grade spheres.' Hayate smirked inside. 'This trial might be a blessing in disguise.'
He observed the area around them carefully and found a small mountain.
"That would be a good area for monitoring the place."
Hayate brought Little Ghost onto his back and said, "Fairy Chu, follow me."
Chu Yuechan closed her mouth and followed Hayate to a small mountain, where they decided to make a temporary camp.
He placed a few barricades with rocks and wood, cleaning 100 meters radius areas near the small mountain. A pack of wolves approached them, which Hayate killed with poison-coated weapons.
"Okay, we are going to stay here." He stated while stabbing Flesh Edge onto the mountain top.
"I'll create more protection for us later, but we should be fine for a few days."
After placing a small tent, Hayate gives Chu Yuechan food from his spatial ring.
"This..." Chu Yuechan looked at the pieces of meat in her hand.
"It's beef jerky," Hayate answered casually. "I don't have warm food in my spatial ring."
"Just bear it for now, unless it doesn't suit your taste."
Chu Yuechan brought the beef jerky close to her mouth and took a small bite. A dry yet flavourful taste exploded in her mouth because it wasn't a typical beef jerky.
Hayate was the one who made it by curing the beef in a special marinade for quite a long time. Chef in Silver Lake's Gourmet would use their annual salaries to get a taste of this exact beef jerky.
"It's alright..." Chu Yuechan replied calmly. "I can eat it."
Hayate nodded because Chu Yuechan wasn't picky when it came to food. They could survive for three months without any problem.
As they finished their small lunch, Hayate walked out of the tent and scouted the area from the mountain top. They actually were surrounded by small rivers and forests.
However, the mountain gives them an advantage because they have the higher ground, making everything visible within a 100-meters radius.
"Well, I can only do my best," He commented with a sigh.
A crack appeared on the edge of boundless space, and an ant-like creature began to swarm slowly.
Dragon God should have realized this creature's presence, but the ant was coated with a faint primordial aura, masking it from detection.
--- 2 months later ---
Hayate jumped from tree to tree, followed by Chu Yuechan and Little Ghost from behind. They have been staying in the boundless space for two whole months.
Chu Yuechan, who was cold toward anyone, has become slightly more gentle. Especially around Hayate and Little Ghost because they had fought in life and death situations together.
Meanwhile, Little Ghost stayed the same because her job was being Hayate's personal Ghost. Even though she couldn't help him fight Emperor Profound Beast, she could scout the land and report it to him.
In such a short amount of time, all of their strength has grown exponentially. Chu Yuechan broke through to the 2nd stage of Emperor Profound Realm.
Little Ghost reached the middle stage of Earth Profound Realm in two months, which is admirable because her body absorbed profound energy like a sponge.
Hayate reached the 8th stage of Sky Profound Realm steadily. He used the pill Phoenix Spirit gave to him.
They have killed 3/4 of the profound beast in the boundless space, which the majority defeated by luring them into a trap and annihilated with Hayate's Sky Fissure.
Of course, Hayate won't let those raw spheres be wasted and stored in his spatial ring to use later.
"Hmm?" Hayate stopped and looked at the scenery in front of him solemnly.
"What happened here?"
The entire land horribly was packed with corpses, which baffled them because it was profound beast corpses, and each of them was Emperor Profound Beasts.
Since they hadn't checked this part of the area, no one knew what happened here until Hayate heard a familiar rumbling noise from the ground.
SSSH! SSSH! SSSH!
Hayate's hand trembled slightly and whispered, "There is no way."
"I'm sure it's dead from the explosion."
BOOM!
A wave of ants abruptly burst from the ground and approached them with a sinister atmosphere. Each of these ants possessed the 5th stage of Emperor Profound Realm strength.
"Are you kidding me?!"
"RUN!" Hayate immediately turned around and stared at Chu Yuechan and Little Ghost.
"HURRY UP! RUN AWAY FROM THIS PLACE!"
Chu Yuechan and Little Ghost were confused, but they listened to Hayate and started to run away from this place.
Hayate frowned and questioned, "Why is it here?"
One of the most bothersome disasters Hayate created in the past.
This Chimera Kaiju shouldn't emerge in the real world at any cost because of its outrageous reproduction capability and pure destruction potential.
"Chaotic Devouring Ant."