This enormous flying dragon had teeth resembling those of a saber-toothed tiger. However, compared to the saber-tooth tiger's teeth, the dragon's fangs seemed far more intimidating, like massive weapons.
The dragon flapped its wings, stirring up violent gusts of wind, but the dark golden mist in the air remained unaffected. Yamiru understood immediately that this mist was the aura of Hell, spreading endlessly within the confines of the Mount Five Elements range. It couldn't possibly be dispersed by mere physical wind.
The dragon tilted its head and roared at the sky. Unlike the Western dragons Yamiru had heard of, this saber-tooth dragon had two strong front claws, in addition to its wings. It was a four-limbed creature.
With a mighty roar, the saber-tooth dragon descended, landing on the stone path in front of Yamiru, causing it to collapse and shatter under its massive weight.
As the dragon landed, the powerful gusts of wind surged in all directions. Yamiru squinted his eyes and ran forward, deflecting the winds in an incredible way, as if using the wind resistance to propel himself forward.
In the fierce wind, the dragon raised its claws to strike.
Yamiru barely saw a massive shadow approaching. However, since he could sense through the air, he wasn't entirely reliant on his sight. Rather than retreating, he advanced, sprinting a few steps forward. The dragon's claws tore through the stone path behind him, shredding it effortlessly, like tearing through tofu.
"These dragons are on a completely different level from the ones I used to hunt in the wild..." Yamiru thought to himself, secretly amazed. The saber-tooth dragon's power was immense, and its skin was incredibly tough. Even after crushing the stone path, it encountered the sharp spines of the abyss on either side but didn't even pierce its scales or skin.
If this massive beast had hit him, Yamiru figured his journey would be over right then and there.
"But..."
Yamiru recalled the movement of the dragon's claw earlier.
Before he could finish his thought, the dragon's head swung, and its sword-like fangs came crashing down toward Yamiru below.
The cold gleam of the fangs sliced through the air. One brush, and he'd be dead!
Yamiru dodged and jumped up, narrowly avoiding the "sword". The dragon's fangs dug into the ground, shattering the stone path below, but the dragon's head lowered in the process. Yamiru, still airborne, slapped the dragon with a mighty smack.
Boom!
The slap was so powerful that the saber-tooth dragon howled, its tears streaming as it rolled away, crushing countless sharp abyssal spines under its massive body.
Before Yamiru could even land, the dragon regained its footing, flapped its wings, and charged at him again.
The dragon's size was too great for Yamiru to dodge in time.
However, in a split-second decision, Yamiru activated his flight technique, reducing his relative speed to the dragon, lessening the impact when the collision happened.
He grabbed one of the dragon's front claws and, with a mighty roar, used its momentum to perform a mid-air suplex!
Boom!
The saber-tooth dragon crashed into the stone path, sending dust flying everywhere.
Yamiru hovered in the air, gasping for breath. Suddenly, two huge dragon eyes gleamed through the dust, and beneath them, the light intensity spiked—
It was a shockwave!
This dead dragon... could it be shooting a mouth blast?!
Yamiru cursed under his breath and quickly flew backward. The dragon's "mouth blast" dispersed the dust, shooting toward the sky, just missing Yamiru.
"Just like when it used its claws to tear at me, this dragon's movements..." Yamiru landed safely, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and despite the harrowing experience, he couldn't help but smile.
The saber-tooth dragon, having missed its blast, turned its massive head and spotted Yamiru. It let out a mighty roar and charged again, opening its massive jaws, with its sword-like fangs aimed straight at him.
This time, Yamiru didn't move a step. He inhaled slowly, then exhaled even more slowly.
The living energy around him rapidly retracted.
In an instant, Yamiru seemed to vanish, his eyes hollow like those of Mr. Bobo from the temple.
He stood there, but it felt as if he were a mere stone by the roadside, as though he didn't exist.
In both mind and body, he had eliminated all "unnecessary actions".
"Nothing" State.
The saber-tooth dragon roared loudly, but as it flew, its roar faltered and then seemed to rise with a puzzled, questioning tone.
Where did he go?
The dragon flapped its wings, confused. It looked left and right, squinting its massive eyes, searching everywhere.
Indeed!
In this state of nothingness, Yamiru knew he had made the right call.
When the dragon first swiped at him with its claws, he had noticed something wrong. The claws had missed their mark, almost as if the damn dragon had poor eyesight.
The same went for the previous energy blast. If the dragon had Yamiru's vision or perception, with the speed at which Yamiru moved, it would have been incredibly hard to dodge that blast.
"Take your time looking," Yamiru muttered to himself.
He no longer paid attention to the foolish dragon and turned to continue moving forward.
His presence was fully suppressed, so even if someone were holding a Freeza Force battle power detector nearby, it would register a power level of 1, if anything, and might not even be noticed.
However, before he could move far, Yamiru suddenly felt a huge surge of energy gathering behind him!
"This damn dragon..."
He whipped around just in time to see the saber-tooth dragon's head lowered, aligned with the stone path, its massive jaws opening wide. A brilliant light gathered in its mouth before it erupted with a powerful blast.
"Not bad for a brainless beast!" Yamiru said with a smirk.
He had no choice but to temporarily abandon the stone path, leaping into the air to avoid the blast.
Once away from the stone path, the dark golden mist in the air seemed even thicker, making Yamiru feel increasingly uncomfortable.
He knew all too well that although he had driven off most of the hellish aura with his keen sight, some remnants of the Yellow Springs' demonic energy still lingered within him. The Celestial God had already proven this point to him.
Soaked in such a high concentration of hellish energy, Yamiru genuinely feared that one careless move might turn him into a demon.
The saber-tooth dragon's blast cleared the path ahead, and Yamiru intended to wait until the dragon finished before returning to the stone road.
The path had likely been enchanted by Annin, as the surrounding Yellow Springs' energy was much lighter, seemingly designed to protect mortals who came to visit.
However, the dragon's blasts seemed endless. Not only that, but it flapped its wings and soared into the air, continuing its barrage, sweeping the energy blasts around in the air.
"Do you think you can get lucky and spray me to death?" Yamiru thought, ready to kick the stupid dragon. What was it thinking, trying to—Damn! Yamiru's heart skipped a beat as a blazing energy blast flew toward him, and he quickly dodged.
The saber-tooth dragon flew erratically, craning its neck and whipping its head, spraying energy blasts like a laser pointer.
Yamiru struggled to evade, realizing that while the dragon's eyesight might be poor, its intelligence was definitely not low!
The frequency of the energy blasts changed unpredictably. It was clear that the dragon was trying to force him to lower his altitude, as the blasts swept higher in the air and lower closer to the ground.
Yamiru dodged left and right, and unknowingly, his altitude kept decreasing.
The spikes emerging from the abyss below were getting dangerously close...
Pfftt!
Yamiru barely managed to dodge a blast sweeping across, only to scrape past one of the spikes, which tore a bloody gash in his body.
"Damned dragon, you think your energy's so impressive?"
His inner ferocity was awakened, and blood surged into his golden eyes.