Riding on the Darkwing Dragon, Nie Yan flew toward the World Heart.
With large flying monsters roaming the skies here, he had no choice but to be careful.
As the Darkwing Dragon flew closer and closer to the World Heart, the enormous castle appeared all the larger. Nie Yan felt an even greater appreciation for its size. It resembled a colossus-class spaceship.
The World Heart was made out of stone bricks. Vines were crawling the ruins of the walls, making this ancient castle which had weathered the ages all the more dilapidated.
According to ancient records, the last War of the Gods took place 100,000 years ago.
The World Heart was a remnant from that age.
When Nie Yan was only a hundred meters away, he had the Darkwing Dragon fly along the walls while he searched for an entrance, taking care to avoid the flying monsters that inhabited the skies here.
A gigantic golden eagle beat its wings as it flew close by. Nie Yan hurriedly had his Darkwing Dragon stick to the walls of the World Heart. It clung to the walls with its claws, retracted its wings, and stayed completely still.
The golden eagle was as large as a freighter, completely dwarfing the Darkwing Dragon, who was perhaps no more than a speck of dust in its eyes. Its massive frame blotted out the sky. Each flap of its wings generated powerful gales, which were strong enough to almost knock the Darkwing Dragon off the vines.
"Rank 9!" Nie Yan gasped. "So, a Rank 9 monster is this powerful. My Darkwing Dragon can't compare at all!"
If the Darkwing Dragon could grow this powerful one day, how wonderful would that be? Even a thousand Rank 3-4 flying mounts wouldn't be its match!
Nie Yan gazed warmly at the Darkwing Dragon. He was confident it would reach this level one day. As a base Rank 5 flying mount, it certainly possessed the potential.
The golden eagle was circling the air.
Nie Yan calmed his breathing. The Darkwing Dragon didn't dare to make too much noise.
The golden eagle circled around a few more times before flapping its wings and flying away. A runt like the Darkwing Dragon was simply too small to attract its attention.
Seeing the golden eagle leave, Nie Yan breathed a sigh of relief. After making sure the coast was clear, he had the Darkwing Dragon get down from the vines and resume their search for the entrance.
The skies were brimming with danger. The Darkwing Dragon was under constant threat of being the next meal for one of these large flying monsters.
Taking advantage of the open airspace, Nie Yan had the Darkwing Dragon scout around. Soon, he spotted the entrance of the World Heart not far off in the distance. The interior was too dark for him to see where it led to.
Nie Yan ordered the Darkwing Dragon to speed up. As he approached closer to the entrance, a large dragon flew out from behind some protruding boulder and closed in with exceptional ferocity.
Nie Yan hurriedly had the Darkwing Dragon drop down into a freefall before shooting off to the side, barely evading the attack.
Looking back, Nie Yan discovered their attacker was a dragon covered in gold scales. It was a Rank 7 monster! It was far more powerful than the Darkwing Dragon despite only being somewhat larger.
With its initial ambush failed, the gold dragon didn't appear disheartened. It shot forward in pursuit. Nie Yan had the Darkwing Dragon execute various evasive maneuvers while fleeing away.
Even though there was only a one rank difference, it was an insurmountable gap. If the two fought head on, the Darkwing Dragon would lose miserably.
Since the other side was faster, the Darkwing Dragon had a hard time evading, having several close brushes with death. Thankfully, Nie Yan was a skilled enough rider to maneuver it out of the way in time.
The two tangled in the air, when the gold dragon suddenly struck down with its claw at lightning speed.
"Not good! I can't dodge!" Nie Yan's heart tightened.
PSHSFT! The claws tore through scales and flesh alike, leaving a gaping wound on the Darkwing Dragon's chest.
The Darkwing Dragon was no match for the gold dragon. It let out a cry of pain and dropped down from the sky. Nie Yan suddenly felt his body drop. They were heading straight for the sharp rocks on the rampart below! Even if the Darkwing Dragon survived the fall, it would be seriously injured.
Nie Yan hurriedly pulled up on the Darkwing Dragon, urging it on with all his might. It made a weak attempt at beating its wings. But this little was enough to just barely avoid the rocks.
The gold dragon shot forward in pursuit once more. The Darkwing Dragon was going to be killed at this rate!
Nie Yan's heartstrings were stretched taut. Seeing the gold dragon diving down from above, he had the Darkwing Dragon abruptly ascend at an angle.
The attack missed by a hair as the two dragons brushed past each other.
As the gold dragon turned around in pursuit, it stood silent right below Nie Yan for an instant. Seizing the opportunity, he leaped off and mounted it.
Feeling something on its back, the gold dragon flailed around in the air, trying to shake Nie Yan off.
Nie Yan immediately activated the Crawler Ring as his palms became glued onto the gold dragon's back.
As Nie Yan was being violently shaken around, he felt like his arms were about to be pulled apart. His gaze fell on the gold dragon's back, and he spotted a large wound. It had already scarred, but the scales were still growing back.
Nie Yan took out a Flesh Biter and stabbed it into the wound.
PSHHFFT! Blood sprayed out into the air, showering Nie Yan in a deep red liquid.
Nie Yan activated the mechanism in the Flesh Biter, releasing the sharp hooks. It let out a shrill cry and thrashed about. The more it struggled, the deeper the hooks dug into its flesh, ripping open a large wound.
The Flesh Biter was effective!
As the the gold dragon flailed about, the Darkwing Dragon had already recovered. Nie Yan had it dive down, its sharps claws digging into the gold dragon's neck and ripping open two gaping wounds-a fatal attack!
The gold dragon let out a miserable cry and attempted to retaliate. However, how could Nie Yan give it the chance? He took out another Flesh Biter and stabbed it into one of the freshly open wounds.
PSSFHT! The Flesh Biter dug into gold dragon's windpipe.
After receiving such an attack, the gold dragon could no longer even let out a cry as it gasped out a dying breath.
These two Flesh Biters had thoroughly crippled the gold dragon.
While the Darkwing Dragon held onto the gold dragon by the neck, Nie Yan climbed over and cracked open its head with Zennarde's Sword. Digging inside, he fished out a fist sized Life Core. It was amber coloured with a rich golden lustre. At a glance, one could tell it was out of the ordinary.
It was a high rank dragon core!