'Wyrm?' Alex's eyes widened slightly and narrowed as he understood that the situation was most likely more dangerous than it appeared to already be.
He had only recently been made aware of what Wyrms were. They were snake-like beasts, with or without arms, that shared a bloodline of the Azure Dragons.
There were snakes, lizards, and even birds that had the Azure Dragon's bloodline in them, but nothing was closer in purity than the Wyrms themselves.
Of course, they only held the bloodline, just some part of it, and they were rarely capable of evolving. In a way, they were to the Azure Dragons, what Pearl was just years ago to the White Tigers.
However, something was missing from what Alex could see.
'Wyrms are supposed to have the Dragon whiskers, are they not?' he thought. 'And those arms? Wyrms shouldn't have that many limbs, not to mention they have feathers.'
Even if the beast was a Wyrn, it had to have a heavily diluted Azure Dragon blood in it, making it just slightly less terrifying than what it could have been.
Still, that was the leviathan of a beast that had just devoured the many Saint-beasts that were flying in the sky. It was still a terrifying beast to be found by.
The commander quickly flew out with the soldiers, all totaling about 40, aside from the 5 that remained on the ship so that they could take care of it if needed.
The commander checked the beast's cultivation base. It was a Saint Transformation 6th realm cultivation beast, that was clearly far superior to everyone present on the ship.
The 6-armed Feathered Water Wyrm stopped a few hundred meters before the commander and looked at him.
"Giving yourself up to become my food so I can spare the ones behind you?" the Wyrm asked in a high-pitched voice. The voice sounded grating to everyone's ears, but the Saints stood tall throughout it.
"Senior, we are members of the Azure Imperium, serving the Dragon Emperor who serves the Azure Dragon himself. Please provide us with a passage through your region. We do not want any conflict," the commander said.
His first and foremost priority here was everyone's safety, so the least he could do before fighting was just ask. He was 2 realms weaker than the Wyrm, so he was a little worried.
He knew he could fight the Wyrm without dying, but if his men started dying in the process, that would be a problem.
While the commander talked, the soldiers were already getting into a formation, the men and women making three groups of 13 from the 39 people that were there.
The 3 groups moved away from each other, staying equidistance away from each other.
Alex could see that they were starting some sort of battle array that was going to help them get stronger most likely.
"I wonder how good it is compared to the Hell Emperor's Divine Battle Array," he wondered to himself. The two elders were next to him, urging him to get to safety. The alchemists and others were all sent to their safety, and only the three of them remained outside."
"Your majesty, you should really get to safety quickly," Liang Shufen spoke from his side.
"If that beast gets through, is there any safe place to hide in the ship?" Alex asked the elder. He knew himself that it was dangerous, but anything that was dangerous to him now could not be defended by the ship.
Besides, he had his own ways of saving himself if it truly came to that. For now, he enjoyed the show that was being put on by the commander Long Jianyu.
"The Azure Dragon's followers?" the wyrm's eyes shifted for a moment as it was scared at the name. But it quickly got a hold of itself and looked strong. "Unless senior himself comes and vouches for you, I will not believe you"
The commander frowned. "Does that mean you're not letting us go?" he asked, his body slowly powered up by the array that his Legion was helping him with.
"If I came flying through your land's sky, would you have let me fly past, or would you have attacked me?" the Wyrm asked.
"I would've tried to stop you and understand if you were a threat to our people or not. If you were, I would've attacked you, but if you weren't I would've let you go without fighting," the commander answered.
"Well…" the Wyrm spoke. "It's a shame that's not the way I see you. I don't see if you are a danger or not. I see if you are food or not. Given how high your cultivation base is, you will make for a delicious meal."
The Wyrm licked its lips with his forked tongue, ready to fight.
"You damn Wyrm," the Commander shouted. "You dare show arrogance, in front of the mighty Dragons?"
Suddenly an illusory dragon formed behind the Commander, which seemed to be forming from the energy that was put out by the 3 groups of 13 soldiers.
This was the Battle Array that was being set up this whole time. Once it was set, the battle began.
The sky thundered as the Saint Transformation realm man and beast started fighting each other very close by.
Each one of their attacks sends the clouds rolling away. The shockwaves from the attack brightened the many invisible barriers that were protecting them from the outside situation.
The soldiers that were on the outside were directly facing these forces but they hung on.
Long Jianyu swung his sword, sending an attack that was filled with a rather strong Sword Intent.
The Wyrm created a water barrier that stopped the attack, creating another strong explosion in the sky. The place where the attack landed suddenly burst out with vines all around that sought to capture the ones that Jianyu wanted to.
The Wyrm simply roared and the vines were immediately destroyed.
The Wyrm then attacked, sending 3 dragon-shaped water attacks flying in the commander's direction.
The commander stopped it, but it took some strength on his end. He wasted no time and immediately went in to attack the Wyrm again.
He used a Dao, as vines appeared out of nowhere again that tried to bind the Wyrm. Alex didn't recognize the dao, but he did recognize it being used.
The Wyrm's body gleamed, its feathered body turning solid, almost as if it was encased in ice. The ice shattered, and with the shattered ice, it destroyed the pieces of vines that were trying to constrict it.
The commander frowned a bit. He was strong, but if things went on like this, he didn't know how much longer he could keep it going.
The Wyrm was stubborn as well. Even though it wasn't winning at all, it still fought. The arrogance it felt from being the strongest beast around this region for ages was not something the beast could just swallow and let the ship go past it.
Alex watched from the ship as the fight between the Commander and the Wyrm continued on for a while longer, and from the looks of it, neither one was going to win any time soon.
