"Outworlder with a supreme dragon form...," Tiemezzys remarked when he saw Jack's form. "Surprising. You must have impressed Broidrireg enough for him to grant you that form. Unfortunately, that won't save you!"
The dragon's eyes shone a bright yellow. Jack, who was staring at the dragon, found himself unable to move, unable to think. It was as if his mind had frozen.
At this moment, Tiemezzys' jaws opened and a stream of thick yellow fume burst forth.
"Storrmmm...!!" Duke Alfredo called out. There was no time for him to cast any spell to help Jack. Jack just watched the incoming yellow breath with a dazed expression.
Luckily for Jack, whatever had caused him to blank out didn't affect Peniel. Peniel used Invulnerability just before the fume hit.
Peniel's invulnerability made Jack immune to everything. Whatever was holding Jack catatonic stopped affecting him after Peniel used the skill.
Jack was still confused when his mind cleared. The yellow breath engulfed him but he was still invulnerable. Peniel's invulnerability lasted 5 seconds, 2 seconds more than its base duration due to Jack's Call Familiar spell at its 4-stars grade.
The yellow breath continued to wash over him. Jack hurriedly switched places with one of his copies before the invulnerability ended.
"What the heck was that?!" Jack asked after he was safely away.
"It's the Divine Stone Gaze," Peniel informed. "Similar to Petrify Gaze. But instead of petrifying your body, it petrifies your mind instead."
The yellow breath from the dragon still battered the hall's floor. The barrier on the floor shook heavily as it resisted the powerful fume. Rune diagrams all over the hall shone brightly as they tried to maintain the barrier.
"Tiemezzys! Stop damaging this hall! I need to keep them inside here!" Themos shouted.
Tiemezzys stopped his breath attack then. "You asked a lot of demands, mortal," the dragon complained.
"Haha. I am no longer a mortal," Themos said.
Tiemezzys looked at the king. He had also sensed the change in Themos, but it was not his concern. His pledge was to this king. What Themos did, whether it was right or wrong, was not for him to judge.
"You simply turned into a vampire, still a mortal in my book," Tiemezzys said.
Tiemezzys' eyes turned to where Jack was. It was difficult getting to the outworlder if he was not allowed to use his ranged abilities for fear of destroying the hall. He had originally planned to rip the entire roof off, but now he had to find another way.
"Hmph," Tiemezzys harrumphed while shaking his neck. Several of his scales fell off through the hole in the ceiling.
Jack looked at these fallen scales. These yellow scales suddenly moved. They transformed into humanoid beings resembling the draconian race, but without faces. They looked like yellow living statues. Each was holding a long spear. There were six of these creatures.
Jack used Inspect. The six were Earth Dragon's Servants. They were level 80 special elites.
The six rushed at Jack.
"Drat! As if the current situation is not difficult enough," Jack cursed. He activated Gold Scale Armor and Strength of the Wild before clashing with the six. They were only special elites but their levels were very high. Luckily, Jack's Time Domain was still in effect, so he could still contend with these six.
Duke Alfredo cast a spell, conjuring numerous magical spears that assaulted the six, assisting Jack. Arlcard was still on the other side fighting Themos. Tiemezzys just stayed above the hole keeping guard in case anyone wanted to run out from there.
Jack knew he didn't have much time. The effect from the Ancient Blood Awakening Potion wasn't endless. His time domain was also about to run out of duration. He looked at Themos who was still dealing with Arlcard without any worry. Jack knew he had to take the risk!
Jack had been sending Arlcard a few mental messages for some time. He wanted to coordinate with the vampire to create an opening, but Arlcard didn't respond.
Arlcard's mind had been in a frenzy due to the potion, but it cleared little by little as time passed. He could see now that they were in trouble if this situation persisted. Another mental call from Jack arrived and he responded, just as Jack had decided to just go ahead even if Arlcard still didn't respond this time.
Arlcard hastily retreated when he caught Jack's mental messages. Arlcard used his shadow clone as he retreated. The dark clone took over and fight Themos just as twenty balls of lightning came at them.
At the same time, Jack rushed forward while activating Lightning God Suit. He also cast Accelerate as Time Domain ended at that time.
The lightning god barrage detonated where Themos and Arlcard's shadow clone were fighting. Because Jack was rushing forward, Jack was also in the detonation area. But his lightning god suit made him immune to all lightning damage, so he was fine.
Jack didn't expect the lightning god barrage to kill Themos. Although his divine skill caused a large amount of damage. It was far from enough to kill a level 80 mythical being in one hit. The rune diagrams around the hall quickly replenished Themos' lost HP.
Jack was hoping for the divine skill's paralyzing effect. Each lightning ball had a 30% chance to paralyze the target for 10 seconds. Unless his luck was very bad, at least a few of the twenty lightning balls should trigger the Paralyze effect. Considering his high-luck stat, he believed this should be nothing to worry about.
He had even timed his lightning balls to hit at a one-second interval. Even if Themos had a skill that cleansed status effect, he would get afflicted again when the next balls hit. Thus, Jack was sure that Themos won't be able to escape the paralyzation effect.
Even if somehow Themos did, Jack had Arlcard provide backup. Arlcard used Shadow Lock.
Jack couldn't see anything inside the lightning explosion. He approached Themos using his mana sense, while Arlcard target his shadow lock based on his shadow clone who was still clinging to Themos. Jack could sense from Themos' mana that he had indeed been paralyzed. His mana was in frozen status.
Jack took out a small knife from his storage bag. Themos came into view when he was near. The electrical dust from the explosion was also starting to subside. As he was about to drive the knife into Themos, Jack caught Themos' eyes turning red.
"Shit!" Jack exclaimed. Although Themos was unable to move due to the Paralyze effect, he could still use a skill that needed no movement. Jack was hit by Vampire's race skill, Mesmerize.
"I've been a vampire for more than nine months, outworlder," Themos said with a grin. Now both of them were paralyzed. But Themos' grin froze when he saw the knife in Jack's hand. The knife had a dark blade and its hilt was adorned with many gems.
"Vampire-slaying knife...!" Themos exclaimed in horror. Now he understood why Jack tried to approach him.
Themos' Paralyze effect ended. But before he could move, a swarm of bats flew all over him. Before he knew it, the bats turned into Arlcard who grabbed him from behind. Arlcard sunk his vampire teeth into Themos' neck, sucking his blood.
A vampire's bite had a kind of pacifying effect. Arlcard's hands also grabbed both of Themos' arms, locking him. Jack, upon coming out of his paralyzation, immediately resumed thrusting the vampire-slaying knife.
However, before the blade penetrated Themos' skin, an energy force exploded from the king. It didn't manage to throw Arlcard away, but Themos managed to free one of his arms. He was unaffected by the pacification from Arlcard's bite.
Themos' freed hand came up and grabbed Jack's wrist. The knife stopped just a few inches from Themos' torso.
"Raargghh...!" Jack tried to push forward with all his strength. He activated all the attributes-enhancing skills he had, but the knife refused to push forward.
Tiemezzys, who also identified the vampire-slaying knife, knew Themos' predicament. He no longer cared about preserving the hall. He smashed and broke more parts of the roof. His claw came directly at Jack, aiming to stomp him flat.
But before his claw can hit Jack, a soft green wall appeared between him and Jack. The yellow dragon was unable to pierce through this seemingly fragile wall.
"Lady Serenity, what is the meaning of this...!" Tiemezzys roared.
Goddess Serenity materialized beside Jack. Her appearance brought soothing tranquility to everyone there. She said to the dragon, "I've promised no eternal grade beings may harm this outworlder until he is strong enough. I sense an eternal-rank attack on him. So it is you, Tiemezzys. Why is such a reputable being such as you attacking someone much weaker than you?"
Everyone was startled by the Goddess' appearance. So were Jack and Themos, but Jack recovered first. Themos was still gripping Jack's hand which hold the vampire-slaying knife. Jack released his hold. The knife fell and Jack caught it using his other hand.
Without pause, he drove the knife into Themos who was still in consternation.
"NO...!!" Tiemezzys, who saw the act, shouted. He couldn't prevent it since the Goddess' green wall was still in the way.
"ARGGHHH...!" Themos screamed in agony once the blade sunk in. The vampire-slaying knife could kill any vampire below archaic rank. Since Themos was only a fledgling, he was unable to resist the knife's property.
His HP went down at a rapid rate. The rune diagrams on the wall tried their best to heal Themos' HP, but they were unable to keep up.
In a short time, Themos' HP hit zero. He lost all strength and slumped down. His eyes were still opened wide, staring at the outworlder who had brought about his demise.
