Chapter 726 Burn Them All
Jared sneered as he licked his lips. “Your poisonous creatures reserved for cadaver king training have been consumed by me. By the way, I wouldn’t mind being locked up again if you have more delicious creatures to spare.”
Poison King took a deep breath to suppress the ball of rage rising in his chest. All of the work in cultivating my deadly creatures is now in his belly and making him more difficult to kill!
“Only one of us will be walking out of here alive, Jared.”
Poison King threw out an arm forcefully as he spoke. Obeying their master’s summon, the wingless beetles attached themselves all over his body into the familiar formation of the beetle armor.
“I shall oblige you, then!” Jared shouted in response as he leaped to his feet and appeared before Poison King in the blink of an eye.
Crash! Thud! Pow!
Jared’s powerful fists landed in a flurry on a bed of steel beetles. With every ferocious strike, a handful of beetles fell to the ground, only for more to scuttled up within the next second to replace their fallen counterparts. No matter how many beetles I kill, more will just keep coming. It feels impossible to kill them all!
Poison King’s eyes flashed with savage pleasure. “You can’t touch me!” he gloated. “It’s my turn now. Let’s see if your body is truly cadaver king material!”
With that, Poison King landed a heavy punch on Jared’s chest. Although the force behind it was immense, it did nothing more than give him a bruise.
As the exchange of blows persisted with no definitive outcome in sight, it soon became clear that both combatants were of equal skill and strength.
Despite the fact that Poison King’s abilities were not on the level of a Martial Arts Grandmaster, he had been teetering on the edge of achieving Top Level Senior Grandmaster for many years. His own formidable power aside, the beetle armor granted him enough leverage to engage in single combat against Jared and hold his ground.
Thump!
The prolonged exchange culminated in the collision of both fists which sent Jared and Poison King stumbling backward several paces each, placing some distance between them.
After delivering several dozen ineffective strikes apiece, both combatants paused to catch a breath as they eyed the other with wariness across the small expanse of space they had created.
“Jared, my beetles are limitless,” Poison King boasted. “Let’s see how many more strikes your body can withstand.”
Jared frowned. I hate to admit it but he’s right. If this goes on, I may exhaust my own spiritual energy before succeeding in exhausting his supply of beetles.
“Jared!” cried Lyanna suddenly. “The beetles are afraid of fire!”
Jared’s eyes glimmered with hope at once. It’s so simple yet potent! How have I not thought of this before?
Poison King appeared frightened for a moment before regaining his swagger. “Other ordinary beetles, maybe. But this particular genus has been specifically trained to withstand its own biggest weakness. Watch.”
To Lyanna’s horror, Poison King grabbed a torch from one of his men and waved it above an armored arm. Despite the flame being close enough even for humans to feel uncomfortably hot, the beetles did not even twitch.
“We’ll see about that,” Jared promised as a ball of blue flame leaped into existence in his palm.
The spiritual fire he had summoned at the expense of his spiritual energy was incomparable to ordinary fire.
Poison King’s sneer turned into a grimace of fear at the sight of the light blue flames dancing on Jared’s open palm.
With a sudden, swiping motion, Jared flung his arms and turned the flame in his hand into a meteor headed straight for Poison King. Even his men standing at the edges of the battlefield dove into the vegetation for cover from the immense heat.
Poison King jumped out of the way as well, but not before catching a lick of the scorching flame on his arm, resulting in a sickening sizzle. Upon contact with his armor, the flames soared ten feet high. Combustion of the beetles fed the flame steadily for a long while before it subsided.
Amidst a nauseating smell of burning flesh and exoskeletons, the beetles poured off of Poison King’s body in an almost silent rustle. Even those that had managed to scuttle away from the roaring bonfire fueled by the main body of beetles did not get very far before bursting into flames.
