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"Moo～～～"

All the Minos warriors present shouted together, cheering for their brave and powerful chief.

Chapter Thirty-Three: Slaying the Thunder Rhino with Blood Soul Saber

"The leader of the Langton Knights, Royal Knight Viscount Tas Elvin, will be responsible for the second duel."

The first duel had ended, and although the outcome was as we had anticipated, it came as a surprise to the humans. In fact, the Barbarian Sword Grandmaster Roar was already the strongest warrior in the Duchy of Langton. Although there were others who surpassed him in terms of combat aura and martial techniques, none could match his physique that rivaled that of a Beastman, nor the vast and pure combat aura he possessed. However, the enemy managed to kill Roar, who had fused with a Phantom Beast, in direct combat. This finally allowed the humans, who were engaging with Beastman experts for the first time, to experience the might of the race that once dominated the Mainland for ten thousand years. They no longer dared to treat the tales about Beastmen as mere stories.

Therefore, the humans immediately activated their contingency plan and sent out the leader of the Thunder Knights riding a "Thunder Dragon Rhino" for the duel.

According to the rules of "Soul Combat," the number of spectators must be a thousand times the number of participants, no long-range weapons or mounts are allowed, but the use of mounts and divine weapons is not prohibited. This is because being able to tame powerful mounts and wield supreme divine weapons is a testament to the strength of the warrior themselves, as these external forces do not submit to the weak.

However, the mounts of the Beastmen are always tamed by themselves. Even Catherine's Golden-Eyed Dragon Lion submitted willingly due to her life-saving grace. Conversely, humans often rely on traps and ambushes, using magical contracts and drugs to subdue magical beasts, which, in a sense, desecrates the spirit of "Soul Combat." For example, the nine-level peak magical beast, the Thunder Dragon Rhino, standing at twelve feet tall, can only be tamed by an expert of the level of a Beastman King or a Human Sword Saint. Yet, looking at its dull eyes, it seems even less intelligent than my two rapidly growing, yet intellectually deficient, mid-level nine-grade Ice Mountain Beamons. It is either magically sealed or raised from birth, trained constantly, lacking the corresponding wisdom despite its immense power, likely reducing its actual combat effectiveness.

"This battle, I will..." Catherine was about to step forward to face the challenge when I stopped her.

"Don't forget they still have a Unicorn Silver Pegasus. The only flying magical beast we have is your Dragon Lion, and I don't want to deal with that thing." Logically, if aiming for two wins out of three, one should employ the strategy of using weaker forces against stronger ones to secure two victories. However, "Soul Combat" is not a competition but a deadly battle aimed at eliminating the opponent's top experts. Even if there were rewards for winning two out of three, the humans would likely cheat, and we might not accept them anyway. The true purpose is simply to eliminate more of the opponent's top experts.

Of course, to kill effectively requires skill. Taming a nine-level peak magical beast requires the level of a Beastman King, while killing one demands a Beastman who has reached the Sword Emperor level. Despite the Thunder Dragon Rhino being mentally impaired, combined with the Sword Grandmaster riding it, it may not be inferior to a normal nine-level peak magical beast. Thinking back to the three nine-level magical beasts that formed the Tiger Soul, one knows how difficult these creatures are to handle. Moreover, recently, I have been trying to eliminate the side effects of enhancing my combat aura with the essence of Tiger Soul by repeatedly cleansing my bones and meridians through transferring essence to others. While this successfully eliminated the hidden dangers, it also halted my progress in internal energy and combat aura over the past few months.

Catherine, having sparred with me frequently, naturally understood my lack of progress and was quite worried. However, seeing my confident demeanor, she knew I had many tricks up my sleeve and might have a plan to defeat the enemy, so she did not stop me.

"Lord of Fontainebleau City, Oath Knight Xuanfeng Blizzard Wolfe, accepts the second challenge."

Turning around, I summoned my Dual-Headed Magic Wolf Ice Flame. Ice Flame has now reached the peak of the eighth grade, possessing both ice and fire attributes, along with intelligence surpassing that of ordinary magical beasts. Even though the gap between eighth and ninth-grade magical beasts is akin to that between a Sword Grandmaster and a Sword Emperor, Ice Flame would still provide some assistance.

Knight Tas rode atop the elephant-sized "Thunder Dragon Rhino," slowly advancing. With such a massive magical beast mount, using ordinary weapons would likely fail to reach the enemy. Therefore, Tas wielded a six-meter-long knight's lance, his left hand holding a large shield. The lance, shield, and armor were clearly part of a matching set, with clean silver surfaces adorned with countless mysterious runes, and faint blue lightning arcs dancing across the metal.

"Legendary Set – Guardian of the Thunder God," Tas declared, raising his spear from atop the Dragon Rhino, challenging me from afar.

"Tiger Soul, Legendary Weapon." Haha, this isn't me deceiving you; the War God Temple described it as such when they gave it to me. As for its future rank, it remains to be proven by my own epic deeds.

Before facing the Thunder Dragon Rhino directly, I had hoped that such a cumbersome magical beast would be easily outmaneuvered by Ice Flame's speed, allowing me to kill it at leisure. However, reality sternly reminded me that on this blood-soaked continent, any ranking is determined through countless battles and eliminations. Creatures that remain at the pinnacle have their reasons.

From the moment we engaged, both sides realized the disparity in speed. What I never expected was that the seemingly dull Dragon Rhino would employ such a terrifying and direct method to counter Ice Flame's speed. A blue light flashed from the huge horn on the Dragon Rhino's nose, and its front legs lifted high before slamming down heavily onto the ground. Circles of lightning ripples spread outward from where it landed, expanding to form a massive lightning field several dozen feet in diameter. Stepping into this field would result in continuous entanglement, rendering speed and agility meaningless. Although the Dragon Rhino's turning was not as agile as Ice Flame's, it was not inferior to ordinary magical beasts and could charge straight ahead with lightning speed and thunderous force. Several charges, though missing us, generated lightning fields that shocked Ice Flame, who lacked combat aura protection, causing it to cry out in pain.

The Dragon Rhino's methods did not end there. Dense bolts of lightning shot out from its horn, each carrying a power comparable to the "Great Thunder Heavy Cannon" that Hai Ruo used against me. I used my combat aura and Tiger Soul to block left and right, leaving me no room to counterattack.