Damon twisted between them, barely clearing the bite as heat scorched past his ribs. He landed lightly, eyes blazing. It was his turn now to use his new and upgraded burning lance.
The next few seconds were a blur as Damon and the salamander abomination exchanged blows back and forth. Damon had expected his upgraded hellfire burning lance attack to one-shot the beast, but the beast took out its domain skill.
Molten runes flared beneath the salamander's body as a circular field expanded outward, swallowing Damon in an instant. The temperature spiked violently, not as simple heat, but as an oppressive pressure that crushed mana circulation and distorted perception. The air thickened, turning sluggish, each breath carrying searing embers that bit into the lungs.
Inside the domain, gravity subtly tilted toward the salamander, feeding it power. Cracks spider-webbed across the terrain as magma veins pulsed like arteries beneath the surface. The beast's scales darkened, glowing fissures running across its body as the bound soul fully surfaced.
Damon felt it imdiately. The salamander's fighting power skyrocketed in an instant. All three heads attacked at once, one lunged with crushing jaws, another unleashed a spiraling inferno compressed to the density of steel, while the third head roared, its roar vibrating through the domain itself. The sound targeted focus, tearing at ntal stability.
Anyone else would have been done in instantly, but Damon only smirked at the domain. "It's too bad for you that my fire resistance is already insane." The spiraling inferno slamd into him head-on. Flas wrapped around his body, roaring violently as if eager to reduce him to ash, but in the end, they couldn't do much at all.
Damon stepped into the flas. His blood surged, hellfire condensing around his arm as the Burning Lance reford. He twisted his body, slipping past snapping jaws and slamming his shoulder into the beast's chest to anchor himself.
"Your domain is impressive," Damon said calmly, voice carrying even through the roaring heat. "But you picked the wrong elent." He thrust. The Burning Lance pierced straight through the salamander's chest, punching into the core. This ti, the lance held about 60% of his full power, and the salamander could no longer block it.
The salamander scread. Its domain began to unravel as it thrashed wildly. Cracks raced across the molten runes beneath their feet, magma veins sputtering as control slipped. Fire erupted outward in a violent bloom.
One head disintegrated instantly. Another was blown clean off, its roar cut short. The final head let out a strangled, furious howl before collapsing into ash. The domain shattered. Heat vanished, replaced by the cool, oppressive silence of the Forest of Doom. Molten stone cooled rapidly, cracking underfoot as the last remnants of the salamander's body collapsed into a smoking ruin.
Damon casually absorbed the blood essence, feeling his fire resistance once again go up a little, along with his affinity for the fire elent. "…So that's a peak C-rank abomination with a domain," he muttered. "Stronger than expected. Smarter too."
His gaze drifted deeper into the forest. This was still the outskirts of the wilderness. There were a lot more powerful prey waiting for him inside. He licked his lips in anticipation. It was ti for a good hunt.
He was just about to leave when he noticed sothing odd. He crouched on the scorched land as sothing felt off. He couldn't pinpoint it for sure, but it seed as if the threads of resentnt and ancient hatred still clung to the scorched earth, sinking back into the soil like venom.
"Hmmm… even after death, you're still poisoning the land," Damon muttered. He did not understand much about souls, but it definitely felt unnatural for the soul to have still not dissipated even after its second death. He stared at the spot for so more ti before heading deeper into the forests.
Damon's next target was another salamander, followed by a gorilla-like beast, and then a nasty, mutated bird that did not look like anything he knew. He took his ti fighting with a bunch of the beasts, but he then quickly switched strategies, turning to poison and starting his poison research back up.
His miasma surged in the wilderness, poisonous blooms appearing everywhere. Even though they did not one-shot anything, they considerably weakened the abominations, which made the hunt a lot faster.
Coincidentally, Damon was also able to speed up his soul poison theory and research by using his myraid poisons here, where the souls of the beasts were abnormally strong. At the sa ti, he was also extrely cautious. Strong souls ant that so of them might be capable of doing soul damage.
The hardcore training continued for so ti when Damon finally returned to the campsite. He hadn't gained anything significant in this training trip, but he had definitely made little progress here and there.
He also sent out his shadow clones and beasts to do so scouting to see if there were any suitable spots nearby for opening up so more of his ridians. He had hoped that maybe there was a volcanic region or sothing similar, but he had no such luck.
He could only explore further tomorrow and see if he could run into sothing suitable. Engrossed in his thoughts, Damon walked back into the camp. As soon as he walked in, his mother hugged him and gave him a big platter of food.
He wanted to say he didn't really need it as he had only now fed on powerful blood essence back to back, but it was easier to accept it and finish the whole thing than to explain to his mother. So he did that.
On the side, Aurora, Kate, and the other four won were all seated cross-legged and ditating. Damon silently joined them, but he first erected a powerful blood barrier around himself.
He then took out a vial of poison from his soul space, one of the dozen or so he had obtained from La Rocha. It was ti to test his new and improved body and see if it could handle a poison given by the ancient, shady item spirit.
***
Chapter 10 Mass Release Sponsored by Sean
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