Close Combat Mage

Chapter 269 - Might of the Diamond Dragon Part 1

The Frost Wyrm that had been 2 meters tall half a year ago was now even less than 1 meter tall. Its body had also slimmed down a lot. When it wrapped itself around Suo Jia or ran about playfully, it really didn’t seem any different from a small dog.

Not only had its body shrunk, the little Frost Wyrm’s body had more importantly become completely transparent. One could very clearly see their hand on the other side of its body. Currently, the little pet’s body seemed to just be a heap of skin, with a blue glow that seemed to constantly flow throughout its body.

Faced with the little Frost Wyrm’s current state, even Suo Jia couldn’t tell if it had advanced or regressed. Its body had become so much smaller and thinner, so Suo Jia couldn’t tell how strong it was now. He bitterly smiled at the little dragon; there was probably nobody in the world that would be able to recognize it now. The Great Frost Wyrm was never supposed to have such an appearance.

The door opened, and Nicole excitedly strode in. As soon as she entered, she stated, “Young Master Suo Jia, I’ve already arranged all my family matters. We can head out now.”

“What?” After waiting for so long, Suo Jia had almost forgotten his own goal. After suddenly hearing Nicole say that they could head out, Suo Jia unexpectedly felt unwilling to leave.

Suo Jia furiously shook his head. He knew that after living the easy and comfortable life, it was always hard to avoid laziness. This wouldn’t do; once a person grew lazy, they’d be easily prone to become garbage, and never be able to reach the highest realm.

After storing away a large amount of money, Suo Jia and Nicole left Emerald City together, and began to head towards the Greater Trade Routes. As soon as they had left the city and seen the verdant plains of the countryside, Suo Jia couldn’t help but grow excited. This time…with Nicole as his guide, he believed that they’d be able to smoothly reach the Greater Trade Routes.

After rushing along the path for over a month, Suo Jia and Nicole finally reached the border area of Kaya Empire. The reason it was called an area was because there wasn’t really a clear division line. The only thing between two countries was a large plain: Magical Beast Plains.

Suo Jia furrowed his brows at the sight of the waist-high grass in the distance. Passing through the grass was easy, as there was a road through the plain that led to Kaya’s neighboring empire. However…Magical Beast Plains wasn’t exactly peaceful and safe. One could be secretly attacked by magical beasts jumping out from the tall grass. Without some skills, there was no way a person would be able to pass through this area.

However, since his target was the Greater Trade Routes, Suo Jia naturally couldn’t be deterred by the difficulty of passing through these plains. Although this place was dangerous, it wasn’t extremely so. Suo Jia knew that if he couldn’t even pass through here, he couldn’t even consider the Greater Trade Routes. If one was unable to pass over a ditch, how could they imagine leaping over a river?

Suo Jia took a deep breath and entered the path first. Nicole didn’t dare fall behind, and hurriedly ran behind him, staying by Suo Jia’s side at all times. Their objective was the Greater Trade Routes straight ahead.

The first dozen kilometers were completely peaceful. A breeze blew through, and the plains were still. Strolling through such beautiful plains in such clear weather was actually a very amazing matter.

“Swish…” However, Magical Beast Plains’ dangers weren’t just empty words. Not long after they continued to walk, a few whooshing sounds rang out, and dozens of golden grassland lions jumped out from the grass on the roadside, fiercely blocking the path.

Having sensed the sudden change, Suo Jia didn’t waste any time, and hurriedly prepared himself for battle. When he inspected his surroundings more closely, he discovered that there were 5 lions in front of him, 6 behind, blocking off Suo Jia in the middle.

Suo Jia didn’t know much about these golden grassland lions, but he could vaguely tell that these were extremely violent animals that couldn’t really be provoked. As he was silently worrying about this, Nicole’s voice solemnly rang out, “Suo Jia, these are Golden Wind Lions. There are a total of 5 male ones and 5 female ones, as well as a Golden Wind Lion King. This looks like trouble; once the situation turns bad, we should immediately retreat.”

“Golden Wind Lion King.” Suo Jia recited in confusion.

“Yea…” Nicole gravely nodded and said in concern, “The Golden Wind Lion is an extremely powerful wind-type magical beast famous for speed. A normal Golden Wind Lion counts as a middle ranked magical beast, but the Golden Wind Lion King qualifies as a high ranked magical beast. It isn’t something we can go against right now.”

“That…” Suo Jia took a deep breath, and also grew more cautious. Suo Jia didn’t really mind middle ranked magical beasts, but if it was a high ranked magical beast, even Suo Jia couldn’t possibly win.

After a while, Suo Jia firmly replied, “Nicole, immediately enter the stealth state, and be prepared to use Instant Kill. As long as we exterminate the Golden Wind Lion King, it’ll be our victory.”

“Ah?!” Nicole cried out in astonishment, “Are you crazy? We can’t possibly win against the Golden Wind Lion, it’s too fast. Moreover, they’re proficient in group wind magics, which isn’t something we can go up against. In my opinion…it’s best if we just retreat…”

“Hmph.” Before Nicole had finished speaking, Suo Jia coldly snorted, “I know it’s very formidable, but if we can’t even beat that, do you think there’s any point in heading towards the Greater Trade Routes?” action

“That…” Nicole struggled to respond to Suo Jia’s question. Although she knew that Suo Jia’s words made sense, she still couldn’t agree to Suo Jia’s suicidal risk.

After hesitating for a while, Nicole clenched her teeth and ground out, “Fine. Since you saved my siblings, my life is sold to you. If you’ve already made your decision, I’ll accompany you with all of my support, no matter what.” Then, Nicole’s body flashed, and she mysteriously disappeared from her spot.

Suo Jia stared blankly at where Nicole had disappeared for a moment, then loudly said, “Nicole, don’t worry, I’m not an idiot either. If we really cannot stand our ground, I won’t just dumbly court death. However…it’s impossible for me to run without a fight. Let’s work hard, we’ll win.”

Suo Jia turned around and said to the little pet, “Ok, the battle’s about to begin. It’s best if you hurry back into the interspatial ring. These enemies are too powerful, they aren’t opponents you can defeat.”

In response to Suo Jia’s commands, the little pet’s eyes flashed brightly, and it instead disobeyed his command. At the moment…the little Frost Wyrm already had the intelligence of a 7-8 year old child. In its opinion, Suo Jia was the best person in the world, as well as its cherished master. If anything happened to Suo Jia, who would give it good things to eat?

The little Frost Wyrm angrily turned around to glare at the Golden Wind Lion King. In terms of abilities, the dragon knew that this great lion was the most powerful amongst the enemies. This group of lions had been led here by that lion king.

“Grumble…” The little Frost Wyrm crouched down slightly and a low, intimidating growl came from its throat. Anything that wanted to harm its master would have to pass through him first. Although the little pet wasn’t confident it could defeat this lion, it had to at least deter the lion. The dragon knew its master’s level of strength very well. Although its master wasn’t at the level of being this great lion’s opponent, the master could definitely go up against the other, smaller lions.

The little Frost Wyrm’s body suddenly stretched forwards, and it raised its head towards the sky, emitting out a string of melodious cries. At the same time, a sparkling and translucent Glacial Armor began to condense over its body layer by layer.

“Holy crap.” Suo Jia cried out strangely at the scene. He watched as the dragon’s small, dog-sized body was quickly covered by a large amount of ice, and its body quickly swelled up like a balloon.

In that instant, a 4 meter tall, incomparably thick and solid ice dragon unyieldingly stood in front of Suo Jia. Not only was it firmly protecting Suo Jia behind its body, it had also sturdily blocked off the entire pathway through the plains.

Suo Jia stared up at the 4 meter tall ice dragon with a dumbstruck expression, his mind having completely short-circuited. What the heck was this? This…this looked like a giant dragon formed by a pile of diamonds. That’s right…aside from its size, this was clearly a shrunken Diamond Dragon.

Suo Jia looked over at the Diamond Dragon’s chest area. He knew that the little pet must be hiding there. However, the little guy was originally transparent; with the addition of such thick Glacial Armor, there was no way of actually finding it.

The Diamond Dragon finally began to move. It advanced forwards with powerful steps, its large body swaying from side to side as it closed in on the opposing Golden Wind Lion King and the other lions.

Seeing this, Suo Jia was suddenly aroused from his thoughts. Now wasn’t the time to be in a daze. If he didn’t take advantage of the Diamond Dragon blocking the Golden Wind Lion King and the other lions to eliminate the lions behind him, the lions would all attack together in a pincer attack. Then Suo Jia would definitely be forced to flee in defeat.

Suo Jia quickly turned around. With a wave of his hand, he instantly shot out a Mysterious Ice Arrow, which shot towards the leading lion behind him. With a flash of blue light, the prologue of the great battle had finally begun to unfold.