Dragon Monarch System Chapter 1302: What Kind of Monster Is This?

“I don’t know what you have done to yourself, but I can feel it. Your body is slowly breaking apart. Whatever power you have obtained, your body clearly isn’t capable of handling it properly.”

Although Ren appeared to have become much stronger, Aditya could sense that something was wrong with his physical condition. The corrupted Mana inside Ren was constantly putting pressure on his body, and Aditya could tell that the longer he continued using this power, the worse his condition would become.

Hearing those words, Ren simply raised his head and smiled. “You don’t need to worry about my condition, Aditya. What I have done to myself will be the very cause of your death.” As he spoke, the black tentacles behind him slowly moved closer to his body, while he raised his right hand and pointed his palm toward Aditya.

In the next moment, a large amount of dark Mana gathered around Ren’s palm. Within seconds, it transformed into a mass of pitch-black flames that gave off an extremely unpleasant aura. Without giving Aditya any warning, Ren suddenly released the flames toward him.

Aditya immediately sensed that there was something dangerous about the attack. Rather than attempting to block it, he activated his teleportation ability and disappeared from his position. The black flames passed through the spot where he had been standing and continued flying forward until they struck a group of trees in the distance.

However, what happened next left Aditya completely shocked.

Instead of catching fire, the trees immediately began withering. Their healthy green leaves rapidly turned yellow before becoming completely brown. The branches dried up, and the thick trunks began losing their strength as though all the life inside them was being sucked away.

Within seconds, several large trees that had been perfectly healthy moments earlier were completely dead. Their leaves fell to the ground, while their dried branches began breaking apart. Even the grass and smaller plants surrounding the affected trees suffered the same fate.

Aditya stared at the scene with a shocked expression. He had encountered many different kinds of flames before, including flames that possessed unusual properties. However, this was the first time he had witnessed flames that killed living things without actually burning them.

‘Those flames didn’t burn the trees. They sucked away their vitality.’ Aditya thought as he carefully examined the dead plants. He could no longer sense any life force remaining within them, almost as though they had been dead for several years.

“What kind of flames are those?” Aditya finally asked while turning his attention back toward Ren. Although he had managed to avoid the attack, he understood that getting struck by those flames could have serious consequences.

Hearing his question, Ren looked rather pleased with himself. “These are called Corrupted Mana Flames. They are one of the abilities I have obtained through my new cultivation technique.” He slowly raised his right hand again, allowing a small amount of black fire to appear above his palm.

“Unlike ordinary flames, these don’t rely on heat to destroy their targets. Instead, they directly devour the life force of anything they come into contact with.” Ren explained while watching the black flames move above his palm.

“It doesn’t matter whether the target is a tree, an animal, or a cultivator. As long as the flames manage to touch them, their life force will begin disappearing.”

Ren’s smile widened as he looked directly at Aditya. “And the best part is that ordinary defensive methods won’t be nearly as effective against them. Even if you manage to protect your body from physical damage, that doesn’t necessarily mean you will be able to stop your life force from being drained.”

However, there was one important detail that Ren deliberately chose not to mention.

The effectiveness of his Corrupted Mana Flames depended heavily on the cultivation level of his opponent. Since Ren himself was only a Sixth Order cultivator, the flames were primarily effective against cultivators of the Sixth Order and below.

Although they could still pose some danger to stronger opponents under certain circumstances, their ability to drain life force would be greatly reduced when used against Seventh Order cultivators.

Naturally, Ren had no intention of revealing this weakness to Aditya. As far as he was concerned, there was no reason to explain the limitations of his abilities to someone he intended to kill.

Meanwhile, Aditya remained silent as he carefully observed the small black flame floating above Ren’s palm. Although he did not know the full extent of its abilities, he had already witnessed enough to understand that allowing those flames to touch his body would be a terrible mistake.

‘So that’s one of the abilities he gained from absorbing corrupted Mana. If he can produce flames capable of draining life force, then there’s no telling what other strange abilities he’s obtained.’

For the first time since their battle began, Aditya realised that defeating Ren might be considerably more difficult than he had originally expected. His cousin had not only become physically stronger, but he had also gained abilities that Aditya had never encountered before.

And judging by the confident smile on Ren’s face, the Corrupted Mana Flames were probably not the only surprise he had prepared.

Realising that he needed to be more careful of Ren’s strange abilities, Aditya decided to change his approach. Instead of continuing to exchange punches with his cousin brother, he took out his katana, Raiketsu, and prepared to attack from a distance. Although Ren had become much stronger, Aditya still had several abilities that he had not used yet.

Without wasting another second, Aditya activated the first ability of his katana and swung his weapon several times in Ren’s direction. With each swing, an invisible vacuum sword slash was released from the blade. These attacks moved through the air without making much noise, making them extremely difficult to detect through ordinary means.

Aditya continued swinging Raiketsu, releasing dozens of invisible sword slashes toward Ren from different directions. Some approached him from the front, while others moved toward his sides. Aditya deliberately changed the angles of his attacks, hoping that at least a few of them would manage to strike Ren before he could react.

However, something completely unexpected happened. Despite being unable to see the vacuum sword slashes with his eyes, Ren appeared to know exactly where each attack was coming from.

His blood-red eyes followed their movements with surprising accuracy, and before the first slash could reach him, several black tentacles suddenly extended from his back. Instead of trying to dodge the incoming attacks, Ren simply allowed his tentacles to move directly into their paths.

The moment the first vacuum sword slash struck one of the tentacles, it disappeared. There was no explosion or visible damage. The invisible attack was simply absorbed into the black tentacle as though it had never existed.

Before Aditya could understand what had happened, the remaining tentacles began moving rapidly, intercepting every other sword slash approaching Ren.

Within seconds, all the attacks that Aditya had released were absorbed.

“What…?” Aditya muttered in disbelief as he watched the black tentacles slowly return to Ren’s back. He had expected Ren to dodge or defend against the invisible sword slashes, but he had never imagined that those strange tentacles would be capable of absorbing them.

‘So those tentacles aren’t just for protecting his body.’ Aditya thought while narrowing his eyes. ‘They can absorb elemental attacks as well. His Corrupted Mana Flames can drain life force, while these tentacles can absorb attacks. This is going to be very troublesome.’

However, before Aditya could think of a way to deal with this ability, Ren suddenly smiled and raised his right hand.

“Here. You can have these back.” Ren said in an amused tone.

In the next instant, the black tentacles behind him suddenly pointed toward Aditya. The vacuum sword slashes that they had absorbed earlier were immediately released, flying toward Aditya in a straight line.

Although Aditya could not see the attacks, he instantly recognised their familiar Mana signatures. These were the very same vacuum sword slashes that he had released only moments earlier.

Without hesitation, Aditya activated his teleportation ability and disappeared from his position.

The invisible sword slashes passed through the spot where he had been standing and continued travelling forward. However, the forest located behind Aditya was not nearly as fortunate.

SWISH!!! SWISH!!! SWISH!!!

Hundreds of trees were instantly cut into pieces as the invisible sword slashes passed through them. Thick tree trunks were sliced apart, while branches and leaves scattered in every direction. Some trees were cut into several sections before they even began falling, while others collapsed after losing their support.

Within seconds, a large section of the forest had been completely cleared out. The ground was covered with broken trunks, branches, and leaves, while the remaining trees around the affected area continued falling one after another.

Aditya reappeared several hundred meters away and briefly looked toward the destroyed forest. Seeing the damage caused by his own attacks, he could not help but feel surprised.

‘Not only can he absorb my attacks, but he can also release them back at me. If that’s the case, attacking him from a distance might actually work against me.’

However, Aditya was not going to give up after a single failed attempt. He wanted to understand whether those tentacles could absorb every kind of attack or whether they had certain limitations.

With that thought in mind, Aditya raised his left hand toward the sky and began gathering his Crimson Lightning.

Within moments, dark clouds started forming above Ren. Red lightning flashed between the clouds as Aditya gathered enough power to launch a powerful attack. Once the lightning had finished gathering, he immediately brought his hand down.

BOOOOOOM!!!

A massive bolt of Crimson Lightning descended from the sky, heading straight toward Ren. The attack was so fast that an ordinary Sixth Order cultivator would have struggled to react in time.

However, Ren did not even attempt to move.