Boom!
In an instant, the dragon clan members present reverted to their true forms.
All at once, the surroundings teemed with dragons. Some blazed with crimson flames, some were wrapped in swirling currents, some crackled with thunder and lightning, while others rode atop churning mist and clouds.
In Crescent Bay, the dragon clan was indisputably a formidable power—one capable of ranking within the top ten.
Hailing from the farther reaches of the Abyss, they were merely a branch of the dragon clan. Once an adult broke through to Star Rank, they could choose to return to the main family to seek higher-level breakthroughs.
Among the dragon clan remaining in Crescent Bay, there were at least three at Star Rank, alongside a vast number at Heaven Rank.
It could be said that as long as they did not go too far, other factions would show the dragon clan deference, turning a blind eye to whatever they did.
"Lady Niman, our dragon clan has no intention of making an enemy of you. We advise you to stop being so obstinate!" a red dragon said in a woman's voice, half-counseling and half-warning Niman.
In truth, the dragon clan's headquarters was located in one of the earlier Star Towers, not Tower 79. They possessed their own dedicated Star Tower, with many star floors strictly forbidden to outsiders.
The dragon clan members here were only a very, very small fraction.
Normally, these members were tasked mainly with purchasing materials that various hunting regiments brought back from the Abyss; they weren't even considered combatants.
"I appreciate the sentiment, but my conscience won't allow me to stand by and watch an innocent child be harmed."
Niman set the red sphere in her hand spinning. Looking at the red dragon with a faint smile, she refused.
"Then don't blame us!" the red dragon roared.
"Attack!"
"Attack!"
"Attack!"
The dragons present roared in succession.
Under the control of five dragons, dark clouds churned across the sky as dense lightning flashed within them.
"Heaven Thunder!"
"Earth Thunder!"
"Water Thunder!"
"Divine Thunder!"
"Shrine Thunder!"
"Five Thunders Righteous Method!"
Riding mist and clouds, the five dragons each wielded a distinct lightning art, launching a simultaneous assault on Niman below.
Thunder cracked within the clouds, followed by five bolts of distinctly colored lightning blasting straight down toward Niman on the ground, the surrounding air filling with the metallic tang of ozone.
The red sphere in Niman's hand was called a defense mushroom sphere.
It was actually an orb formed by combining two special mushrooms. The upper mushroom could generate a wondrous force field to withstand various energy attacks, while the lower mushroom could channel attacks that were too heavy to bear into the ground, letting the earth take the impact.
The instant the lightning struck, the defense mushroom sphere in Niman's hand burst with red light. A dense flurry of minute red spores formed a hemispherical barrier that intercepted the lightning attack.
The five bolts struck the barrier without causing even a ripple. Seeing this, the dragons grew solemn.
Well-informed as they were, the dragon clan naturally knew Niman's background. It was precisely because they knew that they had repeatedly urged her to leave; after all, they had no desire to make an enemy of a former powerhouse.
Who knew what trump cards she held?
Yet the remnant of the Garuda clan was right before their eyes. If they slunk away with their tails between their legs, wouldn't they be telling the world that the dragon clan was afraid of a woman whose power had sharply declined?
The reputation of the dragon clan could not be defiled, and the Garuda remnant had to die.
Therefore, they had to fight this battle—and they had to win.
"All together!" one dragon roared.
Then, every dragon attacked at once. Lightning, fire, gales, rain arrows... nearly every element manifested, and dense stone spikes even erupted frantically from the ground.
Yet all these attacks were blocked by Niman's defense mushroom sphere. Though her strength had dwindled drastically, her foundations clearly remained intact; ordinary members of the dragon clan were no match for her.
She refrained from attacking purely because she didn't want to thoroughly offend the dragon clan; she only wanted them to recognize the difficulty and back down on their own.
After a barrage of attacks, the dragon clan members glared at Niman with ugly expressions. Their assaults couldn't even breach her defense. Only now did they truly appreciate the caliber of a Cosmos-rank powerhouse; even if her strength was greatly reduced, she was still not someone any random nobody could take on.
"Niman, fear not, I have come to assist you!"
An aged voice suddenly rang out from the distance, followed by a mysterious figure draped entirely in black robes flying swiftly toward them.
Thrusting a hand forward, he barked, "Sea King Cloud-Overturning Rain-Making Palm!"
The rainwater in the surroundings converged rapidly, transforming into towering waves in the blink of an eye. The waves then twisted and spiraled, turning in an instant into a colossal palm that struck toward the surrounding dragons.
The dragons present paled, hurriedly joining forces in defensive formations.
Niman looked just as displeased. The moment this black-robed person made a move, he unleashed a lethal technique clearly meant to wipe out these dragons—all in the name of helping her. There was definitely something wrong!
None of her friends possessed such strength, and what he used happened to be an ultimate technique of the Sea Clan.
He was clearly trying to stir up trouble and provoke conflict between the dragon clan and the Sea Clan.
But it was too late.
The foremost dragon clan member burst apart instantly under the colossal palm's strike, his body turning into a mist of blood.
Behind him, the dragons who had formed the defensive array shrieked in terror and despair, "A Star-rank powerhouse?!"
The next second, a dragon was struck by the palm. The surging energy within crushed and exploded his body, reducing him in an instant to a crimson torrent swept along in the strike.
Decimating everything in its path, the giant palm flattened the surrounding buildings, sweeping forward with unstoppable momentum.
The dragon clan members holding the defensive array realized disaster had struck the moment they heard the cry of "Star-rank powerhouse." Abandoning any thought of defense, they scattered in all directions.
Yet the black-robed figure clearly didn't care about the fleeing dragons. Instead, he rushed rapidly toward Niman and shouted, "Niman, are you alright? I'm here to save you!"
Yet the very next second, he melted into the water and abruptly vanished.
Gritting her teeth, Niman was furious to the extreme. She knew full well she had been used. Not only was this bastard driving a wedge between the dragon clan and the Sea Clan, but he had also dragged her into the conflict. Regardless of what happened between the dragons and the Sea Clan, both would hold a grudge against her.
She had taken a massive loss.
Niman glanced at Little Nora and finally let out a long sigh.
The next instant, she channeled power into the defense mushroom sphere. The sphere immediately radiated brilliant crimson light. As the colossal palm crashed down, only the area shielded by the mushroom sphere remained unscathed; everything else was flattened in its wake.
Finally, the power behind the black-robed man's palm strike reached its limit. Deforming violently, it detonated with a deafening boom several kilometers away, blowing a massive crater right through the ground as countless boulders rained down onto the star floor below.
All at once, the entire star floor trembled, and sirens began sounding one after another.
At that moment, Yu Xian emerged from Little Nora. He stretched his back, just about to praise the game, when he sensed something wasn't right.
He first saw Niman, then noticed the surroundings had been razed to the ground. Looking farther out, billowing black smoke rose from numerous buildings while sirens wailed in waves.
The tables had turned; this time, it was his turn to have a question mark pop up above his head.
Chapter 245