It struck Mo Han as odd: was the ambient magic within this palace somehow suppressed, made pitifully weak, rendering high-level spells impossible? Yet, this monstrous beast seemed entirely unrestricted; the ice spikes it summoned were, in sheer destructive power, easily comparable to an eighth-level spell. How the beast managed this, Mo Han couldn't fathom.

However, this offensive was far denser than before, completely enveloping the great hall, leaving no room for evasion. Mo Han was forced to raise his Lightbringer Sword to intercept the ice spikes raining down from above. Compounding the difficulty was the beast’s white mist, which bore an unnerving resemblance to dragon's breath. Unsure of its potency and recognizing its highly corrosive nature, Mo Han instinctively avoided contact unless absolutely necessary, making his evasions exceptionally taxing.

Yet, relying on the Lightbringer Sword and his superior skill, Mo Han managed to constantly dodge within the relentless barrage. Despite the sheer density of the ice spikes and the white mist, not a single thread of his garment could be touched.

The monster seemed to perceive this. At that moment, the small head that had just emerged suddenly ceased its misty assault, its eyes flashing with red light.

It appeared to be preparing another offensive.

Simultaneously, while dodging the mist and ice spikes, Mo Han felt a faint magical fluctuation beneath his feet. A realization dawned in his mind, and he instinctively dodged sideways. But the moment his body moved, sharp, stalagmite-like stone pillars erupted from the ground where he had been standing, shooting upward with lethal speed towards him.

Unprepared for this, Mo Han had no time to evade. His protective Battle Aura and magic shields were concentrated around his body, offering no defense against an attack from below. He was struck squarely by the dense cluster of stone spikes. Fortunately, at the critical juncture, Mo Han managed to shift a portion of his Battle Aura downward, causing the majority of the stone spikes to impact his protective field instead, where his energy successfully blocked them.

But the sheer volume of the stone spikes was overwhelming, and the Battle Aura he had hastily redirected was too little. In the blink of an eye, the protective field shattered. However, that split second bought Mo Han enough time to leap clear of the ground, attempting to escape the subterranean assault entirely.

Still, he was a fraction of a second too slow; several spikes grazed his feet, tearing open several wounds.

Though the injuries were not grievous, the sudden, sharp pain caused Mo Han to suck in a breath, and his control wavered, nearly resulting in him being struck by the overhead ice spikes. The ordeal left Mo Han looking utterly dishevelled.

Fortunately, after such a massive, sustained area-of-effect assault, the monster seemed to be reaching its limits. The attacks abruptly halted. Both heads of the beast were panting heavily. Clearly, while the dual-headed creature had succeeded in wounding Mo Han, it was not unscathed. Such extensive, large-scale magic attacks would have exhausted even Mo Han, but the beast relied on its incredible natural constitution to endure, though it was clearly taxed to its limit.

Seeing this, Mo Han quickly dropped back to the ground and urgently cast several high-level healing spells upon his legs. Under the white light of the healing magic, the large gashes inflicted by the stone spikes stopped bleeding and began the slow process of scabbing over.

After tending to his injuries, Mo Han felt intensely irritated at having been blindsided by the beast. He had focused entirely on the ice spikes and white mist, leading him to conclude the creature was purely water-aligned. To discover it possessed potent earth magic caught him completely off guard. Mo Han had underestimated it, suffering a loss due to his lack of vigilance. He worried about what elemental magic the creature might deploy next; if it proved to be a master of all elements, he was in deep trouble.

Now, with the Lightbringer Sword proving ineffective for significant damage, and magic unusable in this location, Mo Han experienced a rare feeling of helplessness. This frustration, however, immediately ignited a fierce anger and fighting spirit within him. He refused to be defeated by a mere magical beast as a Sword Saint. With that thought, Mo Han murmured a few soft incantations, and with a flash of white light, the familiar silhouette of Xiao Long appeared.

Mo Han’s decision to summon Xiao Long held a secondary purpose. He had noticed that while the ambient magical elements were weak, there was one specific type of magical energy that seemed largely unaffected. Mo Han had no prior knowledge of this energy. He only sensed its presence by relying on the ability to communicate with ambient magical elements—a skill learned from the Elemental Spirits—which allowed him to perceive this energy distinct from the others. This led Mo Han to wonder if this unaffected energy was, in fact, the lightning element he had never managed to master, which explained why he couldn't communicate with it, only sense it.

Thus, Mo Han summoned Xiao Long to test his hypothesis. Hearing Mo Han's command, Xiao Long immediately began channeling energy. A burst of white light emanated from the creature's single horn. Seeing this, Mo Han knew his guess was correct: this unfamiliar magical energy was the lightning element, currently beyond human control. Although he didn't know why lightning magic was unrestricted here, it was a positive development, adding a powerful ally and significantly tipping the scales in his favour.

A wicked smile touched Mo Han’s lips as he looked at Xiao Long. "Little fellow, see that? This monster dared injure your boss and acts so arrogantly—clearly showing contempt for us. What do you think we should do?" Hearing Mo Han's provocative words, Xiao Long let out an angry roar, its magical energy surging rapidly. It fixed a hostile glare upon the two-headed beast, emitting low growls. Mo Han knew that with a single command, Xiao Long would unleash a furious storm of lightning attacks upon the creature.

The dual-headed beast was not cowed by the sight of Xiao Long and responded with roars of its own. Seeing that Xiao Long was nearly ready with its magic, Mo Han raised the Lightbringer Sword, signaling the attack, and then leaped toward the opposing beast. Mo Han did not believe the creature's reaction speed could surpass his own, so he planned to have Xiao Long engage the beast while he exploited its massive size to close the distance and initiate a close-quarters assault.

With Mo Han's command, Xiao Long roared, and a bolt of lightning suddenly struck the dual-headed beast directly above its heads, precisely hitting its body. The intense current caused the creature to bellow in agony. The beast retaliated: one head spat a plume of white mist toward Mo Han to block his advance, while the other head continued to launch massive ice spikes. However, whether due to exhaustion or some other factor, the area of this attack was not as extensive as before, only covering a small radius around Xiao Long and Mo Han, rather than the entire hall. Perhaps because the beast now had to contend with both Mo Han and Xiao Long simultaneously, the density of its attacks against each target was significantly reduced.

Mo Han easily dodged the incoming ice spikes with fluid footwork, his body never pausing its rapid closure toward the dual-headed monster. The spikes targeting Xiao Long were shattered by small bolts of lightning controlled by the dragon, turning them into harmless ice shards that peppered Xiao Long's magical shield without inflicting any real damage.

At the same time, Mo Han entered the beast's melee range. Seeing him approach, the dual-headed monster roared and swung its massive foreclaw toward Mo Han with terrifying speed. Mo Han neither dodged nor blocked, instead charging directly into the path of the sweeping claw. An observer might have thought Mo Han was deliberately seeking suicide.

The dual-headed beast was inherently a powerhouse, and the sheer size of its claw indicated a force no human strength could withstand. Mo Han’s decision not to evade seemed suicidal. Even the beast itself seemed to believe this, a flicker of triumph entering its eyes as it envisioned crushing its adversary.

From a distance, Xiao Long witnessed this perilous moment and roared in distress. Without hesitation, it unleashed a thick bolt of lightning aimed squarely at the beast's head, hoping to save Mo Han. But distance was a critical factor; the lightning might not strike before Mo Han was flattened into a pulp.

Leaping...