After the golden light faded, the shattered boulders began falling from the sky, crashing to the ground like meteorites.
Seeing several fragments flying toward them, Seth quickly warned,
"Captain Zhu Yuan! Senior Qingyi! Jane! Get out of the way—"
They didn't need Seth's warning—everyone had already noticed the falling debris.
In the next moment, they all scattered, narrowly avoiding the heavy chunks that slammed into the ground, kicking up clouds of dust.
Immediately after, Zhu Yuan, Seth, Qingyi, and the others looked up in unison, searching for Sam Li.
To their astonishment, Sam Li appeared completely unharmed, still standing tall in the sky.
What shocked them even more was that—
despite the massive explosion of the floating rocks, a single cone-shaped boulder remained intact in front of Sam Li.
He calmly reached out and grasped it with one hand.
On the ground, the Azhdaha Dragon King let out a furious roar.
"Morax, don't get cocky—!"
In the sky, Sam Li effortlessly held the massive boulder in his hand.
He looked down toward the Dragon King and sighed.
So this moment had come after all.
He had once considered using his system points to summon Azhdaha, Dragon King—but worried that what he'd get would be a degraded version, bringing more harm than help, he had abandoned the idea.
He never imagined Azhdaha would arrive in this world anyway.
And worse, the first thing it did was roar about settling everything...
At present, Sam Li had only reached a little over 40% of his roleplay progression—meaning he possessed roughly 40% of Morax's true power.
If this had been the Dragon King in his prime, it would've been a brutal fight.
But the current Azhdaha wasn't at full strength either.
In its journey to Zenless Zone Zero, it had nearly drained all its energy—and even now, it hadn't recovered half of it.
Add to that the wear and damage on its body, and the Dragon King was clearly in poor condition.
That's why Sam Li didn't find the battle particularly difficult.
The real challenge was subduing the frenzied beast—restoring its mind, repairing the damage.
But as Azhdaha prepared another attack, Sam Li knew: to gain control, he had to defeat or completely exhaust it.
Then, softly, Sam Li called out.
A torrent of Geo energy surged toward him—but it didn't gather around his body.
Instead, it poured into the massive rock in his grasp.
In moments, the boulder was encased in thick Geo energy, glowing golden under the setting sun—like a newborn sun.
And that was just the beginning.
The next second, Sam Li willed the energy to reshape the rock into the form of a spear.
In an instant, the massive, solid boulder began to morph midair, as fluid as molten gold.
Its tip elongated into a sharp, massive spearhead.
Its center and base stretched into a shaft dozens of meters long.
In just a few seconds, the giant boulder had transformed into a colossal fifty-meter-long golden Geo spear, floating silently before Sam Li.
The sight stunned Zhu Yuan, Qingyi, and the others...
Nicole, Caesar, Piper, and the rest were equally speechless.
Back in the Hollow under the Old Capital Metro, Piper had once seen Sam Li craft a twenty-meter golden Geo sword—just one swing of it had sliced the Notoriety-class Ethereal, the Locomotive, clean in two.
But now...
This new weapon was a fifty-meter golden spear—twice the size, and radiating with power.
Nicole, Billy, Anby, Nekomata, and the Calydon children all stared, wide-eyed.
They couldn't imagine the destruction a single thrust could cause—could it take down the monstrous Dragon King?
Billy gawked. "Nicole, boss... do you think Sam Li could pierce the entire planet with that?"
Nicole was so stunned, she couldn't answer:
"..."
Lucy shook her head. "Billy, don't be ridiculous. Even Caesar knows you can't pierce a planet."
But Caesar firmly shook her head. "No. I think it's possible."
Lucy was speechless.
"...Seriously? Do any of you even know how big this planet is?"
She took a deep breath.
"Okay, maybe not the whole planet—but if that thing hits the ground, it might punch into the mantle..."
Still, none of that mattered now.
All eyes were on Sam Li and the massive golden spear.
Everyone held their breath, hoping it would pierce Azhdaha and end the fight.
And soon—Sam Li delivered.
As the Dragon King once again reared back to strike, Sam Li made the first move.
With a simple wave of his hand—
The fifty-meter golden spear plummeted from the sky like a divine nail, heading straight for the Dragon King's skull.
It moved too fast.
Before Azhdaha could leap, the spear was already above him—
and it struck, slamming down on his head, crashing against his horns.
The collision erupted into a blinding storm of Geo energy.
In an instant—
a golden shockwave burst out from the impact point, engulfing over ten kilometers in every direction.
Zhu Yuan, Qingyi, Jane, Seth—
Nicole, Billy, Caesar, Soldier 11, Piper—
They were all swept off their feet by the golden wave.
As they scrambled back up, all eyes turned to the battlefield.
On one side: the fifty-meter golden spear.
On the other: the towering Azhdaha, over a hundred meters tall.
Both were awe-inspiring—like something out of a movie.
No one knew who would emerge victorious.
But everyone prayed it would be Sam Li.
They began wishing at the golden god statue in New Eridu—
hoping the god on the throne would bless Sam Li in his battle against the massive rock beast.
At that moment...
On the battlefield—
the fifty-meter golden spear hovered above, the Dragon King stood below.
Spearpoint to horn.
And between them, golden waves of Geo energy rippled outward from their standoff.
Slowly, Sam Li began descending—
from hundreds of meters in the air—
landing gently on the butt end of the golden spear.