The moment Sam Li landed on the end of the massive Geo spear's handle...
Azhdaha, Dragon King, felt as if not only the fifty-meter spear, but an entire mountain had slammed down on its head.
Before that...
It had still been able to face the massive Geo spear without faltering.
But the instant Sam Li stood atop it...
The crushing pressure became unbearable. The Dragon King couldn't even lift its head, let alone counterattack.
Still...
Its seething hatred drove it to resist Sam Li's power.
With a furious roar, Azhdaha tried to shake off the spear's weight and retaliate—but no matter how it struggled, it couldn't dislodge either the weapon or Sam Li.
"Morax, you betrayed me—!"
Another roar erupted from deep within its chest.
In an instant, Geo energy from all directions surged toward it.
Within seconds, its body was wrapped in a golden glow—a thick concentration of elemental power.
With every roar, the energy condensed into hardened stone, reinforcing the Dragon King's back, legs, head—its entire body was enveloped.
Its strength surged once more.
With a mighty push, it drove its rock-solid horns against the golden spear, refusing to give an inch.
The resulting force...
Actually lifted the massive spear and Sam Li into the air.
Sam Li frowned.
This was their first clash. He'd hoped to wear the beast down slowly before subduing it.
But the Dragon King was proving far more troublesome than expected.
With a sigh, Sam Li began summoning even more Geo energy.
It gathered densely around him, glowing like golden mist, thick and radiant from afar.
Soon, the power flowed into the spear itself.
Within moments, the once fifty-meter spear expanded again—swelling into a seventy-meter golden behemoth.
Everyone watching—Zhu Yuan, Seth, Jane, Qingyi, Nicole, Billy, Caesar, Piper—all stared in disbelief.
They thought Sam Li had already unleashed his full power.
The fifty-meter spear had seemed outrageous enough.
Now?
They realized that wasn't even close to his limit.
They couldn't help but wonder—
If the battle went on, would the spear grow to a hundred meters? A hundred fifty? Two hundred?
Just one spear now rivaled the tallest buildings in downtown New Eridu.
Suddenly—
Billy pointed toward the battlefield. "Look! It's cracking—the Dragon King's horns are breaking!"
Everyone looked.
Sure enough, small fragments were chipping away where the spear tip met the horn.
Then came the cracking.
"Wait—no!" Caesar suddenly shouted.
Nicole jumped from the sudden outburst. "What now?! Don't scare me like that—"
Caesar's face was grim. "It's not the Dragon King's horns. It's Sam Li's spear! It's breaking!"
Right as he said it...
The cracking grew louder. More stone fragments flew from the clash point, crashing to the ground.
And while they were called "fragments," to humans, they were massive chunks.
Soon, everyone saw Caesar was right.
It wasn't the Dragon King that was breaking—it was the golden spear.
Under the incredible pressure, it had reached its limit. Cracks spread from the tip downward.
The sound of breaking intensified.
More pieces fell away—large slabs of stone thudding into the earth.
The weapon began crumbling at an alarming pace.
From seventy meters, it shrank—
Sixty... Fifty... Forty...
Meters of the spear disappeared in seconds as boulders tumbled.
In the end, it was gone.
The entire spear shattered, reduced to a heap of stone at the Dragon King's feet.
And Sam Li...
Landed on its horn.
Just like during the Archon War—when Morax had once stood on the Dragon King's horns as they fought side by side against more than a dozen fearsome gods.
But now...
Their roles had reversed.
It was Sam Li versus the Dragon King.
In that moment, the Dragon King's mind flashed with memories—
Of shielding Morax with its stone body...
Of Morax standing alone to face many enemies, protecting the wounded Azhdaha...
But the vision vanished—
Swallowed by rage and hate.
It remembered only betrayal.
Centuries of bitterness demanded repayment.
"Morax, don't try to deceive me. Today, you die!"
The Dragon King thrashed, claws swinging up to grab Sam Li and slam him into the ground.
But—
Its arms were too short. It couldn't reach its own horns.
"Die, Morax—!"
It charged forward, tilting its head down, aiming to ram Sam Li into a distant mountain hundreds of meters tall.
Seeing this, Nicole, Billy, Caesar, and Piper instantly realized its intent.
They wanted to warn Sam Li—but hesitated.
If he couldn't handle this, he could just jump—off the horn, onto the ground, or even onto the Dragon King's back.
Caesar couldn't hold it in. "It's coming—get out of the way!"
Maybe Sam Li didn't hear.
Or maybe he chose not to dodge.
Everyone watched, both nervous and stunned, as the Dragon King barreled toward the mountain.
BOOM.
A deafening crash.
Dust and debris soared into the sky, swallowing the entire peak.
Once the smoke cleared...
They saw it.
The Dragon King had rammed itself halfway into the mountainside.
Only its colossal rear remained exposed.
No one could imagine the force behind that collision.
If that had happened in New Eridu's city center, not a single skyscraper would've survived.
Zhu Yuan exhaled with a trace of relief.
At least this monster had appeared in the outskirts—not in the middle of the city...
...