Insect Repellent

Li began moving his limbs back and forth, slowly approaching the edge of the lava pool. He took slow and careful steps out. The centipede dragon was asleep and very close to the entrance. It had dozed off since it could not find it's peeper. The herb was all the way in the back of the cave.

It was time to roar like a boss and rush into the cave while shouting out a challenge for the centipede dragon. NOT!!!

He took a deep breath in and began focusing the flame inside his body. Once he opened his mouth a concentrated column of beautiful rainbow-colored flames soared out of his mouth directly into the cave towards the centipede dragon.

The centipede dragon groggily woke up. A snake was already temperature sensitive since their tongues can measure heat. The centipede dragon may not have noticed the stealthy qilin while in lava but the sudden increase in temperature was more than noticeable. Unfortunately, the dumb and barbaric being that it was, it could not find the willpower and discipline to quickly get up and form a barrier immediately.

The centipede dragon did what it could. It moved its head back and reinforced its scales with energy and fire while poisoning its body to take the attack as much as possible. It was very adamant of protecting the flower. The flower would be its ticket up.

When the blast of fire touched the centipede dragon's scales, the flames immediately turned the affected area into ashes. The flames penetrated the flesh, burning the torso through the rib cage and charring the ribs themselves. The fire exploded turning into an expanding cloud of fire that scorched the centipede dragon and shattering layers of rock within the cave.

Stalagmites fell from the ceiling smashing the back of the centipede dragon causing it to howl in pain and anger. Its roar did nothing to help its cause as even more rocks fell on its back. The herb, on the other hand, sat safely in the back, unbothered by the situation.

Li distributed energy all throughout his body causing him to grow into his armored battle form. He channeled a great deal of energy into his hind legs and hooves waiting for the rocks to stop falling.

Once the cave stabilized and the centipede dragon regained its bearings Li pounced forward. He charged straight towards the centipede dragon's neck. Unfortunately, the centipede dragon reacted in time. It flexed the muscles on the floor to move up and tried its best to shift its neck away.

Li raised his hooves and smashed into the left side of the centipede dragon's torso. The scales scattered in a hazardous manner, shattering and slicing the rocks around them upon contact. Blood flew into the air, causing the air to heat up and burn from the intense heat sores within. The force from the charge shattered many of the bones. The ribs in a three-meter radius around the points of contact were shattered into human fingered size pieces. The spine had cracks, leaking out vital blood and fluids.

The snake seemed to not feel the pain. It sent heat and fire towards the area affected, instantly cauterizing the exposed flesh. It would heal the bones and flesh later. While it was doing so, it flew back and extended its tail. Li was still in the air.

'Dam I was sure I would one-hit KO this dam snake.' He thought. He figured that he had to attack only after the snake stopped dodging the rocks. He could not aim until it slowed. Furthermore, he thought he would be able to hit the neck area and brutally smash the centipede dragon's head from its body. Still, he managed to get a pretty good hit in.

As he was thinking this while falling down, the snake curled its tail and whipped him. The tail made a cracking noise once it smacked Li in the side of the head and torso. It was an attack that traveled at the speed of sound! This half baked counter didn't do much. It cracked a few scales and rattled him a little, but it far inferior to his own attack.

Moreover, Li began to realize something as he smashed against the side of the cave sending more rocks flying about. The centipede dragon was a little too soft and its tail attack wasn't as deadly as he thought it would be.

The centipede dragon hissed and opened its mouth as Li sloppily got up. It did not spit fire or poison, but its fangs began to glow red then blue. The air around its mouth rippled and combusted, showing how intense the heat around its fangs was. It curled its tail like a spring and with a squeeze of its muscles hurled itself towards Li.

Li immediately jumped to the right. He landed on another side of the cave and without a pause jumped once more. The area where the centipede dragon sunk its fangs into had turned into magma. The fangs were probably more than 2000 degrees Fahrenheit.

The snake struck towards were Li was previously. Li was too concerned with his new discovery to counterattack. He continued to jump across the walls of the cave.

It seemed that while the centipede dragon may look big and flowed with crimson flames it was only for show. Despite similar energy levels, it was not on the same level as Li.

As Li thought about it, it made more sense. These animals were dumb. They were also not the chosen sons of the world. Although it had similar energy levels as Li it was not as concentrated. Through natural instinct and dumb logic, barbaric animals would naturally believe that bigger is better, thus using more energy for body growth. They focused on quantity over quality. If Li was a bullet, then the centipede dragon was a baseball. Both are deadly, but the general consensus is that bullets are deadlier than baseballs. Li was harder, faster and hotter.

It wasn't that the centipede dragon didn't have any advantages. It had more reach, and even if it did get hit, the area of damage would not be entirely fatal for the rest of its body. It could also use gravity and momentum to enhance its attacks slightly. Its immense size could also scare away other creatures.

Nevertheless, this was a good thing for Li. Most of these creatures are dumb and would be fairly simple to defeat. Perhaps a few centuries into the future, they would have explored the various paths they can take and prove to be a bigger challenge for him.

He let a few blasts of fire sprig from his mouth hitting the centipede dragon and the rocks around to distract it. The centipede dragon paused for a second and Li sent a wider blast to push it away.

The blast pushed the centipede dragon more than fifteen meters away. Li's body flower with brilliant light as he prepared for a second charge. He knew could not charge up to full power and quickly sent himself crashing into the centipede dragon. It did not cause as much damage as last time, but it was better than nothing.

The battle lasted for hours. Li continued to do the same thing. It was simple and effective. By the end of the battle, Li had a few cracks distributed all throughout his body in his scales and bones. Golden blood leaked out. His face had a few bruises on it. His left leg was limp and broken. These injuries would heal in a matter of days.

On the other hand, the centipede dragon fared much worse. Huge chunks of its body were gone. It had been hit on the head once, causing it to lose one eye and have a quarter of its skull caved in. Still, it had immense vitality from its constant exposure to its herb and it had cauterized all its wounds. It would shed its skin later to heal itself.

But now was not the time to continue the fight. Both of them were exhausted. The centipede dragon was heavily injured and Li was exhausted from utilizing his new body in a fight.

The centipede dragon let out one hiss and cloaked itself in flames. It used its flames that spurred from its pores to propel itself into the air. It would have looked like a real divine dragon if it wasn't so beat up. The centipede dragon flew away into the night sky. An overlord had been defeated. It would be a terrible night for the normal creatures.

Li looked at the centipede dragon as it left. He was mentally exhausted and physically exhausted. He had the overall advantage, but it wasn't much. Even worse he had just awoken into his new body while the centipede dragon had who knows how long. As such he didn't try to stop the centipede dragon from flying away. He highly doubts he could kill it without heavily injuring himself. It wasn't worth it. He had what he wanted anyway.