Argo's wrist flicked, and two cold, gleaming grappling hooks whistled out, precisely coiling around Kirito's and Lisbeth's falling bodies.
At the same instant, Chen Mo moved.
He didn't even turn around; he gripped his sword hilt in a backhand, and the golden glow of a sword skill flashed on his scabbard.
Boom!!!
The sword skill's judgment accurately struck the King of Iron's body, and a muffled explosion erupted behind him, forming a visible white air ring.
A terrifying repulsive force acted upon him, sending him hurtling like a cannonball into the darkness below.
During his descent, his wrist moved slightly.
A soft yet irresistible force, like an invisible giant hand, steadily lifted the two people on Argo's grappling hooks and flung them back to the edge of the cave.
He completed all of this.
Then, he allowed his body to be completely swallowed by that bottomless darkness.
There was no echo.
"Chen Mo!"
Argo's breath hitched; she pulled back her grappling hooks with all her might, watching helplessly as that figure disappeared, and a sudden emptiness filled her heart.
At the edge of the cave, Kirito and Lisbeth sat slumped on the ground, still shaken.
Lisbeth's fingertips were still trembling, her face as pale as paper.
Asuna rushed to the cliff edge, a tremor in her voice that she herself hadn't noticed.
"Did he... send a message?"
Argo immediately opened her friends list, her fingertips tapping rapidly.
The few seconds of waiting felt as long as a century.
Finally, the gray avatar lit up, and a message popped out.
"Chen Mo: I'm fine, there's something down here. I'm going to check out the scenery. You guys head back to town first."
Upon seeing this message, Argo's tense body instantly relaxed, but then her pretty brows furrowed even deeper.
This guy... he definitely knew there was something down here all along!
What kind of "scenery" was worth him going down in such a way?
"He's fine."
Argo closed the interface, her voice returning to its usual calmness.
"He said to go ahead without him. He's probably going to... hmm, enjoy the underground sights."
Kirito struggled to his feet, gazing at the bottomless cave, his eyes filled with immense complexity.
"So we're just leaving like this?"
"What else?"
Argo glanced at him, "Kirito, you're down to one-third health, and this blacksmith lady is practically scared senseless. Are we staying here to be extra snacks for the BOSS?"
Lisbeth's face flushed at the remark, and looking at the distant giant dragon, which was frantically destroying crystal pillars after losing its target, she whispered, "Then... what about that dragon?"
Asuna sheathed her longsword, her tone resolute.
"Leave it to that guy who loves to look at scenery."
"Let's go."
...At the bottom of the abyss.
Chen Mo landed lightly on his feet.
Beneath him was a thick layer of glowing moss, soft as a carpet, making his footsteps silent.
All around, bioluminescent fungi emitted a tranquil light, illuminating the place like an underground kingdom forgotten by time.
As he expected, a hidden map.
Too lazy to explore, he directly used the most brutal method, cleaving open the rock wall in front of him with a single sword, following the shortest straight line to the deepest part of the cave.
There, on an ancient altar eroded by time, a fist-sized, deep red ore pulsed, flickering like a sleeping heart.
dragon heart stone.
Chen Mo reached out and picked it up.
A warm sensation emanated from his palm, as if he held the life pulse of an ancient giant dragon.
With this, Lisbeth would be able to forge a second divine weapon for Kirito that wouldn't break during use.
Just as he put away the dragon heart stone, a dust-covered stone door behind the altar slowly opened.
In the center of the stone chamber, a skeleton in a sitting posture held a longsword, completely black and covered with profound runes, across its lap.
Chen Mo walked forward and gripped the sword hilt.
extinguish.
A cold, murderous intent surged up his arm and into his mind, as if he could hear countless departed souls silently roaring within the sword.
A fine sword.
Its weight and texture were almost identical to Kirito's elucidator.
The moment he put extinguish into his backpack, the entire underground cave shook violently without warning!
Above, the King of Iron's roar was more furious than ever before.
It had sensed it.
Its core and legacy, which it guarded, had been taken away at the same time!
Chen Mo's expression remained unchanged as he crushed a teleport crystal.
The anticipated light did not envelop him.
A line of blood-red system notifications popped up before his eyes.
"Warning: Resonance detected between "dragon heart stone" and "extinguish". A spatial lock has formed. Teleportation function is temporarily disabled."
"Hint: The ancient swordsman's trial is not yet complete. Please defeat the guardian "King of Iron"."
Teleportation failed.
At the same time, large sections of the rock layer above collapsed.
A massive dragon head was forcefully tearing through the rock, its molten-lava eyes locked onto Chen Mo below.
Chen Mo slowly looked up, gazing at those dragon eyes filled with fury, without the slightest hint of panic on his face.
He simply extended his five fingers and gripped the sword hilt at his waist.
At that moment, all the faint light in the entire cave seemed to be sucked into his dark scabbard.
"Too noisy."
He said softly.
"Since you're so eager to come down and see me, I'll give you a push."
The instant his words fell, a golden sword light, impossible to catch with the eye, shot up from below, piercing the sky!
It tore through the collapsing rock layers, ripped apart the solid cave ceiling, like a holy sword from the dawn of creation, splitting the entire valley, along with the gloomy sky, in half!
On the ground.
Asuna and the others, who had just teleported back to the safe zone, hadn't even had time to catch their breath when they saw, to their horror, a golden pillar of light, reaching to the heavens, erupt from the direction of the distant Misty Valley!
The entire fifty-fifth floor trembled violently under this power!
The moment the golden sword light tore through the sky, the ear-splitting sound of steel colliding came from deep within the cave.
Chen Mo sheathed his sword and stood, looking at the giant dragon before him.
That sword light, capable of splitting mountains and breaking peaks, had only left a deep crack on the King of Iron's breastplate.
"Interesting."
Chen Mo's lips curved slightly.
This BOSS's defense was far stronger than he had anticipated.
The King of Iron let out an angry roar, its massive body thrashing wildly in the narrow cave, each roll making the rock walls tremble incessantly.
Chen Mo's figure flickered, instantly appearing on the giant dragon's back.
Gripping his sword in his right hand, he plunged the blade without hesitation into the gap between the King of Iron's neck scales.
"Take me out."
The King of Iron roared in pain, its colossal body suddenly surging upwards.
It wanted to shake off the annoying insect on its back!
Rumble—
gravel like raindrops, the entire cave began to collapse under the dragon's impact.
Chen Mo stood steadily on the dragon's back, letting the fierce wind howl across his face, his clothes flapping wildly.
The King of Iron flapped its wings, soaring high, each beat creating a thunderous sonic boom.
It broke through the cave ceiling, through the rock layers, and charged towards the gloomy sky!
On the ground, everyone who had just teleported back to town was still stunned by the golden light.
Suddenly, an earth-shattering dragon's roar came from the shattered mountaintop.
A colossal black shadow burst out of the ground!
The King of Iron, carrying the tiny figure on its back, circled and danced in the sky of the fifty-fifth floor, as if proclaiming the birth of a new king.
"That is—"
Kirito's eyes widened, completely speechless.
He saw that familiar figure, standing casually on the back of the raging giant dragon, his black hair flying in the strong wind.
"Chen Mo!"
Argo clenched her fists, her heart pounding wildly.
What in the world was this guy up to now!
In the sky, the King of Iron thrashed its body frantically, trying to shake Chen Mo off its back.
But Chen Mo's feet seemed to have grown roots on the dragon's back; no matter how much the giant dragon struggled, it couldn't budge him an inch.
The King of Iron went completely mad.
It opened its massive maw, dragon's breath gathering within, preparing for a self-detonation to take its enemy with it.
Just then, Chen Mo moved.
He drew the longsword from the dragon's neck, his figure floating like a ghost, suspended in mid-air.
Directly above the giant dragon, Chen Mo gripped his sword with both hands, and the blade began to emit a brilliant light that seemed to devour everything.
He took a deep breath.
This was his first time using this skill.
Similar to Kirito's Dual Blades, this was a unique authority granted to him by the system.
Soul Severing Draw Slash.