Vile Evil Hides Under The Veil

A few minutes later.

A desolate island in the endless seas had changed its geography entirely due to two powerful beings using it as their battleground.

Swoosh. Zoom. Boom.

Eren and Marina clashed once again.

This time, Marina could feel that Eren was growing stronger by the minute, thanks to his rapid adaptation to his draconic transformation.

Eren and Reen had done many mock battles with Roza and the others. However, it had been a long time since they had fought together in such a merger. The last time Reen had transformed Eren into an unrecognizable being was when they fought in Osan Woods, facing Isaac's group.

At that time, Eren's transformation had been truly otherworldly, enabling him to kill enemies far stronger than himself. It and the way he killed were the reasons he gained the title Osan Woods' Butcher.

The situation with Marina was similar, but the scale of the transformation was completely different. If, in the past, Eren had used his merger with Reen to eliminate a pompous and deviant brat like Isaac, this time, his transformation was meant to establish his dominance over a genuine dragoness.

Even in Anfang, dragons and wyverns existed. However, they never appeared in regions conquered by humans and other humanoid races. They stayed in the deepest parts of the Badlands, preferring to protect their own territories rather than mingle with Rankers.

Even during Eren's ten years of traveling to distant lands in Anfang, while staying low-key as the weaponsmith Leo Longblade, he had never truly fought a genuine dragon. He had never encountered an authentic draconic terror.

Labh Salem, however, was different. This world was a cultural melting pot of various races and beings. Even dragons mingled with other races for their own benefit, battling to safeguard their interests.

Given this, it was clear how difficult it was for Eren to handle Marina. Despite his earlier facade, which made it seem like he had an easier time dealing with her, Marina always knew Eren was not her match in a frontal clash.

Marina had exceptional elemental control over water, and with the island surrounded by it, the volume of water at her disposal was enough to drown a city like Edinburgh's capital, Edin, ten times over.

However, Eren neutralized Marina's elemental prowess with his God Spark. He not only used the same tactics as her but also disrupted her elemental attacks using his divine powers.

Although Marina was a dragon with superior control over water, she could do nothing against Eren's divine powers, which robbed her of her authority over elemental attacks.

Marina quickly abandoned her elemental attacks and resorted to close combat, knowing she could suppress Eren's divine powers more effectively in physical confrontation.

Eren obliged, ceasing to rely on his God Spark, as he too wanted to engage in close combat. This was something Marina was forced to neglect subconsciously.

The reason Eren had acted so arrogantly with Marina was to prevent her from seeing how difficult it was for him to wield his God Spark while still in a mortal vessel. As a demi-god, Eren faced many limitations on his usage of the God Spark.

Though Eren had learned to manage his God Spark better after changing his Ranking Technique, which gave him a devilishly strong physique, he was still flesh and blood. He remained a demi-god who had yet to transcend his mortal boundaries.

Thus, Eren acted as though he was always in control right after he confronted Marina. In the earlier rounds of battle, he wielded his God Spark with such proficiency that Marina subconsciously forgot that he was not a true Immortal but a demi-god. She inadvertently chose not to press him into continuously using his God Spark.

Eren practically forced Marina to relinquish her advantage over water by making her believe his God Spark was invincible and infallible. This led her to shift focus, engaging him instead in close combat using her powerful draconic form.

Marina's thinking wasn't wrong. Her decision wasn't entirely mistaken either, given her superior draconic physique.

However, Eren was prepared to fight her in an area where they were, more or less, evenly matched. At the very least, Marina didn't have an absolute advantage over Eren when it came to their draconic physiques.

Eren and Reen had rarely fought as a team in Labh Salem since Eren's arrival in this world a few years ago. As a result, there was a slight delay in their coordination.

This delay wasn't noticeable or exploitable by ordinary enemies. However, someone like Marina, with her exceptionally sharp draconic senses and even more powerful draconic form, was able to capitalize on this lack of coordination, hammering Eren down with her might.

But Eren and Reen quickly adapted. They used the battle with Marina as a whetstone, sharpening their teamwork and eliminating any inconsistencies.

Of course, Eren suffered greatly under Marina's attacks during this time.

Within seconds, he was grievously injured after Marina truly tapped into her powers.

It had been a long time since the butcher been beaten this badly, especially after coming to Labh Salem. He had to admit, Marina was truly a genuine dragoness, able to suppress him despite his many advantages as the inheritor of Elder Ichor and a demi-god with a water-element God Spark.

Despite this overwhelming suppression, Eren was far from losing to Marina. His regenerative powers had quadrupled after donning Reen as an Elder Seed Armor. It was as if he had truly become immortal, his body refusing to remain in an injured state.

Eren already possessed an astonishing level of regenerative powers thanks to Instant Reset, which had evolved into a skill after his entry into Labh Salem. Coupled with his bloodline powers, which had their own regenerative qualities, he became even harder to keep down.

When he unleashed his draconic form with Reen's help, even Marina—a true dragoness—couldn't keep him injured for more than three seconds.

This was despite Marina having an absolute rank advantage over him—she was an S-Ranked legendary being, while Eren was still an A-Ranked Grandmaster.