Chapter 43: The Azure Dragon’s Deception

“Bang!” A burst of green smoke erupted, enveloping Azure Dragon’s entire form, just as the Shamatte-styled individual’s white longsword struck its body.

Confronted with this sight, the Shamatte-styled individual was momentarily stunned.

He felt as though his blade had connected with Azure Dragon, yet something seemed just slightly off.

However, the onlookers, observing from the sidelines, saw everything with perfect clarity: the strike had not only hit Azure Dragon but had also carved deeply into its flesh, instantly depleting its health bar.

Yet, this peculiar burst of green smoke was anything but simple.

For one, no one had ever witnessed another monster release such smoke upon death; only Azure Dragon had done so.

Secondly, the Shamatte-styled individual’s previous strike had chilled everyone’s hearts, and now that the situation had shifted, the onlookers genuinely hoped that Azure Dragon, as the final boss, wouldn’t be defeated so easily.

As expected, the subsequent events proved worthy of Azure Dragon’s status as a final boss.

Despite being targeted relentlessly by the Shamatte-styled individual, finding itself unable to exert its full power and suffering continuous slashes that drained its health, it still possessed its secret weapon.

As a wood-elemental boss, Azure Dragon did not possess the formidable offensive and lethal capabilities of a metal-elemental boss like White Tiger.

Nevertheless, it had its own unique characteristics.

The smoke and dust quickly dissipated, and Azure Dragon reappeared in everyone’s sight.

Yet, the Shamatte-styled individual was once again bewildered, for two Azure Dragons now stood before him!

Both Azure Dragons looked identical, their movements perfectly synchronized, and even their health bars appeared to have been copy-pasted.

They manifested on the Shamatte-styled individual’s left and right sides, respectively.

“Holy crap, this Azure Dragon’s got some tricks up its sleeve!” Kabasiji exclaimed, his voice laced with surprise as he stared at the scene unfolding before them.

“Is this a clone ability? Does this mean we have to face two Azure Dragons now? But why didn’t Azure Dragon attack directly? If I were Azure Dragon, I would have ambushed that guy from two directions while still in the smoke, guaranteed to kill him!”

“No, look,” Hank countered, shaking his head and pointing forward.

“This might just be part of the design.

Azure Dragon probably can’t attack right now, otherwise, it would be too insurmountable!

Both of these Azure Dragons are currently at critical health; a few more hits would finish them off.

However, the one on the left is regenerating health at an insane rate!

I’m convinced one of them is real and the other is a fake.

Only when a player attacks again will it be able to resume attacking players.”

“So, which of these two Azure Dragons is real, and which is fake? And what would be the penalty for hitting the fake one?” Xue Hu wrote on a wooden board.

“If Azure Dragon fully recovers its health, wouldn’t players have to fight it all over again? My guess is that this is an automatically triggered skill when Azure Dragon’s health drops critically low.

Otherwise, that guy was so confident and composed before, but now he’s suddenly dumbfounded.

He must have never encountered this situation, meaning no one has ever brought Azure Dragon to critical health before, which is why he’s clueless about this.”

“Yes, I think so too,” Hank nodded, agreeing.

“As for which one is real, I lean towards the one on the right with critical health.

If Azure Dragon possessed such a potent healing ability, wouldn’t it have used it much earlier, instead of waiting until now?

I believe hitting the fake one would undoubtedly incur severe penalties, perhaps massive damage or a slew of debuffs.

This would make players see the left one healing furiously and impulsively charge forward to interrupt it, only to fall right into a trap!”

“I agree,” Kabasiji chimed in, nodding his head.

“If Azure Dragon could heal like that, what would even be the point of fighting? We might as well surrender right away!”

Indeed, even as they spoke, the Azure Dragon on the left had already recovered more than half of its health.

If it truly healed that quickly, it would be no different from resurrection.

“Look, that guy’s about to make his move! Which one will he slash?”

The Shamatte-styled individual’s momentary daze quickly faded.

The urgency of the battle left no room for prolonged thought.

The two Azure Dragons were positioned too far apart for him to strike both simultaneously.

Just as Hank had theorized, he concluded the left one was fake, and thus drew his blade, slashing towards the Azure Dragon on the right!

“Bang!” A familiar scene unfolded as the Shamatte-styled individual’s blade struck the Azure Dragon on the right, triggering another burst of green smoke.

Unlike the previous instance, however, this time the Shamatte-styled individual felt his blade connect with nothing substantial; he had merely slashed through air.

Nevertheless, the longsword in his hand snapped, indicating that this white longsword was a durability-based item, automatically breaking once its durability was depleted.

“Roar!” The Azure Dragon on the left let out a furious roar.

Now at full health, it vigorously rallied, signaling the start of the second round of battle.

The surrounding flora had long since returned to normal, even before the “Azure Dragon Clone” appeared, suggesting that the duration of the “Shrink Orb” had expired.

As the green smoke on the right dissipated, no Azure Dragon remained; it was clearly a mere illusion!

Having struck the fake, the Shamatte-styled individual was now firmly restrained in place by green energy, unable to move.

The broken blade on the ground lay untouched, as the “White Tiger” battle pet had entered dormancy.

The Shamatte-styled individual’s life hung by a thread.

Even if Azure Dragon lacked the potent offensive capabilities of White Tiger, it was still not something an unarmed, unequipped player could withstand!

It seemed their plan to snatch the kill would have to be put on hold.

As for the Shamatte-styled individual’s fate? Who cared?

The onlookers were practically wishing for him to be killed by Azure Dragon sooner.

Now, only one thought resonated in their minds: ‘What a pity! The Shamatte-styled individual couldn’t last longer to reveal more of Azure Dragon’s skills. What a waste!’