At that moment, it wasn't just Sam Li and Azhdaha who were on edge—even the onlookers were holding their breath.
Nicole, Billy, Caesar, Piper...
Zhu Yuan, Seth, Qingyi, Jane...
And the Bangboo gang's little brothers...
They could all tell—the battle was nearing its end. The decisive moment had arrived.
Seth shouted toward Sam Li, "Mr. Sam Li, you have to win—!"
Cardboard Bangboo raised his voice too, "Mm-hmm, mm-hmm (Lord Azhdaha, defeat the bad guy)..."
Seth quickly corrected him, "Mr. Sam Li isn't the bad guy..."
...
Of course, that little exchange meant nothing to Sam Li and Azhdaha, who were deep in battle.
Right now—
Explosions roared all around them as Geo and Pyro elements clashed.
They couldn't hear anything from Seth or Bangboo.
The standoff lasted several intense seconds.
Finally—
Azhdaha, Dragon King, began to show signs of fatigue.
His fire form had increased his attack power, but at a huge cost to his defense.
He simply couldn't endure such a high-intensity clash for long.
Time ticked by.
The amount of Pyro he could gather kept decreasing, while the Geo consumed kept increasing.
The flames from his mouth weakened noticeably.
With a thunderous blast—
Sam Li's Vortex Vanquisher broke through the flames, and with overwhelming momentum, shot straight toward Azhdaha's body.
If he had still been in his original Geo form,
Azhdaha could have just lowered his body and used his hardened back to take the hit.
But in this Pyro form, his defense was too weak.
There was no way he could withstand this strike.
The next second—
The enormous spear pierced through the blaze and struck his massive body.
At the same time, a surge of Geo erupted, clashing with unstable Pyro like a massive powder keg going off.
Azhdaha was already at his limit.
Now, he had to endure both the spear's impact and the twin-element explosion—
It was too much.
In an instant—
He felt blow after crushing blow.
His massive form was blasted into the sky.
His body streaked through the air, hurtling toward Zhu Yuan, Qingyi, and the Bangboos.
Seeing this—
Zhu Yuan, Qingyi, Jane, and Seth all panicked.
If they got hit by the mountain-like body of Azhdaha, it wouldn't just kill them—it could cause the entire ground to collapse several meters.
Zhu Yuan shouted in panic, "Run! Seth, Qingyi, Jane, run—!"
Under normal circumstances, they might've escaped.
But all of them were injured—their speed and reflexes had taken a hit.
They couldn't run far or fast enough to get clear of Azhdaha's crash zone.
Meanwhile, unlike the others—
Bangboo, seeing his boss flying through the air, wasn't afraid at all.
He raised his two tiny hands toward the sky.
"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm (Boss is coming! Boss, we're over here)—"
"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm (Lord Azhdaha, did we win?)..."
"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm (Long live Bangboo)..."
...
Far off—
Sam Li, having just landed a devastating blow on Azhdaha, sensed something was off.
He immediately looked up at the airborne dragon.
Something was wrong.
If Azhdaha hit the ground like that—Zhu Yuan, Qingyi, the others, and the Bangboos would be done for.
With no time to spare—
Sam Li didn't even pause to rest.
He launched himself like a cannonball, rocketing forward.
He had to intercept Azhdaha before he hit the ground.
...
At that very moment—
High in the sky—
Azhdaha realized he had lost.
He had failed to defeat his foe. Failed to settle a grudge spanning a thousand years.
But—
A faint image flickered in his mind.
It showed a massive Archon—and Morax.
He wasn't fighting Morax.
They were standing side by side—defending something.
The vision vanished as quickly as it came.
What replaced it were the faces of a few annoying humans—
And a bunch of tiny Bangboo brothers.
Now, Azhdaha had two choices.
First—he could maintain his massive mountain-like form, crash down, crush the humans, squash the Bangboos, and then draw Geo energy from the land to continue his fight against Morax...
Second—he could let go of his revenge, release the Geo within him, return to his small form—
That way, the Bangboos wouldn't be crushed.
At that point—
Memories of the past few days with the Bangboos surfaced in his mind.
"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm (Boss, who's your enemy? We'll help you get revenge)..."
"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm (Anyone who messes with Lord Azhdaha is an enemy of the Bangboo gang)..."
"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm (Boss, our Bangboo gang finally has a home in the Outer Ring)..."
...
He could still hear their voices echoing.
At that moment—Azhdaha no longer saw them as mere followers.
He saw them as companions.
He saw himself as their big brother.
And what kind of big brother crushes his own little brothers?
At the last possible second—
Azhdaha finally came to his senses and made his choice.
He would let go of the Geo within him.
He would return to his small form.
This revenge... he had lost.
The next moment—
Azhdaha deflated like a balloon. A dazzling light flashed—
Countless Geo particles poured from his body.
In the blink of an eye—
The towering mountain-like dragon was gone.
Only a tiny Bangboo-sized Dragon King remained, hovering in midair.
As his strength faded—
The little Azhdaha was completely drained.
He closed his eyes and passed out.
A second later—
With a soft thud, the tiny Azhdaha landed just ahead of Zhu Yuan, Qingyi, Jane, and Seth.
Gurgle, gurgle—
He rolled a few times across the ground, coming to a stop right in front of Zhu Yuan and Qingyi.
For a moment—
Everyone stared at the little Azhdaha in stunned silence.
What just happened?
Where was the giant monster from before?
How had a hundred-meter-tall rock behemoth turned into a tiny rock Bangboo in the blink of an eye?
The sudden change left Zhu Yuan, Qingyi, Jane, and Seth completely confused.
When they finally snapped out of it—
Zhu Yuan and Seth exchanged glances, their eyes full of shock, disbelief, and the relief of surviving.
Then, their gazes all returned to the little Azhdaha.
He lay motionless on the ground—
No one could tell if he was still alive.