Chapter 124: Change
Mid-air, Kael decided to change his tactics.
All his previous attacks had been directed at Dodai. In his view, only this guy was a threat; the other Cloud ninja were just ants. As long as Dodai was killed, none of the others would escape.
But he hadn't expected this Cloud ninja, who was merely a background character in the original story, to display such impressive strength.
Not only did he possess Lava Release—a large-scale offensive weapon that prevented Kael and his summons from swarming him—but he had also survived the previous combo attack.
Since he couldn't kill Dodai quickly, the plan to take him out first undoubtedly needed to change.
Kill those hindrances first, then I can take my time dealing with this Lava Release user.
"In that case..."
Kael suddenly looked toward the Earth Dragon hiding in the distance and issued a new command mentally.
"You think hiding in your shell will save you? You think I'm out of options?"
At this moment, Dodai and his men had constructed another defensive fortress made of Earth Style.
But the battlefield had only been quiet for a few seconds when they suddenly felt the entire forest begin to vibrate.
"Is it an illusion?"
Dodai turned to look at the men beside him, only to find shock on their faces as well.
His heart tightened, and he looked up abruptly at the surrounding rock walls.
Through the open roof of the circular fortress, Dodai could see the pitch-black night sky.
But that wasn't what alarmed him. It was the Earth Style fortress itself, which was trembling violently. Clods of earth and stone were shaken loose from the tightly packed walls, falling incessantly. As time passed, the shower of falling rocks grew heavier, filling the perimeter of the walls. Finally, they came crashing down toward Dodai and the others with alarming speed and frequency, threatening to bury them alive.
"What kind of jutsu is this?!"
Dodai was frantic. He quickly led his men to jump up to the top of the rock walls.
He tried his best to recall any intelligence from the village regarding the characteristics of this jutsu, but he drew a blank.
"Does this mean... this is another Summoning Beast that has never appeared before, or a jutsu that hasn't been recorded?"
Dodai's heart sank heavily.
The earth seemed like an enraged god, beginning to roar.
The Earth Dragon turns, delivering all living things!
The ground within a thousand-meter radius acted like a furious lion, suddenly collapsing and heaving. Massive slabs of earth were squeezed upward, while countless pits of varying sizes collapsed downward, revealing bottomless, dark chasms that seemed ready to swallow every living thing.
Dodai and his men could no longer stay in one place. They scattered, using all their strength to dodge and avoid falling into the abyss.
Even Dodai's previous Lava Release flowed down into the endless cracks, disappearing without a trace.
No matter how large the range of the Lava Release, it couldn't escape the Earth Dragon's [Earthquake Wave]!
At this moment, all of Dodai's previous efforts had gone to waste!
"Ah!"
In the violently shaking world, Dodai suddenly heard a scream. He quickly turned his head, but saw only darkness.
He shouted frantically, "Who screamed?"
No one answered him!
The dozen or so Cloud ninja who had been gathered together had long been scattered by the sudden earthquake, unable to maintain their formation.
Dodai's heart sank. Although the air was filled with the sounds of the ground cracking and collapsing, he could vaguely tell that the scream had come from one of his subordinates.
A few more seconds passed, and the rumbling earth seemed to quiet down slightly.
But Dodai knew this was an illusion; he had just gotten slightly used to the deafening noise.
In those few seconds, several more screams came from far away. Dodai felt as if his heart were roasting on a fire, but the frequency of the ground collapsing around him was becoming more alarming. Even he was in danger of falling if he wasn't careful.
He could barely protect himself; he could only hope his subordinates had good luck.
But his face had become hideously twisted.
Since making a name for himself in the Shinobi World, Dodai had never suffered such a loss!
"Kael Cross! For killing my Cloud ninja, your Hidden Hot Water Village will be buried with them!"
Dodai roared sternly. Before, he hadn't wanted to enrage Kael solely to preserve his men, so he had swallowed his pride. Even when Kael killed one of his ninja, he endured it, just wanting to bring the other brothers back intact.
But now that Kael's jutsu had left the fate of his subordinates unknown, he could no longer hold back.
Dodai stared fixedly at the massive silhouette in the pitch-black night, its wings seemingly flapping slowly. His eyes were full of anger and resentment, but also a trace of regret.
If I hadn't attacked Kael earlier, would we be in this situation?
He thought this over and over in his heart, the thought cutting him like a knife.
After all, his mission was only to borrow passage from the Hidden Frost Village for the Cloud army to pass through to the Land of Fire later, and incidentally to have the Hidden Frost Leader, who had always been close to the Cloud, send a few ninja to Konoha to post commissions to confuse Konoha's intelligence.
As for the Hidden Hot Water Leader, Kael Cross... after the A-B Brothers returned to the village, the Third Raikage, after his anger subsided, had said to let Kael go for now. Konoha was the enemy; the Hidden Hot Water was just a small village. It wouldn't be too late to deal with them after defeating Konoha.
In other words, Dodai's attack this time was entirely his own initiative!
For the first time, Dodai regretted his own arrogance...
Even in the pitch-black night, Kael seemed to see Dodai's exasperation.
"Hmph..."
Kael sneered, looking in the direction of the mournful roar.
He heard the false bravado in Dodai's voice and sensed a massive fluctuation of chakra coming from that direction, but he didn't care.
"Just struggling on death's door!"
"Lava Release: Scorching Dragon Fire Technique!"
In the lonely world of darkness, Dodai shouted.
Crimson magma spewed from his mouth, instantly covering his body. The next moment, it formed a super-sized magma dragon.
It was wrapped in super-high-temperature magma from head to toe. Combined with its massive size, it would melt anything it touched.
At the same time, this was a killer move he had created himself. The formed fire dragon possessed extremely high mobility and defense; it was perfect for both offense and defense. Now, Dodai unleashed it without reservation.