It wasn't screaming anger but a cold, suffocating pressure that settled in Alaric’s chest as he held Jarik’s limp body. The smell of burned flesh was thick in the air.
Alaric’s mind raced, calculating odds like a machine on the brink of failure. If I take him to the medical center, he dies before we reach the door. If I leave him here, he dies anyway!
"Alaric!"
A voice cut through the chaos. Lucia came sprinting across the ruined cobblestones, her white dress stained with mud.
Alaric whipped his head around, his eyes wide. "Go back! Get inside the shelter! Now!"
Lucia ignored him. She skidded to a halt beside them, and when she saw Jarik’s blasted body and the missing arm, the blackened ribs, her hands flew to her mouth. Her eyes widened in horror.
"Lucia, please!" Alaric screamed, his voice cracking. "I can't protect you and fight that thing!"
Lucia lowered her hands. Her trembling stopped. She looked at Alaric, tears streaming down her face, but her jaw set in a line of iron defiance.
"I won't go," she cried, dropping to her knees beside Jarik. "I won't hide in a hole while you and your friends die fighting this monster!"
She placed her hands over Jarik’s ruin of a shoulder. Golden light began to spill from her palms.
"My strongest healing spell... it can regrow limbs," she said, her voice steadying. "But it depends entirely on his will to live, and it will take time. I cannot move."
She looked up at Alaric, her violet eyes burning.
"Protect me. I will save him."
Alaric stared at her, amazed by the steel in her spine. "Heal him," he commanded. "I will handle the lizard."
He stood up and turned to Kellan and Silan. The two knights were frozen, staring at their fallen friend with pale faces.
"Snap out of it!" Alaric barked. "We don't have time for grief. That lizard pays now."
Alaric turned his gaze to the sky. The dragon was circling, preparing for another run.
He drew his dual wielded guns and poured mana.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Hypersonic bullets streaked into the sky as they connected.
The granite bullets, moving at Mach 5, simply disintegrated against the crimson scales. It was like throwing clumps of dirt at a wall.
The eyes, Alaric thought. No scales there.
But the dragon was three hundred meters up, moving at supersonic speeds. Trying to hit a target the size of a dinner plate under those conditions !
He needed to bring it down.
He thought of his magic arsenal. He had two Ascendant-Tier spells. One of them was Earthbound Decree.
It increases the mass of all objects within a 100-meter radius by 5 to 10 times.
If he could hit the dragon with that, its weight would be too massive to fly and crash.
The problem is It’s out of range.
Alaric turned to the giant beside him. "Kellan. Throw me like before."
Kellan blinked, wiping blood from his forehead. "Are you dumb? Didn't you see what happened to Jarik?"
"I have a plan," Alaric said, his eyes locked on the beast. "I won't attack it directly. Just get me close."
Kellan looked at the desperation in Alaric’s face. He nodded grimly.
"Don't die," Kellan grunted.
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He grabbed Alaric by his leg. With a roar of exertion, Kellan spun and launched him the same way.
Alaric soared into the air, wind tearing at his face. He watched the dragon getting larger. He waited until he was at the apex of the arc.
"Creo Terra: Earthbound Decree!"
A purple sphere expanded from Alaric’s body. It washed over the dragon.
The beast screeched in confusion. Instantly, its wings felt like they were made of lead. Its grace vanished and stalled in mid-air, tumbling uncontrollably toward the earth.
CRASH.
The ground shook as the dragon slammed into the plaza, crushing stone and timber.
"Now! Attack!" Orban screamed.
Every knight in the order unleashed hell. Swords coated in aura, fireballs, Ice spears ,everything they had poured into the downed beast.
Alaric landed, rolling to a stop. He watched the bombardment as scales cracked and black blood sprayed.
But it wasn't enough. It was still a Dragon.
The dragon rose from the crater, shaking off the debris. It opened its mouth and let out a sound that wasn't of this world.
SCREEEEEEEEECH!
It was a Dragon Fear. A magical debuff that struck directly at the soul.
The sonic boom disoriented everyone. Knights dropped their weapons, clutching their ears. Alaric felt his heart falter, a primal terror gripping his limbs.
In that second of frozen hesitation, the dragon took a breath.
It aimed point-blank at the cluster of paralyzed knights. The blue light in its throat blinded them.
Alaric, standing too far away to block it, screamed. "Move!"
But no one could move.
It’s over, Alaric thought.
The beam fired.
But the fire did not burn them.
A sphere of blinding, golden light erupted around the dragon’s body, containing the blast within a divine bubble.
Alaric turned. Lucia was standing over Jarik, her hands raised high and her hair floating .
"Creo Lux: Sovereign Sanctuary."
Behind her, Darsia was helping Jarik sit up. His left arm was back looking pink, raw and new.
Lucia’s eyes were blazing with fury. She looked like a goddess of war.
"You are not killing anyone under my watch!" she screamed.
She slammed her staff down.
"Creo Lux Aeterna! Shine eternal, hearts aflame, strength unbound!"
A wave of white light washed over the battlefield. Alaric felt the fear vanish, replaced by a surge of limitless energy. His muscles felt light, his mana roared back to life.
"Kill it!" Kellan roared, his strength doubled by the buff.
The knights charged again. Alaric joined them, firing his guns into the exposed wounds.
But the joy lasted only a moment.
Alaric’s Earthbound Decree wore off.
The dragon, realizing it was in danger, flapped its tattered wings. With a gust of wind that knocked the knights flat, it took to the sky.
It was slower now, bleeding and battered, but it was gaining altitude. If it escaped, it would heal and return. Or worse, rain fire from a height they couldn't reach.
"Lucia!" Alaric screamed. "Can you keep the barrier up?"
Lucia, sweating , nodded fiercely. "Go!"
"Orban! Keep it occupied!"
Alaric turned and ran.
He didn't just run but also used galeboost and Confirma to run at a blurring pace, streaking toward the hangar.
Alaric burst into the lab and ignored the safety protocols. He grabbed the heavy, long-barreled weapon from the bench.
Alaric sprinting back, arrived at the edge of the plaza in seconds and positioned himself behind a ruined wall, hidden from the sight of his own knights.
The dragon was three hundred meters up, preparing to dive.
Alaric raised the weapon as he whispered, "This ends now."
Pouring mana into the coils as air around the gun hummed. Alaric didn't aim for the body, instead aimed for the head and pulled the trigger.
"Discharge."
The recoil was so violent it dislocated Alaric’s shoulder, pushing him backward into the dirt.
A beam of blue-white light connected the barrel to the sky.
The bullet traveled at almost 10 km/s.
The Sky Dragon didn't even blink. It didn't have time to process the threat.
One moment, it was roaring. The next, its lower jaw and the back of its skull simply ceased to exist. A hole the size of a barrel punched straight through its head, pulverising bone and brain instantly.
The roar cut off. The massive body went limp in mid-air.
It fell silently, crashing into the ruins of the market square with a final, earth-shaking thud.
Alaric quickly stored the railgun into his back before staggering out from behind the wall, clutching his shoulder.
Silence reigned over the battlefield.
Then, a cheer erupted.
"It's dead! It's dead!"
The knights threw their helmets in the air. People poured out of the shelter.
Lucia ran to him. She didn't care about the mud or the blood. She collided with him, burying her face in his chest, sobbing with relief.
Alaric wrapped his good arm around her, feeling the adrenaline crash. He looked at the corpse of the S-Rank beast.
Even the Demon General wasn't this strong, Alaric thought, his heart still hammering against his ribs. And we killed it.
History has been made in Haven today.
But as Alaric looked up at the sky, the relief turned cold.
A Sky-dragon wouldn't just pop in the middle of nowhere like this!
AUTHOR’S NOTE — Quick Update
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