novelraw Chapter 139: Battle with the Regular Army
Chapter 139: Battle with the Regular Army
At the Skyfloat Stone mine outpost, in the resting room of the rotating guards.
“This damn weather…”
The old sentry warmed his hands with his breath, taking off his soaking wet armor.
“I just got transferred to the wilderness, and it’s already the rainy season.” He kicked the moldy ration bag at his feet and grumbled, “I hate the weather here.”
The young sentry wiped the rust stains off his breastplate, chuckling as he said, “At least it’s better than the sandstorms in the dry season. Back then, my helmet was filled with half a pound of sand, and my mouth tasted like sand.”
He suddenly lowered his voice: “Honestly, what are you planning to do when your service ends?”
“Go back home and open a blacksmith shop.”
The old sentry said, “My son learned how to make horseshoes in Silverpine City this year. It’s not the best skill, but at least it’s safe. No worries about not seeing the next day’s sun.”
He looked toward the young sentry.
He asked, “How about you? Any plans?”The young sentry smiled broadly and said, “After this year is over, I’m applying to retire. I want to try out for the Royal Capital Knights.”
“For that blonde girl?”
Calvin grinned, revealing a toothless gap in his smile: “Come on, kid, you even need me to help write your love letters.”
After a few playful jabs between them,
Another sentry joked, “I really wish a powerful beast would attack and cause chaos. Maybe then we could go home early.”
Boom!
A loud thunderclap rang out, interrupting their conversation.
At the same time, the alarm bell suddenly tore through the rain curtain.
Their faces changed instantly. They hurriedly grabbed their weapons and rushed out of the resting room, witnessing a scene they would never forget.
Under the torrential sky, a crimson figure tore through the clouds. Its majestic and imposing body evaporated water vapor, trailing a comet-like tail of steam and dark red flames behind it.
Six ballistae standing around the outpost activated simultaneously, magic energy crystals embedded in their bases erupting with dazzling blue light.
These war machines, forged by alchemists, were priceless treasures. The crossbow bolts were etched with armor-piercing runes capable of penetrating thick steel plates.
They all aimed skyward, firing giant crossbow bolts over ten meters long.
The giant bolts relentlessly tore through the rain, the rune glow wrapped around the shafts lighting their flight paths like meteors shooting upward.
This kind of war weapon was best not to block with your body.
Garoth took a deep breath. Golden lightning sparks leapt from between his scale plates, flaring around him like a wild mane, his whole body swelling in size.
Time seemed to slow down.
In the Red Iron Dragon’s vision, the raindrops fell slower, and the bolts flying toward him appeared to crawl.
No, it wasn’t that they slowed down.
It was Garoth’s reaction and speed that had all increased.
The Red Iron Dragon’s powerful body displayed unparalleled agility, moving like a swimming dragon, fast as a golden flash, darting left and right, twisting and turning as he weaved through the hail of arrows.
He dodged the first wave of ballista fire.
Garoth opened his huge mouth, fangs gripping boiling flames and lightning.
Boom!
A spherical breath of flame and thunder erupted from his mouth, evaporating a vacuum trail through the rain, instantly reaching a ballista.
A magical shield rose.
It enveloped the ballista, but shattered instantly upon contact with the flame-thunder breath.
The defensive runes and magic crystals embedded in the base overloaded and broke simultaneously, but they succeeded in blocking Garoth’s attack, and the heavy ballista was undamaged.
It must be said.
The regular army was not comparable to the private forces brought by noble scions before.
“Activate the Anti-Air Pillars!”
The garrison commander roared, issuing the order.
The ground suddenly cracked open. Five black pillars inscribed with complex spells rose, arranged in a circle. Then, all five pillars lit up simultaneously, forming a large magic energy dispelling field and a super-gravity domain in the air, instantly enveloping Garoth.
The flow of magical energy inside his body became extremely obscure.
Moreover, it wasn’t just magic energy dispersal; a super-heavy force pressed down on him like an invisible giant hand dragging him downward.
If it were an ordinary dragon, it would lose its flying advantage and be pulled to the ground.
Garoth’s eyes flickered. His body staggered as if affected, plummeting toward the ground.
Engines roared continuously. One after another, alchemical golems powered up, converging rapidly on the point where Garoth was falling, ready to encircle and kill the attacker on the ground.
However,
The unexpected happened.
When Garoth descended to about a hundred meters, he suddenly shook his wings, his body slicing a golden arc, reversing direction, and charging straight at the Anti-Air Pillars.
Hardened Body!
His already tough body was coated with a black iron-like luster. Garoth’s wings smashed forward with unstoppable momentum.
Boom!
The magic shields of the Anti-Air Pillars were shattered.
His dragon wings slashed, claws tore, tail swept—instantly destroying all five pillars. Then his body bounced and twisted continuously to dodge another wave of heavy ballista fire. He opened his mouth and breathed flame-thunder breath at the now shieldless ballista.
The ground shattered. A heavily armored humanoid golem carrying a massive steel shield jumped up.
The flame-thunder sphere was intercepted mid-air, colliding with the giant shield.
The alchemical golem was blasted away by the flames. The giant shield was riddled with cracks but did not break, showing its extraordinary material and construction.
Flames rolled through the air.
Before they dissipated, a crimson golden dragon shadow rushed over.
Its guillotine-like dragon wings swept across the ballista, cleaving it in two.
The other five ballistae did not stop firing. The arrow storm swept toward Garoth again, attacking from tricky angles, trying to suppress him and prevent him from taking flight. The alchemical golems encircled him, some with blazing jets on their backs capable of flight.
The human casters and sorcerers were weaving spells.
The warrior guards were on high alert, ready to launch a siege attack once Garoth was injured and grounded.
Almost all the guards’ eyes were fixed on Garoth, attacking him fiercely.
And this was exactly what Garoth wanted.
The opportunity for the other two dragons had arrived.
“Two more...”
The shouting suddenly stopped.
Then the alloy gate of the western warehouse began to groan under unbearable pressure.
The Red Dragon and the Iron Dragon crushed the rather weak defenders and launched an assault on the warehouse.
Samantha’s fiery breath did not directly strike the gate but poured through the door cracks. The terrifying heat and shock caused the metal door to expand and deform, the runes one by one fading into nothingness.
Bang!
The Iron Dragon’s tough claws slipped through the crack. With bulging muscles, it tore the heavy steel door into twisted scrap iron.
A wave of heat mixed with sulfur surged into the warehouse, making the Skyfloat Stones displayed in the blast-proof cabinet glow like pulsating cyan hearts.
“Sparkling! Sparkling wonderful gems!”
“You belong to the dragons now!”
Samantha roared excitedly, her eyes narrowing into vertical slits.
She and the Iron Dragon charged into the warehouse, looting the gems on a rampage.
The commotion in the gem warehouse drew attention. Several alchemical golems, followed by some guards, changed course, abandoning Garoth’s target to rush to the warehouse.
Garoth sensed the troops beginning to split to defend, and immediately changed tactics.
He no longer tangled with the ballistae but suddenly dived to the lowest altitude. His dragon claws alternated slapping, smashing a golem trying to rush the warehouse into scrap, then swinging the heavy golem’s wreckage to hit nearby warriors.
Garoth displayed overwhelming power, making it difficult for the defenders to regroup.
After a short time, two loud bangs sounded. The Iron Dragon and the Red Dragon smashed through the warehouse roof and soared into the sky. Samantha did not forget to send a final blast of dragon breath toward the warehouse behind her.
Flames and thick smoke coiled like giant serpents rising in the rain.
Before leaving, Sorog used his tail to knock down a load-bearing pillar. Now struck by dragon breath again, most of the warehouse area collapsed into ruins amid the roaring sounds.
Engines roared. Alchemical golems with blazing jets on their backs charged at Garoth.
“Remember, this is a return gift for Viscount Iron Thorn!”
Garoth left these words behind. His wings flapped, he braved a blocking crossbow bolt, soaring straight upward at high speed, breaking free of pursuit, catching up to the two young dragons, covering the Red Dragon and Iron Dragon’s retreat.
The torrential rain could not conceal the firelight and thick smoke.
The garrison of the Raymond Duchy could only watch helplessly as the young dragons grew distant and disappeared.