novelraw Chapter 379: Let's go to hell together...?!
Chapter 379: Let's go to hell together...?!
The split-and-guerrilla strategy was a complete failure.
Now, with the leader revealed, the Dominik Dragon Cluster decided to confront the Ignas Dragon Cluster face to face,
and at the same time, every warrior of the Molten Iron Legion, whether dragon, lord, or ordinary follower, turned their gaze toward the towering, fierce draconic silhouette on their side.
Under the watchful eyes of all, the red iron dragon spread his wings and surged upward to the same altitude as the Heart of Thunder.
He flung his wings wide, and a savage, sonorous dragon might shot into the sky, even ripping a hole through the storm clouds above, matching the blue dragon leader’s imposing presence blow for blow.
High above, the two great dragons bore stern faces, standing opposed at a distance.
Their eyes met, the faintly reddened pupils and the deep azure irises reflecting each other’s forms.
A predatory curve tugged at the corner of the red iron dragon’s mouth, while the blue dragon’s expression remained calm, tiny visible arcs of lightning dancing across his scales.
As they stared, Garoth recalled the information Zoraya had revealed about the blue dragon.
The Heart of Thunder practiced both the Storm Sorcerer path and the Hundred-Battle path, and he was highly ranked in both.This battle-storm dragon excelled at both ranged attacks and close-quarter fighting, showing no obvious weakness, save for a subtle vulnerability left by a past injury that was not easy to detect.
While the red iron dragon scrutinized his opponent, the blue dragon leader watched him intently.
“Son of Gorthax, hehe, you really are not someone to be trifled with, being able to slay an elder dragon father,” the blue dragon leader said slowly.
When Gorthax had fled the wilderness back then, he had visited coastal regions and met the Heart of Thunder; though they did not fight, he had left a strong impression.
The vicious, malevolent air now radiating from the red iron dragon resembled that of Gorthax in some ways.
Other species might not notice differences between dragons, but the blue dragon leader could see clearly: the Molten Iron King bore red dragon traits and shared some likeness with Gorthax.
It was certain there was some connection between him and Gorthax.
The rumors that the Lord of Molten Iron had slain his father were not baseless.
As he spoke, more arcs of lightning leapt from the blue dragon leader’s body, glittering between his deep-blue scales; his aura deepened and grew more dangerous.
Full-charge state.
Entering full-charge meant the blue dragon leader was serious and no longer testing the waters; he intended to go all-out.
“I was seriously considering an alliance with your dragon cluster,” the Heart of Thunder’s voice grew deeper as he said, “but now that you have led your legion to attack, you have enraged me completely. I promise you will regret your recklessness beyond measure.”
Garoth replied to the blue dragon leader’s long speech with five words.
He shook his head slightly and said, “You talk too much.”
Across from him, the blue dragon leader stared at the red iron dragon, his expression darkening further.
“Come and face the thunder!”
The Heart of Thunder roared, throwing back his head as his wings suddenly unfurled fully, the membranes etched with countless lightning-like patterns that gleamed brilliantly.
Sky thunder!
Rumble!
In the blink of an eye, clouds swirled and gathered.
One after another, thunderbolts accompanied by deafening booms descended from the heavens, crackling as they covered Garoth at unprecedented speed, instantly engulfing the red iron dragon and sweeping some of his allied elders and lords as well.
To avoid the aftershocks, the Ignas Dragon Cluster scattered.
The massive dragons behind the Heart of Thunder beat their wings and charged again.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Hundreds of thick lightning bolts carved the sky, illuminating the gloom and funneling down onto the red iron dragon, completely swallowing him. They continued to fall without pause, blasting him from the sky to the ground and forming a massive charred crater that kept widening.
Only after a full minute did the terrifying scene begin to subside.
Perest’s dragon roar ceased, and the patterns on his wing membranes dimmed back to normal.
He lowered his gaze to the crater filled with smoke and steam and sneered.
“No avoidance at all? Truly arrogant to the extreme—only a step away from your father’s madness.”
Red dragons and iron dragons were not particularly resistant to lightning attributes.
Seeing Garoth endure nearly an entire barrage of sky thunder as if he were daring fate, the Heart of Thunder had grown confident. Not to mention dragons of level 18, even a level 20 would, at minimum, suffer severe injuries if not death.
Sizzle! Crackle.
Suddenly, a shrill electrical sound rose from the ground.
Perest’s eyes narrowed as he focused and looked.
Whoosh!
A broad dragon wing abruptly lifted, whipping wind that scattered steam and dust.
Garoth reappeared in the blue dragon leader’s view, his body swollen larger, muscles bulging and stretching his scales into a terrifying, rugged bulk.
Across his newly cracked and shattered but largely intact black scales,
dense golden lightning and blue thunder danced and leapt.
As time passed, the golden lightning thickened and grew fiercer while the blue thunder was gradually absorbed, making Garoth’s form appear slightly larger still.
“A tingling numbness and prickling—hehe, what a marvelous feeling.”
Garoth rattled his thick neck, tilted his head up at the blue dragon leader and said, “Thanks for the generous gift, but that’s not enough for me to spare you.”
This was the difference intelligence gave him.
The blue dragon leader did not know Garoth possessed the Frenzied State skill nor that Garoth’s lightning resistance was extremely high.
A dense, continuous wide-area lightning assault did far more to charge Garoth than to damage him, and all that stimulation amplified his Frenzied State beyond its usual intensity.
Garoth had gleaned the Heart of Thunder’s combat habits from a double agent.
When facing strong enemies, the Heart of Thunder liked to initiate wide-area ranged attacks to force evasion, dealing damage while exhausting the opponent’s stamina.
Garoth simply took the hits.
After paying the price of many cracked Frostburst Scales, he gained a stronger Frenzied State and a vast store of thermal energy.
On the other side, the smile left the Heart of Thunder’s face.
Garoth having lightning affinity was beyond his expectation; his own attack had instead charged his rival.
However, Perest did not retreat. Having fought the Storm Giant clans, he knew how to deal with highly lightning-resistant beings and possessed techniques to reduce opponents’ lightning resistance. He was also a skilled close-combat Hundred-Battle dragon.
Rumble!
The blue dragon leader spread his wings and rain after rain of thunderbolts fell again, but this time they did not continue bombarding Garoth.
Every strike landed on himself.
Concentrated lightning condensed around him until it formed a suit of thunderous armor.
Whoosh!
Perest beat his wings, and the giant body launched with terrifying speed disproportionate to its size, like a gigantic bolt of lightning tearing through the air straight at Garoth.
Where it passed, the sky seemed ploughed into deep furrows by scattered arcs of electricity.
Boom!
The charred pit beneath the red iron dragon collapsed and fractured again, countless cracks spidering outward. He became a reverse-projecting meteor, shooting toward the heavens.
Aside from the two cluster leaders, the other dragons were locked in brutal combat.
Cloud-Ripper led several adult dragons and targeted Gold Dragon Alberto; Zoraya and Iron Dragon Leticia were entangled; other adults were held by local lords; red dragon Samantha and iron dragon Sorog were unstoppable among young dragons; adolescent dragons and below fought at low altitude and on the ground, leading followers in fierce clashes.
No longer probing and pulling—these two clusters had collided head-on.
Between the wind-whipped sky and the roaring ground, the dragon war instantly hit a white-hot intensity.
Under the firmament, atop Thunderclap Cliff,
time seemed to slow, and in that moment the two massive, muscular dragon silhouettes violently collided.
Boom—!!!
Like two meteors colliding head-on, an earth-shattering roar exploded, silencing the entire battlefield.
Flame, storm, dragon qi, thunder—different energies crashed and tore at the contact point.
Blinding arcs of electricity and blistering dragon qi spread in rings, instantly vaporizing falling raindrops into billowing white mist; several adult dragons near the collision center were flung outward by the shockwave.
Garoth’s claws locked onto Perest’s thunder-armor-clad talons, muscles bulging, scales grinding with teeth-chilling metallic screeches.
Raw physical force drained each other.
Thick electrical arcs shot from Perest, attempting to pierce Garoth’s scales, but most were weakened by lightning resistance, leaving only jumping sparks and small scorch marks on the surface.
Crackling... the deep-blue scaled forearm inched backward, unable to withstand the red iron dragon’s power.
Lightning flashed in Perest’s eyes, his face taut; he could feel the other’s force erupting like a continuous volcanic eruption.
Blue dragons are not defined by brute strength compared to red dragons, but that didn’t mean they were weak. Combined with age and life-level differences and the electrical stimulation, he should have been able to crush the younger red iron dragon.
The fact was, he was gradually losing strength.
At the same time, the red iron dragon bellowed, and dark red flames surged from behind his wings.
He slapped his wings and drove the adult blue dragon backward at high speed, carving visible airwave trails as he tried to slam the blue dragon to the ground.
A flash of surprise crossed Perest’s eyes as his thoughts raced.
He abandoned the insistence on sheer force, and abruptly tilted his head back.
From his maw, countless lightning streaks crisscrossed between his fangs, highly compressed into a destructive thunderstorm breath.
Blue dragon breath ranks first among the chromatic dragons.
The Heart of Thunder’s thunderstorm breath was skill-enhanced, stronger than ordinary thunder breath.
Almost at the same instant, the red iron dragon inhaled deeply, his broad chest heaving as an unsettling light flared deep in his throat.
It was not pure flame; melted-metal fire and glittering golden light mixed within.
Flame Thunder breath!
Thunderstorm breath!
No evasion, no yielding—only the most extreme clash.
Rumble—!
The sky dimmed, the world hushed.
The two breaths collided at nearly zero distance.
The fierce light turned every upward gaze white; the follow-up was an ear-splitting, horrifying boom.
The sky became a furnace of intertwined colors—gold, azure, crimson—as chaotic energy surged outward like a tsunami, clouds near the burst were shredded and vaporized.
When the light and thunder calmed enough to see, the creatures on the battlefield barely made out the scene in the air, their ears still ringing.
Both cluster leaders were blown apart by the dragon-breath explosion.
The thunder-armor around the Heart of Thunder shattered for the most part; the edges of his deep-blue scales glowed with burning red, many pieces flayed off, wisps of smoke and a charred smell rising.
Across from him, Garoth’s Frostburst Scales had almost all cracked open, revealing black-red battle-hardened scales beneath, already seared by lightning in many places and torn raw in others.
The blue dragon leader’s breath was powerful and seemed to carry a kind of armor-piercing effect.
Even Garoth’s lightning resistance could not entirely negate the damage.
“A bit painful, but not even enough to make me feel pleasure!”
Garoth shook his buzzing head and split a savage, exultant grin, baring rows of interlaced white fangs.
Frenzied flame flickered in his heart, and bloodshot veins gradually reddened in his eyes.
Still, Garoth did not wholly surrender to instinct like his red-dragon father; his mind kept racing, and as his rage grew he forced himself to remain as calm as possible.
“Want to feel pain? I’ll give you pain!”
The Heart of Thunder roared, his shattered thunder-armor collapsing as he absorbed it back into his body.
His dragon pupils seemed to become two whirling storms, and blinding lightning flowed like blood through the gaps of his deep-blue scales.
Supercharge state, activate!
His breathing grew heavy, and his aura surged further.
Buzz—!
The air wailed under the strain.
Perest’s speed, power, and the destructive force of his lightning rose another level.
He beat his wings and blurred, becoming dozens of indistinguishable lightning afterimages that lunged at Garoth from all directions.
Face of the Self!
Dragon qi formed a heavy helmet that covered Garoth’s head, leaving only a pair of deep-set pupils visible.
Garoth’s pupils contracted and dilated rapidly, catching every fluctuation of energy and airflow.
He did not try to identify every afterimage; relying on the Battle Dragon’s instincts, he twisted his body sharply.
Rend!
Wings like giant blades screamed, shredding the air as he swept toward the area with the highest energy concentration.
Snap!
One residual image split in two, sparks flying.
That was only the beginning.
The Battle Dragon’s talons, tail, and wings all became lethal weapons, tearing the lightning dragons attacking him into pieces.
Bang!
Another crushing collision.
Garoth’s tail impaled one afterimage’s chest, flinging it apart as it exploded.
At that moment, pain hit his right flank.
Taking advantage of the afterimages’ entanglement, the Heart of Thunder moved like a teleport and slashed Garoth’s scales with his talons.
Lightning coiled up his claws like a bone-deep infection, hissing as it burned, forming dense needle-like stings.
A tide of attack!
Another claw strike, almost simultaneous, carved fresh wounds into Garoth.
“Roar!”
Garoth howled in pain and redoubled his fury.
He inhaled sharply and dragon qi surged; in the next instant, bulges at his shoulders coalesced into solid mass rapidly.
Pop! Pop!
Two sharp, powerful claws—vivid and muscular—of dragon-qi materialized.
Perest’s pupils shrank.
Garoth did not give him time to be astonished.
Four dragon arms—whether fists, claws, or palms—rained down in a storm upon Perest.
The upper arms clenched into hammers that smashed at the blue dragon’s head and spine; the lower arms’ claws were cold and precise, targeting soft points like the abdomen and wing joints.
Perest beat his wings frantically, maximizing speed.
He left twisting lightning trails in the air to avoid the relentless barrage.
His lightning-clawed strikes met Garoth’s dragon claws again and again, producing continuous metallic clashes and bursts of energy.
But two fists could not match four hands; under Garoth’s savage onslaught, the wounds on Perest multiplied rapidly.
Thunder Chain Lock!
Between evasions, Perest made a feint with his talon and cast a sorcerer skill.
Boom! Countless thick chains of lightning fell from the storm clouds and condensed into four massive chains that wrapped around Garoth’s four dragon arms, attempting to bind and restrain him.
“Break them!”
The red iron dragon roared, his four dragon arms flexing as he pulled outward.
Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!
Those chains, strong enough to bind adult dragons, were half torn apart by force.
At the same time, one of his right arms slipped past Perest’s block; claws closed like knives with a sharp whoosh and stabbed at the blue dragon’s relatively vulnerable armpit.
Claw Mastery, weak-point strike!
Slash!
Scales shattered and dragon blood sprayed!
Perest bellowed in pain as a deep wound opened where his left forelimb connected to his body, electric light and blood spilling out.
The claw’s speed increased sharply as it swept across Garoth’s neck.
Hundred-Battle skill: Rear Strike!
Crack!
A large patch of flesh-bearing scale was gouged away; remaining lightning charred the wound black.
Agonized pain hit, and Garoth gave a low roar—not of pain, but something like exhilarated hiss,
accustomed after endless high-intensity trials to taking pain and even finding thrill in it, not shrinking from it.
The Heart of Thunder and the Lord of Molten Iron traded swift, violent strikes.
Scattered scales and dragon blood flew.
Sky-Penance Thunder!
The blue dragon leader suddenly leapt backward and reared his head in a howl.
Thunderbolts danced across the heavens, condensing in the clouds toward a focal point and exuding a deadly aura.
At the same time, the Battle Dragon had found a weakness.
Continue the assault, or step back.
“Heh, avoid his edge?”
Feeling the Dragon Pearl’s abundant energy, Garoth made his choice in an instant. He extended his wings to the limit as dragon qi surged over them, turning them into two indestructible blades.
Accompanied by the thick flames that rolled from behind his wings, his body spun suddenly.
Clang!
The right wing sliced across the blue dragon leader’s chest like a blade, showering sparks and leaving a long, torn scar.
Rend!
The left wing struck the same place, tearing the scales open and carving a deep wound that nearly pierced the blue dragon’s chest.
At that moment, Sky-Penance Thunder fully materialized.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Boom!
A thunderbolt several meters thick plummeted at light speed, striking the red iron dragon’s spine and blasting him toward the earth again, carving a huge, deep pit.
“Not enough yet!”
Lightning flashed in the blue dragon’s eyes.
He knew clearly that Sky-Penance Thunder could not kill the Lord of Molten Iron; Garoth’s lightning resistance was too high.
Resolving instantly, the blue leader stopped worrying about the aftereffects and reared his head, releasing an ear-splitting roar that resonated with the sky.
Countless thick natural thunderbolts crackled and rained down, landing upon him again.
His body began visibly to swell, the lightning on his scales so dense it flowed like liquid, and a pressure far surpassing before rolled outward.
Overlimit state!
This was Perest’s trump card—spending life energy to gain tremendous power briefly, but if sustained too long it could reduce his life level and require lengthy recovery.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Stimulated by the Overlimit state, the blue dragon leader’s heartbeat hammered like thunder—this is how he earned the title Heart of Thunder.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The thunderous heartbeat grew louder and louder, conjoining and rising not only in the sky but from the ground as well; clearly, it was the heartbeat of another dragon.
Perest’s gaze hardened as he stared into the scorched pit below.
A rolling heat wave spread, vaporizing the rain into thick steam, and within the dense vapor a giant dragon bearing high-temperature forge-red scales flickered into view, patterns like blossoming crimson lotuses gleaming across his armor.
It was Garoth in Crimson Lotus Form.
“Good, good, good!”
“I underestimated you; you have the right to be arrogant!”
The Overlimit state drained life energy every second; Perest roared and charged at Garoth with no hesitation.
Crimson Lotus Form carried a tremendous toll for Garoth as well.
He gave a low snarl, beat his wings, and charged at the blue dragon leader.
At that moment, Perest’s speed surged again. He was almost a living bolt of lightning. Each movement came with concussive booms and each attack carried the force of sky thunder.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
The sky became a god’s furnace; each collision between the two giants produced heart-shaking explosions.
Shockwaves rippled outward, tearing the storm clouds to shreds and briefly exposing the dim sky behind them.
The fight entered its most brutal phase; dragon blood fell like rain.
Claws, tails, rending strikes—the two cluster leaders exchanged frantic onslaughts, each clash producing sparks and fragments of energy.
Perest’s speed exceeded Garoth’s, while the Lord of Molten Iron had superior strength and defense.
For a time, it was impossible to tell who would win.
Yet through the battle, Garoth maintained a sliver of clarity, using reason to steer his power.
“His speed surpasses mine.”
“If he senses no chance of victory and flees at all costs, I’ll have a hard time stopping him.”
“According to Zoraya, the Heart of Thunder isn’t the type to fight to the death stubbornly; he’s very different from Gorthax.”
Garoth’s eyes flickered as he thought.
A level-20 blue dragon with lightning speed would be catastrophic if allowed to escape.
Then he remembered the weakness Zoraya mentioned about the dragon father.
Madness flared in Garoth’s eyes; he seemed to lose reason and launched an almost all-out attack with little defense.
Because his father had such tendencies, and because he carried red-dragon blood, the Heart of Thunder did not suspect deceit and unfurled a storm of afterimages around Garoth, leaving one grievous wound after another on him.
At the same time,
Garoth, using his injuries as bait, quietly guided Perest into a high-speed large-angle turn and evasive maneuver, especially forcing the use of the right wing for power.
Finally, after dozens of seconds,
with Garoth deliberately exposing a flaw, Perest attempted at maximum speed to sweep to his flank for a fatal strike.
He flapped his left wing powerfully, his right wing twisting.
Now!
The mad look vanished from the red iron dragon’s eyes, replaced by coldness and a hint of triumphant pleasure.
[When he was young, the father’s right wing was severely torn]
[It healed after sleeping, but left a psychological scar and a subtle flaw that could reveal itself]
—this was the weakness Zoraya had revealed.
Indeed the flaw was incredibly subtle; if Garoth hadn’t maintained Face of the Self—giving him exceptional perception and sensing—and kept a constant watch, he would not have seized this moment of tiny hesitation in the Heart of Thunder.
“Die!”
Garoth roared!
He abandoned all defense; dragon-qi arms overlapped his real arms and, at a speed surpassing any previous attack, slammed into the blue dragon leader whose right wing had momentarily slowed.
Thunk! Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!
Four dull, meat-piercing impacts sounded almost simultaneously.
Perest’s talons tore into Garoth’s flank and abdomen, ripping out shattered bone and chunks of flesh.
But he himself suffered a crushing blow.
Almost at the same moment,
Garoth’s right claw plunged into the root of Perest’s right wing.
He tore violently!
Crack! Accompanied by a spine-chilling sound of breaking bone, the entire right wing was nearly torn off at the root, showering the sky with electric sparks and dragon blood!
Garoth’s left claw, fingers like blades, dug deep into Perest’s lumbar vertebrae.
Crack! Another crisp snap—Perest’s spine fractured completely.
“Nooo—!!!”
Perest released an unprecedentedly piercing, horrific scream.
He had overdrawn his life energy; the lightning around him flared like a returning light, burning intensely as he struck Garoth’s chest and blasted him away.
Feeling the grievous injuries to his own body, the Heart of Thunder realized that continuing would likely mean certain death.
Buzz!
At that moment,
Zoraya, who had been fighting Iron Dragon Leticia, displayed a look of resolute determination.
She roared and suddenly burst into a supercharge-like state similar to the Heart of Thunder’s, her speed spiking as she slipped past Leticia.
“Father, run! I’ll cover your retreat!”
Zoraya lunged toward her dragon father’s location, apparently trying to intercept the Lord of Molten Iron on his behalf. She was not as powerful as her father, but as an adult blue dragon brave enough to sacrifice, she could at least buy time.
Like a sky-blue lightning bolt, Zoraya closed on her father quickly.
Then she raised her head, and between her uniquely forked horns a rich emerald light flared.
A flash of emerald lightning struck Perest.
It seeped into every gap, crawling along his wounds and invading his body, and where it passed strange green patches appeared on him.
“You! Zoraya! Traitor!”
Perest roared in anger, but he had no time to destroy the traitor.
Sizzle... he continued to overdraw his life without restraint, the lightning on his body condensing into solid substance, sealing his wounds and even forming a brand-new thunderous right wing.
At this point he seemed half-elemental.
Sizzle!
He beat his wings and streaked across the sky like a blue bolt of lightning, escaping without hesitation.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A series of sonic booms sounded; Garoth’s rear wing flames shot dozens of meters, red lightning chasing after the blue dragon leader.
“Damn you, damn you!”
“Zoraya! I should have killed you long ago!”
Patches of dense green corruption marred the half-elemental body of the blue dragon leader, eating away at his lightning and preventing him from reaching peak speed.
He looked back to see rings of sonic-clouds exploding behind Garoth, rapidly closing the gap.
“Lord of Molten Iron, you’re already badly wounded—do you really want to kill us all?!”
Perest snarled in fury, but received no answer. The red iron dragon simply stared coldly and closed the distance.
“Fine! Then we’ll die together!”
A mad look filled the blue dragon leader’s eyes.
Driven to the brink, he had no thought of begging; only resolve to perish with his foe remained.
He abruptly reversed course and stopped fleeing, becoming a resolute blue meteor slamming at the pursuing red iron dragon.
In many cases, being able to beat someone does not mean you can kill them.
A cornered dragon is the most dangerous creature.
When two dragons of comparable ability fight so intensely, mutual annihilation is not uncommon.
Facing an opponent intent on mutual destruction, although Garoth was bloodied and wounded, he showed no fear. Instead he beat his wings and met the charge faster still.
In an instant the distance between them vanished.
The blue dragon leader used no flashy technique; he overdrew his life and concentrated every thunderbolt and flash at this single moment.
He had become almost pure lightning.
Complete elementalization was a skill only legendary dragons could master.
Though Perest had not fully elementalized, his state was close to it.
“Let’s die together!”
The Thunder Dragon roared, colliding head-on with the red iron dragon.
Hum!
There was no cataclysmic explosion as expected.
At the moment of contact, time seemed to freeze.
A lightning singularity appeared at the collision center.
Then this point suddenly contracted inward, and—BOOM!!!!!
An indescribably horrific explosion erupted!
A ball of light mixed with thunder and flame, like a sun rising beneath the storm clouds, expanded at blistering speed.
Where it passed, all rain instantly vaporized.
The clouds above were evaporated into a void.
At the heart of the light-ball, the red and blue shapes writhed entangled in a sea of destruction.
Liquid thunder acted like countless blades.
They were everywhere, slicing, penetrating, and tearing Garoth’s body apart.
Garoth groaned under the unbearable burden; muscles tore, scales shattered and peeled away, revealing charred, carbonized flesh and bone white beneath.
Yet even such wounds did not make him retreat.
Garoth offered a terrible grin at the blue dragon leader while thrusting both claws in—one claw plunged deep into Perest’s chest and seized the wildly pounding Thunder Heart, the other pierced through his neck, shredding windpipes and blood vessels, tearing his elementalized body apart.
The sun-like thunder sphere slowly dimmed and vanished, revealing two corpses almost unrecognizable.
“You...we’ll...go...to hell together!”
The blue dragon leader uttered his last rasping roar in fragments.
“Sorry, I’m afraid...I can’t let you...get your wish.”
A hoarse voice fell.
Then, under Perest’s stunned gaze, a brilliant light suddenly flared in Garoth’s left chest cavity; a massive tide of life energy flowed from within through his whole body, and those terrible wounds began to heal at a visible rate, his weakening aura surging back.
“You!”
The blue dragon leader’s mix of shock and fury vanished in an instant like a dying flame; the light in his eyes faded completely.
He was dead; his elementalized body reverted to normal.
Rend!
Garoth gripped the blue dragon’s shattered body and flew back to the other side of the battlefield.
With his arrival, the entire field fell into a stunned silence.
The previous clamour stopped abruptly.
The Lord of Molten Iron hovered in the air, holding the fallen carcass in his hand, lowering his gaze to survey the newly conquered territory.
At the same time,
the surviving will to resist among the Dominik Dragon Cluster completely collapsed with the fall of their leader.
Garoth slowly pulled out his bloodied arm and let Perest’s broken body crash to the ground, his gaze sweeping over the enemy cluster below—pale and utterly demoralized.
Then he threw back his head and released a victory roar that shook the clouds!
“ROAR!!!”
After a brief pause, the roars and howls of the Molten Iron Tribe’s dragons and followers rose together, excited and fanatical, shooting into the heavens.
This battle was essentially over.
Before long, the Lord of Molten Iron’s banner was formally planted atop Thunderclap Cliff.