In that flash of lightning and flint, the Eastern Witch's body rapidly expanded.
Her head grew closer to a dragon's, and her skin and muscles suddenly hardened, transforming into red dragon scales.
Even Aurora, with her natural monstrous strength, felt the enemy suddenly become hard and difficult to pierce.
In just an instant, the Eastern Witch, who had been stabbed by her, transformed into a terrifying giant dragon.
The giant dragon violently flapped its wings, pushing Aurora behind it away.
Behind the giant dragon was a gaping, punctured wound.
Blood dripped down, landing on the lawn and igniting the green grass.
Aurora's sudden attack, which would have been fatal to a human witch, was merely a trivial scratch to the giant dragon!
Seeing a giant dragon once again—though different in color and appearance—Rhine raised an eyebrow:
"A magic that transforms oneself into a giant dragon."
"The Black Witch Maleficent's ultimate skill, have you learned it too?"
This magic changed the caster's life essence; even if ambushed, it would automatically trigger, transforming oneself into an invulnerable giant dragon!
"How much stronger is this Eastern Witch compared to the original story?"
"It seems that if fate had progressed normally, even when Dorothy's house was blown to Oz by a tornado, it wouldn't have crushed this Eastern Witch."
Rhine thought, a hint of worry also appearing:
"If I hadn't intervened and let fate run its course, perhaps Dorothy would have been eaten by the Eastern Witch, who had transformed into a giant dragon, as soon as she arrived in Oz."
Upon seeing the giant dragon, Aurora also understood what was happening, gripping the sword in her hand tighter, her emerald eyes becoming sharper.
She remembered her mission, and the other giant dragon she had to kill.
The giant dragon, transformed from the Eastern Witch, panted, exhaling hot steam:
"Good thing, good thing, I paid a considerable price to learn this magic from the Black Witch Maleficent."
"Although not as powerful as Maleficent's own dragon form, it's more than enough to deal with you all!"
Just now, the Eastern Witch dared not transform casually because when she transformed, her clothes would merge into the new form and temporarily disappear, only to reappear after the transformation ended—this was also why Rhine and Aurora were wearing clothes after each transformation.
Therefore, in her giant dragon state, the Eastern Witch had no way to use her magical silver shoe.
However, now that only one silver shoe was left and probably unusable anyway, the Eastern Witch didn't care as much!
"Hand over that silver shoe!" the giant dragon roared, Pounce Rhine, the strong wind from its flapping wings sweeping up the green grass on the ground.
Aurora moved a step ahead, moving at lightning speed, blocking Rhine, protecting the young wizard behind her.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.
The giant dragon spewed scorching flames from its mouth, intending to incinerate the girl in front of it.
However, Aurora stood firm against the crimson flames, letting the intense fire bake her, advancing fearlessly, as if only warm spring water flowed through her body.
"What's going on? My dragon breath is ineffective?" The giant dragon, transformed from the Eastern Witch, was greatly shocked.
Who exactly was this girl, who looked no older than eleven or twelve?
The golden-haired girl in front of her let out a fierce cry, leaped high, and brought her sword down with a cleave.
A cold sword light streaked across the sky!
Clang!
Sparks flew amidst the crisp sound of metal colliding.
"Ouch!"
The giant dragon cried out in pain, flapping its wings, retreating a little.
Aurora landed steadily with an elegant posture.
"No, these dragon scales are too hard. I can only hurt the opponent, but I can't inflict a truly fatal wound."
Aurora frowned, her gaze falling on the sword in her hand.
This sword was found in the White Kingdom's treasury, forged by the kingdom's most famous craftsmen, and incredibly sharp.
But just now, this sword still couldn't pierce the giant dragon's scales, and instead, it had become slightly dulled from the previous attacks.
"The genuine giant dragon Maleficent transforms into must be even stronger than the one the Eastern Witch transforms into! Both my strength and my weapon need to be improved…"
Aurora secretly vowed in her heart, then charged forward again, engaging in battle with the giant dragon.
The giant dragon's scorching fire, sharp claws, and fangs could not harm Aurora at all, and while Aurora's attacks were not very effective, each direct hit on the giant dragon still caused some damage, however slight. Though not fatal, it was extremely annoying.
At the same time, Rhine summoned more birds and used the the tinderbox to summon three large dogs, continuously interfering with the giant dragon, preventing it from focusing on fighting Aurora.
"You despicable young wizard! Hiding behind a powerful Super Warrior and using magic to interfere with me, while I have to go forward and fight."
"This isn't fair, you two are ganging up on me!"
The giant dragon roared in anger, but Rhine bothered to ignore her.
As the battle progressed, the giant dragon transformed from the Eastern Witch vaguely felt that the girl in front of her was getting stronger and stronger!
She began to grasp the method of fighting against a giant dragon, utilizing the flexibility advantage of her smaller size, weaving up and down, dodging the wing flaps and tail whips that would send her flying, and searching for weaknesses in the giant dragon's defense.
Each sword strike was also sharper and more lethal than before.
"Is she gradually mastering my attack rhythm? Becoming more effective at fighting giant dragons, inserting her sword into the gaps between the dragon scales?"
"Wait, it's more than that!"
The giant dragon's eyes widened.
When Aurora raised her sword again, the giant dragon almost experienced a hallucination.
She seemed to see the girl in front of her transform into a giant dragon in human skin, and that sword strike was the posture of a giant dragon swooping down from the sky with its maw wide open.
"She's even learned the giant dragon's fighting style? Displaying the giant dragon's posture with a human body and sword?"
"What kind of monster is this?"
Rhine noticed the Eastern Witch's surprise, and the corner of his mouth curved upwards.
This was also his purpose in leading Aurora and the Eastern Witch into a prolonged battle.
Aurora would continuously learn the opponent's battle rhythm during the confrontation with a strong enemy, integrating it into her own attacks, growing in battle!
In the future, Aurora would face Maleficent, an even stronger giant dragon.
It was necessary to practice in advance now and quickly master the techniques for fighting giant dragons!
"No, this can't go on."
"This is completely like being a sparring partner for someone else!"
The giant dragon, transformed from the Eastern Witch, had a sudden inspiration, flapped its wings violently, and flew up into the azure sky.
Aurora on the ground could only stare helplessly as the giant dragon pulled away.
"Ah, why can't I fly!"
Aurora said angrily, yet she was powerless.
"Hahaha, why didn't I think of this method before?"
Looking at Aurora, who was staring helplessly on the ground unable to reach the sky, the giant dragon burst into laughter.
Now you're completely helpless, aren't you?
Could it be that this girl could suddenly grow wings and come up to fight me in the sky?
Moreover, the giant dragon possessed immense strength, and that young wizard certainly couldn't pull her down to the ground!
The witch opened her mouth and chanted a malicious spell.
In this state, she could still cast magic. It was just less convenient, and the casting time was significantly longer.
"I'm going to turn you two into toads!"
The giant dragon roared, unleashing a terrifying curse.
This malicious transformation curse had a low success rate against a Super Warrior with a strong physique.
But the Eastern Witch wasn't worried at all.
Anyway, she already had the aerial advantage and could try again and again until she successfully transformed Aurora!
However, just as the Eastern Witch was calculating in her mind, believing victory was in her grasp, she saw Rhine grab Aurora's shoulder from behind.
Both of them simultaneously dematerialized and disappeared, avoiding the spell's lock.
"Damn it, where did they hide?"
The giant dragon looked around in the sky.
Soon, she saw Rhine, with Aurora, appear by the lake where many birds had just drowned, and a cerulean scepter had appeared in his hand at some point.
"Haha, I found you. Hiding is useless!" The giant dragon laughed.
Although that golden-haired girl possessed terrifying strength and superb martial arts mismatched with her appearance, she couldn't fly. Could she really keep hiding forever?
"But what do they want to do by the lake? They can't possibly want to hide in the water, can they?"
The giant dragon was utterly confused when she saw Rhine raise the cerulean scepter:
"Water, obey my command."
The Scepter of the Sea!
Even though this was not the sea, and the scepter could not exert its full power, it could at least control water bodies.
In the dark and deep lake, the water suddenly churned.
All the water in the entire lake was drawn up, transforming into a thick, dark water snake, flying towards the giant dragon's direction.
"Is this to control water to attack me? Or do they want to use a water snake to pull me down to the ground?"
"Heh heh, a petty trick. How could a giant dragon's strength and defense be afraid of this level of attack? It's not even fit to scratch my itch."
The giant dragon, transformed from the Eastern Witch, shouted down at the two children:
"I tell you, don't struggle, why don't you obediently hand over the silver shoe, and I can let you two die a little easier!"
However, the next moment, the giant dragon discovered something was wrong.
The thick water snake formed by the lake water did not fly high into the sky to approach her, but instead moved directly below her.
"What is this doing?"
The Eastern Witch was bewildered.
Why isn't this water snake attacking me?
What's the use of scurrying around on the ground?
Just as the Eastern Witch in the sky was puzzled, she suddenly felt her body sink.
High in the sky, the giant dragon, transformed from the Eastern Witch, felt as if its body had been filled with lead, suddenly losing its ability to fly. No matter how much it flapped its wings, it was useless, and it plummeted vertically from hundreds of meters high.
Thud.
The giant dragon crashed onto the ground, creating a huge crater and kicking up a large cloud of dust.
"What's going on?" The Eastern Witch was dazed from the fall.
Why did I suddenly get heavy and couldn't fly?
The silver-haired young wizard showed a kind smile to the disheveled giant dragon, who had fallen face-first, and patiently explained:
"What's wrong?"
"Don't you recognize your own magic?"
"I remember this lake was affected by your magic, where any creature above it would lose its ability to fly and fall into the water, right?"
"I controlled the lake water to move beneath you, so of course you can't fly."
Water of Inevitable Sinking!
The giant dragon, who had just been dizzy from the fall, suddenly realized, instantly sobered up, and was so angry that it almost fumed:
"You dare to use my own magic against me!"
She didn't know how to dispel the "Water of Inevitable Sinking" she had just cast and could only wait for the magic to end naturally—she hadn't asked the Sea Hag how to revoke this magic because she thought it was unnecessary. Now it was truly troublesome.
Rhine waved the cerulean scepter, causing the dark lake water to spread out on the ground, covering the entire forest clearing.
"This way, you won't be able to fly, will you?"
"Eastern Witch, your magic is truly amazing! It can even bring down a giant dragon."
Rhine praised the opponent heartily.
"Damn it, damn it!"
The Eastern Witch had lost count of how many times this young wizard had angered her today.
How could there be such a despicable fighting method?
First, he used cunning schemes to steal her magical silver shoe, then he let this girl who appeared out of nowhere treat her as a sparring partner, and now he was using her own magic against her!