Dolanbart teleported with a small dinosaur into the reinforced worm swarm, and then quickly teleported back to the team, complaining:
"Damn it, what exactly did the royal family of Fiore do? Is this situation really under their control, as they said?"
Two people in the team had their shields broken, Lahar shouted, "You two, fall back! Don't be careless!"
He surveyed his own team's defensive line, personally taking down a few small dinosaurs, only then having the chance to respond to Dolanbart:
"It's my oversight, I should have properly inquired when I went to the Royal Palace earlier."
The Council is now inexplicably dragged into the battle, knowing nothing except for the King's public disclosure about the dragon swarm's attack.
The reason they haven't retreated yet is purely because of their sense of responsibility as a team maintaining stability in the Magic Realm.
"But..." Lahar looked up at the battles taking place in the sky, near and far, and sighed, "The power of the dragons is still so astonishing."
Seven years ago, he had seen the battle of the Purgatory Sub-Dragon from afar, and the memory was still fresh.
Compared to the scene of it fully unleashing its power to destroy Nirvana in the past, Lahar felt that tonight's dragons, fighting in pairs, probably hadn't fully demonstrated their destructive power, otherwise the Royal Capital might have already been reduced to ruins.
Dolanbart observed for a while and said, "Fortunately, it seems like Mr. Rhode's dragons have the upper hand now."
As of now, the Mountain Sub-Dragon is securely suppressing the Flame Dragon, the Cloud Sub-Dragon is making the Sonic Dragon very embarrassed with its agile movements, the Alchemy Technology Sub-Dragon has a slight advantage against the Life Prison Dragon, while the Hex-Tech Sub-Dragon and Sea Prison Dragon both have sustained injuries.
Judging by the scene, the fiercest battle should be between the Purgatory Sub-Dragon and the Purgatory Dragon, with explosions and big fireworks happening frequently.
However, after fighting for so long, neither side seemed to sustain any damage.
The Purgatory Sub-Dragon, despite enjoying the fight, grew frustrated with the lack of results after all this time: "Damn it, what's this crap you're made of?!"
The Purgatory Dragon responded earnestly, "I am Atlas Frey, the Purgatory Dragon mastering the Hellfire! Your mere fire cannot harm my flame body, whereas my Hellfire shall burn you to ashes!"
The Purgatory Sub-Dragon retorted, "Boasting, huh? I'll stand right here and let you burn me, if you can't kill me, you're my grandson!"
"Vulgar!" Atlas Frey hadn't expected to face such a dragon.
The two continued to fight without agreeing on anything, yet the Purgatory Sub-Dragon suddenly felt a familiarity in the opponent's aura.
Was it that red-haired little girl?
He remembered Freyja, once having instructed Rhode to ask Natsu about Freyja's origins.
Thinking of this, the Purgatory Sub-Dragon recalled that Natsu seemed to enjoy eating various flames...
He seized the opportunity to observe the surrounding situation, intentionally or unintentionally leading the opponent towards that direction.
...
"Help!"
A pleasant cry for help echoed in the sky, making many mages' hearts ache, wishing they could immediately fly to rescue her.
Because the one calling for help was none other than the Marine Sub-Dragon.
As she 'wandered' across various regions of the Royal Capital, she would leave a healing light for the wounded everywhere she went, now having garnered countless followers.
If there was a most popular dragon selection event, it is likely that most mages would cast their votes for the Marine Sub-Dragon.
Unfortunately, they were truly powerless at the moment.
Part of it was because they couldn't fly, and another part was because the ones chasing the Marine Sub-Dragon were Future Rogue and the Earth Dragon.
Future Rogue's original thought was to eliminate or severely injure a dragon while Rhode was absent, then slowly build a greater advantage.
But he quickly noticed the Marine Sub-Dragon flying high and flamboyantly in the sky.
If she could simply heal mage injuries, it would be one thing, but Future Rogue discovered that this dragon could even heal dragon injuries.
Because of her presence, his side's dragons were retreating one by one, while the opposing side was fighting with increasing vigor.
Future Rogue immediately decided he must first eliminate this green dragon.
Things initially went as he expected, the Marine Sub-Dragon was proficient at healing but not at fighting, quickly starting to escape upon seeing him and the Earth Dragon.
However, her escape skills were too strong!
Whether it was the Earth Dragon's attacks or Future Rogue's magic, the Marine Sub-Dragon managed to narrowly evade them.
This creature constantly gave them the illusion that they could almost hit her with the next move, yet they could never actually hit.
Lucy and Wendy, sitting on the back of the Marine Sub-Dragon, felt quite uncomfortable.
Accelerating, sudden stops, sharp evasive maneuvers, spiral turns... various high-difficulty flying moves made them feel as if they were simultaneously on a rollercoaster, pendulum ride, and drop tower among other thrilling rides.
Wendy even felt that if this kept up for much longer, she would get motion sickness.
"There's no time left." Future Rogue's face was grim, he had already seen the person he least wanted to see, "Maser Gray, let's try one last time, all-out attack!"
Wendy's nose twitched with excitement, "Sister Ocean, over there! Brother Rhode is coming!"
The Marine Sub-Dragon seemed to have seen a relative, quickly turning and almost crying out, "Rhode, save me!"
Rhode surprisingly felt a sense of disappointment towards this old dragon, whose age he couldn't even fathom: "Listen to me, turn around and breathe!"
The Marine Sub-Dragon, despite its panic, was fortunately obedient, and immediately paused its escape, turning around and opening its mouth.
Rhode, at this moment, also landed on her head, switching to Ocean Dragon Soul Form, similarly taking a deep breath and opening his mouth.
The roar of the Marine Sub-Dragon!
A double dose!
Approaching was the roar of the Mother Earth Dragon, along with the technique Future Rogue employed upon seeing the situation:
"Shadow Dragon's Roar!"
The Mother Earth Dragon spewed the same bright white breath as before.
Meanwhile, Future Rogue released a breath mixing black and white, like numerous threads twisted into a thick rope.
Light and shadow, these two conflicting magic powers, unexpectedly fused together in a peculiar way, unleashing a power far beyond the simple addition of the two!
This feeling was just like when Rogue and Stinger once used combined magic together.
In contrast, the breath of Rhode and the Marine Sub-Dragon seemed to be just simple water magic.
Yet, because they had been together for six long years, their powers shared the same origin, making their magic merge naturally.
The two streams of water breath transformed into an extremely exaggerated water magic, perhaps best described as all-encompassing.
It was like moving an entire ocean into the sky and dumping it all towards the opponent, with added rotation and immense water pressure.
—No matter how much the Marine Sub-Dragon disliked fighting, she was still a dragon.
Lucy only needed one glance to be sure that even together, Aquarius and Jubia could never unleash such powerful water magic.
When Future Rogue and the Mother Earth Dragon's attack collided with this water tornado, it easily dispersed the surface seawater.
But it was meaningless.
Because the seawater continuously rotated, the dispersed parts were immediately filled again, with no reduction in power.
The two sides did not stalemate; the water tornado swiftly engulfed the opposing attack and relied on the characteristics of water magic to completely erase it from the inside.
Afterward, barely any pause was seen; the head and neck of the Mother Earth Dragon had already been swallowed by the water, followed by her body, wings, and tail.
The slippery Future Rogue had no time to escape this time, and with nowhere to run, he was quickly engulfed alongside the Mother Earth Dragon into the water tornado!
Glug glug...
The pained cries of both person and dragon turned into muffled underwater sounds, utterly drowned amid the overwhelming noise of the water.
At this moment, compared to the grandiose breath, the Crown of Embers began to exert its power!
The Mother Earth Dragon, struck by the strong current, was swept far away, eventually flattening half a street at the city's edge, and then rolling as she and the water together broke through the Royal Capital's high and thick walls.
The water flowed loudly through the breach in the city wall, and some remained within the city.
And merely this residual portion gave the Royal Capital's drainage system a significant challenge.
The moat's water level rose sharply, overflowing its banks and flooding the drawbridge.
The connected rivers and canal flows likewise became rapid, almost causing a flood.
Fortunately, the attack had ceased; the massive water would be diverted, and all residents near the Royal Capital had been evacuated, avoiding a major catastrophe.
The Mother Earth Dragon now lay on her back at the breach in the city wall, her head tilted back, hanging above the moat.
She spat out water, struggling to rise, with large patches of her dragon scales already shattered, blood dyeing a small piece of the river's surface, quickly diluted by the flow.
"Ugh..." Future Rogue's life force was surprisingly strong, having survived such an attack.
He tore off his cloak, heavy with water, and somewhat raggedly pushed aside wet hair that blocked his vision.
His body felt immense pain, like his bones had been crushed, but he had no time to check his injuries because Rhode would surely arrive at any moment.
"Maser Gray, take me away!"
The Mother Earth Dragon coughed up more water, making no other movements.
Future Rogue urged, "Hurry up, Maser Gray!"
This time the Mother Earth Dragon responded, lowering her head to look at Future Rogue, her eyes unfriendly.
Future Rogue: "!"
Could the brief lapse just now have caused the Dragon Control Magic to fail? No, it must be replenished immediately!