The javelin easily pierced the black dragon's scales; its power was formidable—certainly not something an ordinary person could achieve.
'This person must be a high-level professional!'
But the black dragon's body was enormous. A few javelins lodged in it and a little bleeding were far from fatal.
Whoosh—whoosh—
Two arrows landed on the black dragon's back in succession. With two clangs, one bounced away, while the other barely embedded itself in the dragon's hide, but no blood flowed.
The archer looked at Derrick and silently shook his head.
Derrick raised the greatsword in his hand. Only powerful magical weapons could break through dragon scales.
Commander Moore did not approach. Seeing this, he waved his large hand: "Musketeers, prepare to fire a volley—"
"No!" Derrick turned his head and angrily rebuked him. "Gunfire can't penetrate dragon hide, but it will damage the quality of the dragon scales. It can't move now. Put on the dragon-binding chains, quickly—"
Moore's expression darkened with displeasure. He was the overall commander. The original plan had been to take advantage of the black dragon's paralysis and focus fire to cripple it. How could the battle plan be changed at will?
But he did not flare up. Instead, he immediately sent people to relay the order.
One box after another was opened. Sections of blue-violet chains thicker than an adult's arm were dragged out and hauled by soldiers toward the black dragon.
Derrick quietly exchanged glances with his companions and assumed a combat stance, their eyes flickering uncertainly.
As soon as the soldiers approached, their faces turned pale one by one. Then they collapsed to the ground, vomiting violently. The more they vomited, the weaker they became, and many could not even stand up.
"Replace them, quickly—" Commander Moore seemed to have anticipated this and immediately organized a second wave.
However, the result was the same.
The black dragon had vomited the surrounding area into a complete mess. Acid, stomach fluid, and some unknown toxin had mixed together to form a natural isolation zone. Let alone ordinary people—even low-level professionals could not remain there for long.
Dozens, even hundreds of people surrounded the black dragon while vomiting. The scene made Anser feel nauseated.
'This black dragon… has quite a lot of tricks.'
Seeing that Derrick's group had no intention of stepping forward, Moore felt anger rise in his chest and had no choice but to dispatch elite professionals.
This time the chains finally reached the black dragon's leg. Before they could fasten the loop, the black dragon suddenly opened its eyes, lifted its foot, flung away the chains, stood up, spread its dragon wings, and spun in place with a sweeping strike.
A violent gale rose, sand and dust billowed everywhere, and the dragon's wings and tail swept around in a circle. Countless figures were thrown flying, and screams rang out endlessly.
Whether ordinary soldiers or elite professionals, there was no difference under such a ferocious attack—if it touched you, you died; if it grazed you, you were crippled.
Moore did not have time to mourn his subordinates and shouted loudly, "Open fire!"
Scattered gunshots rang out.
The black dragon was already nowhere to be seen in the field.
A huge black shadow burst through the smoke and debris, suddenly appearing dozens of meters away and lunging straight toward Derrick.
Derrick's expression changed drastically. Something was wrong—how could the black dragon still launch such a powerful pounce?
He did not dodge. Red light flared over his body as he charged forward with his sword.
The dragon claw struck down, but he sidestepped to evade it. His greatsword swept across, precisely cutting into the black dragon's supporting leg and opening a wound several feet long. Black blood sprayed out.
His spirits surged, and he roared: "It's very weak—attack together!"
More than a dozen professionals who had come with him charged forward at the same time.
"Roar—"
The black dragon opened its mouth and roared in fury. A terrifying wave spread outward. Most of the professionals showed fear on their faces, dropped their weapons, and scattered in flight.
The black dragon's body was weak, but its Frightful Presence did not diminish. The effect of the fear spell remained extremely powerful.
Derrick still wanted to seize the opportunity to attack, but a flexible sweep of the dragon's tail knocked him aside.
The black dragon opened its mouth and spat. A line of potent acid more than twenty meters long shot out. It swung its head, sweeping the breath toward the crowd. Acid filled the sky, giving the impression that there was nowhere to evade.
Derrick flipped up, pulled out a javelin, turned, and hurled it in one motion, precisely shooting it into the dragon's mouth.
The black dragon, in pain, interrupted its breath. The potent acid lost restraint and instead sprayed everywhere.
Derrick failed to dodge in time. A drop splashed onto his back. The acid seeped through the gaps in his armor, entered his skin, and the flesh rotted and blackened, making the corners of his eyes twitch from the pain.
The surrounding soldiers reacted, and the gunfire gradually grew denser.
Bang, bang, bang…
One pellet after another struck the dragon scales, producing dull metallic collision sounds. Very few bullets could penetrate the dragon scales. They could only make the black dragon feel a trace of pain, causing the anger and hatred in its heart to grow stronger.
It let out a hiss and leaped into the crowd, biting a soldier and swallowing him whole.
Derrick's squad did not stop it. Instead, they took the opportunity to launch attacks, adding wound after wound to the black dragon's body.
High in the sky, Anser looked down over the battlefield, a faint smile hanging on the corner of his mouth. This was exactly the scene he wanted.
The black dragon appeared weak, but each attack it launched was extremely powerful. Even the strongest barbarian had to face it with full vigilance. As for ordinary people, there was almost no ability to fight back.
In just this short period of time, the army of Amn had suffered numerous casualties, including quite a few professionals.
But the black dragon was not faring well either. It was panting heavily, its body covered in wounds. The damaged dragon scales could no longer block pellets and arrows. Blood covered its body. It looked wretched, and its movements grew increasingly sluggish.
Several times it glanced intentionally or unintentionally toward Anser in the sky, but Anser remained unmoved.
The black dragon was prey, not a true ally. Moreover, a black dragon had no credibility to speak of. Cooperation was absolutely impossible.
Seeing that the time was ripe, Iris immediately gave the order to attack.
Quentin led his troops slowly forward, watching from over a thousand meters away like tigers eyeing their prey. Everyone's expression was tense as they adjusted their breathing and waited for the final command.
A quarter of an hour passed.
A chain had been fastened onto the black dragon's leg, the other end tied to the root of a large tree. It opened its mouth and bit down, but the chain was exceptionally tough. After several attempts it still could not bite through it. Instead, it was seized upon and its dragon wings were injured.
'It has no strength left.'
The army of Amn had likewise suffered nearly half its forces as casualties. Fortunately, the black dragon was chained, and they no longer had to flee everywhere.
'It's time!'
Anser tightened his grip on the round shield in his left hand. His butterfly wings folded, and he dove toward the battlefield below.
Seeing this, Iris signaled the general assault to Quentin. Riding her flying carpet, she followed closely behind Anser.
"Squads Six, Seven, and Nine intercept the enemy. Squads Three and Four, keep an eye on them!" Moore hid among the crowd, his longsword pointing toward the rapidly approaching Anser.
The wind howled, and his order mixed within it, reaching Anser's ears.
'Heh, I'll deal with you first.'
He hovered one hundred fifty meters in the air. Magic Power surged around him, and circles of iridescent ripples spread outward from his body.
"Eat my Fireball!" (Draconic)
Metamagic: Distant Spell + Fireball!
As the resounding Draconic words fell, a bright flash vanished from his fingertips and sped downward.
"Quick, get out of the way—" Moore had not expected that he himself was the target. Seeing that the situation was bad, he hid behind a large tree in advance.
Ordinary soldiers, however, had no such reaction speed.
Boom—
A huge red-yellow fireball exploded among the crowd. Blazing flames swept outward, igniting one human torch after another. Flesh charred, trees burst into flames, and the shrill screams and wails were rapid and brief, making one's hair stand on end.
Fire and smoke raged as waves of heat rolled outward, carrying the stench of blood and the smell of roasted flesh into the soldiers' noses.
Many soldiers reacted instinctively, their stomachs churning as they fled while vomiting.
A large number of experience notifications swept through Anser's mind—at least several hundred. Because they were scattered through the forest, the effect was limited; otherwise it would have been even more devastating.
"ફાયરબોલકલા"
A few seconds later, another fireball smashed into the crowd. Flames swept outward, and more than thirty people instantly became charred corpses as smoke and fire spread everywhere.
The soldiers' morale collapsed. They no longer dared to gather together and scattered in all directions. Their sporadic counterattacks could not form any coordination.
Moore's heart was bleeding. He could no longer endure it and roared angrily at Derrick, "What are you doing? Kill him first!"
Derrick felt annoyed, but he could still distinguish the situation. He raised his hand and pointed at Anser. "Archers, take him down. The rest of you hold the black dragon."
Whoosh—whoosh—
Two arrows shot toward Anser at the same time, swift and precise, covering more than a hundred meters in the blink of an eye.
Anser's expression changed slightly. The wind-element resonance had just passed, so he hurriedly beat his butterfly wings to gain altitude. But his maneuverability in the air was inferior to that on land. He barely dodged one arrow and raised his shield to block the other.
'Such long range.'
Before he could feel relieved, an explosive sound rang in his ear.
With a bang, the arrow he had just dodged suddenly exploded. There was no flame or lightning. An invisible force field spread outward, repelling Magic Power and forming a spherical region more than ten meters in diameter.
The Royal Butterfly Cloak immediately softened, the butterfly wings vanished, and Anser's body fell through the air.
His heart tightened. He immediately cast Fly, but discovered that once the Magic Power left his body it dissipated, unable to produce any magical effect.
Antimagic Field—a powerful magical vacuum!
'Damn, they really came prepared.'
Just as his body left that region, another arrow shot rapidly toward him. It exploded a few meters beneath his feet, once again forming an Antimagic Field, clearly giving him no chance to cast spells.
Iris rode her flying carpet toward him and reached out her hand from afar.
"Don't come over—" Anser waved his hand forcefully. "I can handle it."
Their gazes met. Iris gritted her teeth, turned sharply in midair, barely dodging the incoming arrow. Using her speed advantage, she left the Antimagic Field behind.
Anser let out a breath of relief. He himself was not afraid of an Antimagic Field, but Iris was different. If she were hit and fell to the ground, the situation would become extremely dangerous.
Taking advantage of the brief interruption in the antimagic effect, he cast Feather Fall on himself.
Although the spell effect would be suppressed by the Antimagic Field, the moment he briefly left the field it would immediately take effect, preventing him from being injured by the fall.
'I'd like to see how many arrows you can shoot!'
An Antimagic Field was not exactly common.
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