Five vials fell in an elegant curve and dropped on the body of the green dragon Rissana. They shattered, and swathes of grey smoke engulfed part of the dragon's body. The grey smoke behaved like a living being. It didn't spread out rapidly, as smoke usually did, and instead closely gathered about the body of the green dragon, squirming and writhing.
The dragon's scales that were enveloped by the smoke quickly became tarnished and corroded.
The emerald scales turned into a lead-grey colour, before once again turning into a colorless white. Without the protection of the scales, the grey smoke came in contact with the flesh beneath, and the sound of sizzling flesh being corroded could be heard everywhere.
Three more test tubes were thrown downwards, shattering on the green dragon's long and curved horns, as well as on its back. Immediately, several rings of maroon curse-halos started to flash over the dragon's body. Even though the dragon’s powerful physique resisted most of the power of the curses, some of their effect still managed to penetrate the green dragon. Even the flames of anger in its large eyes dimmed a little.
Ferrier didn't try to close in on the dragon. Instead, he stayed midair with the wings of wind, incessantly throwing all sorts of potions and drugs onto the green dragon's body. Each vial would create some unique magic effect when it shattered. Perhaps it would be curse halos, or perhaps it would be corrosion spells, or offensive spells…
Ferrier also summoned Bloodsucking Vines and Blood Snakes with his vials, and had them drill their way into the green dragon's body to harmfully attack its flesh.
As for Keoghan, his attacks were even more bizarre.
He charged towards a bloody injury on the green dragon's abdomen. With a shout, he enhanced his right hand with a Spell of Sharpening and a Spell of Puncturing, then thrust it fiercely into the flesh.
Green dragons possessed tough, tense flesh. Even without the protection of dragon scales, it would be as tough as normal enchanted leather armor. Thus, Keoghan could only thrust his right arm in up to his wrist before stopping. Moreover, Keoghan's right arm came into contact with the green dragon's tough muscles and dragon blood, which had powerful acidic properties. His arm was instantly wounded all over.
Keoghan didn’t mind the injuries on his arm. He let out another shout, and completed a unique transformation. The right hand he had thrust into the dragon's abdomen suddenly became thick and soft. Even the color of the exposed skin outside had turned into a green-grey color.
In the blink of an eye, Keoghan had completed a transformation of part of his body into a tentacle, and through that he continuously injected large amounts of blood and flesh, that were infected with uniquely epidemic viruses, into the body of the green dragon.
Instantly, it seemed as if the flesh and blood within the green dragon's body was boiling. The dragon scales all over its body swelled up and down, as if there were countless beasts of blood and flesh drilling recklessly within its body.
The green dragon was suffering in tremendous pain, and once again let out a sorrowful cry that shook the heavens and earth. Her call for help was evident.
In truth, when the green dragon's distressing call had first rang out across the sky, everyone's hearts were struck with fear by a powerful flux of power from inside of the castellan's quarters in the distance.
A human-shaped silhouette of light, dressed in an untidy fashion, charged out from a palace somewhere, roaring as he strode towards the direction of the square. In response to this, a dozen light silhouettes came out of the buildings around the palace, one after another, letting out battlecries as they charged towards the square.
These human-shaped silhouettes were naturally the radiant knights stationed within Herdurand City. Once their power had been activated, the runic energies around them poured into their bodies, immediately turning all of them into beings of light.
Judging from the radiant knights’ positioning near the palace, it was obvious that the focus of their protection was on the great dragon knight. As for the green dragon Rissana– would a powerful giant dragon fear the sneak attack of unknown enemies?
Amongst the mass of radiant human shapes, there was one that was obviously a great deal brighter than the rest. His existence was like a miniature sun that illuminated the entire night sky. Every action he made brought with it powerful might and a terrifying feeling of absolute dominance.
As he yelled and tramped towards the square, powerful energy shockwaves rippled about his body, almost as if the heaven and earth were mildly shaking with each heavy step he took.
Sadly, he couldn't fly.
The radiant knights couldn't fly either!
This was perhaps the greatest tragedy befalling all individuals of knight or warrior classes. Just as the world had blessed them with incomparably powerful and tough physiques, as well as terrifying strength without equal, they had also been robbed of their agility.
Regardless how they blustered and cursed, even breaking through walls and houses as they headed in a straight course for the square, it remained a fantasy for them to cross 1.5 kilometer distance with a single step.
Rissana's repeated cries of sorrow had obviously greatly worried the dragon knight. He roared as he smashed through multiple walls, wildly rushing towards the square.
To save time, he even used Charge, a battle technique knights only used when assaulting enemies, to cross the distance.
After twenty-seven seconds of chanting, the powerful fire spell Greem cast together with the Fire Lord had finally been completed.
A single red dot, bright as the Morning Star, appeared in the inscrutable pitch-black sky in everyone's view.
The red dot started to become bigger, carrying terrifying kinetic energy, bringing with it clouds of flame that filled the skies. It pierced through the clouds and quickly crashed down from the sky, going straight for the Second Grade green dragon that had already suffered so much abuse.
Meteor Crash!
This was a powerful spell with frightening might.
Only a powerful elementium golem, with attributes of both fire and earth like the Fire Lord, could launch such a devastating spell. Greem's function in the joint casting this time was only to provide the Fire Lord with plenty of fire elementium, shortening the chanting and channeling time of this superior spell as much as possible.
The Third Grade dragon knight Kalyk, still one kilometer away, opened his eyes wide in anger as he saw the terrifying might of the flaming meteor falling from the sky. He shouted loudly as he concentrated energy in his hands to form a spear, throwing it towards the flaming meteor with all his strength.
The meteor had been engulfed in flames due to friction when it pierced through the clouds, turning it into a literal flaming meteor. The energy spear crossed two kilometers of space and sped towards the meteor. However, before it could make full contact with the flaming rock, the spear had already been evaporated by the intense heat and clouds of flames that filled the skies.
But the flaming meteor was still affected by the impact of this powerful blow near the side, causing a slight shift in its trajectory. It brutally crashed to the green dragon's side.
The meteor didn't get a clean hit, and the square had to endure its terrifying kinetic energy.
A deep hole appeared where the meteor had landed, and densely scattered cracks like spiderwebs appeared in the stone floor around it, spreading outwards. The city square went silent for three seconds, before erupting from the violent impact.
The stone floor, rocks, and the buildings on top it were the first to be blown up. They quickly became debris in the explosive shockwave spreading outwards in a ring shape, turning into a storm of countless fine rocks that ferociously blasted outwards.
Even though Greem and the other three had already made preparations, gathering around and erecting a secure barrier, they were still pushed outwards for nearly a hundred meters by the ferociously explosive shockwave.
Meanwhile, the green dragon in the core of the explosion was the gr
eatest victim.
A small part of the explosive shockwave ravaged the dragon scales on its body, while the sharp bone protrusions all over its spine were even softened and snapped by the high heat. The intense searing jets of flame burned away all the exposed flesh, while one of its wings had been hit by the meteor, turning into meat paste, before further being reduced to ashes.
The magma pillars that spilled forth from the meteor’s deep crater fell onto the green dragon's body, sizzling as they roasted and scalded its flesh.
The mournful calls of the green dragon Rissana, on the other hand, gradually grew weaker.
As the local authorities had prohibited large groups of witcher-knights from being stationed within the city, most of the soldiers in charge of patrol near the square were merely city guards. As such, they were also the greatest victims of this horrifying spell.
In a battle of powerful beings, normal humans were only tiny ants that could be killed with a wave of a hand!
Even half of the numerous vampires that Mary had brought along were engulfed by the terrifying streams of flame that incessantly surged forth, reducing them to cinders. It was natural that the human warriors, who had not a bit of ability to defend themselves, suffered even more losses. Even if one disregarded the terrifying flames that reached nearly a hundred points in terms of attack strength, just the rain of rocks blasted out by the shockwave was sufficient to turn them into sieves with bloody holes.
Yet even under such a ferocious blow, everyone could still sense the weak life force of the green dragon amidst the flames and magma.
The potent life energy of this Second Grade green dragon was shocking!
Even after such a severe blow, it… it still hadn't died.
What's more, everyone could sense the anger that had been suppressed to its limit slowly gathering in the green dragon's body. Once this powerful strength erupted, it would turn the world into a sea of flames and anger!
Chapter 194
It was theoretically possible for a group of First Grade adepts to scheme and slay a Second Grade giant dragon.
But in truth, it was extremely difficult, so much so that it wasn’t viable.
The greatest problem was with the giant dragon's ability to fly.
However, today, four First Grade adepts who had yet to experience planar wars almost succeeded in accomplishing a terrifying and shocking feat– dragonslaying!
But ‘almost’ was ‘almost’ after all!
Greem and the others could only give up in pity when their attacks on the green dragon could hardly extinguish the last dying flames of its life, while the fuming knights were closing in on the square.
There were too many variables and unexpected elements in today's battle. Thus, one should not look down upon the power of giant dragons based on today’s events.
Firstly, if it was a Second Grade green dragon, with freedom of movement, then even ten more First Grade adepts couldn't have done anything to it. Therefore, Adept Ferrier's astounding dragon paralyzing drug was the largest factor for success in this battle.
Secondly, today was a rare occasion where green dragon Rissana was left alone!
In its daily life, Rissana would either be together with the Third Grade dragon-knight Kalyk, or peacefully sleeping within her beautiful palace. Naturally, there were strict patrols of witcher-knights outside the palace in charge of her protection.
However, the delicate political relationship of the actors within Herdurand City caused Great Duke Lington to put up a strong front against stationing large groups of witcher-knights in the city. Thus, the green dragon that lived in the city square could only have city guards as her defenders, while the servants serving the giant dragon were temporary hired hands from the ghetto.
All of these details ultimately brought about a life-threatening disaster to the green dragon. In less than three minutes, she had been beaten to the brink of death by four adepts who had been waiting for this moment.
Unfortunately, be it Greem's transformation into the Flame Fiend and his desperate slashes with the giant executioner's blade, or Mary lying on the green dragon's bloody chest and drinking its blood with wild abandon, or Keoghan's transformation into a giant tentacled monster constantly devouring the dragon's flesh, or even Ferrier's incessant infection of the dragon's wounds with terrifying viruses and plagues…
Even when every single one of them used all the terrifying means at their disposals, or when the green dragon Rissana's last flicker of life was so dim it seemed like it could go out the very next second... still, the green dragon did not die!
Under Greem's command, the Fire Deity at the outer rim of the square launched a counter-charge towards the knights who were rushing over with heavy steps. Sadly, just as it reached halfway there, a dozen Crescent Moon Slashes, Evil-Decimating Slashes, Holy Radiant Swords, and other similar powerful knight battle techniques containing the anger of the knights, crashed into him.
The radiant knights only needed to rely on their powerful bodily strength to activate the violent runic energies; unlike the spellbreaker knights, that needed to rely on runic weapons to even use knight battle techniques. The Fire Deity exploded in a fiery death as it was hit by a dozen knight battle techniques charged with highly concentrated energies. It didn't even have the chance to struggle!
The radiant knights had now charged to the edge of the square. They were barely five hundred meters away from Greem and the others. Only a hundred meters more, and they would be in range to blast Greem and the others with their knight battle techniques. When that happened, they were confident that they only needed one wave of attacks to completely wipe these annoying pests off the face of this plane.
The scene of the Fire Deity being instantly destroyed by the radiant knights was deeply alarming. Seeing the powerful opponents that were quickly closing in, Greem and the others could only give up on their urge to slay a dragon, regardless of how unwilling they were to do so.
Without another word, Greem retrieved the Fire Lord and leapt away with a Flame Teleportation.
Greem vanished in a gigantic cluster of fire that suddenly appeared, only to reappear at the edge of the other side of the square, appearing in a pillar of fire.
Greem waved his large hand with a wicked grin on his face, and violent Chain Fireballs blasted the city guards around him, sending their flesh and bones flying everywhere. Once the flux of the flames around him had stabilized, he turned his body and once again swiftly cast Flame Teleportation.
Keoghan and Ferrier were not very adept at flying, and they didn't dare to delay. Each of them used the best of their abilities, either turning into black smoke, or growing a pair of wings of wind, and rapidly fled the battlefield as well.
Only Mary was too greedy, desperately devouring the flowing dragon blood, even as the acidic and poisonous blood stained her completely green. Only when the radiant knights were almost three hundred meters away from her did she reluctantly take to the skies. The giant bat wings on her back suddenly opened, and she quickly escaped from the square.
"Hmph. Bloody reptile, stay! " A cold snort full of anger suddenly rang out, and then a single dreadful sun, burning with power, rose amidst the numerous radiant knights, indiscriminately radiating shocking power flux in all directions.
Third Grade Dragon-Knight Kalyk!
Following his angry shout, an energy spear formed from concentrated runic energies quickly gathered in his hand. As Kalyl threw it with all his might, it turned into a beam of light that slashed through the skies, directly shooting towards Mary who was flapping her wings in the sky.
Mary turned her body a little, revealing light glowing on her crimson longbow, and a dozen blood-coloured arrows hit the tip of the energy spear. Unfortunately, it was like a mantis trying to stop a cart. The blood-colored arrows had less than 13 points of attack strength and were like bubbles beneath a sun when put before the concentrated energy spear. They disappeared almost instantly. Even though their numbers were superior, they could h
ardly pause the unstoppable advance of the spear.
"Don't block it, dodge. Quick!” It was too late when Keoghan and Ferrier shouted.
The energy spear shot towards Mary's chest with a might that seemed as if it would rend the world apart.
With a Third Grade dragon knight’s concentrated runic energy, the explosion from the spear would be enough to blow Mary to bits, with not a single bit of flesh or blood left.
At this dangerous moment, an explosive fireball appeared from the sky and exploded beside Mary. The violent flame shockwaves had no effect on the energy spear either, but it managed to blast Mary away at a key moment.
The energy spear did not pierce Mary's torso; it only managed to go through her leg.
The energy storm that erupted the very next moment engulfed a large half of Mary's body like a blender.
Mary's broken body shot out like an arrow from the energy storm that suddenly erupted, ultimately able to prevent the closely following energy ripples from catching her entire body. When she escaped from the energy tide, only a small part of her perfectly seductive body was left. Everything below her chest was gone.
Such a terrifying wound would have been lethal to any other person, but on a vampire, it still wasn’t fatal.
Thanks to the nourishment from the large amounts of dragon blood she had sucked earlier, the missing lower half of her body quickly started to grow again. Mary continued her speedy flight.
"Quick, let's leave!" Keoghan shouted.
The adepts escaped desperately, without even pausing to look. Four mysterious trails of different colors were drawn in the sky, slowly dispersing after a long time.
These few adepts were masters in the art of escaping, but the vampire horde that had stayed behind to cover their rear were exterminated by energy spears the moment they took to the skies. Only some smarter ones transformed into bloodsucking bats, weaving through the crowd instead of taking to the skies, and quickly escaped into the surrounding alleys.
Using such methods, a few vampire elites were successfully able to escape knights’ pursuit, hiding in the underground sewers of Herdurand City.
Age of Adepts c1-1513 Page 129