When it came to speed, nothing could match light-type magic, and Lightning Burst instantly
blew the mage to pieces.
Kwa-kwaang.
Seeing the mage’s body scatter powerlessly, Russelent tilted his head.
“Strange. He isn’t the sort to fall to an attack of that level……”
No sooner had he finished speaking than a thick voice came from the side.
“You’re right. Allow me to introduce it. What was struck just now was one of my clones. It’s a kind of Qimen Dunjia art,
called the Clone Technique. Unlike Mirror Image, it has no physical substance, but because it is deployed so instantaneously,
it should be more than enough to deceive your eyes.”
Russelent, shocked out of his wits, turned his head, and an enormous ball of fire was
flying toward him. A blue-white flame boasting peak intensity. At a glance, it was the Ninth Circle spell Hell
Fire. But Russelent was not one to be done in so easily.
Pung.
When Russelent waved his hand, the incoming Hell Fire shattered to pieces on the spot. But
that was by no means the main attack……
“Ugh!”
His relief at having blocked the Hell Fire lasted only a moment. Sensing a sharp force
surging toward his lower body, Russelent hurriedly deployed a shield and twisted aside. But the force
split the shield without mercy and carved a deep wound into his skin.
“Damn…… I forgot the Death Knights.”
The Hell Fire the bastard had cast was nothing more than bait to divert his attention. Taking advantage of that opening,
the Death Knights had approached and left wounds that, while not deep, stung quite a bit. Feeling blood
stream from the wounds, Russelent’s anger surged to the top of his head.
As if there were no need to think, Russelent swung his foreleg and struck the place
where the Death Knights were.
Kwa-kwaang.
The ground was gouged deeply, and clouds of dust rose thickly. But the Death Knights were, every one of them,
warriors beyond imagination. The attack could not be called slow by any means, yet not a single one
was hit. On the contrary, they were aiming in return for Russelent’s foreleg, which had struck the ground.
Because Russelent was so tall, the only places they could target were his four legs.
“Kyaaaak!”
Feeling a prickling pain in his foreleg, Russelent roared fiercely. From his blazing
eyes, unbearable rage poured out without restraint. When had Russelent ever felt pain before?
Because he had been wounded by undead that were nothing but insignificant vermin,
Russelent was furious to the extreme.
But he was still seasoned. As if proving that he was an Ancient-class dragon,
Russelent had not lost his reason; rather, he had already sought out the most suitable method.
‘Time Slip. I’ll stop them and smash them all with a single blow.’
The Death Knights circled around him like flies, slashing away with their swords. While
responding to them as best he could, Russelent gathered mana to the utmost. In truth, Time Slip was a high-circle spell
so difficult to deploy that even a dragon would find it burdensome.
Once the mana gathered, Russelent rearranged it without delay. His forelegs and hind legs were already
covered in blood from the Death Knights’ attacks. He had not suffered a fatal wound, but it was impossible
not to find them annoying. Having completed Time Slip, Russelent immediately
cast it on the Death Knights.
“By the authority of a dragon, I command thee. Time, stop.”
Thud.
The Death Knights, who had been carving sword marks into Russelent’s body without restraint,
froze in place. The time limited to them no longer flowed.
“You bastards.”
With a roar, Russelent’s tail descended toward the frozen Death Knights,
letting out a tremendous sound as it tore through the air. Judging from its force, the Death Knights seemed likely to be reduced to powder on the spot.
But Russelent’s attempt missed once again. As mana of an entirely different attribute
slipped into the mana forming Time Slip, the magic was futilely dispelled.
Damon had instead cast Haste on the Death Knights caught in Time Slip.
Haste possessed the exact opposite attribute of Time Slip, and when mana of two entirely different attributes
collided, the spells were inevitably forced to collapse. Both of them, that is.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwaang.
Russelent’s enormous tail carved a deep wound into the earth, but regrettably,
no remains of the Death Knights were left behind. Just before the tail strike landed, Time Slip was released,
and the Death Knights escaped the fate of being crushed by a hair’s breadth. Having narrowly evaded it, the Death Knights
now rushed in aiming for his tail. Longswords imbued with Aura Blade dug mercilessly
into the tail.
Shukak.
Scales harder than steel were split open without fail, and blood spurted out. With the continuing pain,
Russelent was on the verge of going mad. If he had his way, he would turn the Death Knights
to powder at once. But that was only a thought.
Russelent possessed the power to crush a Death Knight with a single blow, but that was only meaningful
if he could land the hit. The only way to catch Death Knights moving at speeds too fast to see
was magic. But even that was being continually blocked by an interferer……
Russelent’s burning gaze turned toward the one interfering. A mage
standing a short distance away, staring at him triumphantly. If not for him, the Death Knights
would already have been smashed to pieces.
“No need to gaze at me with such admiration. My face isn’t particularly handsome, you know.”
Seeing the mage prattle so brazenly, Russelent charged at him like a flash. He had instinctively realized
that unless he dealt with the mage first, there was no way forward. The Death Knights’ movements were
that fast. To get rid of them, the only method was to cast magic on them and then attack,
and to do that, he first had to eliminate the mage.
“You bastard. Die.”
Russelent tried to cast Time Slip on the mage. If he could only stop time,
a mere mage could be dealt with easily even by low-level magic. But his intent did not work so smoothly.
The mage, having noticed, was stealthily inserting his own mana into
the flow of mana being rearranged. Because of the mage’s interference, Time Slip seemed about to deploy,
only to scatter futilely.
He was a bastard who knew how to fight in a truly infuriating way. In the end, unable to endure it any longer, Russelent
opened his mouth wide. He intended to spew his breath and melt the bastard whole.
Chwaaaak.
The horrifying murderous mist that had already reduced five hundred soldiers to bones engulfed Damon.
But Damon was not done in so easily.
“Fire Wall.”
Hwararararak.
A wall of flame that suddenly manifested in midair blocked the murderous mist. Russelent’s breath
turned into vapor before it could even touch Damon’s body. But Russelent did not stop his charge.
“You bastard.”
Russelent’s massive tail, heedless of the wall of flame, struck the space covered
by Fire Wall as it was. He intended to kill the bastard even if it meant his tail would be burned.
Kwa-kwaang.
Dust flew thickly, and the wall of flame collapsed with a pop. Though heat seeped into
the wounds cut by the Death Knights and made them sting, Russelent paid it no mind and lashed out with his tail.
But he felt nothing caught in it at all. Detecting the traces of a spell being cast,
Russelent ground his teeth.
“That bastard. He used Blink.”
Russelent’s burning eyes swept every direction thoroughly. The Death Knights were approaching and
swinging their swords, but Russelent paid them no heed. He had to catch the mage first
before he could dispose of them. The Death Knights’ attacks, for now, could cause pain,
but they could not inflict a fatal wound.
“There he is.”
His eyes flashed in an instant. Realizing the bastard was atop a cliff a short distance away,
Russelent immediately cast Blink.
Sseuk.
Russelent’s enormous body vanished from that place as if it had been erased. Then it
quietly appeared right beside Damon. But the moment Russelent appeared, he abruptly
let out a dreadful scream.
“Kyaaaak!”
Where he had appeared, countless Magic Missiles were flying about,
packed densely in every direction. Several of them had struck directly inside Russelent’s body.
It was an attack aimed at the weakness of spatial-type magic. Damon had already laid a flawless
trap and was waiting for Russelent.
No matter how tough the outer hide was, the inside could not help being weak. Magic Missiles overlapping with him
through Blink had exploded against internal organs such as the liver and lungs, so the shock Russelent received
was by no means small.
Kwaoooo.
Having suffered severe internal injuries in an instant, Russelent bent over in agony. Though he used Heal
to treat the internal injuries, for a brief while Russelent could not come to his senses. Of course,
he had no leisure whatsoever to pay attention to the mage.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa.
Out of nowhere, a mass of blue-white flame was flying toward Russelent’s head. Even
while his mind reeled from the pain, Russelent came sharply to his senses. What was flying toward him
was undoubtedly Hell Fire, and if it struck him without any preparation, even a dragon
would have no choice but to depart this world cleanly. He had to find a way to block it or avoid it.
Russelent decided to block and deployed a shield.
Papak.
Though he had been extremely tense, what transmitted through the shield was only a very slight impact.
Feeling that, Russelent’s eyes widened. Judging from its power, that was by no means Hell Fire.
It was merely a low-level spell, no more than a First Circle Fireball.
Realizing that the Hell Fire had only been a fake attack with a convincing appearance,
Russelent’s anger reached its peak. In all five thousand years of his life,
this was the first time he had ever been toyed with like this by a single human.
“You bastard!”
As if there was no need to think any further, Russelent threw himself toward the mage. Another shot of Hell
Fire flew straight at him, but he did not even think of dodging. Though, just in case,
he had deployed his shield firmly.
“Do you intend to fool me with another fake…… Kueek.”
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwaang.
Regrettably, this time it was real. The impact transmitted through the shield made Russelent’s massive body
stagger. Though he had deployed a shield, the problem was that he had paid it no attention,
thinking it was fake.
The flames of Hell Fire, scattered upon striking the shield, burned the earth as they were, and the
smoke rising from it covered the surroundings. Although he had not been wounded, the aftermath of the explosion
was no ordinary thing, so Russelent could not come to his senses for a moment. Then, from within the smoke,
a cold voice rang out.
“Quite spicy, isn’t it? Shall I give you one more?”
The moment the words ended, another Hell Fire appeared from within the smoke.
It flew at high speed toward Russelent’s head.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa.
Russelent had no choice but to be seized by hesitation. Since it had flown from right nearby,
he had no time to determine whether it was real or fake. In the end, he decided to dodge. When Russelent
lowered his head, the Hell Fire flew futilely into the air. But Russelent had never dreamed
that his opponent had been aiming for precisely that.
“Kyaaaak!”
When terrible pain suddenly came from his jaw and temple, Russelent screamed.
The Death Knights, who had been hiding themselves in the smoke, had attacked mercilessly
the instant he lowered his head. A perfect coordinated strike. The problem had been lowering his head,
deceived by the bastard’s scheme. As the price, Russelent had suffered great wounds to his face
and had to bleed profusely…… Needless to say, the wounds on his face hurt more than the wounds on his limbs.
“You bastards……”
His eyes flipped with rage, and Russelent swept out with his foreleg without a second thought.
Papapak.
As befitted an Ancient-class dragon, Russelent was indeed seasoned. Even amid that, he had carefully
blocked the space where the Death Knight could dodge with his hind legs and tail. When something caught with a thud,
Russelent pressed it down against the ground with all his strength.
Udu-du-duk.
The armor made of dragon bone was futilely crushed.