Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
With the walls fallen, the skeleton dragons had surrounded Arfin City with a ring of poisonous smog, yet they did not stop there. They split into groups, hovering in different angles with reference to the city, and started to circumambulate it while exhaling even more draconic breath not unlike drawing a circle around an object. Worse, the circle kept getting smaller and tighter the longer these skeleton dragons flew, and if anyone were to look at the city from the sky above right now, it would not be hard for them to realize that the lethal ring of poisonous smog was inching closer and closer to the center of the city.
The citizens were squeezing towards the center of the city where it was still safe and smog-free, but even that safe area was getting smaller in seconds. Should the rapidly shrinking circle of poisonous smog finally reach the center, no life in the city could possibly be spared.
The reason why the undead had chosen this meticulous. slow-burning method was because they did not want to lose even a single Arfin city citizen from turning into their own kind. With the undead army at the north and the east side vanquished, there were now two possible escape routes for the citizen to flee without much hindrance; So if the skeleton dragons were to attack aimlessly like they usually do, people may be able to escape amidst the chaos, which then reduced the number of new undead recruits into their army.
The entire city was embroiled in a chaotic hysteria. People started losing their sense while watching the wall of poisonous smog slowly but surely creeping closer. Spurred by great fear, many ditched their houses and charged towards the street hoping to escape.
A lot of them, however, were either caught up by the smog or had accidentally rushed into it, rendering themselves into a set of skeletons in mere seconds… before suddenly standing up, picking a nearby weapon, and slaying their old human friends and neighbors whenever they saw one.
None of the residents had a shred of rationality left at this moment. There was no one that was calm and rational enough to try to maintain order. The city guards had fled the city walls before the skeleton dragons arrived, and the previous guards were even more scared that the residents they were to protect. The Mayor’s residence had been surrounded by a frightened crowd of people, while an even larger number of people hurried towards Da Xue. However, they were stopped by the black magical marionettes standing guard before the academy’s teleportation portal.
The Engineer Walker was able to keep his wits about him, though. He quickly issued an order to his students: “Mobilize all the marionettes we have! Bring them all out from our storage facilities; leave none behind, no matter how old they are! Our city guards have failed us; it’s up to us to hold the line!”
“Those who were tasked with guarding the academy’s entrance, be vigilant, and if need be, be aggressive! If the crowd destroys the transporter portal to Da Xue, our reinforcements will be stuck on the other side!”
He could not help cursing under his breath, though, “F**k! Where the hell is the goddamned Church?! What are they doing? Pretending to be dead?”
Little did the Engineer Walker know that the Church’s hands were tied, too, and that they had it worse than Da Xue did. A crowd had already rushed into their building in a wild stampede, filling the interior to the brim with frightened residents. Even if a Church member wanted to help, they could not.
At this point, Tisdale’s foresight was worth admiring. If she had not issued an order that guards be placed in front of Da Xue’s teleportation portal before the war, the Voidwalkers she just summoned would not have been able to get through.
Compared to mindless undead, humans with enough sense to strive for self-preservation — but not enough sense for anything else — were terrifying…
Four figures emerged from the transporter portal. The Knight Walker walked out of the formation first, and when he saw the hysterical crowd pushing themselves into the magical marionettes guarding the teleportation portal, he murmured, “What a hideous sight.”
“As expected from your kind,” came a cold voice behind him. The towering figure of the Third Walker emerged, and with a loud flap of its huge wings, the huge being soared into the air and let a piercing cry.
It was like a strange enchantment. Suddenly, the people that had just been running around, screaming for help, stopped dead in their tracks and collectively fell to their knees, their heads lowered in Da Xue’s direction. Every one of them could be seen trembling.
Such was the aura of a Divine Dragon! Even if the term “Divine Dragon” was just a title and the beasts actually had no relationship with gods — who could control laws — the leader of all dragons would still be so mighty that everyone would kneel before it in veneration. It had taken a domineering draconic roar to quiet down the hysterical crowd. It was as though a bleak fate awaited whoever offended the mysterious, divine beast.
“Wow, just like in a quarrel, the one who makes the loudest and most annoying sound will get everyone to listen to them!” The Caveman Walker snarled, watching from below. It was fortunate that the metallic Divine Dragon was too high in the sky to hear him, or else both Voidwalkers would have abandoned their tasks and fight each other.
However, the Divine Dragon’s roar did not affect the undead in any way. The skeleton dragons were unperturbed and continued to spurt their venomous smog.
“They belonged to my kind when they were alive, but now, they are dead and cannot hear my voice. It seems that I have to resort to other means to finish them,” the Divine Dragon coldly said.
“Need backup?” The Sorcerer Walker, who was also eyeing the skeleton dragons, offered. “There’s quite a lot of them, you know.”
The Metallic Divine Dragon only sneered in reply and streaked towards the skeleton dragons.
The Third Walker’s current body was very inferior to its real body. Its current strength and body size were far below its real strength and body sized.
Blinding arcs of lightning wrapped around the Third Walker. In seconds, a large ball of lightning sped towards a skeleton dragon.
The Divine Dragon cared not for the skeleton dragons. It sped past a skeleton dragon.
Lightning surged from the Divine Dragon and enveloped the skeleton, scorching its bones black. Green smoke seeped out of the skeleton dragon enduring the lightning bath, and soon, its enormous body had been completely incinerated.
The Third Walker tore through the sky above the city at lightning speed, brushing past every single skeleton dragon the same way. Just like the skeleton dragon to meet its demise at the hands of the Divine Dragon, these other skeleton dragons were enveloped by lightning the instant the Third Walker brushed past them. It was as though the dark, stormy sky had on a pearl necklace.
When the last bit of lightning dissipated, the people on the ground were shocked but overjoyed that the skeleton dragons had been vanquished! These dragons had looked so imposing and nigh-unbeatable, yet hundreds of them had fallen just after a series of Quick Attack!
“Urgh, so weak!” The Divine Dragon murmured, visibly unsatisfied. It had not flexed its power a thousand years, and with the urgency that it was summoned, the Divine Dragon had expected a challenge. Who could have known that the skeleton dragons terrorizing the residents were so worthless? The Divine Dragon could not even consider them a warmup!
However, no one excelled more at dragon-slaying than the Divine Dragon Voidwalker; not even the Alpine Barbarians, who had been dragonslayers for generations. The title of Divine Dragon was not acquired through family inheritance or democratic elections. The Divine Dragon had had to slay countless dragons to ascend its throne. Therefore, the Third Walker itself was the true master of dragons-slaying!
“I guess that is all there is to your ‘demise’, humans. Don’t tell me you wimps still require my help to fight the other trivial playthings, right? Pfft! Having the most venerable Divine Dragon personally fight useless goons once for the sake of inferior humans is enough, right, Hope?” The Third Walker muttered. “Well, what should I do with the rest of my time? Oh, right! I should visit Aya!”
The Divine Dragon turned around and streaked off, and a short while later, it arrived at a plot of empty space. There, the Third Walker found dragon lady Aya, who had turned back into a white dragon, prostrating!
The Third Walker landed in front of her and commanded her to raise her head.
“L-l-lord D-Divine D-D-D-Dragon!” Aya was at a loss for words. She opened her mouth to speak, but her excitement kept the words from escaping her throat.
“Calm down,” said the Divine Dragon. The Voidwalker complemented Aya, citing how adorable she was and how good she was at parenting Mordred. Furthermore, it also stated, in a roundabout way, that it was no longer against a dragon’s choice to live among humans in harmony.
As a dragon ostracized for living with humans, Aya burst into tears when she heard that.
“Alright, alright. You should not slack just because I praised you. Work harder for your future,” said the Third Walker, patting her head with its shiny, metallic fingers.
That was no normal pat on the head, though; the Third Walker was blessing Aya once more. Unlike the last time — when Baiyi acted as a proxy to channel the blessing — the Divine Dragon blessed her directly, and because of this, other dragons would have to kneel before Aya in respect whenever they saw her.
“Well, that’s all I can do with this meager amount of energy. I’m going back to Void now,” the Dragon Voidwalker said. “Remember my words. Furthermore, if you wish for that Hope to return your affection, you’ll have to be a lot more proact—”
The Divine Dragon’s energy ran out before it could even finish. With a loud clank, the metallic dragon crashed to the ground and shattered into pieces. The Void Energy Tisdale had infused into the Divine Dragon’s body was not enough. After eradicating the skeleton dragons in that visually pleasing fashion, the Void Energy left was too little for the Third Walker to do anything with.
“T-thank you, Lord Divine Dragon. I heed your teachings with all my heart,” Aya respectfully said to the shards of shattered metal. She dropped to her knees, scooped up the pieces and hugged them tightly as though they were treasures.
Now that the enemy from the sky had been eliminated by the Divine Dragon’s power of lightning, the only thing left would be the undead on the ground and the enemies swarming towards the students dispatched to the west.
Their situation had taken a nosedive. The only one who was still battling fiercely was Mr. Bear, because Zakum the fox had already fallen to its legs on the earth, completely motionless, with the tentacles on its back plopping down on the ground languidly and its armor trembling.
The trio were obviously frozen in fear. They were wild beasts in their core, with their fear for dragons carved into their genes, let alone dragons of the highest order. The Divine Dragon’s roar to force order into the city was so loud, it had spread all the way to their side, affecting the trio unexpectedly.
The other students had caught up to where the two colossal-sized beasts were by now, but the situation had now turned grim. They found themselves surrounded by more and more undead armies with no way out.
Mr. Bear was still fighting under the effect of its own feral fury, yet no matter how large and ferocious it was, it was only a bear. It could clear some undead with its claws and fangs for a while, but newer ones would still be able to swarm towards it, burying it into a struggle.
“What are we going to do now, Professor Nydore?” A student from the Archery Faculty cried out in alarm. They had used up all of their arrows while following Mr. Bear’s furious charge, and so they were quite essentially without any weapon.
“No need to fear. I will protect all of you,” Nydore said in a low voice, handing her quiver to the student. She slung the longbow behind her back and plucked the air with her right hand as though she was pulling an invisible string. Then, sparkling butterflies made out of light suddenly emerged out of thin air and flooded to her fingers.
She hated using the weapon, as it could inflict self-harm, but if it came down to this, she would not hesitate!
Before the Caudillo Butterfly Bow could complete its formation, however, a voice rang out from a distance, “Run towards the north! Now!”
