Chapter 10: Dance of the Fire Serpents (Part 1)
“Roar——” The flames spewed from the Velociraptor’s mouth scorched an area dozens of meters around, turning it into a sea of fire.
“Sizzle, sizzle~~~”
The flames from the Velociraptor’s mouth licked at the bodies of the four warriors. Protected by their Ice Guardian Armor and Dou Qi shields, the four could withstand the burning for now.
As for the female archer, she had already leaped onto the back of the Griffin, shooting arrows from the air.
The Bloodthirsty Iron Bull stood like a city wall, shielding the two female mages.
“Swish!” “Swish!” “Swish!”
The female archer on the Griffin’s back, her eyes cold and sharp, her hands steady as a rock, loosed three arrows in quick succession. Their target—the mysterious mage on the Velociraptor’s back!
“Whoosh!” The Velociraptor’s tail, like a whip, lashed out with lightning speed, even faster than the arrows. It shattered the female archer’s “Triple Arrow Strike” into pieces in an instant, then reversed direction and swept toward the four male warriors. The whistling sound of the tail cutting through the air made the four warriors’ faces turn pale. They immediately dodged like agile monkeys.
But the tail didn’t move in a straight line; it undulated up and down, eerily unpredictable.
“Bang!”
One of the four warriors failed to dodge in time. The tail struck him viciously in the waist. His Ice Guardian Armor and Dou Qi shield shattered in the blink of an eye. Then the tail coiled around, tightly wrapping around the male warrior’s body.
“Luca!” The red-haired burly man roared, his eyes nearly splitting with rage.
“No——” Luca screamed in terror.
The massive Velociraptor’s tail flicked, and the coiled “Luca” was flung straight into its mouth. The beast opened its bloody maw and clamped down. A sickening “crunch” followed, along with Luca’s agonized death cry.
Under the Velociraptor’s saw-like, densely packed teeth, Luca’s body was crushed. A bloody thigh, severed at the knee, dropped from the corner of the beast’s mouth. The knee joint still had a stark white bone protruding through.
“Don’t look.” Hillman shielded Linley’s eyes.
That scene was too gruesome. Even an adult facing such a sight for the first time would feel fear in their heart, let alone Linley, who was just an eight-year-old child.
But Linley had already seen it.
“Huff, huff!” Linley felt as if a heavy stone were pressing on his heart, making it hard to breathe. He panted softly, but his mind was filled with the image of the young man named Luca being crushed alive.
The torn belly, the ruptured intestines, the shattered head, the fallen half-thigh!
Everything made Linley’s breathing labored and his head spin.
This was Linley’s first time witnessing a battle of such brutality, and his first time seeing a person devoured alive by a massive Velociraptor. Especially that fallen half-thigh—the image was seared into Linley’s mind.
Hillman, Rori, and Roger exchanged glances, their eyes filled with worry as they looked at Linley.
An eight-year-old child, witnessing such a bloody and tragic scene—could he handle it? Would it leave a shadow in his heart? If a young mind developed a fear of battle, his future potential would be severely limited.
“Killing people—it’s nothing, nothing!” Linley tried to convince himself inwardly. “When I grow up, joining the army will still mean killing. I have to get through this. I have to get through this.”
Linley was indeed very clever. Having read many books, he knew the path he would take in life. On the continent of Yulan, a man growing up would inevitably face life and death. But Linley was still a child, unaccustomed to such extremes. As he kept reassuring himself, the shock and fear in his heart gradually diminished.
On the contrary, after a short while, Linley felt the blood in his veins begin to surge and boil.
“That battle—it’s so intense, so thrilling.” For some reason, that bloody, fierce fight stirred Linley’s blood, igniting a craving within him—a desire for slaughter and combat.
“Is it because of the Dragonblood Warrior bloodline?” Linley didn’t know.
But he suddenly realized that he actually looked forward to such bloody battles. He stepped aside, moving past Hillman, and continued watching the fight a hundred meters ahead.
“Linley, don’t look.” Hillman was startled when he saw Linley still watching.
“Uncle Hillman, I’m not afraid.” Linley looked up at Hillman.
Hillman suddenly noticed a flicker of excited red in Linley’s pupils. Shocked, he didn’t stop Linley again. Linley continued to gaze at the battlefield a hundred meters away, where the fight had reached its most brutal stage—
The other three warriors, filled with grief and rage, stomped the ground and shot toward the mysterious mage on the Velociraptor’s back.
“Roar——” The Velociraptor let out a furious bellow, turned its head, and opened its massive maw to bite one of the warriors. At the same time, its sharp claws swiped at another, while its lightning-fast tail whipped toward the last.
The warriors were forced to change their trajectories.
The mysterious mage on the Velociraptor’s back remained motionless, only his lips moving slightly, leaving the beast to handle everything alone.
“Dance of the Fire Serpents!”
The mysterious mage’s icy voice suddenly rang out. Seven enormous fire serpents, each dozens of meters long, writhed and roared as they shot in all directions. Each serpent looked lifelike, with distinct scales, and their massive size sent chills down everyone’s spines.
Everyone froze at the sight.
An eighth-rank fire magic—Dance of the Fire Serpents!
That mysterious mage had been quietly chanting a spell all along, preparing this terrifying eighth-rank magic. The Dance of the Fire Serpents could unleash seven giant fire serpents, with an attack power so fearsome that even the Velociraptor’s incredible defenses would leave it severely injured, if not dead, under a siege of seven serpents.
Against a seventh-rank mage, their mercenary squad could still hold out for a while. But against an eighth-rank mage, especially one backed by a Velociraptor, their squad had no chance of resistance.
They finally realized—this mysterious mage was an eighth-rank mage!
“It’s the Dance of the Fire Serpents! Run!” The red-haired burly man’s face twisted in terror as he screamed.
The remaining six members of the mercenary squad were thrown into panic.
“Too late. Accept the baptism of death.” The mysterious mage’s cold, manic voice pierced the hearts of the six squad members like an icy dagger.
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