Chapter 50: Stop Laughing, You’re a Dragon Too
Blood Demon Dragon. If someone were to use this term to question the most learned dragon scholar of this era, they would receive no answer at all. Instead, they would be mocked for speaking nonsense.
Because the species represented by this term had never appeared in human sight.
On the Mycroft Continent, the dragon clans closest to humanity were similar to metallic astral dragons like Silver Dragons, Gold Dragons, and Bronze Dragons. They did not mind living alongside humans and were willing to abide by local order. In certain countries, these great dragons were even lords of cities, or great nobles with official titles and territories, respected and worshipped by many.
As for the Five-Colored Dragon Clans, such as Red Dragons, White Dragons, and Black Dragons, they preferred to occupy a wilderness region for themselves and live freely. They might have some vassals, but most of them were ignorant races. Compared to order, they were more inclined to live according to their own whims.
But Blood Demon Dragons were different from both of these types.
They were monsters from the Abyss.
The Bottomless Abyss was a chaotic world that had been connected to the Mycroft Continent since ancient times, extremely dangerous. The monsters it summoned, such as demons, ghouls, and hell worms from the Book of Iboun, were all dangerous creatures from the Abyss.
But the terror of the Abyss was not limited to this. If some normal creatures lived in the Abyss, even if they were powerful enough not to be eroded by the chaotic forces within, their offspring would become demonized, turning into half-chaos beings. This was the origin of Blood Demon Dragons and a series of demonized monsters.
In his previous life, by the end of the Dragon Calamity, when the Five-Colored Dragon Clans began to emerge in full force for a final counterattack, Blood Demon Dragons appeared in human sight as a surprise force. This species, powerful, ferocious in appearance, and possessing many special talents, dealt a terrible blow to humanity, causing immense losses. They once halted the human counteroffensive, leaving a deep impression on many, including Joshua.
But now—appearing ahead of schedule, they were not so imposing.
The Blood Demon Dragons, Srial and Daven, were currently fleeing madly.
Without any intention of fighting to the death, the moment they realized that the human warrior before them possessed strength far beyond what they could handle, Srial and Daven did not hesitate for even a tenth of a second. They quickly channeled the little power they had left, raised their heads, and flew rapidly upward to escape.
This decisive choice even made Joshua, who was charging, lose his target for a moment, stunned.
"Just running like that?"
He muttered in confusion, and then anger surged from his heart: "Coming to assassinate me and collapse my Lord's Manor, and you think you can just run away like that?!"
How could such a good thing be possible!
Crimson Battle Qi erupted with full force. Joshua stomped on the air, producing a metallic 'bang' sound. The powerful recoil instantly accelerated him to an unbelievable speed.
The flight speed of dragons far surpassed that of most creatures. As magical beings born with wings and flight spells, it was not strange for an adult dragon to reach supersonic speeds. Those slightly stronger could enter the realm of hypersonic flight. Srial and Daven had clearly reached this level. Their full-speed flight created a vacuum corridor in the air, with layered rings of sonic boom clouds forming behind them. In an instant, the main city of Moldavia completely disappeared over the horizon.
But even so, these two Blood Demon Dragons could not shake off the terrifying existence chasing them like a vengeful spirit, clinging to them like a shadow.
"How is he still behind us?!"
"Isn't he a warrior? Even if he has short-range burst speed, how can he fly long distances almost as fast as us?!"
Filled with fear, Srial and Daven communicated frantically through their psychic sea but received no answer. In their panic, they pushed themselves to accelerate further, but the human warrior behind them also burst forward, not falling behind.
Flying rapidly through the air, the cold wind at high altitude scraped against his body like blades. Joshua coldly watched the two dragons ahead. Although he had consumed more than half of his Battle Qi by activating the Titan's Descent state to counter the destructive dragon breath, he was not actually injured. His physical functions were intact, and he had a special flight technique that allowed him to use the air currents created by the creatures ahead to accelerate.
The faster the dragons flew, the faster he would be, following behind them and using the air vortices and vacuum corridors they created. So it cost him little stamina.
After some time, the severely wounded bodies of the two dragons could no longer sustain such speed. They began to slow down gradually. At this moment, Joshua adjusted his flight angle leisurely, like the most skilled hunter, preparing to find the right moment to burst forward and completely wipe out these hateful monsters.
—The assassination attempt was one thing; no one could succeed anyway. But these dragons had collapsed the Lord's Manor that had been repaired less than a year ago—even if only partially. For that, sorry, whether in heaven or on earth, Joshua would kill them.
"This won't work. We'll be caught soon!"
Realizing that simple flight could not escape Joshua's pursuit, the two dragons communicated and then simultaneously cast spells. After a deliberately chaotic magical fluctuation, these two massive creatures suddenly vanished from sight. At the same time, a dense black mist that could absorb all light began to spread rapidly, swallowing the warrior's form and obscuring his vision.
Greater Invisibility, Fog Spell!
The strength of dragons lay in their innate possession of a physique comparable to high-rank warriors, mana comparable to high-rank mages, and instinctive, terrifying dragon breath. After failing completely in physical combat, Srial and Daven simply overdrew their mana, casting spells instantly to escape.
"Ridiculous struggle."
For an ordinary warrior, this might indeed be a problem. But for Joshua, it was hardly an obstacle. Faced with such a crude and laughable trick, he simply closed his eyes in disdain and began to track the flight paths of the two dragons through his heart's eye, the scent in the air, and even the flow of the wind.
"Found you!" A fraction of a second later, Joshua located the direction the two dragons were fleeing. He raised an eyebrow and revealed a satisfied smile: "You can't escape!"
With that, he accelerated again and flew rapidly toward the determined direction.
So-called technique was the flexible application of a certain ability. The methods humans used in combat were techniques, but they were only one aspect.
The Ultimate Essence of Technique did not only represent combat skills, but the pinnacle of any universal ability. Tracking by scent, distinguishing by light, locating by sound, dodging, predicting, heart's eye, even eating, running, flying, the force exerted when exercising, and the posture when punching—all were parts of technique, extensions of one's control over their own body.
And when Joshua caught up again, the dragons, having used every possible means yet still unable to escape, fell into despair.
They had been completely toyed with by this human warrior from start to finish—unable to escape, unable to hit, their every thought and spell instantly seen through and countered. The dragons had no doubt that even if they wanted to commit suicide, they would not be able to do so easily. Even if they split up to flee, it would only delay their deaths and make it easier for him to pick them off one by one.
"Roooar! What in the hell are those damned intelligence agents on Dragon Island doing?!"
As the warrior behind them gradually closed in, sensing the arrival of their end, Srial began to curse the dragon intelligence agents who had provided information on Joshua. He was clearly starting to ramble: "Joshua van Radcliffe, this human! He's not some Gold High-rank at all! Ultimate Essence, he has already comprehended the Ultimate Essence. This is a strongman who would require the Great Elders to intervene to kill!"
Twenty-two years old, destined to advance to Ultimate Essence in the future, even a Legendary of destiny was only a matter of time—a super genius!
But no matter how furious, it was useless. The facts were already set, and no amount of regret could change them.
After dozens of breaths, Joshua finally caught up with the two exhausted dragons. They had tried several times to split up and flee, but each time the warrior forced them back with Battle Qi slashes. The injuries on their dragon wings from before made it impossible for them to make sharp turns easily. They could only exhaust their last bit of stamina in straight-line flight.
Dragon roars filled with anger and fear echoed across the Northern wasteland, over the uninhabited frozen hills. The final howls of the two dragons gradually faded and then disappeared.
...
Outside the main city of Moldavia, the encampment of the dragon carriage merchants.
Within the main city, horses were not allowed to run except for knights and the Lord's Manor, let alone the massive ground dragons. So outside the city, a designated area was set aside for merchant caravans to camp.
The dragon roars from within the city and the fierce battle in the sky had also affected this place. The pressure of dragons on low-rank dragon beasts either drove them into a frenzy of rage or paralyzed them with fear. While some ground dragons, due to being tamed, could only tremble under the dragon's pressure, others went completely mad, rampaging everywhere. These massive monsters, bearing the blood of Primordial Realm Dragons, hated those dragons with a vengeance—it was an instinct.
Ordinarily, rampaging ground dragons would cause great destruction. But fortunately, this time was different.
A Paladin walked among the encampment, a faint holy light radiating from his body—of course, this was not some kind of soothing. Instead, the Paladin, with his Gold Peak strength, turned the Holy Light into invisible blocks of iron, forcibly suppressing these massive beasts. In a sense, he was using Holy Light at a distance to concuss them into unconsciousness.
Loranda calmed (physically) each ground dragon one by one, sighing involuntarily. This kind of work should be the job of a Clergy, but for some reason, the priests from the church within the main city had not yet arrived. He could not just sit by and watch these dragon beasts cause destruction, so he had to handle it himself.
Speaking of which, had the Lord of Moldavia not returned yet? He had been dominating the battle earlier, so he should not have run into any trouble.
While patrolling back and forth, calming another ground dragon that had started to go mad, the Paladin began to ponder this matter: "I never thought it was true that dragons would retaliate against a Dragon Slayer. This is the first time I've seen such a thing."
And just as Loranda was thinking, a crimson dot suddenly appeared in the distant sky.
The dot flew rapidly toward the main city. A few seconds later, it became clear that it was a human figure, and in this figure's hands, he was dragging two large spheres.
It seemed he had successfully slain dragons again and was returning.
Nodding, Loranda couldn't help but feel admiration. Killing two Mid-Gold Rank dragons in such a short time would be troublesome even for him. Earlier, sensing the battle within the Lord's Manor, he had wanted to go help, but who would have thought the battle would be over in less than half an hour?
It seemed it was time to find an opportunity to visit this Lord.
Loranda thought this, then looked up at the sky again, but couldn't help freezing.
Because the dot did not enter the city. Instead, it circled in the air a few times and then flew straight toward him.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
A gale swept in. The rapidly flying warrior hovered in midair, holding two ferocious dragon heads in his hands. His body was bathed in dark red dragon blood, exuding a bloody and ferocious aura. Joshua looked down, staring at the Paladin who was calming (physically) the rampaging ground dragons, his eyes full of coldness.
"Your body... has the scent of these two dragons. This scent can only be acquired by being in close proximity for a long time."
Muttering to himself, the warrior sneered: "And you can even control these frenzied ground dragons, disguise yourself as a Paladin... Not simple. You must be a high-ranking member of the dragon clan, right?"
Completely not understanding what the other was saying, Loranda instinctively glanced at the 'docile' ground dragon beside him, then looked at his own armor, which was indeed stained with quite a bit of dragon beast blood.
Wait... Could it be... (To be continued.)