City of Sin (Yanyu Jiangnan)

Fighting Dragons

A rain of blood and flesh sprayed down on the ground as the dissected wind dragon quickly lost its life. The two halves separated and crashed into dense formations of draconians, crushing a good number of them underneath. The entire battlefield went silent as even those locked in battle slowed down for a moment, shuddering under the aura of power that swept across them.

One strike, one kill! Richard was now completely encased in his battle armour, the exquisite half-elven face now replaced by the imposing and dignified mask of Midren. Three pairs of crimson wings flickered into existence around him before folding in and disappearing, the flaming blade spinning around before stabbing down. A wave of pure force slammed into empty space, forming blood-coloured cracks in the air to mark his position.

For a moment, it felt as though the gods from the heavens had descended on this plane. Everyone was shocked, but that was far more true for the legends of Norland than anyone else. A six-winged angel?

Even Nasia was stunned by the sight, but the mouth on her mask slowly curved into a playful smile as she whistled, “Who’d have thought you’d get something like this when we were away! A six-winged bird sure is uncommon; since you’re being so diligent, I’ll get more serious as well.”

Her figure vanished into the void, soundlessly reappearing on the battlefield. She blinked in right under a male dragon, her blades stabbing deep between the creature’s legs. It suddenly went stiff before roaring in pain and panic, scratching and biting everywhere as it attacked friend and foe alike.

Just like Phaser and Waterflower, Nasia’s blades had little impact compared to an enormous dragon. Without any powerful add-ons like Lifesbane helping her, she had instead taken a more unorthodox route of attack. While castration was a light injury to most dragons, it was unbearably painful and enraging; even if they could regrow their testicles, their virility would drop greatly.

That pained cry left all the other dragons with chills down their spines. However, it was only a moment later that a distant dragon squealed peculiarly, flying a hundred metres into the sky while tucking its tail between its legs. Her swords covered in fresh blood, the revealed Nasia quietly smiled before hiding herself in the void once more. This one was female, and the pain wasn’t comparable to what she had done to the male, but it was still a weak spot.

Most human warriors would never dare attack a dragon’s genitals. While it was true that this was a weakness, the instinctive tail lash could mangle most bodies. However, Nasia was rapid and unpredictable, managing to disappear before any counterattack. Her precision blinks were even better than Richard’s; had he tried such a thing, it was quite likely for him to end up under the dragon’s hind claws when he reappeared.

Nasia moved towards the third dragon, her figure flickering once more, but she then grunted in helplessness as she failed. Her target had been a young male, but the moment it saw her vanish it had wrapped its tail down and readied its hind claws, leaving her with no point of entry.

The dragons learnt fast in the face of an unprecedented threat. Whenever Nasia vanished, they quickly covered their hinds and protected themselves. Many chose to just fight with their tails between their legs; this affected flight a little, but it was definitely preferable to having two swords stabbed up their rear.

Just as Nasia came into the limelight, a flash of blood-lightning robbed her of it once more. Richard blinked towards a nearby dragon and cut up from the neck, the sacred flames on his sword bursting forth and cutting through completely. He then blinked right back to the centre of the battlefield, leaning on his sword like a statue that had never moved. The crimson glow on his armour started moving a little slower than before.

Richard had only sent out two strikes since he entered the battlefield, but one had cut a dragon in half and the other had decapitated another. All the others subconsciously distanced themselves, leaving a wide blank area in the middle.

“He’s resting!” an old dragon suddenly yelled, “Attack, don’t let him recover!”

With that old dragon taking the lead, the other dragons started flying towards Richard as well. However, he just snorted and moved again, flying straight for the aggressor with unstoppable momentum. Those watching almost lost the ability to see him as he turned into a blur, crashing directly into the massive beast!

*THUD!* An explosive collision rang through Dragon Valley, leaving both human and dragon alike feeling their hearts twist a little. That had sounded like crashing into a mountain; even the metal dragons wouldn’t want to attempt that.

Surprisingly, the old dragon was the one that was knocked away. From a distance it was like an ant sending an elephant flying in a head-on collision, an uncomfortable thought for the reptiles. Stabilising itself after flying a hundred metres away, the dragon looked down to find a terrifying hole in its chest that was gushing out blood.

Richard didn’t even wait to finish this target off, instead dashing towards the next like an orb of blood. The ice dragon was quickly riddled with injuries that cut all the way to the bone, his two-metre-long blade tearing into it.

A wind dragon stealthily crept up behind Richard, but before it could make its moves a few brambles appeared around its body and twined around its wings. These were brambles formed by nature magic; not only could they restrict motion, but they could also inflict some damage. While the damage was negligible to the giant creature, it managed to shake them off easily, it didn’t get the chance to look for the offender as even more appeared in their place. At about the same time it saw the people responsible, it was bound tightly.

A group of elven druids had shown themselves on the battlefield. Each one was relatively weak, about level 15-16, but looking at their number even the dragon had to pause for a moment. There were just too many of them; over 500! This was enough to bind anyone weaker than Bahamut!

The dragon felt a chill in its heart as it discovered Richard turning around, his right hand still wielding the divine blade while his left pulled out Moonlight. Relying on the sharp edge of the elven sword, he exposed the scales on its neck and thrusted within. Not even sparing a glance at the result, he leapt towards a metal dragon that was bound the moment he arrived.

The dragons quickly realised the threat of this batch of druids, and one wind dragon used its speed to shake off its opponent and sped towards them. So long as it rushed into their formation, it could inflict heavy damage.

However, a few dozen elves on the outer ring suddenly stopped their magic and pulled mysterious metal tubes off their backs. The dragon didn’t recognise the six-barreled guns, but as it approached the barrels started to spin and dozens of explosions drowned out all other sound!

A hail of bullets tore into the wind dragon, ripping off its scales and meat in moments. The sheer impact from the concentrated fire of dozens of thunder cannons pushed it off-course, sending it sailing overhead before crashing into the ground behind the druids. Only a mangled body hit the ground, flesh and blood churned into a mix of red slush.