Chapter 473: Striking the Dragon's Face

Unlike the others, Duke paid no attention to Ronin or even the dragon. What mattered to him was Deathwing.

If he couldn't attract Deathwing's attention and pique the interest of the Black Dragon Aspect, all his efforts would be in vain.

The Alliance had yet to employ a single warlock, and aside from warlocks, nobody could wield the artifact "The Demon Soul." Even if Duke were a warlock, he wouldn't seize control from Alexstrasza in such a manner.

Of course, the situation at hand needed resolution.

A young dragon, twenty-three or four meters in body length with a wingspan close to twenty meters. Ignoring it wasn't an option, as its mere presence, circling high above, was enough to menace the small team.

Upon arrival, Vereesa tried to target the dragon's eye with the power she had gained from the Storm Altar. She failed. At a height of three hundred meters, the wind had become incredibly turbulent. She may have awakened the power of the wind, but it was more about controlling the wind, not enhancing her strength like her elder sister.

The dragon's eyes weren't weak spots that were easily exploited. With a dragon over a thousand years old, the transparent membrane of its eye would have the hardness of steel.

Vereesa bit her lower lip and exclaimed, "If anyone has a solution, now would be the time to use it."

Everyone first looked to Marian, the strongest among them. But the great magus of Silvermoon shrugged, "Too far."

They all noted that Marian had said: too far, not impossible.

Ignoring the flustered Ronin and the short-handed paladin, they turned their gaze to Duke, the core member of the team.

Duke looked up at the circling red dragon and asked Vereesa, "Can you help guide my magic?"

"How?"

"I need you to blow the elemental particles from my body onto that big lizard."

Vereesa wasn't a fool; she quickly understood Duke's meaning. Even disregarding the power of magic, the ever-changing wind direction made it difficult to hit a target a hundred meters away.

Vereesa, without hesitation, pressed herself against Duke's back and pointed at the dragon in the sky.

A gentle breeze arose from behind them, silver strands of hair floating in the wind, lightly caressing Duke's face.

The others watched in astonishment, a momentary vision of the two blending together, their hair colors and silhouettes creating an exquisite fusion.

Even with a beauty embracing him, Duke had no time for distractions. He carefully sensed the trajectory of his fire elementals.

The system sprite in his retina was rapidly calculating the shooting trajectory—wind direction, wind speed, the dissipation rate of fire elements...

Duke raised his right hand, just beneath Vereesa's arm, their arms overlapping. He lifted his left hand, resting it on Vereesa's right arm.

With a soft chant, a basin-sized fireball instantly formed between their fingertips.

To an outsider, it looked like a novice fireball, but to the two, they realized that Duke's fireball had not dissipated even after fifty meters.

One hundred meters.

Two hundred meters.

Two hundred and fifty meters.

Only then did the fireball begin to shrink in size, not visually, but in terms of the reduction of elemental energy it contained.

The red dragon, angered by the challenge, tried to extinguish the fireball with a breath but failed. The small fireball curved in mid-air, accelerating twice, and struck the dragon's lizard-like face.

A slap in the face! Both literally and metaphorically.

Furious, the red dragon dive-bombed, intent on teaching these insolent humans a lesson.

As the dragon descended, all eyes turned to Marian.

The esteemed member of the Silvermoon Council demonstrated her might. Complex arcane energy patterns spread out beneath her feet, forming a ten-meter-wide magical circle that looked like a piece of art.

Magic flowed within the circle, rapidly rotating. Then, as the dragon was less than fifty meters from the ground, numerous claw-like magical tendrils appeared, ensnaring the dragon.