Chapter 475: A Hero's Rescue is Essential

Vereesa was screaming uncontrollably in her mind:

"Am I going to die?"

"Is this the fear of death?"

"No! I don't want to die! There are still so many places I haven't been to! So many sights I haven't seen!"

"How can I just die here?"

"No—I don't want to die!"

"Who... who will save me?"

"Sister! Second sister! Fourth sister—"

"Huh? Duke!?"

Like a drowning person about to go under, Vereesa was frantically lost in thought. It was not that she was weak, but rather that the Ranger's profession, almost synonymous with a Hunter, had too many limitations.

Forget about the Hunter's signature skill, "Feign Death." The so-called "Feign Death" is merely posing as a corpse to deceive the enemy into thinking you are truly dead, so they stop attacking you. The problem now was that the dragon's breath was indiscriminate destruction.

Without the means to resist the fire element, without room to dodge, one can only rely on personal resistance to withstand.

Could Vereesa's petite frame withstand it?

For a Ranger, whose core lies in agility and evasion, when there's no place to hide, it means it's time to perish.

No wonder Vereesa was in despair.

In the last second of time, Duke performed a series of dizzying actions in one breath.

A special arcane explosion created a rectangular pit in the mud, large enough for Vereesa to hide inside.

Mud splattered, spreading the unique stench of swamp soil.

Duke's lightning-fast hands grabbed Vereesa's shoulders, and with unimaginable strength and speed, he pushed the still-baffled Vereesa into the hole, seemingly stuffing something into her hand.

Almost simultaneously, a massive ice pillar appeared out of nowhere, planted between the dragon and the two of them in the mud.

After Vereesa was pushed down into the pit like being placed into a coffin by Duke, she leaned against the ice bed that had appeared out of nowhere. Her pure sky-blue, perfectly almond-shaped eyes widened in disbelief as she looked at Duke.

That instant felt like an eternity.

Vereesa swore, as long as she lived, she would never forget this moment—everything at the edge of her vision had been dyed a golden red. The sky, the air, the rising dust, and the splattered grass, all took on the same color of destruction.

She could distinctly feel, through the earth and ice bed, the supreme sensation of heat.

She could almost see that in the next instant, he, at the center of her vision, would turn to ashes right in front of her.

Would this handsome man, her eldest sister's lover, really die in front of her just to protect her?

A clear feeling of heartbreak flooded all her emotions.

Looking at Duke's suddenly handsome and pleasing face, Vereesa was completely stunned.

Duke gave her a reassuring expression, and then opened his right hand, spreading his fingers in front of her and activated "Ice Barrier." A wedge-shaped block of ice enveloped Duke, separating him from Vereesa.

An Ice Block!

A Mage's absolute defense!

Unless one's elemental power vastly differed from the enemy's, a Mage would be invincible during this time.

Duke did not cancel it.

The earth suddenly trembled.

The ground was pulsing, the sand and stones quaking.

Because... the thousand-year-old red dragon, in its dying attack, plowed into the soft mud like a crashing plane.

"Boom—"

The thunderous sound erupted beneath Duke and Vereesa's feet and spread far and wide.

The dragon's massive body dug up who knows how much soil and sand, splattering swamp mud everywhere. It seemed the dragon plowed the ground for a while before encountering large rocks or something, turning from plowing into tumbling.

How much time had passed?

Vereesa didn't know. All she knew was that when everything finally settled, the cool block of ice pressing down on her disappeared.

For some reason, their fingers, overlapped through the ice, clasped together.

Vereesa found two warm human legs squeezed between her long legs. Fortunately, in the last instant, Duke's left hand pressed on the ice above Vereesa's right shoulder, avoiding crushing her completely.

Close!

So close!

Close enough to see every detail in each other's eyes, to feel each other's breath.

Both their faces turned beet red.

Time seemed to freeze once more.

Suddenly, the untimely shout of an onlooking Gavinrad rang out from afar.

"Boss! Are you alright?"