Chapter 20: Decisive battle.

"Those who can still fight keep firing your weapon!" Hugo shouted as he looked at the devastating blow from the drake. "This is our only chance to survive! Don't let this affect you!" He added.

Hugo sent half of the force to different locations and not centered like before to avoid getting more casualties. The more the force spread out, the less casualties it should be. He realized the force he brought wasn't enough, so he asked for air support while waiting for the reinforcements to come.

The downside of spreading the troops and the units was the fact it lowered their attack power and easier to be targeted by the wyverns from the sky and the drakes. He had no choice but to do it and believed in everyone's ability.

The fighter jets flew in and bombarded the drakes with thousands of bullets and dozens of bombs. The wyverns changed their targets and immediately chased after them. It gave Hugo and the ground soldiers to focus on the drakes.

"Order the tanks to keep an eye on the leader. Whenever it starts to generate a spark again, don't hesitate to shoot its head. We don't want to make the same mistake again," Hugo said. "We need to make this work," he clenched his fists in frustration and guilt for killing hundreds of lives of his own men for his shortcomings.

The battle continued and the drake's leader tried to release the same attack again, but this time the tanks were prepared for it. They shot its head with piercing and explosive bullets, and it was effective because the drake just swallowed its own attack.

Everyone was cheering and admired Hugo's decision and insight. But Hugo himself wasn't satisfied because as long as that thing still breathed, he wouldn't be satisfied or pleased by anything.

The number of drakes on the battlefield had been reduced significantly, and it made things easier for the army to deal with the leader. Not only that, the reinforcements had arrived with more artillery to defeat the drakes and end it once and for all.

Rigel changed his position to be as close as possible to the drake's leader but at the same time safe from the battle. He observed the drake's scales, and even after getting bombarded by countless bullets, the scales were still attached to its body. It would take more than that, or at least for them to focus on the same spot.

He didn't know what he could do other than watch but then he looked at the bag on his back. He still had a lot of explosives inside and wondered if he could use them and put them right into the drake's mouth and destroy it from the inside.

"I just need a perfect moment..." Rigel narrowed his pupils and he started to see things moving a bit slower.

The drake started to release a spark again from its tail, and this time it didn't try to transfer it to its horns. But that didn't matter because the tanks could see it and they shot its head once more.

Seeing the drake was stunned, Rigel took his opportunity and ran as fast as he could with the bag full of explosives and ammunition. When he came out of the alley, he sensed something was flying toward the drake, and when he looked to his left he saw 2 explosive rounds coming toward him. He immediately stopped running and turned around to avoid it as he threw the bag away.

Although he managed to save the bag, his body got exposed to the explosion and got thrown away. He was thrown quite far and then hit the wall so hard that he almost lost consciousness. He was trying so hard to stay awake, but his mind was filled with thoughts of his body becoming a mess.

The moment his vision became clear, he looked down at his body, but to his surprise, he was fine. His limbs were intact with only a few wounds and bruises. He was in disbelief because there were no burn wounds on his body even though he got exposed by the explosion. Not only that, his body was fine with no internal injuries.

"Am I immune to fire because of the wyrm, and my body becomes strong because of the ogre and orc?" Rigel looked at his hands and moved his fingers.

While Rigel was in a daze, the drake roared and decided to charge at the soldiers with the remaining drakes. Rigel realized it wasn't the time for him to be in a daze and helped Hugo to kill the leader before it took more casualties.

Rigel grabbed his bag and hurriedly followed the drake from the side unnoticed by it. He was thinking about how to approach it, and then he came up with an idea. He went to where Hugo was to tell him about his plan while at the same time asking for a radio so he could communicate with him.

"Rigel?" Hugo looked at Rigel walking so casually amid the chaos.

"We don't have much time," Rigel looked at the leader getting pushed back and unable to get any closer. "I have a plan, and I think it will work," he looked at Hugo with confidence.

Hugo nodded with understanding and listened to Rigel's plan.

The plan was simple and it could work, but the risk was too high. The risk of failure would cost Rigel's life, or at least that was what Hugo thought. He didn't know that Rigel could withstand the explosion even if it failed, but it would raise questions about his abilities.

"Just believe in me. I will make this plan work," Rigel assured and he was confident with the plan. "I might need to fill this bag with more explosives until there's no more space to put them," he put the bag on the table.

Hugo looked at the bag and then at the soldier in front of him as he nodded his head. The soldier grabbed the bag and hurriedly looked for explosives to fill the bag. Hugo grabbed the radio and gave it to Rigel so they could communicate so the plan could go smoothly.

The soldier came back with a bag full of explosives that he could barely lift the bag with both hands. Rigel grabbed it like it was nothing and put it on his shoulder.

"We will use everything on the next attack, so be prepared, Rigel," Hugo stared at Rigel with a serious expression.

"I'm always prepared," Rigel answered and then left hurriedly since the leader was getting closer and closer to the frontline.

After Rigel got in position and informed Hugo that he was ready, he wrapped a belt of grenades around the bag. He stared at the drake's head from the 11th floor of a building and slowly narrowed his pupils. The longer he used that ability, the slower everything seemed to be, but at the same time, it took a toll on his eyes.

The drake's leader roared as all the drakes had been annihilated by the army. When it was about to release a powerful attack from its mouth, the tanks, and all the artillery shot their rounds consecutively and rapidly. The drake got pushed back and was unable to do anything.

"Now!" Hugo's voice could be heard on the radio.

Rigel dashed and ran as fast as he could while the drake was still getting bombarded with bullets. The moment the bullets stopped raining on the drake, Rigel jumped off the building and tried to reach the drake's left horn.

He managed to grab the horn with his right hand and hung onto it as he swung his left hand holding the bag into the mouth of the drake. He pulled the pin off the grenade before he released the bag, but the drake noticed his presence and immediately closed its mouth, chopping Rigel's whole left arm with its sharp teeth.

Although Rigel lost his left arm, he didn't feel any pain at all. He let go of his right hand and then looked into the drake's eyes with a smirk.

"Enjoy your last meal..." Rigel said and then the neck of the drake exploded and the head got detached from its body.

Rigel landed and looked at his missing left arm as he started to feel the stinging and itchy sensation that crawled to his left shoulder. He watched the drake's body collapsing right in front of him and then saw a glowing gray stone coming out of its neck. He immediately grabbed it and absorbed it.

He felt like his legs up to his nape were being electrocuted which made him paralyzed. He collapsed and was unable to move his body because of it. He felt dizzy and sleepy at the same time, and then he saw Hugo and the soldiers running toward him with worried expressions before he closed his eyes and fell asleep.