Chapter 52 Surprise Attack

"We're here."

As the darkness faded and light returned, Welt 's voice came through clearly. Cold wind rushed into Stelle's mouth and lungs as she opened her eyes. The bright reflection off the snow made it hard to see.

They were up in the air.

After adjusting, Stelle could see the source of all their problems—the planet's final enemy. It was much larger than it appeared on the screen.

Its white scales reflected sunlight on the snowy ground, distorting the light and air around it. The dragon's head was so tall that it rose above some of the clouds. A flock of birds flew past the head of this stellaron-incarnate creature.

Its nearly perfect body looked like a masterpiece. Every scale seemed carefully carved, and even its slightest movements stirred gusts of wind, uprooting small trees. The dragon's wings were so wide they blocked the sky, and every time it moved, Stelle felt the ground shake violently.

With a small leap, it could cover the distance that would take travelers hours to climb a mountain. For this stellaron-incarnate dragon, it was as easy as walking on a carpet in its own home.

The most striking feature was its raised dragon head with two pairs of massive horns, sharp like swords. These black horns seemed to swallow all the surrounding light, sending a faint sense of threat that tingled Stelle's nerves.

"Stay alert, Stelle!" Welt came over during their descent and patted her on the shoulder.

"Okay!" She snapped back to reality. As they got closer to the stellaron, Stelle felt the one inside her heating up, almost as if resonating with it.

They were nearly 10,000 feet in the sky. Welt adjusted their position as they fell, guiding them toward their target.

Though there was still some distance to go, Stelle had a strange feeling.

"When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes into you."

To Stelle's surprise, the enormous white-scaled dragon raised its head from more than 3,000 feet away.

Its cold scales showed an expression that only humans should have—a grin.

"It was Mocking them."

"Uncle Yang! Watch out, the enemy is already..."

Before Stelle could finish, dangerous energy began gathering on the dragon's thick horn, towering like a tree. In the next second...

It exploded from the bottom to the top, giving almost no time to react. Through the clouds, the shadow of destruction was already at the door.

"Hmm~"

Welt reacted quickly. After the last few attacks, he had gotten used to the stellaron's moves. Even though it was closer now, it wouldn't be able to beat him.

With a small wave of his staff, the massive energy ball was deflected again.

"It's not over yet, Uncle Yang!"

Before Welt could relax, Stelle's warnings came one after another. The deflected stellaron instantly split into countless smaller balls mid-air. Even so, each ball was about the size of a small car. They turned and shot toward the Astral Express at extreme speeds.

"Not bad," Welt said, squeezing his hand slightly. In his past experiences sealing stellaron, it rarely showed human-like emotions, let alone tactics like this. The stellaron noticed Welt's way of blocking the attack and quickly adapted.

But this wasn't a problem for Welt. The balls seemed to lose some of their energy after changing direction. When the remaining attacks entered Welt's defense range, they vanished silently into the black energy, like they were swallowed by a black hole.

"March, Dan Heng!"

As they descended to a lower altitude, Welt gave instructions to March 7th and Dan Heng, following their battle plan.

"I've been waiting for this!"

On March 7th, when she shot arrows in the air with her bow, her intense focus made time seem to slow down. For a regular archer, shooting multiple arrows at once would require a lot of arrows or extremely fast hands.

But she was different.

In the legend of Belobog, there was a legendary archer who could shoot arrows in a perfect straight line. But March 7th didn't just want to shoot a single line—she wanted to shoot a thousand or ten thousand lines!

Her hands moved too fast to see clearly. In an instant, nearly a thousand ice arrows or ice spikes appeared in the air, raining down on the stellaron's form!

According to the unclear laws of physics in this world, some of March 7th's attacks might have lost energy due to air friction as they fell. However, one person stepped up to act.

Standing in a spot that Welt had pointed out earlier, he gripped the handle of his long gun. Normally, at this distance, his gun wouldn't be able to reach the stellaron. But he thought, "There's no rule saying you can't hit someone if you're far away."

"Cloud Cavalry Spear Technique: Rapid Rain!"

With lightning speed, Dan Heng's arm attacked with his spear, unleashing thousands of spear strikes, like a storm of raindrops. Each strike carried the power of the wind.

The most amazing part wasn't just that he attacked with thousands of strikes, but that almost every one of Dan Heng's shots hit the attacks March 7th had launched earlier.

The wind-powered spears combined with March 7th's icy blasts, perfectly merging into an "Ice arrow attack boosted by wind". With their combined power, they unleashed an assault strong enough to take down a thousand enemies.

As expected, the Everwinter Dragon, now transformed by the stellaron, was drawn to their attack. It opened its massive mouth and, without charging up, released a visible blast of compressed air, forming a mini-tornado aimed directly at their attack.

The sound of shattering glass filled the air as the two powerful attacks collided, canceling each other out. In the end, it was a tie.

Despite their attack failing, March 7th and Dan Heng didn't look frustrated. They knew the real attack was coming.

Stelle raised her bat, which flashed with lightning and flames. A bright streak cut through the air as her charged attack aimed for the Everwinter Dragon's horns.

Welt's power was also infused in the bat, adding immense gravitational force. If this blow hit the ground, it would be as powerful as a bomb.

The Everwinter Dragon, still transformed by the stellaron, didn't react in time and watched helplessly as the attack hit its horn.

"Thump!"

The air rang with the sharp, ringing clash of metal. In an instant, the jagged horns of the dragon fractured and splintered, shards raining down like glinting daggers. A stunned silence fell over the battlefield as the horns, to everyone's disbelief.

For a heartbeat, Stelle's eyes sparkled with triumph, a grin tugging at her lips. But then—before the victory could fully bloom—the fragments of the horns began to stir. Slowly, impossibly, they hovered, as if guided by unseen hands, twisting and spiraling back into place, fusing with an eerie, effortless grace.

Their well-aimed assault? It had done nothing.

Before them, the Everwinter Dragon stood tall and untouched, its icy gaze unbroken, mocking their attempt.