Chapter 472: Exposed

At first glance, it looked like a mage casting an **Arcane Explosion**, a massive violet-blue light sphere expanding rapidly. But on closer inspection, it was a turbulent flow of arcane energy, continuously splashing out in the form of **Arcane Missiles**.

This huge ball of arcane energy, after destroying its intended target, collided with a distant hill in a flash.

"Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!" The violent arcane energy transformed into countless blue arrows of light, turning the entire hill into a sieve. Shattered rocks flew around, and dust settled slowly under the unique humid breeze of the wetlands.

No wonder Vereesa was so agitated. Such an action, such an intense fluctuation of arcane energy, was tantamount to telling the red dragons flying above that something significant had happened here.

The dragons knew how much destruction a Morningstar mage could cause, and they would not ignore it.

In an age where illiteracy was rampant, some might know that human magic came from the high elves, but few knew that the dragons were the true ancestors of magic. In ancient times, when the Titans appointed five great dragons as guardians of Azeroth, the eldest of the blue dragons, Malygos, was appointed as the guardian of magic.

All the dragons had their specialties, but their sensitivity to magic was very high.

Vereesa cursed and reached for the longbow slung across her back in a dazzling motion.

The recently bombed orc was, of course, not worth Vereesa's great concern.

The enemy was coming from the sky.

Ronin, who had just poured out his magical energy, had not yet recovered from his wild but overly effective magical attack, when he suddenly felt a shiver run through him. The feeling scared him so much that he nearly jumped off the ground.

Something was approaching.

He looked up at the sky and saw only thick clouds, like grey cotton candy.

"Fool, get moving!" Gavinrad grabbed the troublemaker by the collar and pulled him onto his horse.

Ronin's face was pale. He realized he had messed up again. Just for a few orc laborers hiding in a mudhole by the swamp, he had alerted the sky's killer.

He struggled to look up from the bouncing horse's back, and he saw an invisible ripple in the eastern sky, spreading out in all directions around something. It looked like a water drop falling on the water surface, creating ripples, but more brutal.

The clouds were violently torn apart.

Then, a thunder-like vibration made Ronin's eyes widen in shock.

A terrifying roar followed, and Ronin's body involuntarily tensed up as a shadow broke through the clouds, rapidly expanding in his vision.

In just a few seconds, a vast shadow covered the nearby ground.

A deafening roar erupted in the sky, like a hurricane tearing through the atmosphere. Ronin struggled to sit on the horse, twisting his head to look up at the sky, only to see a hellish sight.

A dragon, its entire body aflame with fiery red, filled the sky above. It clutched Ronin's still struggling and neighing warhorse in its front claws. Ronin's carefully prepared supply bag kept falling from the horse's back.

The enormous red creature swallowed the remaining part of the food in its claws, its eyes already locked on the small, pitiful human below. Sitting on its shoulder was a green creature with a long battle axe, sharp fangs, and a hideous face, pointing at Ronin and screeching, seemingly giving orders to the dragon.

The dragon roared and swooped down at him with its massive claws.

"Damn it! You disaster!" Gavinrad cursed, not hiding his loathing for Ronin. Even without facing the paladin, Ronin could feel the towering rage.

It was no wonder Gavinrad was furious.

Ronin, the troublemaker, had either caused no trouble or a big one. This time it was a thousand-year-old young dragon, known to be the strongest red dragon in the wetlands. The elder dragons with individual titles had gone to attack the Hillsbrad Foothills area.

It couldn't get any worse!

"Awala—Malusaada!" At that moment, not far from them, Marian Firewing unleashed an even more violent series of spells.

A chaotic ice energy orb, as big as a carriage compartment, formed in front of Marian's outstretched left palm.

The whistling wind filled the ears, and unlike Ronin's uncontrollable wild magic, Marian demonstrated her strong control as a senior mage. The arrows of ice that shot out not only formed a net towards the red dragon but also had a very clear arc.

Marian could adjust the shooting angle after the magic was cast, aiming for maximum impact.

The giant dragon, worthy of being a thousand-year-old dragon, suddenly ascended more than thirty meters during its seemingly unchangeable high-speed dive, with just a flap of its wings.

If Marian's ice arrow rain, which had a larger range than the **Blizzard** spell, could adjust its angle, the dragon might have avoided it.

Even so, the dragon dodged most of the ice arrows, and with a single, uncharged breath, it neutralized the rest.

Except for two...

Clearly, these two ice arrows were Marian's real trump cards.

They looked the same on the surface but contained at least ten times more frost elements than regular ice arrows.

They were not only powerful but could also suddenly accelerate!

One moment they were as fast as birds, the next they turned into two meteors, hitting the orc on the dragon's back almost simultaneously, one on the left and the other on the right.

The attack of a seasoned Moonlight-level mage was not something a mere Dragonmaw orc rider could withstand.

In a breath, the entire orc had turned into an ice sculpture. A mere tremor from the dragon's ascent was enough to crack and shatter the ice, and within a few breaths, it turned into dissipating ice crystal dust.

Unfortunately, this was Marian's limit.

If it were a head-on battle on land, the outcome would be uncertain. But a non-flying elven mage against a dragon that could freely soar and make tactical maneuvers was at a disadvantage.

Even Duke's arrival with a barrage of Arcane Missiles couldn't stop the dragon from soaring into the sky. It circled at nearly three hundred meters in the air, its terrifying yellow vertical pupils carefully examining the three mages below.

"I'm sorry, Alliance mages, I must report your presence to Nekros."

The pupils of each member of the five-man team below contracted.