Chapter 474: Despairing Windrunner

To suppress a dragon renowned for its immense strength with mere magic would be laughable. To bind it, one needed only to control it for a crucial moment.

Marian, the Radiant Moon Archmage, unleashed a colossal arrow of violet-blue energy, condensed to its utmost limit, and fired it from her outstretched arms.

A gigantic arrow, more than five meters in length, tore through the sky, aimed straight at the dragon.

The dragon demonstrated its terrifying power and exquisite control, surpassing mortal comprehension. It used some berserk-like spell to enlarge its body by a third, resulting in even more horrifying strength.

"Crack! Crack! Crack!" The magical tendrils, seemingly made of pure energy, burst with crisp sounds.

In a split second, the dragon's wings flapped, propelling it upward by five meters.

These five meters were a matter of life and death.

If things continued at this pace, Marian's powerful strike would miss its mark.

That's when Vereesa took her shot.

Graceful as a pine.

Her bow was drawn like a full moon.

Two sharp arrows, aided by the power of the wind, aimed directly at the great red beast's head.

Fifty meters was a substantial distance. The arrows should have struck the dragon's eyes before Marian's magic, but at the moment of impact, the dragon's head shifted slightly, and the arrows missed Windrunner's intended target.

Though they did not strike the eyes, the arrows, imbued with Windrunner's full force, still wounded the dragon's eyelids.

"Roar!" It was a cry of unbearable pain.

This could only blind, not kill.

At this moment, no one noticed that Duke had stacked his "Arcane Blast" using the nearby swamp.

Most mages could only stack four or five layers of "Arcane Blast", but Duke managed to stack twelve layers with both hands!

Future Archmage Ronin looked on in astonishment, and Marian, who now stood at the pinnacle of arcane mastery, was secretly taken aback.

Was Duke even human with this kind of control?

The first "Arcane Blast" was released, not hitting the dragon directly but striking its left wing. Duke didn't even hope it would seriously injure the beast—for the millennia-old dragon's scales and thick skin, a Morningstar mage's magic was as laughable as ordinary human blades.

But the "Arcane Blast" did disrupt the massive creature's balance at the moment Windrunner blinded the dragon. The entire dragon flipped at a 45-degree angle.

The second "Arcane Blast" followed.

This was the real deal. A massive arcane energy ball exploded on the dragon's forehead. It was as if an invisible giant, hands crossed and fists clenched, hammered down from above.

A thunderous explosion resonated through the air.

The next second, the entire dragon was blasted downward.

Neither more nor less, it was exactly five meters.

The scene was ridiculously comical, like a frog trying to leap out of a boiling pot, only to be halfway through and then covered by a pot lid, forced back into the pot.

Few could imagine this millisecond coordination.

It was as if fate dictated that the dragon must fall, and no matter how careful, elusive, or prepared it was, it still fell prey.

But Duke did it.

Without Vereesa and Duke's cooperation, Marian's full-force strike would have been laughably deflected. Now, the dragon was trapped like prey in a trap, with no room to struggle.

"Splat!" The sound of a blade cutting through flesh.

The magic arrow pierced the dragon's snake-like neck, entering at the top and exiting at the bottom, then penetrating the heart through the chest and finally emerging from the dragon's back.

"Boom!" A muffled sound as the explosive elemental force erupted within the dragon's body. The Radiant Moon Archmage's might, second only to the two magical kings of the world, finally erupted within the dragon, wantonly destroying its innards.

The dragon's mighty life force still sustained it.

However, the intense pain from its neck and lower body, along with its millennia of combat experience, told this young dragon that death was inevitable. The damage had exceeded its body's limit.

Its strong, enormous heart still beat powerfully. But the dragon's blood, which should have been pumped into its arteries, began to spread everywhere due to the shattered ventricles.

Blood, considered a precious treasure by mortals, sprayed from the dragon, now only thirty meters above the ground.

At this moment, none of the five-member team had time to rejoice in slaying the dragon. They were horrified to see the dragon's chest swelling, and a clear, dazzling red light, like sunlight, between its ribs.

The dragon was going all out!

Not just its breath, but its entire body began to charge at the five-member team.

This was point-blank dragon's breath!

The faces of the five members of the team were pale.

To touch a dragon's reverse scale was to incite its wrath.

Now, it was more than that; they were taking its life, and it wouldn't go down without taking someone with it.

Time seemed to freeze.

Thirty meters was but a blink of an eye for a dragon.

Decisions had to be made in an instant.

Gavinrad, the once casual observer, activated the Paladin's Invincibility. The power of the Holy Light burst forth, and he transformed into a giant golden egg.

He showed some loyalty, at least. In the final moment, he positioned himself in front of Duke, taking a firm stance, hammer raised, ready to resist.

Ronin and Marian, both mages, blinked as far away as possible, followed by a glorious "Ice Barrier." Yes, they went into their ice blocks.

It was only then that Vereesa realized that her teammates were all shameless scoundrels.

One invincibility, three ice blocks.

All of them had ways to save themselves at the crucial moment.

But she was a ranger!

No matter how fast she ran, could she outrun a dragon that was flying and diving at high speed?

Vereesa's beautiful face lost all its color. Her delicate face was almost the same hue as her silver hair.

She forgot to breathe; she forgot to run.

She simulated over a hundred escape plans in her mind, but none could save her life.

The dragon was too fast, its breath too wide-ranging. A single breath from this level of dragon would create a fifty-meter-radius hell of fire, leaving nothing alive.

Vereesa despaired!