Chapter LVII - Heat (part 1)

The plan was to burn the dragons, whose skin was said to be extremely strong and can withstand heat easily.

But even the strongest metals had a limit to how much it can burn.

The plan was to freeze the dragon's scales and hit it hard, so it creates cracks on the scale's surface. After cracking the scales, we pushed the dragons into the lava. Since the scale was cracked, the lava will be able to get through the scale into the skin under it.

Burning it on the inside, from the outside. And if this plan didn't work, I could always just slay it normally.

So I nodded at Hod after he explained his plan. He looked around to the others, and they all agreed also.

"All right. Execute!"

We all started moving at the same time. Hod expanded his range of cold mist all the way to the dragons.

The dragons, feeling a change in the air, quickly went on guard. But before it could react, a giant red fire ball flew towards the green dragon's face at an incredible speed.

BAAARRRRRR!!

"RIIIEEEKK!!"

The second dragon, the dark blue one, looked around to search for its opponent. But then it's eyes fixed on top of the closest giant stone from the pool.

A single silhouette of a person is standing there, with its bow and arrow set on their hand.

The person pulled the string, and a glowing white arrow sliced through the air and landed on the second dragon's chest, deep beneath its scales.

The arrow quickly released a heavy force of electricity into the dragon's skin. The dragon felt a tiny bit of pain, but the effect wasn't that simple. Thanks to the electricity, the dragon's eyes are now dazed. It couldn't see through the mist anymore due to the nausea.

A large shadow quickly envelopes its eyes, and the dragon felt a heavy smack on the cheek, throwing it to the left side with incredible force.

It was Valey and Barett. The duo combo is one of the most fearsome in the kingdom. With Valey as the ranger and Barett as vanguard, the two are both impenetrable and deadly.

The green dragon finally lifted its head up again. Smokes coming from its face can be seen. A little bit of blood seems to have leaked from the nose and mouth. That fireball at the beginning wasn't just a simple heavy punch. The heat of the flames isn't so simple either. The dragon can feel actual pain coming from its face.

Without hesitation, two silhouettes suddenly appeared from behind the mist and rushed towards it. When the dragon was about to release an attack from its mouth, a large winter blizzard envelops its body and completely freezes it.

It was Hod's magic. He completely covered the dragon in an extreme minus temperature mist, freezing the dragon's body almost completely.

For a powerful beast like this lesser dragon to be stunned by ice, even just for a few seconds, is already a great achievement. Hod is indeed the ice king.

"Rize, will you do the honours?"

"Can you please...?"

"Right. Sorry. Please do the thing."

I let out a sigh before dashing towards the dragon. With enough power, I landed a powerful kick on the dragon's left cheek side, throwing the dragon towards the lava.

From the kick, I can feel my leg cracking the dragon's scale. The cracks felt awesome as I kicked it, because those scales were so much stronger than any metal.

Damn Hod, his ice is really convenient. Without that ice, it would be incredibly difficult to destroy a dragon's scale.

The dragon fell into the lava, creating a large wave that even jumped to the ground. Hod casted a long wall of ice around the pool so that the lava won't touch the both of us.

"Thanks."

"Don't thank me yet. We still have one more."

Hod pointed at the second blue dragon.

Cony had joined the other team. She acts as the attacker while Barett defends from the dragon's attacks. Valey from the distance is throwing a bunch of powerful enchanted lightning arrows towards the dragon. The several arrows landed on the dragon's body and completely electrocuted it.

"SHRRIEEK!!"

The dragon shouted loudly and stared at the humans in front of it. It opened the mouth incredibly wide, making Barett and Cony on alert.

"Watch out!!"

A burst of blue flames gushed out of its mouth, eating away everything in its way.

Luckily, Barett and Cony had already jumped away. The dragon was still throwing the blue flames when Barett appeared on top of it. Barett can see the dragon's shocked eyes as he smacks the dragon using his large shield.

BAM!!!

The dragon fell to the side. It tried to regain its balance by walking on four feet. It went straight to the pool.

"It's getting... into the pool?"

"We haven't cracked its skin yet! It won't die!"

Valey shouted as she went down from her giant rock. Barett and Cony tried chasing, but the dragon fell down to the pool already.

Me and Hod arrived quite late because the dragon had already disappeared under this lava lake. I turned to Hod with a confused and worried face.

"What should we do?"

Unfortunately, he looked just as confused as I am.

"What if we froze the entire surface! That way the dragon won't be able to move out."

Cony said aloud from her side. Everyone else stared at her because this is the first time she actually had a good idea.

"What!?"

"Nothing."

Hod turned around and lifted both of his hands towards the pool. Before long, white smoke appeared out of his hands and with a single breath, an entire snow storm came out from his hands and froze the pool of lava. The lava felt a sudden change in the temperature, and the surface quickly froze into a black surface.

With this, the dragon wouldn't be able to go out. Or that's what we thought, at least.

Barett and Cony sat down from the fatigue, and Valey patted their shoulder. Hod glared at me and grinned, I simply nodded and walked to the others.

The dragon is gone. It's trapped underneath that thick layer of black crust.

Just in case the dragon came out, Hod kept on watch while everyone else sat to take a breather.

"Hod, you also need to rest."

Valey said from her seat, but Hod won't budge. He just shook his head while staring at the pool.

I activated my magic senses, but I couldn't feel much. It could be because the deep pool of lava's temperature is messing with my senses, or it could also be because my magic soul was just healed and not working correctly just yet.

Either way, I couldn't find out what's going on down there, so no point to be extremely on edge.

I took out a bottle of water and drank it. The heat is now gone, but the water inside of me isn't going to replace itself.

About five minutes later, Hod sat down next to us. He thought after this long, the dragon wouldn't be coming out, so he just sat down. And right after he sat down, the ground crumbled.

"What is..."

Cony mumbles as she turns her gaze at the pool. The rocks around us on the ground started bouncing heavily. This is not a normal earthquake.

Suddenly, a heavy bloodlust can be felt from inside of the pool. Everyone quickly turned alert, and stood up while getting ready.

That damned dragon, it's still alive.

"HRUUUUHHHH!!!"

BRAKKK!!

The earthquake stopped as the pool suddenly showed cracks on the surface. We all stood up and prepared for what's coming.

The dragon is trying to escape.

BRAKK!!

Another punch to the black layer. This dragon is really trying to go out.

And now that there's cracks on the layer, I can feel it more clearly. The dragon... somewhat gone more powerful.

Suddenly my memories recalled about the incident with Cane.

This is literally the same situation.

BRAAKKK!!!

The dark scales came out, with its four wings and a giant body. But what's scary isn't the fact that the dragon had four wings. It's because the scales had completely turned black.

It could be because the dragon was burned on the lava, that the scales turned charred. But my biggest guess is that the change happened because of evolution.

This is a lesser dragon that nearly went through an evolution. A nearly evolved lesser dragon. A higher Yellow ranked beast.

Seeing this second chance, I grinned.

The dragon's bloodlust is not hidden at all. Cony and Barett were trying their best not to be engulfed in fear, but Valey and Hod are strong enough.

The dragon is flying on its four wings. The eyes are glaring heavily at us, while the breathing is slow and paced.

It's really passionate about killing us, I can tell that much.