The Big Battle (Part 5)

Being clustered together had its drawbacks; their mixed levels of power meant some of them would undoubtedly be crushed under the dragon's assault.

It wasn't time yet to sacrifice part of the group to secure a victory.

But breaking this deadlock wasn't entirely impossible. Grigori considered the situation for a moment before glancing at the crumbling structure around them. Then, he turned his head to one of his subordinates and gave a subtle signal.

The young blond man immediately understood the unspoken command. He ceased channeling magic into the barrier and turned instead to unleash several powerful attacks against one of the thick walls.

Boom!

The wall collapsed with a deafening crash. Rubble and dust filled the air as stones of all sizes tumbled down, burying corpses beneath them—or crushing them into unrecognizable masses.

By now, the once-grand hall was unrecognizable. Twisted steel beams jutted out of the debris, and the tilting structure brought the ceiling height down by more than half in an instant.

"Heh."

Avery, standing in a shadowed corner that seemed to meld into the surrounding darkness, chuckled softly at the scene. Then, turning his gaze to Batman, he said, "Let's go. We'll wait for them outside."

Batman held his gaze for a moment before allowing Avery to grab his shoulder. In the blink of an eye, both figures vanished from the spot.

Shortly after their departure, the building finally gave way.

BOOM!

The deafening crash was even louder this time, reverberating across several dozen meters—possibly even hundreds. Many bystanders, already drawn by the dragon's earlier roars, bore witness to the dramatic collapse.

The towering building, once several hundred meters high, toppled into a worthless heap of rubble. While the collapse itself wasn't extraordinary, what happened next was:

From within the ruins, a colossal golden dragon burst forth, shattering the debris and leaving behind a gaping, bottomless pit.

The dragon circled high above the city, its golden scales shimmering under the gloomy, cloud-covered night sky. Each scale appeared so vivid, each motion imbued with seamless power and grace. Its intelligent, gleaming eyes gave it an almost lifelike quality, as though it had always existed but remained unseen by the world until now.

Witnessing this spectacle, everyone present was left in awe.

Fortunately, the building it had emerged from was long overdue for demolition and slated for redevelopment. There were no civilians inside, nor any valuable equipment that required salvaging.

At that moment, Grigori and his group emerged from the rubble, having temporarily escaped their plight.

But their reprieve was brief. The elemental dragon under Avery's control immediately noticed their reappearance. With a fierce roar, it dove from the sky, its massive jaws opening wide as if to consume the very earth and sky, hurtling toward its prey.

"It seems his power has likely weakened significantly, even if he did survive back then," Grigori remarked.

As one of the few surviving participants of the assault on Avery years ago, Grigori could tell this dragon wasn't operating at the level it once had. Back then, Avery had unleashed a similar attack when cornered, but it had been far more devastating. The dragon's mouth had been capable of channeling a concentrated elemental beam, obliterating many of their group in a single blast, leaving no remains.

For Grigori and his team, this was somewhat encouraging news. No one wanted their enemy to be at full strength.

"Too many civilians live nearby—it's making it hard for me to go all out," Avery grumbled to Batman on the other side of the battlefield.

Meanwhile, Grigori and his group prepared their counterattack as the dragon's immense form descended toward them. From the very first moment they had encountered this foe, their instincts had told them to clear the area and fight. They might not have been as powerful as him at his peak, but they were far from weak.

This was only the beginning.

The concept of elemental magic encompasses a vast domain. These elements permeate every corner of the natural world—earth elements lie within the soil, water elements reside in rivers, lakes, and oceans, wind elements flow through the air, and so on.

A wizard's innate affinity determines the type of elements they can manipulate. While there is no inherent hierarchy of strength among elemental magic types, the efficacy of the spells depends on how the wizard employs them. Novice and intermediate wizards typically follow well-trodden paths, learning spells that are directly tied to their power level. At this stage, a wizard's abilities closely align with the potency of the spells they have mastered.

However, for advanced wizards, individual strength depends entirely on their own capabilities. Advanced wizards can harmonize with the natural world and their respective elements, using insights and intuition to create spells of varying power. Their abilities are exponentially greater than those of lower-level wizards.

Unquestionably, the extent to which a wizard can advance along this path is ultimately determined by their own understanding and insight.

Grigori and his group, however, had been deprived of this opportunity. Reaching the advanced wizard level is far from simple—without the correct methods, the mortality rate for attempting the breakthrough is as high as 80% or more. These methods have been painstakingly compiled over millennia, at the cost of countless wizards' lives, ensuring that the process for modern practitioners is far less perilous.

Even so, the number of advanced wizards across the continent remains relatively small, underscoring the rarity and value of these breakthrough techniques. Such knowledge is not something an ordinary wizard without connections can easily access.

Years ago, Grigori's group had reached this critical juncture. Although their earlier progress had been relatively smooth, their lack of roots in this world, coupled with the need to remain hidden, made obtaining these techniques a nearly impossible task. The shadowy forces driving them forward only added to the pressure, constantly demanding they steal more resources and acquire the methods as quickly as possible, completely disregarding the difficulties they faced. It was enough to make them feel that working under someone else's thumb was far more exhausting than engaging in battles with other wizards.