Chapter 17: The Dragon’s Fury
The first to move was the seemingly harmless Soul Devouring Gnome. With a flash of darkness, its black cloak swelled like dark clouds before shooting forward like lightning, aiming straight at Mihajic and Rebril, who had been waiting ready. Clearly, the Phantom lurking in the darkness had also realized that aside from Komer, these two magicians were the most threatening. It was better to tackle the leaders first—once they were dealt with, the rest would disperse on their own. Though it was extremely arrogant through telepathy, it showed no hesitation when it came to actual action.
The Mechanical Puppet had already leaped high to shield Rebril and Mihajic, its scythe-like arms generating two massive beams of dark light, acting like two giant blades that blocked the Soul Devouring Gnome outside. As a puppet made from a core of exotic magic crystal, it had no concept of life force, so even the formidable Soul Devouring Gnome was useless against it. The puppet’s scythe-armed arms were extremely sharp; a single cut from those blades would reduce the gnome to fragments.
Yet, since the Soul Devouring Gnome had been released, it wasn’t so easily defeated. It performed a nimble flip in midair, using its hands tempered by Ghost Sand to clash head-on with the puppet’s scythe. The sharp impact sound was unmistakably that of metal on metal. Despite the sparks flying, the gnome seemed unaffected. It spun and twisted in the air, using momentum in a bizarre maneuver before dropping slightly and charging in from the side.
Although the Mechanical Puppet was fast and agile, it was still far inferior to the Soul Devouring Gnome. By then, Rebril had already recited a spell, summoning a blazing Flame Spirit Shield that firmly protected him, Mihajic, and the women behind them. Lomi’s holy light enhanced the shield, adding a sacred silver glow. Even the indestructible arms of the Soul Devouring Gnome wouldn’t dare to challenge such a shield infused with heavenly holy fire.
A terrifying screech erupted from the gnome’s mouth, shaking hearts. Its eyes turned a strange dark red, and its cloak behind it resembled giant bat wings, flaring and folding rapidly—swift as lightning, moving like the wind—as it launched all-round attacks around Rebril’s Flame Spirit Shield.
Following closely behind the Soul-Devouring Dwarves were the most fearsome Giant Zombies. The heavy thud of their footsteps on the ground sounded like blows to everyone’s hearts. Even a slight sway of their double-bladed axes made the air seem filled with a murderous aura that threatened to penetrate people’s souls. The two Giant Zombies were of similar build and even had little difference in appearance—bearded and with broad faces showing no expression, except for a silver-yellow seal the size of a thumb on the center of their foreheads, indicating that they had been unparalleled Giant Warriors in life.
The two Black Knights were even more agile. Purple flames already rose from their black Bone Spirit Flame Swords amidst the dark mist, as they thrusted their swords in two different directions at high speed. Dozens of Skeleton Warriors also charged forward, moving in unison with the two leading Black Knights, attacking from both flanks. Their overwhelming momentum nearly crushed Komer’s group to dust.
The immense pressure from the two Giant Zombies finally made Shatima, who had always looked down on them, sense a change in the atmosphere. No one knew exactly what the relationship between the Dragon race and the Giant race—both descended from a lineage of beings beyond humans—in ancient times had been. But given the Dragons’ proud and aloof nature, it was hard to imagine them getting along harmoniously.
One of the Giant Zombies quickly locked eyes with Shatima. Perhaps due to their inherently uncompromising nature, instead of feeling fear at the Zombie’s provocation, Shatima felt a violent urge to torment and slaughter it deep within her. Although she was still too injured to transform at that moment, the numerous supplements from Komer’s trials had already restored most of her formidable strength. Not being able to transform meant she couldn’t appear at her strongest, mainly due to limited physical capacity. However, with the Soul-Binding spell removed, her magic was not restricted at all. Now, she could freely unleash her almost endless magical power, even using Dragon Breath magic.
With a fierce roar, Shatima showed no fear of the giant zombie’s indifferent expression. Her agile body soared into the air, the dragon spear emitting a deep blue glow, with intense light bursting from its blade. The temperature of the entire square seemed to drop by ten degrees instantly. Frost magic posed no harm to lifeless undead, but elemental properties meant that when temperatures dropped to a certain level, the essence of any object would become brittle. In battle, brittleness meant it could be shattered by the opponent’s force. Even for undead, once the foundation of their strength vanished, they were like props controlled by someone behind them, just like under the effect of petrification magic.
In Shatima’s eyes, all human-shaped creatures were signs of cowardice, and the so-called giant zombies were no exception. She had never heard of any “giant race.” She only knew that the dragon race was supreme, untouchable by anyone, especially herself, who was unparalleled in the world. Aside from that cunning Komer, who used schemes to deceive her, Shatima feared no one in a one-on-one fight.
The giant zombie, unafraid of anything, faced the surging dragon spear energy head-on without retreating. Its massive double-bladed axe transformed into a dark circular halo at that moment. The intense energy seemed to double the size of the axe head, even causing the patterns on it to create endless illusions.
With a deafening clang that almost knocked a person’s heart out of their chest, Shatima felt as though all her strength was being shattered by the opponent’s strike. She was pushed backward just to barely counteract the force. The giant zombie’s strength was infinite—gifted by the Earth Goddess, it granted them unparalleled strength that even Shatima, in her human form, could not match.
A huge crack appeared at the tip of the dragon spear. Clearly, Shatima also suffered a setback. Its double-bladed axe was clearly no ordinary weapon. Without pause, after splitting Shatima’s defenses, it swung violently again, like a river flowing upside down. Its overwhelming momentum instantly enveloped the entire front line, so fierce that even the gods descending to earth would have to avoid its force.
“Roar!” Shatima leaped into the air once more. Extreme humiliation and anger made it impossible for her to control her emotions. Proud of her strength, she could not bear the shame of being pushed back by a single strike. This was an insult to the entire dragon race. If she couldn’t retaliate a hundredfold, she would rather die here.
A glacial-blue dragon breath erupted from Shatima’s crimson lips. As soon as it was released, the blue light instantly expanded infinitely, spreading out like a long glacial arc in a narrow fan shape. Wherever it passed, the air turned bitterly cold, with deadly frost forming! The already frigid underground plaza was plunged into utter silence, as if even sound had been frozen in place!
The giant zombie, though invincible in strength, couldn’t compare to Shatima in terms of intelligence. It had no idea just how immense the icy energy released from this burst of dragon essence would be! The giant zombie came to a sudden halt mid-motion; its raised axe resembled a beautifully sculpted statue in the shifting light. Even the skeleton warriors behind it, still over ten meters away, couldn’t withstand the overwhelming force of the icy energy and instantly turned into ice shards scattered on the ground!
The Soul Devouring Dwarves, who had just managed to glide past, nearly fell from the air. If not for their special cloaks maintaining their flight angle and their luck in avoiding the direct impact wave of the dragon breath, they too would have crashed to the ground and turned into ice fragments.
This was a direct, unrestrained eruption of dragon essence. Although its range was much narrower than the previous dragon roar, its destructive power increased exponentially. In an instant, the giant zombie could no longer move, but its controller immediately realized something was wrong.
No one expected a dragon’s fury to be so formidable. The icy magic emitted from its essence could completely freeze any object. Though the giant zombie had no life, it too was unable to move under this rapid freezing magic, standing like a giant ice statue in the center of the plaza. Almost everyone was stunned by Shatima’s furious outburst. Even the black knights attacking from both sides struggled to move, seemingly taking several seconds to take each step.
Having achieved her goal in anger, Shatima endured the dizziness caused by overusing her magic. Her dragon spear streaked through the sky like a rainbow, creating a frictional sensation even through the ice. The force heading toward the giant zombie could instantly turn it into shattered ice!
“Huh!” A sudden disturbance appeared in Komer’s telepathy, but before he could react, he only felt a pounding heart. Though his surroundings were as bright as day under the light of the Holy Sphere, Komer saw no shadows at all; only his intuition told him that the succubus had appeared!
This is my duty!