Demon Dragon

Hooves crunched over grass and brush.

The knights waited in a ravine surrounded by weathered rock formations, their jagged surfaces casting twisted shadows beneath the moonlight.

They remained silent, every muscle taut.

A thousand meters.

Another thousand meters, and they would reach the camp where the Church of Death was stationed.

The Undead Army, needing no sleep, stood in dense, dark formations as they waited in place.

They were waiting for dawn.

The Church of Death's spells did not make the undead they transformed fear sunlight.

On the contrary, aside from wounds that could not heal on their own, they had almost no obvious weaknesses.

The undead did not need rest, but Death Cultists did.

The Church of Death's cultists were conserving their strength, waiting to launch another fierce assault on Hailan Territory at daybreak.

Though there was still some distance between them, everyone unconsciously lowered their breathing in tension.

The night wrapped around the wasteland like thick tar.

Havent tightened his reins, and his horse's hooves silently sank into the waist-high dead grass.

"Stop."

He ordered the knights to halt here.

The night wind swept through the blades of grass with a faint whimper, masking the soft clinks of armor.

Withered thistles trembled in the gaps of the knights' pauldrons, brushing against their nerves.

They had not stopped here to rest the party.

They had already rested once before, and they could not possibly be exhausted so quickly.

Knight Commander Taren looked at Havent in confusion.

"What happened, my lord?"

"The dragon is gone."

Havent pointed toward the Church of Death's camp.

The Knight Commander jolted.

Indeed, they were already quite close to the enemy.

Close enough to see the crimson fluid flowing from the Undead Army with their naked eyes.

Following Havent's finger, Knight Commander Taren quickly understood what he meant:

The dragon really was gone.

Under normal circumstances, that terrifying Demon Dragon should have remained in the camp like the other undead, blankly awaiting the Death Cultists' orders.

Yet through the gaps between the rocks, there was no sign of that massive figure in the camp.

Where had the Demon Dragon gone?

The knights carrying all manner of weapons looked around as well, but they found no trace of it whatsoever.

"Did it escape?"

Knight Commander Taren asked.

Havent shook his head.

That was clearly impossible.

The Church of Death had extremely precise control over undead creatures that had been transformed. The control placed upon that Demon Dragon would only be greater, not less.

As he pondered this, a sonic boom that tore through the night sky suddenly exploded above the knights' heads.

"Form ranks!"

Knight Commander Taren was the first to react, shouting the order.

A massive body tore a gap through the dark clouds, and the Demon Dragon spread its wings as it dived toward them.

It had been high in the sky near the camp all along!

Havent suddenly realized something—

The undead did not need rest.

The clouds blanketing the sky were the Demon Dragon's natural cover.

The reason those cultists dared camp here without posting sentries was not because they truly had no guards.

In fact, the Undead Dragon circling endlessly within the clouds had been serving as the best possible sentry every moment of every day!

Instinctively, the knights pulled their reins and gathered around their lord.

They surrounded Havent completely, guarding him at the center.

Balzama beneath him pawed uncontrollably at the ground, trembling all over.

Even in death, the giant dragon still carried terrifying dragon might. Even the horse's steadfast temperament wavered slightly at this moment.

The Demon Dragon's rotting wing membranes swept over the ravine, carrying a sulfurous stench.

Its enormous wings scraped across the cliffs on both sides, bursting forth in a shower of sparks.

The vambrace of a young knight standing in front was sliced open by flying stones, and the scent of blood instantly spread across the battlefield.

"Elemental Resonance!"

Havent immediately tore out the jeweled necklace and poured Mental Power into it.

"I need twenty seconds!"

The secret treasure that had been meant to activate before the battle was forced into activation on the spot.

The secret treasure did not take long to activate. Twenty seconds were enough to unlock the Mental Power imprint.

But the Demon Dragon would not even need twenty seconds to kill the knights.

The undead Demon Dragon dived down, and the shockwave from its charge instantly sent three or five nearby knights flying.

"Spread out!"

The experienced Knight Commander Taren swiftly gave the order, and the knights scattered into a dispersed formation.

This was the best plan to minimize knight casualties before the secret treasure activated.

"Damn it, no wonder not a single mercenary sent out to scout came back!"

Havent spat on the ground.

The gaps between the weathered rocks were somewhat narrow, hindering the Demon Dragon's ability to adjust its massive body.

"The resonance has begun!"

During the interval in which the dragon adjusted its position, the family secret treasure finally activated successfully.

Havent activated the gemstone.

Several crimson streams of light flowed along the family crests on the knights' armor. The extraordinary power that temporarily elevated them to the intermediate rank coated their retinas in a faint golden radiance.

The Demon Dragon violently broke free from the rocks hemming it in on both sides and soared into the air again before folding its wings.

Everyone knew what that meant—

It was going to dive for a second time!

Havent's five left fingers dug deeply into a crack in the rock wall, and a magic formation emerged.

The residual warmth of the family secret treasure traveled through the earth veins, transforming the entire weathered rock formation into a temporary magical barrier.

This was its last remaining value.

Magical energy sketched out a pale red magical dome above the knights.

The piercing boom sounded once more. Having risen high enough, the Demon Dragon finally began its second dive.

"Crossbows, ready—" Knight Commander Taren roared.

The knights felt the surging power brought by their advancement.

The re-formed knights drew their crossbows in perfect unison, pouring vigorous battle aura into their arrows.

The diving Demon Dragon slammed into the barrier, and the dark green pus flowing between its scales burst apart with a thunderous explosion—

Scattering in every direction like waves crashing against reefs.

More than a dozen arrows infused with intermediate battle aura lit up at once, like morning stars piercing the night beneath the glow of undead flames.

The Demon Dragon instantly pulled in its outspread wings, forcibly using its back to block those powerful arrows.

The barrier created by the secret treasure shattered with a crash under the impact, clearly unable to take shape again.

"First group, keep loading! Second group, raise shields!"

Heavy shields were held before them. The shield-bearing knights dismounted, protecting their comrades who were reloading arrows and gathering strength behind them.

Battle aura erupted in an instant, and several shields linked together to form a shield wall even sturdier than the magical barrier from before.

The dragon descended for a third dive and crashed into that shield wall.

For some reason, Havent felt that the Demon Dragon's fighting style was strange.

Its attacks were nothing more than simple charges, lacking the arrogance unique to dragonkind.

The weathered rocks cracked beneath the impact. From the corner of his eye, Havent glimpsed the eastern horizon—

It was still shrouded in darkness.