The Mighty Dragon Person

Rello's thick scales served as his armor. He reached out and grabbed the blade of a sword thrust by a soldier, pulling hard and yanking the soldier down. The Dragon Person guards behind him immediately impaled the soldier with the strange, long spears they wielded. He brought an axe down on a large shield held by a soldier. While the soldier was off-balance from the immense force, Rello wrapped his thick, long tail around the soldier's ankle and yanked, pulling him down. As the soldier fell, Rello swung his great axe again, cleaving through his neck.

Rello charged through the fray to Knight Warren's side. At that moment, Knight Warren was using his shield to press a gnoll's weapon against its chest, while simultaneously thrusting his broadsword along the shield's edge into it. Sensing a chilling killing intent from behind, Knight Warren started, swiftly kicking away the gnoll's corpse and turning to block with his shield.

With a deafening clang, Rello's great axe struck Knight Warren's shield, embedding itself deeply. The hastily defensive Knight Warren was knocked to the ground. He rolled to dodge a spear thrust by a Dragon Person guard, then got back to his feet. Warren saw Rello before him—covered in gray scales, towering in height, with a lizard-like head adorned with horns, hind legs that bent backward, and a tail that swished behind its backside—and the Dragon Person guards, slightly smaller than Rello, behind him. Warren's pupils contracted. Dragon Person, Knight Warren exclaimed inwardly, a flurry of thoughts flashing through his mind.

Giving him no chance to think, Rello roared and charged at Warren again. Rello was a full half-meter taller than Warren, and possessed a flexibility uncharacteristic of his massive build. He swung his great axe with tremendous force, occasionally harassing Warren with his thick, long tail. For a time, Knight Warren was completely unable to fight back, forced to constantly dodge and defend with his shield. However, the shield bore the brunt of the repeated, heavy blows, covered in deep axe marks and already severely damaged. It seemed likely to crack if it took a few more hits.

Seeing Knight Warren suppressed and in grave danger, Ronan, who was nearby, quickly rallied his subordinates and other Ravenwood Town troops to provide support. However, they were blocked by several Dragon Person guards. These monsters, wielding long spears with twisted spearheads as tall as their bodies, were not as massive as Rello, but when they bared their fangs in wide grins and roared loudly at Ronan and his men, they terrified many of the mercenaries who had never seen such creatures before, causing them to hesitate.

Seeing this, Ronan could only sigh, draw his sword, and charge forward first. A nearby Shadow Garrison knight also noticed the Dragon Person fighting Knight Warren. His expression changed, and he quickly led several Shadow Garrison soldiers to support them. Their intervention gave Knight Warren a brief respite.

However, they were utterly outmatched against the ferocious Dragon Person, Rello. When their longswords struck Rello's scales, they merely sparked. Rello reached out and grabbed a soldier who had struck his flank on the shoulder, lifting him directly. Then, he opened his massive maw and bit down hard on the soldier's head, yanking with force to rip off his head and a section of his spine. He spat out the helmet-crushed, fear-stricken head, then roared at Knight Warren and the others before charging again.

Ronan and his men were now also engaged with the Dragon Person guards. Dodging a thrust spear to the side, Ronan grabbed the spear shaft and simultaneously drove his shoulder guard into the Dragon Person guard's chest. While the guard staggered from the impact, Ronan gripped his sword with both hands and thrust it directly into its chest. The scales of these Dragon Person guards were not as tough as Rello's. Despite encountering strong resistance, Ronan's greatsword pierced its chest.

Kicking aside the corpse before him, Ronan charged forward and shoulder-checked a Dragon Person that was dragging a soldier with its tail, about to deliver a finishing blow, sending it flying. Then, with a leaping slash, he severed the spear, which the struggling Dragon Person had raised to block, and continued his momentum, hacking diagonally into the joint where the Dragon Person's neck met its shoulder. The entire sword blade sank deep.

Even so, the tenacious Dragon Person did not die immediately. It raised the broken spear, still holding the spearhead, and attempted to stab at Ronan's leg, but its arm was immediately severed by a battle axe swung by a veteran mercenary who had rushed over.

The other Dragon People also fell under the skilled encirclement tactics of the veteran mercenaries, but their final desperate counterattacks still resulted in two mercenaries being injured.

Ordering his soldiers to intercept the nearby bandits, Ronan, along with two Vigier Cavalrymen, joined the fray. The Shadow Garrison soldiers surrounding Rello had already suffered heavy casualties. The most unfortunate among them had been split in half diagonally from the right shoulder by Rello, their chainmail offering no protection against Rello's attacks.

With the momentum of his swing, Ronan delivered a horizontal slash to Rello's lower back, but it only penetrated about 5 centimeters before being halted by Rello's powerful muscles. Ronan started in shock and quickly ducked to avoid Rello's returning great axe swing. Just as he managed to pull out his greatsword, Rello's second attack arrived. A Vigier Cavalryman quickly raised his shield to block in front of Ronan, but was sent flying backward, crashing into Ronan, and both of them fell.

Warren and the Shadow Garrison knight seized the opportunity to hack at Rello a few times, but only managed to inflict shallow wounds that were insignificant compared to Rello's massive size. While the enraged Rello's attention was drawn back to Knight Warren, Ronan quickly got up, contemplating a counter-strategy.

"This guy's body is too tough. At this rate, who knows how many people will die before we wear him down. We have to attack his weak points," Ronan thought, looking at the hilt of his greatsword. He had an idea.

In just this short time, another Shadow Garrison soldier was killed by Rello. Rello held the soldier's head in his left hand, lifting him up. The soldier desperately pulled at Rello's fingers gripping his head, but couldn't budge them at all.

As the soldier struggled with his feet kicking in mid-air, Rello raised the battle axe in his right hand and slammed it into the soldier's chest and abdomen. Then, he released his left hand, gripped the axe handle with both hands, and brought it down forcefully, embedding it into the ground. He cut the soldier in half at the waist. The soldier, bisected, was not yet dead, his upper body writhing on the ground, emitting piteous screams. Perhaps finding his cries bothersome, Rello then stomped and crushed the soldier's head.

Seeing the tragic death of their comrade, Warren and the Shadow Garrison knight's eyes blazed with fury. They let out low growls and charged forward again. Seeing this, Ronan also charged to help them, while Ronan's subordinates continued to deal with the nearby bandits.

Facing the three of them, Rello attacked relentlessly with the great axe in his right hand. With his left arm, he used the hardest part of his arm armor to block Ronan and the others' attacks. His tough claws left deep scratches on their armor, and he occasionally attacked Ronan and the other two with his tail, either lashing or pulling. Ronan and the other two could not inflict effective damage on Rello, but under their harassment, Rello was also unable to kill them. Occasional bandits tried to charge over, but they were intercepted.