Forcing Their Way Through

With a powerful meat shield and fighter on his side, Raymond's escape plan had finally acquired its last crucial piece.

Now, all he had to do was reach the upper levels of the tower before the undead outside drained its energy reserves, find the portal, and force it open.

Although the entire Floating City was currently shrouded by a powerful confinement spell, making ordinary teleportation magic completely ineffective.

The power of a Planeswalker Spark, combined with the energy the portal could gather, should be enough to tear open a tiny rift.

That rift might be somewhat unstable, and there was no telling where on Faerun it would send them, but it was still far better than staying here to die.

Besides, Raymond had a dragon now!

Even if they ended up stranded in deep mountains, on a deserted island, or out at sea, they could ride the dragon and quickly reach the vicinity of a town.

Driven by his desire to survive, the starving Raymond threw caution to the wind and ate the last few pieces of candy in the paper packet, leaving himself absolutely no way back.

Thus, one human and one dragon swiftly passed through the corridors and stairways, arriving at the only entrance connecting the tower's middle and upper levels.

Like most mage towers in this world.

Necromancer Archmage Astar had originally designed the underground levels as storage, necromantic laboratories, and living quarters for slaves and servants.

The middle levels contained the library, workshops, scrying chambers, and other specialized rooms, as well as communal spaces where apprentices attended lessons, rested, and conducted magical experiments.

As for the upper levels, they were his personal domain.

Without permission, no one was allowed to approach or enter them.

Otherwise, even in his absence, the guards, traps, and summoned creatures scattered throughout the passageways could easily kill any intruder.

Raymond had once personally witnessed an ambitious apprentice with a fairly high mage level try to sneak in while Astar was away, hoping to find knowledge or magic that could grant greater power.

The apprentice had barely used a spell to turn himself into an invisible spirit, slipping past two Golems, when he was struck by a Negative Energy ray emerging from the smooth wall.

Naturally, he died on the spot.

His corpse lay there for weeks, until it rotted and began giving off a pungent stench. Only then did Astar allow the other apprentices to clean it up.

Looking at the two Flesh Golems standing at the doorway, each over three meters tall and nearly a meter wide, Vermees, still in human form, immediately showed a wary expression and asked without turning around, "How many more of these things are inside?"

Although Flesh Golems and Corpse Constructs did not look terribly different, both being pieced and stitched together from the corpses of various creatures.

And the more corpses used, the larger the body, the stronger and harder to kill the resulting Corpse Construct or Flesh Golem became.

Their manufacturing methods and how difficult they were to handle were worlds apart.

The latter were merely crude combinations of parts and could be damaged by any form of energy or physical attack.

The former, however, were powerful guards forged with necromantic magic. Their skin, muscles, and even the bones serving as their structural framework had been enhanced by magical power.

Not only did they possess all the traits of Constructs, such as immunity to poison, sleep, paralysis, stunning, instant death, charm, control, and a whole range of spells and abilities, they also had powerful self-repair abilities much like Trolls.

Most importantly, Flesh Golems were a type of "Golem."

And a Golem's greatest trait was possessing at least one form of Spell Immunity or resistance.

Many powerful mages would rather face a dragon than fight a Golem that countered them.

"There are two at the entrance. After passing through the corridor and stairs into the upper levels, there are another two, making four in total.

"Besides that, we need to watch out for hidden magical traps in the walls and floors, eight Metal Constructs made of steel, and a group of Gargoyles in the room containing the portal.

"As for the exact type of Metal Constructs, I'm not sure.

"But they're all carrying different kinds of weapons.

"Of course, if our luck is bad enough, we might run into Astar himself while passing his bedroom—or him after he has become a Lich."

Raymond did not hide anything and bluntly laid out everything he knew.

With such formidable defenses, if not for the Red Dragon's help, he would not necessarily make it through even with dozens of lives.

"Damn it! There are too many! Can't we climb outside to the upper level, then break through the wall and enter?"

Faced with such a terrifying lineup, even Vermees felt a chill run down her spine. She wanted to find another path and avoid an unnecessary vicious battle.

If they were outside in a more open area, she might be able to use her ability to fly and leap to maneuver around them, then find opportunities to defeat them one by one.

But this was inside a mage tower!

By human standards, every room was quite spacious in both height and area, without the slightest sense of crowding or oppression.

But for a dragon seventeen meters long from head to tail, it was still far too cramped to move freely.

Moreover, the confined space left no room to dodge or leap. She would have to clash head-on with multiple enemies capable of threatening her, and one mistake could turn everything upside down.

Raymond lightly shook his head and decisively shattered this impractical fantasy. "Don't dream.

"You think I hadn't considered such a shortcut?

"The entire mage tower is a single integrated structure.

"As soon as it detects an unidentified or unauthorized creature approaching, whether from the ground or the air, it will immediately launch offensive spells.

"Besides, activating the portal requires consuming part of the tower's energy reserves.

"If those reserves are exhausted, we'll have to wait at least ten days for it to recharge."

"Since there's no other choice, we can only force our way through."

With that, Vermees instantly returned to her dragon form, opened her tooth-filled jaws, and took a deep breath.

The next second...

BOOM!!!!!!!!

Scalding fiery breath instantly engulfed everything within the cone before her.

The suffocating heat could be felt clearly even from several meters away.

Tables, chairs, statues, lamps, and the like were almost instantly reduced to ash.

Although the two Flesh Golems were caught within the blast and suffered severe burns, they rapidly repaired themselves with their regenerative abilities while striding toward the beast that had attacked them.

"Get lost, filthy trash!"

Having finished her breath attack, the Red Dragon roared, spread her wings, and smashed one of the Flesh Golems with a wing strike.

It was the signature move of nearly every dragon in close-quarters combat.

Before it could even stretch out its pustule-covered hands to grab anything, its entire body was sent flying with a bang into the wall.

Vermees immediately swung her foreclaw again, knocking the other Flesh Golem to the ground with almost berserk force, then pounced and pressed all her weight down upon it.

BANG!

The impact made the entire tower seem to tremble faintly from top to bottom.

Raymond, seeing the Red Dragon's terrifying frontal combat strength for the first time, was utterly stunned.

He suddenly realized just how fortunate he had been to gain control over her.

If she had not been trapped within the Binding Formation, then even if he had awakened that Oddity made from Mind Flayer brain tissue, there would have been absolutely no chance of success.

It seemed Necromancer Archmage Astar's methods had been the correct ones.

When dealing with a terrifying beast like a dragon, one that stood at the top of the food chain, there was no room for honorable combat.

Nor could one rashly engage in a frontal confrontation.

Lower Spell Resistance!

Blindness!

Weakening Curse!

Powerful Binding!

Before the dragon could sense danger, take her out in one sequence and give her no chance to fight back.