Plan (III)

Rage could drive one mad, but it could also lend strength. Arcane radiance flooded Anrien's body, making his entire form glow. Even his eyes were covered by a hazy layer of energy, his pupils nowhere to be seen.

Caesar arched his body, every muscle coiled and ready to spring. This was his first time facing a spellcaster, so he could not help becoming more cautious. Everything he had learned from the wizard Sifu rose to the surface of his mind.

Anrien raised his staff—

"Watch out! Arcane Missiles, cast continuously." Once Luna got serious, none of her usual foolishness remained. Her crisp voice rang beside his ear, like pearls falling onto a jade plate.

Almost in the same second, radiance bloomed at the tip of Anrien's staff.

Arcane Missiles!

Nine missiles composed entirely of magic appeared, streaking toward the massive beast in the distance at tremendous speed along different trajectories.

Boom—

Caesar leapt into the air. His folded wings spread slightly and gave a shudder, granting him greater lift. The nearly ten-meter-long black dragon shot into a stretch of low sky beyond human reach, then dived down at even greater speed.

Then, fixing his eyes on the spellcaster below whose energy fluctuations were growing ever more frequent, he opened his mouth.

"Holy Chant."

The moment Anrien saw the black dragon open its mouth, he knew what it intended to do. Meditation on fighting dragons was a required course for every spellcaster. Instinctively, he layered a barrier over himself to ward off black dragon acid, while preparing to retaliate at any moment.

Yet what came rushing at him was not acid, but...

A blazing torrent of flame!

The Holy Chant meant to block acid was shattered to pieces by the fire in an instant. Before he could cast again, Anrien reacted with lightning speed, rolling sideways on the spot and narrowly escaping disaster.

Immediately afterward, his potential erupted. At a casting speed usually beyond his reach, he erected another frost barrier before himself, barely stopping the flames that clung to him like a shadow.

What was going on?

Having just clawed his way back from the brink of life and death, Anrien was instantly seized by doubt and alarm. What kind of black dragon was this? Its breath was actually red dragon fire. This was simply... simply...

Unheard-of!

Yet however horrified he was, Anrien was still a spellcaster raised by a great family. The young man's composure was truly exceptional. Even before a phenomenon that overturned everything he knew, he remained calm, and the casting movements of his hands never paused.

"In one second, Moonfire. Target: your heart."

Luna's voice rang out again.

Caesar shifted his body to evade, avoiding the surging Moonfire before it arrived. No wonder Anrien had been so obsessed with Luna. To them, a Forest Fairy was practically a mage killer. With such an absurdly powerful support at their side, dealing with spellcasters became as easy as turning one's hand over.

"Damn it!"

The instant he realized the spell had been evaded in advance, Anrien knew without guessing that the Forest Fairy was helping that beast. It made him even less able to accept it. That was a chromatic evil dragon—why would a child of the forest rather aid it than throw herself into the embrace of one favored by the gods?

"Illumination!"

Anrien raised his staff high and cast Illumination, considered the most useless of the three basic spells. The emerald at the top of his staff began to emit a shimmering glow.

A simple utility spell. Luna judged that this trick posed no threat to Caesar, so she gave no warning.

By then, Caesar was already charging closer at tremendous speed, crashing through everything in his path. His heavy body made the ground tremble and rumble beneath him. Trees blocking his way were shoved down one after another as he tried to pounce upon his prey and pin him to the ground.

Facing the black dragon charging straight at him, Anrien did not retreat a single step. The corners of his mouth curled upward as he began pouring magic into his staff.

The next moment, his staff became incomparably dazzling, and Illumination was driven to its utmost limit.

"Ah!"

Luna let out a soft cry and was forced to shut her eyes, unable to look directly at such intense light.

Fortunately, it had no effect on dragons. Still, Caesar was somewhat surprised. He had not expected Eladia's humans to be clever as well, actually thinking to use Illumination as a flashbang.

The black dragon continued lunging forward.

"You still dare come?"

Seeing that the black dragon was not retreating even without the Forest Fairy's assistance, Anrien's smile gradually widened. Spellcasters had another title in Eladia: "turrets." Charging in a straight line at a mage was no different from courting death.

"Stupid dragon."

Watching the beast rush at him without hesitation, Anrien could not help mocking it. The hand that had been hanging at his side finally moved, tracing the most powerful spell model he was currently capable of casting.

Without the Forest Fairy's advance warning, what gave a black dragon no more than an adolescent the courage to charge a spellcaster like this?

Divine Smite!

Countless bursts of magical radiance exploded around Anrien. It was one of the few offensive spells priests could cast, and its power was considerable—almost comparable to a mage's Fireball. The radiance swiftly gathered into a sphere, then tore through the air.

It was too fast. Luna had only just opened her eyes and managed to shout, "Watch out!" when that damned holy light was already right before them.

And from Anrien's perspective, the black dragon seemed to have been charging directly into the holy light from the beginning.

"I've won."

Anrien breathed a sigh of relief. This young black dragon clearly lacked experience. It had actually dared to charge a mage in a straight line—at full speed. It was no different from running headlong into the muzzle of a musket.

Hit fully by a Divine Smite, let alone an adolescent dragon, even a young black dragon probably would not escape unscathed.

As the holy light drew nearer and nearer, Luna instinctively turned her head and shut her eyes, not daring to keep watching. Anrien, meanwhile, did not even blink, ready to witness the ugly evil dragon gravely wounded and at death's door.

He was going to be disappointed.

At the instant the holy light was about to strike him, Caesar displayed agility never before seen or heard of. Under his control, his powerful muscles overcame inertia with incomparable force. In a single instant, he changed direction and moved to the left, brushing past the holy light brimming with danger.

How... could that be possible?

You could not imagine how shocking the sight was, how overwhelming the visual impact, when a colossal creature more than ten meters long made such a movement.

Anrien was no country farmer. He had seen dragons, even dragons more powerful than Caesar, but never had he seen a dragon capable of completing such a movement!

No—not only dragons. No race in all Eladia could do it. It overturned Anrien's ingrained understanding, leaving him dumbstruck as his mind crashed for a long while.

What was happening today? Everything was different. Forest Fairies, black dragons...

Was I dreaming?

Caesar had already rushed close, but Anrien had given up resisting. He seemed almost delirious, his eyes vacant as he muttered, "No, that's impossible..."

But the black dragon had no interest in what the other man was thinking. A mouthful of frost breath descended upon the priest, freezing his distraught expression in place and turning him into a magnificent sculpture.

"You actually dodged it..."

Still shaken, Luna patted her chest. Then she quickly brightened, circling Caesar's head in excitement. "Amazing, Caesar. Hurry and tell me how you did that just now. Even I was scared out of my wits."

Caesar shook his head and did not respond. He remained silent. This was his first real battle against a mage, and he had made quite a few mistakes and left too many openings. He needed to learn from them.

Seeing the black dragon like this, Luna stopped talking as well. She already understood Caesar's personality quite well. Usually, she could joke around and make a fuss for a while, but when he became serious, it was better not to disturb him.

Five minutes later, Caesar finally emerged from his thoughts. He crushed the sculpture lying on the ground into shards of ice with one foot, then breathed fire over the area to destroy the evidence before spreading his wings.

"Let's go. The orcs' side should be about done too."