Dragon Slaying!

As blood descendants of the Ancient Dragons, Flying Dragons had lost their rock-like scales, lofty intelligence, and command over wind and lightning, but their adaptability and reproductive capacity remained immensely strong. Whether in rot, ice fields, ponds, or Glintstone-rich environments, Flying Dragons could be found.

Now that Flying Dragons had degenerated into a race much like powerful beasts, did they need to mate and reproduce?

Lu Mingfei did not know.

But he still resolutely swung the greatsword in his hand, using the skill Arrow Step to drive its edge brutally toward Agheel's crotch.

The Flying Dragon let out an ear-splitting roar. That howling, like thunder and a hurricane, battered Lu Mingfei's eardrums like drumbeats and needlepoints. Pain and fury filled its cry.

As for shame, perhaps creatures like Flying Dragons no longer possessed such a thing.

Agheel swiftly turned its enormous body with the speed of lightning, its powerful, solid tail whistling toward him like a steel bar.

The counterattack came so quickly that Lu Mingfei took the tail whip head-on before he could even adjust his Arrow Step stance.

Lu Mingfei felt as though every bone in his body had been crushed in an instant.

Crack—

A distinct sound of breaking bones exploded beside his ears. His breastplate caved in, several ribs snapped, and he was sent flying like a rag doll. He slammed heavily into the rocks by the lake before rolling into the shallows.

Icy lake water rushed into his nose and mouth, while the taste of blood spread across his tongue and down his throat.

"Cough..."

Lu Mingfei struggled out of the water and spat out a mouthful of bloody foam. The excruciating pain blurred his vision somewhat, but the light in his Golden Eyes only grew brighter.

His dragon blood was boiling. The power dormant within him had been awakened by the threat of death.

The bloodline of dragons was, after all, a union of authority and strength.

The old knight's steady, peaceful training had not allowed Lu Mingfei to sense the power at its source, but bloodshed and violence could.

Lu Mingfei remembered this feeling.

When he had nailed the Beastman of Farum Azula alive to the rock wall, every drop of blood in his body had boiled with joy. That was... the source!

"Fuck... this feels good..."

He grinned, revealing teeth stained red with blood.

Lu Mingfei pulled out the Flask and guzzled down half a bottle of Tears.

Seeing the hateful little ant that had been darting around finally pull away, Agheel angrily opened its draconic jaws, seething dragonfire brewing in its throat.

At that moment, Lu Mingfei's mind was exceptionally clear.

Rather than hide behind the rocks, he charged straight at the Flying Dragon with his sword held in both hands. The blade tore through the air with a howl louder than ever before.

At last, the vertical column of flame erupted. Lu Mingfei rolled across the ground, shifting directly to the side of the dragon's head.

He had noticed long ago that Flying Dragons did not stop when they breathed fire. From the moment they began until they finished, there was a long period of stiffness.

Lu Mingfei ultimately failed to dodge all the flames. The armor on his right arm was baked scorching hot, and the skin beneath it split open, but so what?

He suddenly raised his greatsword, feeling the blood throughout his body boil as molten gold blazed within his Golden Eyes!

Violent currents of air abruptly gathered at his side. Scattered sand, stones, and lake water were swept into them, forming a spinning wall of wind that forcibly split open a gap in the surging dragonfire.

Slash!

The greatsword swept upward from below, cutting open the scaled dragon head and spraying out scalding dragon blood.

Riding the momentum of the first strike, Lu Mingfei spun and leaped into the air. A storm gathered along the blade, then came crashing down vertically like falling lightning. Agheel's still-open jaws were knocked crooked by the blow.

The gathered storm erupted from the sword, becoming a spiraling hurricane. With the third slash, it pierced completely through the Flying Dragon's throat.

Lu Mingfei heard the crisp crack of scales breaking, the howl of the storm, and the Flying Dragon's dying wail.

Then, there was silence.

Agheel's massive body crashed to the ground, splashing water high into the air.

Lu Mingfei knelt on one knee beside the Flying Dragon's corpse, gasping heavily. His armor was blackened and warped in many places, while the hands holding his sword trembled faintly from exhaustion.

But after kneeling for only a moment, Lu Mingfei, still wanting to look cool, scrambled out of his armor and tossed it into the lake to cool it down, lest he be roasted alive inside that iron can.

He drank the last of the Tears and let his exhausted body fall into the lake. Feeling the water that still carried the warmth of dragonfire, Lu Mingfei grinned broadly and laughed.

"I actually fucking killed a dragon..."

He grinned foolishly. Every bone in his body seemed to be protesting, yet his heart felt inexplicably exhilarated.

He remembered how he and Fingal had fled in disarray into the swimming pool when Constantine awoke. He remembered being half-dead during the training for the "Bronze Project." He remembered the dragon beneath the Three Gorges that had disemboweled Nono.

He also remembered someone saying, "Lu Mingfei, can you stop dragging our class down?" He remembered having to do the other person's cleaning duty after getting into a fight because he had been humiliated. He remembered his uncle, aunt, and that cousin fat as a ball...

Everyone said that Lu Mingfei was useless, yet today he had slain a dragon all by himself, with one man and one life!

"I actually think coming to this world was a good thing," he muttered self-mockingly. "The dragonfire must've fried my brain."

"The next time I see that Emiya guy, I have to brag to him properly..."

Lu Mingfei smiled happily. But as he smiled, he let out a sigh.

So he could be this strong too.

It was not something bestowed by anyone else. He had earned it for real, one slash and one swing at a time. The process had hurt like hell, but the feeling of holding his fate in his own hands...

"This is amazing."

Lu Mingfei sprang up from the water in a single motion and shook out his dripping hair.

"Brother Agheel, thanks for being my sparring partner."

He gave the dragon's corpse an awkward knight's salute.

"But I'll gladly take your heart."

Lu Mingfei crouched before the dragon's corpse with a dagger in hand. He took a deep breath and stabbed it into the gap between the softest scales on Agheel's chest.

As he cut, he muttered,

"Sorry, brother. Next life, remember to wear iron underwear. Then nobody will be able to sneak up on your crotch..."

The dagger cut through the tough dragon hide with a teeth-grating sound. The dragon's chest cavity was deep, forcing Lu Mingfei to shove his entire arm inside and feel around.

When his fingertips touched the organ that was still beating faintly, he gave it a violent yank—

Squelch!

A crimson heart the size of a pumpkin was torn free.

Lu Mingfei stared at that alien heart as lines of text surfaced in his mind once more:

The result of the dragon-hunting operation—the dragon's heart.

A strange object mixed with fragments of stone, still emitting a pulse.

An offering required for the ritual known as "Dragon Communion."

Swallowing this object at an altar allows one to make a dragon's power one's own.

Its appearance is terrifying and savage, yet also exceptionally beautiful.