Dragon Slaying!

As blood descendants of the Ancient Dragons, Flying Dragons had lost their rock-like scales, immense intelligence, and the ability to command wind and lightning, but their capacity to adapt and reproduce remained extraordinarily strong. Flying Dragons could be found in rot, ice fields, ponds, and Glintstone environments alike.

Since Flying Dragons had degenerated into a species 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 viciously toward Agheel's crotch.

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

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

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

The counterattack was so fast that Lu Mingfei had no time to adjust his Arrow Step stance before taking the tail whip head-on.

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

Crack—

The distinct sound of bones breaking exploded beside his ears. His breastplate caved in, several ribs snapped, and he was sent flying like a rag doll. He smashed heavily into the rocks along the lakeshore, then rolled into the shallows.

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

"Cough..."

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

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

After all, dragon bloodlines were the union of authority and power.

The old knight's steady, peaceful training could not let Lu Mingfei 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 in jubilant delight. That was... the source!

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

He grinned, exposing teeth stained red with blood.

Lu Mingfei pulled out his Flask and chugged down a full half-bottle of Tears.

Seeing that hateful little ant leap around and pull away from it, Agheel furiously opened its draconic jaws, scorching dragon breath brewing in its throat.

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

He did not hide behind the rocks. Instead, he gripped his sword with both hands and charged the Flying Dragon, the blade carrying a howl of wind louder than ever before.

The vertical torrent of flame finally erupted. Lu Mingfei rolled across the ground and directly shifted to the side of the dragon's head.

He had noticed it long ago: when a Flying Dragon breathed fire, it would not stop. From the moment it began until it ended, there would be a long period of stiffness.

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

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

Violent currents of air suddenly gathered at his side. Scattered sand, stones, and lake water were swept into them, forming a spinning wall of wind that forcibly cleaved a gap through the surging Dragonfire.

Slash!

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

Borrowing the momentum of the first strike, Lu Mingfei spun and leaped into the air. Storm gathered along the blade, which came down vertically like falling lightning. Agheel's still-open jaws were chopped so hard by that strike that they twisted sideways.

The gathered Storm erupted from the blade, becoming a spiraling hurricane that, with the third slash, completely pierced the Flying Dragon's throat.

Lu Mingfei heard the crisp crack of scales shattering, 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 for breath. His armor was scorched black and warped in several places, while the hands gripping his sword trembled faintly from exhaustion.

But after kneeling there for only a moment, Lu Mingfei, still wanting to look cool, scrambled to strip off his armor and toss it into the lake to cool down, lest he be roasted alive inside that metal can into cooked meat.

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

"I actually killed a dragon..."

He chuckled stupidly, feeling every bone in his body protesting, yet an inexplicable exhilaration filled his heart.

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

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

Everyone said that Lu was worthless, but today, alone and with only one life to his name, he had slaughtered a dragon by himself!

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

"The next time I see that guy Emiya, I'm definitely gonna brag in front of him..."

Lu Mingfei smiled happily. But as he smiled, he sighed again.

So he could be this strong too.

It was not something handed to him by others. He had earned it, blade by blade. The process had hurt like hell, but the feeling of holding his own fate in his hands...

"Damn, that hit the spot."

Lu Mingfei sprang up from the water and shook his dripping hair.

"Brother Agheel, thanks for the practice."

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

"But I'll gladly take your heart."

Lu Mingfei gripped a dagger and crouched before the dragon's corpse. Taking a deep breath, he thrust it into the gap between the softest scales on Agheel's chest.

He muttered as he cut.

"Sorry, brother. Next life, remember to wear iron underwear, so no one can sneak up on your crotch..."

The dagger sliced 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 to grope around.

When his fingertips touched the organ that still beat faintly, he gave it a hard yank—

Squelch!

A red heart the size of a pumpkin was forcibly torn free.

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

"The result of a dragon hunt—Dragon Heart.

A strange item mixed with gravel, still pulsing.

An offering required for the ritual known as Dragon Communion.

Consume this item at an altar, and the dragon's power can be made your own.

Its appearance is horrifying and savage, yet also remarkably beautiful."