As the adult red dragon landed, three dragon-slaying bolts pierced its shoulder and wings, and the battle turned with astonishing speed.
The Githyanki clearly had not anticipated this.
These lowly mortals actually possessed such powerful war machines?
Even the adult red dragon had not expected this. It struggled to spread its wings and take flight, but how could the Zhentarim let it have its way?
"Pull!" the Zhentarim captain immediately ordered. Several soldiers strained at the winches behind the Dragon-Slaying Ballistas. The barbed bolts piercing the dragon's wings pulled tight, preventing it from rising and dragging it to the ground again. Amid its screams of pain and fury, the Zhentarim soldiers began to smile.
Normally, two dragon-slaying bolts, the combined strength of several soldiers, and the ballistas' winches could never have restrained a dragon, especially an adult red dragon. But the poison on the bolts had begun to take effect. Seeping into its body through the wound in its shoulder, the venom paralyzed it, leaving it unable to exert its overwhelming strength. The red dragon twisted several times, found it could not break free, and drew another deep breath.
"Scatter!"
The Zhentarim captain immediately gave the order, and the soldiers swiftly dispersed.
Just as he had predicted, the adult red dragon unleashed another devastating blast of fiery breath. Although the Zhentarim soldiers faithfully obeyed his command, this desperate blast still struck a soldier who failed to dodge in time, engulfing her entire arm and half her shoulder.
"Arrrgh!" The female soldier had already collapsed, yet her burning arm lingered in midair for nearly a second before finally turning into semiliquid ash that dripped onto the ground.
After that breath ended, the adult red dragon finally lowered its head in exhaustion. Wounded, its wings pierced and restrained, its shoulder impaled by