Victory! (Celebrating the Successful Contract Signing)

Without a moment's pause, the flames of war were reignited.

The Thief lowered his body and kicked off the ground, sprinting forward. His sharp gaze gleamed with the same cold light as the dagger in his hand.

"Ah!"

Suddenly, his legs gave out, and he fell flat on his face.

???

Other than Jose, countless question marks appeared over the heads of the two dragons and the Mage.

They suspected the Thief had come to entertain them!

But was it really an accident?!

Of course not!

Jose watched as the Thief propped himself up with both hands and shook his head as if he were muddled. A victorious smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

It finally worked!

Thinking this, he did not slow down. He opened his mouth, and surging Dragon Flame swept toward the fallen Thief.

Strike while the iron was hot!

Unsurprisingly, the flames of the Dragon Flame were much smaller than before.

A Ruyi Rope flew from the Mage's hand and wrapped around the Thief's waist, pulling his companion out of the Dragon Breath's range at the last possible moment.

"What's wrong with you?!"

"My limbs suddenly went weak, and my head's spinning," the Thief said, shaking his head in an attempt to clear it.

In that brief moment, the Mage realized he was experiencing symptoms similar to the Thief's. Panic filled his heart as he cast all kinds of enhancement spells on himself, but none had any effect.

Of course enhancement spells were useless, because the reason they felt dizzy was oxygen deprivation.

As for why they lacked oxygen, it was naturally because of Jose's Dragon Breath. From the start, he had keenly noticed that the cave entrance had been blasted shut, preventing fresh air from entering. Thus, he had continuously breathed Dragon Breath with all his strength—on one hand to obstruct the Mage's vision, and on the other to consume the remaining oxygen in the cave.

"W-what are these two humans d-doing?"

"Be careful. They're very cunning."

"No! It's real!"

There was no time to explain. Jose continued breathing Dragon Breath.

The already limited oxygen continued to dwindle. The Thief had fallen unconscious, while Captain Oluk's mind grew hazy from oxygen deprivation. Unable to chant a spell, despair filled his heart.

In a sense, Mages were the equivalent of scientists in another world. Their studies encompassed every field. Captain Oluk knew that the air contained some substance necessary for human survival, and that flames consumed this substance.

This substance was indispensable to most living creatures, but unfortunately, dragons were not among that majority.

Dragons' ability to adapt to their surroundings was downright monstrous. Whether it was the freezing, lightless depths of the sea, scorching lava that melted everything, or even empty vacuum, dragons could survive.

"If I die, don't think you'll get off easy either! Come die with me! Hahaha!" The despairing Captain Oluk laughed madly, enduring the adverse effects of oxygen deprivation as he activated the final trump card within his staff.

The cave instantly turned crimson, brilliant as burning clouds and filled with an aura of destruction.

Yaligris looked up at the countless fireballs floating above the cave and felt panic rise in her heart.

High-tier magic—Meteor Fire Rain!

Meteor Fire Rain could summon vast numbers of fireballs and bombard a designated area like a carpet bombing raid. Its immense power and wide destructive range made it a favorite among many Mages, a battlefield god-tier spell.

And now, the three dragons were facing this god-tier spell while trapped inside a cave with nowhere to hide.

"We're finished!"

Yaligris glanced at Jose beside her. Of the three dragons, perhaps only the Red Dragon, with his powerful resistance to fire magic, would survive.

Seeing that the fireballs suspended in the sky were about to fall, Jose spread his wings. "Quick! Get under me!"

"Huh?!"

Before the Golden Dragon could react, Jose grabbed and pulled her over. A broad wing immediately covered her, while on the other side, the White Dragon—Kashi—did the same.

Carrying an aura of destruction, fireballs trailing long tails of flame rained down and exploded against Jose's body.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The violent explosions crackled like firecrackers during the New Year, making Jose bare his fangs in pain.

He was nearly immune to fire, but he was only immune to Fire Elemental damage, not explosive impacts and the like. Each fireball striking him felt like being pummeled by heavy fists.

Fortunately, Meteor Fire Rain dissipated after only a dozen seconds or so.

Once the dust settled, Jose drew in his dragon wings, revealing the two companions protected beneath them. Neither of them had suffered any injuries.

As he stretched his aching body, he glared resentfully at the two charred corpses more than ten meters away.

"Bastards! Even when dying, you had to make things difficult for everyone else!"

Though he was grinding his teeth in anger, Jose had to admit that the Mage had been a worthy opponent.

Nearby, Yaligris saw that Jose did not have a single burn on his body and found it unbelievable. This would have been normal for an adult Red Dragon, but a Dragon Hatchling's scales had yet to fully mature, and their magic resistance was far weaker.

"How did you do that?"

Jose was briefly stunned, then realized that this involved his greatest secret. Naturally, he could not tell the truth.

"Didn't I tell you from the start? I'm Jose, the one and only."

Seeing that Jose was unwilling to explain, Yaligris did not press further. "No matter what, thank you this time. You saved my life."

Now was not the time for idle chatter. Jose shrugged, walked past the Golden Dragon Loli, and took the lead.

"Let's go take a look at our spoils."

The three dragons went straight to the main event—the Mage's corpse. Oluk's body had been burned beyond recognition by Meteor Fire Rain. His robes had been destroyed, and what pained the dragons even more was that his Dimensional Bag had also been ruined. The items that had spilled from it lay scattered across the ground, and they too had been destroyed by Meteor Fire Rain.

"My wealth just slipped away right in front of me!" Jose felt as though his heart were bleeding.

Yaligris rolled her eyes. "Jose, the one and only, you look pretty Red Dragon-like when you're greedy!"

"Money is a wonderful thing. If you don't like it, I'd be more than happy to take that burden off your hands."

"You look pretty Red Dragon-like when you're shameless too."

"That's prejudice against my kind."

"Do you even believe that yourself?!"

Jose thought about the nature of Red Dragons.

All right, it really was not prejudice.

As they spoke, the three dragons finished stripping the Mage's body of its spoils. The staff had fortunately remained intact. Besides that, there was a Teleportation Ring and an automatically triggered Protection Necklace.

There were exactly three items, so the dragons decided to take one each.

The White Dragon—Kashi—swallowed as he stared at the treasures. "Y-you choose first."

"Yeah, you contributed the most. You choose first."

Jose did not stand on ceremony and directly chose the staff. During the battle, he had noticed that the staff contained more than one enchantment. It was probably the most valuable of the three items.

Afterward, Kashi took the necklace for himself, presumably because this dummy saw that the gem on it was larger than the one on the ring.

Finally, Yaligris was naturally happy to accept the more valuable Teleportation Ring.

Rumble!

The aftershocks of the battle between powerful beings in the distance reached the cave where the three dragons were. The ground trembled, and small rocks fell from the ceiling.

This reminded the three dragons that they were still buried underground.

"You search for spoils. I'll dig an exit," Yaligris said, turning to walk away.

Jose turned to look at the Sacred Altar within the golden pillar of light. Although he did not know what the Sacred Altar was for, it was undoubtedly an important facility. Since it was the enemy's important facility, destroying it could not be wrong.

"I'll destroy the Sacred Altar. Kashi, keep collecting the spoils."

"O-okay."

As he approached, Jose discovered that there was a powerful energy field within ten meters of the Sacred Altar. The energy protected it, making it impossible for him to get close.

He picked up a stone and threw it at the Sacred Altar, but it was blocked.

Dragon Breath was still ineffective.

"Sure enough, it wasn't going to be that easy."

The contract was successfully signed! One extra chapter!

Also, I wonder if this book has any new readers?

If there are, make a sound.

|)