Fierce Battle with the Petrification Lizard

"Huh?!"

As his body returned to its original size and his perspective rose, Jose immediately noticed the petrification lizard's nest. They had built it from whatever was at hand—animal hides and dirty cloth from the kobold tents.

Of course, a lizard nest alone wouldn't have startled Jose. What surprised him were the pure white lizard eggs lying inside it.

By now, the kobolds had already begun their charge, and battle was about to erupt. A flurry of thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant.

Capture three petrification lizards?

No—his forces weren't strong enough to overwhelm three petrification lizards. Subduing them alive would mean taking on unpredictable risks.

Better to just tame the eggs directly.

"Stay away from the lizard nest during the fight. The petrification lizards just laid their eggs—don't break any of them," Jose shouted loudly as he chanted a magic incantation. An invisible magical barrier enveloped him.

Protection from Evil Energy!

There was no helping it. Most fire magic came with explosive properties. To avoid collapsing the cave and burying everyone, he couldn't use high-powered fire spells. The attack magic he could use wasn't strong enough to kill a fully grown adult petrification lizard quickly. So for now, Jose's only options were dragon breath, close combat, and support magic.

He cast another Protection from Evil Energy on Sorda, who was fighting up close, then charged forward. His massive feet stomped the ground with a thunderous rumble, and in no time, he caught up with the servants who had set out ahead.

Once he reached them, Jose advanced side by side with his servants, steadily closing the distance to the petrification lizards.

In a fight where both sides were evenly matched or close in strength, charging in mindlessly would only make you a living target, drawing all the fire and dying young. Charging in together with your teammates was the real way to go.

The three petrification lizards' eyes glowed faintly—a sign they were charging up to unleash their petrification rays.

In truth, calling the petrification lizards' rays "petrification rays" was more accurately "stiffness rays." Their effect was merely to stiffen the prey's body, making it easier to hunt. True petrification was the Medusa's innate magic—Medusa's Gaze—a fearsome talent that even adult dragons dreaded.

With the petrification lizards' pupils as the origin, six petrification rays shot out at a speed too fast for the dragon to dodge.

"What the hell?! There are so many of us—why are you all ganging up on me?!"

Jose silently cursed the petrification lizards' ancestors eighteen generations back as six petrification rays struck him in succession. Fortunately, Protection from Evil Energy did its job, canceling out four of the rays. The remaining two were absorbed by the dragon's innate magic resistance.

The spots that were hit tingled slightly. He calmly assessed the power of the petrification rays. If all six had landed, he would have stiffened up and fallen flat on his face.

That would have been a huge loss of face. How could he ever set up his own mountain, raise his banner, and recruit underlings after that?!

Can't let them have a chance to charge up again!

With that thought, he rapidly chanted a spell.

Fog Cloud!

Thick white mist materialized out of nowhere, shrouding Jose and the charging kobolds, causing the petrification lizards, who were readying another attack, to lose their target.

Using the cover of the Fog Cloud, Jose cast another Protection from Evil Energy on himself, just as he was about to burst out of the mist's range.

Phantasmal Image!

A phantom of the red dragon charged out of the mist first, and six petrification rays pierced through it instantly.

The moment the rays passed through the illusion, Jose burst out of the mist at full speed, riding a gust of wind. Taking advantage of the petrification lizards' cooldown, he closed the distance and finally entered dragon breath range.

He opened his mouth, and roaring flames surged from his throat. The fire rolled forward, engulfing the petrification lizards, its blazing red light illuminating the entire cave.

The three burning petrification lizards quickly scattered to avoid the dragon flame, hissing in pain as they ran.

But their cries were full of vigor—clearly, the dragon flame hadn't dealt any real damage. Jose stopped his breath. The petrification lizards rolled on the ground, extinguishing the dragon fire on their bodies, revealing gray-white skin with marble-like patterns.

Another innate magic of the petrification lizard—Petrification Skin.

Magical history recorded that the mage spell Stone Skin was inspired by them. On the original owners, Petrification Skin was even more formidable—withstanding dragon breath only resulted in minor burns.

"Damn it! A juvenile dragon's flame isn't strong enough. I can't break through the Petrification Skin's defense in a short time."

Before the petrification lizards could get up, Jose rushed forward. His tail swept fiercely, kicking up a cloud of black ash from the burned tents, and slammed hard into one of the female lizards. He turned his head and used his dragon breath on the other female, while his claws struck at the male lizard's head.

A lone dragon taking on three—it looked impressive, but only he knew how dangerous it really was.

The petrification lizards were six meters long, with powerful muscles. The male was even larger than the females. In pure close combat, they weren't much weaker than a juvenile dragon. And since his strongest fire magic was limited by the terrain, it was like fighting with one arm tied behind his back.

If his offensive slowed even a little, the petrification lizards would find an opening to counterattack. Their fangs, coated in foul-smelling mucus, carried countless pathogens. Wounds from them would be hard to heal. He really didn't want to get bitten.

Just as the fight was raging, a bright yellow magical energy shot out from behind Jose and merged into his body, injecting vitality into his tense muscles. He felt his strength increase by a notch.

Enlarge Person!

"Ergou! Nice one!"

Riding the surge of power, Jose exploded with full force. With a single tail swipe, he sent the female lizard that had been closing in tumbling like a rolling gourd, rolling thirty or forty meters away and flattening a large stretch of tents.

The other female lizard was busy putting out the dragon fire on herself. The only unharmed male lizard opened its massive jaws and lunged at him, its foul, stinking breath hitting him in the face, nauseating. At that moment, Jose had just finished his tail swipe—his old strength was spent, and new strength hadn't yet arisen.

He quickly propped himself up on his hind legs, standing upright, and used his front claws to grab the male lizard's head mid-air. Using his weight advantage, he pinned it to the ground. The upper and lower jaws clashed together with a loud crack.

"Bastard! Don't you have any idea how bad your breath is?!"

His dragon wings aimed at the opponent's back and came down in anger, striking the petrification lizard's body with a drum-like thud. Dragon Combat Style—Dragon Wing Strike!

"Hiss!"

The power from a dragon's wingbeats was enough to lift its massive body into the air—imagine the force. What looked like thin wings were actually as heavy as a thousand pounds, hammering down relentlessly.

The Petrification Skin's defense still held, but the fragile internal organs couldn't withstand such blows. The petrification lizard hissed in agony, its body writhing and struggling violently, its thrashing tail kicking up sand and stones.

Hearing their mate's pained cries, the two female lizards rushed over to help, but the kobolds who had arrived blocked their way.

Taking advantage of their small stature, the Kobolds struck at the relatively vulnerable bellies of the female lizards with their spears, forcing the two mother lizards to retreat.

One-on-one, Jose could finally cut loose. Using his weight advantage, he pinned the Petrification Lizard's head firmly to the ground, continuing his Dragon Wing Strike while simultaneously unleashing a breath of dragon flame from his mouth, engulfing both dragon and lizard in scorching fire.

Under the dual assault, the Petrification Skin held out for only a few seconds before being breached. The gray magical carapace sloughed away, revealing the Petrification Lizard's natural hide, which was instantly seared open and split by the dragon flame, filling the air with the smell of cooked meat.

Soon, the flesh on its back was burned away, and Jose could see the opponent's spine and shin bones.

He pressed the attack, tilting his head back to take a deep breath, then lunged forward, opening his mouth to spew rolling flames. The dragon breath burned through the last membrane protecting its chest cavity, and the scorching dragon flame swept through the Petrification Lizard's internal organs, reducing them to ash.