Chapter 94
The Dragon Emperor suddenly roared, "I have no regrets in this life!!! It was the Flame of Fury who came to save me! The most powerful, most mysterious, and most evil Black Mage of our time didn't hesitate to expose himself to save me!!! And he really did descend from the sky! With an entire horde of undead creatures, and Hellfire covering the mountains and plains! A fire even bigger than the Flame of Fury's famous battle! I'm so excited! Thank you, kidnappers! Thank you, Machine Zealots... Dear fans, don't worry, I'll ask you all for your names, ages, measurements...!"
I gasped for breath.
Oh no! I don't have any face-covering magic!
Oh my god! Why didn't the kidnappers turn off their security cameras?!
Chapter 94
Oh no! I'm going to be wanted...
Wait, something's not right!
I calmed down. Why is it so hard to shake off these ingrained thought patterns from the past ten years? I'm not a wicked black mage like my second teacher, so I won't be on the wanted list.
Phew... that's good, that's good. I didn't want to replace my honeymoon with Mel with an escape.
... Um...
Even after my modifications, Hellfire still can't burn the mechs as fast as ordinary flames. My ground is covered in black Hellfire, but the damage it does to these mechs seems less than what Moli casually unleashed. It seems I shouldn't be so biased. When I was younger... oh, I mean, when I was even younger, my enemies were mostly of a single species—dark mages. So naturally, I'm used to using Black Magic. Of course, Black Magic is more effective when two dark mages are fighting, but mechs...
I thought for a moment and decided to throw a few blizzards to cover the ground. Whether they could freeze the mech warriors or not, it wouldn't cost any Magic Power anyway.
Hmm! I've got it!
Spatial Stasis!
--Although I'm not very good at spatial magic, it doesn't mean I can't do it!
Oh right, I'm a dark mage with a lich now. I need to remember to give her a magical brand, so that with my brand, she'll be immune to most of my spells. After receiving my protection, Damala charged into my Spatial Stasis range with her sword. This spell is very effective; it almost turns the air around the enemy into a gel. Damala is a warrior with a good balance of strength and speed, but because of my spatial spell, she's now exceptionally agile.
"Ooh ooh ah ah--" the masked man roared, then he lifted the Dragon Emperor's cage and threw it off the cliff.
I immediately ordered Damala to entangle the mech warrior, while I myself quickly flew out and released a levitation spell. The Dragon Emperor's cage happened to be within the range of my spell, so no matter how long the masked man threw it, the cage refused to fall.
So the masked man started firing at me with shoulder-fired missiles mounted on the rack. This was troublesome; I should dodge if possible. Although I wanted to try throwing fireballs at the missiles to see if I could push them back, I was afraid of accidentally injuring the Dragon Emperor, which would be bad.
At that moment, another row of mech warriors flew out of the ruins' base!
Oh no, I misread it. Once it flew closer, I saw it clearly. It wasn't a mecha warrior—it was a flying Annihilator! These Machine Zealots have actually upgraded the Annihilator into a flying one!
I suddenly noticed that the Dragon King in the cage had a... well, I think it was a rather strange look, because the Dragon King looked rather cheerful, not at all like someone who had been kidnapped.
Suddenly, the Dragon Queen had somehow acquired the camera that was hanging outside her cage. She held it up and followed the Annihilator, filming and narrating as she went:
"Look everyone, many people don't even know what these are anymore. These aren't things these terrorists, whom we collectively call 'Machine Zealots,' could have invented on their own! These terrifying-looking large machines are the legendary 'Annihilator,' infamous from the Dark Ages..." She actually started a proper livestream like that? I even heard Dragon Emperor say, "Please support me by sending some virtual gifts... Oh, sorry, I forgot that the kidnappers' livestreams don't have interactive elements..."
I feel that the face under that masked man's mask must be distorted, because not only him, but even when I looked at the Dragon Emperor, his expression was a bit strange. I feel that even if I saw Damala leading the Banshee Troupe to the Temple of Light to pray someday, I wouldn't feel any more complicated than I do now.
"... High-precision alloys produced in the Franca Industrial District are the finest products that modern Magitech can create! Moreover, the cost is not high, and the market demand is huge..." The Dragon Queen said with a smile. As she spoke, the masked man and several mecha warriors seemed to become somewhat sluggish, leaving only the Annihilator faithfully executing their programmed commands. However, they had no intelligence and only knew how to grab the skeleton soldiers on the ground and hack them away. Those things didn't need Damala; even my banshees could summon them to replenish them at any time.
"... The Franca Industrial District is an anarchic region controlled by several military enterprises. Their main client is the rising 'Heart of Technology'—the 'Osite Republic,' the only nation on the entire continent to have openly opposed the Temple of Light and the Shadow Moon Temple, and the only emerging nation that has not established diplomatic relations with my Holy Dragon..."
The Dragon Emperor's eyes darted around, and he asked the masked man with a smile, "Promoting the harmfulness of magic? Exaggerating the threat of dragons? So, the Annihilator are selling well, aren't they? Your stocks should be going up recently, although I'm not sure which company you are... Hmm, how much have you made?"
"Shut that woman up!!!" a mecha warrior suddenly roared.
I immediately grabbed a handful of Hellfire, which formed a giant Hellfire. With a wave of my hand, the mech warrior was accidentally slammed into the ground by my excessive force.
Taking advantage of my distraction, the masked man roared and pointed the cannon on his mech directly at the Dragon Emperor's face.
Not good!
The Dragon Emperor is made of flesh! One shot and that would be devastating! I was hesitant to use more powerful forbidden spells before, for fear of accidentally blowing up the Dragon Emperor too!
Before I could think, I instinctively threw Absolute Protection. But I hadn't considered that, because while Absolute Protection could block the cannonball, it couldn't stop the propulsion! The Dragon Emperor's cage traced a high parabola in the air before plummeting down at an incredible speed.
Dragon Emperor!!!
I immediately accelerated towards the Dragon Queen, though I was apprehensive and unsure if I could catch her—I could see from afar that the Dragon Queen in the cage was trembling violently, her face pale, her lips quivering, but she still managed to say to the camera, "Ah... I... thank you for your support over the years... Phew... Lord of the Flame of Fury, don't risk chasing me—take care of yourself—"
Her words were already a distant echo; the cage was falling incredibly fast, and my Mage Hand was almost out of reach. I was immediately startled and panicked, and simply prepared to cast a gravity acceleration spell on myself and then cancel my Flight Spell...
Awooooo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I paused, slamming on the brakes—and came a deafening roar from below me...
Before I could react, everything went black, and a huge black shadow darted past me and came to a steady stop beside me. The shadow of that enormous thing was so dark it blotted out the sky. I had to rise up again because, floating below it, my entire field of vision was almost completely dark.
Even I was so surprised I couldn't close my mouth!
It was a huge black dragon, as big as a mountain.
--And it was extremely rare, a pure black dragon! A pair of enormous golden eyes gleamed with a dangerous light, the edges of the pupils faintly red, the vertical irises resembling a black-red bloodline, looking utterly malevolent; its fangs were even larger than Xuefeng's, Xuefeng's fangs could be pulled out to make a dragon lance for Goliath, but this black dragon's fangs...
It's so inopportune, but I can't quite contain my desire... It's such a big tooth! If I get it pulled, I can use it for a very, very long time!!!
"Luckily, I reacted quickly, and the camera was smashed just in time, with the right emotions."