Chapter 1055: The Price of Power & True Despair
"The others?" Angelo frowned deeply and a glint of wariness shone in his eyes as the enemy lead dragon's words slowly began to dig deep into his head.
Was the lead dragon talking about more dragons, which would put a quicker end to the war?
Or maybe...
The first probability was bad enough, but the second made Angelo feel a chill run through every fiber of his soul.
His expression became more serious than ever and his ever-clear eyes suddenly darkened. The aura around him turned slightly crimson as his murderous intent exploded outward with no restraints from his body.
"Hahahahahaha!"
A mighty laugh filled with amusement and exhilaration rumbled in the sky as if the owner of the laugh found it incredibly interesting and exciting to sense the murderous intent of the leader of the human faction.
The dragons of the First and Second Order immediately stopped roaring when the mighty dragon's laughter rang out. The movements of the Third Order dragons froze and they simply flapped their wings in the sky as they looked reverently in a southerly direction.
The soul evolvers and human soldiers also stopped firing. None of them activated any skills, and their eyes focused wide open on the giant mountain in the distance.
Rumble...
The ground began to shake gently, and bringing with it a strong pressure that was simply unmatched on the current battlefield a beast 60 meters long and approximately 25 meters tall rose into the sky.
His scales were jade green and his eyes were a darker green. His body was sturdy enough to shatter the walls that separated the human fortress from the rest of the world. His entire presence was brimming with magical power and his murderous intent was as immense as the descending sun silhouetted against the distant sky.
"Oh my god..." A Second Order human soul evolver involuntarily waved his sword as he looked at the giant dragon's scales reflecting the sun's rays like diamonds.
A beautiful soul evolver who was preparing to shoot an arrow lowered her bow, and with a slightly pale face muttered, "God have mercy on us..."
Chen He stared coldly at the beast more than 3 kilometers away. He involuntarily tightened his grip on his Speedflame Bow as his eyes flashed, "That Fourth Order monster finally showed up..."
In different Artemis-type helicopters, the elite soul evolvers that were part of the main group of the United States of America recognized the green-scaled dragon immediately as the beast that Angelo had fought repeatedly over the past few weeks.
A flash of silver light broke from the center of the base, soaring skyward and like an unstoppable comet charging toward the massive scaled beast.
"Angelo..." Andrea didn't realize how tightly she was gripping her scepter as she stared at the flash of silver light with concern.
Anderson said nothing, but his white knuckles and the slight tremor in his right hand with which he held his magic staff laid bare his deepest feelings at present.
Jack, Robinson, among others; they all looked at the flash of silver light about to collide with the green giant.
That flash of silver light was the embodied representation of the only thing that could stop that beast.
"Kakakakakaka!" The green-scaled dragon whose name was Naos laughed out loud, and while opening his mouth wide to receive the flash of silver light he blurted out, "This time I'll definitely eat you!"
Comparing sizes, Angelo was no different than an ant before the Fourth Order dragon Naos.
When he came close enough to feel the beast's hot breath, Angelo looked inside the mouth about to close with intent to devour him and without hesitation slashed with his sword in a diagonal arc.
"Severance of the Nether!"
A flash of blue light shot out from the blade forward at the same time as a flare of bright green fire exploded out of the Fourth Order dragon's mouth.
RumBLE!!!!
The two attacks met head on and after a brief stalemate that shook the sky disaster finally descended upon the world.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!
"Pahahahahahaha!!!"
Everyone heard Neos' high and mighty laugh as green flames covered the sky.
Blue lightning bolts fought against the green flames in a desperate attempt to prove their superiority.
Even from a distance of over 20 kilometers, the soul evolvers and human soldiers could feel the ground beneath their feet trembling as the sky grew brighter and brighter.
Neos barely moved from his position due to the weight of his body and the hardness of his scales helped him to resist without problems not only the shock wave but also the power of his flames and the blue lightning that hit him after exploding.
Angelo, on the other hand, retreated more than 200 meters and only then he flapped his wings to stop in the sky. Unlike Neos whose physical and magical defense were monstrous, Angelo had the physical body of a human so no matter how strong he was his flesh could not compare to that of a legendary beast born to wreak havoc with its mere existence.
Soon, the two collided again, and this second explosion caused by the clash between the blade of Angelo's sword and Neos' giant head marked the resume of the war that had been paused before.
Neos' appearance had little effect on the dragons. In fact, instead of increasing their ferocity, they seemed to become a bit tamer as if they feared his presence.
On the other hand, the humans reacted in a completely different way.
"Fucking lizard, go fuck yourself!" Robinson swung his two-handed axe and split the body of a Second Order dragon into two pieces, bathing in the beast's warm blood as he glared at his next prey with red eyes.
"You all should have stayed home." Jack's right hand was a blur as he pulled the mutant beast tendon that was his bowstring relentlessly. His eyes were as cold as an eagle's and each of his attacks claimed the life of a dragon or severely wounded at least two of them. "You folks picked a bad day to come out and see the sun."
A group of 20 dragons among which there were 7 Second Order and 1 Third Order flew towards the west wall of the fortress as they laughed and chatted with each other.
"Uh?"
"Shit-"
"Human!"
"How the hell did he get here?!"
...
Like a ghost, Chen He appeared in the sky right in the middle of the group of dragons.
The sunlight reflected slightly on his shiny leather armor giving him an even more outstanding appearance than he already had. A distinctly unnatural gust of wind engulfed him and as his body spun his cold voice reached out to the 20 dragons.
"Tempest of Fiery Arrows!"
Boom!!! Boom!!! Boom!!! Boom!!! Boom!!! Boom!!! Boom!!! Boom! Boom!
...
Hundreds of red arrows wrapped in flames shot out in all directions as Chen He's body spun in a spiral driven by the strange gust of wind that surrounded him.
The First Order dragons fell immediately after being hit by the first two arrows, the Second Order dragons roared in pain for the first second before their bodies filled with bloody holes rained down from the clouds.
"Bastard!!!"
The Third Order dragon that led this now annihilated squadron roared. His body was riddled with wounds of varying degrees but more than pain what he felt was humiliation and anger.
He was a proud level 178 dragon! One of the most powerful dragon generals of the proud dragon army!
"Die!!!"
Chen He's expression changed slightly as more than 50 blue-colored magic circles appeared in different positions floating in the sky.
The air froze and ice particles gathered at the center of each magic circle.
Even the wind that made Chen He's body spin slowed down and the power of his fire arrows directly dropped by more than 60%.
"Your damn arrows are nothing but a joke!!!" The dragon roared, "Spears of Ice!"
Bang!!! Bang!!! Bang!!! Bang!!! Bang!!! Bang!!! Bang!!! Bang!!! Bang!!! Bang!!!...
...
Thousands of ice spears over 5 meters long each capable of bringing down a building by themselves rained down on Chen He's location. Being a human without any flying-type skills, he could only watch as the ice spears exploded out of the magic circles and surrounded him.
A part of the sky seemed to freeze, and at the place where Chen He was floating a large sphere of over 200 meters in diameter soon grew. The sphere was pure ice which remained suspended in the clouds thanks to the immense magical power of the level 178 dragon.
Just at that moment, the Third Order dragon sensed that something was not right and he turned his head to the side just in time to see a flash of golden light flying towards him.
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!
In the cockpit of an Artemis-type helicopter, the pilot looked back and said quickly, "Attack successfully connected!"
Anderson nodded. From inside the helicopter and looking out the window, Anderson pointed toward the cloud of smoke and golden flames more than 2 kilometers away as he said in a serious voice, "Unholy Burn."
Soon, the pain-filled roar of the flame-enshrouded beast echoed through the clouds.
"Damn monster... He actually survived the Artemis' main cannon!" The pilot gasped in shock before giving Anderson a respectful glance.
After receiving the message with part of the beast's records, Anderson withdrew his magic staff as he said in a hoarse voice, "A dragon is a dragon after all."
The Artemis-type helicopter had enough firepower to take out a mutant Third Order beast if they successfully connected the attacks. However, dragons were the kings of mutant beasts; they were in a different league.
On the ground, Chen He looked at Andrea and said in a sincere voice, "Thank you for that."
If not for Andrea using Allied Teleportation on him, Chen He would not have come out of the Third Order dragon's focused attack with only a few wounds.
"It is unnecessary to say thank you." Andrea shook her head, and as she looked at the chaotic battlefield she couldn't help but sigh, "If there's anyone who needs to thank here it's us you for supporting us even though you're not part of our faction."
Chen He looked coldly towards the main battlefield miles away where the explosions were loud enough to turn the mountain peaks to dust and said in a serious voice, "I'm afraid in this kind of situation there are no factions, only races."
After a moment of silence, Andrea nodded in agreement.
Bai Zemin was not the only one who thought that the dragons would definitely not stop after flattening America.
Even if the dragons were not exactly the same as the descriptions in the books they had read, it was obvious from their behavior during past battles that the dragons were greedy and arrogant as hell and wouldn't put anyone in their eyes.
Chen He, Andrea, and all the others were 90% sure that mankind would be annihilated if they did not wipe out the dragons first. Therefore, splitting into factions would only make the job of the terrifying flying monsters much easier than it already seemed to be.
...
Three hours later, on the battlefield where Angelo and Neos had been locked in a fierce death battle where each attack was more fierce and sinister than the last.
Rooooaar!!!
A roar of pain and frustration involuntarily erupted from the bloodied mouth of the ferocious Fourth Order level 276 beast. His body was sent flying backwards, and if not for his quick reaction he would have directly hit a huge mountain and would have been buried deep in it.
"Impossible!!!" Neos looked at Angelo and roared, "You didn't have this power before, it doesn't belong to you!!!"
"What are you talking about?" Angelo snorted, "I paid enough to have this kind of strength. Isn't losing my eyesight an appropriate price?"
His armor was torn in places and his body was partially covered by a light but powerful layer of frost that restricted his movements greatly. The blue of his eyes was gone, and he was now basically a blind person whose sclera and pupils were barely distinguishable as both were white.
Despite all this, however, his wings beat powerfully behind him and his grip on his sword was surprisingly firm. As for his aura... His aura was stronger than it had ever been before.
Neos' body was riddled with wounds, cuts ranging from slight lacerations to deep gullies through which his bones could be seen. The pain was excruciating and his blood wouldn't stop raining down, weakening him more and more with each passing second to the point where he could barely fly.
Angelo raised his sword to the sky and a bright white light enveloped the blade.
It was at that moment that Neos sensed the danger of death, and surprisingly did not choose to fight but instead flapped his wings and swooped into the distance.
Angelo frowned as this was strange dragon race behavior, but he didn't mind too much since Neos' life was in his hands anyway.
"Starfire!"
Angelo's voice had fallen along with the movement of his right hand. As he slashed with his sword, a brilliant white light covered the sky for an instant.
The flash was so powerful that it blinded everyone, pausing the ongoing war for a second as everyone turned to look skyward in the distance.
The dragons' eyes twitched and the humans' eyes widened as they saw what appeared to be a mountain cut in two fall from the clouds while what appeared to be a small glowing dot remained steady in the sky.
"I-It can't be possible..."
"Lord Neos... is dead?"
...
As the dragons began to feel despair even though victory was just around the corner, the humans who had given up roared towards the sky shouting praises towards the one who led them.
In the clouds, Angelo sighed in relief as he slightly relaxed his grip on his weapon.
"Now that the enemy leader fell the victory is ours." He smiled slightly even though his face showed fatigue and pain.
It was just then that two other auras in no way inferior to those of Neos whom he had just killed rose from afar causing the ground to tremble and the sky to shake.
It was only then that the Leader of the American faction understood what Neos meant earlier when he said "the others".... Neos was just another pawn with a higher rank than the other pawns!
There was someone even stronger behind the scenes!
The hand with which Angelo held his sword trembled as he muttered in shock: "How could this be possible..."
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