Chapter 118: Camity (Part 1)

  Robert rode at the rear of the army.

  Oher side of him, dozens of soldiers struggled to push the heavy Dragon-Syer Crossbows, the massive wheels on the mounts creaking with pierg metal fri.

  "Gray Hawk" Shroud also rode beside Robert on a bck horse.

  "This damned pce is getting hotter and hotter."

  Robert wiped the sweat off himself, pining.

  He asked the aide, "Why is the army moving so slowly? How long until we get through Terrell’s Maw?"

  The aide replied solemnly, "My lord, our army just went through a bloody battle. It’s normal for the pace to be slower."

  "Lord Robert!"

  "We’ve found a stone wall blog Terrell’s Maw up ahead!"

  A messenger arrived on horseback, rep urgently.

  "What?"

  "How is that possible? They just passed through!" Robert looked utterly incredulous.

  Shroud’s voice grew serious: "It’s a spellcaster. Embers has a high-level spellcaster. If I’m not mistaken, that should be Wall of Stone, a fifth-circle evocation spell capable of creating an iructible stone barrier."

  "It seems they anticipated we’d pursue them and prepared accly."

  "Then what should we do?"

  Robert was beginning to panic, s down his forehead.

  Shroud spoke calmly, "My lord, don’t worry. This stone wall be broken, and even if the enemy is a grand mage, it’s challenging to maintain this spell for long."

  "Good, good."

  Robert mumbled to himself.

  He took out his handkerchief again, wiping his forehead.

  pared to when the allied forces first erier Valley now felt like a sweltering fur was baffling how the weather here could be so uably harsh.

  Robert could evehe st of burnt dust in the air.

  Wait—

  Fire?

  Heat?

  The red dragon is known as the "Dragon of Voloes."

  As this thought struck him, bined with the suddereat of the Ember Legion and the red dragon’s absence, an ominous premonitio into Robert’s mind.

  Unfortunately, his premonitions were often accurate.

  "M-my lord…"

  The aide’s voice trembled beside him.

  Robert’s thoughts were interrupted. He looked to his side, impatiently asking, "What is it?"

  "Turn around, my lord."

  "And you’ll uand."

  The aide’s tone was despairing, with a hint of tears.

  Robert finally realized something was amiss. Turning around on his horse, he was so shocked that he fell to the ground.

  He colpsed, gazing up at the sky in despair.

  "By Tempus…"

  Fmes, endless fmes.

  The distant half of the sky was dyed e-red, the horizon being a searing, flickering line of fire as thick smoke billowed up, gradually engulfing the nd.

  Gusts of wind from the southwest howled, flipping corpses otlefield, flinging severed limbs like locusts into the air. The pieces ignited in the heat above the fire, turning into fming projectiles raining down.

  And at the ter of the inferno—

  A massive red dragon slowly fpped its wings.

  The red dragon was like an ination of fmes, the heart of the vast bze. With each wi, the fmes pulsed like a heartbeat, growing fiercer.

  "Shroud…"

  "Is this… also an illusion?"

  It was a question that didn’t need an answer.

  Robert stared at the sky, his face illuminated by the fire. He could already feel the hot air and the sulfurous st.

  Shroud gave no reply, staring bnkly at the distance, muttering in disbelief:

  "Weather manipution…"

  "Eighth circle… that’s ah-circle spell!"

  The gray-robed mage screamed in near hysteria.

  The allied soldiers were also struck by the terrifying spectacle, g out in despair, wailing, and praying. Yet before this boundless sea of fire, nothing seemed to matter.

  "Oh, gods…"

  "This must be hell."

  "No…"

  "How did we ever make an enemy of such a being!"

  Their path was sealed by the unbreakable stone wall, and behind them y endless fmes.

  To survive, they could only hope for a divine miracle to quell the disaster, but such miracles hadn’t happened in a millennium of the Third Age.

  In other words, it was an inescapable death trap.

  This urgatory engulfed in fmes!

  "Roar—"

  Cassius, surrounded by boiling fmes, let out a mighty, awe-inspiring roar.

  "Foolish humans…"

  "I am fire itself; I am death!"

  "I shall bring you utter destru—"

  The intense heat tio rise, f ns of hot air. tless fire serpeed from the ground, swirling and coiling upwards. The southwest wind intensified, creating a powerful vortex that swept up grass, corpses, fmes, and ash, spiraling into the sky.

  tless fire serpents merged into a massive fire tornado, swirling over the Trier Valley for miles.

  It was as if the world had been torn open.

  And the red dragon was at the ter of the hundred-meter-high pilr of fire, slowly fpping its wings. Each beat of its wings made the fire tornado more intense and grand.

  The fire tornaded the nd, burning everything.

  And the allied forces had no escape route.

  Robert snapped out of his daze, scrambling to his feet. Staring at the red dragon in the sky, a look of grim determination fshed in his eyes.

  A camity ’t be killed.

  But the source of the camity .

  Robert looked toward the Dragon-Syer Crossbows covered in thick cloth, seeing a final glimmer of hope.

  These enormous crossbows had once sin the "Gcier Wing" that ravaged the North a tury ago. Surely, they would be effective against this dragon, an ination of disaster.

  His eyes hardened as he muttered to himself:

  "Kill it. Just kill it…"

  "Prepare the Dragon-Syer Crossbows! At all costs, kill this damned red dragon!"

  Robert shouted with reckless abandon.

  He shoved aside the panicked soldiers around him, throwing off the thick cloth c the Dragon-Syer Crossbow and straining to position it.

  "My lord, let me help you."

  The loyal soldiers nearby saw the t’s i and, mustering their ce, stepped forward to help, pushing the heavy crossbow together, aiming it at the red dragon in the sky.

  A massive bolt, as thick as an arm and over two meters long, y quietly on the loading bed, its iron-tipped head gleaming coldly with stains of old blood.

  It had once pierced a dragon’s heart.

  And now, destiny called once more.

  The rampaging fmes drew closer, about to engulf everything.

  "As long as this bolt hits…"

  "It will all be over."

  Robert aimed the Dragon-Syer Crossbow at the sky, staring ily at the approag red dragon. Sweat dripped from his , his breath held, heart pounding.

  Through the bzing wall of fire, he could see those goldeical pupils gazing down upon him.

  Fmes filled the heavens, the air thick with tension.

  Man and dragon locked eyes.

  Robert thought he saw a trace of disdain in those eyes.

  AnnouA big thank you to [Char Tan] for joining my Patreon! Your support means a lot to me.

  FAL