Invading its territory for no reason, stabbing it for no reason, and then fleeing for no reason—worst of all, it hadn't even caught up! The intruder had escaped!
A violent temper is inevitably accompanied by pettiness. The appearance of Mirrorblade caused the Velkhana to immediately abandon its assault on the Bazelgeuse and turn its wrath directly toward him.
"ROAR!!"
Accompanied by a thrust of its tail-spear, a wisp of ice-blue mist drifted toward Mirrorblade. Such is the nature of battle between monsters; their previous encounter had already allowed the Velkhana to gauge its enemy's strength. Compared to the Bazelgeuse brothers it had only met today, it wanted to kill Mirrorblade—the weaker link—first.
In an instant, this dense frost-mist formed a layer of ice over the tail-blade Mirrorblade had swung in retaliation. Though that layer was shattered by the collision of tail-blade and tail-spear, the Velkhana's objective had already been achieved.
This frost-mist, capable of freezing anything it touched, only condensed into solid ice upon physical contact. This meant that the mist hitting Mirrorblade's tail-blade turned into thick, hardened ice, while the rest continued to drift forward with momentum until it landed on Mirrorblade's underbelly near his tail and his hind legs.
In a flash, it was as if Mirrorblade was standing in a river that had suddenly frozen solid. His legs were directly entombed in ice. For a dragon that relied heavily on physical attacks and agile footwork to evade strikes, this was fatal.
But it didn't matter.
"Fire! Fire, meow!!!"
BOOM! BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
Accompanied by a tense, shrill feline cry, several black projectiles streaked toward Mirrorblade amidst deafening explosions!
This wasn't a rebellion by the Grimalkynes and the Hunters. In the heat of such a volatile battlefield, no human or cat could guarantee their shells would land exactly where intended—or rather, they were lucky enough just to achieve their primary goal.
The shells fired at Mirrorblade weren't solid iron shot, but Flaming Ammo that exploded on contact. The intent was to deal targeted damage to the Velkhana... and to rescue an ally in a pinch.
Well, only Mirrorblade and the Bazelgeuse were durable enough to "endure" this kind of rescue operation.
Only one of the four shells hit its mark. When the shell struck Mirrorblade and the flames erupted, he was passively knocked back a considerable distance across the snowy ground. He certainly felt the pain of the impact, but more importantly, the explosion shattered the mass of ice—no, it merely blew a hole in it, but that was enough to give Mirrorblade the room to twist and break free.
So cold.
That was the first thought that flashed through Mirrorblade's mind; it wasn't even "it hurts."
Even moving a foreclaw felt like his limbs were frozen and stiff, and his reactions were becoming sluggish.
Mirrorblade had a moment to recover, as the Bazelgeuse brothers had pounced while the Velkhana was focused on him. It was the same old routine: their "three-hit combo."
But the Velkhana was different today; it had gone all out from the very beginning.
In the absence of proper measuring tools, no one could know exactly how low the temperature was near the Velkhana. Even with Hot Drinks and armor forged from fire-element monster materials, the Hunters couldn't get close. Usually, armor made from monster parts possessed specific elemental energies and special abilities, and the Hunters had even slotted in Ice Resistance Decorations.
But none of it worked.
"This is harder than we imagined," the Scholar representative said from a distance with a grim expression. "Do you see the speed of that freezing? Our detailed investigations showed that a Seething Bazelgeuse's scales generate temperatures of over a thousand degrees at the moment of explosion. Yet, that level of heat is being neutralized and countered by the frost surrounding the Velkhana... In fact, the Velkhana has the upper hand. At a rough estimate, the temperature around that thing is at least minus 100 degrees."
"Minus 100 degrees?" the Admiral asked, stunned. "That can't be right. Didn't you say the Bazelgeuse's explosion is over a thousand?"
Surely a thousand is bigger than a hundred?
"It's at least minus 100; we don't know the exact floor," the Scholar representative said helplessly. "Temperature calculations aren't a simple matter of comparing numbers, Admiral. I can't explain it all to you in such a short time. You just need to know that the Hunters cannot get close to the Velkhana right now."
"Deploy the fleet immediately," the Commander interjected, having watched the battlefield in silence.
"This early?!" Hara turned around and said. "Isn't that too fast? We're committing everything right at the start?"
"Opportunities are fleeting," the Commander said, lowering his binoculars with a heavy expression. "The Research Commission's combat strength in the New World was never high to begin with. This slaying mission essentially relies on Mirrorblade and the Bazelgeuse to drive the Velkhana out."
"It's obvious that as an Elder Dragon, the Velkhana's power far exceeds that of Mirrorblade and the Bazelgeuse. We must break the stalemate before they take serious damage or are forced to retreat. This is something only we can do—Sparky!"
"Got it, meow!" Sparky nodded solemnly, then dropped to all fours and dashed off urgently.
The Ballistae and Cannons provided by the Research Commission were mostly operated by a small number of technicians and Grimalkynes. According to the plan, to prevent the airship carrying the Dragonator from being destroyed before it even reached the Velkhana, they needed more attacks to distract the beast.
The combat-ready Hunters had arrived at their designated positions one after another. Across the battlefield, lines of fire from Flaming Ammo constantly streaked toward the Velkhana or the ice forming on Mirrorblade's body.
For a moment, the coordination was seamless. This greatly relieved the pressure on Mirrorblade, allowing him to strike without being overly cautious.
The Velkhana, naturally, was beyond annoyed. To it, it felt like being bitten by mosquitoes from all directions. Most were just irritating—clanging against its hide like noisy, bothersome static.
But occasionally, a Flaming Ammo shot would land precisely in its eye. That kind of "sting" was no longer just an annoyance; it actively disrupted the Velkhana's combat rhythm. It even caused the dragon to take a direct hit from the Bazelgeuse brothers' "bombardment." The memory of those dense explosions alone made the Velkhana's back ache.
Rage and irritation boiled over, yet under the combined assault of Mirrorblade and the Bazelgeuse, the Velkhana had no room to sweep away those pesky mosquitoes. As the saying goes—two fists are no match for four hands.
Even for an Elder Dragon, unless they were among the top-tier powerhouses, they would still suffer when ganged up on by two monsters whose strength approached their own.
While the Velkhana's attention was occupied, the airships stationed at the canopy of the forest finally began to move. Catching the wind, they picked up speed and sailed toward the battlefield.
It wasn't just one ship; three airships charged toward the Velkhana.
The Commander had truly gambled the future of Astera on this battle. To this end, he had exhausted all the supplies accumulated at the base and those shipped from the Old Continent. The result was these three ships, though only the last one carried the relic Dragonator. The other two were equipped with cannons and ballistae, but they were essentially expendable.
Yes, expendable. Even the Hunters on those two ships knew the weight of their responsibility: they were to get as close to the Velkhana as possible. Once the Velkhana turned its attention to these strange, sudden arrivals, they would open fire and deal enough damage to keep its focus, thereby creating an opening for the ship carrying the Dragonator.
They might die.
Even so, these two ships resolutely charged at the Velkhana, then split left and right, approaching from the sides in semicircular arcs—closer and closer. However, that was as far as they got.
Perhaps out of draconic instinct? Or perhaps the sensitivity of a flying dragon to the sky? Whatever the reason, the embattled Velkhana suddenly looked up at one of the airships charging toward it and unleashed a torrent of blue-white liquid from its maw!
It wasn't a pillar of ice, nor was it simple water. It was the supercooled water within the Velkhana's body, transformed into frost-breath and ice crystals, possessing both concussive force and freezing power.
"Turn the rudder!! Turn it now!!"
"No! Jump ship!! Don't hesitate!!"
"Move!!"
Even though the crew had mentally prepared themselves, the Velkhana's sudden blast caught the airship on the left completely off guard. The blue-white torrent pierced straight through the ship, and in mid-air, it froze the entire vessel into a massive block of ice!
One could only see the silhouettes of numerous Hunters leaping from the ship at the last possible second. The tiny figures fell one by one into the thick snowdrifts below, buried deep. If their luck was poor, they might even suffocate.
Aside from that, nothing else fell. The cannons mounted on the gunwales had already been frozen solid into the ice. But these people were the lucky ones; at least they had escaped the ship. They wouldn't suffer the fate of those firing cannons from the interior cabins, now entombed forever in ice.
With the airship pierced through by the frost-stream, no one knew if those hidden inside were still alive, or if they could ever be.
BOOM!!
With a dull thud, the airship-turned-ice-block crashed heavily into the snow, kicking up a massive spray of white. It was impossible to tell if it had crushed the trees hidden beneath the drifts.
There was no time for rescue, and no way to stop. The airship circling to the right swung its rudder hard, the entire hull drifting so its left side faced the Velkhana—"Fire!!"
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!!
The eight cannons mounted on the left side of the airship fired in a single volley. No one knew how the Hunters on board managed it, but they made a heavy ship move with a sense of "drifting" elegance. The hull then pirouetted, swinging the right side toward the Velkhana—BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!!!
Accuracy was no longer the priority. Many shells landed directly on Mirrorblade and the Bazelgeuse as they wrestled with the Velkhana, making it look as though the Hunters were declaring war on all three monsters at once.
"ROAR!!"
The Velkhana had plenty of strength left after its first blast. It only needed to turn its head for the frost-stream to trace a line across the sky, heading straight for the decoy airship. But the Velkhana's raised head was suddenly slapped by the tail of the Bazelgeuse brothers—their mace-like, thick tails were exceptionally powerful.
The earth... flowed.
To be precise, the snow flowed. Perhaps it was the consecutive cannon fire? Or the vibration and sound of the airship crashing? Whatever the combination of reasons, the cohesive force of the snow reached its limit and snapped.
What followed was an avalanche.
Just as Mirrorblade had experienced in their previous fight, it began with a faint sensation of movement. But within two seconds, the feeling shifted. The high-altitude snow collapsed like a mountain falling. Amidst the exploding white mist, the snow balled up, gathering more and more mass as it surged downward.
"Waaaaah!! Help, meow!!"
"We're getting swept away, meow!!"
"For the Boss's sake, give me a hand, meow!!!"
The Grimalkynes who had been burrowing in the snow popped their heads out, screaming. Even though the Commander had prepared them for an avalanche, no human or cat could remain completely calm when a white tide—seemingly large enough to cover the world—actually appeared before them.
This time, the three massive dragons, including the Velkhana, were caught in the avalanche's wake. The interference from the snow and each other meant they couldn't simply fly or jump away.
"Now's our chance! Bring the ship in, meow!!"
A group of elite "Dragon-Chosen" warriors from the Glavenus Tribe, including the leader of the Second Fleet, stood at the bow of the final ship. The one who let out this deep, powerful shout was the leader of this force, a warrior hand-picked by Asterion—Pot the Destroyer!
"Huh?!! Bring it in?! Now?!!" The voice of disbelief came from the Second Fleet Master. The dark-skinned man stared with wide eyes, looking at the cat beside him as if it had gone mad. "The avalanche is here! Don't you see?! Your Tribe's Boss and the Velkhana are being swallowed by it! The Dragonator will never hit in this mess!!"
"Stupid, meow! This is exactly when we have the best chance, meow!" Pot shouted without looking back. "We can't wait for that dragon to take flight—Dragon-Chosen Warriors, heed my command, meow! Crash the ship into them, meow!!"
"Yes, meow!!!"
The group of stout, heavy-set cats completely ignored the Second Fleet Master's reaching hand, moving with agile precision to operate the ship's controls.
"Wait, wait??" The Second Fleet Master finally seemed to understand. He shouted in horror, "What are you doing to my precious ship?!!"
"Didn't you hear, meow?" Pot turned back and gave a sly feline grin. "We're crashing the ship into them, meow."
The Second Fleet Master: "??!!!"
There was no time for explanations. The airship carrying the Dragonator dove from the sky, hurtling toward the ground—no, hurtling toward the three dragons!!!
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