More than ten thousand Wyvern Knights possessed an almost crushing advantage against other knights.
The sky would always be the most suitable domain for warfare.
No matter the world, flight offered far more mobility than standing on land.
Even in this world, being in the sky made one less vulnerable to large-scale area-of-effect magic, whereas those on the ground were more likely to be caught in the aftershocks.
This meant that the Wyvern Knight Corps of the Kingdom of Sand was one of the top elite forces among all human nations.
However, when these Wyvern Knights, who acted so arrogantly among humans, faced true dragons—even those of a sub-species—these wyverns, which were barely even considered magic beasts, instantly fell into a panic!
When that world-shaking roar reached the Wyvern Knight Corps along with the thunder, the entire flock of wyverns was utterly terrified!
"Awoo~"
Rahman was mounted on the leader of these wyverns.
Almost all races with dragon blood possessed a trait similar to atavism, which was the habit of forming large groups centered around a single lead dragon.
The wyvern Rahman was currently riding was actually the lead dragon for the ten thousand wyverns behind him!
It no longer dared to move forward at all. No matter how hard Rahman pulled the reins, the wyvern desperately wanted to flee the area.
And Rahman, sitting atop its back, had also long since lost his composure!
"What is that? Dragons?"
Rahman stared in disbelief at the skysoar dragons in the distance, which had formed what looked like a wall in the sky, standing frozen atop his wyvern.
Beside him, Aziz saw this and his pupils shrank violently!
"Rahman, stop! We cannot go any further!!"
He wasn't worried about Rahman's safety; in fact, Aziz personally disliked Rahman quite a bit.
Although both were Guardian Knights, Rahman's prominent family background allowed him to overshadow everyone else in everything he did.
This had also forged Rahman's arrogant and overbearing personality.
"Rahman!! Did you hear me!!"
Seeing Rahman sitting dazed on his wyvern, Aziz forced his own mount forward to catch up and shouted into Rahman's ear.
Shaken awake by the shout, Rahman blinked as his eyes regained focus.
As he looked at the distant wall of skysoar dragons, a trace of bloodlust colored the whites of his eyes.
"How could the mere Kingdom of the Moon possess so many dragons? This isn't real... Right, it's an illusion! It's an illusion created by that mage!"
"Rahman! Wake up! Those are true dragons!!"
At this moment, Rahman had fallen into a state of near madness.
Having been arrogant and never knowing fear in the Kingdom of Sand, he was now consumed by a deep terror, but it was immediately overtaken by a surge of intense rage!
It wasn't that he didn't know they were dragons; he simply refused to believe it, and he was even more unwilling to retreat like this!
Who was he!?
He was a proud holy knight, one of only six Guardian Knights in the Kingdom of Sand, and the commander of ten thousand Wyvern Knights!
"Brothers! Ignore the dragons ahead! They are all illusions created by that mage! Charge with me!!"
Upon hearing this, Aziz shouted in panic,
"Rahman! You've gone mad!! Can't you see the mana gathering over there!!"
"Get out of my way! Those who retreat in the face of the enemy shall be executed!!"
Rahman could no longer hear what anyone was saying. He roared as he forced the reins and charged forward!
Meanwhile, in the sky above the West Wall of Brilliant City...
Ligeia held her staff, watching the Wyvern Knight Corps suddenly accelerate. She had heard and seen the argument between the two men at the front.
As an elf, her vision and hearing far surpassed those of humans. Combined with the assistance of magic, she could hear them clearly even from several kilometers away.
Moreover, the distance between the two sides was now less than a thousand meters!
"Driven to madness by fear? Humans... are truly foolish beyond expectation."
Ligeia sneered, then suddenly seemed to remember something and added another sentence.
"My little Luo Li is an exception, of course."
Momo watched Ligeia talking to herself. As a dragon, its intelligence was very high and its memory was powerful. Although it had only been in human society for about a week, it was gradually beginning to understand a little bit of the human language.
Hearing this, Momo couldn't help but think to itself, 'By that logic, is your little Luo Li not even human?'
It complained internally but didn't dare show it on the surface.
After spending some time together, Momo had become familiar with the logic of the 'enchantress' beside it.
This woman was definitely an enchantress!
Even though she wore the skin of an elf, this person... always wanted to watch it while it was 'busy'. It had almost wanted to turn hostile over that matter.
Who does that!
Always wanting to peek at someone doing that sort of thing.
If you like it so much, why don't you just go into the group and find a partner for yourself?
Regardless, the dragon race didn't care about species anyway.
As long as they liked what they saw.
While it was thinking, Ligeia's voice suddenly came from beside it.
"Prepare dragon breath!!"
Momo took a deep breath upon hearing the command.
A massive amount of mana began to gather around its body.
The dragon race followed the lead dragon. As Momo began to gather mana, the other dragons followed suit.
In an instant, the massive silver wall in the sky centered on a single point as fiery red mana gathered in a flash.
Like a piece of paper unfolding, a fiery red light spread outward from the center. In the blink of an eye, the entire silver wall in the sky had turned crimson!
At the same time, Aziz saw this scene from a distance and was instantly stunned.
"Not good! It's dragon breath! Rahman, stop! Fast!!"
However, Rahman didn't listen to Aziz's roar at all and continued to charge madly with his lance raised.
But at that very moment, the wyvern he was riding refused to move any further.
The hierarchy within the dragon race was extremely strict: wild dragons were below magic beast dragons, magic beast dragons were below sub-dragons, and sub-dragons were below true dragons.
As a species caught between wild dragons and magic beast dragons, the difference between a wyvern and a skysoar dragon was more than just a slight gap!
Furthermore, what lay ahead was absolute hell!
No dragon was willing to seek death, especially as a lead dragon who bore the responsibility for the survival and reproduction of the entire group.
Even if it would certainly be executed by the maddened Rahman afterward, this wyvern would not lead its kin to their deaths!
Despite Rahman pulling on the reins, the wyvern suddenly folded its wings and dived sharply!!
Rahman, who was still charging forward with a twisted expression, had not expected his wyvern to flee the battle. His body lurched forward as his feet slipped from the dragon stirrups.
He could only desperately cling to the reins as he flew through the air along with the wyvern's descent.
"Fleeing in battle is death! Are you looking to die!!"
Rahman roared at the wyvern beneath him, but the lead dragon ignored him completely and continued its dive.
Behind it, the ten thousand wyverns also turned in an instant, folding their wings and diving sharply!
Seeing this, Aziz felt a surge of relief.
Although Rahman would surely explode with rage later, at this moment, as the second-in-command, his primary goal was to save these ten thousand Wyvern Knights!
That's right!
There were also those ten magic airships!
Thinking this, Aziz yanked the reins. His massive wyvern turned around and flew straight toward the ten magic airships.
As transport facilities, the airships themselves were not equipped with much military gear, and their acceleration could not compare to that of a wyvern.
Naturally, they lagged behind the wyvern group that had already begun its sprint.
Aziz quickly brought his wyvern in front of the ten airships and raised his lance high.
"All airships, descend and hover immediately! Any who disobey will be killed!!"
With this roar, the pilots of the airships did not dare to hesitate and began to slow down and descend.
Meanwhile, Ligeia watched the diving Wyvern Knight Corps coldly.
At this moment, the distance from the ground was at least two thousand meters. By the time the Wyvern Knight Corps dived down, they would be right in front of the West Gate.
This matched her little Luo Li's request.
However, Ligeia didn't plan on going back just like that.
Since she had come out, she might as well let the dragon legion release some of its frustration.
With that thought, Ligeia pointed her staff diagonally downward and gave a sharp command.
"Dragon breath! Fire—!"
Two thousand skysoar dragons pulled their necks back in perfect unison, their bodies arching as they tilted their heads back a full hundred and eighty degrees.
Then, they snapped their heads forward!
Flames erupted from every dragon's mouth!
The rapidly rising temperature instantly cleared the torrential rain in the vicinity!
Thick clouds of steam engulfed the entire skysoar dragon flock.
And in the next second!
A crimson light... crashed through the barrier of thick mist!
"Roar—!"
The dragon breath of two thousand skysoar dragons merged into one in an instant, forming a pillar of fire nearly fifty meters in diameter that descended from the heavens!
'Boom—!'
The massive pillar of fire struck the ground, nearly brushing past Rahman's face.
The heat was enough to melt steel; even true dragons wouldn't want to face the combined breath of thousands of skysoar dragons, as their dragon breath was exceptionally powerful.
Even if a sky-rock true dragon, known for its defense, were standing on the ground right now, it would never want to confront this massive dragon breath head-on!!
The pillar of fire slammed into the earth. In an instant, the water on the ground was evaporated, and thick mist was swept away by the flames as it expanded outward.
The ground surrounding the pillar of fire turned red at a visible speed, then transformed into crimson lava that flowed toward the center of the impact.
A scorching wind swept across the entire West Wall in an instant.
Even at a distance of several hundred meters, the sensation of one's cheeks being scorched rolled in.
It felt as if a fire had been ignited right before one's eyes!
The power of dragon breath lay in its ability to be sustained. This massive pillar of fire had already been roaring for ten seconds, yet it still wasn't the limit of the skysoar dragons.
The flames were still burning. Even Hilda, standing atop the city wall, could clearly see a massive crater being scorched into the earth.
It seemed to have punched through the ley lines, as a thick plume of steam sprayed out from the hole in all directions!
Cracks spread out from the impact point like a giant spiderweb. The ground, which had been soaked by torrential rain for a day and a night, was dried out almost instantly!
The grass and trees on the ground spontaneously ignited one after another!
In this state, a dark shadow suddenly spun upward, its body wreathed in flames, as it turned away from a position less than a hundred meters from the pillar of fire.
That was... the wyvern Rahman had been riding. On its back was Rahman, whose hair and eyebrows had been burnt away and whose body was covered in severe burns!
At this moment, Rahman was nearly dead, but relying on his powerful attributes as a Level 58 Guardian Knight, he had managed to endure the burning from such close range.
If the wyvern hadn't pulled back with all its might, he would likely be dead by now.
'Boom!'
The wyvern Rahman was riding had only flown less than a hundred meters before it could no longer hold on. It closed its eyes and crashed to the ground like a massive ball of fire.
On its back, the reins Rahman had been clutching snapped due to the heat of the flames. He was flung into the air and slammed heavily onto the ground, rolling several times before collapsing on the scorched grass, his fate unknown.
At the same time, behind him, the ten thousand wyverns also turned sharply, following the lead dragon's descent.
A portion of them—at least nearly a thousand wyverns—suffered burns of varying degrees. The knights on their backs were also seriously injured.
"Stop—!"
At that moment, someone finally stepped forward. If the situation were allowed to escalate further, it might even trigger a conflict between the two nations.
Ligeia instinctively looked toward the source of the voice. When she saw Kevin galloping from a distance at the head of three thousand knights, she couldn't help but roll her eyes.
This guy certainly chose his timing well.
After a silent complaint, Ligeia raised her staff, and the two thousand skysoar dragons behind her stopped their dragon breath in unison!
In an instant, the world fell silent!
As the wind howled, the thick steam was blown away.
Large raindrops fell from the sky, but they didn't land on the ground. Instead, they passed through the surface... and fell into a massive deep pit.
'Sizzle!'
As if dripping into a red-hot iron pot, the rainwater evaporated the moment it touched the ground.
Steam drifted away, only to be scattered by the subsequent raindrops.
On the West Wall, countless people witnessed this scene.
When they looked up at the two thousand skysoar dragons again, what appeared in their eyes was not just reverence, but terror.
Anyone who saw this would likely have the same thought.
It was too terrifying!!
The torrential rain poured down, and in an instant, the scorching heat on the ground was suppressed by thirty percent.
Although the lava in that massive pit was still flowing, the surrounding ground had cooled rapidly.
But even so, as one approached, waves of heat could still be felt drifting through the air.
Amidst this heat, Kevin looked up at Ligeia in the sky, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.
This woman had absolutely no regard for the balance of human society. If the Kingdom of Sand were to pursue this matter, the consequences would be immense.
Ligeia also felt Kevin's gaze. She gave a slightly disdainful snort, turned around, and landed beneath the West Wall gate with her two thousand skysoar dragons.
Hilda stood on the wall, having witnessed the entire process. She naturally understood that while Ligeia's actions were a bit excessive, they weren't out of line.
"Quick, send people to inspect the Wyvern Knight Corps. Immediately mobilize the alchemists and priests for unified treatment."
As she spoke, Hilda leapt down from the city wall and shouted toward the distance.
"Where is the leader of the Wyvern Knight Corps? Come forward and speak!!"
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