The drake twisted its body midair and opened its mouth to chomp down on Alec.
Alex grunted and slammed his fist against drake's head, causing it to land on his left side.
He pulled his spear and shield out of the ground and turned to face the beast that just recovered from the blow.
Instead of being aggressive, it became cautious and circled Alec. All of a sudden, Alex burst out of the fog and slammed the drake, forcing it toward the left.
Alec hit the drake's face with his shield. The impact threw the beast into the air, and Asher also came out of the fog, sliding on the ground.
His sword facing the sky.
The drake's underbelly, which was protected by thick leathery skin, wasn't able to deflect the gold-ranked sword.
A weapon below its rank.
The drake roared. It struggled to rip off Asher's face, but he kept evading, though narrowly.
Alec closed the gap and pierced his spear through the drake's back before it got to Asher.
Yet the beast, still alive, lunged toward him. Alec quickly used his shield, and it clawed his shield, carving open deep claw marks on the diamond-ranked shield!
Alex came from the other side and beheaded the beast with an upward swing of his sword.
He flicked off the bloodstains while breathing roughly. White mist came out of his mouth as he took off his helmet and fell on his buttocks.
His sword was casually placed beside him.
Asher sheathed his sword and looked at the creature that gave two diamond-ranked soldiers and one gold-ranked swordsman such a tough fight.
Dragon breeds were indeed one of the apex beasts on the Tenaria continent.
He veered toward the volcano and noticed it had abruptly stopped spitting molten lava and shooting out huge balls of fire. Though they were already covered by the hot ash, it had little to no effect on them.
"My battle force had no effect on that beast."
Alex said while his brother checked the damage on his shield. Such damage would require a master-grade blacksmith to repair, but Nineveh only had one journeyman and another quasi-journeyman, and that was Ark White.
Their limit was the gold rank.
"Did this beast come from the beyond?" Alex asked while staring at the mountain horizons.
"I'm certain it came from the depths of the volcano that suddenly became active. All these mountains were once active volcanoes and had mythical beasts drake and several more powerful ones like dragons of the legends."
Asher replied with an exhausted yet calm tone.
"So the ash mountains were once a wall of fire. It had to be protecting something." Alec suddenly said.
Asher turned toward him.
"It was indeed a natural wall that spat flames. It was the dividing line between humans and other races from the lost era, but those races were crafty enough to build ships that could fly, and so they eventually connected with humans despite nature having the opposite plans."
"So elves came from the beyond and built nations on our side."
"Dwarves, beastmen, fairies, name them. Well, this part of the world has richer lands and a more welcoming climate than where they lived. But nature proved it knew best because war eventually erupted between all races because of Tenaria and only a few of them were able to run back to their former land while the others died on this part of the world.
Humans are only able to survive because of our rate of reproduction. That alone stopped us from going extinct like other races."
Alec and Alex looked at Asher with deep respect. Their lord was so knowledgeable and wise. Such a lord wasn't common.
Asher approached the beast while speaking. "From them we learnt how to harness the power of magi force, produce our own priests, and learn otherworldly crafty things like teleportation portals, skill books, scrolls, and tomes. But most of that knowledge has been lost, which is why that era is called the lost era."
He went on one knee and grabbed the drake's head.
[Host is now focused.]
[Ding! You have successfully killed a once slumbering mythical beast with the aid of your two subordinates.]
[Rewards: Calculating….]
[Ding! A reward material has been found: the head of a drake]
[Ding! A reward material has been found: Blood of a drake.]
[Would the host like to use these materials to upgrade commander Alec's shield and spear to become sacred-ranked weapons of war? Drake Terror Shield and a Bloody Fire-Tipped Spear? Yes or No?]
A white light merged the drake's head and Alec's shield. At the same time, the blood of the drake floated out and covered Alec's spear.
In no time, the transformation was done and Alex, Asher and Alec stared at a rectangular shield that had the lifelike image of a drake's head in the middle of the shield. The shield now had sprinkles of dark gold, scarlet, and black on its silver body.
Beside the shield was a crimson spear with an even more bloody spearhead that made it seem the spear had been soaked in blood for centuries. The small white rectangular flag that was close to the spearhead transformed into a flaming flag!
Alec quickly grabbed the shield and the spear. He suddenly felt a profound sensation coursing through his body; it was not something he experienced physically.
The air whistled as he performed a sweeping move with his spear, leaving trials of flames that rapidly followed after the spear!
"Is that head there for nothing?"
Alex asked as he approached the shield in his brother's grip.
All of a sudden, the eyes of the drake snapped open, and it also opened its mouth, unleashing hot ash.
Alex screamed and clutched his face that almost peeled off due to the heat. Out of anger, he reflexively threw a solid punch toward the shield, only for a force to repel him, throwing him 5 meters backward.
He couldn't believe a weapon did that to him.
Then what about an actual sacred-ranked knight?