"By the dragons…" Zara muttered as she took in the scene. Through the smoke-hazed streets, several corrupted dragons, some on four legs, some on wings, prowled the area.
These were Scourge-touched creatures, things that should never have escaped the Marked Zone. The air reeked of sulfur and decay.
Zara snapped out of her stupor and immediately rushed toward a fallen guard who was crawling away from a Scourge beast. She swept her arm forward, and a shimmering barrier of ice formed between the wounded guard and the advancing beast.
"Help the injured!" she called to the others even as she focused on holding the barrier. The Scourge dragon battered against her ice shield, cracks forming in the glowing defense.
Drake wasted no time. With a roar, he charged the wolf-like monster that had shrugged off the guards' attacks and swung a massive punch, connecting with the side of the creature's head.
The beast yelped, stumbling from the powerful blow!
The rest of the team—Fenix, Mira, Kaisy, and Toren—immediately sprang into motion, helping the city guards and brave civilians against the dragons that were pouring through the broken western gate.
There were remnants of frost at the gate, a clear indication that the frost dragon had tried to seal it up, but powerful Scourge dragons had shattered it.
He saw that they were still trying to seal off the gate, but this was just futile as several corrupted dragons had already breached the wall by soaring past the towering frost walls.
"So these are the Scourge dragons, huh." Nox hadn't moved from his spot yet, his eyes narrowed as he simply observed the chaos unfolding before him.
As he studied the corrupted beasts attacking, his eyes flashed sharply.
"They're indeed stronger. Not only are they twice the size of normal dragons, their strength is also doubled," Nox noted when he saw five intermediate-rank dragons struggling against a single Scourge dragon.
He held out a finger, and when no one was paying attention, a condensed flame bullet, encased in thick ice, appeared at the top of his fingertips.
The frost-and-flame bullet flew out from Nox's fingertips with a furious whoosh, splitting the air apart and impaling itself into the head of that Scourge dragon.
Just seconds later, a loud sound echoed as the Scourge beast's head was blasted into fragments, and a storm of flesh and dark blood fell all around.
The guard who had been fighting the beast was shocked. He hurriedly turned toward the direction where the attack had come from, but he found no one.
Nox was already gone!
He dashed through the gates of the western region, heading toward the direction of the ancient forests where the Scourge beasts were pouring out from.
"What happened? I barely saw that attack," the guard murmured in a dazed voice, staring around.
Everyone who was fighting around that area was equally shocked at how easily the powerful beast had been dealt with.
"Wait, I think it's him!" At that moment, someone spoke up.
"What do you mean by him?"
"I think it's the champion Kawl!" that person declared, his eyes shining with confidence. "He was the last one standing there, but I never paid attention. Isn't it suspicious that he disappeared just after dealing with the Scourge dragon?"
The others felt this made sense, yet there was still a bit of doubt in their hearts.
It was at that moment when a series of blasts echoed in the distance, and all the guards rushed to the edge of the walls—and what they saw left them speechless.
In the distance, a silhouette was singlehandedly blasting the heads of several Scourge beasts effortlessly.
It took some time, but the guards and everyone present finally recognized the figure.
"It's truly him," someone gasped again, their voice trembling with awe. "That's Kawl!"
"He's cutting them down like they're nothing…" another murmured, gripping the edge of the battlements with wide eyes.
The battle around the western gate momentarily slowed, as if the battlefield itself was pausing to bear witness to the storm that had been unleashed in the distance.
Everywhere he moved, Scourge Dragons fell. A single flash of his Oblivion Edge dagger—which was coated with flames carefully shrouded with frost—and another corrupted creature crashed to the earth, lifeless.
A flick of his wrist—flame-encased frost bullets exploded heads and limbs into frozen mist.
The reason Nox was having such an easy time was because of the combined effect of the two elements. He knew that if he wanted to fight at his full capacity, then he needed to give the others sufficient distance, and at this range, it was very difficult for the dragons to see the orange energy within his ice attacks.
"By the First Dragon… Is he really a dragon or a god?" a city guard muttered under his breath, almost reverently.
Meanwhile, atop the wall, Drake wiped blood off his fist and grinned fiercely as he saw the familiar blur moving through the Scourge horde.
"Heh. Took you long enough to get serious, Nox," he muttered.
Zara, who was helping reinforce the broken gate with ice constructs, couldn't help but pause for a moment, her chest tightening with something she couldn't describe. Relief, pride, and something else… hope.
A smile couldn't help but curl up on her lips.
That figure—bathed in silver frost—was the hope of Frostpire.
"Everyone!" Zara shouted suddenly, turning toward the exhausted guards and civilians around her. Her voice was clear and strong. "Don't lose heart! We still have Kawl! Rally behind him!"
A roar erupted from the soldiers, reigniting their fighting spirit. Their fatigue was momentarily forgotten as they tightened their grips on their weapons and pressed forward once more, redoubling their efforts.
Nox continued his advance. He was headed straight for the forest, allowing the distance to grow between him and the others.
As he moved, notifications flickered rapidly in his mind:
[Ding! You have slain a Scourge Dragon: +20,000 EXP]
[Ding! You have slain a Scourge Drake: +12,000 EXP]
[Ding! You have leveled up!]
Nox was slightly shocked at the level of experience points he received. It was several times higher than what he would get for killing a normal beast.
Was this because of their corrupted nature?
Either way, this was a good opportunity. Nox's eyes glowed with excitement, and the speed at which he ran also spiked up exponentially.
Just maybe… just maybe this event will be what will push him to the Expert Rank!
With such prospects within reach, Nox temporarily stopped thinking about anything else and focused only on killing the Scourge Dragons.
Suddenly, he had to come to a stop when he saw a familiar figure in the distance.