When Nox peeked out from behind the pillar, he saw two Scourge Commanders walking forward, oblivious to their presence.
A small smile appeared on his face as he turned to the girls behind him and whispered, "I'll be back."
They both nodded. Zara and Nyxirith had seen the two Scourge Commanders as well, but they weren't worried in the slightest.
Before their very eyes, Nox activated Phantom Cloak and turned invisible. Nyxirith's mouth hung open in surprise when she saw this. She glanced at Zara beside her.
The Frost Princess's expression remained neutral—she had seen him use this skill before.
No dragon should be able to pull off something , she thought inwardly. Could he really be something else?
Now that she thought about it, she had never seen Nox transform into dragon form like the others.
Meanwhile, the oblivious Scourge Commanders continued to march through the hallways, unaware that a presence had snuck behind them.
One of them suddenly paused, sensing something off in the air. The Commander glanced around but didn't find anything and continued its patrol.
However, before it could take another step, the head of its companion rolled off its neck. It slammed to the ground with a loud thud, followed by the headless body.
The remaining Scourge became alert, fiercely turning around and swinging its claw, splitting the air in two—but it didn't make contact with anything.
It felt a sharp blade pierce its chest, bursting out the other side. Its eyes slowly dropped to its chest, which bled profusely, though no weapon was in sight.
At that moment, Nox slowly materialized before the Scourge dragons. With a sharp movement of his arms, he retrieved Oblivion and slashed at the commander's neck, severing that one as well.
He quickly called the Earth Prince, who came over and buried the corpses underground.
After dealing with the threat, the four continued to advance deeper, with no final destination in mind. Since they didn't have a map, it was extremely hard to navigate the castle without running into trouble.
Just after dealing with the commanders, it didn't take long before they ran into more Scourge dragons. These ones were mundane corrupted dragons whose level was only in the Emperor tier.
Zara flicked her wrist, and a blizzard of frost exploded from her body, freezing all the monsters mid-motion in a solid state.
If I had known I'd get this power, I would've told you to tame me sooner, she chuckled inwardly, feeling the surge of power coursing through her veins.
Then, with a snap of her fingers, the frost statues silently exploded into a thousand fragments that scattered around the hallway like a beautiful snowfall in a crystal storm.
The sound was like crystal rain—beautiful yet deadly—as the shattered remains of the frozen Scourge dragons scattered across the hallway floor, their corrupted essence dissipating into smoke.
Zara lowered her hand slowly. She didn't even look impressed.
Nyxirith blinked once. "...Show-off."
Zara gave a lazy shrug. "You would've done the same."
"Let's proceed," Nox said, feeling a slight tinge of worry in the pit of his stomach.
They were progressing smoothly.
Perhaps... too smoothly.
They hadn't even needed to break a sweat yet—which only made him more cautious.
Meanwhile, outside, another wave of corrupted dragons poured from the broken gates of the castle. However, this wave was only in the hundreds.
The reason for this was because the Scourge Alpha had deployed most of its forces to attack the Dragon Realm, leaving only a few behind to protect the castle. It was confident that no one would be able to breach the portal and enter the Corrupted Realm.
Even after detecting the presence of dragonkins in their realm, the Alpha hadn't panicked. After all, it was just a bunch of youths.
The commanders, who had full subconscious thought, even believed that the Monarchs had offered their offspring as a peace offering or something of the sort.
This had been their thought process until this day.
Outside was pure carnage. Blue, orange, and deep purple attacks rained heavily on the ranks of the corrupted dragons. Left and right, the enemy fell. Their numbers dwindled so quickly that alarms were raised throughout the Scourge Castle.
"What's happening?!" a Scourge Commander frowned, rushing toward the balcony and seeing the chaos unfolding below.
"Most of the champions were sent to the Dragon Realm. The number of champions left in the castle isn't enough. Do you think we should send the rest outside?" a humanoid Scourge reported to another.
This particular Scourge appeared like any other dragonkin—apart from the dark-scaled armored body, one could easily mistake him for one of them.
His name was Tyrant, and his rank far surpassed the other Scourge Commanders—even Zhun'Var. He was the closest person to the Alpha, someone whose strength was on par with the Monarchs.
[AN chapter reference: Chapter 604: The Alpha appears]
Tyrant didn't respond for a full minute, simply watching as the three dragonkin—Drake, Valkor, and Elsie—carved a path toward the main building. Further down, his eyes fell on the Lightning Prince, Raiziel.
Because of the prince's experience and destructive strength, Nox had assigned him to the Alpha Team as well.
Any corrupted beast that slipped past the three's frontal assault was obliterated by powerful lightning blasts.
Raiziel hovered in the air like a god of lightning, and the sky above him seemed to darken ominously.
Bolt after bolt crashed down on the enemy.
Tyrant frowned. He could swear that when he had first seen them and reported to the Alpha, they hadn't been this strong. So how...?
"How did their elements jump several ranks into Ultimate Tier? Did they use a special treasure?"
He shook his head. He was certain no such treasure existed. Which only meant the dragonkins had used another method to increase the rank of their elemental skills.
As he watched more of his comrades perish, Tyrant finally ordered in a deep voice, "Send the champions out! We need to hold them back as long as we can—until the Alpha comes out!"