An ear-rendering roar of a flame-breathing beast sent shivers down the spines of almost everyone inside the hall.
Asher could recognize a roar any day since, even without seeing, he could tell that this was the roar of a dragon!
He saw the floor within the huge summoning circle disappearing as a 70 meters long huge body of a dragon with dark blue scales revealed itself, causing everyone to freeze in terror. Iryna was standing atop its head as it continued to rise from the summoning circle.
Even the entire floor began to tremor under the might of this dark blue dragon with huge wings, its burning blue eyes looking at the tiny creatures standing frozen in fear. There was no doubt that those eyes belonged to a dragon who wouldn't leave without turning everyone inside into ashes.
House Drake was not considered the strongest and feared the most only because of its bloodline bearers to withstand flames to a greater extent, something which no other vampires could. The main reason they were feared was due to how this House had tamed the legendary dragons to do their bidding.
Dragons have always been feared the most by vampires due to how easily they can breathe flames to turn any vampire into ashes.
With a monstrous size that can easily be bigger than towering buildings, scales that were as strong as iron covering their body, and the ability to breathe demonic flames to even lay waste to entire towns with ease was enough to consider these invincible beasts as beings nobody should dare offend. They were considered to be the unspoken overlords of this realm till the Devourer came by.
During the celebration, Asher had heard stories of how the first Demon King, the Devourer, managed to tame the dragons and even use their power to evolve the power of his own bloodline, which passed down to his heirs. Such an imposing feat earned him the rule to lord over the entire vampire race and even other demon races to create a kingdom of his own that dominated the entire demon realm.
And now that Iryna somehow summoned a dragon inside the castle, everyone had their expressions filled with despair and terror.
Even Lord Thorin and Lord Valentine had their expressions turn grim since even if they were able to stop the dragon, it wouldn't be without paying the price. The entire hall was closed off, and they weren't prepared while Iryna came prepared with a dragon that was no ordinary dragon.
"Shit, shit, shit! How did she bring Mevnir inside?" Kookus shat his pants seeing this ferocious dragon with barbed twin tails whose presence itself was making the entire hall feel like they were standing near a furnace.
His only relief was that he could hide behind these five Bloodborn Guards, thanks to Asher.
"Mevnir? How strong is that dragon?" Asher asked with furrowed brows. He wondered if he would be forced to use Hellbringer to save himself since there was no way he would survive . He also didn't know if Rowena would be able to handle that beast without her dragon.
"Strong enough to easily turn most of these people here, especially the vampires, into epic-grade ashen powder with a single breath. It is the one that is truly the 3rd strongest. Not Prince Oberon's. I only said it because Mevnir was considered to be off the list officially," Kookus said as he swallowed his saliva.
Asher's expression became grave as he realized this situation had literally turned into a hot mess where he could get in trouble.
Even when he was a Hunter, he had never come across the strongest dragons. Only weaker ones, and even then, it took dozens of hunters to take those dragons down, and not without paying a heavy price.
He never faced a dragon after he reached the S Rank, and so he had no idea how he would have fared against a strong dragon like the one before him. Still, there was no point in thinking about all that as his thoughts raced, and he looked at Rowena, who didn't even move from her spot despite seeing the huge dragon staring down at her.
She looked tiny before it, which only went to show how huge the entire hall was to accommodate this terrifying dragon.
Oberon, who had smashed onto the wall behind, looked up and saw Mevnir staring down at Rowena. His hands were shaking, but he gripped his blade firmly and got up as he ran towards Rowena. This was his chance! He can't waste it here.
"Do you feel that, niece? That is death staring at you. Nobody can save you from what is coming. Of course, I might die after this but not without burning you to ashes first," Iryna said with a death-cold smile before shouting, "Burn her, Mevnir!"
The Bloodborn Guards immediately left Asher as if they couldn't ignore the safety of their queen anymore. Even if she had given them strict orders, they were trained to follow the duty they were born and raised for.
"GROAWWWRR!" Mevnir's eyes glowed with killing intent as it opened its huge maw and let out a powerful breath of demonic flames right at Rowena.
There wasn't even a ripple in Rowena's crimson eyes as Mevnir's flames engulfed her entire body. The force behind his breath was so strong some of the floor melted while Oberon, who was still a bit far behind, got blasted away just by the sheer shockwaves, rendering him unconscious.
The Bloodborn Guards quickly put up their huge shields in front of them and took cover behind them. Despite how explosive the power behind the flames of Mevnir was, the Bloodborn Guards only had their feet move behind by an inch and remained fixed to the floor while their black shields became red hot. But they were pretty much immbolizied and couldn't take another step further.
However, Asher, who was sitting dozens of feet behind Rowena, was sent flying away as well, along with his chair.
As he got blasted away along with his chair, it smashed against Kookus, who was hiding behind his chair, knocking him out instantly. As for Asher, he fell down from his chair as it fell to the ground, cushioning the impact before he rolled towards the floor.
"My queen!" Ceti shouted with quivering eyes as she and everyone else inside the hall had their expressions frozen in horror upon seeing their queen getting swallowed by the flames of Mevnir. No vampire could survive that, especially at such a close distance.
Asher coughed as he got up with a bruised arm. With widened eyes, he wondered why Rowena didn't move and if she was really dead?