Chapter 319: Attack, Dragon Roar!

“Hmm-hmm-hmm…”

Noelle, the young red dragon, hummed a cheerful tune as she walked back toward the urban district of the Sky Mechanical City. Having witnessed the city’s purge of the beast tide, she felt a sense of satisfaction, though a lingering part of her still craved more action.

“Hmm…?”

Her nose twitched slightly. A flicker of confusion and displeasure crossed Noelle’s face; she had caught a scent she detested, one reminiscent of the Undead Plane. She loathed the suffocating, deathly stillness of that realm.

A dragon’s sense of smell is exceptionally keen; since Noelle had caught the scent, there could be no mistake.

She glanced left and right, noticing a group of people walking silently past her. Judging by their attire and the emblems they wore, they were members of the same academy.

“Hmm.”

After a moment’s thought, Noelle realized these academy members, walking toward the city center alongside her, must have just returned from the Beacon Bridge at the Undead Plane, which explained why they carried that scent she found so repulsive.

Slowing her brisk pace, Noelle deliberately widened the gap between herself and the group, letting them pull ahead.

She had plenty of time; as long as she didn’t miss the lessons from Sister Aivia and her brother that evening, she would be fine. It was pleasant enough to look around on the way back, and there was no need to keep these foul-smelling individuals by her side.

The academy members paid no mind to the red-haired girl who had slowed her pace, continuing on their own way until their figures soon vanished from Noelle’s sight.

“Hmm?”

As she walked, Noelle observed the sights that were still novel to her, having not been in the Sky Mechanical City for long. Yet, as the distance to the urban district grew shorter, she maintained her speed while letting out a sound of bewilderment.

She hadn’t thought much of it at first, but the further she walked, the more she felt something was wrong. The scent she loathed had not dissipated with the departure of the academy members; it lingered in her nostrils, persistent and pervasive.

Vigilance—this was something Sieg had taught her since she was young. If you sense something is amiss, do not dismiss it as a mere illusion; dig deeper into that feeling. At worst, it is a misjudgment, but sometimes, this caution is enough to save a life.

Her right hand silently reached into a hidden pocket, where a miniature statue was concealed. It was an exquisite carving of the Lady of the Night, one of the many layers of insurance Wang Yu and the others had prepared for her.

The power of the Lady of the Night would be greatly diminished after traveling such a vast distance to reach the Sky Mechanical City, but it was more than enough to manifest a momentary spell of Eternal Darkness for Noelle.

Without showing any sign that she had sensed danger, Noelle channeled her mental energy toward the identity card in her pocket, intending to use it to contact Sieg and the others.

As her mental energy touched the card, it transmitted her message as a fluctuation of magical power, connecting to the Magic Net.

She counted silently in her heart. When no response came, Noelle realized the gravity of the situation: the Magic Net covering the entire Sky Mechanical City had been blocked in her immediate vicinity; her identity card was useless for communication.

Her heart tightened. She did not know who was coming, but for someone to go to such lengths to target her—someone who had rarely appeared in public—she could only think of the Dragon-Slaying Cult.

She had no time to ponder how these people had found her. She glanced at the distance to the urban district; it wasn't far now. If the enemy knew even a little about the Sky Mechanical City, they would not choose to strike within the city limits.

Therefore, the attack would surely come before she reached the district. With her own strength, she was absolutely no match for the Dragon-Slaying Cult. She had to find a way to call for her brother’s help, but reinforcements would take time. Could she hold out through this brief, yet to her, agonizingly long interval?

Sensing the position of another object at her side, Noelle let out a soft breath in her heart. Stay calm, stay calm, focus. She had to create an opportunity to use that thing.

Compared to Sister Aivia and the others, she was much weaker. The attacker lurking in the shadows likely thought the same. Sometimes, being weak wasn’t necessarily a bad thing; it might just provide her with an advantage.

Meanwhile, Valma was watching Noelle as she walked along the road, using her own methods.

Over a dozen academy members, transformed into puppets, hid their forms behind spells and architecture, encircling Noelle. The undead magic connecting them formed an incomplete array, providing vision while weaving a special spell.

Valma’s mind was filled with a mix of confusion and, more so, pleasant surprise. The red-haired girl before her was also a dragon. She had assumed the heretical dragon she needed to eliminate was the one named Sieg Welsbach, but she hadn’t expected to find a young red dragon as well—this was an unexpected windfall.

“Where did that Sieg Welsbach go? The guidance of the Blood Mark cannot be wrong; she is a dragon. It will be easy to deal with this young red dragon in human form; there is no need to use the methods reserved for that youth, Sieg…”

Valma muttered to herself, watching the crimson thread emitted by the blood-red beacon. The thread pointed straight to Noelle’s location. Without a doubt, this red-haired girl was one of her targets, but where was Sieg?

“This is…?”

After following Noelle for a bit longer, Valma noticed something. The guidance of the blood-red beacon had changed; the thread pointing the way had branched. An extremely thin, ghostly, and transparent line had appeared—so faint that Valma would not have noticed it had she not been looking with total focus.

“How can it be so faint? Never mind, this is a wonder-item; it is understandable if I do not fully grasp its mechanics. Then this line must point to Sieg. I will reserve the Void Spirit Array to deal with Sieg and use a portion of my power to dispose of this young red dragon first.”

Looking at the branched thread, Valma was slightly puzzled, but she did not dwell on it. She decided to finish off Noelle as quickly as possible. They were almost at the urban district; once inside, it would be nearly impossible to block the Magic Net without using the Void Spirit Array.

The Sky Mechanical City was not a good place to strike. The ubiquitous Magic Net could detect disturbances anywhere, and once locked onto by the terrifyingly powerful Alchemical Mechanical Legion, death was almost certain.

Furthermore, the Sky Mechanical City strictly prohibited the use of high-level spatial spells in public areas; both the urban district and the city interior were protected by spatial-locking arrays.

Valma had one, and only one, chance to drag her target into another space. The Void Spirit Array existed to break through spatial solidification, and she did not intend to waste that opportunity on a young dragon.

She raised her hand, and the phylactery at her heart released its power, temporarily granting Valma strength unaffected by the main plane’s suppression of undead creatures.

Undead magic flowed, transmitting to the dozen or so bodies she controlled, causing the power of the array formed by their connection to surge. Gray, intangible mist emerged, forming a semicircle that covered the surrounding area: the Soul-Blindness Array, Modified.

Born from the innate abilities of undead creatures, the spell’s efficacy increased dramatically after being cast through the modified array, temporarily clearing the Sky Mechanical City’s Magic Net of its perception of this area, while also completely obscuring Noelle’s view of her surroundings.

“It’s here…”

The moment the anomaly occurred, Noelle’s mind, already prepared, reacted. Without hesitation, her right hand, which had been resting in her pocket, crushed the statue.

The power of the Lady of the Night, triggered by the “Void Program” detecting the statue’s destruction, was projected across the vast distance to this location, manifesting as the divine spell: Eternal Darkness.

Fluid darkness filled the area covered by the Soul-Blindness Array, a conceptual blindness that completely shielded even Valma, who did not rely on sight for observation.

“This young dragon sensed and anticipated my pursuit and malice. Is this a divine spell? A conceptual shield. How unfortunate, though, it is meaningless.”

Valma was taken aback by the Eternal Darkness, which had been activated at the same moment as her Soul-Blindness Array, but she instantly realized that Noelle must have sensed her malice and taken precautions early on.

She had to admit that the power of this conceptual darkness was formidable; she had lost her vision within the Soul-Blindness zone, seeing only absolute black.

The undead creatures, poised to cooperate with the necromantic spells she was about to use to capture Noelle alive and extract her dragon heart for power, had also lost their target.

But this power could not compare to a wonder-item. The red thread extended by the wonder-item, the Blood Mark, pierced through the darkness, pointing to Noelle’s true location.

“Obscure her vision, seize her.”

Chanting an incantation, the phylactery released the stored undead magic like a tidal wave, transforming it into several types of necromantic spells. These were unleashed within the Soul-Blindness zone, guiding the academy members transformed into undead creatures to charge at Noelle.

Gray mist spread inward, leaving nothing but a pale, grayish-white haze before Noelle’s eyes. Fortunately, the power of the Lady of the Night already covered the area, and through it, she could still sense her enemies and their spells.

“…”

Silent, Noelle could only temporarily put away the item she had intended to use, hoping to exploit the cover of the Eternal Darkness to observe. The entities had found her location through some unknown means, and the attack was coming. She needed to counterattack and find another opportunity.

“Clack, clack!”

Solid, white skeletal claws manifested out of thin air, rising from the ground to grab at Noelle. The undead power swirling around them would begin to drain the life force from the target the moment they made contact.

She lifted her foot and kicked at the leaping bone claws spreading toward her. Dragon scales appeared on Noelle’s slender lower legs; as they collided with the bone claws, a tremendous force, inconsistent with her appearance, erupted.

“Bang! Crack!”

With a heavy boom, several bone claws were snapped off by Noelle’s kick. The broken pieces flew backward, colliding with the charging academy members who had been turned into undead, piercing into their bodies.

The broken bone claws not only failed to harm them but, upon contacting the undead magic within their bodies, regained their ability to move. They flexed and snapped, reaching out toward Noelle, still attempting to continue their assault.

A swarm of pitch-black skulls, formed from dense black smoke, shrieked as they converged on Noelle from all directions, attempting to dive into her body and attack her soul.

Following these soul-targeting attacks were bone spikes that slithered along the ground like snakes, their sharp tips aimed at every vulnerable point on Noelle’s body, save for her heart.

“Hoo-hoo.”

An unconscious, threatening growl escaped her throat. Noelle’s nascent dragon aura was released amidst the battle, and the undead spells swirling around her were weakened by an imperceptible fraction within her range.

"Hum!"

As the black skull closed to within two meters of Noelle, one of her enchanted artifacts triggered automatically, manifesting a glowing spherical shield. The skull struck the barrier and shattered instantly, dissolving into useless, dissipating necromantic mist.

The shield flickered, the soul-targeted assault neutralized, while Noelle lunged forward. She confronted a living bone spike leaping from the earth, thrusting her hands out as draconic features manifested to seize it in a crushing grip.

The spike possessed immense strength; hindered by the presence of "Him," Noelle could not fully unleash her draconic form, leaving her locked in a stalemate, unable to crush the struggling object with raw power alone.

If she could not tear it apart, she would bite it to pieces. Grasping the spike, she opened her maw wide and clamped down; one of the dragon's most formidable weapons triumphed in the struggle, and the writhing bone spike was soon reduced to a pile of motionless debris upon the ground.

Turning, she saw the Society members, now twisted into undead thralls, charging toward her. Their bodies, modified by Varma, possessed the resilience of veteran knights, devoid of vital points or fear.

Relying on brute strength alone, Noelle could barely handle two or three, let alone the dozen or more surging forward in the wake of the spell.

She opened her mouth once more, not to bite, but to unleash another facet of her power: magic and dragonfire. Crimson radiance gathered within her throat, briefly condensing into a sphere of staggering heat and light.

Red dragon breath is generally the most potent among all dragonkind, for they fuse their mastery of magic with their flame; when the breath is unleashed, the magical power they command is released in tandem.

As a purebred red dragon, Noelle’s breath was of an extraordinary intensity, and her talent for fire magic was lauded by all her tutors. Thus, the power she unleashed was far beyond the norm—even Wang Yu could not withstand Noelle’s dragonfire head-on.

The sphere shattered, and the crimson flames born of her body erupted alongside the fire elements gathered from her mana, transforming into a wave of red-and-blue fire that surged forward, engulfing every charging Society member.

"Boom!"

As the pyrotechnics dispersed, the high concentration of fire elements scoured away the necromantic fog, allowing Noelle to see without relying on the Lady of Night’s power.

Sparks fell like rain, igniting small fireballs across the ground. The Society members caught in the blast were obliterated; those in the vanguard were reduced to ash, leaving nothing behind.

Those further back were left with flesh melted from bone, collapsing into heaps of foul-smelling, burning grease and sludge that defied identification.

"Hah... hah..."

Gasping for air, Noelle felt the immense toll of such power; the dual disadvantages of a humanoid form and her youth made the exertion grueling.

"Gurgle, splash!"

Without warning, the charred, fleshy sludge transformed by the dragonfire began to move, fusing rapidly into a massive, blackened, grotesque mass akin to a slime. It lunged, seizing the moment of Noelle’s exhaustion to envelop her and drag her from the earth.

"Mm, mm."

Lips pressed tight, Noelle struggled in vain. The gelatinous mass was difficult to escape, and the strength of the charred "corpse-oil" controlled by Varma far exceeded her own, rendering her unable to break free.

The charred flesh writhed, its nature altered by necromantic mana, hardening as it shifted. Tentacles of vile, oily meat aimed for Noelle’s eye sockets, poised to strike.

"I never expected a heretical whelp like you to possess such power. You have truly cost me quite a lot."

Varma’s raspy, hideous voice emanated from the sludge. He spoke without hesitation, and the hardened tentacles, having found their angle, drove forward to pierce Noelle’s eyes.

Whether or not Noelle could transform into her full draconic state in this desperate hour, the attack would strike one of her most vulnerable points and pulverize her brain.

In the nick of time, Noelle opened her mouth—not to release fire, but to provide a passage for something held within.

It was a small metal plate etched with intricate magical circuits. A closer look would reveal it to be familiar, much like the detachable pages of the Weaver’s Tome that Wang Yu once used. The spell inscribed upon it was a specialized Phase Gate, anchored to a specific target.

Silver radiance burst from Noelle’s mouth into the empty air. A small spatial rift opened—though it seemed to move with agonizing slowness, it had barely expanded to the size of a palm, far too small for a person to pass through, just as the attack reached for her eyes.

"ROAR!"

Before the person arrived, their power surged through the Phase Gate, a violent, thunderous roar like that of an ancient dragon, echoing and erupting with devastating force.

A pure, shockwave of unparalleled might exploded outward in a fan shape. Everything caught in its path was mercilessly torn to shreds; the air twisted, and the very earth shook to its foundations!