Ember Dragon

"Stab!"

Another cultist was cleaved in two by the chainsaw sword. His mangled body lay on the ground, blood and fragments of internal organs gushing from his wounds. These viscous liquids gurgled on the broken altar, emitting a bloody stench, and gathered into a river.

"Where is he!"

A cult member pointed at the tall, dark figure in the distance and shouted excitedly.

But before the Church of the Dragon could gather its forces and surround it, a thick steel gun barrel emerged from the thick smoke, its dark muzzle pointed directly at the cultist who had made the sound.

"boom!"

Another loud bang, and an orange-red bullet shot out, instantly piercing the cultist's skull, causing the scaly head to split open like a watermelon, splattering red and white matter all over the ground.

"Damn it, where are those Imperials?"

"We have over a thousand people here. If we all attack together, we can tear those rebels to shreds!"

Under the cover of thick smoke, the group of dragon-scaled cultivators moved like the wind, killing indiscriminately, and no one could stop their slaughter.

The followers of the Dragon Worship Cult, who usually flaunted their power, acted arrogantly, and treated humans as sacrifices, were now like lambs surrounded by wolves, powerless to resist and trembling in fear inside the altar.

Meanwhile, the airships high in the sky disappeared from sight, continuously firing orange-red missiles that blasted the cultists who tried to escape into charred fragments, forming a wall of death around the altar.

"May Tiamat grant me the winds of fury, to scatter the bones of my enemies—"

Mahmoud raised his scepter high, and a gust of wind carrying the stench of blood swept in, dispersing the thick smoke and revealing the muscular bodies of the dragon-scaled cultivators hidden in the dust.

"We've been discovered!" Steel Frenzy grinned menacingly, swung his chainsaw sword, and decapitated the cultist with a single blow, leaving the headless corpse behind. He then looked towards the evil dragon priest in the distance.

"Take down that boss!"

"charge!"

"For the Empire! For the Emperor!"

The dragon-scale cultivators roared and ran at an extremely fast speed, like a group of furious beasts, rushing towards the evil dragon priest from all directions with overwhelming momentum.

"What a bunch of useless trash! Go and stop them!" Mahmoud roared in alarm, his narrow, vertical pupils flashing with a ghostly light. The cultists immediately surged forward, their expressions fanatical as they blocked his way, forming a thick wall of flesh and blood.

"Protect Lord Mahmoud!"

"For Tiamat!"

Without hesitation, Steel Frenzy swung his chainsaw sword and sneered, "Trying to stop us with sheer numbers? What a pipe dream!"

The serrated edges of the saw sword spun at high speed, instantly slicing through skin, flesh, and bone. With a single swing of the steel swarm, severed limbs flew everywhere, and blood shot into the sky, forming a bloody storm. Several cultists were cleaved in two.

Each dragon-scale cultivator was like a mobile meat grinder, efficiently crushing and tearing apart all enemies around them, carving gaps of varying sizes into the walls forged from flesh and blood.

Mahmoud raised his scepter high, pointing it at the dragon-scaled monks in the distance, chanting ancient dragon language words: "Destruction—destroy the enemy's body and soul with thunder!"

Instantly, accompanied by crackling sounds, bolts of silvery-white lightning burst forth from the dragon's eye at the top of the scepter, dancing like silver snakes and striking the dragon-scaled cultivators in the distance.

The steel surging tide suddenly rolled, dodging the first lightning bolt, and then raised the small energy shield on its arm to withstand the second lightning bolt.

He loaded the special bullets, raised the bolt carrier, and aimed the muzzle directly at Mahmoud, who was not far away.

"boom!"

A bullet flashing red light shot out from the muzzle, tearing through the air and exploding with a piercing bang, hurtling towards the heart of the evil dragon priest.

“Another creation of this empire,” Mahmoud’s eyes darkened, a ghostly light flashing from the depths of his pupils. Dark energy condensed into a huge, semi-transparent sphere, enveloping him within it.

Looking at the shield formed by divine magic, Iron Frenzy was not discouraged, but instead showed an expectant expression.

The sharp bullet shimmered with light, spinning rapidly and revealing complex patterns. It released a stream of high-temperature, high-pressure anti-magic metal, like an incomparably sharp spear, which shattered the dark sphere.

It turns out that these are anti-magic armor-piercing bullets specially made by the Empire, designed to counter the caster's protective spells, and can be surprisingly effective in critical moments.

Upon seeing the shattered divine shield, Mahmoud's expression changed slightly, his pupils dilated, and a hint of panic appeared in his eyes. Several magical equipment on his body activated one after another, and seven layers of magical shields appeared on his body, with magical light shining brightly.

However, these magical shields were like paper against the armor-piercing bullets, and were repeatedly pierced by the anti-magic metal.

With a piercing whistle, the armor-piercing bullet pierced through the hard scales and struck the evil dragon priest's chest, producing a dull, short tearing sound.

Mahmoud was struck hard in the chest as if by an invisible hammer, the immense kinetic energy sending him flying.

The slender, high-speed-advancing alloy bullet core tumbled violently inside his chest cavity, like a rapidly spinning, angular, and barbed metal meat grinder, easily slicing through his muscles.

The internal organs were extremely vulnerable in the face of this destructive metal storm, and were instantly squeezed, torn, and churned into an indistinguishable mass of hot, sticky minced meat.

With a chilling hiss, a massive torrent of scalding blood, mixed with fragments of internal organs, gushed from his back, splashing onto the scorched earth behind him.

The former evil dragon priest lay sprawled on the ground like a crumpled rag, his body so shattered that he was unrecognizable as human.

Steel Frenzy blew away the thick smoke billowing from the muzzle and chuckled, "These bullets are specially designed to deal with dragons and large magical colossi. Using them on a spellcaster like you is like using a cannon to kill a mosquito. You should be proud of dying under these anti-magic armor-piercing bullets."

"Lord Mahmoud has been killed!"

"This, this damned Imperialist, he actually killed him with a single shot!"

The cultists were thrown into chaos, completely gripped by fear and panic, losing their last shred of will to resist, and becoming livestock to be slaughtered at will by the dragon-scale cultivators.

Steel Frenzy stepped forward, cleaved the ropes binding Bald with a single sword stroke, and proclaimed loudly, "Welcome to the Allied Forces."

Baldr climbed out of the pool of blood without uttering a sound, picked up a long knife discarded by the cultists from the ground, and joined the battle. The deaths of his comrades and the humiliation inflicted by the cultists filled his heart with boundless rage that was about to be unleashed.

However, at that moment, a shocking change occurred: the pool of flesh began to writhe, and the mottled, filthy liquid in the blood pool converged towards Mahmoud's "corpse."

Countless corpses of cultists crawled toward Mahmoud, gathering together and coalescing into a bizarre being with twisted faces, resembling a giant dragon, using this evil dragon priest as its "heart." The monster was over ten meters tall, covered in blood and sparse, mottled scales. Its hideous maws opened wide, emitting a roar composed of countless overlapping hisses.

"For Tiamat."

"I'll kill you all."

"Rebels, you will pay the price."

Upon seeing this twisted and indescribable monster, even Steel Frenzy was startled and couldn't help but exclaim, "Holy crap, what is this thing? It's so bizarre, it's ugly as hell!"

"It's not impossible. I have a bold idea."

"Stop! People's aesthetic sense can be grounded in reality, but it cannot be confined to the mortal realm!"

"Something this ugly shouldn't live in this world! Brothers, follow me—for our eyes! Let's take down this ugly monster!"

Soon, the dragon-scale cultivators gathered together, wielding bolt guns, molten guns, and heavy laser cannons, and brandishing chainsaw swords, power swords, and power axes, surrounding the twisted monster.

Bald stared at the evil dragon priest, encased in flesh and blood at the monster's heart, his eyes burning with rage. He gripped his longsword tightly and said to the Steel Tide in a deep voice, "Allied forces, you don't need to risk yourselves. Mahmoud... he is the core of this monster. Let me kill him and end all this!"

Steel Frenzy reached out to stop him, saying in a relaxed tone, "Danger? We've finally found a decent enemy, so let us have our fun first."

He grinned menacingly, then waved his hand: "Fourth Legion, concentrate fire! Blast this bizarre thing to smithereens!"

"boom!"

A hissing sound of air bursting open rang out, and distorted air currents like ripples of water surged in mid-air, followed by a roaring explosion.

The dragon-scale cultivators' molten guns spewed out extremely dazzling pillars of fire. The surging heat instantly melted the scales covering the monster's body, piercing huge holes in its massive, twisted body, turning its flesh into piles of charred fragments and molten waste, with thick smoke billowing from those holes.

Under the barrage of hot-melt guns, the dragon-blooded monsters' defenses were completely torn apart. Painful expressions appeared on their distorted faces as they screamed and wailed, seemingly able to feel the intense pain of their bodies being burned.

Baldr stood frozen in place, staring at the wailing monster in the distance, somewhat at a loss, and almost dropped the long sword in his hand.

The strength of this group of imperial people far exceeded his imagination. The blasphemous monsters that seemed invincible and terrifying to ordinary people had no ability to resist the long spears and short cannons of the dragon scale cultivators.

"That's it?"

"We've already breached their defenses, let's stop wasting fuel and go straight for melee!"

At the command of the Steel Frenzy, the Dragon Scale cultivators brandished their chainsaw swords, let out a loud battle cry, and then swarmed forward.

The monster roared furiously, spewing out elemental breaths of flames, lightning, and frost from its hideous, gaping mouths, which hurtled towards the dragon-scale cultivators.

But they raised round shields covered in dragon scales and engraved with the imperial emblem, braving the powerful dragon breath as they approached the monster.

It should be noted that in the previous war with the Church of the Dragon, the Imperial Army captured and killed many five-colored dragons, including ancient dragons that were over a thousand years old. Their scales were thick and hard, and ordinary attacks could not penetrate their defenses.

As the empire's most elite special forces, the Vigitas Dragonscale Monks are almost all equipped with a dragonscale round shield. Some of these shields are even meticulously carved from a single, precious ancient dragon scale, making them extremely powerful defensively.

In this way, the dragon-scale cultivators worked together skillfully, advancing steadily until they reached the monster's side.

"Death!"

Steel Frenzy raised the chainsaw sword high and swung it down violently. Its sharp teeth spun at high speed, easily tearing flesh apart. The chainsaw sword went straight into the monster's body, churning wildly, and blood and slime gushed out from the deep wound.

"Rebels"

"Submit to me."

A cacophony of roars erupted as a ferocious head emerged from the monster's massive body, its gaping maw snapping menacingly at the steel horde.

"Watch out, Crazy Tide Bro! I'm coming!"

Another burly dragon-scale cultivator leaped more than ten meters into the air, wielding his power battle axe. The sharp blade vibrated at an extremely high frequency, carrying powerful kinetic energy as it cleaved down, directly severing the head.

The head rolled to the ground, tumbling several times before being crushed by a dragon-scaled cultivator who descended from the sky.

Despite losing a head, the monster was not affected in the slightest. Its body suddenly exploded, splitting into hundreds of ferocious heads and limbs, spewing out various kinds of dragon breath, and violently attacking the group of dragon-scaled cultivators.

But the dragon-scale cultivators were not afraid at all. They wielded various weapons and fought with the monster. Chainsaw swords and power swords hummed, and the limbs and dismembered parts of the dragon-blooded monster flew everywhere, making the scene extremely bloody.

With a single sword strike, Steel Tide severed the dragon claw that was slapping at him. His sharp gaze revealed the monster's weakness—Mahmoud, located at its heart, had lost its barrier and was now exposed to the air.

"Death!"

The chainsaw sword shot out through the air, its high-speed rotating teeth mercilessly slicing through Mahmoud's scales and skin, piercing directly through his chest, and churning wildly inside his chest cavity, turning his internal organs into pieces.

"Thorn-"

A huge gash was torn open in Mahmoud's chest, and countless pieces of blood and internal organs gushed out. This dragon-blooded monster, which was more than ten meters tall, was like a punctured water bag, with countless dirty and mottled products pouring out.

Finally, the monster collapsed with a thud, blood flowed like a river on the altar, and limbs and internal organs were scattered everywhere. The dragon-scale cultivators, led by the Iron Frenzy, dismembered the enormous, twisted, blasphemous monster.

The dragon-scale cultivators continued to hunt down the remaining Dragon Worshippers. In front of these big guys clad in bio-armor, even half-dragon cultists were no match for them and would only be cleaved in two by chainsaw swords.

In the distance, Baldr stared at the bloody and shocking scene, momentarily stunned, his eyes wide and gleaming. He muttered to himself, "Is this the power of the Empire?"
Perhaps only the blood of dragons can defeat these evil dragons. For revenge, I am willing to pay any price—even if it means transforming into a monster.

After killing numerous cultists, the dragonscale cultivators reached the top of the altar, picked up megaphones, and their booming voices echoed throughout the city: "The Blue Dragon Cult has been destroyed, and Kafal City is liberated! You no longer need to be slaves or sacrifices to those evil dragons' minions!"

The small aerospace warship revealed itself, arrogantly exposed high in the sky, casting a shadow over the city.

The ragged, battered people looked up at the airship that appeared in the sky, listening to the loud shouts, feeling excited, incredulous, and somewhat bewildered.

The invincible Church of the Dragon, in their minds, was thus destroyed?

After a long while, seeing that the cultists and dragons had not yet appeared, someone excitedly cheered, "Gods, it's true! The allied forces have arrived! This city has been liberated!" (End of Chapter)