Ember Dragon

The allied bombardment continued, with shells constantly landing near the altar and exploding, engulfing countless followers of the Dragon Cult in brilliant flames.

"Gregory!"

With an angry shout, Calgas's figure transformed into a blurry afterimage, rushing towards the old man with a speed far beyond that of ordinary people, enhanced by the energy of the dragon vein.

In Gregory's murky eyes, the trace of confusion was completely swallowed up by boundless fear the moment Felipe pounced.

He seemed to want to scream, to back away, to draw his weapon and fight back—but it was all too late.

The scepter of calamity in Felipe's hand, with its scorpion-like stinger at the end, pierced the old man's chest with unparalleled precision and ruthless cruelty, accompanied by a shrill whistling sound that tore through the air!
"Ugh—!"

A short, almost incoherent scream escaped from the old man's throat.

His body convulsed violently.

Then, a terrifying scene unfolded.

The red scale armor on his body seemed to come alive in an instant, like countless hungry tiny worms, frantically piercing into his flesh and greedily sucking it!
His skin turned ashen and shriveled at a visible rate, as if it had been dehydrated instantly.

Gregory's eyes widened, and the last thing he saw in his pupils was the inhuman, mad red light flashing in Felipe's shadow.

Then, there is light!
A blinding, pure red light!

It didn't come from external radiation, but rather from the rapidly withering inside the old man's body!

Gregory's flesh, bones, and even the last vestiges of his soul were completely decomposed and devoured by the red light!
In the blink of an eye, only an empty set of red scale armor remained on the spot, scattering to the ground with a "whoosh".

The crimson pillar of light, condensed to its extreme and filled with an aura of destruction and tyranny, burst forth from the top of the altar like a giant pillar supporting the heavens and the earth, piercing straight into the center of the five-headed dragon shadow in the sky!

"Praise be to Tiamat! Calamity has descended!"

Felipe spread his arms wide, raised the scepter of calamity, and pillars of light rose again from the altar.

A white beam of light rises, carrying an extreme chill that freezes the soul; a black beam of light permeates the air with an acidic fumes that corrode all things; a green beam of light surges with deadly poisonous miasma; a blue beam of light leaps with violent arcs of electricity that tear the air apart!
Five pillars of light, symbolizing the complete stripping away of the victims and their transformation into pure, filthy, and evil energy, converge before Tiamat's five phantom heads!
"Roar--"

The five-headed dragon shadows in the sky let out a roar that shook the heavens and the earth!

The entire city of Iron Anvil shook violently, as if struck by a giant hammer! The five pillars of light, each representing a different destructive force, suddenly bent and intertwined downwards amidst the roar of the dragon shadow!
They did not attack the city, but instead, in the skies above the city, under the watchful eyes of the coalition forces, they frantically wove and merged together!
White frost, black acid, green poison, blue lightning, and red flame—five completely different and mutually repulsive destructive energies—were forcibly combined by Tiamat's will to form a gigantic, inverted bowl-shaped barrier!

This barrier originated from the five-colored dragon shadow high in the sky, and its area was extremely large, covering the entire city.

This is the "Five-Colored Calamity"!
"Damn evil god!"

"Concentrate your fire!"

"Since they insist on resisting to the end, then bomb this city to pieces, raze it to the ground—at all costs!"

More intense, piercing whistling sounds came from the direction of the Allied forces. Thousands upon thousands of shells soared into the sky like a gale forged of steel, tearing through the air with a sharp sound, and shot towards the newly formed barrier from all directions.

The moment the shell hit the barrier, it was first frozen into ice, then dissolved by strong acid and toxic mist, then struck by violent lightning, blasted into a sky full of iron filings, and finally completely vaporized in the flames, disappearing without a trace.

The dense, rain-like impacts merged into a sickening hissing sound, the lament of the futile annihilation of the material world's steel before divine might.

Not a single cannonball could leave even the slightest ripple on the barrier that flowed with the five-colored dragon's breath.

"Praise be to the great Mother of All Dragons! The Five-Colored Dragon Queen!"

"This is a miracle!"

The Byron followers gazed at the sky shrouded in five-colored light, their expressions fervent and devout, uttering excited shouts, cries, and battle cries.

"how is this possible?"

Even the Allied commanders were dumbfounded, exclaiming in disbelief.

All the allied forces' offensives were swallowed up by the five-colored calamity barrier, unable to make the slightest ripple.

"Damn evil god!"

"Don't stop, keep bombing! I don't believe their god can protect them forever!"

The scene inside the barrier was equally horrifying. The crimson sunlight was filtered through the distorted barrier, and the entire city was shrouded in an eerie, ever-changing halo of light.

The surviving people in the square felt a strange stinging and itching sensation on their skin, as if countless tiny scales were growing under their skin.

The air was thick with the pungent stench of dragons, and every breath felt like swallowing scalding sand.

Even more terrifying, countless low, malicious, and greedy dragon whispers, like billions of venomous snakes, burrowed directly into everyone's minds, gnawing away at their reason!

Those with weak wills began to lose focus, their fingers nervously scratching their skin, their eyes flashing with an eerie light, and they uttered incomprehensible babbling. Madness spread through the crowd like a plague.

"This is a gift from Her Majesty the Dragon Queen!"

"Hahaha, I am a dragonborn now! I have grown scales! I will become a noble dragon!"

"Excellent! Finally, finally we can shed this fragile human body! Praise be to Her Majesty Tiamat!"

"Long live the Five-Colored Dragon Queen!"

"Look! Look at my arms, what a beautiful and noble posture!" A cultist stumbled down the street, displaying his arms covered in scales, laughing loudly with wild excitement on his face.

During the years of rule by the Dragon Worship Cult, most of these followers developed a fanatical devotion to conversion, harboring a longing and desire for dragons and dragonborn that was difficult for ordinary people to understand.

Now, their wish has been fulfilled in a distorted way.

Even those who had previously secretly resisted Tiamat have now been infected by this will and become incurable believers in the Dragon Cult.

This barrier itself is an extension of Tiamat's divine power, a deadly poison coated in sugar, a slowly corroding curse.

Felipe stood in the center of the altar, below the source where the five-colored pillars of light converged.

He was breathing heavily, each breath releasing white vapor with a faint sulfurous smell.

He slowly raised his head, looking at the allied forces attacking in vain outside the barrier, and then glancing at the people struggling in pain inside the barrier.

His lips curled into an indescribable smile, hidden in the shadow of the five crowns.

"Survive, you ants."

Felipe's voice was exceptionally hoarse, devoid of any warmth, only a detached indifference as if looking down upon the dust, "Enjoy this lingering life bestowed upon me by the Dragon Mother..." He paused deliberately, something seemed to wriggle at his neck, and everyone could see a hideous red dragon head tearing through his skin, bathed in gushing blood, appearing on his shoulder, looking particularly eerie.

"And then...became the Dragon Queen's fuel!"

Felipe spread his arms and raised the scepter, which symbolized supreme divine power, once again, and shouted.

As he shouted, the five-headed dragon in the sky roared and shook its head, its five-colored divine power sweeping across the earth.

The ground suddenly cracked open, revealing countless deep ravines, and the believers who had been buried underground by lava seemed to awaken.

Countless remains wriggled and converged underground, forming monsters covered in lava. There were ferocious half-dragons, enormous dragon beasts as big as small mountains, and thick, winding pythons. They slowly crawled out of the deep valley, as if returning from purgatory.

"Roar--"

A hoarse roar echoed across the land as thousands of monsters crawled out of the ground, howling as they surged towards the allied positions like a raging tide.

"Hold them off!"

"Fire!"

Doro coldly commanded, "What a pathetic bunch of monsters! Send them back to hell!"

At his command, an unimaginable burst of gunfire and artillery fire erupted on the Allied positions.

"boom--"

Countless bullets poured out, forming a terrifying steel storm. Shells fell from the sky and exploded among the monsters. Destructive beams of light shot out from the distant space battleships, leaving nothing but devastation in their wake.

High in the sky, the bipedal dragons spread their wings and swooped down with a piercing whistle, dropping countless bombs like raindrops, while the machine guns under their wings unleashed a torrent of bullets.

Within minutes, thousands of lava monsters fell to the combined firepower of the Allied Forces—or more accurately, the Imperial Legion.

Felipe raised his scepter high, pointed it at the allied positions, and roared, "Sons of Tiamat—follow your mission and destroy these shameful blasphemers!"

Before he could finish speaking, his voice was drowned out by a frenzied roar. Tens of thousands of monsters crawled out of the ground, forming a raging torrent that gathered together and charged into the middle of the Allied forces' position amidst a hail of bullets.

Amidst the artillery fire, the monsters fell one after another, but they showed no fear, continuing their charge forward over the corpses of their kin, on the verge of breaching the allied forces' defenses.

Just then, a distant horn sounded from not far away, followed by a series of orderly footsteps that made the ground tremble.

A group of paladins clad in crimson heavy armor appeared in everyone's sight, like a moving city wall, slowly advancing towards them, their battle banners of the Dragon Oath Paladins fluttering in the air.

The dragon-sworn paladins radiated intense spiritual light, which intertwined and overlapped to form a towering energy wall that blocked their path.

The group of dragon-blooded monsters at the forefront burst into flames the moment they touched the "wall," turning into charred remains amidst their agonizing screams.

At the same time, the Dragon Oath Holy Warriors raised their spears and thrust them forward again and again, turning countless dragon-blooded monsters into sieves with their sharp, tempered spears.

The hideous corpses of those dragon-blooded monsters were piled up in front of the Dragon Oath Holy Warriors, flowing with filthy blood, almost forming a defensive fortification.

"Roar--"

Just then, a loud roar came from afar, and a fully grown red dragon soared into the sky from Sunset City, swooping down towards the Dragon Oath Saint Warriors. It spewed scorching dragon flames from its throat, and its mighty dragon power swept across the land.

"It's Lord Atticus!"

"That was a renowned and powerful red dragon. Those Imperials are doomed!"

The followers of the Dragon were extremely excited, pointing at the red figure in the sky and shouting excitedly.

Amid cheers, several more young dragons followed behind the red dragon, baring their fangs and roaring as they swooped down towards the allied positions.

Faced with this powerful dragon that would make mortals flee in terror, the Dragon Oath Holy Warriors remained unmoved, simply gazing up at the sky with calm expressions.

Anthony calmly raised his head, looked at the red dragon charging towards him, and grinned coldly: "What a foolish beast."

He did not call it the "Red Dragon".

According to the doctrines of the Dragon Oath Temple, only Caesus, as the "Great Red Dragon," is worthy of this title. All other so-called "Red Dragons" are false dragons conceived by Tiamat and are not worthy of being compared with the Emperor.

Anthony brandished his lance, which bore the battle flag, and shouted, "Aim at that damned beast! Prepare for a volley!"

The Dragon Oath Paladins at the very front still held their heavy shields and thrust out their spears, maintaining the defensive line in front.

The three rows of Dragon Oath Paladins behind them all drew their individual rocket launchers from their backs, placed them on their shoulders, and aimed at the sky—the higher-ups of the Dragon Oath Temple had long been aware of the Dragon Oath Paladins' lack of long-range capabilities.

To compensate for their shortcomings, these heavily armored tin cans now almost all carry a rocket launcher.

"emission!"

With Anthony's shout, countless rockets, trailing thick smoke, soared into the sky and flew toward the dragons' bodies.

The red dragon flapped its wings in surprise, but it still couldn't stop the continuous barrage of rockets.

"boom!"

"Boom! Boom!"

The explosion's flames and thick smoke nearly obscured the sky, and the two young red dragons, battered and bruised, plummeted from the sky with mournful cries.

The remaining few red dragons were also covered in scorch marks and were barely holding on, their movements much slower.

—But the Dragon Oath Paladins' offensive was far from over.

"Enforce order with an iron fist!"

"The Dragon Lord is above all else!"

Accompanied by a unified and powerful roar of oaths, Anthony raised his spear high, his molten gold eyes gleaming with dazzling light.

The will of thousands of Dragon Oath Holy Warriors rose and condensed in mid-air into a crimson dragon phantom that blotted out the sky, followed by overwhelming dragon might that swept across the land.

With the combined efforts of thousands of steadfast and unwavering Dragon Oath Holy Warriors, this phantom has acquired one percent of the emperor's power.

One percent may sound small, but it represents the power of the Burning Emperor! To these Dragon Worshippers, Dragonblood Monsters—and even the dragons themselves—this phantom is an invincible force!
"Roar--"

The enormous phantom of the red dragon flapped its wings, opened its blood-red maw, and a blazing white beam of light swept across the sky. In an instant, three giant dragons plummeted from the sky, trailing thick smoke. One of the dragons was even sliced ​​in two by the pillar of fire, its death particularly gruesome. (End of Chapter)