Chapter 67: Battle of Donghai Port |
Legion Commander of the Dwarven Kingdom's Seventeenth Legion, the dwarf Hogg.
Ten years ago, he was merely a miner enslaved by goblins, living a fleeting existence in the mines, born in the morning and dead by night, his life as ephemeral as a mayfly's, unsure which day he would die silently in the mine shaft.
The stench of foul water in the tunnels, the bone-chilling cold, and the pain of the goblin overseer's whip lashing his back felt as if they were just yesterday.
It was King Jandres, like the dawn's first light, who cleaved through the mine's eternal darkness.
He led the ragged slaves, using blood-stained mining picks to overturn the goblins' rule.
Hogg tightly gripped the first warhammer handed to him by the king, transforming from a prostrate miner into a standing warrior.
Ten years of blood and fire, he followed the king's banner, campaigning north and south, making the dwarves the true overlords of the Karugu Highlands.
Hogg knew deeply that this port beneath his feet was the cornerstone of the Dwarven Kingdom's rise to power, the starting point of King Jandres's grand ambition!
It must not be lost!
A terrifying draconic aura hammered down, but Hogg had already raised his voice in a shout, "For King Jandres! For our homeland! Hand crossbows, volley fire!"
The dwarf soldiers, well-trained, immediately raised their hand crossbows.
A dense rain of crossbow bolts shot towards the diving Green Dragon, Xia'er.
However, these bolts, potent enough to inflict serious harm on ordinary tribal creatures, merely produced faint, crisp sounds as they struck Xia'er's heavy dragon scales.
Like tiny toothpicks poking a stone wall, they caused no pain or itch, instantly bouncing off or hanging limply in the gaps between scales, failing to cause even the slightest hindrance to the massive Green Dragon.
This was also within Hogg's expectations.
Hogg raised his warhammer, ready at any moment to activate a wind-attribute magic to disperse a breath attack, while simultaneously bolstering his own courage in his heart, "Come on, come on! Green Dragon, I already know about your deadly poison breath, I've prepared defenses long ago. This time, how will you poison my warriors?!"
Xia'er's diving form drew gradually closer.
At that very moment, Hogg precisely noticed that Xia'er had opened that enormous maw!
Seeing this, without a moment's hesitation, the wind-attribute magic scroll in Hogg's hand instantly activated. Simultaneously, he roared fiercely, "Mages! Wind Wall!"
The dwarf mages behind him, forcibly suppressing their fear of the giant dragon, desperately channeled their mana. Several powerful whirlwinds erupted from the ground, rapidly intertwining to form a rotating, semi-transparent barrier of wind, firmly protecting Hogg and his elite personal guards within.
A trace of a cold smile even flickered at the corner of Hogg's mouth. He was certain this Green Dragon's first strike would be that fatal poison mist breath!
However, the anticipated corrosive, sickly green poison mist did not appear.
From the depths of Xia'er's heart-stopping maw, what surged forth was a scorching, gold-red torrent of raging flame!
This fiery breath, like a burst dam of molten lava, slammed violently into the howling wind wall!
"What, fire?!"
Hogg's pupils constricted sharply. The cold smile on his face instantly froze, transforming into utter shock and disbelief!
He had calculated everything, made complete preparations against the Green Dragon's most iconic poison, but he never, ever expected the opponent to breathe fire!
This... this simply defied common sense.
How could a Green Dragon breathe fire?
How could *it* breathe fire?!
Could it be a Hybrid Dragon of Green and Red Dragon descent? But this emerald-like dragon scale hide showed absolutely no characteristics of a Red Dragon!
Hogg's mind was a jumbled mess, utterly confused.
But now, there was no time for hesitation.
Wind fans the flames!
The powerful wind wall meant to defend against poison mist now became the most deadly accomplice to the fire.
The raging flames, violently stirred by the wind wall, were not dispersed. Instead, as if doused with boiling oil, they instantly spread!
Gold-red tongues of flame savagely spread along the wind wall's trajectory, engulfing Hogg and the several dozen of his most elite dwarf warriors around him in an instant!
"Arghhh!"
The piercing screams were instantly drowned out by the roar of the flames.
A deadly, searing heat assaulted them from all sides. Their heavy plate armor became scalding hot under the high temperature, as if about to roast the flesh and blood inside!
Thick smoke choked their lungs, their vision filled only with destructive gold and red.
The hair and beards on the dwarf soldiers instantly singed and curled, their skin screaming with unbearable agony. Their formation collapsed instantly. The soldiers, like charcoal thrown into a furnace, rolled in agony, trying to extinguish this hellfire that swept over them, fueled by the wind.
"Damnable wyrm!"
Hogg's eyes nearly burst from their sockets. Immense humiliation and fury overwhelmed the pain of his burning body.
The runic armor on his body glowed with a light of resistance amidst the flames, barely protecting his vital areas.
The next instant, Hogg violently kicked off the ground. Harnessing this furious power, he leapt high like a cannonball fired from its barrel. Both hands tightly gripping that heavy warhammer shimmering with ominous magical light, with the desperate resolve to perish together with his foe, he smashed it towards Xia'er's enormous head!
He would smash this cunning dragon's skull to pieces!
Facing this furious, leaping fatal strike, a flicker of icy mockery passed through Xia'er's eyes in mid-air.
Without even using her claws or breath, Xia'er merely gave a slight twist. Her tail, covered in hard scales, tore through the air with a dull, whooshing sound, sweeping horizontally!
*THUD!*
A heavy, muffled impact.
Hogg felt as if he had been struck by a mountain moving at high speed.
All his forward momentum was instantly, completely shattered. His entire body, like a broken ragdoll with its strings cut, was viciously swatted away by the dragon's tail, crashing heavily into a patch of burning wreckage below, sending up a cloud of dust and sparks.
In just one exchange, the core of the dwarf legion, Legion Commander Hogg, was utterly defeated under Xia'er's paradigm-shattering fiery breath and deadly tail sweep!
The remaining dwarf soldiers witnessing this scene from a corner of the battlefield saw their morale instantly plummet to the depths.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Tina's pale blue form was stirring up icy, towering waves as she dove towards the dwarf legion!
"Kill this evil dragon!"
Dwarf soldiers shouted, charging towards Tina.
Xia'er's gaze, however, turned with keen interest towards the dwarf Hogg, whose Challenge Rating was level 10.
"Dwarf, your abilities are not bad. Would you be willing to enter my service? I can appoint you as the King of the Dwarves, replacing Jandres's position."
Xia'er spoke, opening her maw. She rather admired this dwarf.
It wasn't that Xia'er found his fighting spirit particularly inspiring, but rather that since he had been selected as Legion Commander by the already established Dwarven Kingdom, it indicated he likely possessed some strategic acumen and held a significant position among the dwarves.
If such a high-ranking dwarf defected, the blow to dwarf morale would be substantial.
Xia'er was well aware she currently had no means to annihilate the Dwarven Kingdom in one fell swoop.
King Jandres, who in the Evolution Game had already reached level 16, a Mid-Rank Paragon, was a force not to be underestimated. Although a dwarf, he was comparable to a Lower-Rank Paragon among the Chromatic Dragons.
As long as Jandres lived, the Dwarven Kingdom would not be destroyed.
Under these circumstances, persuading this dwarf Legion Commander to surrender was quite important.
"Evil wyrm, go to hell!"
Hogg scrambled up from the ground, looking at the charred corpses of his dwarf personal guard around him. Furious, his beard trembled. Raising his warhammer, he shouted sharply at Xia'er, "You're just relying on having two wings! If you have any guts, land on the ground and face me, Hogg, in a one-on-one duel! With just my warhammer, I'll crush your skull!"
"Heh."
Seeing this, Xia'er lost her desire to persuade him to surrender.
Does this Jandres have some kind of magic, controlling all these dwarves?
Every single one of them, not considering their own interests.
As for landing on the ground to duel Hogg one-on-one?
In Xia'er's view, this dwarf was mistaking her for a brainless White Dragon or a prideful Red Dragon.
Any Green Dragon with a modicum of intelligence... no, any dragon with a modicum of intelligence, would not abandon their own advantages to pit their weaknesses against the enemy's strengths in a hard fight.
"You'd better just die!"
With that, Xia'er's maw, lined with dragon teeth, snapped open wide. From the depths of her throat, a surge of gold-red destructive energy erupted!
The next instant, flames imbued with draconic aura gushed forth!
*BOOM!*