Dance of the Fire Serpents (Part 1)

“Roar!” The flames spewed by the Raptor burned across dozens of meters. The area had become a sea of fire.

“Hiss, hiss...”

The flames from the Raptor’s mouth scorched the four warriors’ bodies. Protected by the Armor of Ice Protection and their Battle Qi barriers, the four warriors could withstand the burning flames.

As for the female archer, she had already mounted the griffin and was shooting from the air.

The Bloodthirsty Iron Bull stood like a city wall, protecting the two female magi.

“Whoosh!” “Whoosh!” “Whoosh!”

The archer on the griffin had an icy gaze and hands as steady as stone. She fired three sharp arrows in succession, all aimed at the mysterious magus on the Raptor’s back.

“Whoosh!” The Raptor’s whip-like tail lashed out like lightning. It was even faster than the arrows, shattering the archer’s three-arrow volley in an instant. Then the tail swept in the opposite direction toward the four male warriors. The air-piercing howl it raised made their faces change at once, and they dodged with the speed of apes.

But the tail did not move in a straight line. It bobbed up and down in an extremely strange pattern.

“Bang!”

One of the four warriors still failed to evade it in time. The tail struck him viciously across the waist. His Armor of Ice Protection and Battle Qi barrier broke almost instantly, and then the tail coiled tightly around his body.

“Luca!” The red-haired man roared, the corners of his eyes splitting in anguish.

“No!” Luca screamed in terror.

The enormous Raptor flicked its tail, sending the bound Luca flying into its mouth. It opened its huge jaws and bit down on him. A sickening crunch rang out, followed by Luca’s agonized final cry.

Under the Raptor’s dense, saw-like teeth, Luca was bitten apart. A bloody section of his thigh even fell from the corner of its mouth, white bone protruding through the knee.

“Don’t look.” Hillman stepped in front of Linley.

What had just happened was far too bloody. Even an adult would be frightened the first time they saw such a scene, much less Linley, who was only eight years old.

But Linley had already seen it.

“Huff... huff...” Linley felt as though a huge boulder were pressing on his heart, making it hard to breathe. He panted softly, while the image of the young man called Luca being bitten to pieces filled his mind.

The torn-open belly, severed intestines, crushed head, and fallen half-thigh!

It all made it difficult for him to breathe, leaving his head spinning.

This was the first time Linley had witnessed a battle so brutal. It was also the first time he had seen a person torn apart alive by a gigantic Raptor. The image of that fallen half-thigh was burned into his mind.

Hillman, Rory, and Roger exchanged glances, all of them worried as they looked at Linley.

Could an eight-year-old child endure such a grisly sight? Would it leave a shadow in his heart? If a person developed a fear of battle when young, it would limit what they could achieve in the future.

“Killing people is nothing. It’s nothing!” Linley tried to persuade himself. “When I grow up, I will still have to kill if I join the army. I have to get through this. I have to.”

Linley truly was clever. Having read many books, he knew what road he would take in the future.

On the Yulan Continent, it was perfectly normal for a man to face life and death after growing up. Linley was only a child and had never faced such things before, but as he repeated this to himself, the shock and terror in his heart began to recede.

Instead, before long, he felt the blood in his body begin to boil and surge.

“That battle is so fierce. It makes my blood race.” For some reason, the brutal, bloody battle had stirred Linley’s blood and awakened a desire within him—a desire for slaughter and combat.

“Is it because of the Dragonblood Warrior bloodline?” Linley did not know.

Yet he suddenly realized that instead of fearing such bloody battles, he was looking forward to them. He immediately stepped aside, moving past Hillman to keep watching the battle a hundred meters away.

“Linley, don’t look.” Hillman was startled to see that he still wanted to watch.

“Uncle Hillman, I’m not afraid.” Linley looked up at Hillman.

Hillman caught the excited red glint in Linley’s eyes. His heart jolted, and he did not stop Linley again. Linley continued watching the battlefield a hundred meters away, where the fight had reached its most savage point.

The remaining three grief-stricken warriors pushed off the ground and shot toward the mysterious magus on the Raptor’s back.

“Roar!” The Raptor roared and turned its head, opening its enormous jaws to bite one warrior. Its sharp claws swiped at another, while its lightning-fast tail lashed toward the last.

The warriors were forced to change their paths.

The mysterious magus on the Raptor’s back had not moved at all. Only his lips moved slightly as he left the Raptor to deal with them alone.

“Dance of the Fire Serpents!”

The mysterious magus’s cold voice suddenly rang out. Seven fire serpents, each dozens of meters long, rolled and hissed as they flew in every direction. Each looked almost real, with distinct scales, and their enormous size made every heart tremble.

Everyone who saw the scene was stunned.

An eighth-rank Fire-element spell: Dance of the Fire Serpents!

The mysterious magus had been quietly chanting all along, preparing the terrifying eighth-rank spell, Dance of the Fire Serpents. It could unleash seven enormous fire serpents with terrifying destructive power. Even with the Raptor’s astonishing defenses, it would be badly injured, if not killed, when surrounded by seven fire serpents.

They could struggle against a seventh-rank magus for a while, but against an eighth-rank magus—especially one with a Raptor—their mercenary party had no chance at all.

At last, they understood that this mysterious magus was an eighth-rank magus.

“It’s Dance of the Fire Serpents! Run!” The red-haired man’s face changed dramatically as he cried out desperately.

The six surviving members of the mercenary party were terrified.

“Too late. Accept death’s baptism.” The mysterious magus’s cold, crazed voice pierced the hearts of the six mercenaries like an icy dagger.