Just as Zephyr was about to finish off the three warriors who were half-buried in the ground, a scorching impact hit his back. The temperature felt like that of a small sun, but what affected him most was the force of the impact.

The impact caused his body to sway slightly, which aggravated the pain from the crossbow bolt embedded in his wing.

"Be careful, this dragon has strong magic resistance!" shouted a man with a ball of fire in his hand. Seeing Zephyr turn his gaze towards him, the man threw the fireball without hesitation.

After leaving his hand, the fireball instantly expanded tenfold and streaked towards Zephyr, trailing flames. This time it wasn’t an ambush, so Zephyr blocked the large fireball with his other claw.

It felt warm...

As he prepared to crush the fireball by applying more pressure, he had a sudden thought—why crush it? Once caught, it wasn’t immovable like a thrown rock; if you caught it, it could become your weapon.

Under the astonished gaze of the presumed mage, the fireball he had released with all his might was now firmly controlled in Zephyr’s grasp. What surprised him even more was that once the fireball left his control, it should still have some controllability, but it completely lost control after being caught by Zephyr. Shouldn’t it explode when losing control?

Why was it still in fireball form?

Zephyr flung the fireball towards the three warriors who hadn’t recovered yet!

The explosion was more powerful than a grenade, instantly engulfing them.

"Strange feeling..." Zephyr muttered, looking at his claw. After catching the fireball, he felt something peculiar—the fireball drew on similar types of energy, highly active, akin to the magical items he had collected.

Especially this fireball, which seemed ready to explode, but Zephyr simply didn’t want it to explode. By tightening his grip, he stopped its explosive reaction. It was as if he controlled the fireball through physical action.

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Two of the warriors were injured, one died, and the middle one was the unluckiest, taking the full brunt of the fireball.

The mage who cast the fireball was stunned. Didn’t he know his own skill? Its power couldn’t be this great, but why did it become so powerful after being handled by the dragon?

Right, the dragon! After the fireball passed through its claws and was thrown, its size reduced by thirty percent... What happened? Reducing its size should decrease its power.

Zephyr turned his gaze back to the mage.

Despite the language barrier, the mage read certain information in Zephyr’s eyes.

Another fireball, please!

The mage’s face twitched violently. How could he fight like this? He wasn’t a high-level mage; the fireball was already his strongest attack. Yet, the dragon easily neutralized it and used it as a weapon!

Bang!!

Seeing a cold light from the corner of his eye, Zephyr realized too late the greatest threat. Before he could react, the crossbow wagon unleashed its full fury. The thick and large bolts, designed to breach walls, were now aimed at him. Despite using both claws to block, the immense force still sent him flying.

He even heard his bones creak. His claws were deeply wounded during the flight, scales peeling off. Not only that, but a significant portion of the bolt struck his chest.

Zephyr suspected several ribs were broken.

"That dragon is heavily injured! Charge!!" Seeing Zephyr crash to the ground and not get up immediately, the encircling group's morale soared. Their goal was to capture the dragon alive; killing it would diminish its value.

Moreover, it was merely a young dragon nearing juvenile stage, so its dead value was even lower.

"Roarrrr!!" Enduring the pain in his claws, Zephyr picked up the giant bolt and swung it like a club. The first enemies approaching were knocked aside, their bodies visibly deformed mid-air, clearly beyond saving.

This scene made the subsequent attackers hesitate. The dragon’s red eyes indicated a desperate struggle.

However, what shocked them next was the dragon turning and running without hesitation, even discarding the large bolt to reduce weight while knocking down several people.

Hearing continuous whistles behind him, Zephyr tightened his wings to avoid further injury. He had no time to care about the arrows hitting him; though his chest didn’t feel suffocated, it hurt terribly. Each step felt like his flesh and bones were crying out.

The second bolt from the crossbow wagon... he absolutely couldn’t block it!

"That dragon’s scales are too thick; the heavy crossbow can only pierce the scales, not penetrate deeply." The branch vice president picked up a few fallen scales. Though they belonged to a young dragon, their texture rivaled steel, producing metallic sounds upon collision.

These scales fell off when the dragon was hit by the giant bolt and were collected. Resisting the crossbow wagon’s attack, these scales only cracked, showing their incredible strength. With slight processing, they could make excellent armor!

"In the end, it’s still too inexperienced, ignoring the biggest threat during combat," the president said with a slight smile. Initially scared by the crossbow wagon, he quickly felt confident. Indeed, under conditions where the heavy crossbow struggled to hit the dragon’s weak points, the crossbow wagon played a crucial role!

As for the family providing the crossbow wagon... deal with them later!

Possessing such a weapon posed a severe threat. Without this incident, no one in the town could withstand its attack.

Such a devastating weapon was meant for sieges, not for attacking people—it was too ruthless. They were humans, not dragons; even a heavily armored knight would be turned into pulp by the crossbow wagon.