Raphael's plunge into the water created enormous waves that capsized the iron-clad warships of the Ryton people. The river surface rose up, flinging many river fish onto the shore where they struggled and died.
Then, he opened his bloody maw, gathering his breath. The water around his massive body began to steam, emitting plumes of white vapor.
"Ugh ah!"
"It's too hot! I'm going to be boiled alive!"
The surviving human sailors and officers around him were actively swimming to escape, but the sudden rise in river temperature exceeded what humans could withstand.
Their skin turned beet red, the muscles on their faces twisted in pain. Some close to Raphael were directly torn apart by the violent steam, eventually dying from suffocation.
Roar!!
Raphael released his fiery breath into the river water. This should have created huge plumes of steam, but instead the arcane flames easily penetrated the water, igniting the surface in a spreading blaze as embers rained down like stones.
Many sailors and officers who had already swum far away were easily caught up in the snake-like flames and burned. The agony of being seared in mind and body made them scream piteously, and those with stronger wills immediately drew their military daggers to slit their own throats and end the inhuman torment.
Raphael surveyed this hellish scene, then spewed another gout of dragonbreath into the waters, utterly exterminating all life in this area.
"This stuff is rather interesting."
After confirming there were no survivors, he scooped up a melted, deformed iron-clad ship from below.
"I thought only wood could float on water, but it seems steel can too." Raphael carefully felt the warship, sensing its exceptional quality.
But then a worry surfaced in his mind:
"These ships don't seem to just be these four. Which means there are unknown numbers of iron men lurking upstream in my domain, able to cut off the Dragon Council's supply line to me at any time."
Raphael furrowed his brow tightly, taking no joy in having easily destroyed the enemy ships.
"Perhaps I can check it out on my way back."
For now, reliable outside aid relied on the Dragon Council's supplies. Erl didn't lack for food yet, but was short on weapons, equipment and fighting personnel which needed continual fresh infusions.
But the Ryton Kingdom clearly had the ability to strangle this lifeline. Raphael couldn't personally oversee every supply run himself - he had other matters to attend to.
"So this is strategy? I really want to find a way to permanently eliminate this nuisance." After careful thought, he realized how tricky this was.
With these thoughts, Raphael slowly flew back to the Eastern Trade Dragon Valley.
Arnold and Old Flame were currently acting as overseers, having the dwarves and ceda wyrms load carts of supplies onto wooden ships, along with those two thousand subhumans.
"Is there any way we could change to an overland route?" Raphael asked Arnold upon returning.
"Overland? Are you afraid those humans will keep harassing the water route?" The golden dragon knew the transport ships had been attacked on their journey.
"Exactly, and in the future I plan to rapidly move fighters along the water route to the southern sides of Pillar Mountain and the city area. If the humans keep causing trouble, something is bound to happen," Raphael said with concern.
Arnold shook his head. "But you yourself are the strongest force. Just half an hour ago you left here, factoring travel time and talks with the dwarf kin, and you wiped out all those humans in an hour. Why don't you just go take care of the nuisance yourself?"
"But Ryton is not like Morey - it's a war machine cloaked as a nation-state. I don't think it will be that easy," Raphael said, recalling those four dragon slayers, humans who should have been weak but kept reviving, and that Behemoth - he had only seen one face of this world.
"I'll come observe with you, right now," Arnold immediately volunteered.
Raphael nodded, then instructed Old Flame and the ceda wyrms about what to do on the return journey. He and Arnold both entered invisible and suppressed states, gliding into the clouds to fly southward.
"Look there! That gray-green mass seems to be Ryton's soldiers."
Raphael suddenly stopped, pointing out the crowd gathered on the open ground below.
Arnold's voice came from behind him: "It looks like they're assembling to deal with you later. What's that track behind them?"
Raphael looked further out, seeing two strange dedicated paths laid out on the ground, like fallen ladders.
"Steam trains - rumor says at full speed they can go from the eastern coast to the midland rivers in just seven days. If used to transport wounded, fresh troops and supplies, then their 'recovery' speed would far outpace my army."
He then spotted the familiar iron-clad ships.
Those iron hulls were lined up in serene rows on a circular lake, leaving only a small opening as an entrance and exit. The shoreline was covered in large factories, various buildings, a small gryphon landing pad, and anti-air batteries.
"Perhaps now is a good opportunity!"
Seeing the methodical humans below who were gradually perfecting their offensive against him, Raphael thought to launch a sudden attack now and pluck out this water-borne fortress.
Before Arnold could respond, Raphael silently went into a dive, gathering his draconic breath within.
But before he could get close, a series of rapid warning sirens suddenly rang out from below! Everyone immediately started running, the whole war machine kicking into high gear.
"What does this mean? I haven't even dropped invisibility yet!"
Raphael was utterly baffled at how the humans had detected him.
But there was no time to ponder the details - he immediately revealed his form, accelerating in a dive straight for the iron-clad ships docked in the harbor.
On the ground:
"Report to headquarters! This is Keel Harbor! The Calamity Demon was detected by the over-horizon sensor array at 7:56 PM! It initiated a dive attack thirteen seconds later!"
The soldiers in the control tower showed no signs of fleeing or panicking in the face of the onrushing demonic dragon bearing celestial flames. Instead, they immediately notified the peak with a communications orb.
The soldier then watched as the rampaging inferno engulfed the ironclad fleet outside.
Raphael's first act was to destroy these biggest threats, the iron ships. But upon closer inspection, something seemed off:
"What is this? Made of paper?"
He noticed several ships were almost instantly incinerated, with none of the feel of melting steel.
Lightly brushing it with a claw lifted a soft, drooping wisp - it definitely wasn't iron.
"Embezzlement? Illusion? Bait?"
Raphael realized this seemed to be a trap. When he looked around, he found the previously bustling harbor was now completely deserted, enveloped in desolation and silence.
"Impossible for them all to have fled that fast!"
As Raphael spread his four wings to take flight and search for human tracks, a bolt of lightning energy artillery came streaking in. He instinctively twisted his body to evade it.
"The anti-air batteries have switched from arcane to lightning attributes?"
These attacks were all coming from the automated ground-based magic artillery emplacements, but no one was operating them.
Boom!
A concentrated fire orb accurately struck one of the anti-air batteries, but Raphael then noticed the emplacements were surrounded by fire breaks, limiting the spread of his breath and reducing its damage potential.
"What can block my breath?" he wondered, intending to move in closer for observation.
But suddenly an immense pressure descended from above, forcing Raphael to look up.
Even he couldn't help but narrow his vertical pupils at the sight - four battle dragons were staring intently at him before launching an attack!
Lightning Strike!
The raging power of storms was concentrated from nothingness and poured down upon the red dragon below!
Caught completely off guard with no room to maneuver, Raphael could only activate spell immunity while countering with radiant breath upwards. This was to nullify the lethal lightning and disrupt the enemy from sustaining their spellcasting.
Even so, several lightning bolts still struck him. Although spell immunity negated the arcane enhancements, the lightning damage itself pierced his scales, paralyzing his nerves and restricting movement.
"Ugh!"
Raphael cried out in pain as a numbing weakness spread from his back and wing roots. Lightning's superiority over dragons was terrifying - even a demonic dragon like himself could not remain unscathed.
But this bit of pain only roused the red dragon's ferocity further. His radiant breath swelled higher, the sweeping beams shattering the clouds above. The four battle dragons dared not face such over sixth-tier power and could only pause their attack to evade.
Raphael took the opportunity to flap his wings, activating his flight spell to compensate for the paralyzed hindrance to his physical wings. He then counterattacked by charging straight upwards.
He had intended to isolate and quickly eliminate a lone enemy. But these four battle dragons seemed specially trained, maintaining optimal distances from their wingmates - neither too close to impede movement nor too far to prevent assisting at a moment's notice.
They moved as one cohesive unit, able to maintain formation no matter their aerial maneuvers.
When Raphael tried to give chase, the combined spellcasting barrage of four dragons around Ulysses' caliber forced him to evade, limiting his agility.
But Raphael did not adopt a defensive stance despite the overwhelming firepower. He continually tried attacking from various angles to close in on the enemy.
The red dragon's mighty melee abilities were renowned - even outnumbered, the four battle dragons denied him any chance to get close, playing the role of "fleers" in the air while maintaining relentless spell attacks. Raphael was run ragged as if being taken for a walk.
"Huff huff, this is tough."
Raphael gradually felt overwhelmed, sinking into a sense of being mired in this inextricable situation.
"The crux is their firepower is too strong - I can't just tank it head-on and am forced to evade. Plus their aim is precise - I have to expend huge efforts predicting attack vectors each time to avoid being hit."
Ultimately, the enemy had seized the initiative. From the start Raphael was very distant from the four enemy dragons. In this long-range firepower disadvantage with his wings paralyzed and speed reduced, the red dragon fell into an unfavorable position.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
However, this didn't mean the enemy was very powerful or Raphael had weakened. Seizing the opening advantage is also a crucial aspect of battle.
If Raphael had successfully ambushed and gotten in close to these four dragons from stealth, by now the enemy would likely only have two left gasping their last breaths, doggedly pursued to the death by the red dragon like an annoying affliction.
But with battle lines drawn, the situation became opaque again. Yet Raphael would definitely not have an easy time of it, being alone against four.
Another lightning bolt came from the front, along with corrosive spheres of negative energy raining down from above. Raphael hurriedly cut off his flight spell's mana supply, the momentary power lapse allowing him to evade both attacks.
But then a lightning artillery beam lanced up from the ground, striking Raphael's vulnerable underbelly head-on.
"Ahhh!!!"
Raphael threw back his head in an agonized roar.
The abdomen contained vital draconic organs - and those lightning bolts had pierced straight through his secondary heart!
Raphael's secondary heart was fully developed, constantly pumping blood to provide superhuman strength. It was the reason he could repeatedly overpower his kin.
This sudden trauma directly sent the secondary heart into shock, and the red dragon instantly went limp, plummeting from the sky.
"Don't get close!" the leader of the four battle dragons warned those wingmates intending to go in for the kill. "From imagery recordings, the enemy always finds a way to bounce back from the brink. We can't give him a chance to get in close!"
They then began gathering over sixth-tier spells to try finishing the enemy once and for all!
"Old buddy, it looks like he's using 'self-regeneration' magic," one of the battle dragons said to the leader, as the grounded Raphael was now madly expending arcane energy from his blood to regenerate internal and external wounds.
"No matter, just attack - he can't evade," the ruthless leader declared.
"Here it comes!"
The grounded Raphael of course knew a terrifying spell-storm was brewing overhead. He had already prepared anti-magic defenses.
"But the cooldown period for anti-magic is too short - not sure if I can withstand it."
Above:
At the leader's command of "Attack!", their spell-storm had barely begun unleashing when a transparent membrane descended, encapsulating them all.
"What?"
"Who's ambushing?"
Caught off guard, the battle dragons briefly fell into disarray as the transparent field began absorbing their gathered spell energy, its hue shifting from clear to deep purple mixed with inky blacks.
With vision obscured, the battle dragons didn't dare make any rash moves, fearing that massive arcane power exploding. They huddled close, on high alert.
As time passed, the membrane gradually dissipated into the open air, the absorbed spell power harmlessly dispersing back into the vast world.
"The red dragon is gone."
The first thing the emerged battle dragon did was search for Raphael on the ground, but he had already vanished without a trace anywhere.
"What kind of spell was that?" one of them said, shaken.
"Must have been draconic magic - some weird invention of our feral kin," the leader curtly analyzed. "But we're just soldiers, leave analysis of that intel to the command staff. At any rate, we were victorious in this defensive counterattack."
Down below, the previously plain dirt ground opened up as the hidden Ryton forces emerged from camouflage. Seeing their military harbor largely undamaged and the four battle dragons standing proudly aloft, they knew the demonic dragon had suffered its first defeat here.
Cheers rose up from below. One of the battle dragons asked the leader, "Shall we request from the commander to attack the enemy territory now? The demon dragon must be too severely injured to resist."
"No," the leader shook his head, tone heavy with meaning. "War is not so simple, as the demonic dragon has already proven. They are not Morey - and we are not lone stragglers cut off deep behind enemy lines like him."
...
Raphael flapped his burly wings vigorously, flying northward along the Morton River with Arnold following closely behind.
"Human technology seems to have advanced rapidly," the golden dragon remarked pensively, observing the newly self-regenerated scars on his old friend's body.
"Those dwarfed lizard creatures are surprisingly formidable when working together!" Raphael gritted his teeth, still agitated from his recent defeat.
However, a single Ulysses had nearly done him in during the Battle of Pillar Mountain. He only managed to kill it in the end by relying on anti-magic, so this setback didn't mean much.
His previous overwhelming victories were due to seizing the initiative by surprise - the enemy had no chance to react before Raphael closed in and swiftly incapacitated them.
Though sympathetic to his dear friend, Arnold analyzed rationally, "The human dragons don't actually seem to be powerful weapons. Their combat patterns look rather rigid, following some predetermined routine. If we could create an unpredictable battlefield environment, these creatures would likely struggle to adapt."
Raphael fell silent, flying grimly onward. The military might of Ryton clearly surpassed Morey's, and their soldiers' morale and tactical choices were also highly competent.
"If I consumed blazing adamantite, I might have the power to fight back," he mused, his dark golden draconic eyes flickering with an intense light. If ruthless enough, Raphael could indeed devastate much of the Ryton Kingdom through sheer force.
But humans didn't just have Ryton - they also had Natterian, Morey, Karuk and Chalaran.
"Let's consult Alvis when we return," Raphael said, increasingly aware of the immense external pressure. If dozens of battle dragons attacked together, even he and Arnold combined would be overwhelmed.
"One more thing," the golden dragon added.
"What is it?"
"How did they detect you ahead of time? You were flying in the upper cloud layers, far beyond the range of their snake-eye spells."
Raphael shook his head silently.
"It seems we need to hire a professional for assistance, or victory will be difficult," Arnold said with a smile.
"First help escort my fleet while hugging the western coast. Without air support, they dare not attack recklessly!" Raphael snarled.
…
In the Ryton capital Bayern, part of the medieval-style city stronghold, the Vittelsbachs built it from nothing on flat ground. It now formed the core controlling an area of 18,000 square kilometers across several surrounding regions. The city itself had 780,000 residents, with the greater metropolitan area holding around 2 million people.
Located at the heart of this central axis were several six-story towers that made up Ryton's critical military command headquarters.
"Gentlemen! Uplifting news! The evil dragon has tasted its first defeat!" the chief of staff announced to his subordinate officers, their faces beaming.
He then produced notes freshly transcribed from a frontline officer's oral report via communication orb:
"The evil dragon launched a solo sneak attack on Kiel Military Port at 19:56 today. Our newest ultra-sensing devices detected it one minute in advance - the key to this tactical victory."
The war department officer auditing the briefing couldn't help but smile proudly. Though not part of the general staff, his department was responsible for military research and procurement - this was praise for their astute decision-making.
"Our analysis led to these conclusions," he stood to address them as the others looked on approvingly.
"In the initial Battle of Pillar Mountain, we realized Morey's fundamental failure was their inability to concentrate all forces at a single point. The dragons, griffins, and ground resistance fought separately, easily picked off one-by-one by that nigh-invincible red dragon."
"The reason they fed troops into the grinder was a lack of advance warning about the enemy's attack. By the time they reacted, mustering their strongest Ulysses, griffin squadrons and anti-air batteries, the evil dragon had already slain the two auxiliary dragons meant to support from Dragon Academy."
"It was only by having ultra-sensing devices that the Morey royals detected the evil dragon's next Aukland strike in time to flee in panic, barely escaping with their lives. Had they equipped these sensors for Pillar Mountain, they might have held onto even Oakenburg."
"After repeated forced strategic sacrifices decimated over 90% of their air forces, they utterly lost any ability to independently reclaim their land."
The staff officers nodded frequently at this insightful analysis - as guardians of the Ryton Kingdom, they had to learn from mistakes and experiences.
"First, we cannot afford to divide our elite forces," one of the staff officers stated. "Better to let Raphael rampage unchecked than feed troops in piecemeal - we must concentrate our main strength before engaging him together."
The "ultra-sensing devices" were what the Morey called "energy detection mirrors", though Ryton's were more advanced. Their predecessors were alarms used by alchemists to warn of dangerous unstable experiments.
However, after Raphael's devastation at Pillar Mountain demonstrated his breath incredible potency far exceeding normal items, these devices capable of detecting energies of that magnitude became viable military tools.
Following magical principles, they could perceive fluctuations from spells above 6th level intensity. But their detection was not limited to magic - any energy source, including natural disasters like earthquakes, would register.
The chief of staff puffed contentedly on his pipe, gray eyes downcast as he continued reading the report:
"The evil dragon immediately attacked the dummy warships fashioned from wood and paper anchored in the harbor, buying enough time for personnel to evacuate underground. Then the 3rd Dragon Squadron arrived, engaging strictly per training protocols, successfully subduing it. Ground anti-air batteries loaded with lightning gemstones scored a direct hit on its belly, downing the beast."
"Considering lightning can penetrate dragon scales, there's no question of only downing it by striking a weak point - electricity remains its fatal vulnerability."
The war department officer muttered, "But lightning stones are so expensive, with only ten shots per gem. Uranium projectiles get two hundred shots as an energy source."
"More detailed reports should arrive by griffin military post tomorrow morning. This was just a rushed verbal account," the chief of staff said, setting down the papers and pipe. The deep creases in his face tightened as his mouth set in a knife-edge line.
The previously jovial atmosphere turned somber as all listened raptly.
"But this battle also exposed some issues," the chief continued, pulling down a blackboard map of the Kiel port area.
"First, at 23:46 last night, we received a sortie request from the port's warships. They pursued 'vessels fleeing the enemy region' upriver without waiting for authorization." His gnarled finger traced the path along the Morton River all the way to the Dragon Domain.
"It's quite clear this is some kind of marriage alliances by the enemy. Their purpose in going there can only be to transport supplies for war. The captain of the Hamburg also reported through comm-sphere that only dragon kin and dwarves were observed on the enemy ships - no humans. The dragons is the backer of that evil dragon."
A chill went through the officers as the grizzled chief flatly stated this ominous conclusion. Since ancient times, dragons have portended an aura of fated cataclysm that strikes superstitious awe in other races. Legends say when dragons mass in great numbers, it heralds the end times - otherwise why did they not dominate the entire continent eons ago instead of lingering isolatedly while other races developed to threaten them?
"But we are human, and so must stand unflinchingly with humanity against any foe, never faltering in courage or conviction!" the chief admonished sternly, frail in body yet undoubtedly possessing the most unyielding spirit among them.
He then resumed a calmer demeanor. "Secondly, the four warships including the Hamburg have gone missing. Based on the timing and location, they likely encountered and were overwhelmed by the evil dragon with no chance to resist. It seems aware of the threat to its supply lines, prompting this raid - fortunately, our preparedness drove it off."
"However, this shows in direct combat, the evil dragon remains tremendously formidable. Any of our forces unexpectedly encountering it face only annihilation. It also appears to have strategic awareness, recognizing its weaknesses and trying to compensate. Our future traps and plans must be even more cunning."
The mood shifted as the sobering analysis replaced their earlier elation over the tactical victory. "So it seems besides a morale boost and some intelligence, we gained little real advantage," they laughed ruefully. "Moreover, we exposed our specialized dragon combat training as well as the dummy warships used to deceive the enemy. Even the intelligence exchange was a slight loss."
"Enough, a tactical win was never decisive," the chief barked as they prepared to adjourn. "Keep analyzing the terrain around Pillar Mountain for a reliable landing operationplan!" The officers filed out with their notepads.
Alone, the chief gazed southward through the night from the window, exhaling vaporous breaths. "Now we wait for Snyder's return…"
…
Akuniryas found himself in an unfamiliar, eerie city.
"That dream again?"
He rubbed his hands and climbed up onto an architecturally improbable platform. This towering stone structure was supported only by a single three-millimeter needle, with several small doorways leading further into the vaster, dream-like expanse of the eerie city.
In the sky hung a sinister crescent moon, scattered purple ice-cracks diffusing its otherworldly glow. But the light gradually dimmed as it neared the ominous city below, until an encroaching blackness swallowed all illumination, concealing the mammoth enigma within its shroud.
Standing atop the platform, Akuniryas stared in awe at the crown emblem on the back of his hand, memories flooding back.
Since the previous moonless night, he had startled awake from slumber only to find himself in this bizarre place - faced with this contorted platform and surrounding wall-like structures behind it.
He immediately realized he was dreaming, the circumstances of his arrival here a blank - undoubtedly the manifestation of the dream realm.
The only explanation was that demon blood, and the purple crystal crown now residing within him.
"Yesterday I checked out that surrounding wall - incredibly, there are no entrances at all!"
Akuniryas eyed the high barrier, its surface a seamless amalgam of embedded, protruding, and wave-like contours without any hint of an opening.
Beyond where he awoke lay only an impenetrable mist. When he tentatively stepped into it, he found utter emptiness - a risk he dared not take again.
"Perhaps I should venture inside and explore…but just what is this place? It's definitely not what my astral projection looks like!"
Flexing the substantial musculature of his lifelike hands, he was certain this physicality was no mere spiritual form.
Crack.
A sharp sound snapped Akuniryas's attention as he swiftly dropped prone, surveying his surroundings.
Emerging gradually from the outlying mist was a humanoid figure, its movements producing an excruciating metallic scraping noise that assaulted the ears.
As it drew nearer, Akuniryas made out its disturbing appearance:
"What in the blazes is that thing?!"
It was an entirely corroded…suit of armor, by the look of its texture, now thoroughly rusted to a revolting hue akin to vomitus that turned his stomach.
Examining it from that perspective, the full-body plate mail appeared to fully encase the wearer, chains and patches covering every inch of anatomy to obscure race, age, or any distinguishing feature. The triangular avian-like helmet lacked any visors or breathing slits. All Akuniryas could discern was the being's tall 2.1 meter stature and presence of limbs, suggesting some form of humanoid - maybe.
It shuffled slowly with slumped shoulders, each halting step embodying the feeble fragility of someone on death's door, or a warrior utterly spent of vigor, stamina and life's fluid essence - exhaustion etched into its Being.
"Have I traveled back in time, like witnessing that ship at Pillar Mountain? Is this some other period on the continent of Mu? Those mountain peaks resemble the Logath Range."
Craning for a better view, Akuniryas analyzed the enigmatic animated armor.
"Those symbols - a crescent and full moon? And an eye, but only one visible? What era or nation's knight could this represent?"
He racked his extensive knowledge of historical knightly orders, but found no correlation to the lunar imagery adorning this figure's helmet where the previous entity bore an avian or draconic visage.
"And wasn't that other being unnaturally short, like a dwarf? But weren't all dwarveseradicated by the Church as 'demon spawn' to purify humanity's bloodlines? Reprehensible as that was, there's no way they would have allowed a dwarf to become a knight!"
Akuniryas struggled to reconcile these inconsistencies with his memories until an unsettling realization struck:
"Wait…is it looking at me?"
The triangular helmet angled upwards, as if fixing its gaze directly on him.
"But that can't be! I'm just an immaterial witnessing some recorded spiritual remnant, as Olmar theorized…no, wait! Last time I was a true spirit form, but now I'm physically manifested!"
The epiphany broke as an immense force suddenly wrenched him from the platform, slamming him to the ground!
"How did it--??"
Akuniryas's vigilant watch hadn't broke, yet the mysterious armored being msved with preternatural swiftness beyond even his demon blood-enhanced reflexes.
"Faster than that evil dragon?!"