CHAPTER 141 – MAGITECH DRAGON
HIRAYA MISTELTEIN
Gazelle's simultaneous activation of the Eye of Deus and Vesryn Pulse transformed the battlefield. His body, radiant and pulsating, became the core of a towering crimson pillar that stretched upwards, enveloping not only him but also Eva. The air around us rippled violently, sending out a shockwave that knocked me off balance.
Stumbling backwards, the breeze whipped past me, rustling my clothes and tangling my hair. I struggled to maintain my footing, shielding my eyes with my forearms against the sudden gust. "Daybreaker Squad, Fire!" I commanded through gritted teeth.
In response, our dragons unleashed their arsenal. The Warflame Dragon spewed missiles, the Kyubi Dragon showered the sky with fiery bombs, and the Panzer Dragon's cannons roared to life. Their combined assault converged on the crimson light, exploding in a cacophony of noise and a bloom of smoke.
Peering through the settling haze, I muttered under my breath, "Did we get him?"
Doubt gnawed at me. Dragon Lords were most vulnerable during transformation, yet Gazelle's current display hinted at something unprecedented.
From the smoky veil, a golden behemoth emerged. Towering at sixty meters, the creature was a surreal blend of dragon and humanoid features, with ten horns and six spider-like legs. Fairy-like wings sprouted from its back, and its hands, tipped with blades resembling half-sliced UFOs, seemed ready to slice through dimensions. Green orbs pulsed ominously across its body, and a vibrant rainbow halo, akin to a portal to another realm, crowned its form.
"W-What the hell is that!?" Darlix's voice cracked in awe and fear.
The creature's slender right arm lifted, unleashing a gravity shockwave more potent than before. It pushed us back, a raw display of power that even the Dragon Lords' beasts struggled against.
"Darn it!" Earvin nearly lost his grip on his Kyubi Dragon, cursing as he fought the force.
With urgency clawing at my spine, I activated my Wings of Light, propelling myself upwards for a better vantage point. This golden dragon was unlike anything we'd faced; Lysander had never mentioned such a transformation in his chronicles of past timelines.
"Squad, use your long-ranged attacks! I’ll figure out its weakness!" I yelled into the comm.
"Roger!" came the unified response from the Daybreaker Squad, their voices resolute over the roar of our continuing assault.
The battlefield teemed with urgency as the Panzer Dragon recalibrated, stepping back for optimal range. With a confirming nod from its pilot, it unleashed a volley of cannon fire, while Darlix, with a flick of his hands, conjured patriot missile launchers atop the dragon’s armored shell. Together, they peppered the golden dragon with a barrage of missiles and shells, each exploding upon contact but leaving no mark on its shimmering golden hide. The creature stood resolute, seemingly cocooned in a mystical barrier.
"Maybe it is immune to physical damage," I muttered, piecing together the unfolding puzzle. "Gaeun, Earvin, spam those magic bombs!"
Responding with urgency, the Kyubi Dragon, under Gaeun's command, beat its nine tails, each one generating flame bubbles that surged toward the golden giant. Concurrently, Earvin channeled his vampiric powers, summoning a swarm of bats that detonated upon collision. Yet, the golden dragon remained unscathed, its aura swallowing the magical onslaught with an eerie ease.
"No way! It’s immune to magical damage too?" My voice cracked in disbelief. Shifting strategies, I called out to the remaining team members, "Kate, Mariko, try mixing your attacks together!"
With a sense of renewed purpose, the Warflame Dragon transformed one mechanical arm into a rail cannon. Mariko, quick to adapt, infused the cannon with alchemic flames, lending an otherworldly glow to the ammunition. The dragon fired, sending a supersonic magnetized projectile hurtling toward the golden dragon’s head. The impact echoed across the battlefield, yet the golden behemoth merely shook its head, unaffected by the combined physical and magical assault.
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Desperation clawed at my voice as I took in the grim scene unfolding before us. "W-What the hell is that thing?" I gasped, my mind racing through our failed attempts. "Nothing works… Physical… Magical… Hybrid… How are we going to beat this thing?"
In the blink of an eye, the golden dragon targeted the Panzer Dragon with a lethal precision that left no room for doubt. A green laser, swift as light itself, shot from its slender hand, slicing through the Panzer Dragon's shell like paper. The metal beast buckled under the assault, its armor disintegrating, and crashed to the ground in a heap of twisted wreckage.
"Charlotte!" My heart sank as the dragon reverted to its human form, revealing Charlotte's gravely injured body next to an unconscious Darlix.
"How dare youuu!"
The Warflame Dragon, driven by fury, roared a challenge that vibrated through the air. Its mechanical arm morphed into a gigantic flaming red sword, and with a warrior's cry, it charged at the golden dragon.
In response, the golden adversary extended its other hand, materializing a colossal blade of mana, and brought it crashing down on the Warflame Dragon with terrifying force.
The impact was catastrophic. The Warflame Dragon managed a desperate block, but the golden dragon's strength was overwhelming, slamming them into the ground and creating a crater. Amidst the dust and debris, Kate and Mariko lay bloodied and beaten.
"Kate!" My voice broke as I stared helplessly at my fallen comrades.
"Captain Hiraya! Please evacuate!" Earvin's voice cut through the chaos, urgent and commanding as he and the Kyubi Dragon positioned themselves between me and our formidable foe. "We will keep it busy!"
"No! Not you too!" My hand stretched out toward them, a futile gesture as I watched them prepare their next attack.
The Kyubi Dragon summoned a black ball of bomb, pulsating with dark energy that Earvin had enhanced. With a defiant roar, they hurled the bomb at the golden dragon. Yet, despite their valiant effort, the bomb exploded harmlessly against the creature's impenetrable aura, adding to our growing despair. How could we fight something seemingly invincible?
The rainbow halo surrounding the golden dragon surged with energy, pulsating three times in the span of a second before unleashing a devastating beam of light directly at the Kyubi Dragon. Gaeun's skilled maneuvers were not enough to evade the full force of the attack; the beam struck true, sending the dragon plummeting to the earth, reverting it back to its human form.
"No, Gaeun!" My cry echoed through the chaos, anguish gripping my heart.
Fuelled by a mixture of grief and rage, I raised my gun, firing off my Trailblaze Arrows at the golden behemoth. Darting through the air, I sought out weak points, hoping to exploit any vulnerability in its seemingly impenetrable defense. Yet, despite my efforts, the barrier held firm, leaving me frustrated and desperate.
Suddenly, the spider-like legs of the golden dragon began to pursue me, forcing me into a frantic aerial dance. I twisted and turned, utilizing every ounce of agility granted by my Wings of Light. But my evasion was futile; with a swift motion, the golden dragon's hand swatted me aside like a mere insect, sending me crashing to the ground with bone-jarring force.
"Kyaaah!" Pain exploded through my body as my bones protested the impact. Agony flared in my left arm, my right leg, and my back, each movement a torment.
Struggling to rise, I found myself pinned beneath one of the creature's spider legs, its weight bearing down on me with crushing pressure.
"You have no way of defeating us, Reincarnation of Exceria!" The golden dragon's telepathic voice boomed inside my head, a relentless assault that threatened to overwhelm me. "I am the Magitech Dragon, the ultimate fusion of magic and technology!"
"Who cares!?" I retorted, defiance burning bright even in the face of defeat. With trembling hands, I aimed my pistol and unleashed a barrage of bullets at the creature's head, each shot ringing out futilely against its impervious hide. But I refused to surrender without exhausting every possibility.
Yet, as the reality of our hopeless situation bore down upon me, despair threatened to consume me whole. Against an enemy like this, it seemed there truly was no hope of victory.
The chilling voice of the Magitech Dragon echoed in my mind, a cold harbinger of my impending end. "You have ruined our plans over and over, Hiraya Misteltein. We are disappointed to assume that you will continue the legacy of Exceria. Now that you have proven that you have no worth to us, you shall meet your demise!" The declaration reverberated with fatal finality.
The creature's right arm began a grotesque transformation, morphing into an alien appendage resembling an organic tentacle tipped with a cannon. It aimed directly at my forehead, the tip glowing ominously with a gathering green light. Paralyzed, the weight of imminent death pressing down on me, I found myself trapped in a nightmare from which there was no waking.
My ability to move, to breathe, even to think, was stripped away, leaving me in a void of despair. My lips moved almost of their own accord, uttering a silent, desperate plea—the one prayer that had always lingered at the back of my mind, unspoken until now.
"Save me… Lysander…"
Tears escaped my closed eyes, tracing paths of resignation down my cheeks. I braced for the end, for the oblivion that the glowing cannon promised.
But instead of the expected blast, a different sound shattered the moment—a supersonic thud that vibrated through the air. My eyes snapped open in reflex, not to the sight of my demise, but to something, or someone, who had intervened at the last possible second.