Chapter 483: Chapter 248: Reduced to Ashes
But if that Red Dragon discovered them, or for any other reason, just turned its head slightly.
In the case where the [Copper Bones] specialty only works against physical damage, and the Plate Chain Composite Armor’s flame resistance is minimal, I would undoubtedly be burned to ashes by the flames.
And if we change our mindset, pinning our hopes on Hai’an’s trump card—the emerald Protective Shield—can withstand the Dragon Breath of a full-grown Red Dragon?
Success would naturally mean all is well.
But if the shield fails to hold, we will still be inevitably burned to ashes.
What should I choose?
The vast gap in strength like a chasm allows the Red Dragon to casually breathe, putting Xia Nan in an almost certain death trap.
Neither option is fully assured.
And the rushed, brief time is simply insufficient for him to conduct a thorough, detailed, and comprehensive analysis to make the judgment with the highest chances of survival.
Xia Nan decides to trust his intuition.
Roar—
The phantom wolf head surrounding him did not disappear, and his calf, which was originally retreating, suddenly changed its force and kicked fierce ground!
Muscle strength burst forth.
At almost the same time as Wood, not far from Hai’an, and Vier, right in front of the team behind, he entered the Protective Shield spreading beside the Half Elf.
Sava is in the front row of the team, primarily responsible for assisting attacks.
Her status as a Dragon Descendant made her performance particularly poor when they last encountered the Red Dragon.
But unexpectedly, in these few days of resting in Melted Scale Town, she seemed to have figured something out.
Turning the hatred between the two races into resistance against fear.
The time it took for her to recover from the oppression of Dragon’s Might was even a little faster than Wood.
Without any hesitation, in extremely dangerous situations, she followed Hai’an’s instructions to move closer to him.
In the space of a breath, the majority of the escort team’s members had gathered around Hai’an’s body within the Protective Shield.
Except...Luca.
With a strong build, he was always positioned as the shield fighter in the team, standing at the very front while traveling in the wild to clear paths for his teammates.
He is unquestionably a professional, but growing up in Neum City under the Wakefield family, only achieved that professional level through the resources infused in him, like a product off the assembly line, perhaps allowing him to perfectly fulfill the required guard duties for the family.
But also lacking the temperament and willpower that numerous missions gradually accumulated among adventurers of the same level.
To be honest, Luca’s response to Dragon’s Might was actually not particularly poor.
Even when Xia Nan stood inside the shield, watching the other turn and run toward them, his facial expression, though showing panic, was still held together, not entirely an expression of bewildered stupor.
Just slightly slow in reaction.
Two steps.
A mere two steps from the shield became the boundary between life and death.
"Boom!!!"
Accompanied by an ear-piercing buzz, golden-red flames were plowing closer from afar.
Looking from a distance, what was a terrifying flame column now filled everything within view.
A destructive heat wave surged in all directions centered on Dragon Breath, the blistering air twisting and swelling, forming eye-visible distorted ripples.
The hard rock surface softened and flowed like hot wax, and the solid stone blocks that stood for countless years amidst the barren mountains and land melted and evaporated with a "hiss" sound, dissolving in the depths of the flame.
On the field, no creature could survive in such exaggerated flames, even for a second.
Luca still maintained his forward charging posture, and his constricted pupils even reflected the emerald shield just within reach, along with the silhouettes within.
But the next moment, the scorching explosive airflow already surged from behind.
No need for the devastating ochre-golden Dragon Breath; even the gradually fading orange-red flames on its outer edge were sufficient to devour his life.
The exquisite iron armor, forged by top-notch blacksmiths hired by the Wakefield family, which could withstand a full-force blow from a Bear Goblin without breaking.
Now was no different from the random weeds on the ground.
In an instant, it turned into molten thick iron liquid.
Skin and flesh had no precedence; in a moment, they carbonized and scattered, while the bones inside perhaps lasted a barely describable brief time, but soon afterwards, only a few charred bits remained unidentifiable.
In the presence of the escort team, Luca was swallowed by Dragon Breath.
The surging flame currents did not even leave any so-called corpse remnants, with charred and blackened fragments dispersing into the air like ashes.
All that was left behind was the oval Silver white Metal Block, known as "Dream Weaving Corridor Terminal," kept closely by him.
Not even having time to mourn Luca’s death, nor any opportunity to marvel at [Dream Weaving Corridor]’s high Flame Resistance against Dragon Breath without a trace of damage.
The next second, the flame pillar had already swept past Luke’s remains, landing on the shield.
Trembling.
It didn’t even hold for half a second before the emerald, translucent Protective Shield enveloping everyone already filled with cracks under intense tremors.
The burning aura caused the air inside the shield to be filled with boiling white mist.
Xia Nan vaguely heard some crisp rupturing sound suddenly coming from the Half Elf.
At the same time, along with the violently shaking, crumbling shield, Hai’an’s face turned deathly pale and full of despair.
Just when Xia Nan thought the emerald shield above his head couldn’t hold any longer, a flash of light blue suddenly caught his eye.
His gaze instinctively looked over.
He saw Vier holding her unique grayish-white Magic Wand, with the light coming from the dark green transparent Black Opal embedded at the tip.
Her lips moved, seemingly chanting some sort of Magic Spell.
And the light blue glow seemed guided by some invisible force, spreading across the cracking shield.
It sustained it for the most crucial one and a half seconds.
Until the Dragon Breath swept over, and finally shattered into countless glittering debris dissipating into the air.
In front lay scenes like another realm, Abyss Hell.
The air carried a dense, scalding mist reminiscent of Mist Forest, enveloping everything around.
The soil and gravel vitrified under the high-temperature impact, forming a molten trench stretching unswervingly towards the hidden side of the hills.
Even just standing and breathing there, the scorching pain flooding into the nasal cavity and cascading down the neck and chest served as a reminder of what had transpired.
The Dragon Breath had passed.
Were they safe...?
Certainly not.
An ant that should have been crushed in its wrath.
Had unexpectedly survived the noble, sacred, scorching Dragon Breath, not turned to charcoal as expected.
For the always proud and arrogant Red Dragon, this was no longer a simple provocation.
But an insult to its noble Red Dragon bloodline.
Without any hesitation, as "Crawbarry" found those who should have been completely incinerated in the flames, still standing safely after the Dragon Breath.
Accompanied by an angry dragon roar, dazzling white light started brewing again in its chest and belly.
A new round of Dragon Breath was about to unleash between the flapping giant wings.
Yet just at that moment, a familiar silver-white glow suddenly appeared reflected in those golden yellow vertical pupils.
It was the source of its furious anger these days.
—That treasure stolen from the Dragon Nest by the damn despicable thief while it was out.
"Boom."
The fierce light symbolizing Dragon Breath quietly dissipated from the throat.
The white mist in the air was stirred by the airflow, with dense rain mist dropped from the gray-black clouds above swirling around, forming a blurry gas wave.
Sharp dragon claws embedded into the ground, reflecting the scarlet flame stream spilling from the edge of the draconic maw, the ferocious dragon’s head intermittently visible under the cover of rain and mist.
The immense oppressive shadow instantly enshrouded everyone on the field.
Good news: They survived the Dragon Breath;
Bad news: The Red Dragon that was just passing by landed right in front of them.