The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

Bronze Dragon Knight Alonso Xiankelai narrowly escaped disaster. Before long, he had joined forces with Alex White Maw Iron, but what had originally been five dragons and three knights now amounted to five dragons and two knights, plus one corpse. "Prince Alex, how could things have turned out like this?" Alonso was still in shock, "Is that Liszt? His mount isn't a Fire Dragon, nor a Light Green Gemstone Dragon!" "It's a Formless Dragon." Alex spoke expressionlessly, as if mentioning an irrelevant matter, "The Holy Dragon Order, possessing the power that represents space, Liszt is far more than the Fire Dragon Knight we anticipated, and he has acquired the Light Green Gemstone Dragon... He has become a Formless Dragon Knight. Loyle died by his assassination." "Do Sacred Dragons really exist?" Alonso furrowed his brow. "I wasn't certain before either. It's been many years since I've heard any news of the Sacred Dragons. When I traveled through the Kushan Imperial in my youth, I heard some tales about them. I believed the Sacred Dragons had vanished along with the fall of the Moon Empire era, but unexpectedly, they have been reborn in the Sea of Azure Waves." "There are also Archmages, who have not appeared for many years. Prince Alex, the situation has exceeded our expectations," Alonso took a deep breath, seriously speculating, "I suspect that Liszt has gained control of the Moon Empire's relics, otherwise there wouldn't be the continuous emergence of an Archmage and a Formless Dragon." Alex glanced at the copper-coated corpse of Loyle and said dispassionately, "This little creature has become a force to reckon with; killing him now, I fear, will be very difficult." Alonso's face darkened, then he raised an eyebrow, "Do you, Your Highness, intend to give up on this dragon slaying battle?" "What do you think?" "Pursue!" "Pursue?" "Now that it's come to this, there is no turning back from an arrow released from the bow. If we do not kill Liszt, he will remain a constant threat. We must keep pursuing him and completely strangle the threat, to ensure that the situation does not spiral out of control... otherwise, it will be the gravest crisis for the Eagle Kingdom!" "But how can we kill him if Liszt is a Formless Dragon Knight with the ability to traverse space?" "Lure him out." Alonso seemed resolute, "I will act as the bait to draw him out. He likes to ambush lone Dragon Knights, doesn't he? We will split up in our search but keep in constant contact with each other. The moment he shows up, we will fight to the death to pin him down and leave him no way to escape!" Alex's eyes flickered momentarily, "What do you think the chances of success are?" In terms of combat strength, he was undoubtedly the top of the Eagle Kingdom, but when it came to tactics and cunning, he was slightly inferior, which is why he relied on Alonso for strategy. "Seeing the fate of Duke Loyle, to tell the truth, I don't have much confidence. Liszt always seems to have an ace up his sleeve that we're not aware of. For now, all we can do is give it our all. If we can kill him, that would be the best outcome. If we can't, we'll have to retreat first and find another way to resolve the crisis later." "Then let's kill!" Alex burst out. As the invincible White Maw Iron Dragon Knight, he had his own pride. In the time that followed, Alonso took the initiative to leave, roaming alone around the sea near Dodo Island, searching for traces of the Formless Dragon. Alex, on the other hand, led the four dragons in another direction to search but maintained a magical aura of communication with Alonso. The Dragon Lance was gripped in his hand. Alonso suppressed his nervousness and observed his surroundings with a cold eye. He eagerly hoped that Liszt would appear to attack him. In doing so, he could utilize the desperate strategy they had prepared, to entangle the Formless Dragon and wait for Alex's reinforcement—only such a tactic could turn the tide of the battle. Otherwise, if they were to fail in this second dragon slaying battle, he would be utterly disgraced. In the life of a Dragon Knight, one does not know how many dragon slaying battles one may partake in. And he, having participated in two, would become a laughingstock an embarrassment among Dragon Knights if both were to end in failure. At that moment, he suddenly felt the presence of the Formless Dragon from afar. His heart leapt with joy, and he gripped the Dragon Lance even tighter, though the presence quickly vanished without a trace. It turned out that Liszt had merely flown out from the material boundary, scanned the surroundings with his telescope to determine the location of the Bronze Dragon, then left without looking back. "Knowing that I killed Loyle and yet you still deliberately divide your forces, are you tempting me, or testing my intelligence?" Liszt did not consider himself to be of high intelligence, but he was certainly not a symbol of low intellect. Alonso's tactic was clearly mocking him. He walked away. In the time to come, it would be like walking a dog. He had already instructed Ach to notify Black Horse Island with the Magic Platform, to ensure that the Elves were safely relocated—though in reality, whether they moved or not did not make much difference. Dragon Knights generally do not attack lower-class knights and civilians, let alone kill Elves. The game naturally has its rules, and Dragon Knights vs. Dragon Knights is the main one. Otherwise, if today your Dragon Knight kills my citizens, and tomorrow mine kills yours, no one benefits. Moreover, compared to the Eagle Kingdom, Flame Territory is destitute with hardly any resources. Even if decimated by Dragon Knights, Liszt's losses would be limited; he could easily compensate from the Eagle Kingdom, or effortlessly slay enough to recoup his losses. As long as Alex and Alonso aren't foolish, they wouldn't choose to break the rules. He was mainly on guard against them becoming desperate and taking out their frustration on Black Horse Island. After all, they were all Dragon Knights. An occasional lapse of reason—who would dare to pursue it? Since he himself had once thrown dignity to the winds to take to the battlefield and capture ordinary Knights, he couldn't guarantee the other side wouldn't resort to the same tactics. "I hope you won't do such a thing; otherwise, if my territory suffers losses, the Eagle Kingdom will need to pay tenfold, a hundredfold in compensation!" Riding the Formless Dragon Bard, constantly shuttling through the material boundaries, he flew towards Alex. Upon sensing the dragon's aura, he shockingly discovered four dragons beside Alex—the White Maw Iron Dragon, Grey Iron Dragon, Purple Copper Dragon, and Silver Dragon. Obviously, he couldn't just approach recklessly. "What a pity, all these precious Metal Dragons, yet none belong to me," Liszt sighed. Suddenly, Ach said, "Brother, aren't we waiting for the Eagle Kingdom to retreat before intercepting the isolated Dragon Knights?" Liszt shook his head, "That's true, but since I killed Loyle, it's unlikely that they would split their forces. And if they do, it would be a lure for me... Even if they really do split up after retreating, it would be difficult for me to track them down given the lack of a positioning method and the ability to clearly discern the location of each dragon." "Maybe Ach has a way." "Hmm?" Liszt was startled for a moment, then overjoyed, "Ach, tell me quickly, what is the method!" "It's a Magic Beacon that Ach just thought of. By utilising spatial magic to leave a mark on a dragon's body, we could then use the resonance between the material boundary and the beacon to determine position and distance... However, the range of resonance shouldn't be too far, at most a hundred kilometers." A hundred kilometers; this distance had already exceeded the extreme sensing range between dragons. After pondering a moment, Liszt knew this was an excellent opportunity, "Ach, can you differentiate the beacons for different dragons?" "It seems not." "Then let's return to Black Horse Island first. We'll experiment on Little Fire Dragon Leo." Liszt, having decided to proceed, did not hesitate at all. He moved at high speed, tearing through the material boundary, entering the world beyond matter. He found the natural node at Bone Lake, returned to his territory, then flew a distance outward. Once he was certain no one was around to disturb him, he called out to Leo and had Ach place the beacon on him. It was tiny magic. After being released, if it weren't for the Formless Dragon's sensitivity to space magic power, it would have been nearly undetectable. As for Leo, he was even less aware that he had been marked. "Leo, fly straight ahead until we are a hundred kilometers apart." "Oh-ho!" Thus, Formless Dragon Bard flew south, and Little Fire Dragon Leo north, continuously flying and extending the distance. After a hundred kilometers, Ach had lost the sense of the Space Magic Beacon. To their surprise, though, the Formless Dragon could still sense this Space Magic Beacon. "Bard is amazing," Ach said happily. The farther the sensing distance, the higher the success rate of tracking. When Leo and Bard were three hundred kilometers apart, the beacon finally disappeared from Bard's senses. After flying back for a moment, they sensed it once again. "We've confirmed it, the beacon's limit is three hundred kilometers. The tracking plan can be perfectly executed!" Liszt was in a cheerful mood, "Next, we'll tease Alex and Alonso while discreetly placing beacons on each of their dragons!" ... The plan unfolded perfectly according to Liszt's design. He located Alonso, made a feint attack, then entered the material boundary; dashed out again to give a scare, then back into the material boundary; after repeating this several times, Ach successfully managed to place a beacon on a Bronze Dragon before leaving without looking back. Next, he continued the task of placing beacons on Alex and the four dragons. The task was somewhat challenging, but after spending some time and energy, and risking the Formless Dragon getting slightly grazed by Alex's attacks, all the beacons were successfully in place. "Let's go!" With a smile on his lips, Liszt lingered no longer. He left behind a trifled Alex, muttering through gritted teeth, "Just give me a chance, Liszt, and I'll make you wish you were dead!"