SPELLBOUND

Holding their breaths, the vampires who had already come to terms and accepted that they were about to be killed off could only stand there frozen, not knowing how to feel right at that moment.

Their mouths were agape as they watched the dragon's flame spread out from above the canopy like a fiery blanket – though fiery, but a very welcomed one. This fiery blanket selectively reached out at opportune times to envelope the savage murderous orcs from their sight. And once it withdrew, no orc remained standing. What was left was either a large burning lump of flesh or even a pile of dark ash on the ground.

The scenario was so incredible and mind-boggling that they literally forgot to breathe for a long while before choking and gasping as their bodies struggled to drag in air before they blacked out. It was not until the majestic dragon landed right before them and continued breathing fire at all and any other incoming orcs who tried to attack the already exhausted men.

They could see the orcs writhing around desperately as they were burned by the dragon's fire. But the thing was, dragon's fire did not stop shooting out at them whenever they came close to the perimeter that the dragon was guarding – which was where Samuel, Zolan, and Luc were at.

Then the vampires felt the earth shook again and they knew that the orcs must be retreating now. The dragon continued to advance until all the remaining orcs were reduced to ashes. Only then did the dragon went catapulting off the ground.

Its power was so strong that the vampires were involuntarily knocked back to the ground from the force of it taking off into the sky.

Then again, they saw flames of its fire as it continued to give chase to the orcs that had already fled. It was obvious that the dragon was there to fully ensure that those horrible orcs would think twice… even thrice before coming back to attack them.

"Holy hell!" Luc uttered as he swallowed.

Zolan laughed a deep belly shaking laughter as he let himself fall back to the ground and sighed as he stared up into the sky.

"Can you believe it? We were just talking and regretting about how we were not going to be there to experience something like this… being rescued by a majestic dragon…" Luc added as he too followed in laughter and fell on the ground in exhaustion. Though unlike Zolan, he was smiling and laughing as though he could hardly believe what had just happened and he did not know how else to react but to laugh out softly.

"It's not the dragon who had rescued us… well, it was the dragon… but," Samuel's statement petered off as they saw the dragon already returning towards them. "I think it was the princess who had actually saved us." Samuel finished his sentence in a quiet reverential tone.

The dragon landed before them with its powerful wings flapping and stirring little whirlwinds on the ground. It caused the vampires to helplessly hold onto their breaths again in awe at the inspiring sight. Even though the majestic creature had just saved their lives, they were still feeling incredibly intimidated being before it, especially when it was literally standing imposingly right before their faces. Luc even gulped as he saw the dragon lowered its head to direct its intense gaze on them.

It was huge and so very dark. As dark as an onyx stone. Compared to the dragons they had encountered in Dacria, this dragon was much, much larger in stature. And they could tell it was even more dangerous and deadlier than the dragons they had seen previously. It was majestic but absolutely terrifying that they could feel their very bones shiver slightly!

Then they saw something small and silvery emerging from the dragon's back. It really was the princess!!! Their eyes rounded in surprise even though Samuel had already told them a while ago that it was the princess who had actually saved them.

She had just pushed the heavy hood of her dark cloak back over her head, exposing the thick silvery mane of hers. She smiled as she lifted her face and looked at them.

The sight of her sitting so easily on the back of a terrifyingly large dragon, looking quite calm and even cheerful, made the men break into smiles of pure pride. Here they were, being intimidated by the dragon but there she was, their princess looking quite fine and regal and incredible as she sat on that very same fearsome dragon that they were trembling at just looking at it.

"F*ck! I absolutely refuse to die now!" Luc put his hand on the large wound on his stomach, smirking, "Send a memo to the God of Death that he needs to take a rain check on collecting my soul. I need to live on longer to see more of these… I want to see the future of this princess of ours!"

"You're not the only one needing to send that memo, Luc…" Zolan said as he coughed up blood yet still, he was grinning away.

Seeing that the men were so badly injured, Evie was about to jump down and get to them, but the dragon was so tall and her seat so high up that she could not possibly jump down all on her own. She still did not know how to give it the command for it to crouch so she could climb down.

Recalling from before, when she had seen this dragon in the dark gate a while ago, Evie had tried to communicate with it. But the dragon did not seem to be able to understand her. It had just stayed there and looked at her, its fiery eyes so focused on her as if it were trying to identify and recognize her. Her necklace was shining again right at that moment, but Evie did not have the luxury of time to even notice it. All she knew was that the necklace was her source of light in that dark space where the dragon was waiting. 

Due to her panic that her men might be dying if she delayed any longer, Evie frantically and thoughtlessly approached the dragon, throwing caution into the wind and gambling on the possibility that it would not attack her. Despite realizing that it was so huge and definitely very dangerous, Evie was fearless. There was not a single ounce of fear in her heart as she ran towards it. Thankfully her gamble paid off.

Then without wasting a moment further, she somehow climbed into it. She could not think of any words to use on how to have it move. The dragon was resting on the ground so she was able to climb on its back all the while talking to him in her language that the dragon might never understand.

However, the moment Evie sat on its back, the majestic dragon instinctively rose, lifted its massive head, and roared. After getting over her shock, Evie patted its inky black scales and the dragon stopped roaring. Her necklace shone again and this time, her body also began to glow like how it did before during the war in Dacria.

And just like what had happened that time, an unknown word came to her mind, and she spoke it out of reflex as she lifted her hands and pointed towards where she came from.