Chapter 492 - 491: A Fleeting Opportunity

Chapter 492: Chapter 491: A Fleeting Opportunity

The words had barely left her mouth when the Drake moved.

Its claws dug deep into the stone slabs as its forelimbs landed, and it used the momentum to charge forward like an out-of-control truck.

Its massive, fang-filled maw gaped open, but the eerie glow deep in its throat was extinguished before it could even brighten. It had learned. It knew the wind-up for its breath attack was too long, giving these two detestable humans an opening.

Seraphina Sinclair took a step forward, blocking Silentrain.

It wasn’t that she was trying to protect her teammate out of altruism; it was a calculated decision.

Silentrain’s back was injured, leaving her completely unable to dodge.

Seraphina had watched Silentrain endure the poison mist earlier. She had used up all the runes in her hand. If Silentrain took this hit head-on, she’d be maimed, if not killed.

’If she dies, I’ll be left all alone...’

’It’ll be even harder for me to find a chance to kill this Drake!’

Seraphina’s breathing flattened in an instant, her focus narrowing to a single line on her blade’s edge.

She was waiting—waiting for the gap as the Drake’s forelimbs landed, for the fraction of a second before its massive jaws snapped shut.

The time... was now!

Her body tipped to the left, sliding out so low she nearly scraped the ground.

The Drake’s maw snapped shut, its teeth grazing her hair and producing a grating crunch of bone on bone.

At the same time, the Moon-Tracking Blade swung upward, its edge scraping across the scales on the outer side of the Drake’s lower jaw—an area already riddled with fine cracks from the poison mist.

There was no sensation of cutting into flesh, but Seraphina heard the crisp crack of splintering scales.

’That’s enough.’

She used the rebound from her blade to change direction, flipping over to the Drake’s right side like a leaf caught in the wind.

Without pausing for a moment, Seraphina landed and immediately tore several Flame Runes, as well as the Wind Twister Charm she had created using a Gale Rune!

Instantly, a searing fire tornado erupted at the Drake’s side.

Flames, interwoven with high-speed Wind Blades, slammed violently into the scales on the Drake’s right flank.

Sparks and shattered scales flew. The heat wave distorted the air into a blurry ripple. The Drake let out a pained roar, its massive body forced to lurch to the left as its forelimbs plowed four deep gouges into the stone floor.

It had been forced back half a step.

That was the most a few C-level Talismans could do. But then, an even better idea struck Seraphina.

After the flames dissipated, a scorched black patch appeared on the Drake’s right side. Dark green blood oozed from beneath a few scales whose edges had curled up.

An injury of this degree was far from fatal, but it was enough to enrage it to its very core.

Its head whipped around, its amber, slitted pupils locking onto Seraphina.

The Drake opened its mouth, and the eerie glow in its throat flared once more.

This was the moment Seraphina had been waiting for. She chose an F-level Fire Drawing Rune. Its power wasn’t as flashy as other runes, but its strength lay in the simplicity of the fireball it summoned.

Taking aim, she hurled the fireball the instant the Drake spat out its poison mist!

The searing flame collided with the poison mist in mid-air. But like a pebble dropped into a deep pool, the fireball was swallowed by the thick mist, stirring only a faint, dark red ripple on the surface of the murky green cloud before being extinguished completely.

Seraphina’s pupils constricted slightly.

’Something’s wrong.’

’This Drake’s poison mist isn’t ordinary vapor. A single fireball can’t just dissipate it.’

Her plan had failed.

Seraphina immediately tore the few remaining C-level Defense Talismans in her hand. She had drawn them yesterday specifically for today’s use, and to her surprise, they were actually needed.

Besides the Defense Talismans created from the runes of a Corpse Suppression Rune, Seraphina also had a few C-level Flame Attack Runes called Heavenly Fire Runes.

It wasn’t that Seraphina didn’t want to make more; she simply didn’t have enough materials.

She could get more Ebony Rune Parchment from Little Mushroom, but the processed powder was a rare find. Even using her storage certificate, Seraphina hadn’t been able to purchase any.

Seraphina knew in her heart that the shields from these few Defense Talismans wouldn’t last more than a few seconds against the Drake’s poison mist. If they dragged this out, she and Silentrain would be the ones to die.

’I have to find another way, or just take a gamble.’

The poison mist slammed into the Defense Talismans, and the result was exactly the same as before.

The only difference was that the Drake, seeming to know the shield would block its mist, flicked its tail and charged straight at them.

For a moment, Seraphina was trapped. If she moved, she would surely inhale the poison mist. If she stayed put, she would be hit by this "dragon-truck."

Seraphina’s pupils shrank. She had already made her choice, but before she could act, a long-handled axe slammed viciously into the Drake’s hind leg—in the exact spot Broken Abyss had struck before!

The Drake’s movements halted instantly. It threw its head back and let out a bloodcurdling shriek that sent debris raining down from the stone walls.

The Drake’s hind leg buckled, and its massive body suddenly dropped by half.

The wound, first torn open by Broken Abyss and then widened by Silentrain, now had the axe’s blade embedded completely within it. Dark green blood gushed out like an open floodgate, sizzling as it splattered onto the stone floor.

Silentrain was hanging from the axe handle, her knuckles white and veins bulging on her temples.

She had used every ounce of her strength in that attack—a side-dash, a leap, and a downward chop, all in one smooth motion, giving the Drake no time to react.

But she had paid a price herself.

The corrosive blood had splashed onto the back of her hands, searing a dense patch of blisters. The pain made her entire forearm tremble.

But she didn’t dare let go. She couldn’t.

’If I let go of this axe, both Seraphina and I will die.’

"Serafelle Sinclair!"

she screamed, her voice laced with pain pushed to its absolute limit.

No more words were needed. Seraphina had already moved before Silentrain even finished shouting her name.

The agonizing pain in its hind leg pinned the Drake in place. Its head was thrown back in a scream, and the not-yet-fully-formed glow in its throat abruptly dissipated.

It instinctively tried to twist its body to bite the insect clinging to its leg, but the angle was too awkward; its body simply couldn’t contort that way. Meanwhile, the insect in front of it was once again unleashing that terrifying blade at its neck!

Seraphina’s figure grew rapidly in the Drake’s vision.

She was no longer thinking about how to dodge any attacks. She used the most direct method—a straight-line sprint!

The stone slabs beneath her feet shattered from the force of her push-off. She shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow.

The Drake finally came to its senses and began brewing its poison mist at Seraphina once again!

The poison mist took time to spray, but Seraphina also needed time to close the distance.

If Seraphina didn’t stop to defend herself, she would be completely exposed to the poison mist. This was the toxin of an A-level creature; no matter how good her Constitution was, she would drop dead.

But the opportunity was fleeting.

’If I stop to defend, will Silentrain and I really get another chance to attack?’