Chapter 161: Battle

The White Dragon Lord flapped his wings, banking upward toward the clouds. His expression was more solemn than ever before.

Last time, Ogusge's target had been the Dragon Mother. This time, the object of his fury was the White Dragon Lord, who had made a fool of him.

If battle was unavoidable, he had to at least draw the fight as far away from Tasman Island as possible to minimize the damage to White Castle. Thus, the White Dragon Lord chose to strike first.

He beat his massive wings, cleaving through the hidden atmospheric currents as he flew directly toward the golden sphere of light on the horizon.

The legendary priest, Ogusge, beat angelic wings forged from divine power. His face cold as frost, he flew to meet the approaching white dragon.

The legendary priest had completely calmed down.

After leaving White Castle and flying a long distance, Ogusge's muddled mind had gradually cleared. The more he thought about it, the more things didn't add up, until he finally realized he might have been tricked.

He originally wanted to turn back to White Castle immediately to settle the score, but after days of relentless pursuit, he was physically and mentally exhausted, his divine power running dry.

Instead, he found an uninhabited island to rest and eat. After praying to the barbarian god, Balinor, and getting enough sleep to fully recover his energy, he finally returned to confront the White Dragon Lord.

At last, the two entered the attack range of their respective magic and divine spells.

Ogusge wasted no words, rapidly chanting an incantation.

Hammer of Judgment!

Golden divine power surged from his body and gathered in his palm, forming a small, square-headed golden hammer. The barbarian archbishop wound back his thick arm and hurled the divine construct.

Catching sight of the golden speck, the speeding White Dragon Lord snapped his wings down to gain altitude.

The Hammer of Judgment sailed harmlessly beneath his belly, vanishing into the distant sky.

With a mere thought from Amos, the moisture in the air rapidly condensed into a five-meter-long ice spear that shot straight at the priest.

Ice Lance Spell!

The Ice Lance Spell was a mid-tier single-target attack magic known for its exceptional piercing power among mid-tier spells. Furthermore, cast by the White Dragon Lord, its might was several times greater than when used by an ordinary Mid-Tier Mage.

Ogusge swung his Spiked Mace to deflect the incoming spear of ice. His palm went numb, and he inwardly marveled at the sheer power behind the spell.

He didn't dwell on it, simply channeling his divine power once more.

Guardian of God!

Epic Fortitude!

...

Bolstered by numerous enhancing spells, Ogusge felt a surge of strength course through his entire body. He tightened his grip on his Spiked Mace and charged at the White Dragon Lord with a furious roar.

The White Dragon Lord, similarly protected by an array of enhancing spells, simply flapped his wings and veered out of the legendary priest's flight path.

The fierce fear the reckless, and the reckless fear the suicidal.

Right now, Ogusge was exactly that kind of dangerous fanatic, ready to throw his life away at any moment. Amos was extremely wary of him.

Fortunately, apart from a complete disregard for his own survival, the legendary priest held no other advantages.

In terms of flight speed and aerial maneuverability, a land-bound barbarian couldn't hope to match the apex predators of the sky, the True Dragon Race.

And in raw physical strength, the priest was no match for the dragon.

Still, to prevent Ogusge from self-destructing and taking them both out, the White Dragon Lord had absolutely no desire to engage him in close combat.

Instead, he intended to use magic to teach Ogusge a harsh lesson.

Dodging the divine arrows firing at him in a relentless barrage, the white dragon rapidly chanted an incantation.

High-tier magic—Blizzard!

The moment the spell was completed, magically summoned dark clouds rapidly converged.

In an instant, heavy snow filled the sky.

The weather in the area had been altered, creating the perfect combat environment for the White Dragon Lord.

But that wasn't all. Using the blizzard for cover, he circled the legendary priest while simultaneously casting the Invisibility Spell, vanishing from Ogusge's sight.

Blizzard was a high-tier magic designed to control the battlefield rather than inflict direct damage, but its intensity still surpassed that of a natural snowstorm.

The freezing snowflakes continuously whipped against Ogusge's face, stinging his skin.

Yet Ogusge paid it no mind. The Northern Barbarians lived in the freezing expanses at the northernmost edge of Nordhill, granting them innate frost resistance. A blizzard like this was well within his tolerance limits.

What actually troubled the legendary priest was his inability to locate the White Dragon Lord.

The swirling snow blinded him, and the howling wind drowned out his hearing.

However, Ogusge had been in the Legendary Rank for many years. As a Level 23 legendary priest with abundant combat experience, he understood that the best response was to stay put. Running around blindly would only walk him right into a trap.

A holy prayer passed his lips, and a thin, golden shield of divine power enveloped him, blocking out the snow.

With the shield active, Ogusge watched the swirling snow and felt slightly more at ease.

Although the divine shield looked flimsy, it was a genuine legendary divine spell with astonishing defensive power. Not even the White Dragon Lord could shatter it in a single strike.

Hidden within the blizzard, the invisible white dragon saw his enemy conjure the shield and immediately gauged its defensive capabilities.

Only the devastating destructive power of legendary magic could pierce it in one hit and injure the priest inside.

But casting legendary magic required a chanted incantation, which would give away his position and allow Ogusge time to prepare.

Amos had anticipated this, so he had no intention of using magic at all. When he evolved into an Ancestral Dragon, his innate Dragon Breath had mutated, granting it the ability to attack the soul directly. Its power was in no way inferior to standard legendary magic.

Using the snowstorm as cover, the White Dragon Lord silently crept closer to the legendary priest.

Suddenly, Ogusge's heart tightened as a sense of impending danger washed over him.

This sixth sense had saved his life countless times, and he trusted his instincts now. Whatever the white dragon was preparing, it was a genuine threat to his life.

Ogusge hurriedly activated the wing-shaped pendant around his neck.

Summon Divine Servant!

A golden elliptical portal appeared in midair, and a divine servitor with twin golden wings and an obscured face stepped through.

Divine servitors were attendants created by a deity using the souls of devout priests who had returned to the Divine Kingdom. Forged and enhanced by the power of a true god, most possessed Legendary Rank strength.

Their strength was also directly tied to the priest they had once been in life. The stronger their pre-death abilities and the purer their faith, the more powerful the resulting divine servitor.

This trans-dimensional servitor wielded a golden flail, its entire body draped in a milky-white cloak trimmed with gold, radiating an aura of pure holiness.

When a deity forged a divine servitor, they preserved the believer's combat skills, meaning most servitors wielded their preferred weapon from life.

The moment it stepped out of the portal, the divine servitor scanned its surroundings and instantly locked onto the White Dragon Lord.

Amos knew he was in trouble the second he saw it. Because divine servitors lacked physical bodies and existed purely as spiritual entities, they possessed Soul Sight.

All invisibility and camouflage spells were useless against an ability that peered directly at the soul.

Since he had been spotted, the White Dragon Lord immediately changed tactics, pulling back to open up the distance once more.

Ogusge followed the servitor's gaze. Though he still couldn't see the dragon, he knew his enemy was exactly where the celestial being was looking.

"Sly white dragon, where exactly is Salilina?!"

"You'll have to ask Salilina that! How am I supposed to know where she is?"

The White Dragon Lord shouted back as he retreated. It was the truth; when the Dragon Mother left, she had hidden the magically branded Scale inside her Dimensional Bag, completely severing Amos's ability to sense her location.

But Ogusge clearly didn't believe him.

"White dragon, I know you are formidable, having built such a powerful kingdom in such a short time. But our Northern Barbarian Race is not to be trifled with. I will ask you one last time."

The legendary priest gnashed his teeth.

"Where! Is! Salilina?!"

Seeing no further point in hiding, Amos canceled the Invisibility Spell and the Blizzard, letting sunlight shine down on the ocean once again.

"You can ask as many times as you like; my answer remains the same."

The White Dragon Lord looked at the frowning legendary priest and enunciated every single syllable.

"I! Don't! Know!"

"Then go to hell!"

Ogusge flew into a rage and charged at the White Dragon Lord alongside the divine servitor, rapidly firing golden arrows of divine power from his hands.

The white dragon expended mana to cast an ice-blue magical shield over himself, then resumed his retreat while chanting.

The golden arrows hammered against the magical shield like raindrops striking a pond, sending ripples across its surface. Aside from draining a portion of Amos's mana, they failed to leave a scratch.

A sense of unease crept over Ogusge, but out of sheer confidence in his own strength, he continued his pursuit.

After all, he was a Level 23 veteran of the Legendary Rank; he had no reason to fear a dragon that had just reached adulthood.

After a chase lasting nearly half a minute, the White Dragon Lord finally completed his spell.

Amos turned his head. A stunning yet utterly lethal ice-blue magical array, ten meters in diameter, hovered in the air before him.

The frenzied mana pouring from the array made Ogusge's hair stand on end, and he immediately initiated a tactical retreat.

A massive torrent of ice-blue vapor surged violently from the array, much like an oversized high-pressure water cannon. But what this array was spewing was far deadlier than mere water.

The instant the current erupted, the sheer cold flash-froze the moisture in the surrounding air into fine ice crystals that drifted down toward the ocean below.

Legendary magic—Breath of Shivering Cold!

True to his status as a veteran of the Legendary Rank, Ogusge managed to scramble out of the blast radius just in time.

However, the Breath of Shivering Cold was a sustained, guided spell. The White Dragon Lord simply adjusted the array's aim, sweeping the freezing torrent back toward the legendary priest and his otherworldly servitor.

The roles completely reversed. Wielding his spell like a massive water cannon, the White Dragon Lord chased the two across the sky.

During the pursuit, the legendary priest desperately swerved up and down.

When he flew high, the guided Breath of Shivering Cold blasted into the thin, white clouds. The impacted clouds were wiped away as cleanly as if an eraser had been dragged across the sky, leaving perfectly carved gaps in the cloud layer.

When he dove low, the breath blasted into the ocean, instantly freezing the seawater and leaving long trails of floating ice drifting on the surface.

After a short while, although Amos hadn't managed to score a direct hit on either target, his relentless pursuit successfully separated them.

Ogusge continued to flee, but the otherworldly divine servitor grew sick of running. Crying out to Balinor on high, it turned and charged straight at the White Dragon Lord.

This charge played right into Amos's hands.

Multitasking effortlessly, Amos continued to pour mana into the spell, using the Breath of Shivering Cold to herd Ogusge even farther away, while secretly masking his movements behind the elemental magic to channel soul power into his maw.

The divine servitor dragged its flail, beating its holy wings as it closed the distance at breakneck speed.

But when it got close enough, its Soul Sight revealed the terrifying mass of soul power coalescing in the dragon's mouth. It slammed on the brakes, flipped backward like a swallow, and immediately fled in the opposite direction.

Amos was dumbfounded. He hadn't expected the servitor to run away so decisively.

But the pressure building in his throat had to be released.

Roar!

A resonant dragon roar echoed across the sky, and it was no ordinary cry.

Amos had discovered he could concentrate his soul power in his maw and unleash it alongside his roar, creating a devastating surprise attack.

Under normal circumstances, if an enemy was caught off guard or lacked specialized magical equipment to protect against soul attacks, the strike would hit their soul directly. They would instantly lose all capacity to resist, leaving them at the white dragon's mercy.

But Amos had never expected his very first use of this ability to be such a total failure.

Yet on closer thought, it made sense. He had picked the absolute worst target. Divine servitors were entities made purely of soul stuff; their perception of soul power vastly exceeded that of standard legendary powerhouses.

The distance was too great. By the time the soul attack caught up to the servitor, its power had waned to almost nothing.

The servitor's form merely flickered for a second before stabilizing.

The White Dragon Lord abandoned the chase. Pursuing them further was pointless; it was better to conserve his stamina and mana.

Once Amos stopped, Ogusge came to a halt as well. Dodging the Breath of Shivering Cold had been like dancing on the edge of a blade—one wrong step and he would have been completely obliterated.

The frantic evasion had severely depleted the legendary priest's stamina. His chest heaved heavily as he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the servitor, glaring at the white dragon hovering in the sky.

Ogusge had also sensed the soul attack hidden within that roar, and his wariness deepened to sheer dread.

For a legendary priest, physical death was not the end. But if the soul was destroyed, not even a deity could save them.

Knowing the white dragon possessed a method to directly attack the soul, Ogusge was now terrified.

After all, although he had sworn an oath that he would never enter the Divine Kingdom if he didn't kill the Dragon Mother, that didn't mean Balinor, the god of barbarians, would abandon him if he failed.

To any deity, the soul of a Legendary Rank follower was a tremendously valuable and rare asset.

There had been precedents. When legendary priests who failed to fulfill their vows died, they had been taken by their deities and similarly transformed into divine servitors, serving their patron god to atone for their failures.