Chapter 274: Wild Beast Plains Mercenary Corps

The Copper Dragon, Vernosi, jolted awake.

"N-no problem."

The White Dragon Lord frowned at the Copper Dragon's profusely bleeding wound. The Spear of the Titans rivaled Dragon Breath in notoriety; naturally, it was more than just a simple spear.

The Spear of the Titans contained the Titans' strange power and carried peculiar effects akin to an enchanted weapon. This Sea Titan's spear prevented wounds from healing naturally.

"You'd better treat your wound first."

Reminded by the White Dragon Lord, the stunned Copper Dragon suddenly remembered his injury and grimaced in pain. He hurriedly tended to the wound on his outer thigh, muttering as he worked.

"What a huge loss! A massive loss!"

By now, the Sea Titan's reinforcements had appeared on the horizon. The White Dragon Lord squinted and identified another Sea Titan, accompanied by a Legendary Rank Orc shaman and a Legendary Rank Transcendent Beast—a berserk demon ape.

The Sea Titan, Paridel, gazed at the distant battlefield. He noticed that aside from seven onlookers, only a single White Dragon and a single Copper Dragon occupied the sky.

A bad feeling washed over him.

His older brother was missing?!

His mind raced. When he received his brother's message, he had been resting at home in Willis City.

His brother had invited him and two friends to deal with a lone White Dragon. Paridel had acted without hesitation, seeking out two Legendary Rank friends who were on good terms with the brothers.

Following his brother's instructions, he had waited for the battle with the White Dragon to begin before coming over to surround and kill it.

Yet now, the White Dragon was perfectly fine, and his brother was nowhere to be seen.

Seeing the Copper Dragon bandaging its wound, Paridel immediately understood.

It was a conspiracy!

His brother had been set up! The Copper Dragon must have ambushed him at a critical moment in the fight against the White Dragon. His brother's chances of survival were grim!

Paridel remembered how his brother had once suffered a severe injury on the battlefield to protect him, along with all their childhood memories. His eyes instantly went bloodshot as murderous intent and fury flooded his mind.

"Paridel! Don't be rash!"

Ignoring his friend's warning, Paridel conjured a Spear of the Titans. He accelerated the entire way, charging right up to the White Dragon Lord.

Paridel still harbored one last shred of hope.

"Damned dragon! Where is my brother?!!!"

The White Dragon Lord cast a mocking look at the screaming Sea Titan and pointed to the wetlands below.

"Relax! I'll send you to reunite with your brother right now!"

Prompted by the White Dragon, Paridel spotted the corpse slowly sinking into the water. The final sliver of hope in his heart shattered.

"Ah!"

With a roar of pure rage, Paridel charged, gripping the Spear of the Titans with both hands to thrust it at the White Dragon Lord.

Now that things had reached this point, the White Dragon Lord no longer needed to hide his true strength. Magic surged within his body.

Amos's Frost Domain!

Amos's Frost Domain was the White Dragon Lord's first self-created magic. Based on the terrifying cold energy inside his body, it used magical power to amplify that frost, sweeping out in all directions like a sudden tsunami.

After years of continuous improvement, Amos's Frost Domain was no longer just a large-scale spell for clearing weak enemies. When unleashed at full force, it could pose a genuine threat to entities of the same Tier.

A terrifying icy aura erupted from the White Dragon Lord, sweeping out to blanket the surroundings. The plummeting temperature instantly froze the moisture in the air into frost.

Paridel's reckless charge cost him dearly. He felt as if the blood in his veins were freezing solid; his joints stiffened, severely restricting his movements.

The White Dragon Lord swung his tail in a full arc, viciously swiping at the Sea Titan. Backed by the dragon's immense strength and mass, that strike could bend even a pillar of solid steel.

Paridel's scalp tingled as he heard the howling wind generated by the incoming tail. With his body stiff from the cold, he couldn't dodge in time. Left with no choice, he activated his life-saving trump card.

An inconspicuous belt around Paridel's waist suddenly burst with brilliant light, triggering its stored magic.

legendary magic—Diamond Body!

Strange magical energy washed over Paridel, transforming his entire body into translucent, glittering diamond.

In the distance, the Orc shaman used metamagic to instantly cast a Master Tier spell—Shield of Triumph Rock—to protect his friend.

Under the colossal force of the Ancestral Dragon's tail, the rocky shield couldn't hold for even a fraction of a second. The tail slammed directly into Paridel.

Paridel was launched away like a batted baseball, shooting off into the distance.

After flying a good distance, the Diamond Body deactivated, and Paridel frantically stabilized himself in the air.

Having just brushed with death, most of the fiery rage in Paridel's heart extinguished. Looking at the terrifying Ice Aura swirling around the distant White Dragon, his heart sank.

He finally realized that his brother had badly misjudged the situation. This was no ordinary, lone White Dragon; this was a solitary Dragon Race powerhouse with High-Tier Legend combat strength.

The Orc shaman and the berserk demon ape felt a bitter taste in their mouths. They hadn't wanted to get involved in the ancient feud between Titans and dragons. But Paridel had told them this was just a group beatdown on a lone Adult White Dragon. They only had to hold the line and make sure it didn't escape. For the sake of their friendship, they had agreed.

Who could have expected things to turn out like this?

Paridel flew back and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the berserk demon ape, shielding the spellcaster behind them.

Both the ape and the Orc shaman shot Paridel furious glares. Paridel naturally understood his friends' resentment, but he could only offer a bitter smile.

All three were seasoned, veteran legendary powerhouses. With just a few exchanged glances, they made up their minds.

Revenge was out of the question; their most pressing concern was figuring out how to survive.

Although a High-Tier Legend was incredibly strong, a trio of legendary powerhouses wasn't completely defenseless. If they fought a fighting retreat, they could make it back to Willis City and save their lives.

However, a single mistake during their withdrawal would spell irreversible ruin. Moreover, the Copper Dragon was a massive wildcard.

The Old Shaman's heavily wrinkled face twitched slightly. As a lord mage, he wasn't too worried about his own safety as long as the White Dragon didn't single him out.

Spells like Teleportation and Flock of Ravens could guarantee his escape. But unless the situation was truly beyond saving, he didn't want to abandon his comrades.

"Respected Lord Dragon, I am Moyl Mist Raven of the Wild Beast Plains Mercenary Corps, and this is my companion, the berserk demon ape, Murphy Bloodthirsty. It was never our intention to offend you. Do you think we could let this matter go?"

The Wild Beast Plains Mercenary Corps was a super-large organization composed mostly of Orcs, specializing in highly dangerous wartime commissions. Even the White Dragon Lord had heard the name of their leader: the Iron-Hand Mad Beast, Senag Blood Butcher.

The Old Shaman brought out his faction's background to try and avoid a deadly fight.

But a Senag Blood Butcher who was miles away couldn't scare the White Dragon Lord. Furthermore, his target was only the Titan; he didn't care much about the other two.

"You two can leave if you want, but he stays!"

Though Moyl Mist Raven wanted to abandon Paridel, high-ranking mercenaries lived and died by their reputations. If word got out that they had abandoned a friend, their careers would be over.

Furthermore, if leaving Paridel behind ruined the reputation of the Wild Beast Plains Mercenary Corps, their captain—Senag Blood Butcher—would kill them long before the White Dragon Lord got the chance.

"You jest, Your Excellency. Paridel is our comrade. How could we leave him behind?"

The White Dragon Lord raised a brow and said coldly,

"Then there's nothing left to discuss."

Magic surged within the White Dragon Lord as he rapidly chanted an incantation. Ice Arrows materialized around him one after another, filling the air so densely it was enough to strike terror into anyone's heart.

"Are you really going to force our hand?! We aren't pushovers, either!"

Even as the Old Shaman roared, his hands moved with blinding speed. Taking advantage of the White Dragon Lord's casting time, he tore open several magic scrolls, stacking a chain of buffs on himself and his allies.

Seconds later, the White Dragon Lord's spell was complete.

Thousands upon thousands of Ice Arrows hovered in the air around the White Dragon Lord. The arrowheads gleamed with an eerie blue light, and their shafts were flawlessly translucent. One glance was enough to know these were no ordinary Ice Arrows.

Ice Arrow Rain: Empowered · Spellbreaking!

Bolstered by two consecutive metamagic techniques, and compounded by the fact that his ice magic was inherently far stronger than average, the White Dragon Lord forcefully elevated the Master Tier Rain of Ice Arrows to a Legendary Rank spell.

Of course, the mana consumed was also on the level of legendary magic.

But the White Dragon Lord didn't care. The Ancestral Dragon's vast magical reserves were more than enough to sustain such a massive drain.

An Ancestral Dragon's immense mana pool, a supremely powerful physique, the massive boost to ice magic provided by the Winter's Blessing, and a Dragon Breath laced with soul-attacking properties—this was what allowed the White Dragon Lord, at mere Legendary Rank, to fight on par with High-Tier Legend combatants.

The Ice Arrows launched!

They fired all at once, a dense, sky-blotting swarm that converged on the trio from every conceivable angle in straight lines and deadly arcs.

The Old Shaman's scalp went numb.

"Quick! Focus our defenses!"

The berserk demon ape possessed the sharpest beastly instincts. The moment the Ice Arrows took shape, it sensed a lethal threat and activated its legendary ability without hesitation.

Boiling Blood!

The blood inside the ape's body instantly heated up and accelerated, surging through its veins like rushing magma. Its chest heaved violently as its breathing grew heavy, and thick white steam blasted from its huge nostrils like a boiling kettle.

Boiling Blood drastically accelerated internal blood flow for a short duration, granting immense explosive power and massively boosting physical and magical resistance. For the duration of the skill, the user felt no pain, and their wounds healed so rapidly it was practically regeneration—making it a supreme technique for both burst damage and survival.

However, it came with a significant period of weakness afterward, and strong external stimuli could cause the user to lose its mind. It could only be used as a final trump card.

While scrambling to hide behind the massive ape, the Old Shaman rapidly chanted.

Petrifying Skin!

Anti-Magic Ring!

The Sea Titan shrank his massive frame, tucking himself behind the ape just like the Old Shaman, while simultaneously casting The Shelter Of The Sea and a Power of the Ocean buff.

An azure curtain of water materialized in front of the berserk demon ape, and a pair of seawater bracers formed around its wrists.

The two of them barely managed to cast two spells on the ape before the Ice Arrows struck.

The Shelter Of The Sea held for only a split second before being pierced by the spellbreaking arrows, shattering instantly.

With bloodshot eyes and a deafening roar, the berserk demon ape covered its face and vitals with its thick arms, bracing itself to endure the torrential barrage of ice.

Only those in the eye of the storm could truly comprehend the sheer terror of facing tens of thousands of arrows. The trio was like a fragile skiff lost at sea.

The icy projectiles hammered down like a monsoon, instantly shredding the defensive magic layered over the ape.

The arrows slammed into its body, biting deep into its flesh. However, the icy tips didn't penetrate far before they were wedged tight by the dense muscle and melted away by the ape's magma-like blood, leaving behind thousands of densely packed bloody holes.

In mere moments, not a single patch of the berserk demon ape's skin remained intact.

Standing off to the side, the Copper Dragon, who had finished treating his wounds, watched the river-like volley of Ice Arrows completely engulf the three enemies. Since he couldn't intervene directly, he resigned himself to being a bystander, tossing a few minor buff spells onto the White Dragon Lord just to do something.

The icy barrage erupted quickly and ended just as fast. In the span of ten short seconds, over ten thousand arrows had been fired.

Boiling Blood was truly a formidable legendary ability. Although the berserk demon ape was bleeding profusely from thousands of punctures, it had survived the Rain of Ice Arrows.

The moment the barrage ceased, the ape lowered its mutilated arms, revealing crimson, frenzied eyes. It let out a furious, bestial roar and charged madly at the White Dragon Lord.

Paridel cried out in shock, "Murphy?!!!"

"Damn it!" Moyl shouted. "It's lost its mind!"

"What do we do?!" Paridel demanded.

"It will enter a state of weakness once the Berserk ends. We can't save it. Run!"

With those words, Moyl grimaced as he tore open a scroll inscribed with purple runes.

Greater Teleportation!

Moyl vanished from his spot.

Gritting his teeth, Paridel dove toward the wetlands below and plunged into the water. As a Sea Titan, he was far faster in the water than he was in the air.

Though the White Dragon Lord noticed the two fleeing, he was tangled up with the enraged ape, and the Copper Dragon lacked the strength to intervene.

The furious ape swung its massive fists, hurling punch after punch at the White Dragon Lord.

As he defended himself, the White Dragon Lord noticed that something was off—the ape had completely lost all reason.

Furthermore, the horrific wounds inflicted by the Ice Arrows had fully healed during its very charge.

That level of regeneration was nothing short of terrifying.

However, without its sanity, the ape posed little true threat no matter how strong it was.

Unwilling to waste time tangling with it, the White Dragon Lord rapidly backed away and chanted a quick incantation.

Group Invisibility!

The White Dragon Lord and the Copper Dragon faded from sight simultaneously.

Having lost its targets, the crazed ape swung its heavy head around. It spotted the seven onlookers in the distance and charged straight at them.

Sensing imminent danger, the onlookers scattered in all directions. The mindless ape chased after one of them, quickly disappearing into the distance.

The White Dragon Lord felt no psychological burden at the bystanders' misfortune. None of those spectators had harbored good intentions anyway.

Waiting to reap the spoils of another's conflict—hoping to scavenge some dragon blood or Titan blood—was an all-too-common practice.

Underwater, the invisible White Dragon Lord approached the dead Sea Titan.

This Sea Titan had barely put up any effective resistance before being wiped out in a single burst by the White Dragon Lord.

As a result, his clothing was still fully intact, and not a single piece of his equipment was missing.

Even the younger brother had possessed a piece of life-saving legendary equipment; there was no reason the stronger older brother wouldn't have some good loot of his own.

But with the Copper Dragon standing nearby, it would have been unseemly for the White Dragon Lord to loot the corpse right then and there. Instead, he simply stored the Sea Titan's body away.