Chapter 316: Retaliation!

"This Samiat Bone-Erosion Flame specializes in necrotic fire magic. I think..."

Based on the intelligence gathered so far, the two dragons played chess while discussing ways to deal with the dracolich. The Cat-Woman later joined the discussion.

Just as the three of them were deep in their lively conversation...

"Amos! My people and the Little Finger crew discovered the same mining site, and a fight broke out!"

Upon receiving the Dragon Sister's message, the White Dragon Lord paused, his hand hovering just as he was about to place a piece on the board.

"How is the battle going?"

"Evenly matched!"

"What is your location?"

"(5468424, 3554729, 3788162)."

"Good! Hold the line and stall them. I'm on my way."

Ordinarily, an evenly matched skirmish between two scouting squads wouldn't warrant deploying a Floating City. But Elena was his sister. Coupled with the lingering grudge from their recent ambush, the White Dragon Lord fully intended to wipe out this Little Finger unit. He would vent his frustrations while sending a clear message: he was not to be trifled with.

Setting down his unplayed chess piece, the White Dragon Lord rose to his feet and strode toward the rotating Control Core suspended in midair.

"Elena ran into Little Finger's people. A fight broke out."

Tossing a brief explanation to his two bewildered companions, the White Dragon Lord placed his hand on the Control Core.

The Ancient Gold Dragon quickly understood. It set down its piece and cleared the board.

"Perfect. Wipe them out and vent our frustrations."

Its thoughts perfectly aligned with the White Dragon Lord's. Even the most mild-mannered good dragon would seethe with rage after being ambushed from the shadows.

The Cat-Woman made no sound, silently agreeing.

...

On the other side, Elena was locked in a fierce battle with a Peak Legendary Rank rogue. A Dragon Breath infused with the power of death blanketed the sky as it crashed toward the airborne rogue.

Just as the Dragon Breath was about to smash into his face, a cloud of black mist appeared out of thin air, and Mawada vanished from his spot.

Shadow Shuttle!

Mawada Dark-Dagger used Shadow Shuttle to reappear not far to Elena's right, panting heavily.

Elena pursued relentlessly. She swung her draconic head, sweeping her Dragon Breath across the area.

Left with no choice, Mawada covered himself with his Shadow Cloak, turning invisible and vanishing from sight to narrowly escape the Dragon Breath once again.

Hiding in the shadows, Mawada stared at the white dragon wreathed in dense death energy, his face livid.

'Damn it! How does a white dragon possess such potent death energy?!'

If not for the unique vitality of a living creature pulsing within Elena's body, Mawada would have assumed she was some dracolich in disguise.

Dense death energy billowed from Elena as she vigilantly scanned her seemingly empty surroundings. Mawada was the leader of the enemy squad and a rogue with a special class; she couldn't let him land a sneak attack.

While Elena guarded against Mawada, he was equally frustrated. Elena's entire body was wrapped in death energy so thick it was almost tangible. If Mawada wanted to strike the white dragon's true body, he first had to break through that outer layer.

But the death energy was incredibly bizarre. If he carelessly let it stick to him, it would cling to him like maggots clinging to the bone, bringing endless trouble. Furthermore, beneath that death energy lay a thick layer of hard dragon scales.

Thoughts of retreat surfaced in Mawada's mind.

'It's just a small, medium-value mineral vein. It isn't worth risking my life against an enemy like this.'

The true owners of the disputed vein—several legendary practitioners—lay at the edge of the pit, their fates unknown. One Legendary Rank Warrior who was still conscious coughed up a mouthful of blood, waiting in despair for the battle's outcome.

Regardless of the victor, his group's fate would remain the same.

Just as Mawada was about to signal his brawling comrades to retreat, rippling waves suddenly appeared in the sky above—the undeniable omen of a Floating Tower's descent.

"??!!"

Mawada was horrified.

'Why would a Floating Tower deploy over a small, medium-value mineral vein?!'

According to the rules of the battlefield, a Floating Tower would only be deployed if the contested target was highly valuable or if an exploration team encountered an invincible adversary.

But given the current situation, there was absolutely no reason for a Floating Tower to show up!

Mawada was completely baffled, but the truth was unfolding right in front of him.

Just as Elena had a way to contact the White Dragon Lord, Mawada also had his own channels to reach out to headquarters. He hurriedly transmitted a message, but the enemy's Floating Tower was clearly going to hit the battlefield first.

Mawada forced himself to calm down. Although the enemy's Floating Tower had arrived first, his side's reinforcements wouldn't take long to get there. As a legendary rogue, his chances of survival were still quite high.

His team, however, was likely going to suffer heavy casualties this time. With that thought in mind, Mawada fled in a direction away from the main crowd.

Within a mere three seconds, the Floating Tower piloted by the White Dragon Lord descended.

In those three seconds, even Mawada—who ran the fastest and the furthest—had not managed to cover more than a thousand meters, let alone the others who were pinned down by their opponents.

However, to a Floating Tower with an attack range of ten kilometers, a thousand meters was no different from a single meter.

"Amos, that guy disappeared. He probably ran away."

Receiving his Dragon Sister's message, the White Dragon Lord activated Soul Sight. Sure enough, a thousand meters away from the battlefield, he spotted an invisible figure sprinting desperately.

Mawada's heart clenched as he sprinted. He glanced back, only to see a massive flaming meteor trailing a long tail bearing down on him, arriving in the blink of an eye.

"No!"

An amplified version of a legendary magic—Meteor Burst!

Boom!

A massive black-and-red mushroom cloud rose into the sky, and the earth trembled violently. Even though Mawada used Shadow Shuttle, he failed to escape the blast radius of the Meteor Burst.

The White Dragon Lord watched a milky-white soul ascend into the sky with his own eyes before retracting his gaze.

Mawada was a Peak Legendary Rank special class user who had a chance of breaking through to High-Tier Legend. Losing ten ordinary legends wouldn't pain Little Finger as much as losing him alone. Therefore, the White Dragon Lord had marked him as the highest priority prey.

The shockwave from the explosion expanded in all directions. The battling legendary powerhouses were forced to halt and deploy their defenses to avoid being injured by the blast. Meanwhile, one legendary powerhouse from Little Finger's side actively dropped his defenses, allowing himself to be blown away by the shockwave.

Although he would suffer injuries doing this, he finally managed to shake off his opponent and seize an opportunity to escape.

Seeing this, the others rejoiced and quickly followed suit.

A short while later, the shockwave passed. The members of Little Finger had already fled over two thousand meters away. The members of Elena's squad gave up in frustration.

Inside the Floating Tower, the White Dragon Lord rapidly chanted an incantation. Utilizing the Floating Tower and metamagic techniques, he compressed the spellcasting time of a legendary magic—which normally took over ten seconds—down to a mere four seconds.

Meteor Burst!

Another meteor trailing a long fiery tail crashed down toward the earth. No matter how fast they ran, they couldn't outrun magic. The flaming meteor exploded, and four more souls ascended into the sky.

If the Little Finger group hadn't scattered to flee, the Meteor Burst's casualties would have been even greater.

Watching the dozen or so surviving enemies fleeing in a panic, the White Dragon Lord reluctantly stopped his attacks because Little Finger's Floating Tower had already appeared in the sky just outside his casting range.

The White Dragon Lord felt slightly disappointed, but the legendary powerhouses beneath the Floating Tower were pleasantly surprised. Because the Meteor Burst exploded from the center out, one enemy lagging behind was blasted backward by the shockwave directly toward them.

The group swarmed forward and finished off the heavily injured enemy.

High in the distant sky, Little Finger's Floating Tower hurriedly flew toward the battlefield. To prevent being caught off guard by an attack the moment they exited the Portal, their commander had opted to teleport to a safe distance first.

The White Dragon Lord took a moment to observe his opponent's Floating Tower.

The enemy Floating Tower was shaped like a massive cone with its tip pointing downward. Its body was entirely pitch-black, yet within that darkness glimmered pinpricks of white light. It resembled a dazzling river of stars on a summer night—mysterious and dangerous.