'Come on, this is a war, not a contest to see who can shout louder.'
Leon turned back to look at Rossweise.
Complaints aside, he understood as well. That surge of dragon might wasn't something ordinary people could withstand.
Facing an opponent of Star's level at such close distance, even Rossweise, also a Dragon King, couldn't help but be suppressed by that dragon's might.
Fearing power is a creature's instinct, and within dragon blood, it is an inherited submission to the strong.
Rossweise raised her eyes, staring intently at the massive being.
There was no expression on her face, nor was her body tense; on the contrary, she looked completely relaxed.
Leon looked at her, opened his mouth, about to ask how she was doing, when she beat him to it.
"Leon."
"...Hm?"
"That shout just now... was so freaking cool."
General Leon was stunned, looking at Rossweise in disbelief.
She squinted her eyes and smiled. There wasn't a trace of bravado in her smile, it was pure, heartfelt praise.
But upon closer look, Leon still noticed a trace of cold sweat trickling down her forehead and the tip of her nose.
In that moment, Leon understood.
That earth-shaking dragon might had indeed affected Rossweise.
The things hidden in one's bloodline couldn't be easily changed. Even another Dragon King would've reacted the same way.
Maybe even worse than Rossweise. When she faced the Radiant Star Dragon King's pressure up close, she hadn't shown the slightest discomfort, relying entirely on her strong willpower to hold out.
Until Leon's shout settled her mind completely.
She didn't lack the courage to face a powerful enemy. She just needed someone to help her at a critical moment.
And that person, was Leon.
"If you praised me like that normally, I'd definitely be really happy."
After a brief surprise, Leon smiled and said, "So, can you say something like that again after the battle ends?"
Rossweise spread her dragon wings and slowly wrapped herself within them.
Before that beautiful face was fully hidden behind her wings, she replied, "Depends on your performance, dummy."
With those words, Rossweise once again unfurled her wings. Instantly, a silver dragon roared into the sky.
From this moment on, the battle entered its next phase.
The humanoid and dragon forms of dragons each had their own advantages.
In humanoid form, dragons could manipulate magic with more precision, and their attack range was more focused; the downside was a lack of explosive power and slightly weaker defense.
Dragon form could fully make up for those two shortcomings, but at the cost of agility, and magic consumption would also increase.
The silver dragon clan invested all their stats into speed, so in both body size and magic strength, Rossweise was inferior to Star.
So if they wanted to beat this flashy old guy, she and Leon had to cooperate seamlessly. No room for error.
Thankfully, this married couple had perfect chemistry.
They didn't even need to speak. Just one glance and they could read what the other was going to do.
In short, team voice chat.
Seeing Rossweise fly into the sky and get ready, Leon also adjusted his stance.
"Round two... begin."
The couple launched a simultaneous attack on Star from ground and air.
But this time, Star didn't use the Dusk Bell like before.
In humanoid form, being smaller in size, magic could more effectively cover the entire Dusk Bell.
But in dragon form, to gather magic of that strength would require dozens of times more energy than in humanoid form.
Not to mention, the Dusk Bell had already been pierced by that human kid, using it again likely wouldn't work.
So this time, facing their offensive, Star chose to go from defense to offense.
Using the high burst power of his dragon form to intercept their attacks.
"ROARRRRR!"
A dragon's roar erupted, and countless golden beams shot out from Star's mouth.
Like a golden rain, descending from the sky, crashing into the ground.
His first target was naturally Leon Casmodeous.
From the earlier exchanges, Star had already more or less understood why the Empire was so desperate to eliminate this guy.
If someone like that was allowed to live on, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Rulers have their own ways of governing, but in one thing, they're all the same:
They never allow uncontrollable factors to exist.
And Leon, was uncontrollable.
So he had to be erased.
BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—
Countless golden beams swept past Leon, causing a chain of magical explosions under his feet.
His silver armor was engulfed by flames and smoke, making Star lose track of him momentarily.
But before he could relocate Leon, a wave of heat rushed from above and to the side.
Looking up, three crescent-shaped flames came straight for him.
S-rank fire magic: Flame Chasing the Moon
While maintaining the high burst and burn damage typical of fire magic, the transformation into a blade shape greatly increased its penetration.
The three flaming crescents struck Star's head dead on, leaving very visible scorch marks on his golden scales.
But in the end, it only damaged the scales. For a Dragon King, that wasn't considered effective damage.
"Dragons truly are declining... The new generation's Dragon King only has this much skill?", Star wasn't stingy with his mocking words.
"If you still had the power to block out the sky with one hand, why have you hidden in the dark for a hundred years and even sided with humans?", Rossweise fired back without hesitation.
"I sided with humans for the long-term future of the dragon race."
"The dragon race's future should be in the hands of dragons themselves. Not dependent on others."
After the brief exchange, Rossweise shook her wings and released a spiral airflow.
Then she gathered fire in her mouth and blasted it out.
The flames caught up to the spiral airflow ahead. In an instant, a winding 'fire serpent' charged at Star at high speed.
S-rank fire magic: Dance of Blazing Flames
Star's massive size gave him incredible defense and magical bursts.
But being big also meant he was easier to hit.
Especially against accelerated flame attacks. Star had no way to dodge.
The fire serpent struck Star's neck. His scales blocked much of the impact but couldn't shield against the intense heat.
Star growled low, gathering energy in his mouth, his target: Rossweise in the air.
But before he could release the attack, a silver figure dashed from the scorched ground at extreme speed.
Lightning crackled in his hand as he charged at Star.
Star had been keeping an eye on Leon, so there was no way that brat would pull a sneak attack.
He continued gathering energy while sweeping his huge dragon tail toward Leon.
That human brat didn't dodge at all, charging straight at Star without hesitation.
Star snorted coldly, thinking to himself, "Arrogant fool—die!"
The golden tail rose high, blocking out the sun above Leon. A massive shadow engulfed him.
When Leon looked up, the tail had already smashed down.
BOOM!!
This wasn't a simple fall, it was nearly a full-power strike from Star.
Using his massive body as an advantage, even another Dragon King of similar size would struggle to take this blow.
Let alone a human in the flesh.
As the tail crashed down, Star released the energy in his mouth, aiming at Rossweise in the air.
Known for her speed, the Silver Dragon Queen naturally wasn't going to be hit by such a slow, charged-up attack. She dodged Star's strike with ease.
"Heh... One reckless brute who only charges ahead, one new king who only dodges. This old man really doesn't know how to judge you two."
The queen hovered midair, dragon eyes staring at the area under the massive golden tail.
She believed Leon had a plan. He wouldn't be stupid enough to charge in and get flattened.
"If you don't know how to judge us... how about hearing my opinion?"
Suddenly, the man's voice came from behind Star's neck.
The massive body shuddered violently.
Star's pupils contracted, "W-When—"
"So, my judgment is... old fossils like you should be buried in the ground."
Star tried to turn and swat the "flea" on his back.
But a crisp snap of fingers echoed, and a blue light flashed at the base of his tail.
Right after, a paralyzing jolt shot through his tail and spread through his lower body.
A-rank lightning magic: Phantom Lightning
Just now, Star's attacks had stirred up countless flames and smoke on the battlefield. Leon used that cover to cast Phantom Lightning, creating a short-lived clone. While Star was focused on the clone, Leon silently moved behind the giant body to the back of its neck.
This trick only worked on huge Dragon Kings. In normal combat, it was easy to tell real from fake.
Of course, Rossweise's support was also critical.
If not for her two S-rank spells disrupting Star, the old Dragon King might've seen through Leon's trick.
"I'm sure before you came, someone told you not to turn into dragon form against me. But clearly, you didn't listen."
Leon gathered lightning into a sword, "Still, it's not too late. You can reflect on it in the afterlife with Constantine. The review title: 'How Stupid It Is to Fight Casmodeous in Dragon Form.'"
The lightning sword slashed down, piercing the hard golden scales on the back of Star's neck.
Star's dragon pupils trembled violently.
This was even more shocking than being caught off guard.
"H-He actually pierced Star's scales with a lightning sword?"
Even watching from afar, Ravi was shaken by that human's terrifying power.
The pressure from Star's earlier dragon might hadn't fully faded, and now that guy called Casmodeous had pushed him into a new, chilling fear.
But the two fears were fundamentally different.
Dragon might suppression came from within the bloodline.
But the pressure Leon gave off came from strength far beyond even Dragon Kings, monstrous strength.
At this moment, Nacho also had no mood to gloat. His face grew serious, "Does Star have any more trump cards? If not, we'll have to call Blei and Jagers. The three of you are our only hope."
Ravi gulped. This time, he didn't argue with Nacho, "Got it. I'll prepare. That monster... absolutely, absolutely cannot be allowed to live. He's too terrifying..."
He looked at Leon and muttered again, "Too terrifying."
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