At this moment, the one-eyed dragon had a clear plan in mind. Even if Constantine refused his demand for more payment, he could still take the spoils for himself. He might not have the confidence to defeat Dautai, the Hell Lord, on his own, but with Constantine and Doom at his side, even someone as powerful as Dautai stood no chance against the three of them. As the only one engaging Dautai in close combat, the one-eyed dragon would be the first to devour him, just like now. Even if he couldn't fully swallow Dautai, he could catch him off guard.
"Crack!" As Dautai sensed the dragon's jaws closing in, he unleashed a terrifying burst of power. The ice encasing him began to crack and shatter rapidly.
However, none of the three were easy opponents. Constantine quickly cast chains of magic around Dautai, while Doom intensified the coldness of his ice magic. Meanwhile, the one-eyed dragon increased his speed, and his mouth opened as if revealing a mysterious dimension. A powerful suction force emerged, pulling Dautai's body toward it.
"Shhh!" As the suction grew stronger, Dautai's body was finally drawn toward the dragon's mouth, shrinking in size as he was pulled in. The dragon's devouring ability was truly remarkable.
"What's this?" Constantine frowned as Dautai's body neared the point of being swallowed whole. While he knew that a Hell Lord wouldn't die so easily, the one-eyed dragon was no simple creature either. What if Dautai lost too much of his power and became less valuable for Constantine's plans? With that thought, Constantine began weakening his magical bindings on Dautai, though the dragon didn't notice. However, Doom raised an eyebrow, confused by Constantine's actions, and responded by further intensifying his ice magic.
Doom wasn't trying to oppose Constantine; he just didn't know what Constantine was planning. After all the effort to restrain Dautai, and with a chance to seriously wound him using Constantine's summoned creature, Doom wasn't about to let the opportunity slip away.
Doom had little prior experience dealing with Hell Lords, but he knew how dangerous they were. A gravely wounded or near-dead Hell Lord was the best kind of Hell Lord.
"Crack!"
Despite Doom's intensified magic and Constantine's initial restraint, Dautai managed to break free. When facing a life-or-death situation, Dautai's power surged far beyond what it had been earlier. If Dautai had been toying with Constantine and Doom before, he was serious now. Once he shattered the ice and broke the chains, Dautai unleashed a terrifying aura, resisting the dragon's suction. Visibly, Dautai's form grew larger, meaning he was close to escaping the dragon's jaws.
"Think you can escape? Not so fast!" At that moment, the dragon let out an ear-splitting roar from deep within its throat, momentarily distracting Dautai. Taking advantage of this moment, the dragon snapped its jaws shut.
"Boom!" Dautai's pupils contracted sharply as he unleashed a powerful burst of energy. Yet even this force couldn't stop the dragon's closing jaws, and Dautai was trapped inside the dragon's mouth.
Inside, the dragon's mouth felt like another dimension, filled with a disgusting stench and a dizzying sensation. Even for Dautai, who had long resided in the Hell Dimension with its harsh environment, the experience was overwhelming. Worse still, Dautai sensed a strange force at work. It wasn't pulling at his body or soul, but at his power.
He could clearly feel his strength rapidly draining. If he didn't escape the dragon's disgusting maw soon, his power would continue to weaken until he could no longer break free. Eventually, he would be completely consumed, his strength lost forever.
"If Satanish were to devour me, would it feel like this? Maybe Satanish's mouth would be even more foul," Dautai mused as he felt his strength slipping away. But instead of resisting, his thoughts began to drift.
From the moment he became a Hell Lord, Dautai knew his eventual fate. He had considered rebellion, but when faced with the unfathomable power of Satanish, he had ultimately abandoned the idea. Now, that same sense of helplessness was weighing on him. Rather than being consumed by Satanish, why not just let this one-eyed dragon finish the job?
"Damn it! This dragon has mind control abilities!" Dautai snapped back to reality as his soul trembled. He realized that the dragon had been using a special mental power to confuse him—its trick for weakening the resistance of creatures it devoured.
This method dulled its prey's will to fight, and as more of its strength was consumed, resistance would eventually become impossible.
Fortunately, Dautai hadn't reached that point yet!
"Whoosh!" In an instant, a torrent of Hellfire erupted from his body. This fire was far stronger than the flames he had used earlier against Doom, a true Hellfire infused with the power of Hell itself. As it flared, the foul aura surrounding him vanished, and the fire roared outward, seemingly intent on burning everything in its path.
Outside, the dragon's eyes flashed with pride after swallowing Dautai. Constantine, watching from nearby, frowned. He couldn't believe that a Hell Lord like Dautai had been defeated so easily. Could his summoned dragon really be that powerful?
"Whoosh!" Just as Constantine hesitated, wondering if he should strike the dragon, a blaze suddenly ignited in the dragon's single eye.
"Damn it!" The dragon's face contorted in rage, and it let out an angry roar, opening its mouth wide.
"Whoosh!" A jet of flames burst from the dragon's mouth, but it wasn't its own fire breath. Instead, it was the terrifying Hellfire that the dragon couldn't contain.
Hellfire was common in the Hell Dimension, but those who could wield it were never ordinary. Moreover, Hellfire grew stronger with the user's power, containing within it the essence of the Hell Dimension itself. This made it one of the most feared forces in Hell.
Even with the dragon's natural talent and the mysterious space within its mouth, it couldn't withstand the Hellfire's explosion and scorching power.
However, the dragon didn't come out of the encounter empty-handed. As a temporary summon of Constantine, it had already gained a significant amount of power during the time it held Dautai in its maw. While this power wouldn't cripple Dautai, it was a valuable gain for the dragon, especially since it had been earned outside the terms of the contract. Every bit of power gained outside the agreement was a bonus, and the dragon could keep profiting.
"I've seen many dragons, but one that would forsake its natural advantages to develop such a unique ability—this is the first time. Which dimension are you from?" Dautai burst forth from the Hellfire, the flames around him merging into his body. His aura grew even more fearsome, and with the added pressure of the Hellfire, he stared at the dragon, asking in a cold voice.
"Heh, what, trying to figure out where I'm from? Not so easy!" The one-eyed dragon sneered in defiance. "How do you know I'm not from the Hell Dimension? After all, there are plenty of dragons in Hell too..."
"If you were a Hell dragon, you wouldn't have feared the Hellfire just now!" Dautai's hand gathered Hellfire again, and it expanded into a blazing inferno, surrounding the dragon and cutting off Doom and Constantine from the fight.
"Wait! Hold on!" The dragon's eyes widened in alarm. Seeing the surrounding Hellfire, it wanted to retreat. According to Constantine's contract, he was supposed to help the dragon if things got too dangerous. How was he supposed to face a Hell Lord alone?
"Boom!"
"Whoosh!"
But Dautai wasn't about to stop. His massive demonic form vanished in a flash, reappearing as he pierced through the dragon's body. At the same time, Hellfire erupted from the wound, burning fiercely within the dragon's flesh.
Though the dragon's massive form looked far more terrifying than Dautai's, the Hell Lord's raw power easily surpassed the dragon's. Even a dragon's famed physical strength was no match for a Hell Lord of the same level.
"Curse you! Don't push me!" Roaring in pain, the dragon struggled to extinguish the Hellfire while threatening Dautai. "If you keep this up, I won't hold back!"
"Heh, today I'm going to take you down and find out which dimension you're from. If I offer you to the source of the Hell Dimension, I might even get my own territory..." Dautai's eyes gleamed with greed. He was already plotting. Just as the dragon wanted to devour him, Dautai wanted to exploit the dragon. If he could claim his own domain, he might escape Satanish's eventual grasp.
"If you push me, I'll just return! Constantine isn't helping me now—he's broken the contract!" The dragon, seeing Dautai's greedy gaze, gulped nervously. He knew that look all too well; it was how he looked at his own prey. He couldn't keep fighting Dautai. Any more, and he'd lose too much.
"Buzz!" As the dragon finished speaking, he activated the contract. An unseen force seemed to turn its gaze toward the dragon and then to Constantine, who was frowning outside the Hellfire. After some evaluation, the power of the magical contract enveloped the dragon.
"Swish!" In the next moment, before Daut
ai could land another blow, the dragon was teleported away by the contract's magic, far easier than when Constantine had first summoned him.
"Damn it!" Both Dautai and Constantine cursed almost simultaneously, but Dautai recovered quickly. With a snap of his fingers, the Hellfire around him shifted, surging toward Doom and Constantine.
"Buzz!" Fortunately, Constantine had been prepared for the dragon's departure. A large magic shield formed in front of him, blocking the Hellfire's advance.
"Shhh!" Meanwhile, Doom was battling the Hellfire with his ice magic, though it was clear that his power was no match for the full might of Dautai's flames. The ice quickly turned to steam, and Doom was on the verge of being overwhelmed...
"Interesting!" Robert, who had been watching from the sidelines, raised an eyebrow in admiration. "Is this knowledge or creativity? He seems to be more formidable than Constantine..."
Just as Robert finished speaking, the ice around Doom's wrists transformed into a swirling stream of water.
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