A foul stench rushed forth as the batwing serpent-lizard burst from the fog, its massive jaws splitting wide. Crimson light welled in its throat before a torrent of dark red flame spewed forth.
Using its own fire as cover, the beast snapped its vast, scale-clad wings inward and dove like a battering ram. Four claws, gleaming with murderous light, slashed for the golden dragon's belly.
Lo Quen's dragon eyes flared wide with fury. His wings hammered downward, whipping up a violent gale that wrenched his body skyward. At the same time, his spiked tail cracked like a steel whip, lashing toward the serpent's slender neck.
Ssshhhhh!
The crimson flame scraped across the golden dragon's flank but was stopped short by the faint golden aura clinging to his scales.
A heartbeat later, Lo Quen's tail smashed against the serpent's neck with a bone-splintering crack. Its attack died in midair. The creature's head sagged, flames still sputtering from its jaws as its body spiraled down into the sea.
Lo Quen drew in the Dragon's Soul from the corpse, but before he could savor it, a shrill cry split the skies above.
The white-feathered serpent dove, its crimson crest blazing like a torch.
It spat a searing beam of fire straight for Lo Quen's eye.
Even before the flame reached him, its hooked beak was poised to strike, ready to drive home a fatal blow once the fire blinded him.
Lo Quen's body rolled hard to the side, narrowly dodging the blazing white stream. The heat scorched his scales.
His jaws opened wide, unleashing a fan of golden Dragonfire—broad, violent, not aimed to kill but to cut off the beast's path of attack.
At the same instant, his hind claws slashed upward like lightning, raking the feathered serpent's spread wings.
Riiip!
The talons shredded through the tough wing membrane. The creature shrieked, tumbling out of balance, its fire line veering wide.
Lo Quen gave no quarter. His massive head whipped around, jaws gaping, and clamped down on the serpent's soft chest and belly.
Crunch!
The monster loosed a dying wail, blood and fragments of its own organs spraying from its beak as it plummeted like a kite with its string cut.
A heavy gust pressed from above—another attacker. A chimera, more than ten meters long, swooped from the mist, its three heads—a lion, a ram, and a serpent—spewing flame together.
Their fire wove into a burning net as its lion's legs, thick as siege pillars, and its scaled serpent's tail readied to tear him apart at close range.
Lo Quen roared, the sound shaking the heavens, and drove forward instead of retreating.
He folded his wings and plunged like a golden meteor straight into the wall of fire to his left.
At the last instant, his wings snapped open to their full span. The gale they raised scattered most of the flames. Heat lashed at his wing membranes, but the golden aura around him kept the fire at bay.
His jaws opened and hurled forth a torrent of golden Dragonfire, colliding head-on with the stream from the ram's mouth.
Boom!
The blasts slammed together in a blinding surge of light and shockwaves.
Lo Quen's fire overwhelmed the ram's, blasting straight down its throat. The ram-head shrieked, its mouth charred black from within as the beast convulsed in agony.
He pressed the attack. His hind claws shot forward, lightning-fast, and clamped onto the serpent head's jaw.
Crunch! Snap!
The bones shattered, and the fireball brewing inside detonated in its maw.
Boom!
Light, blood, and shards of flesh exploded outward. The serpent's head was obliterated.
The last lion head howled purple fire, hurling itself at Lo Quen in a frenzy. Its massive claws swiped for the base of his wings.
Lo Quen dropped sharply, the claws grazing his back and tearing away scales in a spray of blood.
He surged forward, sinking his fangs into the lion head's chest.
Crack!
Bone split under the bite. The lion head vomited a gush of blood laced with fire as its hulking body spun out of control and crashed into the sea.
In only a few exchanges, Lo Quen had slain a three-headed purple-winged chimera, a batwing serpent-lizard, a white-feathered serpent, and another three-headed lion-ram-serpent chimera.
Yet the roars of more monsters rose from every direction.
Lo Quen's eyes narrowed. Through the swirling fog, his dragon sight pierced far beyond mortal vision, locking onto the positions of countless foes—chimeras, chicken serpents, serpent-lizards, griffins, and more.
They were closing in to surround him.
Golden light flickered in his eyes.
He did not meet them head-on.
Instead, his colossal body plunged downward, moving with the speed and grace of a hunting fish, diving straight into the denser mists below, where sulfurous steam churned thick and heavy.
Cackle-cackle-cackle—!
The piercing screech of another black-feathered serpent rang out. It relied most on sight, its blazing white firebeam sweeping blindly through the mist like a searchlight—useless, only serving to reveal its own position.
Lo Quen twisted sharply through the fog, guiding the firebeam straight toward a chimera's ram head that had just burst from the mist, ready to spew flames.
Ssshhht! The scorching line struck the ram head's neck with precision. Not a killing blow, but enough to send its firestream veering wildly off course, spraying the serpent head beside it instead. Both monsters shrieked in fury, snapping at each other as their formation faltered.
Now.
Lo Quen's wings thundered, whipping the mist into a violent swirl as his body shot forth like golden lightning, darting diagonally through the fleeting gap in their ranks.
His target was clear: the griffin-beasts flying lower and faster than the rest.
Seeing prey charge toward them, the creatures roared in excitement, fanning streams of flame as they dove.
Lo Quen parted his jaws—not to unleash Dragonfire, but to let loose a piercing roar, heavy with provocation, splitting through the air.
At the same time, his massive body twisted into a daring S-shaped maneuver through the griffin swarm.
The roar drew every eye. Instinctively, the griffins followed his path, belching fire and raking claws.
His S-turn carried him through by a hair's breadth, dodging most of the blasts. Even so, one griffin's talons raked across his back, leaving deep gouges along his scales.
But the sudden shift in direction sent the two griffins behind him crashing into each other.
Their fanned flames splashed across their own bodies and another comrade, feathers igniting as screeches of pain and fury erupted. In moments, the griffin pack descended into chaos, clawing and snapping at one another.
A furious lion's roar thundered down from above. The Sphinx's bellow shook the air, its rage stoked by the prey's cunning and its allies' blundering.
Its vast eagle wings beat, scattering the fog as it tried to fix Lo Quen in its sights.
The three-headed chimera regrouped and closed in again.
Lo Quen wasted no breath. Using the confusion among the griffins, he plunged downward, skimming the boiling sea. Steam and spray rose in his wake, clouding the air even further.
From below, several batwing serpent-lizards burst out of the mist, colliding headlong into his flight path.
Instinctively, they spread claws and spewed dark crimson fire.
Lo Quen's eyes flashed. At the last instant, his body jerked upward in a sudden climb.
Ssshhht—Boom!
The leading two serpent-lizards failed to check themselves. Their claws ripped straight into the griffin-beast trailing Lo Quen, shredding flesh and bone. At the same time, their streams of fire splashed into a comrade beside them.
The griffin's dying scream mingled with the lizards' furious shrieks, the sky below erupting into chaos.
Lo Quen seized the momentum of his ascent, wings hammering as he tore through the steaming fog like a golden arrow. His target: the three-headed chimera that had just regrouped.
Not to fight head-on—but to drive the battle higher, toward the true master of the skies.
The Sphinx.
...
[Up to 50 chapters ahead for now]
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