The Sword and The Shadow

Bone Dragon

Even though Angelista promised to deal with the matter, when she drove back the waves of corpses with her impressive magic, even Alissanda was surprised by what she could do.

So, that is the power of Second Magic Academy, huh? he thought darkly at the sight of the terrifying power that singed part of his brows. He was well aware of Annelotte's strength, but where did that female dark elf come from? Based on her lackadaisical attitude, the wave of magical explosions she just unleashed was a mere flick of a finger for her. But according to his limited understanding of magic, even Myr might not be able to so easily wield such terrifying might. How many other magi like this dark elf was hidden within Second Magic Academy?

In truth, there was nobody who could rival Angelista apart from Annelotte. While the way she did things was plain odd, her talent was enough to let her stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Annelotte. Her abilities as a soulgrasper also greatly increased the might of the spells she used. It was as if she was constantly under a kind of buff. No matter what spell she used, she would be able to channel great destructive power with it.

Though she had only just started, the results she showed could already compare to Alissanda's, despite him having fought since the beginning. Naturally, that didn't include the giant mutant he just killed.

Beside Angelista were Innilis and the ten plus other students, trying their best as well. All kinds of spells were fired from the tips of their fingers. While they paled much in comparison to Angelista's spells, they were still doing a far better job than normal warriors of the empire. With the magi's help, the warriors were able to firm their footing. They used their magic to blast the rear of the corpses and decrease the number of reinforcements that poured in, giving the warriors enough time to finish off those already on their plate. The warriors formed into groups of ten and each group leader was a member of Goldeagle.

Alissanda would always be the most eye-grabbing on the battlefield. Since the beginning of the battle, he had charged into and through the sea of corpses tens of times and killed more than 20 captain-class undead. Those who hadn't seen him fight before finally knew what the others meant when they said he was unstoppable. No matter where on the battlefield he went, he would lead the troops in a united resistance. With his godlike body and performance, the warriors regained some confidence in their ability to fight back. Perhaps they might not lose with the prince and that dark elf on their side.

Just as the fire of hope was lit, the loud sound of heavy footsteps reverberated throughout the valley.

Alissanda looked to the deepest parts of the valley and saw a gigantic silhouette appear from behind the fog.

Four general-class ones? His irises constricted. He wouldn't be able to take all four of them alone.

"Sleep with me for a night and I'll take two out for you. I'm really curious how a human prince tastes," Angelista offered when she came to his side from the walls. While there were quite a few corpses around her, they didn't make her feel as uncomfortable as the sacred holy light Alissanda was giving off.

"I will compensate you duly, my lady," he made a careful reply.

"I'll make sure to remember this favor you owe me," she said with a seductive smile and charged towards the mutants.

Alissanda couldn't be bothered with her ridiculous antics and merely charged towards the other two mutants with his swords.

As the two left the frontlines, the pressure on the other warriors grew considerably. However, nobody complained about that. They knew that if nobody dealt with the four gigantic mutants, the fort would be breached in two or three hours.

Half an hour later, two of the giant mutant corpses fell to ashes from Angelista's flame magic and the other two were cut into small chunks by Alissanda's Lunaminous.

Everyone near the fort cheered at the sight of the giants being felled. But before they rejoiced for long, an even more terrifying roar could be heard.

"This is… a dragon's roar!" Angelista yelled.

"What?!" Alissanda looked up in shock. A gigantic form gradually descended from the sky.

It was a bone dragon about 20 meters in height and 40 meters in length!

"My beautiful lady, I might need your help once more," he said with an audible gulp.

"No problem! But after I take it out, I want to be able to do with it as I please!" she said with an excited look. It was an actual bone dragon! While its value couldn't compare to that of an actual dragon, it would still be enough to make any high-order magus go wild. Bone dragons, like normal dragons were moving mountains of gold to magi. Being able to tame such a beast was enough to keep Angelista smiling throughout her dreams every night.

"That's not a problem," he said as a chill spread throughout her body. "Forgive me for asking, but are you confident you can defeat it?"

"It's a mere bone dragon. I almost killed a winter wight back in Darklight!" Her fighting spirit soared through the skies at the prospect of being able to tame a bone dragon. She launched into a complicated dictation in front of the beast.

"Roar!"

The bone dragon was utterly angered at the magus that dared to start dictating right in front of it so audaciously. It roared and shot its breath out at her.

"Lady, watch out!" he yelled as he tried to block the attack, but he was a little too late as she was up in the air.

But the breath wasn't able to harm her in the slightest. She could use her amazing enthymema as a soulgrasper to mitigate much harm, but she would be able to take at most two attacks from an attack on the level of a dragon's breath. Even so, that was more than enough for her!

Magic so powerful it was able to contort space itself gathered at her fingertips. It looked like a blue, egg-shaped object to the untrained eye, but Alissanda could see the mountain of magic power concentrated into that small space! She had used a spell that drew out all the mana in her body!

"This is a spell I created… Angelista's signature energy shockwave." Her voice rang throughout the valley as she held the blue egg with her fingertips. "This is an attack with all my mana. I hope you'll be able to take it."

She pointed her finger at the bone dragon and an energy beam formed from the purest mana shot out from the egg. The beam instantly reached tens of meters away and grew thicker and thicker until it was enough to cover the whole dragon's body.

The bone dragon cried as its body shone dark crimson, forming an ellipsoid barrier around itself. Even a powerful bone dragon wouldn't dare to take the attack of pure energy. The bone dragon chose to consume its necromantic energy to prevent being wiped out by the energy blast.

The barrier blocked the bluish beam and the two conflicting energies ate away at one another.

Mutual drainage; that was the simplest approach Angelista chose to use against the bone dragon. If its necromantic energy amounted to more than her mana, it would win. But if she could completely dominate the bone dragon with her sheer mana amount, it would be reduced to a pile of immobile bones.

It appeared that she had overestimated her mana capacity somewhat. She had used many spells during the earlier stages of battle and it seemed almost impossible for her to take out a bone dragon that hadn't expended any substantial amount of energy at all.

Unsurprisingly, she faltered right at the crucial moment, feeling the rush of vertigo that came with using up one's mana. The last thing she saw was the bone dragon opening its mouth and shooting out an icy-blue dragon's breath.