Chapter 62: Little Dragon, Be My Daughter (Happy Qixi Festival!)

The question asked by the red dragon was precisely the question Victoria wanted to ask as well.

Why is it so weak???

What happened to the ultimate move? What happened to striking the red dragon half to death?

Linde, how dare you play me!

I had been looking forward to it for so long, thinking I was going to pull off something cool, only to find out I was the one being played on a massive scale?

Mount Deathdragon, the one about to die here is clearly me!

Out of trust in Linde, and recalling how he had patted his chest with absolute confidence when giving his assurances, Victoria figured she must have used the wrong posture when shouting out "One Hundred Thousand Volts."

She raised her claws high, muttered a string of pre-battle incantations under her breath, and then bellowed:

"Double One Hundred Thousand Volts!"

True to her command, two bolts of purple lightning struck down from the sky.

Unfortunately, the red dragon still dodged them with a nimble twist and turn.

Hah, I refuse to believe this.

For a moment, Victoria abandoned all concern over whether she was chanting correctly, her mouth rattling off like a popped pea pod:

"One hundred thousand volts, one hundred thousand volts, ten thousand volts, volt, one hundred thousand, Harry Potter..."

Instantly, lightning crisscrossed the heavens, bolt after bolt raining down toward Herbert the red dragon.

At first, Herbert made a symbolic effort to dodge, but soon he couldn't even be bothered to move.

When the purple lightning struck his body, not only did it fail to harm him, but it also brought a strange, tingling sensation, almost as if it were healing him—even the pain from his previous injuries vanished.

For a moment, he actually wondered if he should thank this little dragon hatchling.

Watching the hatchling panting heavily from the exertion of her shouting, Herbert thought she looked rather cute.

Even knowing that her attacks couldn't cause him any real harm, she still kept going...

This kind of unyielding tenacity was truly precious.

Combined with the hatchling's earlier performance, the red dragon couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy.

If this were an adult dragon, such feeble and meaningless attacks would only elicit his disdain, making such a dying struggle seem truly pathetic...

But substitute it with a tiny little squirt like this, and things suddenly became a lot more interesting.

What Herbert appreciated most was the fearlessness in the face of might displayed by his opponent, identical to his own self during his hatchling days.

Other hatchlings would have been shivering in terror upon seeing him, utterly incapable of even conceiving the desire to attack.

Yet this little dragon before him was different, racking her brains and trying every possible means to defeat him.

With that thought, the red dragon called out to Victoria:

"Hey, little dragon, be my daughter."

"Be your giant steamed bun!"

Victoria retorted ungratefully on the spot, adding a tiny dragon roar to bolster her imposing aura.

And Herbert became even more satisfied.

Ah, yes, that's the authentic flavor.

This little creature would definitely be fun to raise, and she could keep him company when he was bored.

Skipping the process of finding a mate and acquiring an adorable dragon hatchling straight away—no matter how he thought about it, that was a pretty good idea.

There were no other dragons around here anyway; finders keepers.

Herbert glided downward like a hawk determined to snatch a chick.

By this time, Victoria's super gem form had reached its time limit, and the scales on her body began to revert to pure white.

The exhaustion of overexertion washed over her mind, bringing a heavy wave of drowsiness, and her body felt indescribably weak, to the point where even flapping her wings became a monumental task.

Her eyes fixed on the red dragon diving straight toward her, and countless thoughts flashed through her mind as time seemed to slow to a crawl.

She hadn't managed the duration of the post-upgrade gem form properly.

Originally it lasted only ten seconds, ending right on the dot.

Now that it had expanded to ten minutes, her full concentration on the combat made it terribly easy to forget her remaining transformation time.

Nor had she remembered Linde's instructions from a few days ago: never get bogged down in a protracted battle, run when you must, and place self-preservation above all else.

Though she certainly bore plenty of blame, was Linde completely innocent?

If he hadn't told her with absolute certainty that the "One Hundred Thousand Volts" spell was exceptionally powerful, she wouldn't have been so confident...

Yet when she actually cast it, the effect was nothing like what he described.

Bad guy, playing with my emotions.

Jerk Linde, turtle-egg Linde, ostrich-egg Linde...

Whether I turn into a star or reincarnate into a dragon egg, I will never let you go!!!

Victoria felt as though she had reached the final moments of her life, yet she still possessed one last chance to stake it all.

Should she pull the "Super Invincible Sparkling Big Gem" out of the World Codex, or should she trust in the trump card Linde had mentioned...

Fishing the big gem out of the World Codex required flipping to that exact page first, but could the words of a bad guy like Linde still be trusted...

At the very last second, she made her choice:

"Linde, save me!"

"Thunder god, aid me!"

The two cries rang out almost simultaneously.

If one truly had to separate them by order, the latter had already uttered its first syllable before the former even opened her mouth.

When the red dragon Herbert sensed a commotion coming from the sky once more, his instinctive reaction was to ignore the thunderbolt and continue his pursuit.

Taking one more hit wouldn't hurt.

He had endured such tricks far too many times already; tiny residual currents were still lingering in his body, making him feel all tingly...

In the next second, however, he realized the momentum was entirely wrong.

The purple lightning this time was extraordinary, completely unlike the previous child's play.

If the red dragon had the time to look up, he would have seen the sky tearing open like a massive cavern, straight from the abyssal black hole pouring countless bolts of destructive thunder, the cascading essence of lightning cascading down like an endless waterfall.

Even for a high-tier dragon, the immediate reaction to such a spectacle wouldn't be to tough it out, but rather to dodge.

Unfortunately, Herbert didn't have the time.

He even attempted to side-step just like he had at the very beginning.

Before he could complete the motion, the lightning of destruction slammed into his body like a thunder god's heavy hammer, driving him straight down toward the ground.

During his descent, that familiar white robe flashed across his crimson field of vision.

In the depths of his mind, Herbert recognized what the white robe signified—

Linde the Human King.

He wanted to use his remaining strength to lash out with a single claw and drag the other down with him.

Yet when his peripheral vision swept across the white robes covering the entire mountainside, the red dragon's pupils constricted, astonishment eclipsing even his desire to attack.

Dragons are much like men.

That single set of white robes did not merely represent Linde alone...

They were like countless projections of the white reaper; the moment one dissipated, another immediately emerged in its place.

His claw strike might kill Linde, but killing Linde seemed altogether impossible.

Plagued by bitter resentment and lingering regret, the red dragon crashed heavily onto the ground.

Every internal organ felt as though it had been pulverized into agonizing pain, and he coughed up mouthfuls of dragon blood continuously. Even this simple action felt like a form of relief, as even more pooled blood remained trapped in his throat, too late to be expelled.

This time, Herbert the red dragon felt as though his life had truly reached its end.

...

On the other side, Victoria, drained of all her strength, was also tumbling downward.

The moment she saw the red dragon struck down by the lightning, an indescribable joy surged in her heart.

Linde didn't lie to me!

Yet immediately afterward, another thought struck her: if she fell like this, would she shatter into pieces spelled V-i-c-t-o-r-i-a...

Right at that moment, a reassuring voice sounded out:

"I told you, I've got you covered."