Chapter 367: The Dragon Reborn in Fury

Evangeline emerged from between the trees, silent and fluid, as if she were part of the shadow itself. Before the wyvern could rise again, she exhaled a small, dark sphere from her lips. It shot toward the monster’s head, disappearing into its open maw. The explosion came a heartbeat later—a thick, gray cloud billowed out, swallowing the clearing in smoke and silence. The beast’s roar tore through it, deafening and furious, shaking the snow from the branches. Blinded and enraged, it thrashed against the haze, slamming its wings and tail in every direction.

Jack and Charlie seized the opening. Still unsteady, they sprinted through the melted snow and shattered ground, gaining distance while the wyvern fought against the choking fog. Luke broke the other way, moving fast between the trees with his bow drawn. The thunder of wings filled the air overhead, the shockwaves rolling through the forest.

Then, a burst of blue light flashed ahead. The sound of cracking ice followed. Frozen spheres began to rain down, one after another, smashing into the wyvern’s body with the force of falling meteors. Allison had joined the fight. Her iceballs exploded against the creature’s scales, coating its wings in frost and clouds of shimmering vapor.

The silhouettes of the Warden Generals advanced across the field—Mason leading the charge, followed by the lightly armored maids. They moved like a living wall of steel, cutting through the battlefield and drawing the attention of the other beasts that prowled nearby.

Evangeline was already retreating, her hands weaving new traps in the dark. The shadows around her pulsed and twisted, moving as though they had minds of their own. Then two figures blurred past Luke—Erza and Anne, running side by side. The wind caught their hair as they sprinted toward the wyvern, eyes locked on their target.

“I’ll take that little suggestion of yours, assassin,” Erza called, never breaking stride.

Luke said nothing. He just kept moving, the bow steady in his grip, heart pounding against his ribs. The battlefield had turned into controlled chaos—flashes of light, bursts of ice, clouds of smoke, and waves of fire colliding in a deadly rhythm. The wyvern dove again, its wings cutting through the air with such force that whole trees were torn from the ground. But Allison didn’t back down. If anything, she drew it closer—luring it straight into the trap.

As the creature swept past her, threads of steel and mana snapped to life between the trees, pulled taut by hidden triggers. In seconds, the wyvern was caught—wrapped in a shimmering web that constricted tighter with every movement.

Anne appeared above it, launching herself from a nearby tree. Her blade caught the cold light as she landed on the beast’s wing, slicing through the membrane in rapid arcs. The thick tissue tore apart like wet leather.

The wyvern screamed, its roar echoing through the forest like a quake. It writhed violently, tearing up snow and earth as it struggled free. With a final, furious lurch, it broke part of the web, the shock of the impact shaking the ground. But before it could recover, a blast of icy wind slammed into its flank.

Allison exhaled, unleashing a concentrated breath of frost so intense that the air itself crystallized. The wyvern was thrown backward, crashing into a field of jagged ice spires rising from the ground like spears. The sound of its massive body hitting the frozen pillars echoed across the forest—deep, resonant, final. And high above it all, Luke stood perched on a tree branch, breath steady, eyes fixed on the fallen beast as he drew his next arrow.

Luke stood still for a moment, watching the creature trapped in a cage of shattered ice and crystal. Steam curled upward in slow spirals, mingling with the weak snowfall drifting through the air. He drew his bow. Only one arrow remained that he still trusted. His grip tightened. Every muscle in his body coiled like a spring.

The system interface flickered at the edge of his vision—thin streams of light rippling across his sight:

[Stamina: 2383 / 2950]
[Mana Points (MP): 4576 / 5100]

He took a long breath. Then clenched his fist and began channeling power. First came stamina. Heat surged through his arms, pulsing beneath the skin like liquid fire. The bow groaned as the energy reinforced it, the string stretching far beyond its usual limit. The arrow shimmered gold, and the air around him warped from the heat it gave off.

[Stamina: -1500]
[Stamina: 883/2950]

Then came mana. A glow of deep blue flooded the arrowhead, condensing into pure energy—volatile, alive, almost sentient. The sound it made was sharp and relentless, a ringing pitch that built until it felt like the air itself might shatter.

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[Mana Points (MP): -500]
[Mana Points (MP): 4076 / 5100]

Luke raised the bow, aiming for the wound where acid had eaten through the creature’s flesh. The wyvern was stirring now, smoke and shards of ice sliding off its hide as it struggled to stand.

He released the string.

The arrow split the air like lightning, trailing a streak of mana that cut through the mist in a single blazing line. The impact came a heartbeat later—a thunderous crack followed by a violent explosion that shook the forest. Shards of ice, rock, and fire tore outward in all directions.

The wyvern slammed into the crystal spires, shattering them into a storm of fragments. The sound echoed through the mountains, rolling again and again like endless thunder. Its scream merged with the explosion, and for a moment, the world disappeared behind a rising wall of white.