Chapter 62: That’s a Dragon!
Silas and Cher continued running for another seven hours.
Along the way, they passed three destroyed outposts, and the fate of their teams appeared no better than that of the others. One had been reduced to scorched ruins by some devastating fiery attack, while the other two were covered in deep claw marks that had torn through buildings and defences alike.
If anything, the journey yielded no useful clues. Aside from the heavy backpacks Silas had entrusted to Cher, all they carried forward was a growing sense of dread, especially true for Silas.
Eventually, they reached the location from which the distress signal had originated.
After seven hours of relentless travel, the blue sun had begun descending toward the lower third of the sky. Barely five hours remained before nightfall. Yet as they approached the area, the world seemed brighter than it should have been.
It felt almost like midday.
The light did not come from the sun, but from distant flashes that illuminated the horizon every few moments. Even from afar, their intensity was enough to make Silas fear the worst.
Then a roar echoed across the land. The sound was distant, yet it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand upright.
"That roar..."
Cher froze. Despite its weakened volume, she recognised it immediately. It was the same distant roars she and others kept hearing for hours after Silas returned from the mysterious stroll. Turning toward Silas, she found his face drained of colour.
All evidence was drawn upon his face, with no room for speculation anymore.
"You know what it is, don’t you?"
Silas looked at her, unable to bring himself to answer. A small part of him still clung to the hope that it wasn’t the dragon, that it couldn’t be the dragon.
Instead of responding, he broke into a sprint, rushing toward the source of the flashes, the roar, and the distress signal.
Cher rolled her eyes before following after him. Even so, she remained vigilant. Whatever had caused that reaction was clearly something terrifying.
It took them less than half an hour to arrive.
As they drew closer, the roars grew louder and clearer, while Silas desperately searched for excuses to deny the truth. Yet the moment they reached a nearby hill and looked down upon the battlefield beyond, there was no room left for doubt.
"That’s... that’s a dragon!"
Silas was dead, frozen out of fear and disbelief, but Cher instantly recognised the dragon with one look.
The area below resembled the one surrounding their own outpost, a vast stretch of open ground centred around a defensive shield. Yet the shield flickered constantly, vanishing for brief moments before reappearing again.
And a massive dragon hovered above the battlefield.
Its enormous wings beat against the air as it circled the outpost at low altitude. Then it suddenly descended, unleashing a torrent of fire upon the shield.
Miraculously, the barrier endured.
The dragon attacked again and again. Each time, the shield flickered on the verge of collapse before stabilising once more. Meanwhile, the dragon would soar into the sky, circle around, and return for another assault. Every single time the dragon did the tour, prepared to attack, it made sure to issue a thunderous roar that was enough to drive fear into anyone watching, anyone fighting.
There were indeed a few fools who tried to fight the dragon. Within the barrier stood hundreds of Enhancers; none wore academy uniforms. Every one of them was using their abilities, attacking whenever the dragon came within range and trying desperately to inflict even the smallest wound.
Yet no matter how they tried, their desperate attacks meant nothing in the face of such terror. All the abilities either missed their mark or got deflected over the thick scales covering the dragon. Only a few attacks managed to land, yet it sounded like they were glass thrown at a rock.
The sight made Silas recall the thousands of Enhancers the Shadowheart had lured toward the magical flower. He narrowed his eyes, trying to make sure what they were. They were indeed the same Enhancers he had met before. And he could scarcely believe that so many had already died.
Their numbers had dwindled to mere hundreds, while the dragon looked as powerful and alive as ever.
’Aren’t they supposed to at least cut a wing off it in exchange for losing most of their numbers?!’
Cher, however, was experiencing a shock of her own.
It was not the dragon that unsettled her. As a G-Enhancer, she knew far more about dragons than Silas did and had even seen a few of their corpses back home.
What truly disturbed her was Silas.
The moment she identified the dragon, her attention had shifted entirely to him. The fear, disbelief, rage, and shock constantly flickering across his face all pointed toward a single, impossible conclusion.
Silas had encountered this dragon before. He had fought it, and somehow, he had survived.
’Impossible...’
’How could a C-grade Enhancer from an orphanage, someone without backing or a powerful clan, survive an encounter with a dragon?’
Cher knew how terrifying dragons were. It went without saying that facing a single dragon with an army of Enhancers wouldn’t secure the humans a victory. In fact, they might lose their lives without even inflicting a single life-threatening wound on it.
On top of that, once a dragon met you, it wouldn’t stop hunting you down until you die. The number of Enhancers who managed to escape a dragon assault was so low to begin with. And they were all pinnacle powerhouses in human history.
Countless questions swirled through her mind until movement at the edge of her vision drew her attention elsewhere.
"Look," she said, pointing into the distance. "Other teams are here."
Silas tore his eyes away from the dragon. Sure enough, numerous groups were scattered across the surrounding hills and elevated positions. Each remained hidden, observing the battle from afar.
"It seems everyone had the same idea," he muttered after studying them for a moment. "Most of them only have two to four members. They split up and came looking for merit points."
"Speaking of that..."
Cher barely spared the groups another glance. They had clearly arrived before Silas and her, yet none had dared to intervene. No one even risked making unnecessary noise.
"Where are the teams that requested help?"
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