Chapter 284: The Darkmane Tribe’s Last Stand [Part 3]
As the scorched monsters hit by the Dragon Breath fell from the sky, Troy continued to fly in the sky.
The cape Jafar had given him gave him the ability to fly.
It was one of the shaman’s life-saving artifacts, which he had entrusted to his chieftain.
However, rather than run away for his life with it, Troy instead did the opposite. He charged towards what might be his death and once again used his pulling ability to latch himself onto another Pteranodon.
He had purposely angered the Dragon earlier so that it would focus on him and ignore the fortress where his warriors were still fighting.
As long as it wasn’t around, he believed his warriors could hold their ground against the monsters that couldn’t scale the fortress’ walls.
And it worked.
The Dragon did target him with raging fury.
It couldn’t believe that a lowly human had managed to survive its attack and even dared to fight back on top of that.
Still, at the end of the day, a dragon was still a dragon.
It was an Apex Monster and was considered the strongest monster in the world.
Its speed was faster than the Pteranodon, allowing it to close the distance between them in mere seconds. Without the slightest hesitation, it lunged forward, only to bite down on the flying monster with the intention of devouring Troy alongside it.
At the last moment, Troy kicked himself off the Pteranodon’s back and activated the blue ring on his finger.
His body then shot sideways as an invisible force pulled him towards a Harpy.
As for the Pteranodon he had originally mounted?
Its body was crushed by the Dragon’s powerful jaws and died a pitiful death.
The dragon then spat the monster out of its mouth before unleashing another Fire Breath at Troy.
This time, the chieftain jumped down, evading the breath attack that was following him.
While Troy managed to escape, the monsters on the ground weren’t as lucky. If anything, they were thoroughly incinerated by the dragon’s attack.
Right now, the Chieftain of the Darkmane Tribe was in a flow state.
He knew a single mistake would take his life.
Yet, the adrenaline pumping inside his body made him smile. After all, it had been a long time since he had fought a battle involving life and death.
His earlier attempt to attack the Dragon made him understand that none of his attacks would be effective against it.
Though, he did have a place in mind that he felt like he might manage to harm if he was lucky.
And Troy was slowly making his way towards that part.
An area not covered in dragon scales.
With that, the barbarian and the Dragon began a dance of death.
One desperately trying to kill.
One desperately trying not to be killed.
Flying alone would not help him outrun his opponent, so he would use his ring’s power from time to time to pull himself toward a target.
At times, he would even pull himself towards the Dragon just to buy precious time.
Yes. Time.
What Troy needed now was time.
Leone’s Fireshard Catapults were obliterating all the monsters that were trying to overwhelm the fortress, while Otto was providing support fire to Troy, with the former even targeting the Dragon’s eyes from time to time.
In fact, Otto’s bolts had already pierced the body of the dragon a few times. A portion of them even remained embedded into its body.
Troy made use of these bolts to gain a foothold to catch his breath.
Though, just as he was trying to get a breather, the Dragon did something unexpected. Out of nowhere, it dove towards the fortress of the Darkmane Tribe, intending to slam its body against the walls in order to break it.
Of course, its main intention was to crush the puny insect on its back.
It happened so fast that Troy lost the opportunity to get off its back.
But just as the Dragon’s body was about to crash against the walls, something Troy didn’t expect happened. The part of the wall where he was about to be crushed opened up all of a sudden.
In its place, a three-meter hole that was large enough for his body to pass through had appeared.
A loud banging sound soon spread across the battlefield as the Dragon’s body slam made the walls crack.
Troy, on the other hand, was sent flying through the hole, only stopping when something caught him mid-air.
The Manticore, whose body was covered in burn marks, cushioned the chieftain’s fall.
"I knew you wouldn’t die so easily," Troy said after realizing what just happened.
The Manticore growled and opened its wings in response.
Troy understood what their Guardian was saying and didn’t hesitate to jump on its back.
With one mighty flap of its tattered wings, the Manticore took off to the skies.
Its bloodshot eyes soon locked onto the Dragon, who was just about to take flight from the ground.
With a rage it hadn’t felt for many years, the Manticore unleashed its spikes toward the Dragon, not caring even if it was stronger than it.
The poisoned spikes pierced through the Dragon’s scales, embedding themselves firmly in its body.
Soon, black mist rose from parts of the Dragon’s body hit by the poisoned spikes.
However, the poison was not strong enough to kill a monster as powerful as the Monster King.
But even so, it still had an effect. Even if it was just a little, the Dragon’s movements had become slower than usual.
Soon, a dogfight took place in the sky between the Dragon versus the Manticore and Troy.
The Guardian of the Darkmane Tribe had been heavily injured by the Dragon’s Breath earlier. Fortunately, its regeneration ability was phenomenal.
It had managed to recover half of its fighting abilities, which was more than enough for it to terrorize the other flying monsters in the surroundings.
Even so, it understood that unless the Dragon was defeated, there was no way they would survive this battle.
In the meantime, the thunderous explosions from the Fireshard Catapults continued, decimating everything below them.
Thick black smoke rose to the sky, which Troy and the Manticore used as a smokescreen against the Bronze Dragon.
But suddenly, tragedy struck.
The Dragon made a feint and succeeded in using its tail to lash out at the Chieftain of the Darkmane Tribe, who thought he could finally target the Dragon’s eyes.
A cracking sound then reached Troy’s ears as one of the gems on his necklace burst from the attack. While that happened, he was sent crashing toward the ground.
The necklace was one of his life-saving artifacts, allowing him to survive three killing blows that would otherwise kill him.
The chieftain coughed up a mouthful of blood as he desperately tried to grab hold onto something.
His body was currently under a state of shock, preventing him from moving it according to his will.
It was then when something grabbed hold of his body.
A Pteranodon had swooped in to nab him mid-flight. Yet, before the monster could even deal the killing blow to its captive, a bolt pierced through its head, killing it instantly.
Once again, Troy fell to the ground with the Pteranodon that had just died. Of course, he once again tried to use the ring to latch onto something... anything that would break his fall.
Thankfully, the Manticore once again came to his rescue before Troy could be crushed by the monsters eagerly waiting for him to fall to the ground.
However, little did they know that in the direction where they were headed next, within the thick black smoke currently rising to the heavens, the Bronze Dragon was already laying in wait, prepared to deliver its killing blow.
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