Chapter 278: The Fire Dragon part 5
Owen wasn't sure which he noticed first: the fire shield that appeared partway up the hill to their left or the column of blue and purple flames descending on it. Either one was rather noticeable, even in the early afternoon light.
Yet, while he was pretty sure he was the first to notice it, Leon and Elwin were the first to react to it. Which was a credit to their training. That they see a potential threat, they're able to respond much more quickly than Owen and Bart. Which is also why he was confident he noticed it before they did. If they had noticed it first, he was confident that they'd already be halfway to the fire shield by the time he would have noticed.
When Owen turned to head towards the battle that was commencing, Leon and Elwin were already at the halfway point. How they were able to move so fast, wearing such heavy armor, uphill, Owen wasn't sure, just that they seemed to be able to do that without breaking a sweat.
Not seeing much other option, Owen took a moment to string his bow and nock an arrow. Though he didn't see the point in getting it ready, since he was pretty sure that the arrows he'd shot at it on their first encounter with the dragon burned to ash before even getting close enough to actually even bounce off.
Still, he felt like it would be good to have it ready just in case he saw a n opportunity to hit the dragon. Or maybe on the off chance that the dragon wouldn't be the only thing that they might have to face.
While he could use his system's abilities on the dragon, he first wanted to be sure that he had a clear shot at it, since he certainly didn't want to hit anyone on his team or those who were already fighting the dragon, since he couldn't say who it was right at that particular moment.
It felt like it was a full minute before he noticed Bart starting to run up the hill after Leon and Elwin, making Owen shake his head. He'd wanted to keep Bart from getting caught up in any danger from the fire dragon, but at the same time, he didn't want to be blatant about it. So, since Bart hadn't noticed the dragon, Owen hadn't seen the need to inform him about it, but he wasn't going to openly try to stop him from engaging it either.
The battle seemed to move quickly. Just before Elwin and Leon reached the dragon after it smashed through the shield, Owen saw someone flying through the air, the flames on their clothing quickly going out, leaving his clothing singed and smoking.
Owen had a pretty good idea that it was Patricia and Patrick who had been attacked, given the shield of flames from earlier and the ice spears sticking out of the ground, in addition to an occasional wave of icicles falling about the dragon, only to get melted and then evaporating before they even brushed against the dragon's flames.