Chapter 579: Fury
Ophelia bit her lip until it bled.
This was truly a grave predicament.
There seemed to be no option but to fight, even knowing they had virtually no chance of winning.
But perhaps they didn’t need to defeat him. As long as they could distract him long enough to recover Nadia and make their escape, they could figure out the rest afterward.
She silently transmitted her intentions to the others.
’Big sis Ophelia and Esme, you two can support from the back; Miranda, Veyra, and I will take the lead.’
Jaeneva replied in response to Ophelia’s instructions, briefly glancing toward Ophelia’s now flat belly, making her reasoning for the formation quite clear.
The faint nods they gave her, even as Veyra groaned in pain while struggling to stand on her own two feet, were all the confirmation she needed.
’Get ready...’
Ophelia signalled once again.
The six succubi spread out, standing side by side within the narrow tunnel: Miranda, Veyra, and Jaeneva a bit further ahead than the other two.
Vel’dranor tilted his head to the side.
"Hmmmm..." His golden eyes swept across them. "Don’t tell me you actually want to fight me?"
A brief silence filled the passage.
"Hahahahahahahaha!" Vel’dranor threw his head back and burst into laughter. The sound reverberated through the tunnel, sending dust drifting from the ceiling.
"Very well, then!" His grin widened, revealing the sharp points of his teeth. "Let me show you the difference between us!"
BOOM!
An overwhelming wave of pressure erupted from his body, making the tunnel shake violently.
The six succubi immediately felt their bodies grow heavier, their expressions becoming grim as the sheer difference in bloodlines and mana core cultivation bore down upon them.
Vel’dranor removed his foot from the whimpering Nadia and lowered his stance.
"Come then!" His golden eyes gleamed with anticipation. "Show me how much you’ve grown since the last time I saw you."
Ophelia’s expression darkened.
"Now!"
BOOM!
All six succubi moved simultaneously.
Vel’dranor let out another steamy laugh.
"Hehehe..."
His body suddenly blurred. Before the succubi could react, he reached down, grabbing onto Nadia, seizing her battered body with his large hand.
Nadia’s eyes widened.
"Khh!" A pained scream escaped her as Vel’dranor lifted her from the ground.
The others froze.
"Let her go!" Ophelia shouted.
Vel’dranor simply grinned. With a violent swing of his arm, he threw Nadia toward them.
"Catch!"
"NA—!"
The five succubi instinctively rushed forward.
They hadn’t expected him to actually throw her like that, treating her almost like a discarded object.
"Careful!"
They caught Nadia as gently as they could, all of them immediately using their bodies to cushion the impact.
"Ooooof!"
Even so, the force behind her body sent all five of them skidding backward several metres. Their feet carved deep trails into the broken ground before they finally managed to stop.
"Ugh!" Miranda immediately looked down. "Nadia!"
Nadia’s body trembled weakly in their arms. Her silver eyes were half-lidded, and her breathing was shallow.
"Is she alive?"
"She’s breathing!" Esme answered quickly.
Ophelia’s expression darkened as she looked toward Vel’dranor.
"You bastard..."
The infuriating grin on his face as he craned his head from side to side sent her reeling.
She was just about to gather her mana and charge at him when a deep rumble suddenly began reverberating from above them.
This time, however, none of the people in the tunnel were responsible for it.
Everyone froze.
"What...?"
The sound grew louder.
CRACK!
Under their stunned gazes, the earth above them began to split.
A massive fissure tore through the ground directly overhead, racing outward in both directions as chunks of earth and stone broke loose and tumbled into the passage.
"What the hell is happening!?" Veyra shouted.
The ground beneath their feet suddenly lurched, and then it began to rise.
The entire section of earth beneath them was being pushed upward by some immense force.
BOOOOOOM!
The passage erupted.
Stone walls shattered as the ground surged upward, throwing everyone into the air.
Vel’dranor’s expression turned from amusement to curiosity as he instinctively took to the skies, relying on his natural flight ability rather than summoning his draconic wings.
The dust below quickly spread across the street, obscuring the destruction they had left behind.
He narrowed his golden eyes when he realised that the succubi were gone. His head snapped from side to side.
Genuine confusion flashed across his face.
’Where did they go?’
He had been watching them, and he hadn’t taken his eyes off them for even a moment despite the sudden fissures.
Yet somehow, they had disappeared under his watch.
Vel’dranor’s body shot higher into the sky, and then his eyes widened when he noticed something not too far above him.
The six succubi hovered together, their battered bodies wrapped in a strange layer of mana that clearly did not belong to any of them.
And they weren’t alone.
Three unfamiliar figures stood among them.
Vel’dranor’s gaze immediately swept across the newcomers.
One was clearly responsible for whatever spell spat them out of the underground passage.
But the other two... His eyes stopped.
Two women.
Two extraordinarily beautiful women.
For a moment, Vel’dranor simply stared, ogling and feasting his eyes upon the heavenly sight.
His pupils widened into pinpricks.
His blood began rushing through his veins, flooding his nether regions and awakening his sleeping third leg.
A feral grin slowly spread across his face.
"Hahahahaha!" His laughter echoed across the sky. "What incredible luck!"
The surrounding, startled people on the streets below could only stare upward in confusion as the Greater Dragon laughed like a man who had just stumbled upon a treasure beyond his wildest dreams.
Vel’dranor’s gaze remained on Zenith.
Of the two women, she was the one who immediately captivated him the most.
Her beauty was almost otherworldly.
It felt less like the work of nature and more like something that should have been carved into the heavens themselves.
Vel’dranor licked his teeth.
"I never thought I would live to see the day when I encountered a woman with such godlike beauty."
Zenith’s expression remained completely indifferent as Vel’dranor spread his arms slightly.
"Tell me, dear fairy...!" His toothy grin widened. "What would it take for you to become my woman?"
A thin stream of biting steam rolled from the corners of his mouth.
It was almost as though he had forgotten what his goal had been before these people showed up in the first place.
Elion hovered beside Esme, his expression completely blank, looking almost eerily calm.
However, anyone who knew him well would have immediately noticed that something was wrong.
His eyes betrayed everything his face concealed.
There was no amusement in them, or patience, or any trace of the relaxed composure he usually carried.
Only fury.
An almost suffocating rage that he was barely keeping under control.
And while a small part of that anger was directed toward this humanoid dragon, most of it was directed inward, at himself.
’Damn it!’
His gaze briefly passed over Nadia, the most gravely wounded figure, whom he didn’t even know as of yet.
She was still being supported by Miranda and Veyra, even though Zenith’s magic was holding her up in the skies; her condition was far worse than it should have been.
His eyes moved to Ophelia and the others.
Bruised and visibly pale, mostly fine, but he could see that things could have been much worse.
Elion’s fingers slowly curled into fists.
He had been so certain they would be fine, since they had survived for more than a century without him.
They were powerful succubi who had managed to endure countless dangers long before he had ever entered their lives.
He had convinced himself that there was nothing to worry about. And now, he had arrived to find one of them nearly crippled.
’I should have come sooner.’
The thought gnawed at him.
He knew he couldn’t have predicted this.
He knew they had survived on their own for all those years, but that didn’t make the sight in front of him any easier to accept.
Zenith glanced toward him, but she didn’t say anything.
She didn’t need to.
She could feel the rage radiating from him.
Isla was the same.
Even Esme, standing beside him, could sense the subtle intensity in his mana, yet Elion remained perfectly still.
That was what made his anger so frightening.
Vel’dranor, meanwhile, seemed completely oblivious. He was still staring at Zenith with that infuriating grin.
"So?" The Greater Dragon tilted his head. "What will it take?"
Zenith’s expression remained indifferent.
"You are wasting your time."
Vel’dranor laughed.
"I don’t think so." His golden eyes briefly swept over her body before returning to her face. "I’ve spent months searching for these six."
His smile widened.
"And now, I’ve stumbled across another treasure in the process. Fate has clearly brought us together!"
Elion’s eyes narrowed as a faint pressure began leaking from his body. His breathing slowed, but it became deeper.
Vel’dranor finally noticed that something was off. His gaze slowly moved away from Zenith, looking toward Elion.
The Greater Dragon’s grin gradually faded. Now that he was paying attention, he could feel that something terrifying was lurking beneath the young man’s calm exterior.