Ch. 26
Chapter 26: Carabosse's Desperate Flight
Li Kainan's expression turned serious as he cautiously shifted the bulk of his attention to the grey dragon that had pushed its way through the spatial rift.
In any work of fiction, dragons were invariably a high-order species of formidable combat power!
And for Carabosse to have kept it hidden until now—only playing it as a trump card to save her life—the combat strength of this grey dragon named Aurora was absolutely not to be underestimated!
Yet, contrary to all expectations, Aurora's first move left Li Kainan stunned.
The dragon completely ignored Li Kainan—and instead turned its target on Carabosse.
Aurora let out a long, resounding roar. The violet dragon eyes fixed on Carabosse blazed with fury, and it unleashed a torrent of Dragon Flame directly at her.
Carabosse cried out in alarm, forced to pour her magical energy into conjuring a barrier to deflect the Dragon Flame.
Huh—infighting?
Li Kainan's mind flashed back to the iron chains that had been wound tightly around Aurora's body, and a sudden suspicion took shape in his thoughts.
No wonder this card had been held back until the very last moment—it seemed Carabosse had yet to fully subjugate this dragon……
Li Kainan made his decision in an instant. Sword in hand, he surged forward with a rapid thrust—so fast it left nothing behind in the eye but a streak of pure white sword light flashing through!
Just as that white sword light was piercing through space and about to run through Carabosse's body, a fierce gust of wind suddenly struck from behind Li Kainan.
A dragon tail—carrying enormous, crashing force—swept at Li Kainan without warning!
Li Kainan's near-instinctual combat reflexes fired. His assault halted.
His body immediately wrenched around with explosive force, and his sword edge turned to meet the sweeping dragon tail head-on.
The next instant, a shockwave born of two terrifying forces colliding swept out in all directions.
Aurora let out a pained howl and yanked back the tail that Li Kainan had hacked open with a massive wound.
Dark red dragon blood splattered and sprayed across Li Kainan's body—even through his armor, he could feel the scalding heat of that blood!
Li Kainan himself was uninjured—but the magnificent Knight's Sword in his hand, forged at great expense using modern industrial methods, had shattered to pieces.
The Trait: Evil-Breaking Force, which had proven utterly effective against Carabosse, seemed to have no special bonus against this dragon at all?
By the judgment of Evil-Breaking Force, then, Aurora the dragon was not classified as an evil creature……
And another thing—this dragon had clearly shown hostility toward Carabosse, so why had it suddenly launched an attack on him?
Li Kainan frowned and studied Aurora—only to find with a jolt of surprise that it felt completely different from how it had a moment ago!
Those violet dragon eyes, which had been so vivid and sharp before, had now turned to a dull, sinister yellow.
Hm. The same shade as the yellow-eyed crow that Carabosse had transformed into before—a perfect match!
A quick sweep of his gaze, and he spotted Carabosse pointing her Magic Wand at Aurora, muttering something under her breath in a continuous stream.
Li Kainan's mind turned at once—and he immediately understood that the witch was behind this.
Hypnotic control-type magic?
This kind of mage class was an absolute headache. Who knew what strange and bizarre spells she might suddenly pull out to mess with you……
Li Kainan tossed aside the broken hilt in his hand, then paid no heed to the dragon threat right in front of him and drove straight for Carabosse.
A troublesome enemy like this absolutely could not be allowed to escape—otherwise, who knew what kind of trouble she might stir up from the shadows in the future!
Carabosse saw Li Kainan bearing down on her again—and the color drained from her face in an instant.
She dodged with her magic while shouting out her command:
"Aurora, stop him!"
Aurora was clearly powerless to resist Carabosse's orders. Ignoring her own wounds, her eyes glazed over as she continued to press her attack against Li Kainan.
Because Aurora was apparently not classified as an evil creature, Trait: Evil-Breaking Force had absolutely no effect on her whatsoever.
Although the Trait: Perfect Physique was said to grant Li Kainan physical power rivaling the bloodline of the gods—
—at the end of the day, Li Kainan was still a body of flesh and blood.
Against a dragon—a high-order species—Li Kainan's terrifying strength held no particular advantage!
Under Carabosse's control, Aurora began doing whatever it took to pin down Li Kainan and obstruct his attacks on Carabosse.
For a time, Li Kainan found himself unable to do anything about Carabosse.
And Carabosse, seizing this opening, moved toward the spatial rift that connected to Hell.
Before fleeing into Hell, Carabosse glared at Li Kainan—who was locked in a tangled struggle with Aurora—with a gaze full of venom, and immediately raised her Magic Wand.
The sacred power on Li Kainan's body completely countered her Hell Magic, but Carabosse was capable of using ordinary magic as well.
This ordinary magic certainly lacked the offensive power and destructive force of Hell Magic.
But it could absolutely still create trouble for Li Kainan—put him at a disadvantage in the fight and give Aurora the chance to kill him……
And just as Carabosse was thinking this through, the sound of thunderous hoofbeats suddenly reached her ears—rumble, rumble—like rolling thunder!
The castle gates burst open with a crash, and a company of imposing knights in magnificently gilded armor came charging in at a gallop—none other than the King's Retinue that the system had previously awarded!
They had temporarily shed the elaborate ceremonial banners of their retinue and came surging forward with lances in hand, brave and ferocious—rolling clouds of dust billowing behind them like a surging flood!
A dragon—a legendary creature—was the kind of thing that inspired dread in people by its very nature.
Indeed, even without any knowledge of dragon legends, a body over 20 meters long was more than enough to make any ordinary person tremble with fear.
Yet these Retainer Knights, who knew only that they must defend Li Kainan's safety at the cost of their lives, didn't hesitate for even a moment at the sight of Aurora—they pressed their charge forward without pause!
Strictly speaking, the Retainer Knights rewarded by the system were not truly human to begin with.
From the moment of their creation, they had existed for Li Kainan and Li Kainan alone.
They held no fear of death, and carved into their very bones was one single iron law: obey Li Kainan's commands—even if Li Kainan ordered them to their deaths, they would comply unconditionally without question……
Watching a company of imposing knights charge at Aurora without the slightest fear, Carabosse's breath caught sharply—and the spell she had been about to cast froze in place.
Then, without another thought in her head, she turned and plunged directly into the spatial rift and fled.
Well, she had no other choice—Li Kainan had beaten her so brutally that she had already developed a deep psychological trauma because of it.
At this moment, a group of imposing knights in armor nearly as magnificent as Li Kainan's were launching a fearless assault on a massive dragon……
In Carabosse's dazed and rattled mind, it was as if a whole company of Li Kainans had appeared before her.
This was nothing short of a nightmare!
And even though Carabosse knew full well that the combat strength of these knights could not possibly match that of Li Kainan—a supreme powerhouse among humans—
—she was gravely wounded, after all. If she kept staying here and got swarmed by a pack of these fearless, elite knights, once Li Kainan freed up his hands she would truly have no way out……
……