Chapter 6: The Consequence of Smugness

Just as Zheng Yichen was about to finish off the three men he had slammed into the ground like cockroaches, a searing impact struck his back. In terms of temperature, it felt roughly like a mini sun to him, but the main effect came from the force of the blow.

The force caused his body to wobble slightly and tugged at the crossbow bolts embedded in his wings. It hurt terribly!

“Be careful! This dragon’s Magic Resistance is also very strong!” a man with a ball of flame burning in his hand shouted. Seeing Zheng Yichen shift his gaze toward him, the man immediately hurled the burning fireball in his hand.

Once the flames left his palm, they instantly expanded more than tenfold, trailing a short fiery tail as they shot toward Zheng Yichen. This time, it wasn’t a surprise attack, so the large fireball was blocked by Zheng Yichen’s other claw.

Warm…

As he prepared to crush the fireball with a slight squeeze, a thought crossed his mind: Why crush it? Once caught, the fireball wasn’t immovable—it was like a rock thrown at you. If it hit, it would cause injury, but if you caught it, the rock could become a weapon in your hand.

Under the stunned gaze of what appeared to be a Mage, the Fireball he had charged and released was now firmly held in Zheng Yichen’s grip. To the Mage’s greater surprise, the Fireball, which should have still been somewhat controllable after leaving his hand, completely slipped from his control. Yet, instead of exploding as it should have after losing control…

Why was it still in the form of a fireball?

Zheng Yichen flung the fireball toward the three Warriors on the ground who hadn’t yet recovered their mobility!

An explosion more violent than a Hand Grenade instantly engulfed them.

“A strange feeling…” Zheng Yichen muttered, looking down at his claw. When he caught the fireball, he had experienced a peculiar sensation. The fireball seemed to draw in many energies of the same type, all highly active and similar to the vibrations emitted by the Magic Artifacts he had collected.

Especially that fireball—from the feeling at the time, it should have exploded. But Zheng Yichen simply didn’t want it to explode. He tightened his claw, gripping it firmly, and its explosive reaction stopped. To put it plainly, it felt as though he had controlled the fireball through a physical action at that moment.

Among the three Warriors, two were injured and one was dead. The one in the middle was the unluckiest, having taken nearly the full force of the Fireball!

As for the power of this Fireball, even the Mage who cast it was a bit dazed. Didn’t he know his own skill? Its power absolutely shouldn’t have been this great. But why, after passing through the dragon’s hands, did it become so much stronger!?

Ah, right—That Dragon! After the Fireball was tossed from its grip, its size had shrunk by thirty percent… What was going on? If the size shrank, the power should have decreased!

Zheng Yichen looked back at the Mage.

Even without a common language, the Mage could still read a particular message in Zheng Yichen’s eyes.

Throw another fireball, why don’t you!

The Mage’s face twitched violently. How was he supposed to fight this? He wasn’t some high-level Mage. The Fireball just now was already the strongest attack he could muster, yet this dragon had easily caught it and turned it into his own weapon!

Thud!!

Spotting a flash of cold light from the corner of his eye, Zheng Yichen inwardly cursed. He had gotten too carried out and had overlooked the biggest threat here. By the time he heard the sound and realized the greatest danger had arrived, it was too late.

The Ballista revealed its full, ferocious intent toward him. The thick, large bolt was designed to breach city walls, but now it had become a deadly weapon against him. Even with his full strength used to block with both claws, Zheng Yichen was still sent flying by the tremendous impact.

At that moment, he even felt his own bones screaming. Both claws split open with several deep wounds as he flew backward, and numerous Scales were stripped away. Not only that, he hadn’t completely blocked the impact of the giant bolt—a significant portion had landed on his chest.

Zheng Yichen wondered if several of his bones were already broken.

“That dragon is badly injured! Charge!!” Seeing Zheng Yichen hit the ground and not get up for a while, the encircling forces’ morale soared. Their premise for dealing with this dragon was to capture it alive. Killing it… a dead dragon’s value wouldn’t be as high.

Besides, it was only a Young Dragon, close to being a Juvenile Dragon. Dead, its value would be even lower.

“ROAARRRR!!” Enduring the severe pain in his claws, Zheng Yichen grabbed the giant bolt that had fallen to the ground and swung it like a club. The enemies who approached first were caught off guard and swept away. Even midair, their bodies could be seen twisting and contorting from the external force—clearly, they wouldn’t survive.

This sight caused the others charging forward to hesitate slightly. The dragon’s eyes were red—was it preparing for a desperate last stand?

However, what made their jaws drop next was that the dragon immediately turned and ran without hesitation. To reduce weight, it even threw away the large bolt that could have served as a weapon, both lightening its load and incidentally knocking over a group of people in the process!

Hearing the consecutive whistling sounds behind him, Zheng Yichen’s response was to tighten his wings to avoid having them spread too wide and getting punctured with more holes. As for the crossbow bolts striking his body, he no longer had the energy to worry about them. His chest didn’t feel particularly breathless, but the pain was excruciating. With every step he ran, he felt the flesh and bones there crying out in agony.

A second shot from the Ballista… he absolutely wouldn’t be able to block it!

“That dragon’s Scales are too thick. Even the heavy crossbows can only pierce the Scales, not penetrate deeply,” the branch’s Vice President remarked, picking up a few Scales that had fallen to the ground. Though they were from a Young Dragon, their texture was no less than steel, producing clinking sounds when struck.

These Scales had been shaken loose when the dragon was hit by the giant bolt, and they had collected them all. To withstand the Ballista’s attack and only crack, the strength of these Scales was remarkable. With a bit of processing, they could make an exceptional piece of armor!

“After all, it’s still too inexperienced. It actually overlooked the greatest threat during the fight,” the President said, a faint smile curling his lips. When he first saw this Ballista, he had been frightened, but then the thought ‘this round is secured’ followed. Sure enough, when heavy crossbows struggled to hit the dragon’s weak points and prove effective, this Ballista achieved a great feat!

As for the family that provided this Ballista… he would deal with them later!

To hide such a thing—if it hadn’t been brought out because of this incident, its threat would have been severe. No one in the entire Town could withstand a Ballista attack.

After all, such a weapon of mass destruction was meant for attacking city walls. Using it against people wasn’t impossible, but it was utterly ruthless. They were humans, not dragons. Even a knight in full heavy armor would be pulverized into mincemeat facing a Ballista.