Adam adjusted his stance. Though his arm throbbed in unbearable pain, he still didn't forget to let his mouth run free, "Even if more of you come, it won't change today's outcome. Leon Casmodeous, someone paid a high price to buy your whole family—"
"I'm going to kill you."
In the thick fog, lightning suddenly flared.
Amid sharp bird-cries, the man's figure became clearer and clearer.
His cold tone was like the whisper of Death itself.
Even the Warhammer Dragon King, who had lived for a thousand years, shuddered upon hearing those plain and simple five words.
Adam almost instinctively stepped back half a step. His lone dragon pupil trembled slightly as it fixed firmly on the human drawing ever closer.
"Wh...what..."
"I'm going to kill you."
"This isn't a threat. It isn't tough talk."
"It's a notice."
Lightning split apart the fog, and Adam clearly saw the expression on the man's face, gloomy, furious.
And in those black eyes was killing intent that could not be hidden.
If any other enemy had spoken such arrogant words before him, Adam would only have replied with an even more arrogant retort.
Yet in front of this man called Leon Casmodeous, he actually fell silent.
For a few seconds, Adam forced himself to calm down. He swallowed hard and shouted, "Don't bluff there, if you've got guts then—"
Before the words were finished, Leon's figure blurred.
So fast that Adam couldn't even catch his movements.
When Leon reappeared, he had already ghosted to Adam's right side.
"You beast, blinded in your left eye, only the right remains—", Speaking as he moved, Leon's hand shot out at lightning speed, his arm wrapped in thunder.
"So tactically speaking, attacking from your left is the best method."
The lightning on Leon's arm transformed into an even larger "Thunder Claw." With a storm's force, he clamped onto Adam's throat and smashed him into the ground.
BOOM!
The massive body slammed down hard, cracks spreading outward from beneath him.
"Puh!"
The powerful impact made Adam spit out blood.
The blood splattered onto the thunder claw gripping him, instantly evaporated into nothing.
"But I don't need cheap tricks to kill you, bastard."
"Bu...bullshit! Who kills who is still undecided!"
Adam's eyes bulged wide. His hands clamped the thunder claw gripping his neck. Even as lightning scorched him, he tried to force it away.
But he looked like nothing more than a mangy mongrel struggling in vain.
Leon didn't even bother arguing further.
He tightened his grip, then directly flung Adam's massive body away.
Freed from Leon's chokehold, Adam felt a flicker of joy. Before even hitting the ground, he launched into mockery.
"You're nothing but a brat barely twenty years old with no combat experience. You could've killed me just now, but you let go, hmph! Next, then—"
"Next is me, Adam."
"What?"
The answer came in the form of a heavy blow to his lower back.
Along with a burning pain, as if his whole spine was being scorched into ash.
Sizzle!
Flames devoured the scales on Adam's back, hissing viciously.
"Consta...antine—traitorous wretch, you...you'd help a human!"
"A beast who slaughters children dares accuse others?"
Constantine pressed Adam down, then raised his leg high and brought it crashing into Adam's chest.
THUD!
Another tremendous muffled boom. Constantine's foot crushed onto Adam's chest, shards of rock beneath exploding outward from the force.
Those scarlet dragon eyes looked down upon Adam. With a sharp hiss, scorching fire burst alive in Constantine's hand.
"Thirty-three years, Adam. My daughter has slept in crystal for thirty-three long years."
"All this time, I've thought of nothing but how to kill you."
"Now that chance has come, even if Dragon God himself descends, you won't be saved."
"I said so."
Constantine clasped his fists together, raising them high above his head.
The flames in his hands merged, forming blazing fists of fire.
"By you? You think you can kill me? Thirty years ago you couldn't even save your daughter, and thirty years later, what can an old wreck like you do?"
"Oh, I see."
"You're helping that human save his daughter to make up for your own guilt, right?"
"How laughable. Constantine, the mighty Crimson Flame Dragon King, finding comfort in helping lowly humans!"
"If I'd known, I should have torn your precious daughter to—"
BOOM!
The fists came down, fire waves sweeping in all directions. Adam's voice drowned in the roar of the flames.
The scorching heat blasted away the fog around them.
Adam's massive head was smashed deep into the ground, blood gushing from pits and cracks.
Leon walked over, slowly, standing at Constantine's side, lowering his gaze at Adam.
Neither father spoke, nor did they sneer at the beast before them.
True vengeance is silent.
At the moment the great hatred is avenged, the surface may be calm, but within, waves surge. No gesture or act in this world could express such joy and release.
So they left it unspoken, each tasting it inwardly.
Of course, this wasn't complete revenge yet.
"Ugh..."
From under the rubble came Adam's weak gasp.
"A man and dragon fighting side by side, truly unheard of."
"I think I can guess why you're working together..."
"And seeing the situation, it seems I won't escape death."
"But before I die... I don't mind dragging a little brat with me!"
As his words ended, black energy burst from Adam's chest.
Leon and Constantine, too close, couldn't react in time and were forced back several steps.
When they came to, Adam was already charging toward the unconscious Noah.
He knew the reason Leon and the Crimson Flame Dragon King were allied must relate to that little girl. So today, even if he died, he'd disgust them one last time.
"Casmodeous, the rest of your life will be spent in the agony of losing a daughter!"
"Like Constantine, you'll never forgive yourself!"
Adam's face twisted hideously as he cackled.
With his still-working left hand, he gathered that black energy again, striking straight for Noah.
But—
Before he could reach her, a gunshot cracked through the mountains and forests.
BANG!
An enchanted bullet spun, ripping through the air, streaking on a straight line before piercing right into Adam's only remaining eye.
"AHHH! MY...MY EYE! Hurts... it hurts so much!..."
The bullet, once lodged in Adam's eye, instantly dissolved into countless fine fire-needles, shredding his whole eye to ruin.
At that moment, a cyan figure flashed past, scooping up the unconscious Noah and rushing away.
Rebecca, running, looked back at Adam's howling, then let out a cold laugh, "What Warhammer Dragon King? Better rename yourself Blind Dragon King~"
Not far away, Martin carried the unconscious Helena on his shoulder, escaping with Rebecca to safety.
With a heavy thud, Adam collapsed to the ground.
His right arm, his chest, his whole head burned in agony, but he no longer had strength to roar.
The pain gnawed at every last nerve he had left.
In this moment, he faintly tasted what his past victims had felt when they died.
Adam slumped weakly against a boulder, breaths shallow and ragged, already a candle in the wind.
Leon and Constantine walked up to him.
Adam heard their footsteps.
After a short hesitation, he gave a weak chuckle and said, "Leon, I know you're searching for 'Shadow.'"
Leon looked down at him, silent.
"I have the clues and intel you need."
"If you spare me now, I'll take you to Shadow. How about it?"
As a sly, treacherous mercenary, selling out his employer at the key moment was his specialty.
This wasn't even the first time Adam had done such a thing.
The essence of a mercenary is: whoever pays most, that's who you serve.
And now, with his life in Leon's hands, naturally Leon was the highest bidder.
But Leon still stayed silent. So Adam continued, "Don't you want to know what mission Shadow gave me?"
"Why these dangerous beasts died such miserable deaths?"
"Oh, right. I also know where Queen Elizabeth is."
"See? I hold plenty of intel here. Let me go, and this deal is definitely worth it."
Adam believed this was an offer Leon couldn't refuse.
After all, the Empire's last remnant was Shadow, and everything had been stirred up by that man.
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