"Evil dragon, don't think you can escape my grasp!"
A resonant voice boomed.
The evil dragon was, of course, the Chromatic Dragon, Ao Shin, and the one with the confidence to say those words was… "The Heart of the Freljord," Braum!
Ao Shin would never pay attention to such an insignificant mortal; it was already a dozen meters above the ground.
Although Aiden, the Dragon Kings, the Guardians, and the mages were causing it unspeakable suffering and even leaving it wounded, even injured wings couldn't stop it from continuing to take off, soaring into the sky to kill the lich who might threaten it.
However, Braum wouldn't care about Ao Shin's feelings.
While shouting those words, he leaped high into the air during his charge.
This hero, possessing the strongest heart, unleashed unparalleled power, soaring tens of meters into the air with just his physical strength, without the aid of magic, and tightly hugged Ao Shin's tail.
As everyone knows, a dragon's tail is the organ that coordinates their balance in the air.
Braum was a hero who had slain dragons before, and he knew this very well.
But the dragon's tail was too thick for him.
Even the thinnest part of the tail's end was thicker than a millstone.
Even with his height and long arms, Braum couldn't hold even half of the tail.
Given this size comparison, no matter how strong he was, he couldn't possibly affect the dragon's tail swing—to Ao Shin, how could a fly on its tail affect its balance?
"Not heavy enough, get some people to help me!" Braum shouted loudly after realizing this.
The Black Dragon, Sabellian, was nearby.
He had tried biting and breathing fire, but hadn't caused Ao Shin any harm.
Therefore, after hearing Braum's shout, he rolled his eyes and responded, "I'll help you!"
He flew over and wrapped his four claws around the dragon's tail.
With his addition, Ao Shin finally felt a bit of pressure, and its body tilted slightly to the left.
Realizing it was effective, Sabellian immediately shouted, "Come on, let's hold its tail!"
The other dragons nearby flew over upon hearing his call.
Before long, the dragon's tail was covered in dragons.
Dozens of adult dragons hung on the tail, which had become several times its original size.
Now, Ao Shin could no longer ignore the pressure from its tail.
It swayed in the sky like a drunkard.
Combined with the attacks from others, all of this made the powerful and irritable Chromatic Dragon extremely manic.
Seeing that it was about to touch the ground, it roared and violently swung its tail, instantly relieving much of the pressure, and most of the dragons that had been holding on were sent flying.
Fortunately, these dragons could already fly, otherwise, just falling at that speed would have been enough to kill them.
While the other dragons were thrown off, Braum, who had grabbed the tail first, was unscathed.
He still held tightly to the dragon's tail, shouting excitedly, "It's working, it's working, keep going, quick, do it again!"
"…" The other dragons were speechless, including Sabellian.
They were still dizzy, and some dragons were even injured by the force of being thrown off, forcing them to withdraw from the battlefield.
But this was the only contribution ordinary dragons could make—using their bodies to delay Ao Shin.
So the dragons pounced again, and this time, even more dragons joined their efforts…
But no matter what, Ao Shin itself would not be defeated by such tricks.
Even if Aiden kept damaging its wings, even if the Dragon Kings were taking the opportunity to attack frantically, and even if the other Guardians and powerful heroes were each using their powers, Ao Shin would not retreat because of the pain.
Its body's strength was enough to support it in achieving its goal—even bone dragons could soar, let alone a Chromatic Dragon?
Sometimes, flying doesn't entirely depend on wings and balance.
Ao Shin was demonstrating this principle to those who came to subdue it.
Soon after, it soared into the sky with an unstoppable momentum.
Ao Shin flew higher and higher, getting closer and closer to its target.
Five hundred meters, four hundred meters, three hundred meters…
When the Chromatic Dragon was only two hundred meters away from Karthus, Aiden saw that Karthus was still channeling the spell, and he shouted, "Release the spell, Karthus!"
Karthus looked down at him, his face revealing bare bones, unable to make any specific expression, but the soul fire dancing in his eye sockets had revealed enough information to his commander—not enough, it's not time yet!
Continue!
Two hundred meters was already a very dangerous distance.
Ao Shin was even close enough to engulf Karthus with its dragon breath.
But in order to completely destroy this enemy, it continued to ascend.
Aiden took a deep breath and shouted, "Leave Ao Shin's body, now! Everyone!"
The crowd was somewhat silent, but when the order was conveyed, everyone was executing it—because Karthus could detonate the vast annihilation energy that had already gathered in the air at any time.
Staying on Ao Shin might result in being accidentally injured.
The dragons, who had been grabbing Ao Shin's wings, tail, neck, and even limbs, now detached from the Chromatic Dragon's body according to the order, picked up the non-flying heroes still on the Chromatic Dragon's body, and carried them away, flying towards the vicinity of the light screen.
The Guardians of Ulduar gathered together, nodded to Aiden, and then left together, flying to the side as well.
The Dragon Kings and Thrall, who were spiritually combined, also stopped tangling with Ao Shin and chose to retreat.
Now Ao Shin was finally free.
It suddenly shook its wings and ascended dozens of meters in one go.
Aiden saw that Karthus in the sky still showed no sign of retreating, nor did he detonate the annihilation energy, and he immediately understood the other party's choice.
This choice left him speechless.
He stared at the Chromatic Dragon, which was getting closer and closer to Karthus, gritted his teeth, and flew up as well—he couldn't waste the opportunity that Karthus was about to create, absolutely not!
"I've never seen such a stupid lich as you!" When Ao Shin had approached within a range of fifty meters, its bronze head opened its mouth and mocked ruthlessly, "Now you don't have time to complete the spell, this is the price of being greedy!"
It flapped its wings one last time, climbing to the same height as Karthus.
Ao Shin's six heads took a deep breath at the same time, it was going to give this lich, who had caused it countless troubles, the most magnificent death—with its most powerful attack!
Below, Guardian Aegwynn couldn't help but say, "This lich—Karthus, why doesn't he detonate it?"
Khadgar also frowned deeply, "Although the Chromatic Dragon is foolish, it's right—Karthus hasn't even started the spell's final stage, all his efforts have been in vain!"
The strongest mages of Azeroth were filled with regret, they didn't understand why Karthus insisted on the lengthy ritual, even knowing that he couldn't complete it, he was unwilling to release that power in advance.
"Don't worry, he will succeed." The voice of the Voidwalker Kassadin sounded in their ears.
This voice sounded heavier than ever before.
"Succeed? How to succeed?"
"In his way—" Morgana said.
This sentence brought silence.
Every hero of Valoran understood what kind of way and what kind of sacrifice that was.
—
Ao Shin would not hesitate in the slightest.
It puffed up its dragon mouths, the six heads surrounding the lich, and then six-colored breaths spewed out from the dragon mouths.
Aiden saw the six pillars of fire formed by the six-colored dragon breaths below.
He understood what that was, which made him feel a greater sense of responsibility on his shoulders.
He vigorously flapped his wings of holy light and chased upwards.
The silver-white Judgment and Staff of Time in his hands disappeared, and another broad-bladed, flat-headed greatsword appeared in his hands—Dragon King's Blade, it was time for this greatsword to truly make its debut!
Ao Shin was initially doubtful when it started breathing, thinking that this lich must be playing some trick, but when the six dragon breaths simultaneously scorched the lich's body, it truly relaxed.
It saw with its own eyes that the lich, who had brought it a certain sense of crisis, melted in the flames.
All the defensive spells on his robes were triggered at the first moment, and the light of several defensive spells was quickly swallowed by the dragon breath, followed by the robes themselves, which turned to ashes like ordinary cloth.
Then the magical items on the lich's body, such as rings, necklaces, bracelets, etc., also melted and shattered after exhausting the stored spells, and finally the lich himself—his skeleton became increasingly pale, then red, charred, thinner and thinner in the mixed dragon breath, and finally shattered and dissolved.
Even the lich's skull fell from the black helmet because it lost the support of its neck, and melted like the other bones.
As for the helmet—the Helm of Domination didn't change much.
This was, after all, a special artifact with extraordinary power inside.
But Ao Shin didn't care, anyway, it had seen with its own eyes that the lich's soul fire had been extinguished, and the helmet had become an unowned object, could it still cast that spell?
"Ha, how foolish!" The Chromatic Dragon's purple head stopped first and mocked.
Everyone around witnessed this moment.
The heroes were instantly plunged into silence.
The heroes of Valoran knew very well what had happened, as for the heroes of Azeroth—Khadgar quickly noticed the anomaly, and he exclaimed, "Look, that annihilation energy!"
His words awakened the others, they looked to the sky, and found that the orange cloud of energy had not dissipated due to the death of the caster, but continued to condense, and even the soul-stirring chanting in the high sky had not stopped!
Karthus, he was still continuing this spell!
But how was this possible?!
Except for the heroes of Valoran, no one present could understand what they were seeing.
As everyone knows, even if liches have things like phylacteries, even if their bodies die, they can be resurrected, but no one has ever heard of them being able to continue casting spells after their bodies die.
This scene before them subverted their understanding.