"You idiot! I already told you this won't work! Can't you understand human language?!" Even with Ur's temperament, he was so enraged by Natsu that his blood pressure nearly spiked. Veins bulged on his forehead as he roared.
"Then you tell me, what are we supposed to do?!" Facing Ur's shouting, Natsu dug his own head out of the ground and snapped back angrily. Judging by his attitude, he somehow looked even more justified than Ur.
Ur:[(▼皿▼#)]
Bang!
Another punch embedded Natsu straight back into the ground.
At this moment, Ur suddenly felt that he could actually understand Erza a little. Talking to this idiot was completely pointless aside from raising one's blood pressure. Using fists was far more practical.
"Waaah, Natsu!" The young Happy hurried over and, once again, started struggling to dig Natsu out of the ground with his tiny paws.
"This is bad! ~man!" Carrying Karen, whose legs were still twitching uncontrollably, Ichiya rushed over to Ur and spoke anxiously. "What should we do now? ~man!"
Ichiya was one of the few people present who understood Ur's strength. In such a situation, he instinctively moved closer to Ur.
Hearing Ichiya's voice, the anger inside Ur flared up uncontrollably.
[o(▼皿▼メ;)o]
He swore that if internal unity weren't an issue right now, he would have sent this guy underground to keep Natsu company.
Man, man, man… man my ass!
Ur took several deep breaths and finally managed to suppress the fire in his chest.
At this point, everyone left on the battlefield had gathered together.
No one here was stupid. They all knew their situation clearly. If they didn't unite now, there would be no chance of survival at all.
Hitsuya was still leisurely circling in the sky. Seeing everyone gather together, it made no move whatsoever. It was enjoying itself—playing with humans.
This was the punishment for daring to provoke it. Hitsuya had already declared that it would subject them to the cruelest punishment in the world, letting them die little by little in fear. So no matter what Ur and the others did right now, Hitsuya didn't care. But once it lost patience, Ur and the rest would also lose their final value.
"We have to find a way to lure Hitsuya down from the sky. Hitsuya is a drake that controls the power of wind. If we fight in the air, we're at too great a disadvantage." Ur frowned as he looked at the drake soaring above.
With Hitsuya's massive body and agility, as long as it stayed in the air, whether attacking or fleeing, they would be at an overwhelming disadvantage.
"But how are we supposed to lure it down?" The one who spoke was the super musclebound Elephant King. His face was deathly pale, clear signs of heavy blood loss.
"My magic allows me to fly. I can try to go up and draw Hitsuya down," Elia said. His expression had returned to calm, but anyone looking closely could see the bone-deep hatred filling his eyes. The hatred of having his brother killed was irreconcilable.
"No." Ur immediately cut him off. "That's too dangerous for you alone, and Hitguria might not even take the bait."
After saying that, Ur couldn't help adding silently in his mind. 'With your speed, you'd probably get eaten before you even touched the ground.'
Ur complained inwardly.
Just then, Natsu finally managed to pull his head out of the dirt again. Hearing Ur's words, he immediately started complaining.
"Then tell us, what should we actually—"
Bang!
Before he could finish, Ur punched him straight back into the ground again.
Everyone: "..."
"I have an idea. Look over there."
Seeing how each suggestion was worse than the last, Ur decided not to ask for their opinions anymore. He directly pointed toward the ground not far away, where a hole had appeared at some point.
"Do you see that opening? If I'm not mistaken, that's probably the entrance to the so-called 'treasure.' And based on my guess, that treasure has most likely already been occupied by Hitsuya."
"What? You mean…"
Ichiya's face was filled with shock. He didn't even say "man."
"…that treasure has become a dragon's lair?!"
"That's very likely. Otherwise, there's no way to explain why a drake from the deepest part of the Hogria Mountains would appear here. Dragons and drakes love treasure, and only a massive amount of it would lure a drake away from its original nest."
"If that's the case, then we…"
Everyone's eyes immediately lit up.
As everyone knew, dragons and drakes never allow any living creature other than themselves to enter their lairs. As long as they showed even the slightest intention of entering the "drake's lair," Hitsuya would definitely come down to stop them.
After exchanging a few looks, the group quickly finalized their battle plan.
"Elephant King and I will act as bait. The rest of you scatter out to avoid a total wipe," Ur said. Among everyone present, he and Elephant King had the strongest defenses. Only the two of them had a chance to withstand Hitsuya's attacks.
Everyone immediately began moving. With his remaining arm, Elephant King slammed a punch into the ground. The earth shook violently, and the previously unclear "treasure" entrance was fully revealed by that blow.
At first, Hitsuya didn't think much of the ants' actions in the sky and even watched with interest, curious about what tricks Ur and the others might pull. But the moment Elephant King and the others forced open the treasure entrance, Hitsuya instantly flew into a rage!
"ROOOAAAR!!!"
"Humans, you are courting death."
Fury erupted from Hitsuya as its massive body dove downward, whipping up violent winds.
Ur's gaze sharpened. The magic he had been accumulating for a long time was released instantly. Four dazzling magic circles bloomed.
Lava Magic, Fourfold Lava Claws!
Boom! Boom! Boom! boom!
Four enormous lava claws rose before Ur like four pillars reaching the heavens, unshakable and indestructible. Lava Claws were originally a highly versatile spell, and compared to rock walls, they were of a higher tier, allowing Ur's magic power to be more utilized.
Hitsuya smashed through three layers of lava claws in succession, but finally stopped in front of the last one.
Seeing this, Ur's expression relaxed slightly. At that very moment, a fierce gust suddenly struck from the side, and an overwhelming sense of danger surged forth.
"Damn it, I was careless!"
That thought had just flashed through his mind when, the next second, a terrifying force slammed into Ur's body. Even with Ur's physique, he could not resist and was sent flying like an arrow released from a bow, shooting straight into the ground.
Before he disappeared, Ur vaguely saw a massive tail sweeping through the air and heard Natsu shouting. "Ur!"
"Damn you, Hitsuya..."
After plunging underground, unlike Natsu, Ur didn't get stuck in the earth. Instead, he continued flying for several seconds before finally crashing into something and coming to a stop.
Intense pain surged from his abdomen.
Before Ur could even take a look at his surroundings, the system's voice suddenly rang out sharply in his mind.
[Dingdong! A large amount of absorbable energy detected. Begin absorption immediately?]
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