Garros's gaze locked onto the Conjurer.
In the next second, braving the rain of arrows, he swept his dragon wings and charged toward the Conjurer like a cannonball.
At the same time.
The Paladin Leo slightly bent his knees, crushed the ground, and leaped high, shouting a Vow of Enmity.
"I swear by the honor and glory of a Paladin! I shall annihilate the Evil Dragon before me!"
This wasn't just empty talk; it was a skill belonging to a Paladin of Vengeance.
By making a Vow of Enmity and swearing to annihilate a visible creature, he would gain an advantage in both offense and defense, as well as in resistance or damage checks for the next minute.
Darkness!
Facing the formidable Red-Iron Dragon, the battle-hardened Conjurer showed no fear, methodically constructing his second Spell as a drop of pitch, used as a medium, evaporated from his palm.
Garros's vision went black.
As if his eyes were covered by a black curtain, his physical sight was obscured.
He could only judge the Paladin's current position and slashing angle through perceptions like sound and air currents.
His dragon claws swept through, but no sense of impact followed; because he couldn't accurately judge the Paladin's position, the strike missed.
The Paladin leaped across the Young Dragon's clawed arm.
A blinding light erupted from the Dragon-Slaying Greatsword, all of it concentrated on the blade's edge as it slashed toward Garros's neck.
Smite Evil!
Sensing danger, Garros swept his dragon wings and leaned aside, using the thickest cluster of spikes and Explosive Scales on his left shoulder to take the blow.
Boom!
The red-hot Explosive Scales detonated, releasing a powerful shockwave and flames.
Caught off guard, the Paladin was blown back, while a bleeding sword wound was left on Garros's shoulder.
The Explosive Scales were slightly less effective at defending against sharp energy and failed to completely block the attack.
Almost at the same time.
A petite Female Shadow Assassin, dressed in tight black clothes, appeared on the Young Dragon's body by some unknown means. Daggers flipped between her fingers as the pitch-black blade ends flickered with shadow energy, silently stabbing toward the Young Dragon's nape.
Garros narrowed his eyes and focused his mind.
The dagger suddenly stopped three inches from his nape.
The Red-Iron Dragon's spikes suddenly stood up like blades, stabbing into the protective light cast by the War Priest.
As more spikes surged forth, the assassin's body flickered; not daring to withstand the War Priest's blessing with her small frame, she vanished into the shadows.
Simultaneously, Garros's vision returned to brightness.
The Darkness Spell, which should have lasted three minutes, only held for a few seconds due to Garros's resistance weakening it.
After a brief circle, Garros set a clear target and charged at the Conjurer again.
The dragon hunters naturally wouldn't let him have his way.
The Paladin stepped forward, raising the Dragon-Slaying Greatsword high as the blade burst with blinding light.
"Die!"
He gave a low shout, and the sword light swept out like a lunar arc, heading straight for Garros's throat.
Garros dodged sideways, his dragon arm meeting the sword's edge. The ear-piercing sound of metal clashing and the roar of exploding scales echoed through the arena.
The Paladin was prepared this time and withstood the explosion's impact, but he couldn't counter the strength from Garros's dragon arm. He was knocked back into the surrounding steps, landing amidst rubble and cracks.
The Conjurer's low chanting sounded at this moment.
Six large, deep purple hands lunged out of the Void Realm, firmly grasping Garros's wings and pulling him toward the ground.
They couldn't completely restrict Garros; as soon as they grabbed his wings, they were pulled taut, and cracks began to spread, seemingly on the verge of collapse.
But the Dragon Hunting Group was more than one person.
The Vicious Beast Hunter's arrows whistled through the air.
This time, they weren't energy arrows but physical Adamantine Magic Arrows, moving as fast as lightning.
The tails of the arrows trailed steel cables, accurately pinning into Garros's wing membranes.
The other end of the steel cable was gripped by the Berserker. His muscular arms exerted force, and dense blood veins rose on his skin as he pulled the chains, forcing Garros's flight altitude to drop sharply.
The Potion Expert seized the opportunity and threw a vial.
The bottle shattered against his body, and the viscous liquid splashed onto the Young Dragon, quickly solidifying into a strange gel-like substance, further restricting his movements.
Looking at the dragon hunters watching him like tigers on the ground.
Garros's eyes flickered as he changed his combat strategy.
The arena space was limited; even flying into the air made it difficult to build up much attack power, and he would still be within their range. The dragon hunters' tacit cooperation could instead pin him down and wear him out.
"If you want me to land, then so be it."
The Young Dragon landed on the ground, his tail sweep sending the Berserker flying several meters away, while he used his claws to pull out the Adamantine Magic Arrows.
"He's landed! Don't give him a chance to breathe!"
The Conjurer's eyes lit up.
As Garros descended to the ground, the Dragon Hunting Group instantly launched their most intense siege.
The Paladin approached again, his greatsword slashing. Garros raised his claws to block, and sparks flew as the blade met the scales.
Leo's sword strikes were heavy, each carrying the fire of vengeance. The Blood-Raged Berserker was also not to be underestimated, clutching a metal battle-axe and frantically attacking Garros. The War Priest also joined the fray, alternating between his holy shield and war-sword, showing mastery in melee techniques.
Garros's counterattacks were equally fierce, using his Explosive Scales to tank most of the damage.
He tore with his dragon claws, bit with his fangs, and slashed with his wings. This forced the Paladin, Berserker, and War Priest to stay tense and cautious.
The Shadow Assassin flashed in and out from time to time, launching vicious sneak attacks on Garros's cloaca, the back of his head, and his eyes.
In the distance.
The Vicious Beast Hunter's arrows were relentless, each aiming for joints and old wounds, while the Potion Expert smashed vials on the ground. Various gases mixed together, turning into an invisible toxic gas specifically targeting Dragonkin.
The Conjurer's chanting was incessant.
He continuously constructed various control Spells, causing great trouble for Garros.
Viscount Ironthorn was not a teammate of the dragon hunters and lacked tacit cooperation, so he suppressed the urge to join the fray and mainly stayed by the Conjurer's side.
The dragon hunters had promised him that once they heavily wounded the Young Dragon, he could deliver the final blow.
At this moment, the War Priest held his silver shield high. The Holy Symbol on the shield's surface suddenly lit up as he slammed it hard into the Young Dragon's side.
Boom!
Flames surged, and the blast's airwaves overturned the arena's rubble, filling the air with dust.
The Paladin took the opportunity to charge, his greatsword slashing horizontally. Garros dodged, and the blade grazed his shoulder blade, causing the Explosive Scales to detonate, the shockwave pushing Leo back.
But this strike also consumed the last of the Explosive Scales on Garros's shoulder.
More accurately, they were the last Explosive Scales on his body.
In the white-hot battle, Garros was suppressed and beaten by this group of dragon hunters. His Explosive Scales were soon exhausted, revealing his black and red scales, which already bore some axe and arrow marks.
The dragon hunters were also surprised by Garros's resilience and strength.
An ordinary Young Dragon would have been a corpse by now.
This Hybrid Dragon was indeed different; his body was incredibly strong, possessing even more power than the adult Black Dragon they had hunted before. However, he was still young and didn't possess many Spell-like Abilities.
Furthermore, the layer of strange scales on his body had been stripped away; he was nearing his end.
"The Anti-Dragon Mixed Poison should be taking effect! Take this chance to heavily wound it!"
At this time, the Potion Expert let out a shout.
Garros also felt a bout of itching and numbness inside his body, his mouth and nose were dry, and his vision was slightly blurred.
But other than that, there weren't many other reactions; the impact on him was limited.
"It's the extra resistance I evolved to adapt to the Cliff Snake Dragon's poison that weakened the effect of the mixed poison."
Garros did not lose his rational thinking despite being besieged.
At this moment, he was exceptionally calm, figuring out the reason in an instant.
His eyes flickered slightly, and then his steps gradually began to stagger, his attacks and counterattacks becoming much more sluggish.
The three dragon hunters skilled in melee seized the opportunity, launching a torrential barrage of attacks, leaving a series of wounds on the Young Dragon's body.
The Blood-Raged Berserker was the most reckless.
Seeing the Young Dragon become sluggish and its threat greatly reduced.
He jumped directly onto Garros's back, his battle-axe hacking violently at his back.
At that very moment.
"You've been fooled!"
A dangerous curve formed at the corners of Garros's mouth.
He allowed the Berserker to pierce through his scales, and the moment the axe blade touched his flesh, he contracted his muscles, trapping the weapon.
Zzzt! Zzzt!
A surge of intense sound rang out simultaneously as dense, shining golden lightning emerged from within Garros, wrapping around his body like a flying mane. This made him look formidable and majestic, and his previous appearance of defeat was swept away.
Stimulated by the lightning.
His internal muscles expanded and then contracted, tightening like steel wires. Garros's whole body swelled a size larger, and the electric arcs leaping from his body fell onto the Berserker, making him feel numb and stung as his body went into spasms and twitched.
The Berserker first pulled at his weapon, and after finding it couldn't be removed, he tried to flee.
But it was already too late.
The Red-Iron Dragon revealed his ferocity, raising his head and roaring. His dragon wings, like guillotines, suddenly made a massive sweep, forcing the Paladin and War Priest back before he flipped over to pin the Berserker to the ground, his dragon claws gripping the man's upper body.
"Worm! Die!"
Garros gave a low growl.
Flame Claw!
Flames ignited on the iron-like dragon claws, mixing with the golden lightning to become Flame Lightning. With a crackle, it instantly tore through the Berserker's layers of protection, crushing his body into minced meat.
The sudden change in the situation caused the dragon hunters' pupils to shrink.
They never expected this Young Dragon to be so cunning and powerful. His target wasn't the Conjurer, the Vicious Beast Hunter, or the Potion Expert, but rather the hard-to-kill Berserker.
At this moment, Garros was covered in flying golden lightning, his various attributes surging. Even facing attacks from multiple sides simultaneously, he did not fall into a disadvantage.
The Conjurer's crowd control Spells had their durations reduced to the absolute limit.
The Shadow Assassin didn't dare to get close at all.
The Vicious Beast Hunter's arms were nearly torn from the strain of pulling his bow, yet his rain of arrows struggled to penetrate Garros's current hardened scales, allowing him to only provide some suppression through attacks on weak points.
"Kenneth, did you miscalculate the time for the poison to take effect?!"
During a brief gap in the fierce battle with the Young Dragon in its Frenzied State, the Paladin roared.
"I—I don't know, I shouldn't have..."
The Potion Expert's voice trembled, but he was cut off by a sudden roar before he could finish.
Before the roar even sounded, Garros had already knocked aside the Paladin and the War Priest, charging straight for the Vicious Beast Hunter.
"It's your turn!"
Faced with the Red-Iron Dragon, the hunter—who belonged to the Ranger subclass—his pupils constricted. He released an arrow, but instead of attacking Garros, he aimed it to the side.
Immediately after, at the moment his body was about to be crushed by the sharp claws, he vanished into an afterimage, teleporting to the arrow stuck in the steps.
"That was close!"
Having narrowly escaped death, the Vicious Beast Hunter panted heavily, his nerves taut.
But before he could feel relieved, his eyes caught a flash of golden light.
Boom!
A spherical Flame-Thunder Breath pierced through the air and slammed into the Vicious Beast Hunter. Lightning and flames instantly engulfed him, turning him into ash.
The Shadow Assassin tried to take advantage of the opening to launch a sneak attack, but was caught directly by the greatly accelerated Garros and slapped to death by a dragon wing.
Immediately after, Garros exhaled. With aura surging behind his dragon wings, he dashed at full speed without restraint.
He kicked off the ground with his hind legs and beat his wings, charging toward the Conjurer without a moment's pause.
Ever since Garros entered his Frenzied State, the Conjurer had been continuously chanting and constructing the same umbral Spell, to the point where the surrounding space was dyed a deep, dark black, giving Garros a sense of danger.
Bang!
The Red-Iron Dragon arrived in an instant, his sharp claws crushing the Conjurer and Viscount Ironthorn.
However, there was no blood, nor the sensation of crushing bones.
They were both lifelike illusions.
The real Conjurer and Viscount appeared at the highest point of the platform. The Conjurer's chanting now became high-pitched and dense, like a rainstorm falling onto a lake, reaching its final stage.
"Damn it, my perception failed to find their true bodies."
Garros's gaze tightened.
He had to find another way to compensate for his shortcomings in perception; relying solely on the boost from fairy scale powder was too slow!
"O Lord of Myriad Prayers!"
"O invincible and ever-victorious Tempus!"
"I beseech the great God of War to descend his mighty power to slay all evil!"
The War Priest raised both his war sword and holy shield simultaneously, shouting out his prayer.
His face suddenly turned pale and bloodless, and he couldn't help but stagger. Blood leaked from his seven facial orifices, yet his expression was more determined and pious than ever before.
Blade of Judgment!
A pure white light emerged, condensing inch by inch in the sky. It stood higher than the blood-colored barrier of the arena, as if coming from another world, carrying an indescribable pressure.
The giant blade gradually solidified.
A blurry, massive phantom gripped the giant Blade of Judgment and thrust it toward Garros.
In the previous battle, the Paladin had been the most ferocious, but the fatal blow was hidden within the War Priest's divine art.
Garros's expression was solemn as he felt a great danger. He took a deep breath, wanting to rely on his speed to dodge.
But the Conjurer uttered the final syllable.
—Umbral Cage!
Without warning, a dense, dark light directly covered the Young Dragon's body, completely and without leaving any gaps.
Simultaneously, the world in Garros's eyes became extremely fragmented.
On one hand, he could see the scene within the Gladiatorial Domain; he saw the Blade of Judgment gradually falling, and he saw the Paladin's Dragon-Slaying Greatsword ignite with an unprecedented flame as he approached.
On the other hand...
He felt as if he were in another world.
There were no colors other than black and white, as dim as the cosmos, with neither light nor Darkness, only shadows everywhere.
The giant Blade of Judgment fell with lethal danger, piercing toward Garros's heart.
He roared and hissed, his body trembling continuously as it emitted dense golden lightning, causing the dark light on his body to ripple and gradually dim.
Finally, Garros managed to tilt his body with great difficulty, avoiding his vital organs.
Clang!
Sparks flew everywhere.
The Blade of Judgment descended inch by inch, making the sound of tearing steel as it pierced through Garros's scales, flesh, and bone, completely impaling his body from the back through his abdomen.
The Paladin's final, painstaking strike arrived at the same time.
It was another Smite Evil.
The Dragon-Slaying Greatsword hacked into the Red-Iron Dragon's incredibly thick neck, tearing through scales and carving a massive wound in the flesh, but it couldn't cut through the spine any further. The flames on it burned his flesh, bringing an unforgettable, piercing pain.
The duration of the Umbral Cage ended.
This Spell, which the Level 14 Conjurer had spent half of his Demonic Energy and mental strength to construct, had controlled Garros for long enough to cause him unprecedentedly heavy injuries.
Boom!
The Red-Iron Dragon whipped his head, fiercely knocking the Paladin flying.
The Blade of Judgment had already dissipated, leaving a terrifying, gaping hole in Garros's body. Residual special energy remained, preventing him from stopping the bleeding in the short term, and blood gushed out like a fountain.
The wound on his neck was equally shocking.
"It's over."
"Young Dragon, to be able to kill three of our companions, your strength exceeded our expectations."
"If you were to grow up, you would surely become a terrifying Evil Dragon that sweeps across the world. But we will not give you another chance to grow."
The Paladin coughed up blood, his face as pale as the War Priest's.
After the intense battle, they had nearly exhausted their physical strength, and their bodies had reached their limits.
But the Young Dragon before them appeared even more heavily injured, even collapsing directly on the spot, with blood pooling beneath him into a small lake.
"Leave him to me."
Viscount Ironthorn's eyes gleamed with hatred.
He leaped down from the high platform, clutching a longsword, and approached the Young Dragon step by step.
"I will skin every single one of your dragon scales alive and let you die in ultimate agony."
Viscount Ironthorn said cruelly, "Starting with the scales on your face."
He was a Level 9 Warrior and still in his prime. Unafraid of a counterattack from the nearly dying Young Dragon, he raised his longsword and prepared to gouge out the dragon scales on Garros's face.
Thump!
A sound like muffled thunder rang out, making Viscount Ironthorn pause slightly.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
The muffled thunder became a continuous sequence, echoing from the Red-Iron Dragon's chest.
A red bloody light emerged from his body, starting from his heart and extending to his limbs and bones, forming blood-colored patterns across his body.
Viscount Ironthorn's heart sank.
Forgetting about the torture, he flicked his wrist and thrust the longsword toward the Young Dragon's head with even greater speed.
However, he couldn't get closer than three inches.
A blood-stained dragon claw gripped the Viscount's sword and squeezed hard.
Crack!
The longsword shattered into pieces.
Viscount Ironthorn's expression changed drastically. He turned to flee, but Garros's claw grabbed his body.
"I'll send you to reunite with your son."
Garros was expressionless as his claw contracted inch by inch. Viscount Ironthorn struggled to breathe, but his painful flailing was in vain as his body and armor were twisted together into an unrecognizable lump of mangled meat.
He stood up, his gaze sweeping over the remaining dragon hunters.
"It's your turn."
The heartbeat, like drumming or muffled thunder, echoed throughout the Gladiatorial Domain.
Opposite him, the remaining members of the Dragon Hunting Group gathered together, retreating while gasping for breath.
The Conjurer's robes were soaked with cold sweat, the Paladin's greatsword was planted in the ground to support his body, the Potion Expert's vials were long empty, and the War Priest's Holy Symbol was dim and lusterless.
They were like cornered beasts driven to a dead end, while a cold killing intent burned in Garros's vertical pupils.
At this moment, the roles of hunter and prey were reversed.
Garros's dragon wings kicked up a foul wind. Before his afterimage had even faded, his dragon claw had already pierced through the Conjurer's chest.
This spellcaster, who had constrained Garros with his umbral Spells, didn't even have time to scream before being flung into the air.
The Red-Iron Dragon raised his head and unleashed a breath attack, the flames incinerating the falling figure into ash.
The Paladin Leo staggered as he raised his greatsword, but the blade snapped the moment he swung it. Garros's tail swept like a battering ram, smashing him into a stone wall.
Fragments of internal organs seeped from the dented armor. This warrior who had sworn to slay dragons tried to crawl up, only to be stomped into the ground.
Garros reared up on his hind legs and stomped on the Paladin, crushing his body as the ground trembled.
With their physical strength nearly exhausted and their means spent, the dragon hunters were now completely unable to withstand Garros's ferocious might.
They truly hadn't expected that this Young Dragon could burst forth like this again and again, as if he would never reach the end of his life.
The Potion Expert tremblingly pulled out his last potion. A pale green liquid boiled in the vial. He threw it at Garros, but it was blown back by the wind pressure from the dragon's beating wings, shattering at his feet and enveloping him in green mist.
He let out a painful wail as his skin rotted and his bones dissolved.
In less than three seconds, his entire being turned into a puddle of pus.
The last War Priest knelt on the ground, praying to his god, but received no response.
Garros's claw lifted his head, his voice low: "It seems your faith isn't pious enough."
A muffled sound came as the claw tips tightened, and the priest's headless corpse fell to the ground, marking the end of this battle.
When Garros was the only living thing left, the blood-colored barrier in the arena's sky began to dissolve, gradually revealing the sky of the Serel Wilderness.
PS: I finished the battle in one go, so it's a bit late. Asking for power stones.