A Dragon's Fury I

Lentis felt his strength giving out. He couldn't keep the dragon under his control for much longer. Its power was something that he couldn't handle. It was rather surprising how he managed to keep a mythical beast restrained for so long in the first place. "Guess the legends are a little exaggerated after all..."

But even though the dragon's strength was nowhere compared to what was said in the stories, it was still no joke. Even with all the knights working together, they still couldn't beat it. They could only hope that Rui and the other knights would make it back in time with the siege weapon. And even then, they weren't sure if it was possible for the siege weapon to break through the dragon's defenses. It broke through their wall like it was nothing so he really hoped that it had the power to get through the dragon's scales.

"S-sorry, I can't keep this up anymore..." One of the knights maintaining the barrier for Lentis ran out of magic and fell down.

"Hey! Are you okay!?" Lentis didn't know the knight's name and wanted to see if he was alright but he couldn't move from his spot. Another knight went over to check him in his place.

"He's alive, but he's unconscious," the knight informed him. The knight had used up all their magic power and collapsed from exhaustion. It was a pretty normal thing that happened to magic users when they tried to push their limits with their magic.

"I see..." As long as he wasn't dead, everything was good. But they might all just be dead anyway if Rui didn't get back in time.

Currently, most of the knights here had used up all their magic power and were either resting or unconscious like the knight that just recently dropped to the ground from exhaustion. There was only a handful of knights left here now that still have magic left.

"Another wave is coming!"

The knights put up their barriers in front of Lentis and the tired knights to block another one of the dragon's attacks. A giant wave of flames enveloped the knights. The flames danced behind the barrier, crackling loudly as they tried to tear through.

"I can't anymore. Sorry, but it's up to you all." Another knight fell to the ground as his magic power ran out. Now there were only three of them left standing.

"We're done for!"

"Don't say that! They will make it back in time... I hope."

"You don't even sound sure about that yourself!"

"Stop it you two! We can still win this!"

The last three remaining knights were all on edge. Lentis couldn't blame them since he was pretty worried himself as well. Time was running out and they needed the siege weapon to be here now. "We just need to hold out for a bit longer!" he told the knights.

Of course, he didn't know when Rui and the rest of the knights would get back but he needed to encourage the knights right now or else they were all dead. They could afford to give up now. Not only will the city suffer if they fall or run, but there are already so many knights and soldiers who have sacrificed their lives to slow down the dragon. If they gave up here then it would be both an insult to the brave fighters and they would be a disgrace to the kingdom.

"It's coming again!" A third wave of flames hit the knights and another one fell. Now there were only two of them left.

"D*mn it! How much gas does that thing have in its stomach!? The fire just doesn't stop coming!"

After the fire stopped, the two knights dropped the barrier and also fell to the ground. "I'm out of magic. I can't put another shield up anymore."

"That's the same for me."

Lentis was completely vulnerable now that the last of his knights also ran out of magic power. Was this where it all was going to end? If he stopped his spell right now and let the dragon free, he would have enough magic to block against one of the dragon's breaths of fire. But then what will he do after that? There were too many knights behind him and he couldn't just leave them.

He had a problem in his hands. The dragon saw that he was the only one left and was taunting him by taking its sweet time charging up its breath attack. The beast tilted its head upwards and took a slow breath. When it was done, the dragon turned its head down and looked right at Lentis. He watched as the beast opened its mouth and let out its dreadful fire attack.

Lentis had no choice. He stopped the earth restaining spell and summoned a wall of earth to cover both him and the knights. The wall took the entire attack before breaking and crumbling back to the dirt where it came from.

After the attack ended, Lentis looked out and saw that the dragon was now free. It broke out of the weakened earthen shackles and spread open its wings. Lentis braced himself as the dragon took to the skies, blasting everyone with a powerful gust of wind. When he lowered his arms again, he saw that the dragon was now on top of them and was getting ready to deliver the final blow.

Lentis had no magic left and even if he did, he wouldn't have enough time to cover all the knights from the attack. It was impossible for him to erect a wall that big on top of them. And even if he could do it in time, it wouldn't be able to handle the blast. Defending against a single direction was one thing, but defending against the entire top side was not possible against an enemy such as that.

This was it. They tried their best but it wasn't enough apparently. "Heh..." To lose to an enemy whose purpose they didn't even know. At the very least, if he were to die, he wanted to know why the dragon was attacking them. What did they ever do to anger it? As much as he wanted to know why the dragon was doing this, it didn't look like he would have the chance to find out.

This was the end then.

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