As Belial soared above them, there was a downpour of acid from its wings. Seven summoners were dissolved instantly in their frantic race to find shelter.
Others managed to, and glued their bodies to the rocks they hid behind, with beating hearts threatening to leap out of their chests.
None of them could defend against the full attack of a Progenitor Tier dragon, not even their guild master.
Philip knew this, but right now his eyes were on the heap of gold and gemstones so close to his hiding place. He picked a gemstone, marvelling at the enormous amount of mana within it.
There was no doubt it would fetch quite the price.
Philip hurriedly slipped the gemstone into his pocket since he deactivated his Eclipsal State upon scrambling behind this rock.
In the Eclipsal State, his aura would be wild enough for the dragon to spot him quickly. While he was fortunate, the others werenât. The smaller dragons launched a siege on them, dragging them out of their hiding place as they fought fiercely for survival.
Their screams pierced his ears, but Philip held his breath and looked away. He had a little sister to look after; he couldnât save everyone.
All he had to do was wait for the right moment and flee this dungeon. Their plan did not include fighting an army of almost two hundred dragons.
Just then, a loud screech made him look. He saw the girl that spoke to Lotus before they entered the dungeon. She was slapped away by one of the dragon spawns.
She crashed into a rock while her summon, a large wind bird, was pinned down by the dragon. Another dragon landed on the rock, acidic saliva dripping from its mouth as it closed in to rip her head off.
In that moment, a projection of Lotusâ summon burst forward. Projections were mostly used to unleash one powerful skill.
The translucent Orchid Mantis shot forward, activating Pink Blossom, a skill that not only doubled the mantisâ speed but manifested pink orchid flowers everywhere.
It hid the Orchid Mantis, allowing it to decapitate the dragon that was about to eat the wind bird in one swift slash.
Lotus, fused with her summon, did the same move but toward the dragon that was about to devour her comrade.
But when her bladed arms slashed the dragon, nothing happened, not even a scratch.
Belial used Grief Transfer, a Progenitor Tier skill that allowed the progenitor to take whatever will cause any sort of grief and also give its own grief to a specific target.
It handled physical damages and sometimes emotional.
Belial took the blow, but it had no effect on him. However, Lotus was wide open, allowing the small dragon to spit acid at her.
She screamed as the acid splashed on her. Her summonâs defence factor was low, but the dragon couldnât kill her with that.
Belial could.
Fortunately, the dragon boss snapped toward the bigger threat: Johan who emerged from his hiding place.
It spat acid, but Johan hid behind another rock. These rocks had enough mana density to resist the dragonâs acid to some extent, or this place wouldnât be its cave.
Johan didnât expect the dragonâs tail. It swept through everything in its path, shattering the rock and launching him several hundred feet away.
The cavern quaked the moment Johan slammed into the wall. The others could only see a dust cloud as he was too far away.
âNow!â Philip yelled in his mind. He swiftly unleashed a T-Rex and bolted out of his hiding place. His summon gathered a large amount of mana and fired a beam, striking Belial right at the face.
The impact launched Belialâs head to the opposite direction with great momentum, almost forcing the great dragon to fall.
Belial turned, but the massive T-Rex was gone. He quickly locked on the fleeing Philip who thought the dragon couldnât track the T-Rexâs mana signature to him.
Philip was still new to this, he didnât understand that a summon could still be tracked to the summoner.
"You think you can run!"
Belialâs furious roar made Philip panic. Belial unleashed a massive acid fog that swept out, closing in on Philip.
It was gaining on him and this Paragon Tier Summoner forgot to switch to Eclipsal State to increase his speed as fear clouded his reasoning. All he could think of was that if he unleashed his summon again, the dragon could kill it, and that would mean the end for him.
âI should have joined the Justice Guild!â Philip almost wept internally. Joining the Justice Guild wouldnât make him anything too special, and that was the reason he came to the Gate Defenderâs Guild.
Here, he was their ace. But now that ace could hear Belialâs deep growl and the stench of its mouth, that had feasted on the flesh and bones of countless, engulfed him like a faint fog.
Wasnât the acid fog enough, did it have to chase after him too?!
Just when Belial and the fog were about to consume Philip, he saw a light at the entrance of the cave.
Something was coming. Something fastâ
A fierce gust of wind that almost pulled off his hair swept past him and collided with Belial. The dragon that was behind him a second ago was gone.
Philip couldnât think about what hit Belial as before his eyes was a huge crimson knight with ten golden lightning tendrils, five on both sides. They were long enough to touch the ground.
This knight had a golden halo above his helmet. He stretched his hand, unleashing a soft golden radiance that expelled the acidic fog.
Beside this knight was another. A female crimson knight with four massive flaming wings. He could see each feather vividly and they billowed with blue fire.
"This dragon belongs to the king." Tempest declared.
"From henceforth, do not interfere." Toria added, and they both flew past him.
Philipâs heart drummed, he turned and saw Belial falling to the ground after some clash mid-air with the existence that breezed past him.
The cavern shook when Belial collapsed before a humanoid dragon-like being with two swords.