The violent crimson storm blew away the dust and, along with it, the scorching heat, pinning the Brass Dragon firmly in the pit.
It eroded and stripped away the magic-infused stone armor bit by bit, and in just five seconds, the entire shell was peeled off, revealing the Brass Dragon’s copper-colored scales beneath.
The Brass Dragon tried to raise its head, to vent its rage through a roar.
Elqi immediately increased her magic output, forcing its head back down against the ground. At the same time, she herself was growing exhausted.
Every additional second she maintained this spell was a massive drain on her magic reserves.
For a Magic User, exhausting one’s magic was like a bird having its wings broken. This showed just how desperate Elqi’s effort was this time.
Elqi chose to trust her teammates, to trust in Rosily’s ability.
She gripped her Staff with both hands, wringing out every last drop of her magic, all for one purpose—to suppress this Earth Dragon further, to break through its defenses, and to create an opening for Rosily to finish it off.
When the last trace of magic was spent, the wind orb at the tip of Elqi’s Staff had shrunk to the size of a fingernail. Without any further magic to sustain it, the orb quickly dissolved into a gentle breeze and dispersed.
Sweating profusely and exhausted, Elqi used what little strength remained to look at Rosily, then she drifted down like a falling leaf. Simona on the ground caught her with a spell.
Inside the great pit, the frenzied crimson storm, now without support, dissipated within two or three seconds as well, revealing the pitiful state of the Brass Dragon within.
Its original copper-colored scales had been scraped into tatters, and numerous wounds of varying depths oozed magic-rich blood.
Yet even after being suppressed for nearly twenty seconds, the Brass Dragon slowly rose from the pit again.
But Elqi’s power had its limits. Though she had unleashed a charged fifth-tier Wind Element Magic, there was still a gap between it and a true fifth-tier magic.
While she had not truly stepped into the Sixth Rank, Elqi had released a fifth-tier magic at Fourth Rank strength. Otherwise, that attack might have ground away the Brass Dragon’s entire spine. The tiers were, after all, a chasm difficult to cross.
Hatred burned in the Brass Dragon’s eyes. Draconic Beasts possessed far greater intelligence than other Magical Beasts and naturally carried an immense pride—they would never accept being wounded by an enemy weaker than themselves.
In its eyes now, its fury toward Elqi burned even deeper.
Just as the Brass Dragon lifted its leg to step out of the five-meter-deep pit ground out beneath it, a black shadow flashed past with a cold glint. Before it could even react, excruciating pain shot through all four of its limbs.
The moment the Brass Dragon’s attention was entirely fixed on Elqi, Scarlett activated her Battle Technique, turning into a swift phantom that slashed through the knees of all four of the Brass Dragon’s legs.
Though she hadn’t severed them, the damage was more than enough. After that strike, the Brass Dragon let out a mournful cry and crashed heavily to the ground.
It still tried to climb back up, but a figure wreathed in silver flames appeared midair. Rosily’s Sword Qi surged violently around her—even more vigorous than before!
Silver-gray Longsword Cang in hand, she landed lightly atop the Brass Dragon’s head, like an elegant Butterfly pausing to rest.
Rosily held the sword with both hands, disdain in her eyes as she looked down upon the defeated foe beneath her feet.
Cang was driven into the Brass Dragon’s skull.
She smiled and spoke softly.
“Bye-bye~”
With those words, Rosily pressed the longsword down with force. The surging Sword Qi poured through the blade and into the Brass Dragon’s head. In an instant, it lost consciousness, and the pair of Dragon Eyes filled with hatred and fear went dull.
Blood seeped through the gap where Cang had pierced. The Earth Dragon’s earlier skill of leaping and slamming down had caused waste heat to build up inside its body that couldn’t be dispersed quickly.
The blood was especially viscous, bubbling and steaming—clearly the result of that skill leaving residual heat with no way to escape.
Rosily hadn’t forgotten the mission. She retrieved the blood collection tool from her Ring.
The moment the transparent crystal rod came out, it began vibrating with a low hum. The sharp blackwood thorn at its tip opened its tightly shut mouths, eagerly craving blood.
She pulled Cang free, then jumped down from the massive Earth Dragon’s head and pressed the crystal rod into one of the wounds on the Brass Dragon’s corpse.
A mouth at the base of the blackwood thorn bit firmly into the flesh, while the mouths buried deeper in the wound drank greedily. The nearly transparent crystal pillar gradually turned pink, then crimson, then deep red.
“Ugh, disgusting like a tick.”
Rosily had no fondness for this thing. Just looking at it wasn’t cool, wasn’t pretty, wasn’t cute—completely useless!
Cough, cough…
After voicing her complaint inwardly, she let out a relieved sigh.
A Draconic Beast close to the Sixth Rank was tougher than she’d imagined. If she’d been alone, it would have cost her quite a few tricks.
“This means I still need to keep working hard and master those Swordsmanship techniques!”
Rosily took one last deep look at the dragon corpse.
This was the first dragon she’d killed—a decent enough Debut Battle. Rosily felt a quiet thrill of pride.
Of course, her teammates had been indispensable in killing this Earth Dragon, especially Elqi, who had contributed the most this time.
Just as Rosily was about to turn around to check on Elqi’s condition, the lifeless, dead Brass Dragon’s vertical pupil suddenly fixed its gaze on her retreating back!
As if sensing something, Rosily instinctively wanted to turn around, but a thought rose from deep within her—don’t turn around. Her neck’s rotation froze halfway. Then she saw that everything around her had come to a standstill.
Time Stop?
Rosily pressed her lips together and tightened her grip on the Silver-Gray Sword in her hand.
“I have Sister Cang. No need to be afraid.”
Even as she thought this, Rosily still didn’t turn to meet that eye. She kept her gaze fixed on empty space beside her.
Just as Rosily was about to call out to Cang, an unfamiliar voice spoke, addressing her directly.
“Ying?”
Rosily didn’t know what that word meant.
Then the voice carried a hint of disappointment as it sighed and said:
“You’re not her anymore… Right, how could I have forgotten.”
“What’s your name now?”
“Oh my, it seems I can’t get too close to you. There are too many people around you, hehe. Can you tell me your name?”
The voice in her mind seemed to have noticed the silent Cang and chose not to reveal itself, instead merely chatting with Rosily this way, curious about her name.
Rosily lightly bit her lower lip and answered the unfamiliar voice with pride: “Rosily. My mom gave it to me.”
“Rosily, is it…”
The voice trailed off there, with nothing more to follow.
Rosily felt the strange pressure weighing on her heart disappear. Only then did she turn to look at the dragon corpse’s eye.
It hadn’t changed in the slightest—still as dull and unfocused as before, as if nothing had happened at all.
Rosily frowned and muttered to herself.
“It’s gone?”
But that had definitely been real!
No response came.
She let out a small sigh of relief. And at that moment, an unexpected change occurred.
A golden needle burst out from the Earth Dragon’s body, piercing into Rosily from behind her heart. Caught completely off guard, she had no time to defend—and even if she had, it might not have helped.
The golden needle vanished into the girl’s heart and rapidly dissolved, flowing through her body. As for the wound… before her body could even react, the tiny injury had already healed in an instant.
Rosily stood frozen in place. A strange fullness settled in her chest.
This feeling was just like that inexplicable hunger from before—it had come out of nowhere, as if she had already completed this feeding.
“What was that?”
[It’s a decent thing too. Not a loss.]
Cang finally spoke up, offering that one line in Rosily’s mind before playing aloof again.
Rosily stood there dazed, and the party members walking over grew worried about her condition. After all, Rosily had always been the one charging ahead.