Chapter 912 912:- The Dragon's Counterattack
Seeing what happened, Aditya narrowed his eyes. Previously, he guessed they were doing something as a team, but now he better understood.
This group wasn’t just relying on power or numbers. They were relying on their formation, planning, and painful synergy to outclass Aditya.
He gritted his teeth, trying to formulate a new plan.
Killing Nordour would be difficult. From the looks of it, he had very high health points. He also carried a shield three times his body size. Aditya was sure that this shield also had some functions.
Also, two artefacts were on his wrists.
And then there was healing support from Elliot; taking him down directly was not feasible. If he hit him, he would very quickly recover, or others might use this chance to attack him. His only real advantage was his ability to teleport around them.
‘Then I’ll break their formation.’
Aditya vanished once more.
This time, he appeared behind Brenn Dashar.
The short Beastkin’s ears twitched a moment before impact. He turned, just in time to see Aditya’s blade slashing downward.
The sword never made contact.
A massive green tentacle burst out of the ground, intercepting the attack.
Nordour’s eyes bled slightly as he grunted again. Blood dripped from the corner of his lips.
At the same time, Elliot raised his hand.
“Displacement Pulse!”
A flash of light struck the ground beneath Aditya.
Whatever he used caused space to warp slightly, and Aditya was pushed several meters back, the timing so precise it broke his momentum.
Palmer did not waste the opening.
“Sequence—Three-Strike Rhythm!”
Palmer appeared in front of Aditya. Aditya was surprised by how quick Palmer was. Compared to before, Palmer felt like a completely different man.
Without wasting a second, he swung his blade in a wide horizontal arc, aiming for Aditya’s side. But Aditya shifted his body just in time, the blade slicing through empty air.
Palmer didn’t pause. Using the momentum, he flipped smoothly, bringing his sword down in a sharp vertical slash. Aditya raised his weapon and parried the blow.
As their swords clashed, they made a clanging sound. At the same time, Aditya’s arms shook from the force of the attack.
But before Aditya could recover, Palmer spun on his heel and lunged forward. This time, he thrust his blade with deadly precision.
The third strike came too fast. It was like suddenly, Palmer became even faster than before.
Aditya moved, but not fast enough. The tip of Palmer’s blade grazed his shoulder. The attack managed to tear through the fabric and draw a thin line of blood.
It wasn’t deep, but it stung. And it left its mark.
Aditya’s eyes widened again. ‘He’s this fast… even with my enhanced reaction speed?’
Seeing Aditya’s shock, Palmer smirked. He finally left satisfied. The fear that he felt earlier from Aditya’s killing intent was completely gone. Now, his heart was filled with confidence. As long as he and his team worked together, defeating this Dragon wasn’t impossible.
“This is just the beginning.” His words reflected his newfound confidence and pride.
And just as he said that, Elliot activated another support spell.
“Reflex Acceleration – Pulse II!”
Palmer’s body glowed in a faint light before disappearing.
Aditya noticed that Palmer’s movements became even smoother after Elliot used this skill.
Each strike followed the next like flowing water. Suddenly, Aditya was finding it extremely difficult to dodge Palmer’s attacks.
In the next few seconds, Palmer continued attacking Aditya. Once again, he barely managed to block a horizontal slash before Palmer quickly hit him with another attack.
Once again, Aditya couldn’t dodge in time. Palmer’s sword grazed his right shoulder.
This continued a few more things, and in the end, Aditya was left with four more light sword wounds. He would have been cut down if he hadn’t been fast. But that did not mean he was fast enough to avoid the attacks either. As soon as Palmer’s movements became smoother, his reaction speed slightly increased.
Having no other choice, Aditya was forced to use teleportation again.
He teleported again, but this time, he didn’t reappear immediately in front of Palmer.
He reappeared a few hundred meters away from them. While lowering his sword, Aditya began to think.
‘If I attack anyone in that formation, Nordour will take the hit. And if I target Nordour directly, the others will counterstrike before I can land a finishing blow.’
Aditya’s clothes fluttered in the wind. Blood dripped from both his shoulders and biceps.
Scene Continuation – Phase 3: Disruption Begins
Aditya wiped the blood trickling down his biceps.
Though his expression remained neutral, the gears inside his mind were spinning rapidly.
‘If I keep fighting the way I have so far, I’ll be the one who breaks.’
His eyes scanned the battlefield.
They weren’t coming for him. It was obvious that they weren’t going to chase him. They wanted him to attack. They were holding formation.
“Aditya….!!” Hearing this, Aditya looked at Laura.
“Use your power!”
“That guy next to the half Dwarf seems to be the core of this formation.” Looking at the group, Aditya noticed that Elliot was almost hiding behind Nordour’s giant shield.
“He is silently directing everyone!” Aditya did not notice this because he was constantly facing attacks. But Laura, who was observing from a distance, noticed this.
Aditya nodded. He also planned to target Elliot, but Laura’s words made him realise just how important Elliot was to this whole formation.
Aditya became wary of Elliot because he seemed to have some kind of skill that could interfere with Space. This made him the most dangerous one in the battle. If his teleportation was limited, then he would be in trouble. And now Laura’s words gave him a different perspective.
Elliot was the core person who held the entire team together. His strategic support, perfect spell timing, and mana coordination kept everyone in sync. Without him, Palmer’s speed wouldn’t be as sharp, Nordour’s defences wouldn’t hold as long, and the support cast wouldn’t operate with such precision. He was the conductor of their entire battlefield symphony.
Without wasting another moment, Aditya vanished.
This time, he appeared not behind but above Elliot. He aimed his sword directly downward, poised to strike.
But Nordour had already moved. A massive green tentacle erupted from the ground, wrapping around Elliot and pulling him back just in time.
Bang…..!!!
Aditya’s blade slammed into the ground, cutting deep into the earth.
He looked up.
By then, everyone on the team had reacted.
Everyone understood that Aditya was targeting their core or the spine of this formation.
Palmer had dashed in, standing on Elliot’s right. Nordour stood on his left and raised his shield to protect Elliot and others from any attack.
Kraedon and Syra moved behind, reinforcing the second layer.
Brenn stayed at the rear, his prosthetic arm already glowing.
Their formation tightened.
Elliot was now surrounded from all sides.
But Aditya wasn’t fazed.
He took one slow step forward.
Palmer didn’t hesitate. He swung his sword and released a sharp horizontal energy arc toward Aditya.
But just before it could hit him—
Aditya’s body exploded into seven bolts of Crimson Lightning.
The bolts split instantly, crackling as they moved like serpents. The energy arc passed through where Aditya had stood, hitting nothing but the air.
The Crimson Lightning bolts didn’t move in a straight line. They zig-zagged, looped, and twisted around each other.
Each bolt closed in on Elliot from a different direction.
“Protect Elliot!!” Nordour roared and raised his shield. But he was one man; he could only block one direction. And that was also if he somehow managed to match the insane speed of the Lightning bolts.
Palmer moved to intercept, but the bolts were too fast.
BOOOOOOOOM!
The seven bolts struck Elliot at the same time.
A massive explosion of red light engulfed the core of the formation.
Dust and crackling lightning rippled outward. The shockwave of the attack pushed everyone away and completely broke the formation.
The force shook the ground.
Everyone shielded their eyes.
When the light faded, Elliot lay collapsed on the ground. He wasn’t dead yet. He was unconscious. But his robe was torn, and his body was badly burned.
The centre, or more like the spine of this formation, was destroyed.
Nordour was kneeling beside him. His body was trembling. Only because of his shield did he withstand the shockwave and not be pushed away.
Blood gushed from his nose and ears. He had absorbed a portion of the impact, but not all. But most importantly, everyone was damaged by the shockwave. And the one who received the most damage was Elliot. If Nordour hadn’t transferred the damages of everyone into his body, Elliot would have been a burned corpse. And a few others definitely would have been close to death.
“Dammit!!!”
Cough….!!!
Nordour bitterly looked at his own body. His whole body was trembling. He felt his body was burning from the inside.
Nordour briefly looked at his two bracelets. The bracelets lost their golden shine and were now full of cracks. A second later, his precious artefacts that provided him with 500+ health points each shattered.
Palmer looked stunned.
‘What kind of attack was that?’ In decades of fighting cultivators, he had never seen anything like this.
Aditya slowly walked out of the smoke.
His body was radiating faint streaks of lightning.
His eyes locked onto Nordour.
Nordour looked at those Crimson Dragon eyes. Looking at those Crimson pupils, he felt his heart pound in fear.
“I’m not done.” As he finished, Crimson Lightning started dangerously flickering around his body.
“Crimson Lightning…..!!” Seeing Crimson Lightning flickering around Aditya, Nordour seems to have remembered something. The look in his eyes changed as he widened his eyes.
“Only one man can use Crimson Lightning, Crimson Flame, and teleportation…” Recalling the abilities of The Dragon Monarch, gradually Nordour’s body started trembling. This time his body wasn’t shaking from pain, it was shaking from pure fear and despair.
Seeing that Aditya finally had the upper hand, Laura sighed in relief.
‘Fortunately….!’ She finally allowed herself to relax.
At the same time, a part of her felt proud for helping him with the info. At least, she wasn’t totally useless. She had some contribution in this fight.
Meanwhile, Aditya did not waste any time. Since he had revealed his powers, there was no need to hold back anymore.
Swoosh!!!
Aditya disappeared and reappeared above the entire group. Nordour and others looked up as they felt something really bright and hot heading towards them.
When they looked up, they saw a snake-like Dragon that was about 10 meters in length and made from Crimson Flame heading in their direction.
“Nordour, do your thing!” Palmer shouted while gritting. His defence wasn’t as good as Nordour’s, and now if Nordour also fell, then it would be over for them.
“Others provide support to Nordour!”
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