Muria's words completely enraged the dragonblood sorcerer. His muscles twitched, and his body swelled further, but it was to no avail. Muria's repeated strikes quickly pulverized his body.
"Don't kill this one," Muria said, watching the writhing mass that was rapidly regenerating by absorbing surrounding fire elements. He pointed his finger, and a chain of starlight formed, binding the dragonblood sorcerer. This chain, modeled after ancient divine runes, was perfect for restraining a crippled legend.
"Let's move to the next location." Muria glanced around. What was once a bustling tavern was now a mess of shattered flesh and bone. The two ancient dragons had ruthlessly slaughtered all the dragon hunters, leaving none alive.
...
In a dimly lit chamber, illuminated only by glowing runes, somber faces could be seen. The powerful aura they naturally emitted clashed with each other, but was absorbed by the runes in the chamber, leaving no trace.
"The gold dragon has left the White Dragon Kingdom and is hunting our companions in the Northlands. Have we located him?"
"We have found traces of his actions."
"What's the use of finding his traces?"
"According to our intelligence, at least five legendary dragon hunters have disappeared after encountering him. We must kill him quickly, or our losses will only increase."
"Are there any other dragons accompanying this gold dragon?"
"According to the traces we've found, he's accompanied by an ancient white dragon of soul-level and a crystal ancient dragon of legend tier three."
"Just those two dragons? They're not a concern. We only need to focus on the gold dragon."
"We can find traces of his actions, but we can't predict his movements in advance. All prophetic divination is ineffective on him. But there is a way to ambush him."
"What method? He's a legend. He can reach any part of this continent if he wants to. How can we prepare in advance?"
"He appears in places with a pattern. Haven't you noticed? He targets well-known dragon hunters, so..."
"So we just need to leak information about anyone here, and the dragon will come naturally. We just have to wait."
"That's a good idea. Let's do it."
...
"Information on a follower of Malcador." Muria played with the communication crystal in his hand. This information was from Synapse: a follower of Malcador had recently been seen in the Northlands, supposedly joining the Northern Alliance to fight against Claudia's forces at the invitation of a duke.
"A follower of the Dragon Hunter, joining the Northern Alliance," Muria said with a cold smile. "The timing of this information is just right. It must be them."
Muria had been mentally prepared for this and had his personal divine weapon's warning. How could he not have some suspicion? But so what? These were just humans trying to set a trap for him. Casio had already advised him to confront it head-on, as it was a rare opportunity.
"I'm going to hunt down a follower of Malcador. You two stay here for now; no need to follow me." Muria stood in the temporary ice castle, glancing at the two ancient dragons torturing human dragon hunters.
"A follower of Malcador." The two dragons raised their heads, their eyes burning with hatred. "Lord Muria, please take us with you."
"There's no need for you to come. This might be a bit dangerous, and you're too weak. Just stay here." Muria shook his head at the scene, then disappeared, leaving the two dragons helpless.
...
A blizzard raged, snowflakes swirling in the air, obscuring the view. This was the Depreson subcontinent, where once it snowed, visibility was severely reduced, making it hard for ordinary people to distinguish between people and animals even five meters away.
"I still can't get used to this weather," Muria muttered, looking up at the sky. The snowflakes evaporated before they could land on him, dispersed by the heat naturally radiating from his body. Despite the cold environment, it didn't affect him much due to his fire-aligned dragon bloodline, though he still disliked it.
After a moment, he lowered his gaze to the city standing before him. In the snowstorm, the city appeared like a giant beast crouched on the ground, mouth open, ready to devour anyone who dared approach.
"Interesting!" Muria narrowed his eyes, then began walking towards the city through the snow, choosing to enter on foot.
Every step he took left a footprint in the snow, but the wind and snow quickly covered them. Unbeknownst to anyone, a fleeting golden light flashed with each step he took.
As Muria entered the city, he found it deserted, as expected. This did not surprise him. With a calm expression, he walked towards the city's center, sensing the powerful aura unabashedly emanating from a figure there, like a towering sword planted in the ground, impossible to ignore.
"Are you so confident, gold dragon? You sense something is wrong and still dare to walk in," said the figure standing in the city's central square. The figure was over three meters tall, clad in menacing heavy armor, with sharp blades extending from all the joints and edges of his armor. He held a massive sword, as tall as he was, plunged into the ground, with a third of its blade buried.
"What else?" Muria smiled nonchalantly, looking at the near-inhuman figure. "Should I have turned tail and hidden in my castle?"
"Do you think..." Muria glanced around, "that you're worth that?"
"What an arrogant dragon, still speaking boldly at this point. I'm looking forward to seeing you beg for mercy on the ground soon." In the increasingly fierce blizzard, silhouettes exuding powerful auras emerged from the shadows of buildings and street corners, their presence subtly disturbing the surrounding space. These were all legends who had mastered spatial power.
"Hum!" Beneath Muria's feet, a series of hidden, radiant runes appeared. Glowing symbols materialized on the city's streets and buildings, linking with the runes to form a massive composite magic array that enveloped the entire city.
As the array activated, it drew power from the surrounding hundred miles, pressing down on Muria. Visible cold spread throughout the city, forming icy chains that shot towards him.
"This is all you've got after so much effort?" Muria asked, puzzled, his face openly showing disappointment. "You're just not good enough."
"You're oblivious to your impending doom. This array was designed to target you. Such power, not even an ancient dragon could withstand it," an elderly legend snapped.
"Why would I resist it?" Muria tilted his head, looking at the elderly man like he was an idiot. This array drew on the frost power of the surrounding hundred miles to press him, resisting it would be like resisting the world itself.
"Did you even bother to investigate my identity? Didn't you check what I'm skilled at?" Muria's expression turned strange.
"What are you skilled at?" The armored giant, who had drawn his massive sword, felt a foreboding sense of dread. Their main reliance for attacking Muria was this legendary array. Without external aids and the array's suppression, how could humans hope to fight a dragon of the same level?
"I'm skilled at magic arrays," Muria sighed, "and especially at breaking them, particularly legendary arrays."
As the dragon hunters' faces darkened, Muria lifted his foot and gently stomped down. The entire city shook violently, orderly spiderweb-like cracks spreading from his foot in all directions. Before their eyes, the runes scattered throughout the city exploded, causing a violent burst. Massive amounts of cold air erupted from the cracks, quickly freezing into huge blocks of ice. In just an instant, the entire city was reduced to an icy ruin.
Muria hadn't used much power. He had simply triggered the minute amounts of energy he had infiltrated into the ground while walking, destroying the array. This was the essence of breaking arrays—destroying many with one strike.
"You..." The dragon hunters were stunned, especially the soul-level hunters who had come to learn from the legends. They were shaking, witnessing the city reduced to ruins with a single step, showcasing the terrifying power of this restrained dragon.
"Don't think of escaping. You can't. Do you think I was walking in slowly for nothing?" Muria said, smiling. "I'm best at breaking arrays, but I'm also fairly good at arrays themselves, so altering one is well within my capabilities."
"I hate dealing with knowledgeable dragons. It's much easier to kill the straightforward chromatic ones," muttered a dragon hunter perched on a rooftop, already regretting joining this hunt.
"Enough talk, let's attack together. There's no turning back now."
The experienced dragon hunters launched their attack: flames, frost, sword energy, spear light, fist force, crossbow bolts... A variety of legendary forces further ravaged the already ruined city, their target the dragon standing in its center.
"You really know nothing, do you?" Muria shook his head in resignation. Thunder and flames erupted from him, and a massive whirlwind formed, becoming a barrier that weakened all attacks that reached him.
"Any other tricks? If not, then it's time for you to die." Muria's massive claws grabbed the heavily armored dragon hunter and slammed him into the ground, creating a pit nearly ten meters deep and almost a hundred meters wide. Blood flowed freely from the wounded dragon hunter.
"Gold dragon, did you forget something?" The dragon hunter, lying on the ground and spitting blood, still looked somewhat composed.
"What?" Muria looked down at him, a hint of mockery in his eyes. "Oh, I remember now. You are followers of the Dragon God. That's your trump card, right? So you're planning
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