Flames swept across the battlefield, leaving behind scorched earth, shattered defences, and countless dead. Only after the dragon flew back into the sky and circled away did the survivors finally breathe again.

A single attack had killed and wounded large numbers on both sides, yet the beast itself appeared completely unaffected by everything thrown at it.

"Run!"

The Scorpion leader did not even pause to catch his breath. The moment he saw an opening, he spun around and sprinted toward the mine at full speed.

He didn’t wait for anyone to follow. At this moment, those slow-witted could only curse themselves.

The dragon remained high above, but it continued circling the mine’s exit. Anyone attempting to flee in that direction would be doomed the instant the beast noticed them. Seeing this, the Dark Hunters immediately followed their wisest leader.

The mine troops reacted a moment later and began the chase, but the hesitation caused by the dragon’s attack had already cost them precious time. Meanwhile, the five B-Enhancers found themselves caught in a dilemma.

They had been assigned two objectives, and now both had converged into a single battlefield before splitting apart again in opposite directions.

"Half of you, chase the Dark Hunters!" one of the B-Enhancers shouted at the soldiers and Enhancers around him. "Kill them, then return and support us!"

He was the overall commander whom Chaz had appointed for this operation. At that moment, his incompetence and lack of experience that made Chaz prefer him over others became painfully obvious.

The man never stopped to consider why the dragon had appeared immediately after that mysterious youngster’s shout. Had he connected those events together, he might have saved not only his own life but the lives of many under his command.

Any seasoned and far capable B-Enhancer, or even if Chaz himself was here, such a tiny detail wouldn’t have missed any of them. And the course of the battle would have changed dramatically.

Instead, the grand army divided itself.

As soldiers and Enhancers rushed after the fleeing Dark Hunters, the five B-Enhancers gathered together. They organised their ranks, preparing for what they believed would be a long and brutal battle against the dragon.

What they had imagined would be a battle turned into a slaughter.

In the first few attacks, they tried to stop the dragon, trying to hit and wound it. The B-Enhancers knew the mages had the upper hand in dealing with dragons. Yet when the dragon aimed for and killed almost all the mages in the first twenty minutes, the situation quickly became desperate.

Even when the leading B-Enhancer, a ranged Hunter, tried to attack and raise the morale of his army, his attack deflected off the scary scales, only to be engulfed by a torrent of dragon fire.

Then the dragon kept diving from the sky, attacking, roaring, then soaring back into the clouds before repeating the cycle. Meanwhile, the mine’s Enhancers were forced to fight in the open, stripped of even the protection offered by their garrison posts.

They had lost both their greatest weapon and their leader. The mages were dead, and the acting commander had already been reduced to ash.

In barely an hour, the force of several thousand mine army was reduced to fewer than five hundred survivors. Three of the five B-Enhancers were killed, including the acting commander, while the remaining two suffered serious injuries and were eventually forced to retreat.

Watching them flee, the dragon let out a contemptuous snort.

"Pathetic, worthless ants."

"I’ll deal with that foul-mouthed Ashborne thief first, then return to rid the world of your existence."

Turning its attention forward, the dragon focused on the distant signatures of several Enhancers running far ahead.

This was one of its innate abilities, the power to sense Mana across a vast area. It could still feel the flower’s presence, and to its surprise, it remained a mile ahead of the Dark Hunters.

"That thief can run fast, yet for some reason he keeps running slow... That’s suspicious..."

The dragon found the situation both troubling and amusing. Rather than rushing to catch its prey, it chose to follow from a distance and watch whatever scheme the thief was trying to pull.

Dragons were infamous for their boundless arrogance. It refused to admit that its body had been badly wounded and that it needed time to recover from its most serious injuries, and instead threw the blame on Silas’ unexpected slow speed.

***

Far ahead, Darius eventually caught up to Silas. And the latter welcomed him with a weird laugh.

"You know you’re a lunatic, right?"

"But for some reason, I absolutely love it!"

"Hahaha!"

Darius stared at him strangely. This was not how Silas usually behaved. Noticing the look on his friend’s face, Silas gradually realised something was wrong.

’That bastard...’

’It’s awake again.’

’And out of all times, you choose now? Screw you.’

The strange excitement bubbling inside him did not belong to him. It came from the being residing within his heart. The realisation immediately put him on edge. Losing control of himself now would be disastrous.

Fortunately, he felt none of the overwhelming rage that usually accompanied the entity’s awakening. There was no hatred, no hostility, and not even a trace of bloodlust.

He could, weirdly, only feel immense excitement and amusement. Compared to what he had experienced before, that was almost comforting.

’Just stay silent and watch.’

’Don’t you dare interfere. Understood?’

Silas glanced at Darius, who still looked worried, before turning his attention behind him, where the Dark Hunters continued their relentless pursuit. And there he couldn’t help but show a wide grin, coming from his amusement at what he did to them.

Earlier, before Darius had rejoined him, the Dark Hunters had suddenly stopped. The Scorpion leader had spotted an opportunity when the dragon became occupied with slaughtering the mine troops. He intended to escape this nightmare before the beast finished its massacre and resumed the chase.

Unfortunately for him, Silas acted first. Burning a crystal, he shot toward them like a bolt of lightning while shouting:

"If you want to leave, then take this flower with you!"

The moment the Dark Hunters saw him charging forward with the flower in hand, clearly preparing to throw it at them, many nearly lost their minds. They attacked immediately, trying to kill him before he could throw it.

Each time, however, Silas simply turned around and fled, moving fast enough to avoid every incoming attack. After repeating the same stunt several times, the Scorpion leader finally abandoned all thoughts of escape.

"If we don’t kill that son of a bitch, none of us are leaving this place alive."

There was no doubt in his voice. The other Dark Hunters understood the truth of those words instantly. From that moment onward, every one of them focused on a single objective: Close the distance, and kill Silas.