OBS Chapter 952 Dragon Battle (Continued)
Chapter 952 Dragon Battle (Continued)
Chapter 952 Dragon Battle (Continued)
The scalding dragon's blood potion poured down Mazdak's throat, feeling like a red-hot iron sinking into his stomach, followed by the excruciating pain of countless needles piercing his blood vessels simultaneously.
Even under such excruciating pain, Mazdak remained clear-headed. His powerful mental energy guided the potion's power, like sweet rain nourishing the cracked earth, giving his broken and decaying body renewed vitality.
Besides his profound study of theology, Mazdak's research on spellcasters has always focused on "using humanity to control the power of demons."
By studying ancient texts, Mazdak discovered that many mid-level dragons are not much weaker than high-level dragons; their only deficiency is intelligence. Intelligent beings' use of energy and the strength they can unleash in battle far surpass that of wild beasts that rely solely on instinct.
Almost no spellcasters can hunt down a high-level dragon, because they have learned to seek advantage and avoid harm, and even if they can't beat it, they will most likely be able to escape.
This gave rise to the idea of using human souls to control the power of dragons.
This isn't actually a particularly rare topic; shapeshifting, dragonborn, amalgamation... these are all similar attempts.
But Mazdak, and the Zoroastrian spellcasters he represents, have undoubtedly gone far enough down this path.
His facial muscles stretched rapidly, and his entire body seemed to be torn apart and ravaged by the invisible hand of the Creator.
He staggered and fell to his knees. His knuckles grew thicker at a visible speed, and half-foot-long curved blades shot out from his fingertips, carving deep dents into the ground. The flying monsters in the sky seemed to have gone mad, and began to rush towards the black dragon that was spewing dragon fire without regard for the cost.
Kaka-
Mazdak could hear the sounds of his bones and muscles rapidly multiplying, as if countless ants were gnawing at his flesh.
On his shoulder blades, two huge fleshy growths rose, the skin stretched so thin by the growths that it became transparent and shiny, and the coiled blood vessels inside were faintly visible.
"The Sacred Flame."
"Eternal flame".
He wanted to chant the scriptures he had recited countless times, but in the end, all he could do was let out a helpless growl.
At this point, even his mouth had been completely mutated, turning into a monster covered in sharp white fangs.
He could feel his sanity rapidly fading, and as time went on, he would soon become a polymer of dozens of low- to mid-level dragons, a monster that would destroy everything indiscriminately, friend or foe.
This was clearly not the result he wanted. He opened his hand, and a blank sheet of paper slowly appeared. It was the essence of wisdom accumulated over countless years in the Palace of Wisdom, presented on a pure white sheet of Eastern paper.
With his last shred of reason, he wrote down everything he needed to do.
As the paper spontaneously combusted without wind, the savagery and chaos in Mazdak's eyes intensified, yet a final sliver of clarity remained.
click -
As a section of white bone covered in blood protruded from the base of his spine, it transformed into a dragon's tail covered in bone spurs.
The fleshy growth on his shoulder blade burst open with a bang, and a huge, folded dragon wing emerged from it. The originally thin old man's body swelled up dozens or even hundreds of times, as if it had been inflated.
The guards who had been protecting Mazdak exclaimed in disbelief, "Master Mazdak has turned into a demonic dragon!"
Among them, the captain of the guard, who seemed to have anticipated this outcome, silently performed a salute: "This is Master Mazdaq's final will. Since the Franks are wreaking havoc with their dragons, then we Sassanids must also have our own dragons!"
"Send a message to General Ali, tell our soldiers that our dragon will be defeated and devoured, and victory will ultimately belong to every believer."
Roar--
A gaping maw, resembling a blood-red guillotine, swallowed the white dragon Viserion, which was flying past, whole. This dragon, transformed from Mazdaq, was already over a hundred meters tall.
It chewed on the white dragon's body, its fangs exposed, large blobs of ink spilling from the corners of its mouth.
Seemingly realizing that the food in its mouth tasted wrong, it violently shook its head, spitting out the white dragon that had turned into a blob of ink from its mouth, and furious flames burned in its huge dragon eyes.
Drogon's claws tore through the air, scattering scorching iron filings. The semi-liquid dragonfire in his mouth poured down like a waterfall onto the artificial dragon's back, engulfing Mazdak's massive body, which was over a hundred meters long.
Lothar watched this scene from afar with a look of astonishment on his face.
Like a mayfly, which is born in the morning and dies at dusk, its life lasts only a day. In its perception, a day, or rather its entire life, is only a day long.
Similarly, no matter how hard the human soul tries, it will be difficult to understand the mysteries within a dragon's body, let alone control it.
Even he was once trapped by the spiritual pollution of dragon blood, and was forced to put all his attribute points into his spirit in order to maintain his humanity.
This Zoroastrian monk actually managed to go this far and maintain his last shred of sanity, without degenerating into a mad beast that couldn't distinguish friend from foe. That takes some skill.
boom--
Mazdak's bronze-scaled body crashed through Drogon's dragonfire, stubbornly withstanding the breath comparable to that of an ancient dragon, and charged towards the black dragon above.
If we exclude the sea dragons that live in the deep sea and seem to exist on two parallel lines with the human world, the largest group of dragons is undoubtedly the fire dragons. Almost 90% of the dragons breathe dragon fire.
The difference is simply that, like Ladon, the dragon flame contains energy with other attributes such as curses and poison.
Therefore, this "Pinhao Dragon," created by condensing the blood of nearly a hundred dragons, undoubtedly possesses a resistance skin that is almost fire-immune. This is a powerful weapon born to target dragons, and even if Ladon were to descend, he would have a great headache facing this monster.
click -
Mazdak's sharp claws pierced Drogon's chest, slamming the black dragon, which was at most the size of a hen, to the ground.
It then opened its enormous maw, large enough to devour even a demonic dragon, with dragon flames swirling around its throat.
Lei Ge lunged forward, trying to interrupt, but was slapped away and sent flying. He was then swarmed by several flying monsters, who bit his body and dragged him to the ground in a suicide attack.
boom--
Dragonfire, no less powerful than Drogon's, descended from the sky, striking the black dragon like a pillar of divine punishment. Even Rego, which was being carried by the flying monsters, had its scales, which also possessed considerable fire resistance, turn into ink after only a moment under the terrifying onslaught of the dragonfire.
When the dragon flames dissipated, all that remained of the place where Zhuogeng had fallen was a huge, deep crater.
In just a short while, the three once rampant demonic dragons all perished.
Only Mazdaq remained, letting out a triumphant roar to the sky, proclaiming his "invincible" power.
After receiving the message from Captain Mazdak's guard that "there is no need to worry about the enemy dragon," Ali had no time to observe the extraordinary battle above him, because he was horrified to discover that his side's lines were being breached!
These Franks were like a group of tireless monsters; they adhered to only one creed from beginning to end: charge, charge, and charge again!
The reserve troops that had been transferred to the rear have been recalled by Ali.
But the situation deteriorated far faster than Ali had imagined. He was not ignorant of military affairs; the Sassanid military system and the inheritance of military strategies were more complete than those of their former nemesis, the Eastern Empire.
Even after searching through countless military books, one cannot find a cavalry force with such terrifying impact.
Everyone knows that the killing power of cavalry lies in their mobility, but people are not tireless machines, nor are horses. How could these Franks achieve such a level of performance?
At this critical moment, he had no choice but to take a desperate gamble, using his demonic elephant as a spearhead and leading all his personal guards onto the battlefield in an attempt to turn the tide of the war and hold out until the reserves returned.
Once they engaged in battle, Ali realized why his forces, despite their numerical superiority, were still at a disadvantage: any one of these Frankish cavalrymen was no weaker than him, a man who had taken the potion.
Those monastic knights, dressed in pagan robes, had bodies that resembled humanoid monsters beneath their robes. Even the undead army, which had consumed large numbers of potions, looked as innocent as children in their presence.
After a fierce battle, his personal guards dwindled in number, and even the demonic elephant beneath him was killed on the spot by a golden javelin thrown by the enemy.
"We've lost, we've already lost! Quickly, protect me and retreat!"
Ali shouted the order in desperation.
Suddenly, his personal guard shouted, "General, we haven't lost! We still have a chance! Look up!"
The demonic dragon, with its wings spread wide as if reaching the heavens, had already flown over the heads of the two warring parties. Surrounded by a group of flying demonic creatures, it resembled an invincible dragon king.
"Is that a demonic dragon?"
"Yes, it's our magic dragon! Our magic dragon won the dragon battle!"
Ali repeated, somewhat incredulously, "Our dragon? Oh, right, Master Mazdak's dragon!"
His face lit up with an excited look, as if he were experiencing a final burst of energy: "Hahaha, now it's our turn to have the dragon! Quick, give the dragon the order to burn those Franks to ashes immediately!"
The guards said helplessly, "General, how can we give orders to the dragon? It seems that this dragon is controlled by Master Mazdak."
Ali was taken aback: "Why hasn't the dragon attacked yet?"
"I'm afraid it's because our people are entangled with the enemy."
Ali replied without hesitation, “Foolish! Does the fact that the enemy is following us mean this dragon can never launch an attack? Take up your shields and protect me as I return to the elephant’s back!”
He sprinted toward the corpse of the dead elephant, stood atop its head, and raised his arms, shouting.
Burn them to death, friend or foe!
As Ali looked up and shouted, he suddenly saw a golden streak of light flash by.
The demonic dragon that followed "them" above its head let out a shrill roar.
Two dazzling sword beams could be vaguely seen flashing by. The next moment, the dragon's huge head snapped off with a bang, and tons of dragon blood, like sparks flying when blacksmithing, sprayed all over the sky.
On the city wall, Lothar caught the emperor's new spear as it returned.
In the distance, Cherinina, descending from the sky, slowly sheathed her twin blades.
The enormous dragon carcass crashed to the ground, directly behind the Sassanid infantry main force. In an instant, the militiamen, conscripted from all over the country, scattered and fled like madmen, trampling countless people to death.
Standing atop the elephant's corpse, Ali stared blankly at the scene, as if petrified.
Arrows rained down on the shield wall erected by his guards, but he stood there motionless, as if he had lost his soul.
"General, we can't hold on much longer!"
After a long while, Ali finally came to shore like a drowning person, panting heavily.
A strange smile appeared on his face: "Ha."
"Haha."
"So what Mustafa, that treacherous villain, said was true."
"From the very beginning, we had no chance of winning."
"No, that's not right. Mustafa isn't a villain; I am!"
One by one, the guards fell.
The Frankish cataphracts' arrows were terrifyingly powerful, often piercing halfway through a shield, as if they were using longbows taller than a person.
Someone shouted in grief and indignation, "General, if we don't run now, we'll miss our chance!"
Ali gave a wry smile: "What's the point of running away now?"
He looked around at the Sassanid soldiers who were scattering and fleeing, and slowly placed his sword to his neck: "Surrender, and I will allow you to lay down your weapons! The Sassanids are doomed. It's better for you to follow the Franks than the Tatars."
Without hesitation, he slammed the bat down.
With Ali's death, the Sassanid army, now completely leaderless, began to flee in droves. The number of people who trampled each other to death even exceeded the number killed by the Frankish cavalry.
In this battle, the Sassanid forces were completely wiped out.
The path for the overseas empire to advance into Ctesiphon was now seemingly unobstructed.