Chương 63: Chapter 62 A Home Run Against Fire

A pillar of flame tore through the air above the battlefield. The heat alone made the surrounding warriors stagger backward. If the drake had lowered its head as intended, that inferno would have swept across the ground and consumed everything before it. Karath stood directly beneath the monster's raised jaw. The explosion from his Fireball had saved the tribe from the breath, but it had also placed him within reach of the enraged creature. His hands tightened around the ogre femur.

The desperate battle had entered its decisive moment. The pit was collapsing. The warriors' strongest weapons could wound the drake but could not break its skull. Kaden's perfect strike had opened the scale between its eyes, yet even that attack failed to reach deeply enough. Conventional methods had reached their limit. Karath could no longer preserve the final technique he had prepared during the previous month. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road.

Please report it. The fire roaring into the sky illuminated the enormous creature like a living calamity. Around it stood the warriors of a tribe that had once known nothing except charging directly at its prey. Now they fought in organized groups. They followed commands, rotated attackers, used traps, strengthened their weapons, and trusted one another enough to retreat when ordered. They had dragged a monster far beyond their individual strength into a battlefield designed specifically to weaken it.

They had drawn blood from something Karath once believed completely invulnerable. The Bloodclaw Tribe had changed. However, progress alone was not enough. Not yet. The drake remained alive. Karath had to bridge the final distance between what the tribe had become and the power required to protect it. He looked toward the wound Kaden had opened between the creature's eyes. That damaged scale was the first true weakness they had created. The warriors had given Karath an opportunity.

Now he needed to transform it into victory. The drake lowered its head again as the final flames left its mouth. Its reptilian eyes fixed upon the small orc standing beneath it. Karath could feel the hatred within that gaze. The creature remembered him. He was the irritating prey that escaped its breath during the storm. He was also the one who had just redirected its flames. The drake opened its jaws and released a furious hiss. Karath did not retreat.

He had once died after allowing responsibility and pressure to consume every part of his life. Now the same crushing burden had returned. The difference was that this time, the lives depending upon him belonged to his family. Karath would not collapse before completing his work. He would not allow his second life to end in the same meaningless way. The ogre femur remained raised within his hands. Mana flowed through his body.

Every lesson from Renstein's books, every spell pattern he had dismantled, and every principle he had reconstructed during the previous month converged upon the method he had saved for this exact moment. Karath prepared to use the only attack he believed could kill the drake.