mousepad-d2 Chapter 1574: The Brilliant Flame
Chapter 1574: The Brilliant Flame
Chapter 1574: The Brilliant Flame
When the airship fleet arrived over the canyon that they had locked onto as their target and prepared to launch an attack, they discovered that the canyon was empty.
According to the information sent back by Fukuki Rabbit and others, the black dragon that was supposed to be hibernating and recuperating here has disappeared.
At this moment, everyone's faces became extremely ugly.
Got fooled.
"All sentry posts, be alert! It may be hiding in the dark or in the clouds! It may attack at any time!" The general shouted and passed on the order.
The professor at the side said with a serious face, "Its purpose may be to get rid of the fleet's pursuit, or to hide and launch a sneak attack, or to bypass us and continue to attack the inner sea ring city.
Considering the black dragon's ferocious character and strong aggressiveness, the probability of the latter two is much greater than the first.
My advice is to return to defend immediately and be prepared for any surprise attacks along the way."
The general nodded his chin and issued subsequent instructions.
The fleet maintained its combat formation, began to turn, and continued to climb in altitude, arriving in high airspace thousands of meters above the ground.
Under the night sky with thin clouds, the visible distance was extremely far, and a fire flashed at the end of the horizon.
The general slammed his fist on the railing, almost breaking it.
"Full speed ahead! That's the direction of Metabetat!"
Less than two years after its reconstruction, the city of Metabetat was once again destroyed by fire.
The whole city was like a huge furnace, burning violently.
Even harder to restore than the buildings is the confidence of local residents and merchants.
After this incident, it will take ten years to restore this coastal port city to its former prosperity.
It is even possible that it has been completely abandoned from now on.
By then, the entire Old World’s commercial circulation routes will be greatly affected.
But the hunters of Metabetat couldn't care less about the future.
Except for a few elite ones, most hunters who were not strong-willed enough or were younger lost their combat effectiveness under the close-range pressure of the black dragon's aura.
Several people, led by the local guild president Zheluo and Metabetat's only eight-star hunter, the greatsword user Yasa, were desperately trying to attract the black dragon's attention.
They discovered something that horrified them deeply.
This dark evil dragon knew that there was no one in the city, so it burned the city purely for revenge, or for fun.
And that's not even the point.
Through some special senses that humans cannot understand, it discovered and confirmed the locations of several shelters in the mountains and forests surrounding the city.
And with a playful mentality, he breathed out dragon fire and destroyed one of them.
The entire forest was burning, turning into a sea of fire with no end.
The people who ran out of the shelter didn't even have time to take a few steps before they were burned to ashes by the horrific high temperature.
There was no chance that any of the thousands of citizens in the shelter chosen by the black dragon would survive.
The wails of the dying in the blazing sea of fire made this place look like purgatory.
The hunters of Metabetat roared and screamed. If they could delay the black dragon for even a minute at the cost of their lives, they would do it without hesitation.
However, the pitch-black dragon was always hovering in the sky beyond their reach, and the dragon flames swirling and twisting inside and outside the city seemed to be mocking their powerlessness.
After spewing out a ball of condensed flames and blowing up a section of the city wall, the black dragon flew out of the city again.
Hunters ran across the burning landscape, chasing after it in vain, watching as it set fire to yet another hilltop that concealed a refuge.
The hunters roared in despair.
Some people threw their weapons into the air as if they had lost their minds, but even if they pulled their muscles or dislocated their joints, it was impossible for them to throw their weapons in front of the black dragon.
The black dragon in the air lowered its head and looked playfully at the hunters who had been chasing after it.
It could have burned them to charcoal with its breath right from the start, but it chose to keep them as if it was enjoying their powerless roars.
Under the night sky illuminated by fire, the black dragon rode the heat wave, hovering in the air, admiring everything it had created.
Just as it was about to fly to the next shelter, it seemed to have noticed something.
It immediately interrupted the attack, flapped its dragon wings, and climbed up, disappearing from the hunters' sight.
The boiler was filled with burning coal, and the engine was overloaded, regardless of the risk of overheating and explosion.
When the airship fleet arrived at Metabetat at an unprecedented speed, the blazing earth made everyone fall silent.
Everyone had the same question in their mind: where did that damn dragon go?
At this moment, a scarlet flare rose into the air, attracting the attention of everyone in the fleet.
Immediately, more than one telescope was pointed at it.
In the blazing ruins, several hunters waved their arms wildly, pointed at the sky, and shouted something.
Generally speaking, red flares only have two meanings.
One is a "distress signal" and the other is "extreme danger".
Judging from the hunters' actions, they were obviously not asking for help, so the only option was the second one.
"That guy is nearby!" The general's roar could be heard even on nearby ships, "Fighting speed! Climb to a favorable height! All gun ports are ready to fire at any time!"
Just as the fleet was moving, a huge dark shadow swooped down under the cover of darkness.
"Roar--!"
A surge of dragon flame gushed out, attacking a large airship at the edge of the fleet.
Due to the reminders from the signal flares and the flagship's orders, the vigilance of each ship has already been raised to the highest level.
The airship's helmsman urgently turned the rudder to change direction, but one of the air bags above the hull was still ignited by the dragon flame.
The special cloth that was supposed to be fireproof could not block the burning breath of the black dragon, and the fire spread rapidly.
The captain immediately ordered the crew to cut the cables and jettison the burning airbag.
This avoided the worst outcome of the other airbags being quickly ignited, but it also caused the airship to lose a large part of its buoyancy.
Not to mention being flexible and maneuverable, even maintaining a basic flying posture is difficult.
What's worse, shortly after the burning airbag was ejected, the gas inside caused a violent explosion.
A lot of flames fell on the hull and other air bags. Although the crew tried their best to put out the fire, it was difficult to contain the spread of the fire.
Quitting the fight seemed to be their only option.
"Boom! Boom!"
The guns of each ship opened fire simultaneously.
But the Black Dragon had no desire to fight. It flew past the fleet at high speed, severely damaging an airship, then immediately distanced itself and climbed again, preparing for the next dive attack.
Its target was still the airship that had lost its maneuverability after its airbag was damaged.
It is better to break one finger than to injure ten fingers. The airship that has lost its ability to fly can still continue to fire, so let's get rid of it first.
The black dragon reached a high altitude and turned its body, starting its second dive.
On the crumbling airship, the captain held the railing tightly, looking at the city below that had turned into a sea of fire, and made a decision in his heart.
"All crossbows, reload the restraining bullets!"
The captain's order made the crew pause.
Unlike ground combat, the crossbows on airships are rarely loaded with special crossbow shells such as restraint shells, after all, it is easy to cause the spacecraft to be overturned.
But everyone already understood the captain's decision.
The crew members who were working hard to put out the fire stopped their work and assisted the shooters who were operating the crossbows to complete the loading as quickly as possible.
At the same time, the black dragon was approaching.
As the blazing flames engulfed the airship, several thick crossbow arrows connected to steel cables were shot out at a nearly face-to-face distance, locking the burning airship firmly on the black dragon.
Black Dragon obviously didn't expect this.
In terms of size and weight, a large, fully armed airship is even larger than it.
Unable to break free from the steel cables, its flying speed suddenly slowed down, and it was dragged by the wreckage of the airship that turned into a huge fireball and fell to the ground.
The General took a deep breath.
"All ships, fire!"
The sound of dense artillery fire rang out, which was a requiem to mourn the dead.
(End of this chapter)