CHAPTER 1039: ICE DRAGONS

Eccar grinned wide as the first cluster of ice spears split the air around him. His body twisting and rolling with practiced grace.

He slipped through them like a hawk diving through branches, his brown scales flashing in the pale light as he darted between the frozen spears aimed at his head.

Krono moved differently. He was slower, calmer, and almost lazy. But every shift of his wings and slight tilt of his body was perfect.

The spears seemed to miss him by a breath, passing so close they left trails of frost across his glowing scales but none of it found their mark.

It was as if he already knew where they would fly before they were even formed.

Another storm of spears came screaming down. These spears looked sharper, denser, and faster than before.

The sky became a cage of ice, but they wove through it, two streaks of gold and brown carving paths between countless shards.

The sound of shattering spears filled the air as some collided with one another, exploding into sprays of frost.

Eccar sighed under his breath and inside his chest a knot tightened.

"The red one-eyed giant and those two Elves better have made themselves safe down there. If these spears rained past us this hard I don’t know what will happen down there."

He gritted his teeth, refusing to let the thought finish.

The Ice Dragon’s power was staggering. She was conjuring volleys of spears in the span of a heartbeat, splitting the air with wave after wave of frozen spears as if it were nothing.

Eccar’s wings ached from the constant weaving yet the thought hit him harder than the cold.

"She doesn’t even want us near her, and she can already do this. When we actually meet her face to face... it’s going to be hell just to make her listen. Or worse, she’ll want to just fight us outright."

He risked a glance sideways, catching Krono gliding effortlessly through the storm, his golden eyes sharp and unwavering.

"Yeah... I should probably keep my mouth shut when we face her. Let Krono do the talking. That’s the hard part for us anyway."

But the Ice Dragon was far from done.

As they closed the distance to the hollow, the barrage changed into something else.

The air stilled for an instant, a silence that felt almost deliberate. Then it cracked open again not with more spears but with the beat of wings.

Dozens of them.

Fifty shapes burst into the sky in the blink of an eye. Each one of them glimmering in the light. Their bodies were sculpted entirely from jagged ice.

They had the forms of Dragons with broad and gleaming wings and claws that were as sharp as blades, but their eyes glowed with the cold lifeless light of conjured Magic.

Frost trailed in their wake as they spread out, surrounding the two intruders in a storm of crystalline wings.

Eccar’s grin faltered into a grimace.

"You gotta be kidding me..." he muttered.

"Get ready. These ones are strong." Krono’s voice carried steady through the air, a deep rumble against the wind.

Eccar didn’t argue. He could see it already. The faint dangerous glimmer of concentrated Magic within the ice creatures’ bodies that brimming with enough power to rival seasoned humans or even Elves Mages.

This wasn’t just defense. This was a warning that she didn’t bother to kill.

And if they ignored it the next step would be true death.

Eccar gritted his teeth, his jaw tightening as the icy horde closed in.

"Why is this Dragon so desperate not to be found?!" he spat under his breath, wings thrashing against the bitter wind. "What the hell is her problem?!"

He threw a glance at Krono.

The Time Dragon still looked maddeningly calm, as though the swarming predators around them were little more than a passing storm.

When their eyes met, Krono’s voice cut through the chaos, steady and absolute.

"We storm through."

Eccar let out a sharp, helpless exhale that was half a sigh half a growl. "Alright!"

His wings snapped wide and his body surged forward. Brown scales hardened across his body in an instant.

Golden sparks flickered faintly between them like small cracks of hidden strength waiting to burst free.

He lowered his head like a charging beast and plowed straight toward the closest ice Dragon.

The frozen creature shrieked. Its maw widening with a blast of frost but Eccar met it with raw physical force only.

His arm smashed through its chest with an explosion of cracking ice, shattering its body into shards that scattered through the wind.

He spun and his tail lashing like a whip, crushing two more that darted at his flank.

The impact sent glittering fragments raining down the cliffside like broken glass.

Behind him, Krono moved like the shifting hands of a clock. He looked measured, precise, but his attacks were inevitable.

His scales tightened, glowing faintly with threads of black lines cutting through the golden shimmer.

An ice Dragon lunged for him from above with claws raised, but Krono twisted slightly and let time itself slow around the beast.

Its movements faltered, stuttering midair just enough for his fist to slam upward.

The strike didn’t just break the creature it unraveled it, the ice shattering apart in jagged fragments as though its existence had been denied in that instant.

Another tried to flank him, wings slicing through the air with cruel speed.

Krono ducked then spun with a sweeping kick.

The force of his leg tore straight through the icy construct. Its body splitting cleanly in two before dissolving into shards that sparkled and vanished in the wind.

Eccar roared in annoyance, his voice booming over the battlefield.

He ripped through another ice Dragon, his fists pulverizing its chest before he grabbed its frozen wings and wrenched them apart with brute strength.

The shards exploded outward like a hailstorm, striking the others that closed in.

His grin returned, fierce and unyielding. "Come on then! You’ll have to do better than this!"

The sky became a frenzy of wings and claws.

The ice Dragons shrieked and dove, attacking from every angle, but the two Dragonborn tore them down with relentless might.

Eccar’s every strike was a terrible blow, raw power that shattered through the ice Magic.

Krono was the opposite. He was smooth and fluid. His every movement was perfectly measured and his every counter dismantled his enemy easily.

Where Eccar crushed, Krono looked like he just erased them.

In minutes, the once-blinding swarm of fifty ice Dragons was reduced to fragments of glittering frost that scattered like dying snowflakes across the roaring wind.

Eccar wiped his mouth with the back of his scaled hand, eyes narrowed at the hollow above. "She really does want us dead..."

Krono hovered beside him, his calmness unbroken, golden eyes fixed on the dark entrance. "We close. Come on. She won’t attack anymore."

Then he flew to the hole, Eccar followed.

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