CHAPTER 949: HIT THE JACKPOT OR DIE TRYING

"Isabella’s faction is still new, so she can’t leverage her greatest strengths yet," Alexander explained. "Her auras are designed for the battlefield. The more she’s in the thick of it, the more people benefit. Or did you two really think she was a total liability?"

He narrowed his eyes, his cold gaze sweeping over Leonidas and Orion.

"Did you really think I would pull strings for a useless pretty face and bring them into the Champions Alliance?"

He felt like his judgment—his very character—was being called into question, and he was insulted.

"It’s just... she always gave off that arrogant princess vibe," Orion admitted, slumping back into his chair. He had to concede he’d completely underestimated her. "It must have been hard for her, having to hide her real strengths like that."

"A queen should act like a queen. She has every right to be proud," Alexander stated flatly. "When she met you lot—a bunch of Big boss monsters—that pride made her restrain her true nature. In her own world, on her own territory, she is the queen."

It was the first time Alexander had ever truly defended Isabella. The people he vouched for were never just decorative vases. They had their own unique, and deadly, skill sets.

"Uh, guys," Kraken interjected, a confused look on his face as he pointed towards the distant battlefield. "Something’s not right."

Orion, Alexander, and Leonidas all turned to him.

"This is supposed to be an all-out war," Kraken said, "but I’m not sensing a single enemy arch lord on the field. Not one. Is that normal?"

Of course, it wasn’t.

Alexander’s brow furrowed in thought, his eyes distant as if he were communicating with someone far away. Leonidas stood and walked over to Kraken, peering into the distance alongside him.

Orion, however, tilted his head back, his eyes fixed on the sky where the clouds were growing unnaturally thick. His eyebrows shot up.

"I have a really bad feeling about this," he murmured. "But I can’t put my finger on what it is."

The words had barely left his mouth when three mighty auras erupted from the direction of Dragonflame Island, streaking towards the battlefield at incredible speed.

The sudden development made both Orion and Alexander jump to their feet.

But the reaction from their side was just as swift. The demigod phantoms of the Deputy Commander and Arthas rose from Dusk Continent, teleporting instantly to the airspace above the battle. At the same time, the demigod allied with the Champions Alliance materialized beside them.

"Bro," Leonidas said, turning to stare at Orion with wide eyes. "Were you a crow in a past life or something? Are you a jinx?"

Orion just shook his head, his brow still furrowed. He wasn’t disagreeing with Leonidas; that gut-wrenching sense of crisis hadn’t faded.

"The feeling’s still there," he said grimly. "I don’t think it’s this simple."

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

As if summoned by his words, three more demigod phantoms—three colossal dragons—appeared in the skies directly above Dusk Continent.

They instantly fell into a Twilight Trident formation, their voices chanting in an ancient, powerful tongue. A moment later, a storm’s eye of cataclysmic proportions formed above them, and a hurricane began to coalesce, aimed squarely at the continent below.

But as the hurricane descended, dozens of Mage Towers scattered across Dusk Continent lit up in unison. A pale golden barrier shimmered into existence, rising to meet the storm and holding it at bay.

"Hmm... a demigod-level defensive formation?" one of the dragon phantoms mused.

"Impressive. I didn’t expect this faction to have such resources."

"Their champions have been lured out. If we work together, we can shatter this barrier."

The three phantoms conferred, preparing to force their way through and destroy the Champions Alliance’s entire foundation on the continent. With their enemy’s base in ruins, the war of attrition would be over. The dragons would win.

Then, they could finally begin the search for the prize the Great Dragon King of Light Mondusath had spoken of: the World Dragons’ eggs.

"They built a defensive formation of this scale on this continent," one of them growled. "The dragon eggs must be hidden here."

"World Dragons... how can we allow such a treasure to fall into the hands of outsiders?"

"Let’s begin."

Back in the Leonidas Palace, the ambush had happened so fast that Alexander, Leonidas, and Orion were momentarily stunned into silence.

After a heavy pause, Alexander was the first to speak. "Six demigod phantoms. So, the intel was right."

He summoned his spirit sword avatar and gave Kraken a final look. "This is on you now."

With that, he vanished.

Leonidas chugged the rest of the wine from his goblet, slammed it down, and let out a wild roar. "Today, this bro is going god-slaying!"

And he was gone.

"Are the dragons going all-in?" Kraken asked, the reality of the situation finally crashing down on him. He turned to find only Orion still there.

"It seems they’re done playing games," Orion said. He took out the urn containing the ancient giant-horned whale and tossed it to Kraken. "Don’t get it killed. I have big plans for that thing."

With his trident held in a reverse grip, Orion disappeared.

All at once, the pressure of the entire war fell on Kraken’s shoulders. It was a weight unlike anything he had ever felt before. Crushing.

For a paralyzing second, he had no idea what to do.

He was snapped out of it by two new arch lord auras rising from Dusk Continent and heading his way. It was a storm avatar at the peak of the arch lord level and a bone dragon in the latter stages.

"Damn," Kraken muttered, finally opening the urn and summoning the colossal whale. "So this is the pressure the top guys are under."

He had to move. From the direction of Dragonflame Island, several enemy arch lord auras were now racing towards the front line.

On that front line, the dragon-slaying crew—Demon Makareth, Isabella, and Gustalon—were busy harvesting the dragons’ Legendary level elites. The sudden appearance of demigod auras, followed by the approach of multiple arch lords, terrified them.

"Is this the final battle? What do we do now?" Demon Makareth blurted out, not knowing if he was asking himself or his teammates.

"This area is about to become extremely dangerous," a voice whispered on the wind—the elemental perception of Gustalon.

"Ignore them," Isabella snarled, her voice sharp and clear. She stood proudly atop her colossal dragon, brandishing her lance.

"As long as an arch lord isn’t targeting us directly, we keep hunting. The Dragon Crucible needs more corpses, and after a battle this big, both sides might call a truce."

"This is our one and only chance to get stacked. We hit the jackpot on this run, or we die trying!"

She stared towards the approaching arch lord auras, and her eyes weren’t filled with fear, but with the gleam of a lunatic who saw a bloodbath as an opportunity.

The keywords—’get stacked,’ ’hit the jackpot’—sent a jolt through Demon Makareth. He was an opportunist at heart, and he’d risk anything for a score like this.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!" he roared, his fear replaced by avarice. "I don’t care if an arch lord shows up! Nothing stops us from hunting dragons!"

Hoisting his scimitar, Makareth transformed into a blade aura and shot back into the fray.