"By the name of Three G.o.ds! That"s... the Four-winged Eagle!"
"How dare this beast break into the Burning Shrine!"
"Help, help me!"
"Guards, where are the guards?"
Screams of panic and disbelief came from the crowd. Some of the Sand Nation people pulled out their weapons and climbed up the platform to save Lorgar, while the others wanted to flee. The scene suddenly became quite chaotic.
Ashes could see clearly through the smoke that the bird was actually a giant demonic beast. It resembled a demonic hybrid of an eagle and a beetle. The back, lower abdomen, and head were covered with a striped sh.e.l.l. It had six claws and each section could be clearly seen. The front pair was the thickest and held Lorgar firmly on the ground like an iron clamp. The four pairs of wings, which should have been as thin as cicada wings were thick like bird wings and became its most striking feature.
Nature could never produce such an ugly monster.
The demonic beast kept trying to peck her neck while pressing down Wolf Girl. Its claws could not be avoided, and Wolf Girl could only sway from left to right to avoid the attack. The inability to move her body greatly limited the range that she could dodge. In a short time, her cheek already suffered a few scratches, and the fresh blood stained her fur. By the look of things, she would not be able to hold for a long time and would be killed by the demonic beast.
Ashes would definitely not allow it to happen.
Ashes a.s.sisted Iron Axe in partic.i.p.ating in the Desert Mission because of Tilly; using the holy duel to decide victory was also the choice of the latter. She had the aid of Leaf"s herbs and Nana"s treatment, so she took this matter very seriously in order not to let Lorgar down. However, Lorgar was still a witch, and so long as she was not evil like a Pure Witch, there was no way Ashes could sit by idly and let her die in the hands of the demonic beast.
"Echo!"
Ashes shouted, and then plunged toward the demonic hybrid. She clung to its mouth at that moment when it was trying to peck again.
The sharp corner of its mouth scratched her arm and the blood dripped bit by bit on Wolf Girl"s face, but she was still motionless.
Wolf Girl looked up at Ashes weakly with her remaining eye. Her dark pupil revealed a complex look.
At the same time, Echo"s lullaby could be heard. The music gradually dispersed everyone"s panic and soothed the crowd that was trying to escape.
Without the interference from the surrounding crowd, repeated gunfire sounds could be heard from where Andrea was standing.
She was different from the First Army that might accidentally wound the witch. Her precise shooting ability ensured that as long as there was a glimmer of s.p.a.ce, she could hit the target perfectly.
Ashes saw Lorgar"s claws tremble fiercely. Then several rounds of bullets. .h.i.t the same joint position, breaking the Four-winged Eagle"s claws directly into two pieces.
After losing the clamp, Lorgar rolled up and kicked the beast"s belly, and kicked it out. The latter flapped its wings and rose again. Only now did the First Army squad ring out the gunshots for the very first time. Unfortunately, it was not so easy to hit a flying target that could circle or swing up and down and was behaving more like an erratic insect than a bird.
"Are you ok?" Ashes took off her black robe and covered the diminis.h.i.+ng body of the huge wolf.
"Temporarily... Ahem, I won"t die yet..." Lorgar that had regained her human form, coughed out a mouthful of blood foam, and struggled to climb up but failed several times.
"Don"t move around or else you will aggravate your wounds." Ashes groped along her body and discovered that one side of the chest was sunken down and she could feel the b.u.mps of the raised bones. It was clear that several ribs were broken in the previous violent impact. It was fortunate that the wolf form could resist the impact of the heavy attacks. If she had retained her human form, that attack would have probably taken her life.
Wildflame clan warriors also surrounded the area with their short bows and aimed toward the demonic beast in the sky. But even firearms could not be effective at this distance, therefore arrows were even more useless.
"Watch out! It"s coming again!" Echo warned everyone again.
"Everyone get out of the way!"
Ashes hugged Lorgar and rolled on the spot to avoid the grazing attack of the demonic beast. Several clan warriors were unable to avoid it and were thrown out with their chests heavily deflated, so they were unlikely to survive.
The Four-winged Eagle obviously had a high level of intelligence. It seemed to realize that the only thing that could threaten it was the rifle held by Andrea. When it was diving and attacking Lorgar, it would always use its abdomen"s sh.e.l.l to face the blonde witch. It also followed a rocking motion and a polyline flight path. When Andrea was refilling, the demonic beast would throw the people it captured toward Hummingbird and Echo to obstruct her filling action and also rotate the direction of attack.
Andrea avoided the danger several times by a thin thread. In addition to paying attention to the movements of the demonic beast, she also had to take care of the other two partners. If she had not mastered the new evolutionary skills that enabled her to release a strong air stream at close range, she would have been thrown down ages ago by the demonic beast.
Ashes could not help frowning as this Four-winged Eagle seemed like it was targeting the witches.
If it simply wanted to prey on food, the platform was full of people, and no one would have stopped it from taking away one or two people. But it dived repeatedly to attack Lorgar or would stare at Andrea and the other witches. It showed no interest in the ordinary people and was vastly different from the rumored brutal and bloodthirsty a.s.sailant.
The First Army had only 50 soldiers that entered the Land of Fire and were no help in dealing with a flexible target in the air. Ashes thought it was necessary to lead it to the top of the large army and hopefully, it could be shot down with more intense gunfire.
But... what exactly needed to be done?
At this moment, Lorgar grabbed her hand.
"Throw me upwards." Wolf Girl gasped and spoke one word at a time.
"What?"
"Ahem... Throw me up!" She repeated. "When it"s coming toward us, that"s the only... the only chance I can catch it. I can"t act on my own, I can only depend on you!"
"If you don"t succeed, you may die here," said Ashes.
"A warrior"s second home has always been the battlefield," said Lorgar, with her ears drooping down. "So at least I"ve resisted until the very end. You are the most powerful warrior I"ve ever met... Ahem... You"ve given me the chance to experience such a wonderful fight. Thank you."
Ashes saw a firm resolve from her expression and nodded after a moment of silence, "I see. But you"re mistaken, it"s not our last fight."
"Even if I... manage to stay alive, it will be impossible for me to stand like a normal person. You don"t need to comfort me." She laughed at herself.
Even if she could recover from such heavy wounds, she would still be disabled. Perhaps death would be a better option for her.
"There"s a witch called Nana in Neverwinter of Graycastle, who can heal any man back to brand new. Even someone who"s breathing his last or whose limbs are entirely broken," said Ashes, slightly widening her mouth.
The wolf"s ears became erect in the blink of an eye.
"What you just said... is that true?"
"Of course, I have gone through no less than a hundred battles like this one, and there were even more powerful enemies. And if you want to hone your skills, you can find opportunities at any time. So if you live..." Ashes stopped here without finis.h.i.+ng what she wanted to say, as she realized that the other party"s remaining eye now reflected a brand new light.
"I"ll survive, for sure."
"Well, come up then."
Ashes no longer hesitated and grabbed Lorgar"s foot with one hand. She took advantage of Four-winged Eagle diving toward the center of the platform, to fling herself around for two turns before throwing Lorgar out—
Princess Lorgar of the Wildflame clan was like a flying arrow with her black robes, aiming at the monster that was flying straight down.