Chapter 161: Vlad's Teaching Succeeded
James wanted to finish the dragon off in just one hit, so he wished he could use a little bit of the finishing slash, which he couldn't quite manage.
The Wounding Pierce was too easy, but James was not sure if he could kill a dragon with it.
The dragon in front of them did not seem to be mature though, even Ariel's blades somehow managed to wound the dragon.
That meant that if James could somehow manage to use the finishing slash or unleash some small part of the power of that technique, he could kill or disable the dragon in a single blow.
James was well aware of this, he knew what he had to do, he realised what had to be done and that was why he had started to prepare.
He only had one chance, the dragon was destroying the chains one by one despite all the damage it was taking, Elise's magic would not have lasted that long, without Elise they would have been in a deadly battle.
Without Thanatos' help, there was even a chance that Ariel or James might have died.
In short, this change had to be utilised well.
"JAMES, HURRY UP!" Ariel suddenly shouted, quickly stabbing the same spot each time, the dragon's boiling blood spilling out and Ariel using as much aura as she could to protect herself.
It was admirable that she had the strength to continue after the awful sensation of the heat coming from her aura into her body.
James had heard Ariel's voice, though he still needed a little more time.
He could see inside his own body. He could see the blood flowing in his body and the aura that had settled in the cells in the blood. He could see the aura that wrapped his veins with cobwebs. He could see the madness of the aura that permeated his skin.
His aura was spinning around his body at a gigantic speed, and he could also attribute a little bit of his magic to it. In short, his magic could merge with his aura, just as Vlad had said, even if it was an incredibly tiny amount.
Still, it was not enough, he needed a little more time. The aura in his body was constantly swirling and compressing, almost ready to be transferred to Clarent, but after only twenty or thirty seconds everything would be ready.
Suddenly, from James' right side, where the forest was, there was the sound of someone vomiting.
The sound of chains snapping spread through the forest, and Ariel's heavy footsteps and the sound of her attack on the dragon came through loud and clear.
Elise's spell was at an end, and Ariel was too busy holding on.
Five seconds had passed.
Ariel had to constantly change where her blades were striking. The sound of the dragon's screams and the vibrations of the earth vibrating with its heavy footsteps were distracting.
Fifteen seconds had passed.
"JAMES YOU GOTTA HURRY!"
Ariel's voice rose and disappeared into the woods, she was begging for help in her struggle with the dragon in space.
Even though James couldn't see what was happening, Ariel's aura was filled with the dragon's blood, even though James couldn't see it, Ariel was starting to lose her vision, she had only been fighting the dragon for a minute, but even that was too much for her.
This was just the power of a normal and immature dragon, the sacred creature of mana was not to be trifled with and Ariel understood that very clearly.
Throughout her battle with the dragon, Ariel's mind wandered from the will to live to the question of how powerful the Miracle could be. After all, Ariel knew or rather had learnt from Nemesis, that Miracle's descendants, the Supreme Dragons, were beings as sacred as the lower creators and even more sacred than most.
Twenty-five seconds passed between these questions and the stabs.
James suddenly opened his eyes and then shouted, "GET OUT OF THERE!"
Ariel tried to pull away as soon as she heard those words, but her aura was starting to fade and she seemed to have no strength left. Just then, another chain suddenly rose from the ground grabbed Ariel and threw her into the woods.
Ariel landed right next to Elise.
At that moment, a huge brightness dazzled Ariel and Elise. The fluttering dragon itself and the onlookers closed their eyes for a few seconds, only Apollo himself, the light himself, was smiling and watching everything.
A gigantic beam was gathering on the legendary holy sword Clarent, the mana and the aura within it were suddenly released and the beam suddenly left the sword and started to move towards the dragon.
The beam was ablaze in colourful flames, this was not what Vlad had taught James, this was James' aura going mad and wanting to come out, such pressure, such a phenomenon, that everywhere the beam passed, flames rose like a dragon.
In less than ten seconds the beam had reached the dragon, in just that short time the dragon had been hit in the head.
When the dust cloud returned to the surface, the corpse of the headless dragon lay on the ground, and beyond it was James, on his knees, vomiting blood like mad, his entire face covered in blood.
By the time Ariel and Elise rushed to James' side in horror, the gates to the next stage had already begun to open, leaving only two stages remaining.
James knew he had to recover, his auto-heal had already kicked in, but the aftershock to his body was insane.
He knew that all the aura and magic in his body was frantic to get out.
"Fine, I'll let go." James suddenly said and then every single tree and plant that was left of the forest started to burn, Elise seemed to come to her senses as the plants and trees were burning in colourful flames and releasing mana all around her.
"Please protect my master, I can absorb my master's mana, I can protect us until my master recovers," Elise said.
However, Elise would probably have saved their lives twice already.