Ahead of their journey, The soldiers had prepared many potent tranquilizers, so potent that they could instantly knock out any large animals.

In most cases, the thin and firm needle, assisted by the kinetic energy of being fired, could easily pierce through the skin of an animal. Once the darts pierced the skin, the residual momentum would inject the tranquilizing agent directly into the target’s bloodstream. In a matter of seconds, even large animals would succumb to a medicated slumber. This was yet another example of human dominance through technology.

Right after the tranquilizers were fired, the captain felt a sense of calm. He knew, rationally, that they would easily pierce the dragon’s scales. And the anesthetic within them could put a herd of elephants to sleep. In fact, he began to worry that they had gone overkill and endangered its life. After all, in high enough amounts, anesthesia could be lethal.

Ding ding ding ding------

Of course, that was far from what happened. From the very beginning, the darts had no chance of piercing Louie’s scales. Rather they stopped dead in their tracks or glanced off when they made contact with him.

The dragon lowered its head and looked at the tranquilizer needles that had fallen to the ground. Its gaze remained emotionless and cruel.

Suddenly, it unfurled its wings again and raised its head. Under the apprehensive stares of the combatants and Professor Johnson, a ball of light crept from its chest to its neck before finally reaching its throat. It opened its mouth, and the next instant spouted golden flames.

“Whoooosh---------”

The fire swept past the earth, leaving a deep ditch on the ground. It caught the expeditionary force completely by surprise.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh-----------”

There were blood-curdling screams as it swept through the combatants. And even after incinerating them, the tongues of flame surged on, burning everything in their way until the forest behind them had been reduced to ashes.

Three of the soldiers were hit in the face and were cremated instantly. The guns and other metallic objects in their hands had melted into glowing dollops of steel.

From the top of the forest canopy, one could see white smoke emerge from a locus of blackened trees. Small clusters of golden flame lay littered about, burning the very soil they lay on.

The color of fire depended on the temperature, density of the atmosphere, and the object of combustion. That said, the golden flames the dragon had belched would no doubt stump many.

“Nooooooo!!!!!” Lucy screamed in terror, but the area was wrapped in absolute silence as all the animals had already run far away from the vicinity.

“Dra…...dragon breath?!!! That’s the legendary dragon breath, right??!!!”

It was easy to fantasize about magical creatures when one was certain about never having to meet them. But when one stood in front of you, malicious, lethal, and cold-blooded, it was another story altogether.

“Hail Mary full of Grace… Father, please forgive my sins,” the professor shivered, “How could it possibly breathe fire without burning its own flesh? How are its organs protected from such heat?” half-terrified and half-filled with even greater curiosity, the professor held his head as he mumbled.

Nature was replete with animals that could discharge powerful electric currents on demand. But fire? Not to mention golden fire? This was something else entirely. And the fact that it could instantly cremate a troop of humans left Johnson in even more anxiety.

“Switch to live ammunition!” the captain barked, trembling.

Putting aside the death of his subordinates, he ordered the remainder of his troop to immediately commence its counterattack. At the same time, he fired signal flares, asking for reinforcements. 

The surviving troop members quickly swapped out their ammunition with practiced movements. The fear of the dragons hurried them on even without the captain’s instruction.

Soon another volley, this time of real bullets, made its way to the dragon. Each soldier made sure to empty their magazines completely.

Unfortunately, their efforts were not to be rewarded. Just as the tranquilizer darts, the bullets did little apparent damage to the dragon’s scales. As if the bullets were hitting cotton, they lost all kinetic energy upon contact. Soon every bullet lay at the dragon’s feet, utterly devoid of any energy.

The captain could not fathom what was happening.

“Lowly worms!!!” Louie roared with powerful might.

He was still using the dragon language, but this time it was clear to all that it possessed the power of speech.

Louie could have tried to sweet talk his way out, but that was not the mindset of the strong.

Moreover, humans were especially hard to trust. Unless he was invincible to the point of being able to take on nuclear weapons, he would not foolishly discuss anything with them.

Louie’s plan for Earth was to make all countries nervous and awestruck by his power. To do this he could not afford to show any weakness to his enemies and give them a chance to capture him.

Following his draconic instincts. He lunged at the party.

“Shit! It's too fast!”

A squad member fell to his claws as soon as he spoke. In a trice, his body fell to the floor in dismembered chunks.

“You damned monster!!”

After their fear reached the extremes, the military continued to shoot at Louie like mad. A few lobbed grenades at him when they could.

“Boooom----------”

Bullets, explosions, and fragments from grenades flew in the air, but when they hit the dragon’s body, they all seemed to become like cotton, and their momentums fell to zero. Their hot weapons had no effect.

A Hollywood-style massacre took place in the Amazon jungle.

At this time, another three Apache helicopters were also approaching the spot where the distress signal was sent.