"Keep on flying, sister!"

After saying those words to Mia, Max suddenly turned around and separated from her.

It had happened all too suddenly, and it had left Mia in a state of panic. She constantly shouted, "Where are you going? Where are you going?"

Max used a more forceful tone as he shouted, "Just keep flying!"

Once he was certain that Mia had obeyed his orders and had continued flying, Max heaved a sigh of relief.

'There's only one enemy.'

'Thus, it's best that we split up. By doing so, we can force the warrior to only go after one of us.'

Max had already planned everything out.

If the enemy had gone after him, he would then lead the warrior to an isolated spot to start a Battle of Existence. Once that happened, he would use the prime version of himself to deal with the threat.

Conversely, If the enemy had gone after Mia instead, Max would operate the ballista to annihilate the warrior.

'Huh?'

'Why did they suddenly split up?'

Rafik noticed that one of the Dragon Hatchlings had suddenly deviated from their flight path and had gone towards a different direction, while the Dragon Hatchling was following its original trajectory.

"Hahaha, they must be afraid of me!"

Rafik mentally rejoiced. 'Those two Dragon Hatchlings must've realized they're doomed, so they decided to go separate ways to ensure at least one of them survives.'

'Haha, they must've racked their brains to think of ways to survive! But upon realizing the strength I possess, they realized that their fates were sealed!'

Rafik sped up in excitement. He enjoyed the feeling of dominating his opponents.

At the same time, however, Rafik had also forgotten that the two Dragon Hatchlings were unlike any other dragon he had ever encountered.

...

Max had already arrived at the ballista.

At such a distance, he realized that the ballista was larger than he had even imagined.

It was hard to imagine what kind of physical strength the adventurer had possessed that enabled her to carry such a huge weapon around with her.

The ballista was 3 meters tall, and Max realized that it could be disassembled. 

Max felt a certain affinity towards the ballista, and upon giving it some thought, he realized that it was due to the materials that it was made of. After all, it was made from the body parts of his fellow brethren.

The dragon bones were combined with other materials to form the ballista's frame.

The ballista's arms were made out of dragon bones, and the fine threads that formed the bowstring were made of dragon tendons that had been hammered thousands of times. 

Meanwhile, the arrowhead of the ballista's bolt was made using dragon claws...

The scope was made out of magic crystal, and it seemed to have contained a dragon's retina.

The ballista was essentially a weapon made from dragons, to deal with dragons!

Fortunately, although Max was a dragon, he was not particularly attached to his brethren, and as such, he was not particularly mad.

On the other hand, should any other dragon notice how despicable the weapon was, they would not hesitate to destroy it.

Max picked up the ballista's bolt and attempted to slot it into the magazine.

Although he had never actually used a ballista before, the mechanism looked rather simple, and thus, he could more or less understand how to operate it.

After placing the bolt, Max extended his front claws and twisted the turntable that was meant to tighten the bowstring.

As the turntable rolled in circles, the bowstring gradually became taut.

All that was left was the final step, to accurately land the shot. It was also the most difficult step, as it was Max's first time operating such a contraption.

Fortunately, however, his brethren had come to his aid.

The scope that consisted of a dragon's retina had a supplementary aiming function. As long as one looked at the scope, they would be able to see a thin red line.

It was the trajectory of the ballista bolt.

This brought Max great convenience. After all, as a veteran video-game player, he was very familiar with the parabolic trajectory of long-range firearms.

Max adjusted the ballista and targeted a spot where the swordsman was bound to pass. Once he was certain that his preparations were complete, he fired his shot. 

Boom --

The sound of the ballista firing was not the silent whizzing as expected of an aerodynamic projectile.

Instead, it was more like a missile. It had unleashed a booming explosion.

Regardless, the battle had already ended the moment Max fired the bolt.

Should he successfully strike his target, then he could attribute it to his good luck.

However, even if he were to miss, it mattered little to him.

The ballista's loud explosion would undoubtedly attract the attention of the human swordsman.

Once that happened, Max was certain that the human would go after him. After all, he was an anomaly among Red Dragons as no other Red Dragon was capable of using technology.

Once the human arrived, Max would then start a Battle of Existence with the human.

Perfect!

...

Rafik suddenly heard something explode.

He turned his head and saw a huge shadow soaring across the sky. 'Isn't that Carvella's ballista bolt?!'

Carvella had gone ahead of the party, and he had lost track of where she had run off to.

'And now, she's aiming at her own party members?!'

This made Rafik extremely mad.

However, upon closer look, he realized that a Red Dragon Hatchling was manning the ballista. It was the Dragon Hatchling who had fired the bolt!

"A dragon?"

"Since when are dragons capable of using technology!"

Rafik was stunned. After all, the dragons were the embodiment of power. Their combat strength was already very high.

They often looked down on the humans, who were constantly improving themselves via technology.

Moreover, the intelligence of dragons was by no means low. They had the ability to equip themselves with the strongest armor, or they would use magic crystals to improve their magic.

However, more often than not, the dragons had preferred to rely on their own abilities.

As such, even if powerful weapons were to fall into the hands of dragons, the dragons would store them in their treasure hoard. They would never use them!

That was how it was supposed to go.

Rafik had long since taken this as fact.

However, the fact that a Dragon Hatchling was operating Carvella's ballista had flipped Rafik's world upside down. 'Who was the one that said Dragons were incapable of using technology?'

'It had learned how to operate the ballista in less than a minute!'

Should news of the Dragon Hatchling's behavior reach the human Kingdom, chaos would ensue.

Dragons were already powerful enough in both their physique and magic.

If they were to start using weapons, would they not become invincible?

Imagine a dragon with impervious armor strapped over its already hard scales, as well as a hundred-meter-long spear within its sharp claws...

Combined with its powerful magic, it was capable of slaughtering several human kingdoms without much issue!

Rafik quickly stopped.

He wanted to dodge the huge bolt, but he was carrying too much weight.

Moreover, due to the quick-sand like behavior of the ground he was on, he was unable to stop immediately.

As such, he was bound to collide into the ballista bolt.