...

Swoosh!

Arthur stood in the air above the place where Garuda and the Serpent King were fighting. He looked at them with squinted eyes, trying to assess their current state.

Both beasts were severely injured as they struggled to fight each other. Garuda had one of its wings broken as it could no longer fly anymore. There were also bite marks on different parts of its body were a lot of blood was coming out.

But at the same time, the Serpent King was not in better shape either since it also suffered a lot of injuries of its own. Its two heads were totally crashed, rendering them completely useless. The lacerated wounds running across its body were also no way better than the injuries that Garuda had.

Despite having those injuries, both beasts refused to concede and continued to fight. The Serpent King was trying to strangle Garuda to death by wrapping its massive body to the giant bird. But the latter would obviously not let itself be crushed by its opponent as it dug its claws on the body of the gigantic serpent while trying to free itself from being squeezed.

As the two beasts struggled to fight, their heads suddenly came face to face on each other as both of them opened their mouths while gathering a large amount of mana on them. And when the accumulation of powers reached its peak, both beasts simultaneously released their attacks at point-blank range, creating a massive explosion.

Boom!

Roar! Shriek!

The two beasts cried in agony as they suffered yet another fatal injury from the collision of their powers. And due to the powerful recoil from the impact, both of them loosened their grips on each other and freed themselves from their opponent's death grasp.

And when Arthur saw that, he knew that it was the perfect time to land the final strike that would kill the two beasts.

Naturally, the other forces standing from the sideline were also waiting for this opportunity to come and immediately made their moves without having any hesitation.

Unfortunately, their forces were immediately greeted by a massive army of strange undeads that had golden flames protecting their bodies. And among them, there was a particular individual who ran across the battlefield who was assassinating the key figures of the opposing side one by one; it was Shin who was still in his werewolf form.

Meanwhile, standing behind the army of undeads was a small group of players who were giving range support. Chaotic Luck, Daulla, and Archimedes were sending their spells and skills across the battlefield, wreaking havoc in the enemy ranks.

On the other hand, Cloe was buffing the whole army all by herself with her prayers. Moreover, she was also recovering the health bars of the undeads with her large AOE healing skills, giving the opposing forces a massive headache on their side.

Seeing that his friends were practically overwhelming the opposing side, Arthur could now put all of his focus on the two beasts below him.

He first released his Elemental Spirit Possession before summoning his golden dragon pet. And standing behind his dragon, Arthur put his palms together while summoning his Elemental Dragons. "Oceana, Vulcan, Tempest!"

Responding to his call, the three specks of light circling around his body broke free from their cycle and flew towards three different locations.

Then they transformed into their original forms while forming a triangle formation with Arthur being the center.

After that, a magic circle was suddenly formed in the air while connecting the three points where the three Elemental Dragons positioned themselves.

Arthur waited for a few moments to complete the formation before almost emptying his mana poll to activate the skill.

'Elemental Dragon Formation: Wrath of the Heaven'

Boom!

Then a pillar of light suddenly fell from the sky and struck the two beasts struggling on the ground.

Roar! Shriek!

With another pained cry, both Garuda and the Serpent King tried to fight back the pillar of light by sending a powerful energy beam towards it. Unfortunately, they couldn't accumulate enough powers to charge their attack due to the severe injuries that they suffered from each other.

Boom!

With a massive explosion, the bodies of the two beasts were struck down by the falling light pillar, rendering them immobile as their health bars slowly ticked down to zero.

Garuda and the Serpent King struggled so hard as they tried to fight back with the little bit of strength that they still had. But like a verdict of a king, Arthur ended their lives by emptying his mana pool to strengthen the power of the descending pillar of light.

Boom!

With another explosion, the bodies of the two beasts finally transformed into specks of light, indicating their deaths.

"Tsk! What a pity, I really want to take a few parts of their bodies. Those are supposedly good crafting materials for godlike equipment," muttered Arthur when he saw what happened.

"I guess the game is still not willing to give us such game-changing materials for broken items," he commented with a dejected sigh.

He then ignored the items that were dropping towards the ground and took out the Dragon Soul from his inventory bag before whispering a few words to it.

A few moments later, the spherical item on his hand suddenly glowed with brilliant light and illuminated the whole area around him. After that, Arthur threw the item in the middle of the specks of light left behind by Garuda and the Serpent King.

On the very next instant, a powerful suction force was released from the Dragon Soul, sucking all of the specks of light around it before they could even dissipate in the air. Little by little, the suction force started to become stronger until it became a massive hurricane that was sucking all of the mana in the surrounding area.

Strange enough, the vortex created by the Dragon Soul was not pulling any physical things aside from the mana and specks of light lingering in the air.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

While all of these were happening, multiple silhouettes suddenly appeared in the air as they tried to grab the items that were falling towards the ground.

But before they could lay their hands on those items, flashes of light suddenly struck them down. While two more silhouettes appeared in the air and obstructed their path.

"No, you ain't!" shouted Leonard as he threw his battle-axes in two different directions, creating a cyclone that warded off the attacks thrown at them.

Meanwhile, Shin used the charges of his 'Mondi's Jump' consecutively to travel in the air while catching the falling items one by one and quickly putting them in his inventory.

Ta-ta!

When Shin landed on a tree branch, he quickly surveyed his surroundings, trying to see if he missed any loot. And after confirming that he got everything, he immediately ran towards a certain location while whispering a few words in the party voice channel. "I've got everything! You can retreat now, Leo!"

Nodding his head, Leonard suddenly smirked and complied with the orders. "Later, guys!"

Swoosh!

...

Meanwhile, Arthur, who was still standing on his golden dragon's back in the air, was currently looking at the dark vortex with squinting eyes.

"What now?" muttered Arthur while wearing a frown as his Elemental Dragons flew back to his side with their speck of light forms.

"Are you sure about this, kid? I can tell that whoever is the dragon sealed in that Dragon Soul is much stronger than what we can currently handle," said Vulcan, the Infernal Dragon.

"I second, child. We should forget about this time," agreed Oceana, the Ocean Dragon.

Meanwhile, Tempest, the Storm Dragon suddenly laughed mockingly at them when he heard their words before sneering. "Heh! You weaklings can just stand on the side if you are scared! I can handle this myself!"

"I am asking what do I need to do next?" asked Arthur, ignoring their warnings and remarks.

Hearing his words, Oceana could only sigh helplessly before answering. "When the dark vortex reaches its peak, jump towards it and enter the sub-dimension where it was leading."

"That's all? If it is that easy, then the other people present here can enter it too," said Arthur with an even deeper frown while looking at the other players hiding in the vicinity.

Tempest started laughing when he heard that before saying. "If they want to die early, then they are more than welcome to follow us inside!"

"A Dragon Soul is called Dragon Soul for a reason. Now one can enter its sub-space unless they are from the Dragon Race or a Dragonkin," added Vulcan before joining Tempest to laugh.

"And you also don't have to worry about the other Dragons and Dragonkins entering it after us since the vortex will only accept the challenger that opened it alongside their servants," explained Oceana, answering the question that Arthur was about to say.

"The challenger? Then it means we really need to fight the dragon sealed inside? What will happen if we lose?" asked Arthur while waiting for the dark vortex to reach its peak.

"Child, you seem to have a lot of questions," said Oceana with a sigh before answering. "If we win you can accept the sealed dragon as your partner like us and have their blessings. But if we lose, then that sealed dragon will regain its original powers alongside its freedom to roam free around the world."

"But let me warn you, child. Since that dragon is sealed within a Dragon Soul, it can only mean that it is imprisoned by our kin for committing a grave sin. So, you must never let such beings become free since it will cause chaos in the Atlas World."

Tempest suddenly smirked after listening to her words before adding. "Moreover, it will also affect your position in the 'Sanctuary' if they discover that you are the one who breaks its seal."

Hearing their words, Arthur nodded his head heavily before casting his gaze back at the dark vortex.

A few moments later, the violent energy surrounding the vortex calmed down a little, indicating that it finally reached its peak state.

"Then let's see who is this criminal dragon that you guys are talking about," muttered Arthur before ordering his golden dragon to dive into the dark vortex.

...…