Zephan's face tightened with the same questioning doubt. "Could it be the heat? It must still be bubbling down there."

The answer was not what he wanted.

"No. It's more rhythmic and familiar." Throgar's features turned grim, the lines around his mouth setting. "It feels like a heartbeat."

"Heartbeat?" Zephan clenched his teeth as he realized this Nether Path Spark was not something that would die so easily.

"How is the Earthshaker's situation now?" he asked while another silver spear appeared in his hand and began to charge for a second attack.

If the Blood Dragon's regeneration was as strong as its defense, they needed Liora's strength again to pin it down.

"She is recovering, but not fast," Throgar said.

Though he had healing skills, he was not good at physical healing, so they mostly had to trust Liora's own natural recovery.

"And where is Adyr? I have not seen him since this thing appeared," Zephan asked, feeling the situation slide out of hand.

Throgar raised his head and looked at the sky. "He returned to the side of his kin. I am not sure what he is planning or whether he will come back."

They were not sure how strong Adyr would be, but the man had beaten a Rank 4 Spark single-handedly and subdued it before. That fact alone made his power equal to or close to theirs.

Also, the fact that he had 2 Rank 4 Sparks was something to keep in mind.

In a situation like this, his Rank 4 skills could prove extremely useful.

"Well, it is not his problem anyway. If he leaves just like that, I would not blame him," Zephan said with a faint sigh, a trace of disappointment showing, yet the spear in his hand never stopped charging.

"Okay, pull back. I will strike again." He gave his last warning, then jumped into the air, ready to throw the spear one more time, hoping this would be the last.

And when the silver light disappeared into the burning pit, Zephan touched down on the ground once again and waited for the strike to land.

This time, he also looked tired. Small beads of sweat gathered above his brows, and his breathing lost its rhythm.

It was expected because the skills he was using were not just a single skill but a combination of many. It was not only burning energy; it demanded stamina and focus that wore down his mind.

Soon the same light followed, rising from the crater like a silver column into the sky, its heat melting the ground and burning the oxygen in the air, making it dry and throat-parching.

This time, however, it wasn't just silver light and heat rising from the pit. Within the blinding radiance, a blood-red figure surged up.

"Soulforge!" Zephan yelled as soon as he saw the massive head rushing toward him. He fell back, trying to dodge.

Throgar was already at attention. He ordered his Giant Eye at once and lifted his hands, using all his power on the Blood Dragon that was trying to leave the burning pit.

At the last second, just before its body emerged, it stopped completely.

"He is in control for now," Throgar's voice came trembling, and his whole body shook as if he were trying to hold the Rank 4 Spark with his own hands and was struggling badly.

But it was enough for now, because the Blood Dragon's body was still inside the flames and kept burning.

The Dragon's massive head, now visible beyond the silver pillar, looked melted. Its blood-red scales had lost whole sections, and the surface looked like a single, liquid sheet of skin.

So the strike was not useless; it was damaging the body.

"Use the attack once more," Throgar said, still straining to keep the massive body inside the flames.

If Zephan could intensify the heat by another degree, it might melt the Dragon faster.

"It is not something I can use again and again," Silverlight Zephan answered with a tired voice, but still another silver spear appeared in his hand and began to charge for another strike.

Now he was tiring himself to the limit, but he had no other choice.

RROOOAARRHHH!

The Dragon roared at high volume and with anger, making the surrounding flames shudder when it felt it could not move its body.

At the same time, red electrical currents began to gather inside its open jaws, building toward a counterattack.

"Stop it," Zephan shouted when he saw it, but Throgar was already in motion.

While still holding it down with invisible hands, the Giant Eye under him shook faintly, and the space around it began to blur, as if a hypnotic ripple was spreading.

The beam forming in the Blood Dragon's mouth flickered and then vanished at the same speed.

Now that the Dragon was once again under control, Zephan did not linger to wait for it to move again. He moved first, throwing the silver spear for the third and last time.

Last, whether it managed to kill the dragon or not.

With the second strike landing and the silver pillar still rising, the light and heat intensified by another degree.

It even forced Zephan to retreat from the blast of his own skill so he would not burn or pass out from the lack of oxygen around it.

Even so, he still looked as if he might faint at any moment.

"That's all from me, Soulforge." He dropped to one knee and tried to catch his breath, watching the Blood Dragon cook while tasting the acrid sweetness of burned scale in the air.

The strike seemed to work, as the Dragon's scales began to melt faster, dripping from its chin to the ground like candle wax.

But even though the Dragon looked as if it were dying, there was something they had forgotten to watch for in the high tension and chaos.

While Brakhtar gave all his focus to the Rank 4 Spark, a presence appeared behind him and sent a chill down his spine.

A voice touched the back of his neck, cold and close. "You enjoyed enough?"

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