Doggone Academy

The black lizard legion poured down the cliffs in droves. It was frightening enough being swarmed from both sides, but to make matters worse, that terrifying roar resounded again.

Up close, the oppressive feeling was so intense it made them want to give up on everything. It was so powerful that it caused their eardrums to painfully tingle.

Bertang fell into a panic.

He didnt want to show fear in front of the young women, but his legs were trembling uncontrollably like aspen leaves.

We Were all going to die.

He regretted stepping into the danger zone for such a vain experience so profoundly it ached in his bones.

Cecil, with her nerves on edge, snapped with sarcasm,

If youre going to die, do it by yourself.

The black lizards quickly surrounded them in a circle and began to tighten their encirclement.

Only Luna and the masked man maintained their composure in that situation.

He drew his wooden sword and stepped out alone, creating some distance. It seemed like an attempt to disperse the opponents.

Witnessing his unfazed attitude in such a desperate situation left Bertang dumbfounded.

Luna began chanting in the language of the spirits. Blue magical radiance settled in her eyes due to drawing upon the power of the spirits.

As they all stood back to back, guarding against the encircling net, a wind as gentle as a breath enveloped them. It was the doing of a spirit.

Five wolf spirits then appeared before them.

But that was not all Luna had summoned. Mist from a stream swirled together with water into the form of a large horse.

About a dozen blue horses took their position at the rear, emitting steam-like breaths.

Marta summoned low-level plant spirits, while Bertang prepared restraining potions. Their best bet was potions that induced the growth of binding vine spores. Since the goal of the practice was to avoid killing, they had no means to inflict fatal wounds, which now felt painfully inadequate.

With Lunas spirits positioned around them in defense, the lizards found Candy an easier target and approached him first.

He faced the enemies crowding in from all sides in his isolation.

The melee hunt began.

Candy led the lizards away with back steps, moving further from the group members. The lizards tried to attack with sharp teeth and nails, but all their attempts missed.

He not only dodged the attacks from the front but also effortlessly avoided those from the sides and even from behind.

He swung his sword, but the creatures tough hide prevented him from slicing them open in one go. He rapidly changed his tactics, aiming for their eyes and bellies, the weaker points.

When a lizard leapt at him, he slashed its pale belly, then used another lizards head as a stepping stone, piercing its eye with his sword.

What was astonishing was that despite the precarious nature of the situation, his movements were relaxed and light. He didnt even seem to be exerting his full strength.

Even Bertang, an amateur in swordsmanship, could tell that these movements were no ordinary feat.

The lizards were incensed and surged toward him. They climbed over each others bodies, leaping and swarming him without care for their own safety. After a few rounds, they were piled up on one another.

Candy, as if he had been waiting for the right moment, threw the frostwind bomb.

Boom!

Like that, dozens were transformed into well-carved ice statues. Bertang was momentarily speechless; Candys response had been too calm and collected.

Lunas contribution was no less impactful.

Thanks to the blue horses circling and sweeping through the lizards like a cavalry, the enemys formation dissolved into chaos. The wolves snapped at those trying to exploit the gaps and attack.

Their defense turned out to be quite stable.

With the two of them fighting off like monsters, Bertang swallowed hard. Then he moved next to Trisha. Despite the solid defense, there was still a chance that one or two could slip through.

As he expected, one lizard broke through the wolves guard and lunged in.

Trisha shouted,

Here! Ones broken through!

Seizing the opportunity, Bertang shouted,

Ill handle it!

He clutched the restraining potion in both hands and hurled it at the lizard.

With a sizzling noise, the potions contents dispersed mid-air, and vines grew rapidly to bind the lizard. It was the technique they used against the Plantara.

However, the lizard, flat-bodied as it was, easily slipped out of the restraint.

!

Just as he was reaching for another potion, something hurtled through the air towards him.

It was Candys wooden sword.

The sword pierced through the head of the lizard that had charged at Trisha.

No, no

Bertang turned his gaze towards the source of the flying weapon. Even while wrangling dozens of lizards, Candy had still managed to keep track of Trishas predicament. It was an unbelievable combat sense, as if he had eyes on the back of his head.

He kept evading the lizards snapping jaws while shouting,

Throw it back!

Okay!

Trisha quickly fetched the lodged sword with some effort and tossed it back to him.

Candy caught the sword mid-air and immediately dropped a bomb in front of him. Then he thrust the weapon into the belly of an airborne lizard and used its body as a shield to protect himself from the blast of cold.

Bang!

Once more, dozens tangled together were turned into ice.

He had indeed used the bombs as efficiently as Cecil had envisioned.

Luna accelerated her attacks, as if determined to break the enemys momentum for good.

Following her gestures, the wind stirred, and a waterspout formed from the small streams water.

With a tremendous noise of wind, it ravaged through the densely packed enemies and wreaked havoc.

Its power was stunning.

The tide turned in an instant, and the lizard horde retreated to the rear, unable to press forward.

About fifty remained. They had overwhelmed hundreds, but it was still too early to relax.

The leader had yet to show itself.

The remaining lizards adjusted their ranks and stood on their hind legs.

Inflating their throats, they started to emit sounds in unison.

Gruuuck! Gruuuck! Gruuuck!

Their bizarre calls echoed through the valley.

Candy, having left the remnants alone, turned his attention toward the end of the gully as if he sensed something.

A significant vibration began to resonate below soon after.

From deep within the gully, something enormous was making its way towards them at a frighteningly fast pace.

The real crisis was just beginning.

Out of the shaded gully, something pitch-black emerged, scaling the cliff.

It had an enormous body as big as a house. A long neck and a mouth large enough to swallow a carriage in one bite. Eyes that glowed like burning scarlet. Scales that seemed to be encrusted with obsidian. With every step it took on the cliff, rocks crumbled like cookies.

It resembled the black dragons from picture books. With wings, it could well have been mistaken for an actual dragona terrifying appearance indeed.

It was unquestionably the Wingless Dragon, the supreme predator of the danger zone.

Without a word, Candy gestured to his companions to retreat.

And then he stepped forward.

To Bertang, this was an unwinnable fight.

The wooden sword seemed useless. In front of the monsters steel-like hide, it was nothing more than a toothpick.

The beast looked over the battlefield once and let out a mighty roar.

Bertang gritted his teeth and began backpedaling,

Damn, damn, damn! How about running away now?

No one answered.

They only slowly retreated as Candy had signaled.

The remaining lizards uniformly moved towards where their leader was.

The monster crushed stones with its hands and threw them towards where Candy stood.

Boulders rolled in rapidly like an avalanche.

Facing the incoming barrage, he sidestepped five paces to the side and stopped in his place.

Trisha glimpsed this and yelled desperately,

Candy, dodge!

Incredibly, about a dozen rocks passed by, precisely where he stood was left untouched.

His demeanor remained composed and collected throughout.

The monster started throwing rocks in quick succession. Despite the torrent of stones, he didnt allow a single one to hit him.

Since the beast did not descend the cliff, they were unable to inflict any significant blows on each other.

Bertang rubbed his eyes and alternated his gaze between the two of them.

The gargantuan creature only throwing stones instead of descending to fight seemed odd.

It looked as if the monster had become the prey, cornered into a trap.

Avoiding the rain of rocks, Candy called out to Luna,

Can you get that thing down?

Luna stepped forward and declared loudly,

Yes!

She began chanting immediately.

Rocks started to gather on the part of the cliff where the monster clung, forming into the shape of a golem and hurling itself at the beast.

The attack connected.

The golem and monster, intertwined, fell off the cliff.

Exhausted by the brief summoning, Luna seemed to have spent a lot of energy as she breathed heavily.

It was now his turn.

Despite crashing down noisily, the beast was terrifyingly unharmed. Rather, it seemed only to have provoked its anger as it let out a roar, then steadied itself and burst out running with terrifying momentum.

It charged at Candy and slammed down its paw.

He dodged the ground-shattering blow by leaping through the air, then using his relatively small size, latched onto the beasts body and thrust himself into a blind spot out of its line of sight.

As if they had prearranged a strategy, Lunas wolf spirits joined in swiftly to distribute the beasts focus.

The monster swung its arms wildly.

Candy rapidly shoved bombs into the gaps in its scales.

Neither the golems attack, the wooden sword, nor the wolves teeth had made an impact against the hard exterior.

If even the bombs proved ineffective, the situation would become critical.

The beast was no easy opponent. It spun around and swiped everything on the ground with its tail.

Kwaaah!

As its tail swept the uneven ground, it flattened.

The spirits that took a direct hit from the tail dispersed into smoke, and the nearby rocks shattered into pieces.

Of all the attacks in the combat so far, this was the most powerful, including those from allies.

And Candy too got hit directly and was flung far away into a waterfall.

No!

As Trisha, having lost her composure, sprinted towards the waterfall, Cecil grabbed and restrained her.

Seconds later, the bombs embedded in the monster exploded in succession.

With the sound of thunderous blasts, its body swayed from side to side.

If this attack didnt work, it was all over.

Everyone watched the scene with bated breath.

Parts of the monsters body were covered in white frost and solidified. It lay quietly for a moment before shaking off its body violently.

Ssssssss

Soon after, as though adapting to the cold, its scales rattled and gradually began to shift from black to light blue hues.

After turning an icy blue, it started to move, breaking through the ice.

Bertang spoke despondently,

Ah, were doomed.

Right after, the beast targeted the rest of them and began charging with the speed of a tank.

Luna once again summoned her strength and cast a spell.

Stones and boulders piled up before the oncoming path of the monster, forming a colossal golem once more.

The house-sized golem collided with the beast in a battle of strength.

It was a fight of giants no human could intervene in. But the golem could not last long.

The monster broke the thick arm of the golem with wild blows and tore off its head with its mouth.

Ah Ah

Watching the last hope being ripped away, Bertang succumbed to panic.

Once the obstacle was disposed of, the monster charged at Luna with the speed of a tank.

That was when a powerful light burst from the direction of the waterfall and enveloped the monster.

Kwaang!

With a deafening crash, the beast rolled sideways for quite a distance before smashing into a cliff.

Then the world went silent as if someone had covered their ears.

Unable to comprehend what had happened, some unknown force had turned the tide against the monster and swept it away. Now they could see pieces of the beasts scales scattered around.

Everyones gaze turned towards the waterfall.

From within the thick mist, a silhouette slowly emerged.

In their hand, they held something glowing with white light.

They swung their arm once, unleashing a bright flash that flew toward the cliff where the monster had landed.

With another explosion, a pain-wracked monstrous wail filled the gorge.

The wind blew through the valley, and the mist slowly dispersed. And then, his figure was revealed.

He stood tall, holding a mysterious sword of light.

The beast, with half its scales peeled off, began to scale the cliff, trying to escape.

He swung his sword one last time, and the wave of light that erupted nailed the monsters head as if hammering it with a spike.

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