Chapter 244: Turned to Ashes

Fire.

The beginning of the story started in ancient times; it was the raging fire that struck down with lightning in a storm and swallowed the forest; it was the sparks struck by the friction of stones in the hands of an upright ape deep in a dark cave.

Countless years passed, and intelligent creatures had long been accustomed to this kind of hot substance.

Dispelling darkness, bringing warmth, forging utensils...

Even a rural farm woman who didn't know a single character and had never stepped out of the fields and mountain hollows in her life knew how to light firewood and use its scorching temperature to cook meals.

But until today, it had never been tamed.

Sweeping through urban areas, burning forests... even if it was just the weakest little flame on a candlestick, it was enough to cause a monstrous disaster that devoured countless living beings.

Xia Nan certainly knew its power.

The profound lessons inherited from human history for thousands of years from his previous life made him deeply aware of the extremely bad influence that this kind of substance could cause.

And precisely because of this, the repeated teachings and insurance measures under technological power made the most dangerous event related to it that he had experienced before crossing over.

Was nothing more than a kitchen fire that spread from the stove and surged in the iron pot due to his own clumsy cooking skills when he was cooking for himself once—finally curbed by his calm operation of putting on the lid to isolate the oxygen.

After coming to the Star Fall Continent, thanks to the throwing item named "Fire Oil Bomb," his contact with fire increased significantly.

He had barely experienced a few scenes approaching the level of a so-called "fire disaster."

But perhaps it was his inhuman physical fitness that far exceeded the past, and he knew in his heart that even if the fire burned to his front, he could easily break out by relying on combat techniques and speed bursts.

His fear of fire, on the contrary, dropped a lot.

Under normal circumstances, this psychology should have been valued in the near future when he faced a legendary "Fireball" for the first time as an opponent of a mage or warlock above level 5.

Right now, however, it was greatly advanced just after he had obtained a professional level and had just stepped onto the path of a professional.

The opponent was not the weak and cute slender spellcasters holding small wands as imagined.

But replaced by an adult Hong Long with a challenge rating as high as "17," capable of easily destroying a medium-sized town.

The "Fireball" that might be encountered in imagination was also replaced by the legendary "Dragon Breath," which he had heard of for a long time but had never seen with his own eyes.

Hiss—

It was a low and ominous strange humming sound.

It was like a large amount of gas being poured into a narrow space, making a dangerous sound when highly compressed.

Like a volcano about to erupt.

The air was trembling, overpowering the sound of the wind and the rain.

Thanks to the rapid reaction under keen perception, Xia Nan, who was the first to recover physical control from the suppression of Dragon Might and looked back at the source of the danger, was "lucky" enough to capture a complete picture of a giant dragon spitting dragon breath.

The hideous and huge head covered with fiery red scales slowly tilted back, and the neck muscles like steel cables tightened and bulged under the dense scales.

Immediately, a touch of scorching white flame light, heart-palpitating and fading at the edges, reflected the blood vessels and bones in its body, penetrated the gaps between the scales, and was extremely clear from the chest and abdomen, rising all the way, swinging past the neck, and with the gradually opening dragon mouth, accumulated dazzlingly at the throat.

No roar.

What exploded in the air was a suppressed-to-the-extreme hiss, like a high-pressure furnace exploding.

"Boom!!!"

Incomparably condensed, the flame flow turned into a pillar of fire connecting heaven and earth, carrying the scorching white mist of evaporating rainwater, with pure golden light surging inside and explosive orange-red spreading on the outer layer.

There was no need to deliberately aim at a precise area.

The air superiority firmly grasped from above the sky, and the sustainability of the adult Hong Long's dragon breath.

Made it like a fiery red bomber, flying past, and from several hundred meters away, the scorching flame flow had already fallen to the ground, dragging toward the escort team along with its high-speed moving body and slightly tilted head.

Xia Nan's first reaction, of course, was to run.

As early as the first moment the Dragon Might influence gradually faded and he looked back to capture the Hong Long's figure, the phantom wolf head had already condensed around his body.

And just as his brain was thinking rapidly, and while his calves were moving, he was pondering in which direction he should run to be able to escape the dragon breath in such an open environment by relying on the explosive power brought by 【Tooth Hunter】.

Not far in front of him, however, a similarly flustered and inexplicably serious shout suddenly came.

"Move toward me!!"

The one who spoke was Haian.

This second son of the Niumu City Lord, the object of the escort team's protection, was also the only team member who had not yet obtained a professional level.

At this moment, around his body, there was already a semi-transparent light shield emitting emerald green light, gradually spreading outward, and rich in natural meaning.

Undoubtedly, this was the precious trump card he brought from home for self-defense.

Thoughts flowed through his heart in one-thousandth of a second.

Too short, Xia Nan had only just converted the common language in Haian's mouth into actual understandable meaning, and he had already weighed the pros, cons, and feasibility of the two ideas of "using 【Tooth Hunter】 to escape" and "moving toward Haian to use his trump card for defense" in his heart.

First, regarding the former... could he really run away?

If the dragon breath just swept across the ground in a straight line according to the current trajectory, he might be able to barely escape the range covered by the flames at a ninety-degree vertical angle while the dragon breath swept past.

But if that Hong Long discovered him, or because of some other reason, only tilted its head slightly.

With the 【Copper-Ribbed Iron-Bone】 feat only targeting physical damage, and the fire resistance of the plate-chain composite armor being negligible, he would have no suspense about being burned to ashes by the flames.

And if he changed his thinking and pinned his hopes on Haian's trump card—could that emerald green light shield withstand the dragon breath of such an adult Hong Long?

Success would naturally be fine.

But if the shield couldn't hold up, the ending of them being burned to ashes would still be unavoidable.

How should he choose?

The disparity in strength like a chasm made the Hong Long just spit casually, and Xia Nan fell into a near-death predicament.

Neither plan had complete certainty.

And the hasty and short time was simply not enough for him to think deeply, meticulously, and comprehensively to make a judgment with the greatest probability of survival.

Xia Nan decided to trust his intuition.

Caw—

The phantom wolf head circling around him did not dissipate, but the calves that were originally in a retreating trend suddenly changed their force and kicked the ground violently!

Muscle strength erupted.

Wood, who was not far from Haian, and Weirouer, who was behind the team and only second to himself, entered the light shield spreading around the half-elf at the same time.

Sawa was in the front row of the team, and her main responsibility was to assist in the attack.

Her Dragonborn identity made her performance particularly unbearable when she encountered a Hong Long last time.

But unexpectedly, the rest in Ronglin Town these past few days seemed to have made her figure something out.

She transformed the hatred between the two races into resistance to fear.

The time to recover from the suppression of Dragon Might was even faster than Wood's.

Without the slightest hesitation, in an extremely dangerous situation, she followed Haian's instructions and moved toward him.

In just the time of a breath, most of the members of the escort team gathered in the light shield around Haian's body. ===== CHAPTER 245 =====