Uncle Dior's gaze was on the Dragon King. He was just as surprised as Arrora beside him when they heard the Dragon King's challenge to Don. Initially, he had thought that they had to search or destroy some traps and reach the castle. But he never thought that the Dragon King himself would appear and ask Don to defeat him.
Before Uncle Dior could collect his thoughts, the Dragon King turned to look at him and Arrora, "Ye two shou' stay away."
The Dragon King raised his fingers, making an invisible barrier appear, separating Don and himself from Arrora and Uncle Dior.
The pair tried to move, but they couldn't. In other words, their legs refused to. Arrora started to sweat upon seeing the Dragon King's power. She had never seen someone like him before.
"He's a heavenly level magi," Arrora mumbled in shock and terror as she turned and stared at Don's expressionless face. His hood was removed by the force of the wind near the waterfall, so she could see his handsome face more clearly.
Even facing against a legendary magi like the Dragon King, Don's face refused to show any fear or emotion at that. Despite the fact that Don was unable to see or feel the magical fluctuations around the Dragon King, he could still guess that the Dragon King was extremely powerful. This battle was not going to be a simple one.
"Shall we start, brat?" the Dragon King said while the smile. Until now, the Dragon King's face had not been serious, only turning stoic now as he said that. Facing the Dragon King himself, Don didn't dare to take this fight as easily. He quickly took his black sword from his back as he started to control the wind and earth elements around him.
Arrora had seen the small storm Don had created back in the camp. However, the storm around him now was a little weaker than the first. What amazed her now, however, was the dark purple flame covering the sword. Even with some sort of barrier before her, she could still feel the heat coming from the sword.
The Dragon King as well didn't waste any time as he floated to meet Don while a huge double-headed battle-ax emerged from his hands. Just as he was about hand-reaching distance from Don, he swung the axe, targetting the human before him.
If the axe met Don's body, he would have been cleaved in half. But just when the axe came a few inches closer to his head, Don moved to dodge the attack. The Dragon King's axe cut the ground where Don stood prior. But before he could lift the axe to attack again, Don came behind him and swung his sword straight across the Dragon King's neck.
Clink
However, his sword met some sort of force shield, halting its movements.
The Dragon King was a little surprised at Don's speed. If not for the force shield, his attack would have reached him.
"Ye are a quick one," The Dragon King said as he threw a punch to Don's face.
Don couldn't dodge this one due to the great speed of the punch. As the punch landed on his face, he felt as if some gigantic hammer had hit his face. If the punch had more force, he knew that his jaw bone would have been broken. And yet, even with this much force, Don only moved back a few feet, a little bit of blood flowing out through his nose.
"Don!"
At the same time, Uncle Dior and Arrora shouted on impulse.
Don didn't care about the blood as he simply wiped it away with his hands and prepared to attack the Dragon King again. Quickly moving towards his opponent, he used the wind elements around him but didn't attack him directly. Rather, he manipulated the earth element close to the Dragon King to form a wall around him to restrict his movements.
The Dragon King hadn't realized that there were mud walls behind him as well as to his left and right until it was too late. It made him look like a trapped rat. But before he could do anything, Don had already thrust his sword towards him.
Don felt that the Dragon King's force field was strong so he didn't slash through. Instead, he tried to pierce the shield with his sword's point covered with hellfire. Just as he thought, his plan paid off. The shield was pierced by the sword. Not as much as he expected, but it touched the Dragon King's chest. But even so, Don felt like hadn't touched anything.
"Good one, brat," the Dragon King said a little bit away from him. Uncle Dior saw a tinge of satisfaction appear on the Dragon King's face, but it was soon replaced with an impartial look.
Don put in his full force as he tried to pierce the Dragon King's chest. The Dragon King was unable to swing his axe because of the walls around him. Regarding this, the axe in his hands disappeared and he simply elbowed the walls. The poor walls didn't stand a chance against Dragon King's brutal strength.
At that moment, Don withdrew his sword and jumped back from the Dragon King.
When the walls were destroyed, the battle-axe appeared once more in his hands
"It's time ta end this," Dragon Kings said as he clutched his battle-axe with his two hands, holding it over his head as he started to chant something.
Don figured that the Dragon King was going to use his trump card, so he did the same. Arrora and Uncle Dior could see the spike in the magical fluctuation waves covering the Dragon King. The fluctuations grew stronger and stronger as he continued to chant. But suddenly, Uncle Dior and Arrora heard thunderclaps, as if a huge storm was brewing near them as they turned to look at Don before the Dragon King.
They saw that Don was holding a warhammer in his hands. The handle was pure black, and it was engraved with some designs that they couldn't clearly see. The warhammer was two-headed; with one head being blunt while the other was pointed. It was also a little longer than the sword Don had previously.
The sound of thunder grew higher and higher as bolts of lighting started to emerge from the warhammer. In seconds, the bolts turned into full-sized lighting, the crackling sounds and blue flashes starting to match the effects of the magical fluctuations the Dragon King was emanating. The dark forest started to get even darker.
The Dragon King opened his eyes as his battle-axe was covered by some blood-red energy. The shadows of two Dragons emerged from the Dragon King's back and coiled around the battle-axe with a roar.
On the other side, Don's warhammer was covered and emanating lighting.
The air element that he was controlling started to create a whirlwind around the hammer, enhancing the power of the lighting.
Holding their weapons, Don and the Dragon King moved toward each other and attacked at the same time.
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!
The moment the warhammer and battle-axe collided, a massive force was produced. It cleared their surroundings, destroying all the trees within nearly a 5-meter radius. Even the big trees couldn't stand a chance against the force.
Dust, tree logs, leaves, almost all of the things on the ground flew around them to defy gravity. Even though the barrier protected Arrora and Uncle Dior from the force, they still closed their eyes instinctively as they protected themselves with their hands.
Arrora and Uncle Dior couldn't see Don and the Dragon King as dust and debris covered them and obscured their view. The sound of thunder , as well as the magical fluctuations emanating from the Dragon King, had stopped.
Slowly, the dust began to settle down. Arrora and Uncle Dior were glad to have the barrier before them. If it wasn't for the barrier, they would have been killed or had all of their bones broken due to the force produced by Don and the Dragon King's attacks.
Arrora and Uncle Dior wanted to know who won the fight. They had both witnessed the full power of Don and the Dragon King at the last moment of battle.
Eventually, the dust completely settled back down and their surroundings returned to normal. But before Arrora and Uncle Dior, only one person was still standing.
It was the Dragon King. A few meters away from him, on the ground lying and bleeding was Don. His black robe was nearly destroyed. There were so many holes on them, and the warhammer he held was nowhere to be found.
When Arrora saw Don like this, a strange feeling emerged from within her heart. Beside her, Uncle Dior was hitting the barrier in the hopes of reaching Don. Uncle Dior expected the Dragon King to win because he knew the terror he caused from the stories he heard. But seeing this happen in reality was something he didn't imagine.
The Dragon King saw the two of them as he flicked his wrists, making the barrier separating them disappear.
Don was struggling to stand up, but he couldn't. He sensed that his ribs were broken along with the rest of his bones in so many places throughout his body. The pain he was feeling was too much. His heart started to beat faster as Battle Energy circulated throughout his body to heal his failing organs.
He knew that he was not far away from death. He wanted to close his eyes and embrace it, but the voice of Sister Elena, Knight's face, as well as Arwen, Amaryll, and Elrond's faces stopped him from doing. The promises he made gave him the strength to fight through death. He didn't want to die. He knew that he had so much left to do.
Just as he was fighting with death, he saw a worried face before him. In a second, he saw another worried face calling out his name. The faces he saw were Arrora and Uncle Dior.
In his mind, there were so many scenes that appeared and disappeared. One of them was a little skinny boy practicing his sword skills with a half-elf woman. Another was a little boy running and carrying a little lion cub in his hands.
"Don!" Uncle Dior and Arrora shouted. Arrora took his head and placed it on her lap, while Uncle Dior took his water pouch and slowly poured its contents into Don's mouth, only to see him cough out more blood.
Unknowing to Arrora, tears had started to come out of her eyes, dropping on Don's face. She could see his broken hands, looking as weird and mangled as did most parts of his body.
"The healing potion… it's in his rings. Take it out!" Uncle Dior suddenly remembered the potion he gave to Arwen and Arrora, as he went to search for the ring.
When Arrora heard about the healing potion, a small hope appeared in her eyes, "Don. stay with us!"
Don would have taken it and drank it if he had control of his hands. He couldn't even move his pinky, let alone manipulate the Battle Energy and open the ring. He wanted to tell them that they couldn't open the ring, but he was unable to open his mouth.
"How... How do I open the ring?" Uncle Dior scratched at the ring, injecting magic energy into it as he tried. He even began biting the ring, but the ring didn't show any reaction.
"Do something!!" Arrora was trembling, shouting at Uncle Dior who was still trying everything that he could to open the ring. But after a moment, the light in Don's eyes started to fade away. Uncle Dior slowly shook his head, while Arrora was able to feel Don's body heat disappearing.
The sadness and hopelessness struck Arrora. It was true that she had only met him days ago, but he was there when she was hopeless and helpless. If not for him, she would have faced a fate far worse than death. All of this made her cry even more and made her feel just as hopeless and helpless as before.
The man who saved her was now dying in front of her. All the while, she couldn't even do anything to prevent it.
"Don! Don't die! Please, stay with us!"
Don couldn't hear Arrora's shouting as darkness slowly started to swallow his vision.