Qingfeng Lanhuai paid no heed to the obstinate fellows who were refusing to follow orders, issuing rapid commands to the core members instead.
"Elementalists, get those Flame Barriers up."
"Hunters, Rangers, Archers, move to the front lines and form an anti-air formation!"
"Everyone, switch to ranged weapons and start chugging those fire resistance potions!"
His trusted brothers in arms were indeed reliable, and in the blink of an eye, a circular air defense system was established.
The outermost circle consisted of sharpshooters, Rangers, magic archers, and Hunters, forming a net of aerial firepower with the longest range, capable of effective air-to-air attacks.
The second circle was populated by Mages, Necromancers, Elementalists, and Storm Servants—the heavy firepower output classes—ready to unleash devastating magic upon the Black Dragon once it neared, dealing it a powerful blow.
In the inner circle were various healing and support professions, and at the very heart stood the senior Elementalists responsible for deploying the Flame Barriers.
The black dragon soared in the sky, its deep roar intimidating the Adventurers below.
Morphis (Black Dragon Lord): "Haha, puny humans, your struggles are futile, your efforts to survive, meaningless. The moment you stepped into my territory, your doom was sealed! You came here for glory and treasure, but here you will only find death and destruction. Tremble, beg for mercy, and perhap I'll mercifully grant you a swift death."
Flame God: "Damn it, why is this black dragon such a chatterbox, is this guy really a player?"
Qingfeng Lanhuai nodded, "Definitely a player, probably a drama queen. Forget about it, just make sure the barrier is up, otherwise, we're all dead."
In the blink of an eye, the black dragon dived down once more.
Qingfeng Lanhuai shouted urgently, "The dragon's coming, Elementalists get ready—barrier up! Volley—fire!"
Four or five Flame Barriers were activated simultaneously, and a massive red magical dome instantly enveloped a large area, shielding the players within its core. The ranged fighters also released a deluge of arrows, bombarding the black dragon from below.
The black dragon seemed unconcerned, facing the arrow storm and exhaling a bout of Dragon Breath; the scalding dragonfire struck the magic barrier, bursting into a dazzling red halo.
The Elementalists tasked with maintaining the barrier poured their magic power into it, desperately protecting their companions.
"One hundred and twenty meters, one hundred meters, eighty meters, spellcasters attack!"
Fire and lightning interwove in the sky, the brilliance of magic dominating the heavens, yet the black dragon successfully predicted the attack one second in advance. At less than one hundred meters from the ground, it abruptly changed course, causing most of the intense assault to hit nothing but air.
Instead, it flew toward those players without magical protection, scattering a swath of fire below.
After dozens of battles, Morphis had become thoroughly familiar with the various tricks players might deploy.
Generally speaking, arrows could only inflict single or double-digit damage on him, not posing a significant threat, merely slowly whittling down his Health Points. For an adult dragon with over eighty thousand Health Points, this was practically negligible.
The real threats were those high-level spells, especially the powerful control spells, which even a dragon could not afford to ignore. However, it did not matter. Being airborne, the Dragon Race could freely choose the moment to engage in battle, while magic generally had a shorter casting range. By maintaining distance, the dragon would not be shot down.
At this moment, Morphis was toying with the situation, circling around those large magical barriers, diving now and then, undisturbed by the arrow storm, unleashing fatal Dragon Breath on the unprotected Adventurers. With each drop of Dragonfire, there were bound to be cries of agony.
"Keep the formation, keep the formation, everyone into the barrier!"
Qingfeng Lanhuai shouted loudly, though there was hardly any need for his call to action, as the players who sensed danger were already scrambling under the shields. However, high-level Elementalists capable of using Flame Barriers were scarce, and for over three hundred Adventurers, there were only eight shields to dive into, naturally leaving many unprotected.
People jostled and shoved, all trying to squeeze into the circles to survive the onslaught of Dragonfire.
But the Black Dragon wasn't about to give them time to regroup peacefully, diving and bombing constantly. Flames ravaged the wilderness amid screams of agony, the explosions of magic, and the whoosh of bodies being burned to a crisp.
Damn! Qingfeng Lanhuai looked at the chaotic scene, and his head started to spin. "Melee classes, get the hell out! You meat shields cramming inside, switch to your ranged weapons and defend against aerial attacks, support classes, get in here! Buff us up, quick.
"Are all the ranged classes dead or what? Aim properly, can't you? It's such a huge dragon, and you still miss; are you eating shit?"
As he spoke, he vigorously shot an arrow. He had calculated the lead precisely and thought it would surely hit, but as the arrow flew across the sky, it passed a good five or six meters behind the dragon's tail.
Damn! How can this Black Dragon fly so fast?
Qingfeng Lanhuai was speechless for a moment, but he quickly thought of a solution.
"You few!" he called out to the Necromancers and Curse Mages lounging around, "When the Black Dragon gets close, wait for my command, and we'll hit it with curse magic together!"
The Black Dragon dove down again, its colossal body surprisingly agile. It slid under a layer of flame clouds created by a wildfire spell, dodged a destructive meteor and two lightning orbs, took a few Arcane Missiles enhanced for long range, and with a concentrated Dragon Breath, burned right through the outermost Flame Barrier shield.
Below, the crammed Adventurers were instantly incinerated, with over twenty dead, a whole group disintegrated in an instant.
The Black Dragon swept close to the ground, its intimidating presence and the proximity of its slaughter causing the Adventurers to scream. A warrior, with help from his comrades, leapt into the air to attempt a frontal blow, but Morphis opened its jaws, activated the Devour skill — hmm, tastes like crispy chicken.
Rising into the air once more, Morphis looked down arrogantly at the panicked Adventurers below — victory was certain.
Daring to establish his Dragon Nest in the defenseless Burning Plain, Morphis relied on the Dragon Race's powerful ground-attack capabilities.
Being able to fly and breathe fire, Dragons feared nothing more than a throng of enemies. And to enhance his ground combat abilities, he invested all his Talent Points into strengthening his Dragon Breath and flight capabilities, forgoing close combat skills, Dragon Language magic, and even the enhancement of Domination Power.
The sacrifice was anything but small, but the results were strikingly effective.
Agile Twin Wings Talent allowed him to freely change position in the air, nimbly evading the enemy's anti-aircraft firepower.
Extreme Speed Flight Talent gave him a speed far beyond that of ordinary dragons, making it even harder for magic and arrows to hit him.
Scorching Earth Talent allowed his Dragon Breath to directly destroy terrain, and continuous Dragon Breath could even penetrate Flame Barriers.
Wildfire Spread Talent made his Dragon Breath spread and propagate, disrupting the enemy's formation.
Bone-Corroding Dragon Flame Talent caused his Dragon Breath to inflict continuous damage upon igniting a target, and this supernatural power could not even be dispelled.
One could say Morphis was a perfect biological incendiary bombing machine. None of the Adventurer parties that had come to hunt him these days passed through the Dark Plain alive. Whenever the shadow of the black dragon covered the land, death followed, thus earning the moniker Death's Shadow.
Heroes came only to be broken and submerged, and as for this bunch too stingy to drink Fire Resistance potions and too miserly to craft Flame Protection cloaks, no matter how many came, they were just delivering their own heads on a platter.