The Lava Drake bellowed ferociously before it unleashed a torrent of flames at us. The group scattered in multiple directions in an attempt to avoid being burned to a crisp.
"Do not falter!" Li Wang shouted, raising his sword and conjuring a storm of lightning. The handsome blond narrowed his sky-blue eyes, his determination fueling his qi. Lethal electricity blasted out toward the Lava Drake, but the immense spirit beast simply batted the technique away with one of its massive wings.
However, Li Wang's defiance had rallied the rest of our classmates. A popular guy among the Divine Path Academy, he had attracted a huge following from the female students, and even the guys were inspired by his courage.
"That's right!?
Long Fan Xue raised her sword and conjured a barrage of frost blades that shattered harmlessly against the Lava Drake's ruby scales. The draconic beast turned its serpentine neck around to glower at her, but a group of guys quickly ringed the blue-haired beauty, resolved to give their lives to defend her.
She was the academy idol, after all.
"Protect Long Fan Xue!"
"Sacrifice yourself if you have to!"
"Work together to produce a barrier!"
As the Lava Drake unleashed a torrent of flames at Long Fan Xue, her group of fans cooperated to create a formation. Arcane circles formed underneath them as they linked their qi together to construct a barrier. The hellish inferno washed over the shimmering dome, blackening the surrounding stone, but otherwise the perspiring guys and Long Fan Xue remained unscathed.
The rest of the class continued assaulting the Lava Drake from different angles. Kuang Zhe hurled his spear at it, using his family's Eight Reversal Spear technique to drill a wound into its armored body. With a snarl, the Lava Drake lashed out with its tail and forced him to retreat. Kai Xuan and Jian Shi slashed at its flanks with their swords, their qi coalescing with blade intent, but the spirit beast was too strong for their attacks to pierce through.
Snarling, it swiped at them, but they quickly retreated, assisted by Lian Hua and Zi Yan, their wood techniques manifesting as vines that ensnared the two swordsmen and pulling them to safety. The two girls then proceeded with first aid, conducting healing spells on the injured. Their verdant qi shone brilliantly, and more of the male classmates came forward to protect the two girls.
We knew that if we lost our healers, we would be doomed.
"Damn it," Kuang Zhe complained as he poked at the Lava Drake with his spear. "Why did the academy have to assign us to such a difficult mission? Normally, you wouldn't send students against a Mystic-ranked spirit beast!"
"The cultivators have been understaffed," Kai Xuan explained. "With the increase in spirit beast manifestation throughout Earth, they don't have enough warriors to deal with each and every one of them. Besides, it's our duty as academy students to protect humanity. That's what we signed up for when we joined Divine Path Academy."
"Yeah, we don't want to face another near-extinction like what happened two hundred years ago, right?" Jian Shi panted as he fended off the Lava Drake's claws with his sword. "If humanity hadn't awakened their spiritual roots and learned how to cultivate when the spirit beasts and demonic monsters first manifested in our world back then, we would have been exterminated."
I nodded as I formed my qi into arcane arrows and fitted them to my bow, taking aim and firing them at the Lava Drake. The projectiles detonated harmlessly against the immense spirit beast, but it was enough to annoy it, drawing its attention toward me. I tried to hit it in the eyes, but the Lava Drake slapped my arrows away in reflex.
"Yeah…conventional weapons such as guns and missiles didn't work against spirit beasts. The only way humanity could fight against them was with qi and spirit weapons."
"Well, our qi and spirit weapons aren't doing shit against this Lava Drake!" Kuang Zhe snapped. "At this rate, our class is going to be annihilated!"
"Everyone, hang in there!" Li Wang refused to give up. While Kai Xuan, Jian Shi and I distracted the Lava Drake, he dropped in from behind and stabbed it in the back. It bellowed and thrashed about, desperate to throw him off. Li Wang held to the hilt of his sword stubbornly, gritting his teeth. "Our teachers will be here soon! Just one more minute! If we can survive for another minute, it'll be our win!"
"That's right!" Long Fan Xue agreed, coalescing another hail of frost blades that combined with my volley of arrows to send the Lava Drake staggering. The damage we did was minimal, but every little attack counted. "We can do it!"
"You heard them!" Long Fan Xue's fans, led by Ni Ma, yelled. "Protect Long Fan Xue at all costs!"
"Not me! Don't forget about the rest!"
"Yeah! Long Fan Xue isn't the only one fighting!" Hong Yue shouted, stabbing with her spear. Fighting alongside Kuang Zhe, the two of them made of the greater reach of their weapons to poke the Lava Drake before withdrawing to safety. "Help us out too!"
The Lava Drake roared thunderously, unleashing yet another stream of flames that forced all of us to withdraw. I stayed where I was because I had taken up a position relatively far away to bombard it from range. That was why, while everyone was retreating, I was able to see what was going on.
Li Wang, the ever popular and handsome guy and the selfless leader of our class, had taken up the rearguard. He probably felt responsible for his classmates and wanted to prioritize everyone's safety before his own.
As such, he couldn't avoid the Lava Drake's attack in time. Its claws snaked out to stomp on him, and even though Lian Hua and Zi Yan tried to seize him with their vines, the flames emitted by the spirit beast incinerated those plants before they could reach him.
"Li Wang!"
"Watch out!"
"No!" Long Fan Xue screamed.
"Ugh!" Li Wang turned around, but even as he raised his sword, he knew he wouldn't be able to escape the Lava Drake's clutches in time…
I crashed into him, knocking him to the side and toward Kai Xuan and Jian Shi, both of whom frantically caught hold of him and dragged him away. As I stumbled, the Lava Drake's claw crashed on me, smashing me to the ground and breaking every bone in my body.
"Argh!"
Blood spurted from my mouth, the tremendous impact rupturing my internal organs as well as grinding the shards of my shattered skeleton against them. I almost blacked out from the excruciating agony, and I could feel my flesh being burned off from the sheer heat emanating from the ruby scales. The Lava Drake looked down at me, its yellowish reptilian eyes narrowed condescendingly.
As if it was disappointed that it had missed its target and didn't want to settle for a lesser prey.
"Song Jun Wen!" Li Wang yelled, but Kai Xuan and Jian Shi hauled him back.
"No! It's too late! You can't do anything for him!"
"Don't let Song Jun Wen's sacrifice be in vain!"
Even as the melee combatants retreated, the ranged cultivators continued to launch their techniques from afar, bombarding the Lava Drake in a futile attempt to help me.
However, it was too late. I felt the crushing paw of the Lava Drake pulverize me to the ground. As I stared up through the cracked lenses of my glasses, my vision blurred in a red haze of agony, I realized that I was going to die.
Then a muffled explosion resounded above me, and for a brief moment, I felt the immense weight of the Lava Drake thrown off me. There was a howl of pain somewhere to the side, as well as reverberations as something heavy and powerful struck something huge.
"The teachers are here! They are finally here!"
"We're saved!"
"I don't believe it. We actually survived. Against a Mystic-ranked Lava Drake too. We're still alive. I'm not dreaming, am I?"
"Teacher Wang! Help! Song Jun Wen is…!"
The cacophony of voices all melted together into a confusing din, and unable to withstand the excruciating pain any longer, I felt my consciousness fade away. Closing my eyes, I let out a breath from my ruined lungs before allowing the warm embrace of death to take me.