The far northern ice plains are fraught with danger, not a place for the faint-hearted.
Time passed swiftly, and within three days, the solemnly advancing human army was now passing a towering snow mountain nearly a kilometer high.
The summit was shrouded in blizzard, obscuring the view.
Maintaining a neat and orderly pace, the human army briefly surveyed the area before continuing onward, gradually reaching the base of the snow mountain.
At that instant, a thunderous roar, deep and resounding, erupted, deafening to all who heard it.
The fierce dragon's presence descended like a breached river from the sky, sweeping over the human army like a wild gale in a fleeting moment.
The human army instantly became agitated. Horses with magical beast lineage went weak at the knees, collapsing uncontrollably; some even dilated their pupils in terror, nearly scared to death.
Most of the human knights stiffened up, tumbling off their mounts, heavily landing in the snow.
Two massive shadows obscured the flying snow, appearing unknowingly above the human army, casting a shadow over the troops.
Simultaneously, a large and a small white dragon, swirling with hurricanes and blizzards, dove down the slope of the snow mountain with a momentum that could tear everything asunder.
Both had their mouths agape, each harboring a dangerous icy blue glow.
Accompanying the two white dragons was a host of magical beasts, their presence formidable.
Particularly notable was a ten-meter-long giant tiger, ferociously fearsome, its roar thunderous.
Rorschach and Copernicus's faces suddenly changed, finally understanding the source of their unease.
Yet, they were still somewhat astonished.
Because among the two white dragons, one appeared not yet fully grown, and even with a familial army, they should not have induced such unease, at most being a bit troublesome.
Copernicus raised his staff, having chanted a spell upon noticing the disturbance, and now he had completed his casting.
Anti-Dragon Aura.
Whoosh!
A column of light shot up into the sky, significantly weakening the dragon's might, merging into the surrounding space, continuously exerting its influence.
The knights and their mounts regained composure. Well-trained, they quickly remounted, pulled down their large shields from their backs, forming a defensive formation while shouting with soaring morale, "For the glory of Murphy!"
Shield after shield lined up thickly, quickly forming a solid iron wall.
The runes on each shield lit up, their bright light piercing through the blizzard, connecting into a cohesive barrier, exuding an indestructible aura.
On the continent of Noah, dragons were uncommon but not rare.
Many nations had experienced dragon attacks, thus, responding to dragon attacks was an essential training for human armies.
Seal the Skies!
The army's spellcasters joined forces to construct a spell, a wave of invisible magical force extending out, greatly limiting Garon's and the young dragon's ability to fly.
Both dragons felt a sudden heaviness, struggling to maintain flight with their wings.
However, a simple glide and dive were still manageable.
Garon was not particularly noticeable, maintaining a similar pace as the young dragon.
In just a few seconds, both dragons, with a fierce momentum, dove toward the human army, their frost breath ready to unleash.
The next second, icy blue frost breath burst forth from their mouths, the bone-chilling wind mixed with sharp ice crystals piercing through the blizzard, rapidly approaching the human army's defensive line.
At the same time, Copernicus tore open a spell scroll.
Transparent, glass-like magical light attached itself to the iron shields.
A fourth-tier spell, Group Resist Energy.
Together with the anti-dragon light also focused on weakening dragon breath, it took effect on the human army's defensive line.
Boom!
A thick and a thin column of dragon breath struck fiercely against the knight's shields.
Crack, crack, the runes flashed intensely, combined with protective spells straining to block the dragon breath, yet the frost inevitably encroached, freezing dozens of men directly facing the frost breath into lifelike ice sculptures.
Facing the attack, the human army's battlefield response was exemplary, yet the shield defense was inevitably breached.
However, the young dragon was not satisfied with the outcome, feeling rather irate.
In her view, a single breath from her alone should have killed at least a hundred people.
"Lowly human vermin!"
With an annoyed roar, the young dragon extended her claws, plunging into the human army like a white bulldozer, overturning hundreds of men in her path, leaving deep trenches in the ground as she rampaged through the ranks.
Because Garon did not follow the young dragon's foolish rush, she soon tasted the bitter consequences of her recklessness.
Trapped deep within the army's formation, she was like mired in a quagmire, being attacked repeatedly by armored knights, heavy, sharp great
swords imbued with elemental energy struck her, gradually fracturing her dragon scales amidst the clang of metal.
Each swing of her dragon claws and tail sweeps sent some flying, but killing them all was difficult, and then more would come.
These knights, cloaked in protective spells, were impressively defensive, chaining the young dragon within their ranks, gradually sapping her vitality.
Garon, visibly annoyed, internally cursed the young dragon for her foolishness and impulsiveness.
She still regarded these troops as ordinary, harboring a slight contempt.
Although the young dragon was trapped, she also tied up a significant number of heavy armored knights, pinning down a mature true dragon was not a simple task.
Just then, Garon's kin arrived.
The fierce frost tiger led the charge, following the path broken by the young dragon, plunging directly into the human army like her, its massive, powerful paws knocking several armored knights flying with each strike, each precise attack claiming lives, similar to the frosty breath of the dragons, easily freezing people to death upon contact.
The towering ogres, like tanks sweeping through the crowd, few knights capable of facing them one-on-one; the sharp-toothed white hounds roamed around, attacking the knights' mounts, their sharp fangs easily severing their limbs.
The terror lizards, like armored crocodiles, breathed fire, turning knight after knight into flaming torches.
From behind, the ice spirits of the far north wielded spell-like abilities, forming sharp ice crystals like a storm, blanketing the human army.
The army's spellcasters, unwilling to show weakness, retaliated with powerful counterattacks.
Ice crystals, flames, lightning, poison—varied elemental attacks filled the battlefield, along with the dragons and fierce tigers wreaking havoc, turning the fight into chaos.
And chaos, for Garon's side, meant opportunity.
Garon did not crash into the human ranks like the young dragon; he maintained a distance, opening his mouth to breathe out dragon breath, freezing one armored knight after another into ice sculptures.
His actions were standard, quietly observing the opposing spellcasters, not drawing attention like the young dragon, avoiding heavy fire.