The top S-Ranks keep attacking the Red Dragon without any rest. Indra keeps giving them buffs and casts debuffs on the Red Dragon.
Meanwhile, the average S-Ranks can only watch helplessly from inside the barrier dome.
They were unwilling to admit their uselessness in this battle before. But now they can only feel grateful they don't need to fight.
Indra's barrier can block physical and magical attacks. But mental attacks can still pass through.
The Red Dragon has used its Dragon's Roar many times throughout the battle and every time it Roar, the average S-Ranks are being affected despite being quite far from the Dragon.
It keeps using its Roar because while the roar can't inflict the status effect 'Fear' on the top S-Ranks, it still can disturb them, especially the Mages' spell castings.
Also, it can dispel the debuff spells that Indra uses on the Dragon. Its mana cost is also not high, so the Red Dragon can spam this skill more than its Fire Breath.
"ROAR!"
Suddenly the Red Dragon releases a much stronger Roar than all its Roars so far. All the Hunters even need to close their ears because it's extremely loud.
Indra's debuff spells get dispelled, even the buffs on the Hunters are dispelled too by the Roar because it's extremely powerful.
The Red Dragon suddenly flies up to the sky, making it much more difficult for the Hunters because they can't fly. Then before anyone can do anything, the Red Dragon shoots an extremely powerful Fire Breath from the sky.
Indra hasn't given buffs to the hunters, so he knows it will be very dangerous and some of them will die if the Fire Breath hits them. Even his buffs might not save them, especially the ones who aren't Tanks.
So instead of giving them multiple buffs, Indra creates a massive Magic Barrier to protect all of them. He uses more mana than usual for this Barrier to make sure it won't break because the Fire Breath is also stronger.
Kamish's Fire Breath hits the barrier dome and it shakes violently. However, the flame can't break it and can only spread out. The powerful flame covers the whole barrier and then spreads all over the city, destroying every building that isn't protected by the barrier.
Although the barrier doesn't crack, the heat from the flame still seeps in and makes everyone sweat. Still, sweating is much better than being roasted alive.
When the Fire Breath stops, everyone can see the city of Los Angeles has disappeared. There's only charred ground outside the barrier, showing how powerful that Fire Breath is and just how durable this barrier is.
It makes the average S-Ranks swear to be obedient and won't even say a single word unless ordered. They are people with inhumane power, but Indra's power is even beyond inhumane.
"It's good that we are fine, but what will we do now? That guy is too high to reach. I doubt even the Mages' spells can even reach it."
"Even if our spells reach, I'm sure that Dragon can dodge it easily. It has much better mobility now that it flies."
The Dragon suddenly dives at a very high speed and bumps its head at the barrier very strongly. It shakes the barrier again and to everyone's surprise, some thin cracks appear on the crashing spot.
"IT CRACKS THE BARRIER!"
Everyone is alerted because the Dragon has just cracked the barrier that no one here can crack. Those cracks are thin and Indra can repair them right away. But it still shows how strong that attack was.
Everyone is flustered, but Indra stays calm. It was actually an intentional act. He weakened the barrier a little when the Dragon dived down. True, that headbutt was very strong, but it wasn't enough to crack his full-power barrier.
It's just an act to make the Dragon get down to the ground. Indra wants the Dragon to think that the barrier is weak against physical attacks. So if it wants to break the barrier, it needs to use physical attacks which require it to get down.
"EVERYONE GATHER AROUND ME! THE BARRIER IS TOO BIG, SO IT'S GETTING WEAKER."
Indra also fools his comrades. Well, more like he doesn't have time to explain his plan.
Then as he wanted, the Dragon comes down to attack the barrier physically. But now the barrier doesn't crack. The hunters and even the Dragon now believe that the barrier is stronger now that it's smaller.
So the Dragon lands on top of the barrier and starts attacking it physically. Claws, punches, headbutts, and even tail attacks. It attacks relentlessly, making the hunters nervous now because they can't do anything.
But then Indra tells the Hunter something that surprises them, that this is all just a ploy to fool the Dragon and it works.
"Intelligent monsters are troublesome enemies, but sometimes that intelligence can be used in our favor."
Right when he says that, Indra uses his Binding Chain skill to create a lot of magic black chains around the Dragon. The black chains coil around the Dragon's legs, body, tail, and head, stopping its movements completely.
These black chains are stronger now because Indra uses much more mana for this skill. He's confident the Dragon won't be able to move now.
"GO! ATTACK IT WITH ALL YOU'VE GOT!"
Indra dispels the barrier and every S-Rank there rushes at the Red Dragon. They use their best attacks on it without any care for their mana. Half-assed attacks won't be able to penetrate the Dragon's defense, after all.
The healers are working hard to buff everyone because Indra needs to concentrate on the chains, so he can't buff anyone. It's hard to keep the chains' bindings because the Dragon is struggling very strongly.
Furthermore, Indra needs to control the massive mana he uses for this spell. If his control loosens, then the chains will crumble before the Dragon destroys them.
4 S-Ranks and 18 A-Rank healers are enough to buff everyone even if their buffs aren't as great as Indra's buffs. And with more than 100 S-Ranks attacking it, the damage on the Dragon's body keeps getting higher.
It all looks good, but sometimes being complacent can cause a disaster. When they think that it will just be a matter of time before the Dragon gets killed, the Dragon gives them a surprise.
It's like the Dragon enters a berserk state or 2nd phase that some Dungeon Bosses possessed. The Dragon's power suddenly shoots up and it breaks Indra's chains, rooting the ground where the chains come out from.
Indra staggers when his spell gets broken off. Then in that short moment, the Dragon swings its tail around. Swiping everything around it, including the hunters.
Everyone is blown away even if they didn't get hit directly by the tail. That attack caused a very strong shockwave that could send all of them flying, so everyone was blown away.
A lot of them are injured gravely and some even die instantly just because of 1 tail attack. This Red Dragon has become even more troublesome now that it gets stronger by folds.
Indra is now lying on the charred ground after being blown away. The Dragon destroyed the whole city with its Fire Breath before, so almost everything was burnt. Even the little bit of the city structures that were protected by the barrier have been destroyed by the tail swipe just now.
While grunting in pain that he hasn't felt in a long time, Indra's first thought is checking on his sister. He sighs in relief when he feels his sister's magic power that seems to be stable, which means she is fine even though she might have been injured.
'I can always heal her as long as she doesn't die.'
But suddenly, Indra gets a lot of experience points and magic power rushes into his body. His level that has stuck for a while also finally goes up, making him stronger.
He frowns, doesn't know why this suddenly happens. So he looks around. But the only ones who died are some of the average S-Ranks and almost all the A-Rank Healers.
'No way! Do I get experience points from those dead Hunters? But I wasn't the one killing them.'
Indra isn't sure of the reason and the system won't answer him at all. So he decides to leave this problem for now. Him being stronger now is a good thing for this raid. Not only does his power increase, his magic power has been replenished as well.
He gets up and sees the Red Dragon is about to shoot a Fire Breath much stronger than before. So he reacts quickly and creates a barrier dome to trap the Dragon instead of using it on the hunters.
The barrier is made right when the Dragon is about to shoot its Fire Breath. So it can't stop and shoots the Fire Breath anyway. The Dragon's Fire Breath then fills the barrier dome completely.
"HAHAHAHA! THAT DRAGON IS BURNING HIMSELF!"
Thomas's laugh can be heard by everyone even if they all are far apart. Even the gravely injured Hunters are grinning seeing this scene. But this is not over yet.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
I have uploaded up to +30 chapters on my Patreon page.
Uploaded on Patreon: Chapter 90. 5th S-Rank Gate
If you want to support me on patreon, then this is the link: p@treon.com/PeekACoo
Thank you for your support