"Curse you, vile dragon!" Unable to dodge in time, Bren took the brunt of the dragonfire. Searing tongues of flame ravaged his body, charring his skin as the rampart around him erupted into a sea of fire.
Yet, relying on his formidable physique, the legendary dwarven fighter braved the scorching blaze. Heaving his greatsword, he burst free from the inferno and rolled across the flagstones several times to snuff out the clinging flames.
By now, the dwarf was charred black from head to toe, covered in burns, his hair and beard scorched away completely. Yet he showed no fear. Instead, he slowly hauled himself up from the ground.
Bren glared at the distant wyvern, raised his greatsword, and leveled its tip straight at the beast's head. "Come!" he bellowed. "Fight me to your heart's content! I have slain true dragons—a creature like you is nothing more than an overgrown lizard to me!"
"*Roaaar!*"
Smaug let out a deafening roar of rage, his golden slit pupils blazing with fury. The scales across his draconic face flared open, venting searing white smoke as if ready to burst apart.
"Foolish dwarf! I am a favored kin of the great Red Dragon, a wyvern coursing with the blood of Cinder!"
Clearly, the dwarf's taunt had struck a raw nerve.
With the growth of his intellect, strength, and status, this wyvern chieftain had grown increasingly ashamed of his "lowborn blood," bitter that he had not been born a true dragon.
Yet beneath the Cinder Emperor's Boon of Progenitor Bloodline, Smaug's lineage had shattered its inherent shackles. He was nobler even than "inferior true dragons" like white dragons, and his prowess far outmatched that of red dragons in his age category.
To call him the mightiest and most colossal wyvern of the Third Age was no exaggeration in the least.
Seeing the wyvern's apoplectic fury, Bren pressed the provocation further, shouting with all his might, "A mindless beast is just a beast—you will never become a true dragon! Hahahaha! Howl all you want! Call out your Emperor! Only he is worthy to test his mettle against me! As for you—you aren't good enough! Do you hear me? I will hack off that red dragon's head and hang it from the walls of Evindeldan!"
He wanted to enrage this dragon-blooded monster until it completely lost its wits, so that he could seize upon a critical opening and deliver a killing blow.
"Insolent dwarf! How dare you insult His Majesty—you court death!"
A thunderous roar echoed above the battlements. In his blinding fury, Smaug violently flapped his wings and surged into the sky, swooping down toward the distant Bren amidst a tempest of flame.
*Boom!*
Smaug unhinged his jaws and unleashed another torrent of blistering dragonfire. The flames instantly engulfed the ramparts below, sending the defending dwarven soldiers fleeing in disarray.
Thick smoke blotted out the sky as fires burned furiously. Scorching gales swept through, carrying drifting embers, turning the world into a mottled expanse of gray, black, and fiery orange.
Facing this cataclysmic scene, the dwarven fighter felt no terror. Clasping his greatsword in one hand, he raised his head and glared straight at the charging wyvern, bellowing, "Come on, you damned mongrel! You will never defeat a dwarven warrior!"
Just as Smaug swooped within striking distance, Bren sprang upward, kicking hard against the battlements. Using the parapet wall as a springboard, he dodged the dragon's breath while leaping high into the air, swinging his greatsword overhead.
A leap attack! Once again, a leap attack!
In a dwarven fighter's experience, leap attacks were the most effective tactic against giant monsters, consistently capable of dealing fatal blows to such behemoths.
"*Haaah!*"
Bren roared with all his might. The greatsword sliced through the air with unstoppable momentum, cleaving straight toward the wyvern's head.
Yet while wyverns lacked the dexterous forepaws of true dragons, they still possessed forelimbs fused with leathery wing membranes.
*Whoosh—*
Smaug beat his wings violently, whipping up a scorching tempest that drove his massive bulk sharply backward.
At the same time, his gaping maw aligned directly with the dwarf in midair. A blinding glow flared in his throat, and a torrent of flame erupted forth, blasting straight at Bren.
Bren hastily shifted his stance, bracing the broad blade of his greatsword before him like a shield to weather the wyvern's breath, yet the force knocked him tumbling out of the air.
Smaug did not let such an opportunity slip. Even as he intensified his fiery breath, he whipped his thick tail around.
*Screeech—*
With a piercing screech, the tip of his tail cut through the air, driving the venomous barb unique to wyverns straight toward the dwarf.
The neurotoxin within was potent enough to plunge a massive land drake into a coma; even a legendary-tier dwarf would inevitably be affected.
Facing the tail barb tearing through the air, Bren gritted his teeth and abandoned his defense. Enduring the scorching burn of dragonfire, he swung his greatsword backward with all his might.
*Clang—!*
The ringing clash of metal echoed through the air. Bren's greatsword deflected the wyvern's tail barb, and leveraging the recoil of the impact, he altered his trajectory midair, breaking clear of the dragonfire.
*Crash!*
The dwarf's stout, muscular body slammed heavily into the ramparts, spraying shards of stone and sending clouds of dust billowing into the air, smashing a crater into the masonry.
"*Roaaar!*"
A resounding bellow pierced the heavens. Smaug tucked his wings and extended his razor-sharp hind talons, preparing to dive from above and crush the embedded dwarf into paste.
This wyvern had always heeded Cassius's teachings and knew full well the importance of seizing openings to finish off foes without delay—Smaug would never behave like a boss in some video game with poor aggression, wasting precious seconds preening scales or licking claws.
With a sharp sonic crack, Smaug plummeted ruthlessly from the sky, carrying terrifying kinetic force as his massive body smashed toward the wall.
Little did he know, the dwarf was not trapped helplessly in the stone. Instead, he was lying in wait within the hollow, muscles coiled and greatsword gripped tight, ready to strike back at any moment.
Just as Smaug was about to slam into the wall, the black iron greatsword pierced the dust, stabbing straight toward the wyvern's underbelly.
*Boom!*
A tremendous crash thundered out. The wall was pulverized beneath Smaug's impact. Though Bren dodged to the side, the sheer shockwave sent him flying backward. The web of his hand went numb from the violent jolt, nearly dislodging his blade.
He managed to catch the outer parapet ledge just in time, preventing himself from tumbling down Evindeldan's towering face.
*Damn it, how is that possible?!* Bren was utterly shocked. His thrust through the smoke had struck the wyvern's belly, yet his full-strength strike had been turned aside by the scales!
His grip had gone numb from the recoil, yet the wyvern showed no reaction at all—its outermost defenses had not even been breached!
The legendary dwarven warrior had no way of knowing that, as the empire's wyvern leader, Smaug had multiple protective wards inscribed across his vulnerable abdomen.
Moreover, the progenitor dragon blood bestowed by Cassius had reshaped Smaug's physiology, granting him scales far harder than those of ordinary true dragons.
"*Roaaar!*"
Smaug roared once more, plowing through the adjacent wall like a monstrous bulldozer as he surged toward the dwarf hanging off the rampart edge.
*I've hit him so many times, why isn't this dwarf dead yet? He's like a foul, stubborn rock!* Smaug thought, venting clouds of sulfurous white smoke in a mix of fury and astonishment.
After all, even within the empire, those who could withstand the wyvern leader's full-power breath weapon could be counted on one hand, and those who could trade blows with him like this were fewer still.
Seeing the wyvern charge again, the dwarf pulled himself up with one arm, vaulting onto the wall with greatsword in hand. He darted nimbly along the battlements, evading the relentless onslaught of talons and heavy tail strikes.
And so, each harboring shock and fury toward the other, the dwarven fighter and the wyvern chieftain clashed in fierce combat once again.
*Clang—!*
The greatsword struck hard against the tail, only to be deflected once more, leaving nothing more than a faint white scratch while the wyvern remained completely unscathed.
*This beast's scales are too hard. I have to find a weak spot, or beating him will be impossible,* the dwarf thought through gritted teeth as he dodged sweeping tongues of fire.
Throughout the perilous exchange, Bren kept a sharp eye on the wyvern's body.
At last, as Smaug unfurled his wings and reared his head with a piercing cry, the dwarf's keen gaze caught the enemy's weak point—his left breast. A scale was missing from the wyvern's left chest!
And right there lay the heart!
At once, Bren was overjoyed, his eyes locking onto the gap.
*As long as I strike that unarmored spot and pierce the heart, this wyvern will die for sure!* the dwarf told himself.
Yet Bren also understood how difficult it would be to strike such a tiny area accurately amid melee combat. Against this wyvern, simply getting close was extraordinarily hazardous.
Furthermore, the wyvern was so colossal that even a direct hit with his sword might fail to pierce deep into the heart, serving only to put the beast on guard.
*A steel crossbow.*
The words sprang into Bren's mind unbidden.
Dwarven steel crossbows were ranged weapons originally designed to deal with massive monsters like this; using one against the wyvern could not be more fitting.
Moreover, the crossbows were stocked with cross-tipped bolts specially crafted for slaying dragons—ready for Bren's use.
With this realization, Bren made up his mind. He would find a chance to disengage, get to a dwarven steel crossbow, and target the wyvern's scale-bare left chest to deal the monster a fatal blow.
"*Roaaar!*" Smaug spewed flame, smashing through the ramparts in his path and rampaging across the walls of Evindeldan as he charged the dwarven warrior once more.
This time, however, Bren offered a mocking sneer. Taking advantage of his smaller stature, he ducked directly through a tower doorway, vanishing from the wyvern's sight.
"Coward!"
"Damned dwarf, come out!"
In his blind rage, Smaug lashed his massive tail madly, slamming his colossal frame again and again into the fortress walls, shattering vast slabs of stone and violently tearing apart everything around him.
*Crash!*
With a resounding thunder, dust filled the air as the tower Bren had just entered collapsed into ruins. But the dwarf was nowhere to be found.
Relying on his intimate familiarity with Evindeldan's fortifications, Bren had easily escaped the crumbling tower, slipping through an interior secret passage toward an arrow tower mounted with a dwarven steel crossbow.
After wreaking havoc and venting his fury without finding any trace of Bren, Smaug stood atop the rubble and roared to the heavens, "Dwarf! Since I can't find you, I'll make your kin pay the price!"
Smaug flapped his wings and took flight, swooping menacingly toward the dwarven garrison stationed along the walls of Evindeldan.
The wyvern spread his wings, diving at high speed along the line of the battlements. Parting his jaws, he poured forth searing dragonfire, turning the wall held by the dwarves into an inferno.
"No!"
"Fire everywhere!"
"*Cough, cough, cough!* Damned beast! I'll take you down with me!"
Billowing smoke and leaping flames filled the ramparts with the agonizing screams of dwarven defenders. They writhed in the sea of fire, unable to escape the fate of turning to ash.
Smaug spread his wings, wheeling above the southwestern ramparts of Evindeldan.
Darting through the thick smoke, casting his grotesque shadow, the wyvern seemed like a god of death, ruthlessly reaping dwarven lives with dragonfire.
"Keep hiding in your fortress like rats, dwarves! I will burn every last one of your kin, your family! I will reduce all you dwarves to cinders!"
Like the whispers of a reaper echoing over Evindeldan's walls, Smaug bellowed with hearty, unrestrained roars as he belched blistering dragonfire.
"I am fire! I am death!"
This time it was no order from Cassius, but Smaug's own cathartic outcry straight from the heart.
Within the order of the empire, although the wyvern chieftain had enjoyed ample food and generous privileges, his primal instincts for destruction and slaughter had been suppressed deep within him, finding no release.
Now, in this siege, Smaug finally found an unbridled outlet. Torching Evindeldan and reveling in the endless wails of the dwarves brought him immense satisfaction.
"You filthy monster! I'm over here! I am your opponent!" A familiar shout rang out from the distance.
Smaug turned his head impatiently. There, atop a distant tower, stood the dwarven fighter Bren, screaming at the top of his lungs and waving at him.
Listening to his people scream in the flames, Bren burned with unprecedented rage—even if it cost him everything, he would make this monster pay with its life!
Beside Bren stood a masterfully crafted dwarven steel crossbow. Fitted upon its stock was a black bolt tipped with a cross-shaped point—an Arrow of Dragon Slaying.
As the saying goes, when enemies come face to face, their eyes blaze with sheer hatred.
"*Roaaar!*"
Smaug snarled in fury, immediately abandoning the feeble dwarven defenders. Flapping his broad wings, he soared toward the distant tower.
Towering flames and smoke trailed behind him as the wyvern swept forward with terrifying momentum, like a living catastrophe descending upon the world.
In this moment, Smaug had only one thought: he would burn that wretched dwarf to cinders!
Bren was ready as well. Swiftly cranking the windlass of the steel crossbow, he lined up his aim with the missing scale on the wyvern's left chest, muttering under his breath, "Come on, come on... I will kill you and avenge my people who died in your dragonfire..."
The final duel was about to erupt.
Chapter 649