Chapter 263 A Lizard And A Bat, Part 1/2 [Bonus]

Vesuvius flapped his massive wings, his humongous body shooting upwards, each of their flaps sending shockwaves through the dark clouds around him. He kept rising higher and higher, a red light flickering around him, moving and circling around him.

'Truly like a mosquito, buzzing around and annoying every living being.'

Ding!

// New faction mission:

Objective: Defeat the vampire, escape or survive for at least five minutes

Quest items: Dragon Mask; Simple black mantle

Reward: 2 X instant level up; 1000 gold coins; Rest calculated upon the completion

//

The dragon's eyes glinted as they caught a glimpse of a blurry image quickly closing towards him in a zigzagging pattern. He opened his mouth, and breath of purple flames erupted out, moving through the clouds and igniting everything in their path.

The purple light flashed through the blackness of the night, and the red blur vanished from the dragon's sight, his head turning around, scanning his surroundings.

Vesuvius glanced towards the skyship in the distance. It kept retreating faster and faster, its hull glowing in bright purple light as it accelerated.

'Finally, they are gone. Time to act.'

He released his domain, his senses expanding out of his body, spreading through the air around him. Immediately the night turned into a day as flames exploded, spreading in every direction and forming red clouds of fire. Bolts of lightning were striking and flashing, their bright light blinding every living creature on the ground.

He immediately caught something approaching his body just as red smoke appeared next to him, quickly transforming into a winged fleshy red beast in a split second.

The energy quickly concentrated on its claws, their red radiance quickly increasing, the ripples of magic sending vibrations through the dragon's body.

The beast swung its claws in the dragon's direction, his eyes only catching flashes of red, but his body couldn't react in time as he slightly twitched, mana pouring into his scales as he braced for the upcoming attack.

The red energy separated from the claws and turned into blades of energy and continued towards the dragon, quickly expanding. The red claw-like blades of energy quickly grew, reaching the width of a car and the length of a bus, the air splitting in their path.

Vesuvius swung his tail, the huge armour mass moving forward like a battering ram.

However, the vampire transformed into red smoke, every cell of its body changing in a blink of an eye before launching away, leaving behind only red streaks of light. The tail passed by, moving so slowly in comparison that it looked like in slow motion.

At the same time, the red blades of energy hit the dragon's side armour, throwing sparks and smoke around as they dug deep into the shiny radioactive material, leaving deep crevices in it.

Vesuvius squirmed his eyes in anger at the pain in his side. He felt the vampire moving and whistling all around him, moving at such speed that it left only blurry red afterimages.

Vesuvius cleared his mind glancing at the retreating ship, 'Still not far enough.'

Suddenly, the vampire materialised again, its claws descending towards the dragon, brightly glowing in red light. Its two red eyes glinted with its mouth widely opened, showing rows upon rows of long needle-like teeth.

Pain erupted in the dragon's side, the energy blades cutting deep into his armour with purple magma busting out, filling the claw marks.

The dragon's eyes glinted as he looked towards the ship that had already turned into a small glowing star on the horizon. His heart pounded in excitement as the sky crackled in lightning with his horns brightly glowing.

'Finally, I have space.'

The dragon extended his will towards the clouds crackling with electricity, redirecting all of the energy into lightning.

Blue light flashed in the burning clouds, and bright lightning bolts descended all around him, falling like raindrops. The electricity crackled around him, loud thunders shaking with the ground far under him, and bright light flashes flooded everything.

'Try to dodge this!'

The red light kept flickering all around him, dancing between the raining lightning, the red smoke twisting and curling around each bolt in a fluid motion with arcs passing through it, disintegrating the portions of the smoke, only for it to multiply again, recovering its original mass.

'Such a speed. I knew you were fast, but this is something else.' Vesuvius could only watch in slow motion, his eyes going wider and wider with each passing second.

The dragon's eyes flashed in the light, the atmosphere around him igniting flames that spread everywhere, devouring everything in their path.

The red smoke kept moving and flashing around, constantly disintegrating and regenerating.

"Enough", a quiet yet malevolent whisper entered the dragon's ears.

The smoke exploded, splitting into twenty small spheres of smoke, each transforming and changing into fleshy car-sized bats covered in layers of black shadows, red blood and red energy, all mixing together, creating a formidable barrier.

They flapped their small wings, the lightning and fire constantly smashing against their barriers, tearing through them and their bodies, smoke coming out of them.

Painful squeals resounded through the air, the bat's red eyes flashing in pain and anger.

The red glow on their bodies intensified their injuries, regenerating in an instant.

They turned into red streaks, dancing and maneuvering around the lightning and blasting through the flames with their barriers. They were moving faster and faster, keeping their distance from the huge black dragon, circling around him like sharks around a sinking boat.

Vesuvius couldn't even turn his head, the red lights flashing all around him.

Immediately all of the bats opened their small mouths, squealing so loudly that the clouds whirled, and the distant ground shook.

The loud sonic bangs passed through the air hitting the dragon from every direction, his whole body vibrating with cracks spreading through his armour and his sensitive ears ringing with pain.

The smoke kept whirling around, forming small vortexes with each of their loud shrieks.

The dragon flapped his huge crystalline wings, lightning crackling around him as he shot up towards the stars, purple light brightly glowing in his open mouth. His body moved like a tank, smashing through a poor bat before him, its body splattering like a bug on a windshield.

Two rails forged of electrical arcs formed around him, with his body bridging them and turning into a blue as he quickly accelerated, leaving the vampire in the dust behind him. Without even stopping, he turned back his head, a purple light in his mouth intensifying, stars and square magical circuits forming in his mouth.