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SWOOSH, SWOOSH!
Due to the full weight of Vermax's massive dragon body hanging entirely on the Cannibal, the latter had no choice but to flap its wings with all its might to maintain its airborne position. The struggle was relentless.
At the same time, it constantly twisted its neck, attempting to bite from every possible angle. It exhaled searing dragonfire and even tried kicking at Vermax with its two hind legs. Yet none of it worked.
Vermax had latched onto it from a position so precise and cunning that it fell entirely within the Cannibal's blind spots, rendering all of its counterattacks useless.
Suddenly, a slender black shadow shot upward from below with the sound of howling wind and struck the left side of the Cannibal's lowered head.
CLAANG!!!
The shadow was none other than Vermax's long tail. However, this lash, no more forceful than a tickle, posed no real threat to the Cannibal.
Just as the Cannibal turned its focus to biting off this pesky tail offered right to its jaws, its enormous black vertical pupil, about one point two meters in diameter, caught sight of something falling.
From the tip of the dragon's tail, a shadowy figure leapt downward.
Thud, Thud, Thud!
Jacaerys, who had been clinging tightly to Vermax's tail, had been waiting for this single opportunity.
He let go and dropped down, landing precisely in the narrow space between the Cannibal's two massive nostrils. With a practiced roll to absorb the impact, he rose to his feet in one smooth motion.
CLANG!
In a flash, he drew the longsword from his waist. Crossing the broad bridge of the Cannibal's snout, he charged forward with every ounce of speed and strength he could summon.
SMACK!
Sensing the presence of this audacious human, the Cannibal instinctively tried to shake him off by jerking its head to the side.
But at that moment, Vermax's long tail transformed into a rope-like coil and wrapped tightly around the upper half of the Cannibal's snout, locking it in place.
A dragon's eye possesses two layers of defense. The first is a vertical eyelid covered in fine, durable scales. The second is a transparent nictitating membrane that moves horizontally across the eye.
Realizing it could not free itself in time from Vermax's tail and seeing that the bold human had reached its left eye, the Cannibal reflexively activated its second defense. The nictitating membrane swept sideways to shield its pupil. However, as for the thicker eyelid—it was already too late to shut it.
Standing right before the eye socket, Jacaerys gathered all his strength and drove his longsword straight toward the Cannibal's green pupil.
SQUISH!
The transparent membrane, though protective, was far weaker than the scaled eyelid. As the sword pierced through it, Jacaerys felt a sensation akin to driving the blade into a thick, taut hide. The steel sank deep into the dragon's left eye.
ROOooOoOAaaAR!!!!
The Cannibal let out a cry of agony, but with its snout still bound tightly by Vermax's tail, the scream came out as a muffled growl of fury. Its massive head began to thrash violently, each motion gradually loosening the tail that held it in place.
The damage was not enough.
Jacaerys looked down at the wound, which was leaking only a thin stream of blood mixed with clear fluid. He immediately realized that such an injury was far from lethal. It might cause pain, yes—but to a behemoth like this, it was no more than a prick.
Indeed, for an eye nearly one hundred twenty centimeters wide, his sword was no more threatening than a long twig.
"Well then... if that didn't work," Jacaerys muttered, his eyes flickering with madness, "let's make this more exciting."
He turned his head and cast one final glance at the Cannibal's snout, which was just moments away from breaking free. Then, with a wild grin spreading across his face, he tightened his grip on the sword with both hands.
And then he... leapt downward.
TEAR—!
A harsh, ripping sound split the air, like thick fabric being violently torn apart.
Relying solely on the momentum of his fall and the weight of his body, Jacaerys sliced through the dragon's left eye from top to bottom.
SPLATTER!
A great torrent of crimson blood, mixed with the clear fluid of the pupil, burst forth like a shattered fire hydrant from his previous life.
CRACK!
The longsword finally lodged itself at the bottom corner of the eye socket, and Jacaerys was left dangling from it, suspended in midair.
ROOOOAAAR!!!!
The Cannibal, now half-blinded, broke free from Vermax's grip in an instant. With a roar filled with fury, it surged forward.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
It no longer maintained its position in the sky, instead beating its wings to rush straight ahead with wild speed.
Powerful gusts blasted from the front, buffeting Jacaerys as he dangled from the torn eye socket like a leaf caught in a storm.
Fortunately, he had never slacked in training. Years of swordsmanship and relentless physical conditioning were the only reason his arms could still hold fast through the violent swaying.
Given their current speed and the chaotic airflow, there was almost no way Jacaerys could leap back to Vermax's tail for rescue.
The one-eyed Cannibal twisted and soared through the air.
After a few erratic turns, it seemed to realize that the foreign object lodged in its left eye still weighed heavily upon it.
With a sudden shift the Cannibal veered downward, not forward but diagonally toward the earth below.
"What is it doing…?" Jacaerys narrowed his eyes against the wind.
"Damn it…" he muttered.
After several minutes of a steep, relentless dive, Jacaerys, straining to keep his eyes open against the lashing wind and salt spray, finally understood the Cannibal's intent.
With a thunderous splash the beast struck the sea at an angle, its colossal body and the momentum of descent conjuring a towering wall of waves more than ten meters high.
In that very instant the ocean's surface, unyielding as stone under such velocity, slammed into Jacaerys and sent him hurtling away like a broken arrow.
Though he could swim he was clad in the full weight of dragon-scale armor. That burdensome plating dragged him swiftly down into the vast and shadowed deep.
Even in such a perilous moment, Jacaerys held his breath and stayed calm. He knew better than to panic. Fear only hastened death.
The moment he hit the water he called out to Vermax through their bond, urging the dragon to abandon its struggle and come to his aid.
Yet, in the impenetrable dark beneath the sea, Vermax could not find him. But then Jacaerys had a flash of insight.
Vermax cannot find me… but he can find him.
His eyes stinging from the salty brine, Jacaerys forced them open and strained to peer through the darkness.
Then he saw it. A small, flickering flame still burning in the sea's gloom—a strange, ghostly green fire.
Suddenly, the water churned.
Vermax surged through the ocean with surprising agility for such a massive creature, cutting through the sea like a torpedo as it headed straight for him.
Jacaerys seized the moment and grabbed hold of the saddle as it passed close by.
With a tremendous rush of water, Vermax beat its wings and erupted from the sea like a flying fish, bursting skyward once more. The dark green flames that had been burning at the base of its right wing finally flickered and died.
Even within the sea, that ghostly dragonfire had endured. Such was the terrifying resilience of the Cannibal's breath.
But ironically, that same dragonfire that made the Cannibal so fearsome had also aided Jacaerys.
Were it not for that glow, he would have never found Vermax so quickly.
A fresh roar split the air.
The one-eyed Cannibal also surged from the sea, following closely behind. Its jaws opened wide, and a new stream of dark green fire surged toward Vermax once more.
It hadn't tried to escape after shaking off Vermax; it had returned with murderous intent. This time, it wanted both Jacaerys and his dragon dead.
Soaring high once more, Jacaerys glanced down at the endless sea below. In this state, wearing heavy armor and amidst open waters, he dared not risk falling into the ocean again.
He directed Vermax to fly toward a distant landmass barely visible on the horizon. However, the earlier skirmish had left them drifting far from Dragonstone.
What Jacaerys now saw wasn't the island he knew, but an unfamiliar stretch of coastline adorned with rugged peaks.
He had no choice. Vermax's right wing continued to bleed with every beat, the crimson trail growing heavier with each exertion. They needed to end this battle—soon.
The Cannibal was not faring much better. Its torn neck, ripped apart by Jacaerys's earlier strike, still bled profusely, and the ruin of its left eye wept a continuous flow of crimson.
But Vermax, as if burning the last embers of life, suddenly accelerated, breaking free from its pursuer's reach.
Despite its size and power, the Cannibal was old. Its earlier bursts of strength had drained it, leaving it struggling to keep pace.
When they reached the highest peak on the coastline, the Cannibal finally spotted Jacaerys—now standing tall atop the summit.
Its one good eye locked onto him with murderous fury. Though it possessed some cunning, it was still a beast.
Unlike a human, it could not suppress its rage or consider the missing threat. Vermax had vanished from its sight.
All it could see was the man who had blinded it. Now, it wanted nothing more than to roast him alive and devour him.
As soon as Jacaerys entered its attack range, the dragon opened its jagged maw wide. A glimmer of ghostly green light built up in its throat.
But then, a streak of fiery orange blazed across its left side—exactly where it had no vision.
Vermax had reappeared.
A blast of scorching flame slammed into the already mangled base of its left neck.
The beast screamed in pain. Its mouth, which had been preparing to unleash dragonfire, faltered. It tried to retreat, to turn and escape.
Too late.
With a thunderous crack, Vermax slammed into its side like an ambush predator. His weight crushed into the Cannibal's body, driving it off course.
Crunching sounds followed as Vermax bit down on the scales beneath the beast's chin, ripping them apart and locking his jaws around its throat.
His powerful claws dug in once more, tearing at the same wound Jacaerys had left earlier. The one-eyed dragon shrieked again and again, the air filled with its pained wails.
But it was over.
Its battered body could no longer sustain flight.
From his perch atop the mountain, Jacaerys watched as the two enormous dragons, locked in mortal combat, plummeted from the heavens like shooting stars streaking toward the earth.
Finally, the taut string within his heart relaxed.
This battle—he and Vermax had won.
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[IMAGE]
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[Chapter End's]
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