Chapter 254 254: Dragon Battle


The appearance of fire dragons caught Saruman and others off guard.


Fire dragons breathed flames at Saruman's crossbred evil dragons.


The evil dragons were all cold drakes that could not breathe fire and had not inherited the frost dragon's ice-breathing ability, relying only on physical strength to attack.


However, compared to Kael's fire dragons, they were inherently inferior.


Fire dragons and evil dragons tangled together, with fire dragons initially gaining the upper hand, biting each other in the sky while breathing scorching dragonfire to burn their opponents.


Evil dragons shrieked in pain, powerless to fight, having their slender necks bitten by fire dragons or bodies torn by claws, spilling countless dragon blood.


Soon, evil dragons began falling continuously.


However, the fire dragons did not have everything their own way either.


The eight evil dragons ridden by Nazgûl were sub-dragons crossbred from dragons and fell beasts. Though they could breathe neither fire nor ice, they inherited fell beasts' abilities—emitting dizzying, terrifying shrieks.


Under the evil dragons' sonic attacks, fire dragons attacking them became dizzy and wobbly in mid-air, looking ready to fall at any moment.


This gave evil dragons attack opportunities, instantly gaining advantage by biting fire dragons' necks.


Moreover, with Nazgûl assistance on their backs, the wraiths climbed ghost-like onto fire dragons. When evil dragons pinned down fire dragons, they seized the chance to stab sharp, poisonous Morgul-blades into fire dragon chests.


Fire dragons screamed miserably before falling silent, dropping in free fall.


For a time, both sides suffered heavy casualties—over a dozen dragons from each side lay dead on the ground.


Both Kael and Saruman showed pained expressions, especially Saruman, seeing more numerous evil dragon casualties, feeling both heartache and fury.


He had not expected Kael to have bred sub-dragons too, catching him completely off-guard.


What made him more jealous was that most of his evil dragons were cold drakes, while Kael's were all fire dragons—superior to his sub-dragons.


This greatly reduced his once-proud evil dragon army's power.


Atop Orthanc Tower, though Kael was protected by the dome's defense, he was also troubled by the dizzying sounds from Nazgûl mounts, watching his fire dragons fall into disadvantage under these evil dragons' influence.


He grabbed the Horn of Victory and sounded it forcefully.


The horn's sound made fire dragons more excited and fierce, while evil dragons became agitated—even the dizzying magic sounds from Nazgûl mounts were canceled out.


Fire dragons immediately gained advantage, chasing evil dragons with fire and bites. Saruman was also tormented by the noise-like horn sound, glaring hatefully at Kael within the dome.


Beneath him, frost dragon Glam unleashed its most powerful ice attack. TThe dome covering Isengard quickly froze, becoming visible as crystalline ice.


Saruman raised his staff high, summoning lightning to strike the dome. Under combined attacks from the frost dragon and Saruman, the dome cracked like shattering ice, ready to break at any moment!


Seeing his carefully prepared dome about to be breached, Kael's expression became very grave.


He quickly drew the golden bow gifted by Blue Wizard Pallando, nocking a silver arrow and aiming at Saruman on the dragon's back, shooting it out.


The silver arrow's speed exceeded sound, accompanied by a sharp sonic boom. The silver arrow became silver light, appearing before Saruman in the blink of an eye, heading for his head.


But before hitting Saruman, he seemed to predict it—one hand still wielding his staff to summon lightning while the other instantly caught the incoming silver arrow.


Saruman looked at the silver arrow in his hand, showing mocking sneer, "Pallando gave you his bow and arrows? But did he not tell you I once used this bow too?"


Seeing this, Kael was not disappointed but showed a triumphant smile, "Explode!"


The next second, runic symbols carved on the silver arrowhead emitted faint light before exploding violently.


This was a super-strength Confringo curse. The massive explosion blasted Saruman away, while frost dragon Glam was interrupted from its ice attack, nearly losing stability in flight.


Without the frost dragon's and Saruman's destructive attacks, the nearly shattered dome quickly repaired itself.


Saruman was blown from the dragon's back, falling until another evil dragon caught him.


But he was now disheveled, his colorful robes blasted to tatters. Though not life-threatening, his appearance was covered in wounds.


Such humiliation enraged Saruman.


"Glam, kill those fire dragons first! Then we will smash his turtle shell together!"


Frost dragon Glam received orders and immediately attacked the fire dragons, breathing extreme cold. Compared to the frost dragon, fire dragons were like mice to an elephant, not to mention the frost dragon's ice breath ability.


One fire dragon breathed dragonfire defensively, but it was directly extinguished by the frost dragon's ice breath. The entire dragon was instantly frozen, rigidly falling from height and shattering into pieces on the ground.


Other fire dragons could only flee in panic facing the frost dragon, posing no threat whatsoever.


Just as the fire dragons faced an annihilation crisis, a dragon roar came from the west.


Everyone looked toward the sound to see a golden dragon flying from distant peaks, with a green serpent coiled around its feet.


A giant eagle also followed closely above the dragon. Seeing Smaug arrive, Saruman sneered dismissively.


"So what if another dragon has come? Frost dragon Glam is an ancient dragon born in the First Age. A dragon born only in the Third Age is just a slightly stronger ant."


"Glam, kill that golden dragon first!"


The frost dragon stopped pursuing fire dragons and charged directly at approaching Smaug.


Facing a frost dragon ten times his size, Smaug showed no fear, radiating intense battle intent as he rushed toward it.


In the second before the high-speed collision, both simultaneously breathed scorching dragonfire and ice breath—like ice and fire colliding, instantly producing tremendous impact.


Smaug continuously breathed scorching dragonfire while the frost dragon exhaled extreme ice, both clashing intensely in the sky.


As the most powerful surviving fire dragon, Smaug's flame temperature could even threaten Rings of Power.


As an ancient dragon born in the First Age and sole survivor of the War of Wrath, the frost dragon's ice breath could freeze all things.


So Smaug's flames were gradually suppressed by the frost dragon's ice breath at visible speed, slowly approaching Smaug's direction.


Seeing this, Saruman showed an anticipatory smile, as if he would see Smaug frozen by the frost dragon the next second.


But just then, Herpo coiled around Smaug's legs, climbed up his body, and wrapped around Smaug's neck before resting its head between Smaug's horns.


Throughout this process, Smaug made no moves, allowing its behavior.


Then the basilisk directly opened its tightly closed eyes—a pair of orange-yellow eyes staring straight at the opposing Glam.


The frost dragon instantly screamed miserably as if struck hard, then crashed down heavily onto hills outside Isengard, directly collapsing them.


"My dragon!" Saruman looked at this scene in disbelief.


Smaug obviously understood striking while the enemy was down, directly charging toward where the frost dragon fell, breathing scorching dragonfire to burn it to death.


But the next second, the iron crown atop the frost dragon's head erupted with powerful dark aura.


Simultaneously, a dark figure appeared in those pupils, quickly covering the dragon's eyes like dark spider silk, forming evil black eyes.


Smaug sensed danger and quickly stopped attacking to retreat.


The frost dragon climbed from the collapsed hills, its aura becoming powerful and dangerous, emanating dark presence with extremely evil eyes.


"A golden dragon and a serpent with deadly eyes could make Glam suffer such a loss—truly unexpected!" The frost dragon studied this combination with interest.


Moreover, the frost dragon's eyes were covered by black mist-like substance. No matter how much Herpo glared, it could no longer cause harm.


Its eyes revealed intense interest and determination, "Abandon meaningless resistance. My dark army needs members like you!"


"Sauron!" Smaug instantly guessed his identity, seeing the frost dragon's appearance.


"Clever dragon!" The frost dragon's eyes flashed with approval, speaking in seductive tones.


"Golden dragon Smaug, I know you were forced to submit to your current master. If you are willing to serve me, I can remove the oath curse binding you, restoring your freedom! And give you all of Mordor's treasures. What do you think?"


Hearing this, Smaug sneered, "Since it is all submission anyway, why would I betray my current master to serve you instead?"


"This is different. Serving me, I will not restrict your freedom. You will be my warrior, lieutenant—like your ancestor Ancalagon once was. Not like now, bound by oath curses without freedom, living humiliatingly like a pet or mount."


Smaug's eyes showed interest, but he still asked doubtfully, "You really have the means to break the oaths binding me? You are not deceiving me?"


Seeing Smaug's interest, the frost dragon showed proud expression, "This is not difficult. Though oaths on you bind the soul, I happen to have achievements in soul matters. I can completely transfer oaths to a soul fragment, then separate it. This way oaths can no longer constrain you."