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nWolves and dogs… in addition to humans who weren't any better than them in my eyes.

"One fire at the waves, the other fire at the other side!

" I changed my orders to adapt to the current changes.

nIf they aimed to disturb my momentum, then why wouldn't I aim to disturb their rhythm as well?

nI saw my two dragons moving everywhere while one giant arrow passed fast in between them. One dragon opened his mouth and released his breath towards the incoming waves, while the other launched his breath towards the ballista.

nThat dragon seemed to be enraged by that threatening ballista and its dangerous arrows. But the moment his attack came closer, a strange scene appeared.

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"A protective invisible shield? Damn! They came pretty much prepared!

"

nAt this moment I knew my enemies were doing all they could at this point to stop me. I knew some facts on such invisible fields. Either they were one time use, and they were known for their stronger defence.

nOr they could last for longer duration, mostly counted in minutes. But they were known to be vulnerable against strong attacks. But they also had the upper hand of covering up a broader area than the single usage shields.

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"Target the humans,

" I shouted,

"and the other races with them.

"

nI had to know if this was a single time usage shield or a longer duration shield. By logic, single time shields were very expensive, very rare, and could be forbidden to be used in such a stage of the apocalypse.

nEven if my enemies were backed by the angels, both had to follow the higher rules of those controllers from the shadows.

nAs for my first dragon, he kept moving and dragging us through the clashing waves of the river. At this point I felt like I was inside a pissed off piece of ocean, not a calm small river!

nThe waves passed us with no harm at all thanks to my dragon attacking them. I knew we could sustain this for much longer, but I had a crazy idea at this moment.

nWithout even thinking much about this, I took out another silk and started to wrap the soft bodies of the two girls firmly like I was capturing them. After I finished, I wrapped the other end around my arm and shoulder as well, making the three of us connected no matter what happened.

nI had a reason to go for this crazy idea. One of which was the fact that we couldn't keep running like this in the river.

nThe enemies had the ballista, and what I feared just now started to happen.

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"Watch out!

" I called at my first dragon,

"they are targeting you!

"

nThis was one of the reasons behind going for my daring move. The other two dragons could move and avoid the incoming arrows, but not the one dragging us away.

nThat dragon was now tied up with us, making him as a bird in a cage, an easy target to hit.

nAnd the enemies decided to target him to immobilise me, which gave me a thought about their next move.

nWhile my mind was seeing through all their plans, my dragon released another deadly breath in the form of a massive ball of bright blue fireball.

n*Sizzle!*

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"So it's a long duration shield,

" I reached this conclusion, which followed with another instruction,

"go, aim for a single spot one time after another. Aim for that damn ballista!

"

nEven if they had a shield to protect them, whenever the first fireball came, the Gollams paused for few seconds. I need this time, I badly needed it.

nBut the next arrow came and swiftly pierced through the dragon dragging us. A mighty roar filled with immense pain plus a deep wound emerged afterwards.

nWe couldn't keep on like that! Yet the good news was finally here…

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"Help your brother,

" I instantly gave the order to the second dragon once the pillar of the star weapon vanished. As expected, the aftermath and the devastating waves created by it ceased to exist. Only the surface of the river ragged for a longer duration.

nBut it held no threat for us anymore. The only threat now came from that ballista! We must stop it! We must!

nBut it seemed I underestimated that shield. Even with the two dragons combined, they couldn't cause sparks on the surface of such a shield.

nHow come?

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"There isn't one shield!

" it just came to me,

"there must be more than one! Damn!

"

nIf one could be broken, then the combined few wouldn't. That meant I had to wait for longer, and that would jeopardise my dragon grabbing the shield and also endanger me and the girls as well.

nAfter all, the goal of those on the other side wasn't to just kill us, but to stop our escape. And I could tell why without thinking much about it.

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"F*ck it!

" As things reached such an end, I threw all my caution to the river by my side,

"drag us to that side,

" I pointed towards the direction of the enemies,

"do whatever you want to evade the arrows!

"

nAfter all, if you fell here, dude, we would be doomed!

nThe dragon already had two arrows deeply embedded into his body. Luckily the two aimed for non-vital organs, only hitting the lower part of his abdomen, the most exposed part to the enemies.

nBut who could guarantee the next one or the next after wouldn't target his head or wings for example?

nAs I gave him such a crazy order, I leant on the shield and grabbed it with all my strength.

"Hang tight,

" I said to my poor shield warrior who must be cursing his bad luck to come out from all his brothers.

"If you fell, don't worry, I'll recall you back later.

"

nThat was the beauty of having a warrior. Even if we got separated, I could simply call him back with a whim of my thoughts.

nBut that wasn't the case for the two girls.

nHowever this time my body weight wasn't enough to hold the girls! The next arrow came as well towards my dragon who shifted his direction and flew in high speed towards the other side.

nAs the arrow was launched, he moved swiftly, rose higher in the air and evaded it. But that resulted in topping the shield and making it all vertical, making me stop from falling by great difficulty.

nBut this wasn't the case of the two girls. Their bodies were slippery and moved underneath me towards the water before splashing heavily onto the river.

nAnd the silk I wrapped around their bodies and my arm and shoulder got suddenly stretched, putting much pressure over my body and making me feel immeasurable pain.

nBut my torture didn't last for long as the smart dragon of mine descended again and that helped in stabilising the shield over the surface of the water with my body on it. Also the heavy pull from the girls' weight and gravity effect decreased by a great chunk.

nI didn't pull the girls back, as I knew they would just be thrown again once the next arrow arrived.

nThe upcoming arrow would be dangerous over my dragons. After all, we were drawing fast and closer to the ballista.

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"Keep hitting them,

" I shouted with all the left strength in me. If the two dragons could buy us more time, then we might escape the incoming arrow.

n*Crack!*

nJust as the two dragons kept launching their breaths, I finally heard a pleasant sound of cracking the shield. It wasn't opened yet, but it showed a long deep irregular crack over its surface.

nAnd since that crack appeared, that shield stopped vanishing and seemed to shimmer in lustre despite still being translucent.

nYet the attacks of my two dragons didn't stop the next arrow to come.

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"B*tches!!`` The moment I spotted its aim, I couldn't help but curse out loud. Those damn Gollams… They were targeting me this time!

nScrew it!

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"On my mark,

" I instantly responded with a loud shout,

"pull us to the left!

"

nI gritted my teeth, focused my entire attention over the Gollams pulling the big string of the ballista.

nAnd the moment they stopped retreating, I instantly shouted:

"Now!

"

n*Fwoosh!*

nThe air whistled in my ears while my entire body was almost torn apart by the violent pull force of the dragon.

nHe was pulling us forward, and changing direction all of sudden had its toll over my hardly grasping hands. I was about to lose grip, especially when we went back into the air under the effect of that pull.

nBut I was almost saved when the shield slammed heavily on the water surface. Yet I hit it with my head like I slammed my head with all my might onto a sturdy rock.

nI could already feel the metallic taste of my blood inside my mouth. But all I did was to gasp for air and try to firmly stabilise my body again before the bodies of the two girls fell into the water again.

n

"Damn it!

" I cursed with pure hatred and immense anger,

"is this all you can do, cursed angels? Is this all you have to stop me?

"

nI raised my head to the sky, in a clear, challenging and defying way. My moment of anger wasn't a loss of control. On the contrary, it was the perfect moment to push those angels to use more of their blessing points.

nAccording to my estimation, the angels of New York city had enough blessing points from the two quests to trigger four attacks of that deadly star weapon, summoning the other race of the dragons to here, plus using the blessing points to issue me a quest before.

nSo if I calculated it right, these angels here wouldn't have enough blessing for four to five more attacks of that star weapon. And if I put into consideration the price they paid to bring that devastating ballista and those races here, then they might even have lesser chances than that.

nAs expected. My momentary storm of rage and my perfect counter of that deadly arrow pushed the angels to activate that weapon.

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"Get ready,

" I slowly muttered when I saw that big red spot shining high in the air,

"we are pulling back soon. But let's do something first…!

"

nOnce activated, the star weapon aim wouldn't change. As I got the first thing I wanted here, then it was time to follow with my next crazier move.

nI started to unwrap the silk holding the girls with me and took another one out.

"Catch,

" as if I threw a ball to a dog, I threw two silks to the dragon and he caught them in time.

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"That one,

" I pointed to the new silk I took out as I knitted it tightly with more silks that I got before from the market. Then I wrapped them all around my waist,

"be ready to throw me with it to the shore, and grab me on my mark.

"

n*Roar!* Despite not understanding my intentions, the dragon simply answered with his roar. The two wounds he had were still gushing out blood in big amounts, making me feel more pain for such a heavy injury.

nBut I had to pay them back. I had to get them to taste the same terror which they gave me.

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"Now!

" As there was not much time to waste, I hoped my silk wouldn't fall off my body under this crazy move,

"be ready to pull back once I give the signal for it.

"

nIt was a crazy move, I wouldn't deny it. But I had no other choice but to do that! If I went into the city with all such pressure over me and my forces, then forget about taking control of the city even after an entire week here!

nEven my safety would be in question as well.

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