This mutation occurred almost without warning. The wind dragon knight and the wind dragon, who had just held the upper hand and initiative, were both caught off guard and struck down.

　　Boom!～

　　The wind dragon plummeted from the sky, snapping half the branches off a large tree, and crashed hard to the ground amid a shower of leaves.

　　Whether it was the two armor-piercing heavy arrows or the impact of the fall, either was enough to inflict irreparable fatal wounds on the dragon.

　　One pair of dragon wings was completely deformed, broken in several places. Blood gushed from the two arrow wounds, and the dragon’s mouth, full of sharp teeth, was also overflowing with blood and even fragments of internal organs.

　　In the brutal contest between anything that flies and the earth, the latter is almost always the victor.

　　The wind dragon Greg crashed less than ten paces from the already-dead young dragon knight Erica. Even now, with torn muscles and broken bones, on the verge of death, it still struggled desperately, trying to move to his side to accompany its knight.

　　But the severe injuries and rapidly draining strength were no longer enough to move its wounded body. The wind dragon let out mournful cries, its whole body trembling violently, yet it could not move even half a step.

　　The blood soaking the earth beneath it carried away the last of wind dragon Greg’s strength. These ten paces now seemed an unbridgeable chasm, separating it from Erica.

　　From behind a nearby tree stepped a figure clad in heavy black knight’s armor, walking over step by step.

　　It was none other than Mark Benson, who had led the Gemini sisters into the woods to hide—or, as he could also be called, the dragon knight of the Imperial Dragonrider Legion of the Sylan Empire, Maureen!

　　“Roar!～”

　　The wind dragon glanced at the newcomer, but surprisingly showed no sign of aggression.

　　Gravely wounded, it had lost both the right and the ability to seek revenge.

Chapter 0010: Dragon Slayer

　　In fact, now that it had lost the ability to fly and fight, it could no longer pose a threat to anyone. Even its innate magic could not be triggered again; it was no different from a fish on the chopping block.

　　Clearly, it knew its end was near, and without hesitation chose to spend its last moments with its knight, even if only for one final glance in its life.

　　“All right, your name is Greg, isn’t it? Good boy!～ I’m here to help you.”

　　The black-armored knight picked up Erica’s corpse with one hand and placed him beside the wind dragon Greg.

　　Greg looked gratefully at Mark Benson, then lowered its head and affectionately nuzzled the young sky knight’s now-rigid face.

　　Even though Erica could never respond again, the wind dragon seemed to have completely forgotten its pain, continuing to let out ever-weakening low whimpers, as if unwilling to give up, still calling for its knight.

　　A special survival knife, its blade wreathed in flames, was suddenly plunged into the wind dragon Greg’s head, effortlessly piercing the hard skull and driving straight into the brain.

　　The massive dragon body convulsed a few times, then fell silent forever.

　　Strangely, Greg’s eyes, even in the final moment, remained peaceful and content, showing no pain or regret.

　　As a member of the tenacious dragon race, Mark Benson probably could not wait for the wind dragon, having lost its will to live, to die slowly in agony. He simply ended its life, granting its wish to die together with its knight.

　　Withdrawing the special survival knife and stabbing it into the ground before him, Mark Benson knelt silently in prayer before the man and dragon.

　　“What are you doing?”

　　Emily Thompson could not understand Mark Benson’s strange behavior at all.

　　“The more people I meet, the more I like dragons.”

　　Mark Benson stood up, sheathing his knife with a solemn expression, as if he had just performed a sacred act.

　　He walked to the spot where the wind dragon Greg had just torn apart a large tree with a “Raging Wind Burst,” and with brute force, pulled the remaining roots from the earth.

　　A large pit appeared in the ground—exactly what he wanted.

　　Besides the unwritten rule that one must not arbitrarily kill unarmed or powerless sky knights, there was another: if a sky knight and their mount could not be returned to their homeland for burial, both sides—friend or foe—had the duty and obligation to bury the fallen sky knight and their mount on the spot, to be retrieved later when possible.

　　Beyond this rule, dragon knights, unlike ordinary sky knights, could enjoy the special honor of being buried with their dragons in the dragon graveyard.

　　What Mark Benson was doing now was following the ancient code of the sky knights, burying his opponent in this forest.

　　All enmity vanished with the fall of one side; the dead deserve respect.

　　“Sis, look what I found! A map! Oh, and lots of other good stuff. I bet if we sent these to Sotheby’s auction, they’d fetch an astronomical price!”

　　While searching for spoils, the younger Gemini sister Grace Thompson found a finely crafted piece of parchment on the body of the dragon knight Erica.

　　With a quick glance, she became excited at once. The diagrams on the parchment posed no language or textual barrier—exactly what the sisters and Mark Benson urgently needed.