The dragon flute, which bears witness to the alliance between the dragon and human races, has always been the ultimate strategic weapon of the great empires. Almost all are owned solely by official authorities; for a civilian to privately possess a dragon flute is tantamount to treason, with the calamity of extermination of one’s entire clan looming near. With the constant rise and fall of dynasties, unless one can kill a dragon rider and seize it, there are virtually no other ways to obtain a dragon flute. The early craftsmanship for making dragon flutes has long since vanished in the river of history. Perhaps the dragon race still keeps secret archives, but it is clear they would never make them available to humans again.

Sensing the disturbance in the clouds, even the high skies were no longer safe. The aerial battlefield for the sky riders of various nations was being forced closer to the ground, and the nearer to the ground, the more dangerous it became: arrows and powerful crossbows rained down, along with unpredictable magical ambushes. Occasionally, crossbow bolts attached to long steel chains would shoot into the sky—deadly for sky riders, like a warhorse running into a tripwire. One misstep and they would be dragged to the ground, not even having time to scream before being buried alive by the sheer numbers of ground troops.

The gold dragon Gold Coin had already lost three full circles of girth, constantly firing sharp spikes or razor-edged blades from its body. Though the attacks were fierce, it was a tremendous drain on the gold dragon.

Gold dragons feed on various metals and minerals, which they store within their bodies or use as armor on their surface. In battle, they can morph these into weapons of all shapes, even launching them as projectiles for ranged attacks. Aside from manipulating the void’s magnetic field to help themselves hover and form repulsive shields, gold dragons have few notable magical attack skills and mainly rely on close combat. This is the fairness of the Creator: where there is strength, there is also weakness, and where there is weakness, there are other ways to compensate.

In just the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Morgan and his mount, the gold dragon Gold Coin, had slain sixteen enemies, ranking among the top performers of their companions.

The crimson forbidden spell clouds and the black forbidden spell clouds, writhing with electric serpents, began to make contact. Thunderous booms erupted in the sky as the two different forbidden spell clouds collided, causing a terrifying explosion of magical elements.

Even now, Texley and the Sutherland Empire still had not issued a retreat order to their own sky rider forces.

“Damn it! To hold us back, they’re actually using their own sky riders as bait. Quick, everyone, withdraw from the battlefield!” Morgan slapped his mount angrily. Dragon riders have the freedom to choose whether to withdraw from battle; this is not desertion. Every monarch demands that their dragon riders fight to the death only when there is hope, for dragon riders are precious ultimate combat power, each one hard-won and not to be wasted in pointless sacrifice.

“Morgan, Morgan! How many military merits do I have?” The only son of the Minister of Civil Affairs, Grant, sat atop his wyvern, recklessly flying toward Morgan, caring only about snatching military credit.

During the previous aerial battle, this guy had hidden far away, not even daring to approach the fray.

Before the forbidden spells clashed, both sides would recall their sky riders in advance to avoid friendly fire. However, the side that recalled first was often vulnerable to a fierce assault from the enemy, for turning your back to your foe never brings advantage. For sky riders, maneuverability is the key to victory; retreating while fighting and losing maneuverability is courting death. Whoever retreats first faces greater danger, and safe withdrawal from the battlefield has become an art among sky rider corps.

The earth-shattering boom from the first collision of forbidden spell clouds above both camps finally drew the attention of all sky riders. The large-scale melee immediately split apart, and at that moment, the sky was suddenly filled with crimson fire clouds unleashing countless fireballs trailing long white smoke, crisscrossing as they surged toward the Texley Empire camp. In the blink of an eye, the sky was blanketed, even enveloping both sides’ sky riders without distinguishing friend from foe.

All kinds of flying creatures in the air scrambled to make rapid evasive maneuvers. Getting hit by one or two of these high-density fireballs was manageable, but being struck by a barrage was another matter entirely.

At this moment, the black clouds above the Texley Empire, flickering with countless violet-blue lightning bolts, wove a blinding electric net like chained lightning, descending from the sky toward the ground.

Section 7: Forbidden Spell Duel

The mage corps on both sides controlled their own magical input while collectively steering the forbidden spell clouds over the enemy’s camp. Due to limitations of mental strength and control, the forbidden spell clouds could not be brought directly over the enemy’s heads, only pushed with great effort from above their own side toward the enemy. At this point, the two great empires had no time to care for their sky rider corps, only hoping they could withdraw and escape on their own.

The elemental storm high above caused violent turbulence in the air. Many sky riders, who relied on flapping wings for lift, could no longer control their flight and began to descend. Although the ground was even more dangerous, filled with soldiers from both sides, losing lift at high altitude meant the next second could end in a fatal crash. Neither side’s sky riders had any desire to continue fighting, struggling desperately to fly away, their speed greatly reduced as they wobbled through the air.

Looking up from the ground, the group of black dots that had been mixed together now split into two, scattering in opposite directions.