Bound To The Ice Dragon King
Chapter 170: Battle ground

Chapter 170: Battle ground

Draven held Rhea’s hand and faced the hostile looks of the countless men surrounding them. He didn’t have to search for his scales because he could already sense them in the main mansion of Alina’s manor.

One of the men who looked to be the leader of the rest, stepped forward and glared murderously at Draven, "You dirty creature! How dare you enter our land and dare break the protection barrier of the manor?!"

Draven didn’t pay attention to the leader and looked around the manor, but that also seemed to anger the man even more. And when his eyes fell on Rhea, they darkened as he recognized who she was; the most wanted criminal in the entire human realm. He gritted his teeth and summoned his flame sword and yelled an order at the rest, "Kill the dragon and get that traitorous girl!"

The air in the manor was thick with tension as the fire controllers took position. Draven and Rhea stood at the center of the ominous circle, surrounded by hundreds of fire controllers.

Rhea felt the heat before she even saw it. The fire controllers began to combine their flame magic. The flames, individually small and flickering, began to merge, swirling upwards into a colossal, roaring inferno. It was like a burning tornado, the very core of which was blindingly bright, and the heat it radiated was so immense that the ground beneath began to crack and turn to molten lava. It felt as if the sun itself had descended upon the earth.

Draven’s ice-blue eyes flashed with fury. He pushed Rhea protectively behind him. The thought of them taking Rhea was a blaze of anger in his chest, hotter than any fire. Drawing from the deep reservoir of his ice powers, the temperature around Draven started dropping rapidly. His fingertips glinted with frost, and the moisture in the air began to crystallize.

With a deafening roar, Draven unleashed his icy might. A massive wave of cold energy emanated from him, instantly freezing the ground and turning the molten lava into solid rock. The advancing fiery tornado met his wall of frost and began to hiss and sputter, steam erupting everywhere. The flames were suppressed, reduced to mere embers floating in the air.

With a second, more forceful push of his power, Draven sent a shockwave that knocked the fire controllers off their feet, sending them flying like rag dolls. The once heated ground was now an icy wasteland, with Draven and Rhea standing unharmed at its center.

Draven turned to Rhea, his anger now replaced with concern. "Are you alright?" he asked, his breath visible in the cold air.

She nodded, eyes filled with admiration. "More than alright."

Draven stood there with Rhea standing behind him, he then turned back to the main entrance, but then he narrowed his eyes when he saw a figure emerge from the mansion entrance, "She’s also here." He muttered softly.

Hearing his words, Rhea poked out her head from his imposing back to see who he was referring to, but then she stiffened when her eyes fell on the ’she’ he was referring to. Rhea’s eyes gradually turned cold as she muttered through gritted teeth, "Oriana!"

Oriana was standing there at the entrance as she looked around the ruined grounds of her aunt’s manor and the fire controllers who were getting back on their feet after being thrown away. Her disfigured face was bare open with no veil covering it this time, but when her eyes fell on Rhea and Draven, her expression revealed her hatred for them.

Rhea met Oriana’s hateful gaze with one of hers, however what angered Rhea the most was the fact that Oriana had not a single remorse in her gaze. She was left unpunished after killing an innocent man.

Rhea coldly laughed as she stepped out from behind Draven, "I have almost forgotten that Aria mentioned she was staying with her Aunt now."

Rhea was aware that at this stage of her changes, her body wasn’t strong enough to fight not to mention facing Oriana, but she wouldn’t allow herself appear weak in the presence of Oriana.

"Rhea," Oriana coldly sneered, her gaze murderous, "You’ve got the nerves to break into my Aunt’s territory with your dragon. How foolish," she summoned her flame sword, "you’ve walked into your death because I won’t let you leave here alive!"

When Rhea heard those words, the image of Cal’s dying body flashed into her mind. She angrily clenched her fists and glared back at Oriana with hate. Even Draven who stood beside Rhea could feel the anger emitting from her.

"You will pay with your life, Oriana!"

Oriana let out a dry laughter, "Oh really? How do you intend to do that when you are no match for me?" She didn’t let Rhea reply and turned to the fire controllers who had finally gotten back to their feet, and barked her command, "Set them on fire!"

The fire controllers looked hesitatant at first as they’d tried to set the Dragon on fire earlier but their failed attempt had caused the lives of some of their fellow men now. However, meeting Oriana’s fierce gaze, they took position again.

As Draven saw them readying another joint flame attack, a shadow passed over his eyes. "Rhea," he beckoned. When she looked his way, he warned, "Their combined flames are potent, and they’re hell-bent on defeating us. My scales are in the main mansion. I’ll fend them off and clear a path for you to retrieve them."

Rhea hesitated, surprised by his plan. Yet, it dawned on her that this was the quickest solution. Wasting time would risked Alina returning with her reinforcements. She gave a firm nod, catching Draven’s whispered command, "Get ready."

She took a deep breath, positioning herself, and shot a wary look towards Oriana, who stood guard at the mansion’s entrance as if she knew what they were here for. Patiently, Rhea waited until Draven signaled, "Go!"

In response, Draven waved his hand, creating an opening amidst the fire controllers. Rhea darted past the fallen men, with Draven right on her heels, neutralizing any threats on her way. Yet, a group of men intercepted him before he could reach Oriana.

Rhea, on the other hand ran towards the entrance and pretended like she wanted to attack Oriana. And when Oriana saw Rhea charging towards her, she left the entrance and moved forward to attack her, but Rhea sidestepped her and instead ran into the mansion. Oriana gritted her teeth but before she could follow behind her, Draven had finished up the men blocking him and blocked her path.

With a snap of his fingers, Oriana felt a wave of coldness assaulted her muscles and veins, if she were a normal human she’d have frozen to death but flames ran in her blood and melted the coldness. However, she already knew from experience that this Dragon wasn’t to be reckoned with. He had disfigured her face, and when she met his murderous glare, she couldn’t help the shiver that ran down her spine.

Oriana instinctively started to retreat backward, and he advanced on her like a predator cornering it’s prey. She watched as the ice around his body slowly materialized into a long huge sword.

Oriana swallowed hard, she was aware that she was no match for this Dragon, but she was for that foolish girl who was currently in her Aunt’s mansion. At this point, she could deal with Rhea but not this man. She needed to keep the man busy so she could get the opportunity to escape and deal with that girl first.

Furthermore with the way Rhea had gone astray and being wanted in the human world, if Oriana killed her, she would be rewarded by her Aunt and given back her position which was taken from Azure. She had to prove herself by killing the traitor and bringing her head to the Emperor!

Oriana warily glanced at Draven who was still advancing on her while cutting down the fire controllers on his way. She recalled the technique her Aunt had taught her Incase she came across any powerful Dragon again. She slightly regained her confidence recalling her Aunt’s teachings. She would deal with this Dragon and go after Rhea.

Oriana flexed her fingers, summoning a flurry of flames, which rapidly took the form of numerous arrow-like projectiles. She aimed them straight at Draven’s heart. Yet, his expression remained unflinching, not even a brow raised in concern. With a mere gesture, he halted the flaming arrows mid-flight using his own powers. A smirk played on his lips, casting a devilish hue over his blue eyes.

"So, aiming for the heart is a family trait? Seems you’re no different from your Aunt," he taunted.

Oriana was momentarily taken aback by his comment, though she masked her surprise. Dismissing it as a mere ploy to divert her focus, she unleashed another barrage of arrows. Draven, once again, effortlessly deflected them in mid-air.

Oriana grew anxious as she realized not even this technique was enough to bring him down. To her luck, countless fire controllers rushed back to block Draven from reaching her again, and this time she also made up the arrows to add with the fire controllers attack.

Draven was forced to stop and fight the men while breaking down the arrows from reaching his heart. All the arrows were on command to aim at his heart as that was his weak point, where if stabbed, it would surely bring him down like it did twenty years ago.

Alina had only been able to successfully stab him in his heart because he always let his guard down around her in the past, but now he was always on alert, nobody was close to his heart enough to let him be unguarded.

Draven swiftly shattered all the arrows and men in front of him, but when he turned to where Oriana had been standing a moment ago, she was nowhere in sight. She had slipped away when he was distracted.

He suddenly had an ominous feeling in his heart, it felt like something was squeezing his chest. He looked towards the entrance and caught Oriana’s figure running into the mansion.

Rhea was inside the mansion and she currently didn’t have the ability to fight or protect herself against Oriana!

When Draven realized that, it was like being ruthlessly stabbed at the thought that Oriana could harm her in there. His murderous gaze sharpened. He launched his sword with a low shout; it shot forward, to strike down Oriana.

The sword was heading straight to Oriana’s back, but as if sensing the sword, she dodged it, but she wasn’t quick enough to dodge it completely, it grazed passed her arms and cut her.

Oriana fell to the ground and when she turned around and saw Draven approaching the mansion entrance like a malevolent entity, her courage broke. With a shaky hand, she quickly formed a spell barrier around the entrance to stop him.

Even though Oriana had put up the barrier, she still trembled on the ground at Draven’s mere gaze that stared at her from the barrier.

Draven raised his hands planning to break down the barrier, however countless fire controllers rushed to her rescue again. They all gathered to block his path.

Draven stopped his movement of breaking the barrier to block an attack. He was infuriated, his blue eyes burned with rage as he turned to the fire controllers.

Oriana took advantage of the distraction to crawl up to her feet. She pressed a hand to her bleeding arm and ran into the mansion in search of Rhea. She would kill her today for being the cause of her disfigured face!