POV: Narrator
The second explosion hit her with less force, but it still injured her. She stopped using [Alternate Form], losing speed in exchange for greater defense.
She rolled to her right to avoid the fixed ballista bolts. She dodged most of them, but a few—fired in a more scattered pattern—hit her.
Using her three-hundred-and-sixty-degree vision, she searched for the hunter, but failed to find him.
A hidden passage, she thought.
And tempting as it was to find him, she knew it wasn't possible.
They'll most likely blow up more bushes.
She kept running, dodging more bolts, and noticed that the cannons were about to finish reloading.
In response, she opened her mouth and fired a barrage of fireballs.
The hunters pulled back to avoid the flas—but they weren't the targets.
The fireballs slamd into the five cannons.
To Chryssia's surprise, they didn't lt or break apart; only the gunpowder already inside them exploded.
They're cannons ant to besiege giant monsters—very strong giant monsters that breathe fire.
The hunters could only curse and begin reloading the cannons again.
Chryssia heard soone shout what she assud were orders and saw several hunters abandon the fixed ballistae, taking position beside the cannons with their shields raised.
Throughout this entire process, the ballistae never stopped firing, and several bolts even managed to hit her.
Chryssia ripped a bolt out of herself and removed its tip.
She opened her mouth and brought the arrowhead close to it.
No, I'd only be able to hit one of them—two if I'm lucky—while the others would take advantage of how badly wounded I'd be afterward.
She dropped the arrowhead and instead unleashed another barrage of fireballs at the hunters.
In response, so hunters jumped forward with their shields raised, blocking the flas.
Chryssia tried to get closer, but another explosion forced her to retreat.
When she recovered after rolling several ters from the blast, she noticed sothing.
The ballista fire had stopped.
She looked toward the ballista operators, but before she could see what they were doing, she had to dodge an arrow.
She barely moved her body, letting the arrow pass.
The next instant, she felt a wave of heat and kinetic force slam into her back.
It didn't send her flying, but it did knock her to the ground.
Before she could get back up, she felt an arrow strike her back—and then explode.
She roared in pain as her scales and muscles were violently torn away.
With a powerful burst using [Demonic Blood], she leapt away from where the arrow had hit.
Just in ti—because monts later, another explosive arrow landed in the sa spot.
These arrows have less explosive power than the hidden bombs, but they're still far more dangerous than normal ones. Why didn't they use them earlier? Were they trying to make lower my guard?
Chryssia didn't have ti to continue that line of thought—the bombardnt continued.
She tried to evade the arrows, and while she managed to do so, the shockwaves still struck her.
Realizing her current approach wouldn't work, she tried sothing else.
Using [Ink Cloud], enhanced by [Cloud], she covered part of the battlefield with gaseous ink.
The hunters stopped firing once they lost sight of Chryssia.
The cloud was several ters away from the hunters' position, so Chryssia couldn't fully close the distance.
The cannons finished reloading. The artillery crews took position. The hunters raised their shields.
Several seconds passed in complete silence.
The hunters could feel sweat pooling down their backs.
So had white knuckles from gripping their weapons so tightly.
Suddenly, several projectiles shot out from within the cloud.
They were aid at the cannons. So were stopped by the hunters, but several slipped through and struck the artillery crews of two cannons.
They looked at the projectiles—several small stones, thrown with enough force to be lethal.
A hunter shouted, and the ballista operators fired blindly into the ink cloud.
Even though the cloud spanned several ters, the explosions were powerful enough to disperse it in just a few volleys.
Chryssia didn't hesitate and charged toward the hunters in a zigzag pattern to avoid the arrows.
The arrows kept firing, trying to land a hit. The artillery crews didn't have a clear shot, so they didn't fire.
Chryssia was struck by several explosions she paid no attention to—she was only a few ters from the hunters' position.
Though the hunters were nervous seeing her so close, to Chryssia's dismay, they stopped firing.
She hesitated when she noticed no one was shooting anymore—but it was already too late.
She stepped on an electric trap placed at the base of the elevated position and was instantly paralyzed.
Before she could understand what had happened, she heard the sound of cannons firing.
Only three of the cannons still had artillery crews operating them.
The first shot grazed her head, tearing off part of her crest.
The second struck her left arm, shattering the bones.
The third hit her stomach, destroying several organs.
The final shot ripped her free from the trap. Even so, she had no chance to recover, as the last thing Chryssia saw was several explosive arrows falling down on top of her.
…
The hunters slowly approached with their weapons raised.
They stopped a few ters away from Chryssia.
Up close, they could clearly see her condition.
Her entire front side had been torn apart or burned, with no visible scales remaining. Her lower jaw had been ripped off. A large portion of the right side of her head was missing, exposing part of her skull.
Only a small part of her crest remained near its base. Her left arm was bent at an unnatural angle, and she was missing her right leg from the knee down.
On top of that, she had lost the newly acquired mbrane entirely.
"Is she dead?" one hunter asked, doubt in his voice.
"…It's impossible for anything to still be alive after this. Not even an Elder Dragon would survive this," another said with more confidence—though he didn't move any closer.
One hunter stared silently at Chryssia, guard raised, as if expecting her to stand up again.
A lancer gathered his courage and poked her with his spear.
To the hunters' shock and horror, Chryssia moved her hand slightly.
Those who had relaxed raised their guard again, and the lancer stepped back.
No one spoke for several seconds, but when there was no further movent, they relaxed a little.
After another long mont of silence, a hunter finally spoke.
"What do we do?"
The hunter who had never taken his eyes off Chryssia answered:
"Prepare the equipnt to transport her—and have soone go ahead to notify Astera."
{I hope you all had a rry Christmas, and I wish everyone a prosperous year ahead}
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