Half-Dragon

"Don't move. Release the princess and that big oaf." Ye Chuan tightened his grip on the sword pressed against the earl's neck.

"Do you really think you can hurt me, boy?" Kaiaolen scoffed at the threat. His muscles bulged as black scales began spreading across his neck, his aura erupting violently.

"!"

His eyes burned crimson as sparks flew from the friction between his neck and the blade. Unfazed, Kaiaolen turned and swiped with his claw!

Ye Chuan reacted swiftly, raising his sword to block. A crisp clang echoed—his flying sword shattered instantly. He leaped back with a spatial dash, putting distance between them.

Clatter. The broken fragments of his weapon hit the ground.

"A dragon?" Ye Chuan stared at Kaiaolen, whose hand had fully transformed into a draconic claw, his neck now armored in scales protecting his vitals.

No way.

He glanced at the hilt in his hand—only half remained.

"This guy's strength…" Ye Chuan couldn’t gauge it, but one thing was clear: he was outmatched. Should I go all out and risk a mutual strike?

But could he even pierce that defense? The guy was practically a walking fortress—high armor, high HP.

With a shrug, Ye Chuan tossed the broken sword aside and drew a fresh one.

He’d swiped plenty of flying swords from Qin Tianya—losing a weapon or two didn’t faze him.

But as he eyed the earl, the butler, and the guards closing in, he realized the odds were hopeless.

One swipe had shattered his enchanted blade.

How is this a fair fight?

Just as Ye Chuan debated summoning all his avatars for a desperate last stand, Irena’s voice rang out from nearby. "Lord Xixi, run!"

"Run?" Before he could react, darkness filled his vision—Kaiaolen had already closed the distance, his draconic claw descending like a hammer!

Ye Chuan parried with another sword, but the blade shattered in an instant. He barely managed another spatial leap, reappearing outside the building.

BOOM! A figure burst through the window—Kaiaolen, now with massive black wings unfurled, his fist wreathed in flames as he lunged at Ye Chuan.

Ye Chuan thrust out a hand. "Mana Beam!"

A searing blast of magic erupted, but Kaiaolen’s wings snapped forward, shielding him effortlessly.

KABOOM! Light scattered like dust.

When the beam faded, Kaiaolen stood unharmed on the rooftop, his wings stirring embers into the air.

"Dragons in movies and novels always have insane magic resistance," Ye Chuan muttered, unsure whether to laugh or cry.

The gap between them was too vast.

This guy was at least three major realms above him.

"Give up," Kaiaolen said coldly.

"How about we talk this over?" Ye Chuan grinned.

A derisive snort answered him. "If not for the princess’s sake, you’d already be dead."

The princess’s sake?

The words struck Ye Chuan as odd, but before he could dwell on it, Kaiaolen was upon him again—his fiery fist distorting space, heat searing the air as it hurtled toward him.

Ye Chuan had no choice but to teleport away.

A tanky, magic-resistant brawler like this was his worst nightmare.

He wanted to go all-out, but his weapons couldn’t scratch Kaiaolen’s scales, magic was useless, and no buff could bridge such a colossal power gap.

As Ye Chuan reappeared in the distance, Kaiaolen’s eyes flickered with surprise.

"Spamming spatial magic?"

But Kaiaolen was faster. With a sonic boom, he closed the gap instantly.

"Tch. Fine." Seeing the dragon-clawed brute closing in, Ye Chuan stopped holding back—he burned through four or five teleports in rapid succession.

The distance between them yawned wide.

Then wider.

Until Ye Chuan vanished entirely.

"…What?" Kaiaolen stared, baffled. Spatial magic was supposed to be complex, requiring long incantations and hefty mana costs.

"Does that brat have instant casting?" His wings twitched. Realizing pursuit was futile, he returned to the estate.

"My lord! The princess—she’s gone!" A guard rushed up as Kaiaolen landed.

"Gone? Wasn’t she bound?" Kaiaolen frowned.

The guard knelt. "A door appeared out of nowhere in the meeting room! The man you were chasing stepped out and snatched her!"

"A door? That man…" Kaiaolen’s eyes narrowed.

The one he’d been chasing had looped back with spatial magic to rescue the princess?

Impossible.

How much mana did he even have?

"And the other one?"

"Torres was already being taken to the dungeon, so he wasn’t grabbed." The guard explained they’d been transporting them separately when the ambush happened.

"…" Kaiaolen’s scales receded as he returned to human form. "Clean this up."

"Yes, my lord!"

———

Meanwhile, outside Milal City’s mountain ranges…

Ye Chuan touched down, one arm cradling a dazed girl.

"Now that’s how you execute a plan." He rubbed his chin smugly.

After putting distance between himself and Kaiaolen, he’d simply warped back to the estate and yoinked the princess.

"Lord Xixi… Ugh… I feel sick…" Irena clutched her stomach, swaying. Unlike Ye Chuan, she had no resistance to spatial displacement’s nausea.

"You’ll live." Ye Chuan dropped her unceremoniously. "Too bad about Torres, though. That old monster was too fast—just whoosh and pow."

"Lord Kaiaolen is a seventh-tier half-dragon warrior," Irena groaned, fighting the dizziness. "The fact he could transform like that means he’s not one of the skin-stealers."

"Yet he didn’t seem too friendly toward you?"

"…" Irena had no answer.