When Ezra had first arrived in Magaravia, the fear of the unknown had compelled him to avoid the dangers of the night. He still remembered his first encounter with the Shadow Lurkers while returning from Roverdale Park, but things had changed now.Ezra was no longer an inexperienced young Gunner running scared across the deserted streets. The dark energy flowing through his veins had awakened his primal instincts and drowned all his human emotions.Killing the smaller Shadow Lurkers fueled Ezra’s powers, rekindling his bloodlust. Instead of running away or calling for help, he stood there with a sinister grin on his darkening face.The Abyssal Lurker being an apex predator, was quite accustomed to setting up traps and ambushing its prey. But it failed to realize that the rules of the hunt had changed tonight.Ezra snapped his fingers to conjure a dark orb mid-air and gradually transformed it into a gigantic battle axe with a smooth curved blade and a long black handle studded with spik

The darkness festering inside Ezra oozed out of his inky black palms and leaked out of the soles of his blackened feet. His lips turned pale and a gray numbness discolored his face, giving him the appearance of a corpse drained of all blood.Noticing the drastic change, Tanya realized Ezra’s life force was slowly being sucked away and it made her suspect the dark mage kneeling on the ground.“What are you doing? He is dying!” she shouted, threatening to cast a holy spell and strike him down.Fortunately, Glenn was there to stop her before she could do any harm.“My Lady, Zala is not trying to kill Lord Ezra. My brother is only trying to help him.”“Help him?” Tanya snapped angrily, her eyes narrowing on him. “Just look at Ezra’s face. Can you not see that he is dying? Your brother is draining his life!”Glenn shook his head. “No, my Lady. He is trying to bind himself with the dark energy trapped inside Lord Ezra’s body. It might be the only way to save him. You need to trust Zala.”Tan

The only Gunner who had managed to slay a dragon in Valaria’s long history was the legendary hero Edwaine Erlock. But that was almost two hundred years ago, and the dragon he had gunned down was a Silver-winged Firetail, the weakest among all the species.Since then, there had only been a couple of dragon sightings off the coast of Valaria, but they never ventured inland as the Elder Dragons of Xerkonia had forged a peace treaty with the humans in exchange for the Island of Yikendi, which was a treasure trove of awakened magic crystals.However, the dragon Servius had spoken about was far different than those in Xerkonia.The elven Gunner was the first to object to this seemingly impossible task. She raised her hand once and activated a magic cube to get her voice across to the crowd.“The Grand Dueling Tournament has been held every year for over three decades, but never in its history have the participants been asked to slay a dragon. This is unfair!” she protested. “There is no way

Archibald readied his silver-barreled musket and flew up to get a better view. He was still under the impression that he was the only one hunting the dragon, but little did he know he was in for a rude awakening.Ezra rocketed across the sky and blasted through the spurting geysers like a comet. “What the hell was that?” Archibald’s eyes widened as he saw Ezra through his sights for a brief moment. But before he could track him, Ezra disappeared amidst the smoke.For a second, Archibald thought he was just imagining things, but soon he caught up with Ezra again as he speared through the smoky veil and appeared in his line of sight.“Damn you! How did you get here so fast?” Archibald frowned, his teeth grinding against each other and his fingers digging into the butt of his rifle. “You must be barking mad if you think you can take my prize from me. The dragon’s head belongs to me and me alone!”While Archibald watched from a safe distance, Ezra dived straight into the maw of the furnac

The sudden arrival of the feral harpies turned the tides of the battle in the dragon’s favor, sweeping off any advantage that Archibald had.Even with the Nephilim Berserker supporting Archibald, he could not find any openings. The harpy swarm continued attacking him from every direction, their sharp claws and hooked beaks scratching at his cloak and boots.“Get the hell off me, you disgusting half-breeds!”While Archibald was busy dealing with the harpies, his Nephilim Berserker continued attacking the Black Dragon.Speeding across the open sky, the spectral Nephilim slashed the Black Dragon with his enchanted sword, slicing through its scaly chest and drawing first blood.However, the wound wasn’t deep enough to damage any vital organs or cause the dragon any major discomfort.The Black Dragon merely growled in annoyance and whipped the air with its serpentine tail. A blow delivered with such force would have crushed anyone’s ribs and shattered even the toughest of armors, but the N