"Why is a dragon here?!"
Fatehali stared at the Holy Dragon Alberek soaring across the sky, its wingspan stretching well over a hundred meters, her expression impossibly grim.
She had seen a dragon once before, up close, while completing a quest.
It was a creature of absolute devastation!
Players, NPCs, NPC cities — none of it mattered in the presence of a dragon.
She had personally watched an imperial border city get torn apart and utterly destroyed by a Dark Dragon. The rescue army the empire dispatched had been annihilated completely, and at the time, all she and the other quest-bearing players could do was stand at a distance and watch the dragon demolish the NPC city while wiping out an entire legion composed of Tier 4 NPCs.
If the Temple Master of the Imperial War God Temple hadn't arrived personally at the last moment and led the charge to finally bring down the Dark Dragon, they all would have perished too.
Right now, it wasn't just Fatehali — every member of the Divine Tribulation in Starfall Bastion had fallen into a state of panic.
Some of them had never personally witnessed a dragon's terror, but the data displayed above Alberek left absolutely no room for doubt.
A level of 111 wasn't particularly alarming, but ten billion hit points — what kind of nightmare was that?!
With the monstrous defense that dragons possessed, even tens of thousands of players attacking with everything they had probably couldn't keep up with the Holy Dragon Alberek's combat regeneration speed.
And compared to Alberek's HP pool, the real killer was the dragon's aura bearing down on them. Among everyone present, only the Tier 3 Class holders could still manage to stay on their feet. As for the Tier 2 Class holders — even those battle-hardened veterans — they were now rooted beneath Alberek's dragon might, their bodies feeling as though they'd been filled with lead.
In that state, forget about fighting; just managing to flee would be considered a miracle.
"How… how did this happen?" Macafrey gazed up at Alberek, despair flooding his face.
He had seen a dragon's power with his own eyes too.
Fighting one was virtually impossible to win. Even if their Tier 4 Heroic Spirits were still alive, they wouldn't be enough for the dragon before them to even bother with.
And the Divine Tribulation had only just managed to secure a temporary foothold in Starfall Bastion, investing enormous amounts of resources and manpower. If they fled now, the damage to the Divine Tribulation would be catastrophic.
"There's no other choice," Fatehali took a deep breath and issued the order. "Macafrey, notify every Tier 3 Class holder in the bastion immediately. Tell them to prepare. I'll find a way to draw the dragon's attention. The rest of you gather outside the bastion and figure out how to lure it away."
They were no match for a dragon, certainly. But as long as the dragon wasn't trying to claim Starfall Bastion as its lair, all they had to do was draw it away from the fortress, and Starfall Bastion could still be saved.
"Commander Fatehali, that… that's an enormous cost," Macafrey's face drained of color the moment he heard.
She said she would lure the dragon away, but everyone could see exactly how powerful it was. Killing Tier 3 players like them would be nothing more than an instant for that creature.
Which meant they would be throwing their lives away — and not just any lives, but the lives of their Tier 3 powerhouses.
Right now, every major superpower was desperately leveling up their Tier 3 experts. If their entire roster died at least once, the setback for future competition against the other superpowers would be devastating.
"It's the only option we have," Fatehali ordered firmly. "If we don't lure the dragon away, everything we've invested so far will have been for nothing. But as long as we can draw it off, we'll be able to recover our levels in no time, given the advantages Starfall Bastion provides."
"I understand." Macafrey gritted his teeth and began contacting the other Tier 3 Class holders throughout the bastion.
Truthfully, Fatehali was right. As long as Starfall Bastion could be secured, none of these sacrifices would matter — the advantages the bastion offered were simply too great.
"Commander Fatehali — there seems to be a player on that dragon."
Just as Fatehali was about to set her plan into motion, the Scarlet Witch suddenly pointed at Alberek and spoke in a tone of sheer disbelief.
"A player? That's impossible!" Fatehali thought the Scarlet Witch's eyes were playing tricks on her.
That was a Tier 4 dragon. Even if it were merely a hatchling, it wouldn't be something any player could ride upon its back. Not even Tier 4 or Tier 5 NPCs would likely have that kind of capability.
In the Divine Realm, the so-called Dragon Tamers who were hailed as being able to command dragons had only managed to capture Tier 3 newborn hatchlings and then painstakingly raise them over time.