Chapter 185: The Hunger of the Wyvern Flame Spear

Crack. Sizzle.

The fire dragon sigil carved into the Wyvern Flame Spear began expanding at an alarming rate. The heat surged beyond anything Marcus had felt before, rising past the ignition threshold of the surrounding air. Sharp, rhythmic pops echoed through the courtyard as oxygen itself combusted in rapid bursts. Even the thick white mist rising from the Spring of Purity water was burned away, peeled back layer by layer, until the Mist Veil Palace stood fully revealed in harsh, crimson clarity.

The sheer pressure of the fire energy forced a reaction from Marcus’s level 9 pet. The Shadow-Stained Gryphon King let out a piercing cry and beat its wings furiously, retreating to the highest rafters in a desperate bid to escape the heat rolling across the courtyard.

“Damn, this thing is aggressive,” Marcus muttered.

He had no control over the blaze whatsoever. Not wanting his pet to be caught in whatever was unfolding, he immediately unsummoned the Gryphon King. At the same time, long-honed gamer instincts kicked in. As the dragon sigil swelled into an enormous, shimmering form, he toggled his in-game recorder. Whatever this was, it was the kind of once-in-a-lifetime spectacle people would dissect frame by frame. He was not missing it.

The energy radiating outward was overwhelming, yet Marcus, seated at the very center of the boiling red vortex atop his Nightmare Dragon Steed, felt no heat at all. The spear responsible for this miniature sun remained firmly in his grip, calm and steady in his hand. The contradiction made his skin crawl.

Wait. Something’s wrong.

“Oh, shit.”

-200, -200, -200…

The numbers flashed into view just as his health bar began plunging downward.

The realization hit him like a hammer. The Wyvern Flame Spear was not merely generating fire. It was draining him. His vitality was being pulled straight through his palms and fed directly into the weapon. The spear was using his life force as fuel, forcibly activating itself without his consent.

Because he had been so focused on the spectacle, Marcus had missed the warning signs. In the span of ten seconds, he had already lost two thousand HP. A cold sweat broke out across his back as he did the math. If the drain had been any higher, he would have dropped dead on the spot.

“Okay,” he said tightly. “This is a problem.”

He tried to throw the spear away, but It did not budge.

The weapon clung to his hands like a starving beast that had just tasted blood and decided it wanted everything. No matter how violently he shook his arms, the spear remained locked in place, greedily siphoning his health.

When his HP dipped below one thousand, Marcus stopped hesitating. He activated a Large Health Potion, instantly restoring two hundred HP per second for ten seconds, then followed it with Knight’s Prayer. Combined with the permanent regeneration buff from the Weakened Spring of Puritywater, his passive recovery surged past three hundred HP per second. For the first time since the drain began, he was gaining health faster than the spear could steal it.

Fortunately, Dominion had been designed with situations like this in mind. When a player’s hands were physically restrained, whether by a cursed item or a special condition, consumables could be activated through mental commands alone. If he had needed to uncork and drink each potion manually, he would already be dead.

“This is going to hurt my wallet,” he muttered.

He checked his supplies.

—

Large Health Potion

Effect: Restores 200 HP per second for 10 seconds.

Price: 10 Gold per bottle at the herbalist.

—

Marcus clenched his jaw as seventeen minutes passed.

By the time he glanced at his inventory again, he had burned through more than a hundred Large Health Potions, restoring well over two hundred thousand HP. The spear, however, showed no sign of slowing. It siphoned that same amount right back out of him, relentlessly, without pause.

The fire dragon sigil had grown to more than thirty feet in length. Its expansion finally halted, but the energy it continued to draw was no longer increasing its size. Instead, it was refining it. The flames tightened, grew denser, and the dragon’s form sharpened until it looked terrifyingly real.

Through the shimmering heat, Marcus could make out individual scales rippling across its body. If he had not watched the transformation from the beginning, he would have sworn a living fire dragon was hovering in the courtyard.

It was awe-inspiring, but it was also killing him.

He had brought one hundred and fifty Large Health Potions into the palace. At this rate, he would be dry in less than five minutes. Once that happened, his natural regeneration would no longer be enough. Even if his Ring of Resurrection triggered, he would revive with the spear still in hand, and the drain would simply resume until he died for good.

ROAR!

Just as his potion count dropped to five, the spear reached its threshold.

The massive fire dragon sigil roared, the sound deafening and primal, shaking the Mist Veil Palace to its foundations. If not for the Boundary Stone Needle sealing the structure, the roar would have echoed across miles of the continent.

The dragon surged upward, its massive tail snapping through the air as it took flight. With a violent bang, the Wyvern Flame Spear finally tore itself free from Marcus’s grasp and shot skyward, chasing after the blazing form like a guided missile.

As the spear flew, it twisted and reshaped itself, manifesting a second fire dragon that perfectly mirrored the larger one, though it was only a fraction of the size.

That smaller dragon moved with terrifying speed. In seconds, it caught up to the larger beast and latched onto its tail. Then, to Marcus’s disbelief, its mouth unhinged and expanded far beyond its own body.

In a single motion, the smaller dragon swallowed the massive one whole, leaving nothing behind.

Marcus stared, stunned. “What did I just watch?”

The answer came immediately.

With a violent pop, the smaller dragon expanded, growing ten times larger as it absorbed the refined energy. Its flames deepened in color and density, radiating such heat that the ceiling of the Mist Veil Palace began to warp and soften.

Understanding finally clicked into place.

The spear had not been acting randomly. It had drained his life to refine a massive reserve of fire energy, then condensed and absorbed it into itself.

ROAR!

Now fully empowered, the Wyvern Flame Spear manifested as a colossal dragon of pure flame. It circled the courtyard once, basking in its own overwhelming presence, then turned sharply downward.

It dove straight for the Spring of Purity.

The collision was catastrophic.

The concentrated solar energy of the fire dragon slammed into the purest source of cold, negative energy on the continent. The clash of absolute opposites triggered an explosion of steam, light, and raw force.

Even though the spear focused its energy into a narrow point to pierce the spring, the residual shockwave was monstrous. A blinding wall of power raced outward toward Marcus.

“Brace!”

He slammed his Adamant Shield into the floor and ducked behind it as his Nightmare Dragon Steed planted its legs. Marcus pushed his defensive stats as high as they would go.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

The shockwave hit like a battering ram. Shield and rider were thrown backward, skidding more than thirty feet across the stone floor before finally grinding to a stop.

Marcus lifted his head slowly and peeked over the edge of his shield. His heart pounded as he checked his status.

He was alive, barely.

His health bar showed a thin red sliver. One hundred and ten HP remained.

“Holy…” he whispered.

Just the leftover energy from that collision had nearly erased him, a heavily armored knight built for defense.

The truth settled in with chilling clarity.

The Wyvern Flame Spear had drained his life for one reason only; to destroy the Spring of Purity.

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