Chapter 207: Chapter 208 — FRACTURES IN THE LINE (PART II)

Chapter 208 — FRACTURES IN THE LINE (PART II)

The smoke from the ruined rail district had not yet settled.

Twisted train tracks curled upward like broken ribs. Entire railcars had flipped onto their sides when the Jade Dragon’s claw struck the station complex. Freight containers were scattered across the yard in crooked piles, some still smoldering from secondary explosions caused by ruptured fuel lines.

From above, the devastation looked surgical.

Precise.

The dragon had not destroyed everything.

Only what mattered.

Tracks that connected evacuation routes.

The main switching tower.

The signal control building.

Everything that allowed movement.

Everything that allowed the city to breathe.

Now it lay broken beneath a blanket of dust and smoke.

High above the rail district, the Eight hovered in uneasy silence.

General Han Dae-Woo cracked his neck slowly, rolling his injured shoulder once more. The movement made him grimace, though he tried to hide it.

“That thing is dismantling us,” he muttered.

Commander Rafael Ibarra wiped sweat and soot from his brow, staring down at the rail yard below.

“Not us.”

“The city.”

Astra Nyx floated several meters away, her dark silhouette barely shifting against the gray sky.

Her eyes remained fixed on the Jade Dragon as it glided slowly across the skyline.

“It’s turning the battlefield into a cage.”

Han frowned.

“What?”

Nyx nodded toward the destroyed rail yard.

“Power grid.”

“Bridge.”

“Rail hub.”

Her voice remained calm.

“Every escape route.”

Understanding slowly settled across the group.

Headmaster Suryavansh Rao closed his eyes briefly.

“When the infrastructure collapses, evacuation stops.”

“And when evacuation stops…” Ibarra finished quietly.

“Everyone left in the city becomes collateral.”

Dr. Elena Kovács’ drones buzzed nervously around her as she stared at the holographic map projected above her wrist.

Red zones spread across the grid like a spreading infection.

“Evacuation throughput is already down thirty-eight percent,” she said.

Her voice remained steady.

But the numbers told their own story.

Across the skyline—

The Jade Dragon continued moving.

Its massive emerald body glided above the rooftops with slow, deliberate wingbeats.

The creature had already turned away from the rail district.

Its attention had shifted again.

The dragon lowered its head slightly as it examined the next cluster of buildings.

A massive water treatment facility.

Pipes wider than city buses ran between enormous filtration towers. Reservoir tanks stood like metal giants across the complex.

Destroying it would contaminate half the city’s emergency water supply.

Han cursed.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

The dragon began descending.

Canglong’s voice cut through the comm channel.

“We move.”

The Eight surged forward again.

But this time—

The strain was obvious.

Their formation broke apart almost immediately.

Han accelerated faster than the others, pushing his body beyond its limits as kinetic bursts propelled him through the sky.

Feng Yanrui followed behind him in a trail of phoenix fire, but the flames were smaller now, flickering unevenly as exhaustion caught up with him.

Ibarra rode a twisting column of water that wavered slightly with every sharp movement.

Nyx blinked through space repeatedly, but each dimensional step took a fraction longer than the last.

Even Rao’s solar aura had dimmed.

The fight was wearing them down.

The dragon, however—

Looked unchanged.

The Water Facility

The Jade Dragon hovered above the purification complex.

Its shadow swallowed the entire plant.

Workers fled across the concrete yard below.

Security vehicles abandoned their posts.

Sirens blared across the compound.

The dragon studied the maze of steel pipes and filtration towers.

Then it lifted one claw.

Han arrived first.

He slammed into the dragon’s forearm with another explosive punch.

“Titan Breaker!”

The impact produced a thunderous crack that echoed across the facility.

But the strike lacked the crushing force of his earlier blows.

The dragon’s arm barely shifted.

The creature turned its head slowly toward the general.

Its emerald eyes glowed faintly.

“You continue.”

Han floated backward slightly, breathing harder than before.

“Yeah.”

He wiped blood from his lip.

“I’m stubborn like that.”

The dragon’s tail moved.

The strike came without warning.

Han barely managed to twist sideways before the tail clipped his ribs.

The impact launched him across the purification yard.

He smashed through a tower of metal piping before skidding to a stop in a shower of sparks and steam.

Above him—

Feng Yanrui attacked.

“Phoenix Sovereign Descent!”

The flaming phoenix avatar crashed into the dragon’s shoulder.

Crimson fire erupted across the emerald scales.

But again—

The flames burned out too quickly.

The dragon had already adapted.

Feng’s expression hardened.

“Not good.”

Commander Ibarra raised both hands.

The nearby reservoir tanks exploded upward as water surged into the sky.

“Leviathan Spear!”

The spiraling water drill slammed into the dragon’s wounded chest.

Cracks spread across several jade scales.

Fragments fell toward the ground below.

But the dragon barely reacted.

Instead—

Its claw descended.

The filtration towers collapsed instantly.

Steel tanks split open.

Thousands of tons of untreated water flooded across the facility.

Pipes burst.

Control buildings crumpled.

Within seconds the purification complex had become a ruined wasteland of twisted metal and broken reservoirs.

Nyx appeared above the dragon’s head.

Her blade flashed.

“Void Crescent.”

The dimensional slash carved across the creature’s neck.

A thin line of emerald crystal split open.

But the dragon continued moving.

Rao descended next.

Solar light gathered between his palms.

“Solar Cataclysm!”

The beam struck the dragon’s jaw.

The blast pushed the creature backward slightly.

But only slightly.

The dragon opened its wings.

Shockwaves rippled across the sky.

The Eight were forced to retreat several meters as violent winds rolled outward.

The dragon looked down at the ruined water facility.

Then back at them.

“You interfere.”

Its voice carried across the district like distant thunder.

“But the outcome remains.”

Below them—

The purification plant burned.

Another essential system destroyed.

Another artery severed.

Han dragged himself out of the collapsed piping tower and launched back into the air.

He looked at the wreckage.

Then at the dragon.

“Okay,” he muttered.

“Now I’m really annoyed.”

But this time—

No one laughed.

Because the dragon had already turned again.

Its emerald eyes scanned the skyline.

Searching.

Calculating.

Selecting.

Kovács’ voice suddenly cut through the comm channel again.

Her tone sharper than before.

“New target confirmed.”

A blinking red marker appeared on the holographic map.

Everyone froze when they saw where it was.

The central hospital district.

Four major medical centers.

Thousands of patients.

Emergency wards already filled with civilians injured during the earlier attacks.

If the dragon destroyed that area—

The city’s ability to treat the wounded would collapse completely.

Han stared at the map.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

The Jade Dragon began moving toward the hospital sector.

Slowly.

Deliberately.

Like a predator choosing its next victim.

Canglong’s voice came through the channel again.

Calm.

But darker than before.

“We cannot allow that.”

The Eight surged forward once more.

But deep down—

Every one of them knew the truth.

They were already running out of time.

And the dragon was still choosing the battlefield.

[Chapter ENDS]

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep