The purplish-red dragon crown gleamed ominously, its eyes blazing crimson as if spewing fire. Three forked tongues flickered from its mouth like tridents.
Inside its jaws, three layers of razor-sharp teeth glinted coldly. Venom dripped between them, hissing as it hit the water's surface, releasing a pale green toxic mist that curled upward into the air.
From the density and sheen of its scales, this was clearly a mature venom dragon. Its strength and hunting experience were at their peak, comparable to a Greater God. Most of the students were still in their juvenile stages and would have to tread carefully.
Athena and Medusa, leading their respective groups, exchanged a glance and nodded.
"First Sister, Second Sister—block your senses. Focus on locking down the dragon's movements. And wait for a chance to strike at its eyes!"
According to the plan, Medusa gave the first signal in hand signs.
Stheno and Euryale nodded immediately, unleashing the full power of the Gorgon Special Forces' Mystic Eyes.
As their purple serpent pupils opened and closed, ripples spread outward, and the surrounding air grew heavy and oppressive.
The drowsing dragon suddenly collapsed, its head slamming into the ground as its body went slack, sprawling out like a stranded fish.
"Mmm, good boy. Sleep well."
The two Gorgon goddesses licked their lips, mischief curling on their faces.
"When you wake up, it'll either be on a dissection table or in a cooking pot."
Once Athena confirmed the creature was truly asleep and its guard at its lowest, she raised her hand.
"Little Nine, drain the poison mist!"
"Harpy, prepare to swap the air!"
The Hydra, master of toxins, arched its neck and inhaled deeply, sucking every trace of venom from around the pool into its gaping maw.
The Harpy then beat her wings, stirring the air. Fresh winds from beyond the miasma and clean Ether rushed in, clearing the space.
Everyone's foggy minds instantly sharpened.
Athena fixed her gaze on the exposed reverse scale beneath the dragon's neck. Shield of bronze in her left hand, spear in her right, she crept forward with care.
But just as she neared the pool, the calm waters erupted. A massive head, clad in dark green scales, surged upward and lunged straight at her.
The wise goddess was ready. She sprang aside, narrowly evading the three rows of jagged teeth.
"Boom!"
The venom dragon gouged a trench dozens of meters long into the ground, pulverizing sand, stone, and deadwood to dust under its crushing bite. Venom dripped from its jaws, sizzling wherever it fell.
A two-headed dragon!
Medusa, holding the rear, narrowed her eyes. She immediately assumed command, her voice sharp as she ordered the Typhon brood.
The swiftest of them—the Harpy and the Caucasian Eagle—dived at once, talons outstretched to rake the dragon's heads.
The monster twisted away from vital strikes, but the wind-forged claws still sparked against its scales, peeling them up and carving bloody grooves.
Enraged, the venom dragon roared. Its crimson eyes burned hotter as it drew back its neck, preparing to unleash a spray of poison.
But then Ladon, the usually slothful hundred-headed dragon, snapped open his eyes. His lips moved in dry dragon speech as luminous patterns flared across his elegant scales.
Ether resonated with the chant. One after another, Magecraft circles bloomed into being, hurling bolts of lightning, cascades of stone, spears of ice, blades of wind, and torrents of fire at the venom dragon all at once.
The Sphinx let out a guttural roar, slamming down a paw as a beam of Mana laced with psychic disruption blasted from its mouth, exploding against the dragon's hide.
Before the beast could regain its senses amidst the aerial assault and the rain of Magecraft, two dark figures struck from above, slamming its head into the dirt and pounding it mercilessly.
Moreover, waves of searing pain coursed through both sides of its body as layers of scales were torn away.
At that moment, the Colchian Dragon, the Hydra, and the Nemean Lion—creatures with strong resistance to poison and immense prowess in close combat—charged forward, snapping savagely at the Poison Dragon's two heads from the front.
Meanwhile, Cerberus, the Nemean Lion, and the Chimera closed in from the flanks. Some leapt onto the Poison Dragon's back, while others struck at the vulnerable joints where head met neck.
Even worse, the head that had been enthralled moments ago still hadn't fully awakened. A dazzling violet light met its eyes, and the dragon's only alert head reeled with dizziness, its senses and perception dulled in an instant.
Mental charm! Those two little pests and the brat suppressing it with Magecraft must be destroyed first!
The Poison Dragon threw back its neck and roared. Enduring the agony tearing through its body, it turned toward the thicket and spewed a torrent of dark green venom.
The venom rained down like a storm. The barriers raised instinctively by the Sphinx and Ladon melted through in an instant.
A foul, rotting stench rushed forward. The Typhon offspring manning the artillery in the underbrush swore they could see the emerald droplets in midair twisting into the form of a raging dragon.
That's… a fragment of divinity! Venom forged by corroding its own divine essence—no wonder nothing could withstand it!
This dragon's going all in right from the start?
Such a reckless yet decisive tactic left the inexperienced Typhon brood in the thickets momentarily stunned.
But just as the toxic rain was about to fall upon them, the air thrummed with a deep vibration. Hundreds of purplish-red serpents swelled to colossal size as they rose against the wind, intertwining and hissing sharply as they hurled themselves into the venomous downpour.
"Ssshhhhh!"
The sound was like drops striking boiling oil, one after another. Wherever the poisonous rain struck them, the serpents shrieked, rotting away into tatters, until only strands of purple hair drifted down through the air.
Ana gave a small nod to both sides. Snapping off one of her own locks, she scattered it into the air. From the broken strands, tiny purplish-red serpents born of divine law slithered forth, weaving around the artillery emplacements with flickering tongues.
Her Earth Goddess authority excelled at defense. Otherwise, in the future, Athena would never have taken her severed head and embedded it in the Aegis Shield.
The name "Medusa's Shield" would one day be more famous than the relic's original title. Indeed, many Athenian soldiers even carved the Gorgon emblem into their shields and armor for protection.
The Poison Dragon, already gravely wounded, tried to wrench itself free from the suppressive assault of the deep forest, but failed yet again. Its spirit sagged under the weight of repeated defeat.
Before it could mount another counterattack, the dazed head on its left side was wracked with excruciating pain.
The monster lowered its gaze in disbelief—only to see Athena, slipping in from its blind spot, driving her bronze spear engraved with divine runes straight through the reverse scale that guarded its heart.
"Roooar!"
The dragon's one remaining head, eyes shot with blood, writhed and opened its jaws to unleash venom at the tiny foe who had struck it down.
"Ssshhht!"
But as it opened its mouth, the world around it seemed to slow. A strange arc of gray-black light flashed, and space itself fractured with a jarring twist.
"Bang!"
The hideous head snapped clean from its neck, tumbling down and smashing into the earth.
Athena pulled her bronze spear free from the dragon's chest. The weapon was already half corroded by the venomous blood, but her gaze rose past it—toward the figure in the sky.
Medusa floated above, wielding a colossal black scythe with a serpentine maw. Dark miasma curled around her as her pearly teeth ground together audibly.
Why did you give that to her and not me?
I'm the one you raised! This is too unfair!