Before the human forces could redirect their attack towards the newly emerged threats, their assault was effortlessly intercepted.

Ignis stood revealed, her evolution complete. She was no longer a drake, but a true Blazeheart Dragon. Her body had expanded to the size of a large wagon, radiating intense heat that warped the air around her.

Her scales gleamed with a deep, ruby-red hue, etched with fiery gold patterns that pulsed with inner light. Her wings, broad and powerful, stirred gusts of hot wind with every beat. Her eyes, once bright with eager fire, now held the ancient, intimidating gaze of a dragon. The sheer aura of solar dominance made the surrounding stone begin to glow red-hot.

On the other side, Lilith had undergone a metamorphosis just as profound. From the shattered silk emerged a being of eerie, elegant beauty. Her upper torso was that of a pale, graceful human woman, with long, flowing hair the color of fresh snow and eyes like crimson jewels.

Her face was breathtakingly beautiful, yet cold and impassive, partially veiled by her white locks. This ethereal form was seamlessly fused with the powerful, sleek abdomen of a spider, now adorned with a striking carapace of black and white patterns that seemed to shift and hypnotize. She was an Arachno-Sovereign, a perfect blend of deceptive beauty and lethal predator.

"Run...." Adam's weak, pained voice gasped out.

Ignis's draconic head snapped towards him, her eyes widening in horror at his brutalized state. "ADAM!"

"I'm... alright," Adam forced out, each word a struggle. "We need to retreat. Their numbers... too many."

Lilith, without a word, acted. Her multiple legs skittered with blinding speed as she unleashed a torrent of her new Sovereign Silk. The threads, stronger than steel and glowing with faint psychic energy, didn't just entangle—they sliced through the air, forcing the advancing knights to duck and shield themselves, creating a barrier between Adam and the humans.

Ignis roared, not in challenge, but in pure, protective fury. A torrent of Solar Inferno, far more concentrated and violent than her previous Solar Flare, erupted from her maw. It wasn't a wide cone, but a blistering, white-hot beam that swept across the ground before the human ranks, not to hit them directly, but to carve a line of molten stone and searing flames, forcing them back and cutting off immediate access to Adam.

"Don't let the serpent escape! Kill it now!" Derek bellowed, realizing their primary target was slipping away.

The specialist who had rescued Ellen, now enhanced with Haste and Strength spells from a support mage, blurred into motion again, her monomolecular blade aimed for Adam's exposed neck—a killing strike.

She never reached him.

Lilith was faster. One of her spear-like forelegs shot out, intercepting the assassin's path with impossible precision. There was a clash of chitin against enhanced metal, and with a deft twist, Lilith disarmed the woman, sending the blade flying. With another leg, she gently but swiftly scooped Adam's massive, wounded form closer to her own body, cradling him protectively.

Ignis beat her mighty wings, not to take flight, but to create a hurricane-force gale. The sudden, scorching windstorm knocked archers off their feet, disrupted spellcasters' chants, and sent loose stone and dust flying in a blinding cloud.

Tia, fueled by vengeance, fought through the gale. "You won't get away!" She lunged, her sword aiming for Ignis's wing joint.

The blade struck Ignis's scales and sparked, leaving only a shallow scratch. The Blazeheart Dragon's hide was now incredibly tough.

Derek followed up, his Embercleave swinging in a mighty arc. This time, Ignis didn't just endure it. She met the axe with a swipe of her own claw, sheathed in molten armor. The clash sent sparks of metal and magic flying, and Derek grunted, forced back a step by the raw power.

Westin, seizing his chance, completed a rapid incantation. Chains of glowing blue energy shot from his staff, wrapping around Ignis's torso and wings, attempting to bind her in place.

Ignis threw her head back and unleashed an even more devastating breath—a Sunburst. A sphere of condensed solar plasma exploded outward from her, incinerating the magical chains and forcing everyone, even Derek, to dive for cover as a wave of unbearable heat washed over them.

In that moment of chaotic disarray, Lilith acted with perfect coordination. She fired a thick strand of silk that adhered to Ignis's shoulder. With Adam securely held in her lower legs, she used the strand to swiftly pull herself onto the dragon's back, settling just behind the base of Ignis's neck.

As the humans recovered, coughing and shielding their eyes from the afterimage of the Sunburst, they saw Ignis with Lilith and Adam on her back beat her powerful wings once and launch into the air.

"AFTER THEM!" Tia screamed, firing a useless crossbow bolt into the air.

Derek could only watch, fist clenched around his axe. They had no effective aerial pursuit.

As Ignis gained altitude, Adam gathered the last dregs of mana recovered from the siphoned energy and his own will, and activated Deep Camouflage. The spell enveloped all three of them.

Tia whirled on Derek, her face a mask of fury and desperation. "We can't just let them go! Order a pursuit, now! That dragon is massive—it will leave a trail a blind man could follow! Heat signatures, displaced air, scales, something!"

Derek rounded on her, his own frustration boiling over. "Use your eyes, Deputy! They vanished! Not just hid, vanished. That's the serpent's doing. Its camouflage isn't mere coloration; it's a full-spectrum magical cloak. And the dragon is flying into the deep tunnels. Pursuit into unmapped, vertical terrain against an enemy with perfect ambush potential is not tactics; it's suicide!"

"The Crimson Boulder is correct," Westin interjected, his voice strained but calm as he leaned on his staff, analyzing the residual magical turbulence. "The energy signature has been expertly muddled. A direct, reckless chase now would play into their claws. We are wounded, low on mana, and have significant casualties, including Ellen." He gestured to where the healers were frantically working on the unconscious officer.

Tia looked ready to argue further, her fists clenched.

Westin continued, raising a hand. "However, the Deputy is also not entirely wrong. A creature of that size and thermal output cannot hide its passage forever. It will leave physical and magical evidence—molten rock from its breath, psychic residue from the arachnid, fragments of the serpent's unique scales. We can track them. But we must do it smartly."

Derek took a deep, steadying breath, the red glow in his eyes dimming to embers as he regained his commander's composure. He looked at his battered force—knights with broken armor, mages pale with exhaustion, scouts nursing wounds.

"Here is the decision," he declared, his voice leaving no room for debate. "First team: all wounded, support personnel, and a heavy guard will escort Ellen and the other casualties back to the forward camp immediately. Stabilize, resupply, and fortify our position."

He turned his gaze to the remaining, less-injured adventurers and knights, his expression grim. "Second team: Tia, Westin, you're with me. We take a small, fast, elite squad. We track. We do not engage unless we have overwhelming advantage. Our goal is to find their new lair, assess their condition, and monitor. We gather intelligence. If the serpent is as wounded as it appeared, it will need to stop and recover somewhere. That is where we will find them."

He locked eyes with Tia. "We do not finish this today. We prepare to finish it for good. If we do not crush this growing threat now, in its weakened state, it will evolve into a calamity that could spill out of this dungeon and threaten the kingdom itself. We rest for four hours. Then we hunt."

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