I Only Tame Dragons

Nyx watched the unfolding scene with a wry smirk, her gaze fixed on David, bound and bloodied, the final glimmers of resistance fading in his eyes.

His clan had fought valiantly, but even they couldn't hold their ground against the cruelty of Nightshade and Iron Fang.

One by one, the warriors of the Roaring Beast clan had fallen, and now David's life was hanging by a thread.

"They're going to die at this rate," Nyx murmured, glancing at Horizon. "I thought that you're going to save him?"

Horizon's expression remained impassive, thinking. "They're more useful to me dead than alive," he replied. "I don't know anything about them, so I won't risk trusting them."

David's loss was unfortunate, but Horizon had learned his lesson long ago—trust was a currency he wouldn't spend on strangers, especially in a competition like this. He'd been burned before, and he wasn't about to let it happen again.

"Eh? Then what about the information we need?" Nyx asked, raising a brow.

Horizon's lips twisted into a faint smile. "You'll see."

Without another word, he stretched out his hand, the air around him crackling with dark energy as he invoked his skill, [Raise Corpses].

A pulse of shadow spread across the blood-stained ground, winding like tendrils around the fallen bodies of David's clan.

The once-lifeless forms of the Roaring Beast warriors began to stir, their limbs jerking, their heads lifting, and their eyes opening, dimly lit with a sinister glow. The warriors rose to their feet, David among them, animated by Horizon's will and bound to his command.

Nyx's eyes widened as she took in the sight. "Oh, I see," she murmured, a grin tugging at her lips. "They'll be loyal to you now that they're dead."n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Horizon adjusted the collar of his dark robe, his eyes cold as he surveyed his new army. "Exactly. Now, let's clean up these bastards."

At his command, the resurrected members of the Roaring Beast turned on their killers.

David's head snapped toward Nightshade and Iron Fang, his gaze hollow, as though his very spirit echoed with a thirst for vengeance that transcended death.

Nightshades' faces contorted in horror, their confidence they had wielded just moments before draining from them.

"What is this?!"

Iron Fangs drew their blade, teeth bared as they growled, "Why are their corpses rising?!"

The ground shook as the revenants marched forward, their bodies battered but relentless.

Horizon funneled a steady stream of mana into them, each pulse reigniting their faltering movements, knitting broken bones, and mending torn flesh with shadowy tendrils.

No matter how many times the enemy struck, Horizon's mana bound the resurrected Beastfolk to his command, their wounds only deepening without hindering their advance.

Nightshades' strikes were ruthless, each one laced with desperation as they sliced through one of the Roaring Beast warriors, but the undead form merely staggered, before resuming its steps forward, blade clutched in its fist, eyes fixed on its target.

What's worse they weren't affected with poison.

The enemy's assaults were like waves crashing against a stone wall—each strike was absorbed, then met with resilience, as Horizon's mana filled every inch of their revived bodies with a twisted life force.

Ford's voice shook with a mix of anger and panic as he shouted, "This cursed forest must be to blame! Kill them again if you have to!"

"Who here has fire magic?!"

"Burn them!"

"We don't have a mage left."

"Our mages are dead!"

Iron Fang's forces hesitated, their courage slipping as the undead surged toward them. Worse yet, each fallen comrade who was taken down by the corpses began to rise as well. There was no end to them—an unrelenting wave of their own dead turned against them.

Nyx cast a wary glance at the endless stream of undead. "It's a waste of mana. Finish them already."

Horizon remained calm, observing the chaos within a safe hidden range. "I have more than 55,000 MP, and my armor regenerates mana every second. I won't be running out of mana anytime soon."

"Even so," Nyx replied with a smirk, "you won't defeat them with these undead alone. They might have their stats, but most can't access their skills. You'll waste too much time using them to take down those two leaders."

Nyx had a point, but Horizon's strategy ran deeper. "I'm not looking to finish them," he replied, his voice low but steely. "Just wearing them down a bit more."

Even for him, dealing with two players in the 400-500 stat range was . . . ambitious, so he had to think of another strategy to defeat them.

Nyx's brow raised with intrigue. "So what's the plan?"

Horizon grinned, his eyes glinting with a cold edge. "Keep watching."

Horizon's grip tightened, and with a sharp, commanding gesture, David lunged forward despite the toll that death had taken on his body.

Ford barely managed to raise his blade to defend himself before David's strike found its mark, tearing into his armor.

"This . . . this can't be happening!" Ford shouted, backing away as the undead closed in, their movements growing sharper, more coordinated with every moment they spent in battle.

Nyx folded her arms, watching with amused detachment as the chaos unfolded. "You sure have a flair for turning the tables," she commented.

Horizon didn't respond, his focus directed entirely on the battlefield. Each fallen corpse was a piece in his army. His mana channeled into them like a dark river, drawing forth memories of past battles and imbuing them with instincts honed in life.

Together, they advanced like a storm, impervious to the terror-stricken strikes of their killers.

Borge with a shattered arm and a gaping wound in his side staggered forward. Ford and the others struck him down with a furious blow, only for the warrior to rise once more, dragged to his feet by Horizon's relentless magic.

Blood trickled from the revenant's lips as it lifted its head, hollow eyes burning with a chilling revenge, no words left but a single-minded drive for retribution.

The enemy forces fell into disarray, their attempts to retreat thwarted as Horizon tightened his control.

David, leading the charge, struck, his claws flashing as he drove his hands through armor and flesh alike. Each swing, each step forward seemed to carry the weight of his clan's last wishes, the haunting silence of their empty graves hanging over him like a dark shroud.

The battlefield grew still as Horizon's undead army surrounded the last of the enemy. Their killers, cornered and outnumbered, trembled under the gaze of the revenants.

David's lifeless eyes narrowed as he faced Damon and Ford. There was no fear in his movements, no hesitation—only the will Horizon had imbued in him, a command woven deep into the very essence of his undead body.

Nyx chuckled softly, her gaze flicking to Horizon. "Guess they're more useful than I thought."

Horizon finally let a small, grim smile creep onto his face, his voice barely above a whisper. "It's amazing how loyal death can make a person."

With a final, deliberate wave of his hand, Horizon commanded the resurrected members of Roaring Beast to advance, their hollow eyes locked onto Ford and Damon, who were the only one left.

The ground trembled beneath the weight of their steady, march, each step thundering with the eerie resolve only the undead could possess.

As they charged, the dead-faced warriors moved like an iron tide, pushing closer and closer, forcing Ford and Damon to react.

Ford clenched his jaw, frustration evident as he readied his blade, summoning a familiar skill that lit the edge with a faint, flickering light.

Damon followed suit, weaving defensive and offensive spells in quick succession. It was a desperate attempt to break the unending swarm, yet for every undead warrior they struck down, two more surged forward, as if driven by an insatiable will to fight.

"Use your skills, now!" Ford barked, his voice edged with both command and fear as he spun through his own barrage of attacks, each one draining more of his energy than he'd planned.

Each cleaving swing and every burst of mana did little to halt the assault.

Damon's breath came in ragged gasps, his spells a blinding display of color and power in the forest's shadows, yet he could feel his strength waning with every strike.

The undead were tireless, driven not by rage or fear but by the dark force that bound them to Horizon's will.

Horizon watched from the shadows, his expression calm, almost clinical, as he continued to feed mana into the spell.

Beside him, Nyx observed the battlefield, her gaze tracing the exhaustion settling into their enemies' movements. She leaned closer to Horizon, a glint of curiosity in her eyes. "This is going to wear them down fast, but they'll need something stronger than these pawns to break."

"I know," Horizon murmured, watching Ford's eyes fill with frustration as another undead clawed its way out of the ground to replace a fallen comrade.

"This isn't about victory—it's about endurance. By the time they're finished, they'll have nothing left to fight with."

Ford and Damon had already burned through most of their strongest skills, each kill nothing more than a momentary victory, with the Roaring Beast warriors rising again like shadows reincarnated in twisted loyalty.

Horizon's unending supply of mana was a taunt, an assurance that his control over the battlefield was absolute.

And as the forest closed in around Ford and Damon, the undead turned to dusts except David.