The dragon lizard’s body crashed to the ground with a loud thud, kicking up dust that lingered in the air.
Xuanxi dismissed the water blade, and the scales from her dragon transformation faded from her hands. The light of the heavenly fate mark dimmed slowly. Her right arm hung at her side, the sleeve completely soaked in blood and sticking to her skin.
The wound on her face had already scabbed over. She stood there motionless—not because she didn’t want to move, but because her legs were trembling. From her ankles up to her thighs, her entire body trembled uncontrollably.
Several rounds of high-intensity water-element spells had drained her spiritual energy, and combined with the injuries sustained during the fight, her body was on the verge of collapse.
Hildegrifa stood beside her, her silver-white hair lifted by the evening breeze. Her face was paler than usual, and her amethyst eyes looked dim. The thunder spear she had released at the end was an advanced lightning-attribute spell, consuming most of her spiritual energy.
Elsa, on the other hand, was more straightforward—she simply collapsed onto the ground, her short brown hair soaked with sweat and plastered to her forehead, the flame long extinguished.
Her entire arm ached, but she had never let go, maintaining a combat stance until the very last moment. Reginald stood in front of Elsa, his hands still pressed against the ground, his fingertips embedded in the rubble.
Blood seeped from the corner of his mouth—he had been hit by the dragon lizard’s tail while shielding Elsa. Only after confirming that the dragon lizard wouldn’t move again did he withdraw his hands from the ground and silently wipe the blood from his lips.
Valeris leaned against a rock wall, her ice-blue eyes half-closed, her breathing shallow. A few strands of golden hair hung by her cheek, faintly glowing in the twilight.
From the start of the battle, she had been continuously dealing damage to the dragon lizard without pause. Her ice-element spiritual energy was nearly depleted, and she had no strength left to even lift her hand.
In the distance, the five members of Wolf Squad also sat slumped on the ground. Rex Wolf’s right arm was still in a sling, and his broken sword was sheathed at his waist.
His two standing teammates were performing emergency treatment on the two who were lying down—splinting broken bones, flushing wounds with healing potion.
“My God! What happened here?” The patrol team’s voice arrived belatedly from the entrance of the canyon. The leading instructor was a middle-aged male of the dragon race, wearing a dark gray uniform with a patrol badge on his chest.
His gaze swept over the canyon—cracks everywhere, the massive corpse of the dragon lizard lying on the ground.
He first noticed the wounded Xuanxi and her team, confirmed they were stable, then turned to the more severely injured Wolf Squad—broken arms, broken legs, teammates lying on the ground unable to move.
Finally, he looked at the thoroughly dead dragon lizard carcass. “A Rock-armored Dragon Lizard, and almost a top-tier specimen.”
“Who killed it?”
“We did,” Reginald said, his voice hoarse.
The patrol captain’s gaze shifted from the dragon lizard’s corpse to Reginald’s face. “Both teams?”
“Actually, only the five of us were the main force,” Reginald added.
The patrol captain’s expression didn’t change noticeably, but the expressions of the younger instructors behind him shifted. A half-step top-tier magical beast.
Ten first-year students, in their first final assessment, had defeated a half-step top-tier dragon lizard, and only sustained injuries—no deaths.
“Medics!” The patrol captain didn’t even turn his head. Several medics in white uniforms jogged up from behind the line, carrying medicine boxes, stretchers, bandages, and splints.
One medic crouched in front of Xuanxi and reached out to touch her right shoulder. “I can do it myself,” Xuanxi said, sidestepping. The medic’s hand froze in midair. He glanced at the blood-soaked sleeve on her right arm, then at her pale face. “Your bone…”
“It’s already been realigned. It’s fine.”
“What about other areas? Aren’t you afraid of leaving lasting damage?” The medic’s voice was flat, but his hands were steady. He rolled up Xuanxi’s sleeve, revealing her entire right arm.
The dark cyan scales had receded, but the skin still bore the pattern of scales, like shallow scars.
From shoulder to forearm, there were large patches of purple-black bruising and several wounds cut open by rubble.
The medic said nothing, took a bottle of healing potion from the kit, and poured it over the wounds. As the potion touched her skin, Xuanxi’s fingers clenched tightly, and her shoulder flinched, but she held back from crying out.
Hildegrifa stood nearby, watching the wounds on Xuanxi’s right arm. Her amethyst eyes reflected the purple-black bruises, and her whole demeanor was filled with concern.
After the medic finished treating Xuanxi’s wounds, he moved to Elsa. Elsa was rubbing her own shoulder. The medic came over, pressed her hand down, and applied an ice pack to the bruise.
“Ice compress for three days. Remember to change the dressing twice a day.” Elsa hissed at the cold of the ice pack.
Reginald didn’t ask for help—he just wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with a sterile gauze and called it done.
Valeris leaned against the rock wall. The medic went over and gave her a few instructions. She wasn’t injured, so she didn’t need bandaging—just some rest.
The patrol captain stood beside the dragon lizard’s corpse, looking at the fallen giant. A third of its huge armored scales were shattered. Its right eye had been blinded first by the lightning light, then the wound on its neck was cut open by the water blade.
At the weak point of its throat, there was a long, thin, charred mark—the trace left by an advanced lightning-attribute spell, thunder spear penetrating through.
“This dragon lizard’s level exceeds the scope of the Academy’s assessment,” he said, his voice low but clear. “Wait here for a while. I will report to the Academy and note the situation in the assessment report. Rest easy today.”
Xuanxi sat on a rock. Her right arm was now wrapped in bandages by the medic, and the wound on her face was covered with a band-aid. Her spiritual energy had not fully recovered, and her broken ribs still ached (such injuries had to be treated back at the Academy).
Although her dislocated right shoulder had been realigned, her entire arm was still very painful and weak. She sat there, watching the sky gradually darken. The first star flickered in the gap between the clouds.
“Set up camp here,” the patrol captain ordered. “We’ll return to the Academy tomorrow morning.”