Amy had learned from her Archmage father about the Gnoll night raid on Goldshire, and how a youth running a "net cafe" had saved everyone and repelled Hogger. Although repelling Hogger wasn't considered a difficult feat in the eyes of an Archmage, this unheard-of net cafe had piqued her curiosity.
Mages can learn Teleportation spells upon reaching the intermediate level. By using specialized "Teleportation Runes" from magic shops in conjunction with their incantations, they can transport themselves to the arcane energy focal points in the capital cities of various kingdoms.
In Stormwind City, this location is situated within the towering Mage Tower of the Wizard's Sanctum in the Mage District. Dedicated mages constantly channel arcane energy to maintain stable teleportation channels.
Upon reaching the high-level stage, mages can learn the even more powerful Portal spells, allowing themselves and their teammates to pass through a conjured passage to reach major cities quickly. The material components for these portals are the more magically potent and expensive "Portal Runes."
On the night of the Gnoll raid, Zaldimar had used Teleportation to reach Stormwind quickly and called for help from Stormwind Keep through his colleagues at the Wizard's Sanctum.
The curious Amy Marlin had later found Zaldimar while he was recovering in Stormwind to ask about the net cafe. At the time, the mage trainer hadn't yet become a member, so he had only given her a simple account of what he had seen.
This led the naturally brilliant and magically gifted Amy to decide to visit Goldshire herself. In her view, a powerful mage proficient in illusion magic must have arrived in Goldshire to run a place intended to entertain commoners.
However, while Wayne was farming materials with Rainier just now, Amy had already witnessed the conclusion of the Sorting Ceremony in the world of Harry Potter.
Like Wayne and the others, she had chosen to participate fully in the ceremony and explored every reachable area of the Hogwarts main building. Naturally, she also tasted the food at the Sorting Feast. It was only then that this genius, hailed as the next Archmage, realized that what she was seeing was absolutely not the product of illusion magic.
Whether it was the sensation of heat and cold, the taste of food, the tactile feeling of the wind rushing past her palm when she reached out the window of the Hogwarts Express, or even the distinct scents of different people—no known spell could replicate all of this.
Even if the history of human magic was limited, the ancient magical texts left by the High Elves (Sin'dorei) when they first taught humans emphasized that even top-tier illusions could only simulate sight and sound.
As the feast ended and the new students began returning to their dormitories, Amy's concentration relaxed slightly. She noticed everyone crowded behind Wayne and Rainier—though she only knew the owner's name was Wayne, and she hadn't even caught a clear look at his eyes since entering the room.
Despite being immersed in the magical world under her father's influence and having seen countless ancient texts describing mythical beasts, she was stunned by the sight of the Lao-Shan Lung repeatedly slamming into the fortress wall.
This wasn't just a dragon; it was a moving mountain!
Rainier's Dual Blades were glowing entirely red; he had entered Archdemon Mode. Under his Demon Dance, a large patch of scales on the Lao-Shan Lung's belly had been hacked away, leaving a massive, gaping wound. However, the pain only intensified the dragon's fear, and the frequency of its front claws and upper body slamming into the wall began to increase.
Wayne climbed the rope ladder to a battlement platform on the outer wall, then sprinted up the stairs inside the wall toward the top-level platform.
More and more wall bricks began to crack and fall. Wayne felt the stairs, built from large cut stones, trembling beneath his feet. If the wall was breached, the Hunter's Gathering Hall would have no defense left, and the mission would be a failure.
When he left the ground to climb, the "Fortress Integrity" was at 87%. Now, it had dropped to 63%. The Lao-Shan Lung was dismantling the strongest barrier humans could build in the Monster Hunter world at an alarming speed.
When Wayne finally stepped onto the top platform after climbing over a hundred steps, the crenelated walls on the side nearest the dragon had been mostly demolished.
He rushed to the Ballista, loaded the "Anti-Dragon Shells" provided by the Gathering Hall, and unleashed a rapid volley at the dragon's head until the ammunition was exhausted.
The Lao-Shan Lung shook its head and let out a massive roar. The wind pressure once again forced Wayne and Rainier to crouch and cover their ears.
De Vries remarked, "It seems that ballista deals quite a bit of damage. When it's our turn, we should assign someone specifically to come up here and fire it."
Verdan asked, "Didn't Miller use the Bowgun for quite a while? Since this ballista is so effective, why didn't he use a Bowgun for this fight?"
Hearing their discussion, Wayne explained that while the Lao-Shan Lung had weak points, its sheer size and the fact that it spent half the battle moving toward the fortress meant that even with a Bowgun, he couldn't guarantee being within the optimal range for maximum damage. Aiming at a head dozens of meters high meant that gravity and thick scales would significantly diminish the bullets' power.
While the shooting environment would improve once the dragon reached the wall, the damage lost during the approach phase would have been a waste.
Furthermore, while the belly wasn't a "weak point" in the traditional sense, it was the part with the lowest defensive resistance. Whether using blunt or slicing attacks, the resistance was only 45%, much lower than the 70% at the head.
As Wayne spoke, he ran to the center of the wall platform. A massive, circular red object appeared before the onlookers, mounted on an iron base.
Wayne said, "Besides, I didn't climb up here just to fire a few shots. This is the real trump card!"
Returning to the game, he shouted down to Rainier below: "Get back!" Then, he slammed his foot down on the red disc.
Suddenly, a thunderous roar erupted. The sound of escaping steam hissed alongside the metallic clanking and grinding of gears.
Four massive lances, nearly two meters in diameter, shot out instantly from four circular holes in the fortress wall. The shafts were made of giant logs, and the spirally forged steel tips were not only sharp but also bore prominent barbs.
The four lances slammed into the Lao-Shan Lung's body. Severely wounded by the sudden strike, the dragon let out an ear-splitting shriek, and its assault on the wall ceased immediately.
Instinctively, it tried to back away to pull its body off the lances. However, driven by mechanical components, the four lances began to slowly retract into the wall. Wayne and Rainier watched as the barbs tore flesh from the dragon's body, accompanied by a pungent, bloody stench.
Hicks gasped, "My god... I always thought the people in the village and the Gathering Hall were just useless NPCs who gave out quests. I didn't expect them to build such a killing machine in the wall."
Hudson added, "The Dragonator... it truly lives up to its name!"
Verdan said, "When I saw Wayne firing the ballista, I thought that was the Dragonator..."
De Vries shouted, "Miller, once the tips retract, give it another shot!"
Wayne replied, "This thing has a very long cooldown. It needs a long time to build up energy before each use."
He then shouted to Rainier in the game: "Quick! It's almost finished!"
Receiving the command, Rainier struggled to find a safe position beneath the dragon's thrashing body and poured all his damage into its lower belly.
Wayne ran to the other side of the top platform and exhausted the ammunition of the second ballista on the dragon's head. At this point, the desperate Lao-Shan Lung began to go mad, throwing its body against the wall with reckless abandon.