Chapter Forty-Nine – Unexpected Help

"Stay firm Brothers and Sisters! Show these monsters the power of your faith!" Sister Sandra screamed as she fired non-stop with her two shotguns, hitting a humanoid creature with a male torso and the underside of a monstuous spider.

Another nun ran up to her, a short nun with Asian descent, she kept up constant fire, providing cover with a machine gun. "The Bureal will send support! We just need to hold our position for twenty minutes!"

"Twenty minutes is too long!" a priest yelled, he hit a lizard man with a heavy flail he carried throwing the creature away, the weapon emitting a potent golden glow, the lizard rose, unharmed. "We are equipped to deal with vampires, not these other creatures! How much ammo do we still have?"

"Eight clips left, but we're out of Holy Hand grenades!" the Asian nun with the machine gun replied.

"Clerics of our Lord! it looks like we're going to fall like martyrs, but don't worry, tonight we're going to feast on our Lord's table!" Sister Sandra responded as she continued shooting.

They had been dispatched to this city to offer support to the Burreal against the threat of the cultists, they didn't expect the cult presence to be so powerful, the cult had many creatures under their command in this city.

They had spent all week dealing with the vampires threat, their intelligence had received the clue about another vampire lair in the city's slums, they had prepared for an invasion and a figth against the vampires but it was a trap, what awaited them was a powerful group of assorted monsters, and they weren't equipped enough to deal with such a threat.

The monsters were surrounding them more and more, closing in tight, forcing them into theruined building, there seemed to be no end to the horde of monsters, the monsters were not unarmed either, they had their own share of modern weapons and magic relics, and the crossfire was kept going on both sides without stopping, and some of the clerics had already fallen.

Locke debated for a while whether or not he should help, his failed attempt to come in to good terms with the Burial had taught him that the groups dealing with the supernatural had a pre-established position about the magic creatures and, well, Locke was one of the magic creatures. He was afraid that getting involved with the church would be a mistake, but in the end, he couldn't stand still as he watched the nuns and priests be slaughtered.

There was also the fact that there was a lot of bad blood between Locke and the Minotaurs, plus as there were vampires between the Minotaurs and the other monsters, Locke understood that they were all probably involved with the cultists and this was a good chance to hit a common enemy, taking advantage of their distraction to deal damage, every enemy he killed now was one less in the future.

Locke analyzed how he should help, after all, this was the first time he would get into a fight of this magnetude, both sides were armed with modern weaponry and Locke only had his magic, the number of monsters was also quite large, there were about sixty monsters against twelve clerics, who only remained standing because they hid in an abandoned building.

Flying offered him a huge tactical advantage, he used his elevated position to make most damage possible in the first attack, Locke embodied his inner spitfire and acting like a Bomber, he used half of his mana to rain fireballs over the monsters position while flying at high speed.

The black flames took the monsters by surprise, some were quick enough to cover themselves with mana and protect from the attack and the lizards seemed to have a natural resistance against the fire, but the others weren't so lucky and were caught by the flames, the half-spider creatures appeared to be exceptionally weak to fire, burning easily, the explosions were also quite powerful, shattering some of the creatures, Locke's attack revealed his position, as the camouflage faded as soon as he performed another spell, soon bullets and magic attacks began to rain down on him.

Locke tried to dodge attacks while flying, but the number of bullets was too high, he completely transformed into his draconic form, and the bullets he couldn't dodge bounced off his scales, but still hurt, he dove into the midst of the surviving monsters like a missile, his claws were sharp as blades and with each blow he drew blood, entering the midst of the monsters also made them stop shooting, avoiding friendly fire, and the creatures were forced into close combat with him.

"What in God's name is that?" A priest yelled, a black scaled flying creature just attacked the other monsters, greatly reducing the pressure on them.

"What kind of monster is this?" the Asian nun asked. "Why areit attacking the others?"

"This does not matter!" Shouted Sister Sandra. "If it is against our enemies, it's our chance to turn the tables! I won't deny any unexpected help! We will offer fire support! We can deal with whatever this is after!" She took off, showing herself at a window, firing nonstop towards the monsters, one of her shots hit a creature that looked like a cross between a man and a frog, which approached Locke from behind with a strange glowing dagger.

Locke swung his tail hard, the bone formation at the tip of the tail was sharp and tough, he hit a half man half spider creature right in the waist, separating the two parts neatly. The lead Minotaur ran towards him with a big hammer, he swung the hammer hard in a big arc, Locke defended the blow by raising his arms.

Choosing to defend proved to be a big mistake, the hammer gave off a strange glow and when it hit Locke it sent him flying, the impact ran through his whole body and he felt an extreme pain, the blow did not break his black scales but a shockwave raced through his body, causing him internal damage.

"This crap must be magic!" Locke thought, the Minotaur shouldn't be strong enough to deal him that much damage. He had been thrown far away, forming a small crater on the side of a building, some vampires and another half-spider monster were running towards him when something strange happened.

The lizard creatures in the middle of the monsters started to attack their old companions, they started shooting at all the other monsters, even shooting down the vampires and the spiders that attacked Locke, some of them ran and positioned themselves around Locke, protecting him.

"Da F*ck? Why are you helping me?" Locke questioned for a second, one of the lizards, the biggest among them, approached and offered his hand, helping him out of the hole he was in, Locke noticed that the monster was showing him eyes of complete adoration. "Well, you don't look a gift horse in the mouth!" Locke whispered to himself. "The Minotaur is mine!" He screamed.

Locke lunged towards the Minotaur, the creature saw his movement and swung the big hammer, Locke smiled, he used his wings to change position middle of the movement, thrusting in another direction, escaping the attack, he spun in midair like a spinning top, the momentum of the movement was transmitted to his fist and he landed a powerful punch in the Minotaur's left humerus, his fist sank into the monster's muscles as if they were made of jelly, and Locke felt the bone crunch in the process.

The attack made the Minotaur lose the grip one of the hammer's hands, leaving his chest exposed, Locke amended a second attack on the Minotaur exposed chest, he extended his left claws and dug deep into the monster's chest, his claws ripped the muscle easily, but he didn't have the momentum necessary to rip the bones, he gripped the creatures sternum, and the black flames ignited in his hand.

The monster's chest exploded like a balloon, burning and releasing a strong smell of burning flesh, Locke grabbed the creature's hammer and turned to the other monsters who watched him with eyes of terror, they started to run and flee, the clerics of church still fired through the window of the building, killing some of the monsters that fled in the distance.

In the end only Locke and the lizardmen were left behind, the lizards dropped to their knees the moment they were alone with Locke, putting their heads on the ground and bouncing jubilant sounds, Locke was quite confused, but it didn't seem like they would cause him problems at the moment and he had something else to solve first.

The church people were still looking out the building window suspiciously, they weren't shooting him yet and that was a good thing, but the tension in the air was so great that Locke felt like he could cut it with a knife.

Finally the nun shouting orders left the building unarmed, she held both hands high and moved slowly, Locke looked at her, he put the hammer he had taken from the Minotaur in his inventory, he held up one of his hands up his face and covered himself with shadows, returning to normal as he dressed and covered his face with the mask, he faced the nun in his human form.

His transformation filled the nun with surprise, she looked at him alarmed for a moment, confused, she composed herself and asked, "Who are you?"

Locke watched her as he thought of what answer he could make. "Someone who couldn't just watch!"

The nun was silent for a second, watching Locke's face with a strange expression, she looked at the kneeling lizards. "Why are they like this?"

"I have no idea" Locke replied, he watched the other priests and nuns watching him from the windows of the building, he realized they were ready to attack if there was a need.

"Why did you save us?" the nun asked.

"...I just wanted to..." Locke replied. "I'm leaving, is there a problem with that?"

The nun watched him for a moment in silence. "I doubt we can stop you, even if we want to..."

Locke turned to leave, the lizards got up and followed him, Locke was going to fly home but decided to walk, he needed to have a talk with the lizards after all.

The nun watched as Locke and the lizards walked away, she sighed deeply when they were no longer visible, the Asian nun left the building and approached Sister Sandra.

"What creature was this, sister? Why did he help us?" the Asian nun asked confused.

"I don't know what he was or why he chose to save us, he seems to have some effect on the Lizardkin, both of his forms were not illusions either, my gifts would allow me to see if they were lies, His words were also sincere, although he didn't answer me directly and my rosary didn't react to his presence..."

"If the rosary didn't react he wasn't a demon…" The priest with the heavy flail approached. "His shape resembled a lizard, but those wings... he may have Dragon blood..."

"It's been a long time since a Dragon has been seen on Earth, Since the invasion twenty years ago, no dragon has crossed the edge into this world,he may have been hiding all this time... If he truly has dragon blood he can become an important asset for the protection of the world, I doubt that the Burial is oblivious to his existence…" Sister Sandra commented. "Sister Daiyu, I leave it to you to investigate this individual, Brother Jhonn, inform the higher clergy, the Pope needs to know about this!"

***

Oblivious to the church member's discussion, Locke walked back to town, the lizard men had somehow changed their appearance and now they looked like normal human people but Locke could see through the illusion, they followed him with smiles and eyes of extreme adoration, it was like if they had found a deity.

Locke walked to a secluded spot and turned around, he watched the group of about eighteen people watching him as if they were waiting for something. "So what's up with you? Why did you guys change sides when I joined the fight?"

"My lord, my name is Utizir, I am a leader of the Lizardkin, our people were driven from our home and thrown into this strange world where we had no land and no relatives, we settled in the swamps far from humanity where we live in peace for many years, but humans found us and kidnapped our women and children, forcing us to work under their orders, you are a dragon blood like our father! By the blood promise we are family! And that's why we fight by your side even putting the lives of our women at risk! Now we ask you to help us save our women! Save our wives and children and we will be your servants to the end of the world!" Utizir dropped to his knees, the other lizards imitating him.

Locke was without reaction for a moment, but he sighed, he hated the idea of ​​being indebted, the lizards had still helped in the previous battle, so he decided he would help them too.

"Where are your women?"