CH 18 - The Orange Drake

Cass

I watch as Dainn opens up the combat by holding his hand up and casting a Master Purple spell. I don't know spell names, and am pretty sure Dainn creates more spells than not.

Whatever the case, this spell certainly resembled a diving smiting of heretics. The area above the kobolds in front of the burned tree stump starts to glow bright neon purple, the air sizzling and crackling as electricity spawns from nothing and blasts down to fry five, ten, at least fifteen dragonkin in an instant.

Without waiting for them to begin searching for the attackers, Dainn opens four void shadows beneath us. We sink through them and emerge in our predetermined positions. I look up to see Eifa quickly dispatch two fliers, take point, then kill three in one shot as they line up. She wheels and shoots two more, leaving only one flier. It is my turn.

The kobold minions all look terrified, the leaders intrigued and wary. I draw my bastard sword, and Dainn follows suit with a sword he designed, calling it a gladius. I clear my throat before beginning with a mocking bow.

"Greetings, little scaly gremlins! I will be the one to kill your leaders! If anyone thinks you can kill me first, then by all means, come prove it!"

Three of the grunts run at me, and one falls to an arrow in the neck from Eifa, who is done clearing the skies, and two are decapitated in a second by a speed enhanced Dainn.

"I thought I made it clear? Please, chieftains only. I don't waste my time with the plebian masses." I give a look of disgust to the grunts. Behind us, past the tree, the sound of wings unfurling and flapping draws my attention, and I see the drake waking up. I turn back to the chiefs, glaring at the red kobold in the eyes with a prideful challenge.

He doesn't move, and I am almost caught off guard by a different chieftain, a green one with a spear. She lunges with far more speed than I expect. She has no armor, just an iron spear, and goes straight for my throat. I am barely able to deflect the spearhead and sidestep, and she is relentless in response. A tail whips me in the side, knocking the wind out of me and sends me towards some grunts.

Dainn slashes his sword at them, sending blades of wind to split their heads in two vertically before they can grab me. I recover before I trip over the corpses.

I dash back in, taking the offensive. The spear lizard is skilled, for sure, but without the advantage of surprise and pressure, she is far too slow. I deliver a simple flurry of three direct slashes. She blocks two, dodges the third.

I go for the neck as she is still in the middle of a sidestep. She plants her foot, trying to duck in the direction of my blade and go under it to get in my blind spot.

Too bad it was a faint on my part. As soon as she commits by planting her foot, I change trajectory and slash down. My blade impales the lizard in her left shoulder, going cleanly through to the right hip, bisecting the monster in one blow.

I flick my sword to rid the blade of blood, then point it at the red kobold. "Huh, I was sure you'd face me first." It grins at me.

Is it strategizing?

A second chief steps forwards, a big blue brute holding a warhammer and wearing a poorly fitting horned helm. I scoff. "Really? I think you maybe should have gone for the surprise attack, not your buddy."

He huffs, snarls, and hisses as he raises the warhammer. He gives a mighty swing-!

I cut off his arms, bored out of my mind by how slow he is. He falls to his knees in pain, and I cut his head off.

The grunts have tired of waiting around, and begin to swarm. Dainn raises a hand, and the tree stump groans. It begins to move, tentacle-like branches growing rapidly, five of which shoot out and impale the hearts of three kobolds each.

"Come on, whose next?" I yell, doing a flourish of my blade.

A black scaled kobold in a cloak and steel breastplate roars as she runs at me, two daggers as her only weapons. I slice her leg off at the knee, then downward thrust into the back of her skull.

I spare a glance over to Eifa, noting at least eight dead lizard men with arrows sticking out of their skulls. The number of grunts is dramatically reduced, four chiefs remain. I don't dare check on Emilia and the drake. Looking away from your enemies is a death sentence in battle.

As if the drake can hear my thoughts, it lets loose a terrible, vibrating roar. I can hear the drakes shrieks, and the flapping of its wing was causing a strong wind. I send Emilia a silent prayer, though I know she can do this.

This isn't getting me anywhere, and by that I mean that Dainn isn't going to be impressed with me killing these weaklings so easily. I decide to stop waiting for the red kobold to come to me. I run forwards. I had determined from my preliminary observation of the group from a distance that the red kobold was the strongest of their ranks, but it seems now more likely that he is the only strong one.

Two chiefs try to take me on at once. They both wield swords, one with two short swords, the other a great sword. Both are white scaled and wearing random pieces of armor.

They wind up far too much, leaving me open to quickly slice the belly of the great sword kobold wide open. The other one strikes at me, but a simple flick of my wrist, a twist of my blade, and I've opened up his defenses and impaled his heart.

I take a breath, turning to see the violet chieftain, armed with a bow, trying to run. Both Eifa and Dainn shoot him down with an arrow and fire bolt respectively. The grunts are all dead, and only the red kobold remains.

"Idiots," it says in broken common. My eyes go wide. A monster speaking common is unheard of. It starts laughing, and I feel a hand grab my arm.

I turn to see Dainn. His face is set in a concerned expression as he looks at the kobold, and then he turns his head and gasps at the sky. "We messed up. We were missing information."

"What's wrong, Dainn?" I reach up to touch his cheek, but stop myself. His eyes, I think I can see… fear?

"With every death, I felt the overflow surge. It's been gathering around the kobold and the drake, and I think… I think it's been building towards their evolution."

My eyes go wider, my pupils dilating. "Wait, are you saying…"

"The overflow alone isn't what causes evolution. There needs to be mass sacrifices, as well, and we provided."

I look up. We can't handle two evolved monsters, one of which would be a dragon. "Emilia! Kill that drake! Now!"

Emilia

I emerge from the void with a ten foot diameter circle of earth beneath my feet. Immediately, I set to work in preparing, even as lightning blasts the courtyard below. I reach out with my small amount of mana, connecting to the spell Dainn was actively holding on the earthen disk.

I am no skilled mage by any means, but I do have some formal training. A simple thing like this is doable, even for me. By connecting to the spell, I can control its movement, sort of, by having it follow me, while Dainn gets his load lightened by only having to maintain the stability.

I hear Cassie issue the challenge, then look down and see Dainn cut down some grunts. Cass continues and I hear the drakes wings. I turn and look.

The drake is triple the size of a large horse, with thick, chaotic scales that are jagged and disorderly, resembling stones but with plenty of gaps revealing a lot of its muddy orange flesh. The scales get larger as they go up its back, neck, and head. Its wings are massive, twice the size of its body. Its legs are short but stocky, with massive claws. Its maw looks like a cave filled to the brim with stalagmites and stalactites.

It truly was worthy of worship, the embodiment of the earth itself, and still not yet the pinnacle of its kind.

It soars into the air, moving faster than I ever thought possible from something that looks like a flying boulder. I pull three arrows from my quiver, notching one while keeping the others ready and I pull back. This is my second bow, the first one I bought myself.

It is made of ash wood, shaped like an elegantly written cursive 'm', and adorned at the tips with a magi-copper alloy. It is a metal made by pouring into its molten form pure magic, used on weapons to enhance them.

I draw back as the drake soars higher and higher, likely preparing an attack. I find a gap in the scales around its neck, one less than an inch in diameter at the best of angles, and decide that should be good enough.

I take a deep breath, track my target, and as it comes to a stop and begins inhaling for a breath attack, I exhale and let loose.

The arrow flies like a falcon, finding purchase in the soft flesh of the monster's neck, cutting short its slaughter. I am already not being and firing the second, then third arrow, hitting the same target before it can react. I grab three more. Eifa taught me to be relentless. As archers, we are at an inherent disadvantage. Most other weapons types can be improved with personal strength, but bows have a limit. Strings snap, wood splinters. As archers, we can only rely on one thing: speed.

So I am relentless, releasing five total arrows to the same spot in under three seconds. It is enough to take down most monsters, especially to such a vital point. The drake is different, however.

Even against the unscaled portions of its body, my arrow meets flesh as touch as iron. I can only image how tough the scales themselves are, or the power it would gain from evolution into a fully fledged dragon,

It flies at me in a rage, and I pirouette elegantly to dodge by mere inches. The disc beneath my feet follows me, following its connection to my mana and keeping me grounded in the sky. As it zooms past, I jab out and stab into its back with an arrow. I find purchase, and smile. I've just proven to myself I'm fast enough to keep up.

It begins to circle back, and I let loose seven arrows in under two seconds. Five are distractions, not aimed for anything vital, just pierceable flesh. The last two, however, are aimed directly at its eyes.

One, two, three land in its shoulders and chest. Two dink off of those boulder-like scales. One arrow finds its target in the form of black eyes with flaming orange pupils. The last one misses by a millimeter.

It falters in the sky, letting loose a great roar that causes my bones and safety platform to vibrate intensely for a few moments, long enough to cause my gums to start bleeding.

I start notching the next arrow, finding I only have eight left. It snarls at me, and I smile. It's forgotten all about her friends and its congregation. All according to plan.

I sidestep a divebomb, then another, and a third. Despite the small and precise movements, it is a draining thing to do. My mana reserves aren't that great. If Dainn is an ocean, then I am a glass of water. Maintaining the connection requires nothing but focus, but by actually utilizing the spell, for example, by needing to dodge and have the disc follow me, that did cause a drain.

I can't dodge forever. In fact, I don't think I can do three more. After that, the disc will remain still, and I'll be forced to stand my ground or abandon my position.

It starts coming in for a fourth run. I realize it hasn't once attempted a breath attack on me specifically, meaning my idea was correct. However, now that I am in the midst of the fight proper, and that I understand its strengths better, I am starting to reconsider.

My eyes go wide. I sense the overflow going wild. I see mana manifest into a visible form, swirling around the drake. I can sense something similar down below.

"Emilia!" I hear Cassie yell from the courtyard. "Kill that drake! Now!" The finality in her voice leaves no room for argument. I set my jaw, and sever my mana. As the drake comes for the fourth drive by attack, I crouch low, and backflip off the disc.

It is at least eighty feet to the ground, slightly more than two seconds of free fall, a fraction of that for the drake to follow. But it won't follow, I am certain.

I hit the ground and roll, wincing only slightly thanks to Eifa's more intense training. I notch two arrows at once, snapping to aim above.

It is just me, my arrows, and the drake. The drake is glowing, readying one final attack before it fully undergoes evolution. Now that I'm on the ground, it can use its breath attack. It opens its maw, mana gathering in the cave causing a bright orange glow.

The courtyard begins vibrating, the cobblestones glitching and transmuting as the mana begins shaping it.

I loose my arrows, watching as they spiral around each other like two hummingbirds. They pass through the jagged teeth, and puncture the inside of the monster's throat.

The pain causes its psuedo-spell to backfire on it. Its scales explode inwards, puncturing it from thousands of angles and bringing it crashing to the ground. Dead. The glow around it fades.

"Good job, Emilia," Dainn says, a small hint of pride in his voice. He is standing with his sword raised towards the last remaining monster. "But look alive, we aren't done yet."

He is right. I can see the overflow taking the beast, and it has a look of intelligence that sends chills down my spine.

Dainn

Emilia fells the drake expertly, taking advantage of its anger and pride beautifully. However, the red kobold remains. He can speak, meaning he is intelligent. He is scarred heavily, meaning he knows death and combat intimately.

I am not sure what he will evolve into, but luckily for me, he doesn't keep me waiting. The mana overflow engulfs him the second the drake is dead.

The stones around us begin to crack from the immense pressure being released, the temple behind us fully crumbles to the ground, not a pillar still standing.

As the light fades and the smoke clears, we see the new monstrosity before us. He stands at eight feet tall, with large, draconic wings that is twice his height in their wingspan. He lost his tail, but gained so much mass in muscle that it more than made up for it.

Its lizard face somehow looks more eloquent, regal even. To add to this effect, a giant ruby was embedded in its forehead, between two char black horns. It looks more devil than dragon, and it takes me sensing his magic power for me to identify the monster type.

"Emilia, take Eifa and find cover. Ranged attacks will do nothing if they're not magic. We are facing a draxon."