Chapter 64: Dawnfall (1/2)
Vainqueur was livid.
First of all, the bats had struck at his second-most prized possession: his one and only friend. They had trashed his house, leaving only a pile of rubble before which the dragon and his minions stood. They had caught the souls of his prized lackeys—thankfully none of whom Vainqueur knew the names of—and wounded Sweet Chocolatine.
Second, these savages didn’t appreciate the taste of dragon blood. A half-dragon, but dragon blood still! This affront to his species' honor would not go unpunished!
And finally, the bats now threatened his niece.
“Fetch me any vampire you find,” Vainqueur ordered the Kobold Rangers, who had survived the assault, albeit not without wounds. “So I may eat them myself!”
“What do we do with her?” Knight Kia asked, holding the treacherous Savoureuse while keeping her sword at her throat.
“How could you?” Vainqueur lambasted her. “How could you betray me? Why have so many minions betrayed my trust after I gave their lives purpose? After I made you more than food, namely, emergency food?”
“I care more about my life than a purpose?” Savoureuse proposed, unashamed and unrepentant.
“Sav, this doesn’t have to be,” Manling Victor said, composed and dignified as befitting Vainqueur’s chief of staff. “I asked Kia to send a magical message to her old party member Nostredame days ago, on your behalf.”
“I asked Kevin to set the authorities on the Nightblades in Noblecoeur, your home city, and to safeguard your family,” the paladin said. “If you cooperate with us, we can ensure your safety from reprisals.”
“But that would make me a snitch,” Savoureuse protested. “I would have to go back on my honor as a professional thug-for-hire and assassin.”
“The only honor in life for a mortal like you is to do as a dragon tells you!” Vainqueur responded with peerless logic. “The life of a wyrmling is on the line! Will you keep serving as the minion of creatures who will sink so low? Or will you choose to serve the best, most merciful, richest dragon in the world? Are you a Bella, or a Renfield?”
“I…”
“I am a dragon,” Vainqueur cut her off. “And I am also an uncle. Anything that stands between me and my niece’s safety is not food. It is ashes. Are you ashes, Scaly Savoureuse?”
Charisma check successful! It’s a critical!
Scaly Savoureuse saw the light of dragon wisdom—helped by the smoke coming out of his nostrils—and turned her back on the darkness. “If my family and I are safe, I could… give away the locations of all the hidden warehouses we set up in Murmurin.”
“What about Charlene?” Manling Victor immediately pushed, once again only thinking about reproducing. “Miel?”
“Charlene is… sick.”
“Sick, as in blood sick?” Manling Victor asked, worried.
“Sick as in vampire sick,” Savoureuse admitted. “As for Miel, a doppelganger impersonated her to foster strife among Heaven and Happyland. I can testify—”
“Nobody cares!” Vainqueur snarled. “Where is the bat? Where is my niece?”
In front of the treacherous creature’s silence, the dragon decided to take matters into his own claws. “Give me the map, minion,” Vainqueur ordered, his friend obeying at once. “We will track down this overgrown bat immediately!”
“Wait, I need to equip myself first!”
“I’m coming as well,” Kia insisted.
“After you abandoned my niece? Never!” Vainqueur snarled, before turning to his minion. “No time to wait, Manling Victor! I will summon you when I catch her!” His niece’s life was on the line, and nothing else mattered.
“No, Your Majesty, you can’t—”
But Vainqueur had already extended his wings and flew away, the tiny map in his claws.
The sun had risen well above when Vainqueur located Lavere in the middle of the desert, far, far away from Murmurin.
The great dragon didn’t have to check his map; the vermin had summoned a sphere of darkness, that ‘underworld’ effect, right in the middle of the dunes. While his minions may not have seen well through these thick shadows, Vainqueur did. He could also smell the bat, Mell Lin, their servants… and most importantly, his niece.
Under other circumstances, Vainqueur would have fashionably announced his presence, or stealthily activated his blinkblink ring. But this time, he did not. This vermin would have naught but flames and destruction.
Instead, Vainqueur activated his [Charged Attack] Perk and unleashed a house-sized fireball at the dark sphere.
The resulting blast turned the very sand to molten glass, shredded the vampires and other monstrous vermin camouflaging within. The shadows fled before his flames, the effect dispelled.
[DarkUnderworld] field destroyed!
As the shadowy orb vanished, the sun cast a bright light on the area. Jolie, his poor niece, had been bound by thick black chains and muzzled; a disgusting vampire, which he assumed to be Lucie Lavere, had survived his attack thanks to a shield of purple light; and Mell Lin stood nearby, his pipe in one hand and a strange, familiar bottle in the other. All their minions, Vainqueur had slain.
The dragon’s eyes immediately drifted to his niece, the sight enraging him. Her scales were covered in bruises, and one of her tiny horns had been cut like a twisted trophy. She looked up at her uncle with hope, straining against her bindings to join him, yet too young and weakened to do so.
Unfortunately, these… these cowards stayed close to Jolie, using her as a shield. Vainqueur knew his flames wouldn’t hurt her, but the blast might.
“To think I let you live,” Lavere growled, a wailing grimoire floating in front of her, while Mell Lin put the bottle in the sand, before playing his pipe and dancing around it. “What a mistake… [Soul Sacrifice: Unblockable Magic].”
By sacrificing a stolen soul per spell, Lucie Lavere’s spell checks will automatically succeed against you!
“I knew you could not resist the sweet, wonderful taste of dragon blood,” Vainqueur said with a growl. “Your thirst for this indescribable pleasure led you to your doom. You have touched my niece, and for this crime against me, you shall perish!”
“A dragon caring for another? Laughable,” Lucie taunted him while chuckling to herself. “The only thing that matters in this world, is power. [Shadow Chains].”
Black chains identical to those holding Jolie manifested around Vainqueur, trying to ensnare him. He easily broke them, his royal mantle shining as he did.
Mobility reduction negated by your [Cloak of Golden Majesty].
“I promise you this, batling,” Vainqueur warned, well and truly furious. “I will hold nothing back.”
“Then let’s finish this,” she replied with smug arrogance. “For I won’t let you, or anyone, interfere with my ambitions.”
Vainqueur answered by lunging towards her like a hawk diving at a mouse, claws extended. He activated [Fire Crown], his body exuding a mighty shroud of flames and burning Mot’s map in his hand; the great dragon had become a meteor falling on insects.
But as he closed the gap between his foes and himself, Mell Lin’s bottle began to open on its own; Vainqueur finally recognized it as the one keeping that fairy Mot trapped. Did these fools think the djinn could save them? It only meant more experience for the dragon to claim!
But instead of unleashing another fomor to die at his hands, the bottle began to suck air and sand.
Warning: [Bottle of Dragonbinding] activated by ???
If you are dragged inside, you will be [Banished] to a pocket dimension!
Before Vainqueur knew what hit him, the bottle turned into a mighty vortex dragging him toward itself; the great dragon suddenly found himself forced to try and fly back not to be trapped by it. He immediately activated [Spell Purge], trusting it to defeat this witchery! It reduced the vortex’s power, yet couldn’t negate it.
“The pieces are falling into place,” Lavere gloated, skipping pages from her book while Mell Lin focused on singing. “[Doublecast].”
Lucie Lavere can now cast two spells at once!
[Bottle of Dragonbinding] negated by [Immovab—
“[Perk Binding],” the vampire said, her grimoire uttering the same sentence as she did.
Your [Spell Purge] and [Immovable] Perks have been nullified!
His favorite Perk stopped working, leaving him defenseless and ever closer to this prison. Vainqueur immediately attempted a last-ditch exorcism, but the vampire negated it with a [Counterspell]. Vainqueur tried to incinerate the item, only to watch his breath drawn inside.
“MINION!” Vainqueur shouted. “MINION! GET BACK HERE!”
Victor Dalton cannot teleport for the day.
What? How could his chief of staff go on strike at this critical moment?!
“Researching your perks, cutting away your key resources, and isolating you from them took time,” Lavere spoke with confidence. “But brains will always prevail over brawn. With your defeat, I will get a [Heroic Crest], and become closer to Valhalla.”
Vainqueur let out a furious snarl, as he fruitlessly struggled to escape the binding. His sweet niece looked up at him, her once-hopeful eyes now full of fear and despair.
This could not end like this! He was the great red dragon, the Emperor of Murmurin and the Albain Mountains, the richest in the world!
And yet, the wealthy always won, because the truly rich have friends.
[Master’s Shield] activated! You gained the [Regen] status.