Chapter 144: The Arrows of Light (1/2)
The skies were bright with explosions, but Vainqueur’s light blinded them all. “[Shining Majesty]!”
The dragon radiated the holy light of the hoard on the Sablarian heathens, incinerating those closest to him, and melting even their mighty war golems. A shooting star made wyrm, he pulverized everything in his path, creating a golden road for his fellow dragons to follow; behind him, Grandrake and Genialissime led the reptilian charge, raining elemental breaths on their outmatched enemies.
The fomors’ last line of defense couldn’t hold against the fury of dragons. Yet they held the line with suicidal stubbornness, fighting to the death for masters who refused to risk their own worthless lives.
The metal Dolphin, whom his minions had called a nuclear submarine, remained the greatest threat fielded by the fomors against the united minion armies. But unlike last time, it unleashed no Arrow of Light at Vainqueur’s allies; Wind Spears and other artillery were its main weapons today.
Had the fairies learned their lesson? Or had it exhausted all its offensive weaponry fighting the fishmen’s master, Lord Dagon, in their previous encounter?
No. The fairies must have kept their arrows in reserve in their hidden castle, sending the submarine as a sheep to the slaughter; a final, last-ditch defense to halt the V&V army’s advance.
Having finished clearing the skies enough to safeguard his minions, Vainqueur allowed his kindred to take over the aerial battle and returned to his assault on the submarine. The machine was engaged in a fierce battle with the V&V Empire’s amphibious forces, from fishmen to monstrous squidlike immigrants from the dreaded Planet Moon. They were swift and strong, but their speed could only safeguard them so much against the barrage of cannonballs and missiles the golem submarine fired in every direction.
Roaring at the challenge, Vainqueur dived down to bombard the submarine with his breath; the machine, fueled by a simple yet effective intelligence, dived down below to the safety of seawater. The dragon’s fireballs turned waves to boiling clouds of steam, and some might even have hit their target, but the ocean provided protection difficult to overcome.
What could Vainqueur do? Use Geomancy to alter the sea, raise stone from the ocean floor? He would need to be grounded to do so, and it would deprive his seafaring forces of their own safety net.
No. He would confront the metal beast in its nest, and force it to duel him on the land.
The dragon dived down, dodging artillery, before falling into the water like a harpoon; his scales hit the waves and pierced through saltwater. Sharkmen followed after their emperor, the creatures swimming with almost as much grace as Vainqueur himself.
Vainqueur kept going down until he reached the undersea rift where the submarine had retreated. Instantly, upon catching sight of its enemy, the machine fired a dozen torpedos in the dragon’s direction.
Agility check successful!
Like a magnificent water wyrm, Vainqueur skillfully moved to dodge the torpedoes, circling the golem. His aquatic minions, meanwhile, went for the frontline approach, assaulting the submarine head-on by launching lightning spears at it. The scene reminded the dragon of those silly knights, who tried to tickle him with their ridiculous sword toothpicks.
Useless… but distracting.
This offered the dragon an opportunity he didn’t waste, moving below the submarine’s hull and grabbing it with his hands.
With great might, Vainqueur attempted to lift the Dolphin from below, defying the very laws of physics.
Strength check…
Successful!
But impossible wasn't for dragons.
Even underwater, the flapping of his great, mighty wings could carry Vainqueur through anything. They allowed him to push up until even the sharkmen pulled back, as the dragon carried his prey towards the surface.
Unbalanced, the Dolphin began to break down under the strain of its own mass, even as Vainqueur raised it further and further high. The dragon emerged from the waves, lifting the giant golem above the ground.
Then, gaining momentum, Vainqueur threw the submarine at the distant shores, like the very same arrows it rained upon the dragon. The machine hit the ground in a catastrophic crash, blowing dust in all directions, but survived. Even as Vainqueur unleashed fire upon its iron hide, the golem raised itself on tiny mechanical legs and tried to return to the sea; its steel hide turned red from the heat, yet remained too strong for Vainqueur to pierce through.
But the dragon was cunning and had planned ahead. Time to activate one of his new Perks.
”[Sublime Dragonbreath: Icefang].”
Your breath element changed to [Frost].
Next time he breathed, Vainqueur’s gullets produced not hot, nuclear flames, but a blizzard; as chilling as his departed rival Icefang had ever produced. After the searing heat, the freeze damaged the metal hide, turning it brittle.
When he knew that one final push would destroy the beast, Vainqueur prepared to land the coup de grace.
“[Sublime Breath: Earth]!”
As he changed its element one more time, Vainqueur’s breath transformed from ice to earth. Instead of releasing a chilling blizzard, he rained sharp stones from his gullet; each shard thick enough to cut a tree in half.
Weakened by the heating and freezing, the rain of projectiles devastated the Dolphin’s hide, piercing its metal skin as easily as arrows with mammal flesh. The barrage of stones cut the metal monster in half, explosions devastating its body and blowing steel in all directions.
When the dust settled, the golem submarine looked like a gutted fish, dead and smoking.
“I am the wyrm of countless breaths!” Vainqueur roared to the heavens, victorious once again.
“You wasted too much time, Knightsbane.”
It took a few seconds for Vainqueur to recognize the voice and its source. “Dragonslaying fairy,” he hissed. “Show yourself.”
”Foolish dragon,” Odieuse's voice echoed out of the Dolphin's dorsal fin, and the tiny loudspeakers hidden there. ”You believe you cornered me when all you did served my design.”
“Then you must be very good at losing,” Vainqueur replied with pride.
”You gathered my enemies in one place, including the dragons of the world… so that I may slay you all at once. Your souls will fuel my belly, unleashing a tide of blood that I shall ride to Valhalla. The dead of this conflict almost made me a goddess already. I simply need... a final miracle.”
Sound erupted from the distant island, beyond the magical wards.
Victor had to admit it, Wotan had a good reason to favor Ragnarok as his chosen spell; it had killed Akhenapep in one strike, while it had taken Kia’s epic sword or Vainqueur’s [Charged Breath] before.
A pity it didn’t stick.
As expected, a few seconds after the mighty thunderbolt vaporized him, the mummy reappeared unharmed at the same spot. Floating under the power of a sandstorm, he cast a mighty buffing spell on himself. “[Greater Seal: Lightning].”
Akhenapep gained temporary Immunity to [Lightning]!
Meanwhile, Victor and Allison still rode on the back of Noirceur the Nightmare, who could run on the seawater as easily as grass; while they lacked Akhenapep’s flight advantage, they outmatched him in speed and maneuverability. Rolo the golem rode a captured pterodactyl above them as support.
The golem [Farmer] and his mount attempted to smash Akhenapep by diving up, but the mummy leaped through time to avoid the attack. When he reappeared, the undead immediately put some distance between his foes and himself, Victor and Rolo giving pursuit on their respective mounts; one above the target, the other below.
“[Leaf Storm]!” While Victor focused on chasing after the mummy, Allison cast a spell at his back. She pointed her fingers at Akhenapep above them, unleashing a mighty storm of leaves and green energy.
“[Space Slash]!”
Akhenapep sundered reality itself with an index finger, creating a moving rift in the fabric of space itself. The ‘slash,’ while no longer than three meters, cut through the leaf storm, the water, the very air. It was a fast-moving, horizontal black hole erasing anything unlucky to be in its path; a blade of pure nothingness.
Victor’s horse swiftly dodged the attack by leaping to the side, even as the blade bent its course, but the attack kept going long afterward. The slash cut through a fairy golem, cutting it in half, and beheaded a fishman swimming in the waters; the blade cut through the shores and traced a razor-thin line in the sand, and then continued past Victor’s line of sight. Maybe it would continue its deadly course all the way to Gardemagne, crossing the earth and finishing its travel in the deep darkness of space.
While the attack had been ineffective, Victor could only approve of Allison’s initiative. His [Chronomancer] capstone allowed Akhenapep to return from death by unwinding time, as long as he had enough SP to fuel his Perk. As a purely arcane build, the more the mummy had to cast powerful spells, the faster his reserves would dwindle.
Of course, no sooner did the thought crossed his mind that the Ur-Pharaoh shattered Victor’s hope. One scroll making up his mummy’s bandages shone bright, its runes vanishing.
Akhenapep’s [Scrolls of Fomor Cheatery] allowed him to recover 999 SP!
…
That optimizing bastard! And he looked at Victor with smugness too!
However, the sound of battle horns filled him with hope.
A new army came from the east, cavalry on the ground, their horses pounding the sand; griffins, flying mages, and pegasi in the air. Their spears hit the fomor forces’ flank, while their flying forces backed up the dragons.