310 Vol. 5 pt. 18 (1/2)
”Heed your master's call, Bahamut! Wrap mine enemies in your accursed flame; rend apart reality itself with diabolic energies! I, Azalabulia, the Dark Sorceress of Twisted Flames, the Breaker of Reality, the One Who will Set the World Ablaze, and the Wielder of the Cursed Flame of Bahamut, have sentenced you to the realm beyond this mortal coil! Let this be the final breath of your life! Let this be the first and final strike of battle! Bahamut, let us merge our souls and show the world that there are none whom could ever stand before us and live to speak of it! Cursed Flame of Bahamut, Final Attack, Opening Verse: Exodus of Reality, the Purging of Life and all who Oppose it! Fire!”
”Bro, I think she added a couple of lines,” Rao says.
”Yeah, but it still sounded cool,” Fenrir says.
With Azalabulia's chanting over, a massive blast of energy shoots out from the magical dragon head floating above her to annihilate all enemies at the bottom of the pit.
The resulting explosion is enough to blast all of the dragons in the air upward, almost causing those who they are carrying to slip away and fall.
Fortunately, though, nobody slips loose and falls into the fireball that Azalabulia has caused.
All that is left by the time that the fireball clears are random chunks of fish-monster flesh, lots of green blood splattered around, and a cleared landing zone.
”Looks like something out of a zombie movie,” Fenrir says.
”Replace the zombies with fish monsters and yeah,” Rao says.
”Aza is cool,” Serra says.
”Right?!” Azalabulia asks, turning her head to look up at the others. ”That was such a perfect attack! I can't wait to try off the new 'Epilogue' version of that spell! It is going to be so awesome!”
”Well, she's hyped up now,” Cassiel says. ”I guess that the rest of us might as well get excited, too.”
”Come on, Cass Cass. Don't you want to thrust your long, hard weapon into things?” Fenrir teases.
”You want to sleep on the couch?”
”You love me too much to make me sleep on the couch.”
”Maybe, but I don't love you enough to not hog the blankets.”
”That's a bit uncalled for, don't you think? I don't have all this fluff in real life. I need the warmth.”
”Then wear another layer of pajamas.”
”How am I supposed to do that when Serra takes them off all the ti—”
”Bro, again. There are other people here,” Rao interjects. ”And we're going into battle, aren't we? Like, that's the stuff you should save for after.”
”Doesn't romance and sex and all that usually happen before since you don't know if you'll be able to do it after?”
”I don't know. I don't watch that sort of stuff. I was just thinking that people would be all excited and relieved and want to do that after instead of before. Like, wouldn't they normally be too stressed to do it before?”
”Yeah, which is why it can help as a stress reliever.”
”Hey, is it better to be stressed or relaxed for fighting?”
”I don't know. I've always done better when calm, I think, but it's more exciting when you're stressed out over it. Kind of.”
”How?”
”I guess because it's like… once it's over, you're way happier and prouder of yourself for surviving? If you're calm, it's all 'hah, everything happened just as I expected.' If you're stressed out and worried, it's all 'holy shit, I actually survived, I'm amazing.'”
”I guess that makes sense.”
Fenrir's and Rao's conversation ends as soon as the large group reaches the bottom of the pit.
Dropped off on the ground, everybody gets to work securing the location, killing any monsters that are somehow still alive, and setting up Serra's gun.
”I'm surprised that they're letting her use it, honestly,” Cassiel tells Fenrir. ”I would've thought it'd be too important for them to let somebody new use.”
”Eh. It's just a game. Who cares? All that matters is that we're having fun. Plus, after what they just saw Aza do, I bet they've got some faith in us now,” Fenrir replies.
”I guess. That gun, though… it looks pretty crazy.”
The gun that she is talking about might look like a gun, and it may look like it acts similar to one, but that is not the case.
Mounted on a tripod is a large, brass barrel with what looks like a revolver's chamber located at the back of it with a hammer mechanism ready to pound against the construction's ammunition. As for what the ammunition is, that would be the series of crackling, white and yellow stones inside of the revolving chambers.
They look just like the rocks that Tabitha uses as fuel for The Shoebill's engine, only with a lightning aesthetic rather than a fire one.
”I think I see how that guy got away with creating a gatling gun. Same way that Tabs got away with creating an engine,” Fenrir tells Cassiel.
”You mean that it's like one of her inventions?”
”Yeah.”
”Should… should we be worried?”
”Probably.”
”It's okay,” Serra says, giving them a thumbs-up now that she's behind the gun. ”I've got this.”
”I know you do,” Fenrir says, walking up to give her a gentle smack on the back before drawing his sword and looking around. ”Everything is clear so far. I would have thought that there'd be more monsters coming at us.”
”They shall come,” GG says. ”We were able to defeat the remnants of the monsters the last time we assaulted this position, but more will come and in far greater numbers as soon as they realize what has happened.”
Several of the dragon players that accompanied them are already in the process of setting up various magical runes around the pit of water next to their landing zone.
”Traps?” Fenrir asks.
”Yes,” GG answers. ”The moment that the monsters activate the runes, they will, for a lack of better words, explode.”
”Explosions?” Azalabulia asks. ”There are going to be more explosions?”
”Many more.”
”Fen, can we live with these dragons?” she asks with wide eyes, standing in front of Fenrir with her hands gripping his shirt.
He can't tell if she's behaving more like an explosive pyromaniac or an excited little kid.
All it takes are some explosions and roleplaying for her switch to be flipped and be herself. Any shyness and hesitation is gone. Right now, she is Azalabulia, the explosive and distractingly-sexual spellcaster.
Fenrir can't tell if she's purposely pushing her breasts up against his chest or not, but he can tell that Cassiel looks jealous that she never gets anybody pushing their chest up against hers like this.
He can't help but look at her with a bit of a smug smile to call her out – to subtly tell her that he knows she's jealous.
Then he stops as soon as she glares at him.
”We have our own town,” he tells Azalabulia.
”But – but! Explosions! Fen!” Azalabulia whines.
”Explosions are dangerous in mountains. You might cause landslides, cave-ins, and all that stuff. Wouldn't you rather live at our town where there is a vast ocean and flat land around for you to use explosions? You can make your explosions as big as you want then! I doubt they'd want you to be exploding everything around here.”
”That's… a good point. Alright, you have convinced me. I – I am allowed to keep using explosions while we fight here, right?”
”Only smaller ones until we're at the final phase of the plan.”
”Deal!”
The pressure against his chest goes away, leaving him disappointed and colder.
”Nell, I need you,” Fenrir says.
”Yes, my hero?” Nell asks, standing in front of him now.
”Hug me.”
”Gladly!”
And so, they hug, resulting in Nell's smaller-but-still-nice breasts pressing up against Fenrir's chest.
”I know that I may be lacking, but is this good enough?” she asks, knowing exactly why he wanted her to hug him.
”Yep. Definitely good enough.”
He looks over at Cassiel again.
She's still jealous.
”Alas, I do need to go prepare. I am only capable of getting my magic to work when in a safe spot with a cleared mind, so I cannot spend too long here,” Nell says before stepping back and leaving his chest lonely.
There is no other option.
Serra isn't tall enough to warm his chest nor does she have the required warming mounds.
Fenrir looks at Cassiel. This time, he does not look at her to be smug.
He looks at her out of need.
”Cass Cass, I nee—”
She flips him off before crossing her arms over her chest.
At least he has the tsundere fanservice to warm him.
Then somebody else steps up to Fenrir with their arms open for a hug.
”I'll – I'll pass,” Fenrir tells GG.
”Is there something wrong?” GG asks.
”Many things.”
GG lets out a loud laugh before smacking Fenrir on his shoulder. ”Come! Let us wait for the battle to begin. As the leaders of our respective groups, it is only natural for us to fight side-by-side to determine this alliance's worth!”
Fenrir might not be one for roleplaying, but he is still feeling a bit hyped up from hearing that. ”You got it.”
Several more minutes pass by with everybody in their positions.
Yet, no monsters seem to be coming.
The only ones that are around are dead, and the water that they came from is still and empty.
”How long do we have to wait?” Serra asks.
”No idea. They'll be here when they get here,” Cassiel answers.
”Less than a minute,” Eva answers.
”How can you tell?”
”I can smell them.”
”Seriously?”
”Yeah.”
”How?”
”One of my body parts enhanced my smelling to make it really strong, but I'm not sure which. It didn't start happening until a couple of weeks without getting any new parts, and the last part I got before that was my angel eye, so I really doubt that was it. Angels aren't known for having extreme smelling, are they?”
”Huh. That's weird.”
”Yeah, it really bothers me.”
”Do you have any other body parts that are unexplained? Or traits?”
”Yeah, my penis.”
”I see.”
It takes him a few seconds.
”Wait, what?”
”I'm joking. Sorry, it's just so easy to trick people with that since they know of all my other parts.”
”I… honestly didn't even doubt it. Not for a second. I just assumed you were being honest and that you seriously have a dick.”
”Nope. No dick. I haven't figured out how to get one yet and none of the other scholars will tell me.”
”So, you are trying to get a dick?”
”Yeah, why wouldn't I? I don't have one in real life, so I want to experiment with one here to see what it's like. Also, I've heard the 'you can experiment with mine' joke about a hundred times already, so please don't if you're thinking about it.”
”I'm not going to lie, I definitely would have made that joke if I was single. Anyways, I—”
”It's possible to get dicks?” Serra asks.
”Shouldn't you be at your gun?”
”I heard a conversation I want to be a part of.”
”Do you just naturally appear in any conversation that is related to dicks?”
”Yeah. I want one.”
”Why do you want one?”
Serra smirks and wiggles her eyebrows up at her loving-but-very-worried boyfriend.
”No,” he tells her.
”Yes,” she tells him.
”No,” he tells her again.
”Yes,” she tells him again.
”Yes.”
”No.”
”Good, we agree.”
”What?”
”You said no.”
Serra thinks about it for a few seconds before realizing what just happened, resulting in a pout and a light kick at his ankle. ”You tricked me.”
”I did trick you. I also—”
”They're almost here. Get ready,” Eva says.
Fenrir nods at Serra and they drop their conversation so that she can hurry back to her setup.
Those nearest to the water consist of most of the dragons, GG, Fenrir, and Eva. Cassiel and Rock are staying the closest to Serra so that they can defend her if any monsters make it past the front line, Azalabulia and Nell are staying off to the sides so that they can support with magical attacks from afar with Rao and Shogun to defend them, and then there are a couple of healers among the dragons waiting the farthest back to enter the battle when needed.
And now, with everybody in their positions, the battle begins.
”I'll try to thin them out,” Eva says, lifting up off of the ground to position herself directly over the water.
Swimming up from the depths of the subterranean passage is easily over one hundred monsters, each one with the aesthetic of a corrupted fish combined with an eldritch abomination.
Eva flies up high, flips herself upside down, and then dives toward the water.
Right before she dives into the water, she unfurls her right wing – the wing of a thunderbird.
Electricity crackles out from her wing and shoots into the water with a blinding flash!
She may not have any ”magic” of her own, but that does not mean that the natural traits bestowed upon her by her collection of monstrous parts aren't magical in effect.
The water becomes electrified and anything within it gets a strong shock.
Next is her eye.
Eva opens her right eye—her angelic eye—wide.
A beam of holy energy shoots out from her eye into the water, cutting through the foul monsters as they are left immobilized by her first attack.
”Still can't control this eye that well,” she groans, holding one of her hands over her right eye as she lands next to Fenrir. ”That's all I can do until they're out of the water.”
”That's all I can do, she says. Damn. That was awesome,” Fenrir praises.
”I only killed a couple of them. They're strong, so it wasn't too awesome.”
”Who cares? It was still awesome. You looked awesome doing that, the attack was awesome, and just – everything about that was awesome.”