Chapter 1230 (1/2)
The sudden reminder of how dangerous Earth had become was a harsh lesson, but one that Theodora swore she would take to heart. After all, it could be seen by Randidly Ghosthound that the only way to truly maintain political power is to possess personal power to back it up.
But it was just all a little much at the moment, as Theodora instinctively sucked in a breath and tasted the scent of charred human flesh.
“Do you… what…” Theodora’s mind, for the second time in a minute, stuttered to a stop. Her ‘invulnerable-under-Level-70’ shriveled like a plastic cup thrown on top of the coals of a campfire as the fires on the stage grew higher and more fierce. “What’s going on?”
“Aren’t you the one being targeted? How should I know?” Alana rolled her eyes as she slowly began to spin her spear. Twenty meters away, the wooden stage that Theodora had been standing on groaned and then collapsed inward on itself.
Theodora was left rather stumped at how to respond to Alana’s question, but it seemed that Theodora Greyman’s senses finally caught up with her as she noticed some other details. Her eyes widened as she fixated on the huge, crystalline body on which Alana was riding. Its flesh was white-blue and almost translucent like its entire body was composed entirely of ice. It had huge wings that flapped lightly, spreading chilling breezes through the surrounding area.
It was only as its long, scaly neck slithered sideways to consider Theodora Greyman that she recognized it: it was the first and most dangerous of the three monsters that escaped from the Epic Dungeon.
Wivanya, the Dragon Broodmother Lvl 89
But Theodora immediately became confused. This dragon is large, but it's much smaller than the reports about the Dragon Broodmother… This is the size of a smaller plane, while the Dragon Brood Mother was said to resemble a jumbo jet. And while the sapphire eyes are the same as the reports, its body was supposed to be a dark blue grey. Yet his monster seems to be made of ice.
Plus its name...
“Only the first assistance is free,” Alana said lightly. She tapped her heels against the sides of the Dragon Broodmother and it reared up. “For the rest of this, you are on your own.”
“So you do know what’s going on,” Theodora said sharply. She took a step forward but then was forced to take several hurried steps backward as the Dragon Broodmother beat its wings and sent waves of cold air outward. Frost began to form on Theodora’s pants suit but also slowed the spread of fire along the ground surrounding the collapsed stage.
Alana gave Theodora a pitying look. Then she flexed her hand and summoned her iconic helmet and placed it upon her head. “That’s the problem with people like you and the justice you preach. You are always asking the wrong questions. The letter of the law has become too important to you. You’ve forgotten about the spirit of these things.”
“What are you talking about…?” Theodora mumbled. But she could almost sense it. There was a golden light suffusing the air around Alana that had started gathering ever since she had put on her helmet. This was a hero. A true hero. Who fought simply because she had the power and if she did not fight more people would die.
Unless this is all a setup. Theodora Greywind wavered as she watched the golden figure of Alana Donal.
Theodora sensed that some of the survivors from her team were scrambling forward to her side out of the collapsing refreshment tent next to the stage. They came with buzzing reconnaissance drones shaped like dragonflies and with normal guards who were over Level 60. But they seemed like such a flimsy shield as the bloodbeast roared again and readjusted its aim. By this point, most of the crowd had managed to escape. Aside from the corpses, President Greyman felt curiously alone.
“I’m talking about my own truth,” Alana said simply. Then she raised her spear and it burned with bright golden fire. The Dragon Broodmother she was riding raised its head and screeched. With two huge beats of its wings, it threw its body up into the sky.
“Madam President, you cannot stay here,” Theodora’s assistant Douglas whined as he gripped onto her sleeve and extinguished a few floating embers that had landed on her. The surrounding six guards nervously eyed the monster at the other end of the green as it ponderously moved. “The Orchard’s defense forces are responding, but- considering the size of the thing-”
Another blast of white light shot out of the bloodbeast’s arm directly toward President Greyman’s position. It seemed it had been serious when it had said she would die today. This time, her mind immediately recognized the danger as that terrible light surged toward them. With a vice grip on Douglas’ wrist, she hurried back toward the nearest sidestreet as quickly as she could go without seeming like she was fleeing in a panic.
As the group sluggishly surged to follow her, Theodora’s eyes caught on human-shaped hunks of charcoal that covered the smoldering green around the stage. How many died in that initial attack? I wonder, is this a message? Forcing us to experience what it is like to receive a blast from Mjolnir? But who-
A huge roar made Theodora twist and glance over her shoulder. Above her head, the Dragon Broodmother opened its mouth and unleashed a blast of frost that smashed into the white beam the bloodbeast unleashed. However, it was immediately clear that the Dragon Broodmother could only deflect the blast from the bloodbeast, it couldn’t overpower it. And that white light fractured into shards that positively shredded the surrounding area. So the President of Zone 1 had to cast aside her image and leap to the side, still dragging Douglas behind her.
Not that he’s irreplaceable, but finding someone so discreet and detail-oriented isn’t easy either…