Before the wild scream had even faded, the mutilated body of the Serpent came to life. Tilting his head back, causing some of his pustules to burst, he straightened up forcefully, propelling his skull forward.
This was not a full-fledged attacking lunge.
Oh no.
What used to be the Great Serpent was using its head like a gigantic battering ram on a living, flexible cord.
A petrified dragoness didn't even have time to move before a titanic jaw crashed down on her back, instantly breaking her spine and most of her bones with a crunch.
The Serpent himself clearly didn't care that the sharp ridge of the dead dragoness's body remained stuck in his jaw when he lifted his head and forcefully sent it in another direction.
A young dragon trying to dodge only managed a squeak before the back of the fiendish monster's head smeared him across the stone slope.
Faster and faster, sparing neither himself nor others and filling the air with wild cries, the Great Serpent hammered all that was living and non-living with his head.
Often, he missed, and then his body, with a squelch and groan, would spatter blood and chunks of skin, which began to hiss as they seared through the stone.
But whatever was fueling this dreadful mixture of great spirit and chaos spawn, it didn't allow it to die.
Bones that had popped and broken were regenerating at a visible pace, new pustules grew, and flesh regenerated.
The desperately seeking death creature was not granted what it so desired.
Watching from above with tears in their eyes, Kaede and Ketsumi had come to their senses but felt terrible.
Whatever chaos had done to this creature, mocking it, it had left the link that connected spirits. Yes, this connection was incapable of defiling, but it fully conveyed the pain and agony enveloping the Great Serpent.
At the same time, having drawn her conclusions, Melissa began to descend. Kaede and Ketsumi gasped as the dragoness tossed them, grabbing them with her hind legs to free her front ones.
A deep inhale - and Melissa powerfully exhaled an impenetrably white fog into a particularly dense group of warlocks standing below. But just before that, she fiercely tore her own limbs with her claws, sprinkling the fog with her blood.
In an instant, the dragon's icy breath, now moving even faster, shattered the demonic seals that had appeared in the air with a deafening rumble and bright flash.
The elder of dragons was something more than just a gigantic beast.
And unlike fiery breath, there was no noise or crackling here.
Simply, everything touched by the fog instantly stopped, turning into thoroughly frozen and brittle chunks of ice.
The power of this attack was such that it began to expand sideways, affecting new areas and adding to the number of unique ice statues. Even the very stone crumbled and cracked under the influence of a cold that had no place in this world.
Another second, and they were with the ranks of dragons, which greeted the return of their elder with a belligerent roar.
"Prepare yourselves," Melissa's grim voice echoed directly in the yokai's minds, so when her claws released them, it didn't become a surprise to them.
Their inhuman bodies proudly withstood the devastating landing, leaving only a couple of footprints on the nearby rocks.
Having landed, Kaede quickly looked around, eyeing the chaos infantry assaulting them. The abominable chaos spawns, their multiple moths screaming in dozens of voices, loomed above the bloated, laughing champions. Even higher, cursed banners fluttered, their points "adorned" with skulls or whole impaled people's bodies, still alive due to some dark "miracle."
It was hard to tell from the height of flight, but now she recognized those all-too-familiar signs with a sinking heart.
'Now it's clear where they came from.' Living a dangerous life, Kaede understood the importance of clan insignia in their complex world. Attacking fighters from the wrong clan could easily lead to war.
That's why knowing the insignia of the biggest and most powerful clans was strictly mandatory, even if you weren't a warmaster.
Right now, she was looking at the signs that once belonged to two great clans – Hizoru and Avasaki. Yes, they had been altered a bit, but their original form was still discernible in that angular and twisted chaos script.
'This explains why news of their war reached us so poorly. All those stories about warmasters going mad and mysterious disappearances of people. That's where they "disappeared"...'
The girl felt a bit sick when she imagined how many followers chaos had right now, if they saw no difficulty in leading two armies into battle at once, one against the yokai, the other against the dragons.
And even assuming that the northern countries were not yet entirely overrun by demon worshippers, it changed nothing.
First humans, and now dragons and yokai, simply didn't have the resources to help the north in any way.
And that meant that in the future they would have to deal with the majority of those who lived on the lands beyond the mountain range.
"Attention!" Melissa's cry lashed out like a whip, causing several dragons to immediately line up in front of her. "I order an immediate evacuation! We will not be able to hold out until our forces return. That's why I command to start saving the eggs and our young. We're abandoning our home!"
"But Elder Melissa..." a nearby red dragoness tried to protest, but almost pressed her belly to the ground when the wrath of the ancient dragon descended upon her.
"I'm not asking for advice; I'm giving an order! Begin the evacuation!"
"But we're not ready," another dragoness, a white one, screamed desperately. She anxiously looked at the tunnels behind them. "We won't be able to carry everyone..."
"I'll help!" Ketsumi suddenly stepped forward, attracting surprised and disdainful looks from the surrounding dragons. "I can make very strong webs," the yokai demonstratively created several threads that began to weave into a wide bag right before their eyes, whose straps were big enough even for a dragon's claws.
"Excellent," Melissa nodded, turning to the one who had tried to argue with her. "Araya, I entrust you to gather two dozen dragonesses and conduct the evacuation. Wait for us at the Northern Peak. You know where it is. You are also tasked with scouting and making sure chaos hasn't learned about that refuge. We, in turn, will protect your retreat and join later."
"It will be done," the dragoness flicked her head irritably, then looked much more friendly at Ketsumi and Kaede. "If the elder trusts you, then so will we. But woe to you if you bring trouble to our home!"
"We won't," the spider woman said sharply, looking demandingly at Araya: "Lead."
The dragoness called out to several subordinates to join them and headed toward the tunnels.
Behind them, Melissa's commands could be heard, organizing the defense and sending messengers to all parts of the dragon army.
Kaede didn't know what awaited them ahead, but it was clear that nothing good was in store.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
*****
"Thank you, Yamato-san, for coming to our aid," the Nine-Tails and the Imperial Turtle respectfully greeted the formal leader of the dragons. Although the race of winged reptiles was ruled by four elders, everyone understood who among them wielded the most power.
Beside the great spirits, a retinue of the strongest yokai had gathered. All showed the dragon delegation respect, yet they made it clear that this was respect toward equals, which did not bode well given the reptiles' arrogance.
However, Yamato didn't seem to be bothered by it. The red dragon was clearly in good spirits. The destruction of the fleeing chaos forces pleased him.
Only an hour had passed since the rout. Yamato and his inner circle had returned, sending out several groups to harass and destroy the found chaos servants. However, they also did not forget about security. Everyone knew the guile of the planes of change.
"Rest assured, on our part, we are ready to help immediately..." Teruko's words flowed almost without control from her mind. Right now, the Turtle was thinking more about what help the dragons would request.
After all, the yokai were indeed in great debt to them.
However, all these thoughts vanished when she and Yamato noticed two dragons frantically flapping their wings.
The gratitude ceremony somehow lost its pace and gradually ceased altogether as all present tensely watched the weary messengers.
Crashing to the ground with a rumble and almost falling over, both reptiles rushed towards the three elders who were drilling them with their gazes.
"What's happened?" Ogrik, Hirui's grandfather, growled with concern. "What's the rush?"
"An attack," the young dragon who delivered the message looked fearfully into the widening eyes of the elders. "Chaos forces crept treacherously into our valley. Elder Melissa has declared an evacuation. We couldn't hold them back... without you. Our home has most likely fallen."
A roar of anger and wrath rang out as the dragons realized the words spoken. Some were already about to fly into the sky when Yamato's growl made them freeze.
"Furthermore," the messenger continued when everyone around had somewhat come to their senses. "The chaos forces were led by one of the yokai. It was the great spirit, the Serpent King!"
"What?!" Higasius, the black dragon, abruptly turned to the yokai, who readied themselves for battle. Many other dragons did the same, drilling the yokai with frenzied gazes. "What does this mean? Turns out, while we're helping you, you're conspiring with chaos?! Traitors!"
*****
"How do you work, after all?" Ordyntsev muttered thoughtfully, mentally comparing the results of the scan. "I don't understand anything."
"M-m-h-m-h-m!" The response from the chaos servant sprawled on the stone slab was quite indistinct because of the gagged mouth, but even so, one could clearly hear the unrestrained laughter.
Ordyntsev shook his head, looking at the limbless body. When Stas asked Katashi for a couple of chaos servants for research, he never expected them to manage to bring him a real demonic warlock!
And because of the difficulty in measuring the level of chaos, Stas almost missed such a specimen. Yes, his technique indicated the presence or absence of chaos. But it didn't tell how much exactly was hidden in the human body.
Only the fact that the warlock was kept unconscious allowed the damage to be limited to only four victims. That's how many people were guarding the prisoner's chamber.
Contemplating the aftermath of that massacre, Stas drastically revised the security measures.
Thus, he personally amputated the chaos servant's arms, legs, eyes, and tongue, not only to prevent escape but also to eliminate the possibility of driving the guards mad. Healing prana allowed him to perform even much more complex operations.
Considering these measures insufficient, Ordyntsev also performed a complex operation on the spine, depriving the cultist of the ability to move anything below the neck.
And even with all reasonable and unreasonable precautions, Stas literally wrapped the resulting stump in prana-suppressing chains. Moreover, around the stone slab, he drew as many as five chaos-suppressing seals.
Someone might have thought that being subjected to such torture could drive anyone mad, but the constant laughter of the prisoner and the fact that the chaos-suppressing seals showed signs of destructive influence every day spoke for themselves. And the damaged spine repeatedly bore indications of impossible regeneration.
At some point, Stas decided to ask Katashi how exactly his people managed to capture such a fearsome opponent, and the answer frankly confused him.
They managed to capture the warlock in a brothel at the very beginning of the purge when he least expected an attack. A few devastating blows to the head, needles with poison, a healer who wouldn't let him wake up - and a mighty warlock of chaos was captured like a greenhorn ordinary warmaster.
But even there, a disaster almost happened.
As it turned out, at first, the warlock was being handled by Aoi's people, who only kept him unconscious. And this almost destroyed them. When Stas made his request, Katashi turned to Aoi. His hesitant response raised legitimate questions.
The ensuing investigation, to their shock, discovered that a quarter of those dealing with the warlock managed to get thoroughly tainted by the energy of change. So, they were promptly eliminated, and the dangerous captive was quickly offloaded onto the Sumada, an outsider.
After that, Stas occasionally noticed how, after his visits to the warlock, Aoi's people secretly scanned him.
Ordyntsev did not object. With chaos, there can never be too much paranoia.
If the earthling had had more time, he would have definitely written an instruction on the precautions of working with the energy of change. And he would have started with the fact that the first thing to do would be to check the scroll itself for chaos if the readers didn't want to lose their own soul.
And it must be noted that the fuss with the warlock greatly advanced the earthling in understanding chaos and how it operated. Or rather, its main "habits."
This energy was too inconsistent and strange, which meant you could never know how it would behave the next second.
The result of the research was that Stas significantly improved all his "anti-chaos" techniques.
Consequently, the detection and destruction of chaos happened much faster, and the patient tolerated the process better. In addition, Ordyntsev could now tell the strength of the chaos servant he was dealing with. Moreover, the chaos-blocking seals acquired a couple of dozen additional twists, improving their stability. Satoshi and Stas created them together, so he knew how they worked.
However, there was something he still couldn't understand.
"Where, damn it, do you get the energy from?!" he asked aloud for the umpteenth time, pacing the chamber restlessly.
The warlock gave no answer, only bursting into insane laughter once again.
Over time, Stas had convinced himself that the energy of chaos in the warlock came from somewhere else, not formed by his own body. Or not quite. Some of it was formed, but clearly not enough for the seals with which he had influenced the guards.
Knowing this, Ordyntsev spent a lot of time trying to find this very energy channel. Having mastered ether before, the man was confident of success.
But the result confused him.
Yes, he found the beginning of the channel in the cursed cultist's body, but the end was as if disappearing in a fog.
And if what Stas knew from Minoru was true, the end of the channel should have led directly to the archdemon invading the world.
However, no one had even heard of anything like that.
'Would a being of such power truly choose to hide? Although, considering how many like them have died in this world, I can't blame them.'
Stas sighed regretfully. As fascinating as everything he was doing here was, he would still return to Rashta the next day. The Mizuno accompanying him, the squad capable of chaos detection, had already been assembled, and only the last details remained to settle.
Nevertheless, as much as he wanted to, he couldn't take the warlock with him. Carrying a cultist of such power was akin to suicide. There was a great risk that by the time they reached their destination, they would have acquired a dozen new stylish limbs and masters telling them what and how to do.
And that meant that the cultist lying before him was about to help magical science for the last time.
As if sensing Ordyntsev's intentions or noticing the ominous squint of his serpentine eyes, the warlock quickly started to act.
The restraining seals flashed, burning one after the other from the inner circle to the outer. The flesh-overgrown eye sockets seemingly exploded when the rapidly growing new eyes pushed through. The limb stumps, lying uselessly before, began to move, crushing the steel chains.
It wasn't hard to guess that the chaos servant had been preparing for escape in some way all this time, and only the direct threat from the Serpent forced him to act.
The fourth restraining circle was already melting when Ordyntsev's hand, approaching the warlock, laid on his chest and fired a chaos-destroying technique inside.
Stas watched with keen curiosity as the man who sold his soul writhed in agony.
Since the earthling had to heal the Great Serpent, who by that time was already heavily contaminated by chaos, he needed to conduct a test on someone who was filled with the energy of change to the brim.
The fourth circle still didn't burn out when the magic of chaos finally left the squirming warlock.
The pain was so intense that he couldn't even scream, which the Serpent diligently noted, memorizing every detail of the experiment.
Unable to withstand the unfolding internal battle, the cultist's body began to disintegrate. The skin shriveled and blackened, muscles dried out and burst.
It didn't take long before an ugly mummy lay before the earthling, whose mouth with a fallen-in gag froze open in a wild scream. The air grew thick and foul due to ongoing evaporation.
'Unfortunately, the subject's body was so altered that it could no longer exist without external support. As regrettable as it is, the technique requires refinement. More warlocks are needed, which is associated with great risk. But I'll think about that when I am home.'
Stas calmly stepped out of the chamber and turned around.
Playing with chaos taught Ordyntsev to never let his guard down.
From the outstretched hands of the Serpent, thick streams of violet energy, so similar to flames yet not flames, burst into the chamber with a roar.
The guards standing at a distance quickly averted their gazes, fearing to look at the black shadows dancing on the unnaturally pale face.
Whatever anyone said, this eerie Sumada had managed to instill a solid sense of constant anxiety in them over the past few days. They saw what he turned that prisoner into. And although that man was a traitor, they were afraid of what else the serpent-eyed was capable of.
Having finished "processing" the room, Stanislav moved away, not even deigning to glance at the guards. A modest smile rested on his face. He was pleased.
Another step on the path to understanding chaos had been successfully completed.