Lily's voice cut through the chaos like a thunderclap, his words ringing with a fierce determination as he confronted Malacharion head-on. The fallen elf's eyes widened in surprise and disbelief at the sudden appearance of Lily clad in elemental forces, his expression shifting from arrogance to uncertainty as he faced the full force of Lily's wrath.
With a snarl of defiance, Lily launched himself forward, his wings slicing through the air with razor-sharp precision as he closed the distance between them in an instant. Malacharion raised his arms to defend himself, summoning forth dark energy to counter Lily's attack, but the elemental forces swirling around the young man seemed to bolster his strength, imbuing him with an otherworldly power that defied comprehension. He was barely able to deflect Lily’s rapid strikes, the sheer speed of the Elementalist overwhelming him more with every second. He knew that if the battle raged on like this he would be at a disadvantage.
Malacharion reached out to Lily’s sword with a hand clad in dark energy. He felt the pain of wind and steel cutting into his skin but he was able to catch one of Lily’s swords. A sadistic smile bloomed on his face. Now he would send his dark lightning and-
His smile quickly faded as a large gash appeared in his stomach while the sword he was holding turned into smoke and disappeared. He looked at his hand just grabbing the sword a second ago but it was unharmed. How? His mind raced. He felt the pain of the sword digging into his skin just now. He felt the warm blood gush out. Even with his healing capabilities, it wasn’t possible for him to heal this fast!
He stepped away from Lily retreating back to safet-
“Argh!”
Even though he was sure he was retreating to safety, he pierced himself into a wall of ice spikes.
“Did you also lose your sight when you lost your morals, dumbass?”
Lily asked with a mocking smile on his face. His swords were lowered to the ground. Despite being able to close the distance between them in a flash, he chose to stare down the trapped Malacharion.
“Don’t you dare to mock me!”
With gritted teeth, he tore himself free from the spikes. His wound rapidly closed as his grey hair fell in front of his face. Lily slashed at the air with an unimpressed face, sending a wave of green mana to him. Malacharion raised his hands to block the attack and waited for the impact but it never came.
“I am not the only one wanting to kick your ass.”
Lily spun one of his swords, his gaze locking with Malacharion. Just as Malacharion was turning gears in his mind to understand what was going on Gökbörü leaped from the side and tore off his nose before disappearing. Malacharion let out a pained roar as Gökbörü's attack caught him off guard, his hand instinctively reaching up to his bleeding nose as he stumbled back in shock.
“You trash!”
He stomped his feet to the ground, causing a wave of mana to sweep everything in his close proximity.
“Do you think you can defeat me with petty tricks?
Malacharion's voice echoed with rage and frustration as he lashed out with a wave of dark energy, his eyes blazing with fury as he sought to retaliate against Lily and Gökbörü's unexpected assault. Lily remained unfazed by Malacharion's outburst, his expression calm and composed as he continued to taunt his enemy with a mocking smile. With a graceful flourish of his swords, he unleashed another barrage of attacks upon Malacharion, his movements fluid and precise as he danced around his opponent with effortless grace.
Despite being at a disadvantage and his attacks not reaching their target, Malacharion let out a laugh as the space around them distorted.
“You are finished, you damn human!”
The space around Lily cut off from the surrounding space in the blink of an eye, just like it did to Poyraz. Elandris tried to reach to Lily to stop the same thing from repeating again but he was far away. Before he could do anything invisible blades cut into Lily’s flesh, shredding him to pieces all while Malacharion laughed maniacly.
“That’s what you get, you damn Elementalist! It doesn’t matter if an ancient spirit contacted you! I am a genius! Hahahahah!”
Malacharion suddenly stopped, his hand going up to his mouth. He looked at the blood in his hand. He slowly lowered his head to see a sword sticking out of his chest.
“Pretty smart sure kill move you got there. You isolate a space, then unleash sharp winds. I am pretty sure you use some other means to increase its effectiveness but I am not that knowledgeable.”
Lily’s voice rang out as Malacharion turned his head to look at him.
“Poyraz got his by it only because he was tired, just for the record.”
Lily kicked him down, freeing his sword and sending Malacharion collapsing to the ground. Malacharion lay on the ground, gasping for breath as Lily stood over him, his expression unreadable as he gazed down at his fallen foe. The air around them was heavy with tension, the silence broken only by the sound of Malacharion's labored breathing.
"You... You think this is... over?" Malacharion managed to choke out between breaths, his voice filled with defiance despite his injuries.
Lily shrugged.
“Yeah, pretty much.”
Malacharion tried to rise up unsuccessfully as he bled more and more. His blood started to form a pool under him as he tried to crawl away from Lily.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“I.. can’t… die. Not until… I prove… them wrong.”
Lily's gaze hardened ever slightly as he raised his sword, the blade gleaming in the dim light of the battlefield. He too, breathed heavily as the power he obtained by giving away his life force took its toll on him. That’s why he was half of a second late to bring down his sword, not being able to get the killing blow before Malacharion faded into the shadows.
“Elandris, stop him!”
He ran towards the corpse of the Nidhogg. Malacharion appeared from a dark cloud, hugging the massive corpse. Elandris’s arrows pierced his body in several places but it wasn’t enough to stop him. Elandris watched in horror as Malacharion's form dissolved into a black sludge, merging with the corpse of Nidhogg in a macabre union. The ground trembled beneath their feet as dark energy surged through the air, the very essence of the fallen elf merging with the parasitic dragon's remains.
“Goddamn it, no!”
Lily shouted in frustration as he watched the corpse twitch and start to move. Despite the countless wounds and missing parts, the corpse moved all while spewing out black sludge. The ground trembled beneath their feet as the corrupted dragon's remains stirred to life, its monstrous form rising from the earth with an otherworldly roar. Its form was now more liquid as its flesh melted and its scales fell off. Looking at the massive creature made out of mud, Lily could feel that something was wrong. He was no elf nor he had the blessing of the Mother Tree but he still could feel the sense of wrongness through his elemental contact.
Lily braced himself for the shitshow he was about to happen as the wind gathered around his blades. He swung them, releasing his wind and mana to the creature. The wind cut deep into the sludge, blowing chunks. However, just as chunks blow, they fuse together to the creature.
“Okay, shit.”
Lily’s hands shook as the strain of contract he made weighed more and more on his stamina. He released several more wind blades while he dodged the chunks of the floor thrown toward him, all having no long-lasting effects on the creature.
“Lily, it won’t work! We fought something like this with Poyraz before! We need to freeze it before blowing it to pieces!”
Elandris shouted as he parkoured through the destroyed landspace.
“How are we supposed to do that?!”
Lily jumped over a massive piece of wood as his gaze met with Gökbörü’s.
“Woof!”
Gökbörü's bark echoed with determination as he leaped into action, his senses keen as he sought out a solution to their dire predicament. Lily watched as the small pup navigated through flying debris and sludge, headed for the front claws of the creature. Despite the colossal mass of mud coming down on him, Gökbörü stood tall and proud as snowflakes started to fall. The black sludge constantly squirming slowed down and froze before smashing Gökbörü.
“Shit!”
Lily cursed as he saw the young pup disappear under the frozen claw of the creature. How he was going to explain this to Poyraz? He was going to kill hi-
“Woof.”
An unenthusiastic woof came from behind. Lily turned around to see Gökbörü exit out of his shadow.
“Oh, you are alive.”
Despite his previous worry, Lily said sassyly. He turned to the creature as a loud crash rang out. Elandris’s arrows tore through the frozen parts of the creature. Cyclara and Nereida joined in, dousing the monster in a flood of water.
“Your majesty, come on! You can freeze this sludge if I flood it!”
Nereida excitedly shouted. Lily and Elandris attacked the frozen parts while Gökbörü darted around it, leaving trails of frost in his wake freezing where he touched. With each strike, the creature's movements grew more sluggish, its monstrous roars echoing across the battlefield as it struggled against the combined might of their attacks.
But despite their best efforts, the creature continued to fight back, its massive form lashing out with tendrils of dark energy as it sought to break free from its icy prison. Lily gritted his teeth as he poured more and more of his elemental power into the fray, his muscles burning with exertion as he pushed himself to the limit. Blood poured out of his nose, staining his crop top and abs.
“You… can’t… kill… me!”
A booming voice rang out from the creature. Black lightning tore through the ground while black orbs smaller than the previous ones blocked the wind and water. The shaking of the ground coupled with the exhaustion caused Lily to stumble forward and fall. Lily quickly tried to scramble back to his feet but when he raised his head he was the massive maw of the creature several meters from his face. The neck of it stretched out unnaturally, aiming to devour Lily in a single bite.
“Well, fuck.”
As the massive maw of the creature loomed dangerously close, Lily braced himself for the inevitable impact, his mind racing with thoughts of impending doom. He knew that he wasn’t like Poyraz and couldn’t take a hit like this even in his best condition. But just as the creature's jaws were about to snap shut, a blinding flash of light filled the air, accompanied by a deafening roar that shook the very ground beneath their feet.
“I can’t take a power nap without everything going shit.”
A purple stream of mana filled with sparkles akin to stars tore through the creature’s smiley body. Despite the destruction it caused, Lily gulped at how beautiful it was. It was like looking at a clear night sky.
Poyraz stood tall while holding a spear and longsword. Despite the countless slash scars, his muscles bulged visibly, radiating strength and vigor.