“H-hey… there’s smoke from the rear. Did something happen?”
“Face forward, the Dragonkins are pushing us! Don’t let them!”
The clash was fierce. Scalemen and Dragonkins fought with everything they had to break each other’s ranks.
With Alc’Bruk pushed away from the frontlines, the enemy’s advance tremendously slowed to a halt. However, the Scalemen weren’t able to push them back and hoped to win with numbers in this battle of attrition.
“Next volley, fire!”
Krullu gave the command to rain havoc at the enemy’s war engines. The cannons he designed hurled cannonballs into great heights and outranged measly catapults trying to creep closer to the clash.
“Keep loading them! Hurry, but don’t damage by babies!”
Though his part was going well, he was ultimately worried for his friend he volunteered to stand as a shield at the front where the most bloodshed took place. The Chameleon peered through, catching a glimpse of a shining figure within the crowd. It was hard to see, but Ainig was moving.
In the next instance, a giant stalagmite pierced into the air. The spiked rock must’ve been casted by Hilaqi.
Krullu heard painful cries on his left, guessing the enemy were inflicted by Yizdra’s toxins. Lastly, guarding the skies, a Vivirian darted over the battle. Any Dragonkins attempting an aerial assault were brought down by the immortal hunter from Vivrus.
“Man, everyone’s doing their part. I feel like a wimp compared to them.” Krullu found himself exempted from rushing like the people around him. “Well, no use crying for what I can’t do. I got my role to play. So, I’ll save my energy for when I most need it.”
His job was simple. Measure the ingredients and prepare a batch of experimental fire medicine for the operators using them. Although the operators learned the recipe, Krullu didn’t trust any of them.
As he ran his hand through the stock of black corn and inspected them, a tremor directed his attention to the back.
He didn’t like it.
Earlier he heard concerns regarding to the soldiers guarding the rear. One eye rolled towards the black smoke trailed up to the crimson clouds from where the rear guard was stationed while the other focused at the task at hand.
“We’re doing it! We’re pushing the Dragonkins back!”
“They’re retreating! They’re retreating! Keep fighting towards the Tower!”
“At this rate, Stusis will belong to the Scalemen!”
Dragonkins were proud and merciless warriors. It was said their pride exceeded their fear of death and could only be intimidated by those of a hierarchy they lived by. It was unheard of to watch them flee without reason.
Was it the Vivirian no warrior could slay? Was it Ainig with the Pale Dragon’s blessing whose defensive power rendered their attack useless? Or was it the havoc of Krullu’s cannon fire stopping the enemy from maximizing their charging strength?
Krullu quickly handed off the pouch of measured fire medicine and anxiously looked around. Perhaps it was a habit of his cowardly mind making his imagination go haywire. Even so, it was what helped him survive this long. He’s never dismissed them without confirming whether something was truly in the works.
Something about that trail of smoke behind seemed off.
“Llu…! Krullu!”
“Zzuh?”
Yizdra pointed her axe to the direction of the Tower. “We’re moving. You seem pale. Are you unwell?”
“No, I’m concerned about the trail of smoke back there.” Krullu paused, finding everyone quiet down looking to the back. “Hey… why did everyone go quiet all the sudden?”
“Get down!”
To Krullu’s untrained eyes, the Scalemen guarding the vicinity fell one by one as if the oncoming wind of death had snuffed out their souls. Not even as a Chameleon, possessing a wider range of vision could locate the ambusher. Lizardmen foot soldiers collapsed without any indication until seconds upon realizing they were under attack.
Yizdra shoved Krullu to the floor and raised her weapon. As soon as the swift blurring figure passed by, she was hit by a strong impact and tumbled backwards with slashes over her scaly forearms. The ground around them was suddenly drenched in a pool of blood pouring from victims with clean cuts on their necks.
“We’re under attack!”
This chaos was done by Haku.
The Scalemen quickly surrounded Haku with long spears trapping him in the center of their encirclement. When the signal was given by the platoon’s leader, none of the spearmen moved. They couldn’t move.
Needle thin threads bounded their spears, arms and body.
Those outside the boundaries slashed at it in hopes of freeing their allies only to find their weapons were too dull.
Haku tugged on the threads, forcing painful cries as the strings dig into the captured Scalemen. Those with softer bodies, their skin bulged before blood ruptured and instantly killed. Those with tougher bodies were left with deep cuts and dislocated joints all over.
The threads, revealed by blood, were being reeled back into a small box attached to the back of the ogre’s hand.
Yizdra saw her opportunity to pounce the Ogre with her venomous axe. Her crude weapon may not be able to chop, but it would certainly leave a nasty wound if it struck a soft fleshed opponent.
However, she challenged one of the enemy Oracle’s companions. All her of strikes were easily deflected and when Yizdra was met with a counterattack, she whipped to her tail to which the enemy severed it.
With the ability to shed her tail, she made her escape and created distance.
“What is he?! He’s dangerous!” Krullu gasped.
“Krullu, I’ll hold this one back to the best of my ability. Direct your creations away from here. They are needed to support the frontline.”
Knowing there was nothing Krullu could do or provide support, he quickly ran. “Got it! And Yizdra!”
“What?”
“May the Ash Dragon truly protect you.”
The face of a Lizardmen was generally difficult to show expressions, but Yizdra showed her fangs in a way to imitate a smirk. “I do not doubt for a moment I am blessed as the Ash Dragon’s devotee. On your way, now!”
Yizdra eyed the assassin and prowled low in anticipation of engaging head on again. Her body shuddered for just a second, prompting a curious look from her opponent as her body excreted venom that could kill a Wyvern from one drop.
“Poison? Not to boast, but I also familiarized myself with all sorts of toxins.” Haku pointed his blade at Yizdra.
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“You speak Scylanis?”
“I learned of it.”
“Then I will be blunt. I will be victorious.” Yizdra hissed.
Yizdra skittered low on all fours, rushing Haku with her powerful hind legs propelling her forward. She swung with all her might to keep him pinned in place as her blows were forced to be deflected.
Haku then drew another dagger and swiped in between intervals of her slash. A wound opened on her side, but the Ogre quickly found a surprise.
The sharpness of his blade had dulled.
“No wonder that was so easy. You purposely got hit to have my dagger deformed. Acid?”
“I know direct battle against you will prove lethal to me. Either I must destroy your weapons or survive. As for the poisons slathered on your blade, I must inform you I am immune to their effects.”
“I see. I’m curious to know if the “White Star” would affect you, but the situation does not allow me to use it.”
“I shall be grateful to know this!” Yizdra lunged forward.
Haku drew a new pair of stilettos to parry her axe. He tugged the air as strands of steel threads emerged from the ground and wove into a net. Though Yizdra foolishly landed in it, her acid coated body corroded the barrier allowing her to chase down the withdrawing assassin after a delay.
From a bystander’s point of view, Yizdra was winning this exchange. Her opponent’s only protection was his weapons which when striking Yizdra would then be discarded. However, anyone with a keen eye would notice Haku was simply toying with Yizdra until the Lizardman exhausted herself from constantly excreting acid.
And once her strength depleted, Haku stormed in with a flurry of quick thrusts. It appeared as if her opponent’s arms multiplied and jabbed all at once. Yizdra miraculously blocked attacks aimed at her vitals.
She already used her tail to disengage, and her opponent was aware she was fatigued.
“What’s wrong? You’re not going to react?” Haku slashed her shoulder.
Yizdra postured herself in a defensive stance with her back against the wall and endured quick blows. She knew very well she could not hope to block every attack while conserving her stamina and only used it to protect her vitals.
She was bloodied. Her body ached and stung as numerous wounds multiplied throughout her body.
“Where did your bravado go? Didn’t you say you’d win?”
Sensing her opponent was about to deliver the final blow, Yizdra decided to muster what strength she saved to act. A layer of viscera spread over her body at the last moment before the Haku’s dagger was exposed to a stronger acid. It was like the steel turned liquid upon contact.
It would even melt skin and cause horrible burns.
“I got you!” She declared, pouncing forward.
“Nice try, Lizard!”
A strong impact ambushed Yizdra from above. She felt a few bones crack as air was being pushed out of her lungs. Though she tried to push herself up, she was powerless against the blackened mist holding her down. Not even her acid coating could free her.
“Ack!”
Her consciousness was fading. The other Scalemen around tried to interfere with the battle but were instantly felled in a blink of an eye.
“You fought well among your kind, but that’s all there is to you.”
Haku drew his blood soaked blade and crouched in front of Yizdra. He raised it up but then stopped to look up.
Two spears suddenly thrust downwards and drove him back. A child like figure swooped down to snatch the thrown javelins and slammed into him.
“All that talk, and you had the audacity to say you’ll win because you were stalling for time?!”
All the weight vanished from Yizdra once Aten descended. Without the spellcaster backing the assassin, Aten easily overwhelmed Haku. Aten parried each swing and with his two extra arms, wove through the flurry of wild slashes to struck Haku in the thigh.
“This isn’t even fair. You’re already hard to catch and you’re also immortal!”
Black particles swarmed Aten’s field of view and began to envelop him. As soon as Haku believed to have encased him within his power, the haze contracted into a singularity, crushing everything within it.
“Dammit, I was too slow!”
A spear swung on his side and Haku quickly found himself exposed. As a race with multiple limbs and wings allowing one to fly in any direction instantly as one desired on a whim, Aten was a nightmare of a foe to Haku even without his immortality.
The miasma formed into a giant hand, taking the brunt of Aten’s jab. It swatted at the Dragonfly after being stung.
“Even if I was given permission to use everything at my disposal, I can’t win.” Haku but his lip. “Fine. I’ll retreat. It’s because I got someone else for you to fight. Salith, switch!”
Aten darted at Haku again when suddenly the Ogre flashed with a bright light. In his place, a bloodstained armored Rozzalian holding onto the tail of a brutalized Scalemen emerged. The Scalemen weakly groaned. Its skull was bashed in, its legs torn and its body was riddled with holes from the Rozzalian’s morning star shining as bright as sparkling dots in the night’s sky.
Salith turned her expressionless helmet towards Aten before registering him as an enemy.
Aten sidestepped from the corpse thrown at him. The building behind exploded with a cloud of blood puffed from the body.
He prepared a spear on each arm and watched as Salith raised her weapon towards him. Though it was slow, Aten instinctively acted fast to snatch Yizdra into the air. As soon as the mace touched the ground, a powerful shockwave conjured a strong gust blowing back everything.
“My word! What power! After the Oracle rescued the Rozzalian, she dare point her fangs towards us?!”
[She controlled.]
“Controlled?” Yizdra then narrowed her eyes. “Wait, something’s flying up.”
Aten noticed a Scalemen soar into the air. He was prepared to catch it when it exploded into white light with Salith replacing it.
“She’s reached up here!”
Aten tossed Yizdra to a stall with many cloths hanging and crossed his arms. A heavy blow slammed him back to the ground and Salith dropped on him. A cloud of dust expanded upwards.
She quickly found no one was underneath except for a plank of wood with characters written on it.
[Fight it.]
Salith groaned. She grasped her arm, trying to stop her body from the influence of the slave crest, but in the end, she charged at Aten.
Aten leaped out of the curtain of dust with spears prepared to anchor onto her back. He saw her brandish her arm, zipping away from it before stabbing her in the knee pit hoping she wasn’t armored. He quickly discovered her legs were protected by strongly linked chainmail.
His glassy wings beat as he ducked back into the cloud of dust obscuring him.
Salith was revealed to have a hero’s crest like Lily. Aten was cursed by the Towers which made him weak against the Heroes’ attacks. The two arms he sacrificed to protect himself didn’t reattach.
His arms painfully stung as he looked down to find a ring of light preventing the Shadow’s work. Vivirians were helpless against Giants individually, let alone his foe had the power to banish his existence.
More importantly, he couldn’t let the assassin roam freely.
“W-watch out! I can’t stop!”
A Tortoise suddenly bowled through between the two ramming into a pile of debris. After demolishing two sets of buildings, the Tortoise emerged unscathed.
“Yizdra, I-I’m here! Krullu said to give you a hand.”
Hexagonal barriers orbited around him as he cluelessly looked around and eventually spotted Aten. His face turned pale and screamed at the primal appearance of a bipedal insect.
“Hieeee! Monster!”
“Herald, he is not the enemy!” Yizdra shouted. “The one you must be cautious of is-!”
Salith held her weapon with both hands and batted at Ainig, breaking the barriers guarding him. The Tortoise jumped with a freight, cowering with his hands wrapped over his head. He took a daring peek, finding the morning star resting atop his opalescent arms.
“Eeek! G-get away!”
One visage of the Pale Dragon’s head materialized over Ainig’s shell and pointed its snout at Salith. A flash of white light painted the over the surrounding and blasted the Rozzalian back.
“Herald, don’t kill her! She is the Oracle’s friend, but the enemy is influencing her!”
“Sorry! I didn’t know!” Ainig stomped towards Salith. “A-are you alright? I’m so sorry-!”
He was suddenly flung back with tremendous force. Ainig tucked in his shell as he tumbled back, landing on his belly. He rubbed his eyes from the fluttering dirt and looked up with Aten and Yizdra.
The three were faced with a Giant using [Wars Blood] with a massive fist flying at them.
“W-wah wah, WAH!”
“Herald, please defend with the Pale Dragon’s blessing! We can’t outrun it!”
Ainig desperately reached out and prayed. Answering his prayer, a layer of light enveloped Ainig while transcending to the first stage of the Pale Dragon’s blessing. His scales sparkled colorfully while his shell whitened.
A magic barrier laid out below him as his arms received the strong impact. The violent gust brought with the strike cleared the neighborhood of buildings except for Ainig sheltering Yizdra and Aten.
“It’s too heavy! I-I can’t keep it up for long!” Ainig cried.
[Give poison] Aten flipped a sign and forwarded a spear to Yizdra.
“Yes! At once! Herald, please just hold on a bit longer!”
Ainig’s legs shook while his arms burned trying to keep themselves from being flattened. He collapsed on his knees and head butted it in hopes to support it for every second longer.
“NggghhHHHHHHH!”
It felt as if he was lifting the weight of an entire mountain being dropped at him. Aside from Yizdra and Aten surprised at Ainig being able to catch the full strength of a Giant, Ainig was astonished at himself for not being immediately flattened.
Perhaps he wasn’t as worthless as he thought.
Aten acted fast, snatching his poison soaked spear into the air towards Salith. He stung her through the gaps of her armor, trying to lighten Ainig’s burden by spreading Yizdra’s paralysis toxins.
Giants were known to be resistant to poison, but not immune. Aten kept attacking until Salith weakened.
That gave Ainig some leeway to push up to a standing position. The appearance of three of the Pale Dragon’s five heads sprouted from his shell and the back of their throats pulsed with radiant light.
With an invigorating roar, a pillar of light blasted Salith onto her back. She landed flat, with no sign of movement as Yizdra’s poison robbed all of her strength to move.
The three managed to protect the rear from more damages thanks to Ainig.
With the crisis adverted, the Scalemen’s forces split. Aten turned to the direction of the scattered battles throughout the city. The core of his curse which tied him to the material plane for decades shuddered violently as if it resonated with the Tower.
Then suddenly, a powerful quake erupted from the base of the Tower.