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Chapter 312: Disaster
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Siva’s face was covered by a helm with only his eyes and a part of his mouth visible through the Y–shaped opening on his helmet.
And since his skin was of black smoke skin, the few strands of evaporating smoke escaped from the opening, as the only things that could be seen was his pair of eyes.
When he eyed Cramer, his gaze felt like ice-cold blades that stabbed Cramer’s soul.
But Siva smiled instead, “We’re just getting started with the real fun so don’t get tired yet.”
In that span of a second, this line was delivered and Cramer smiled at the challenge.
“Show me.”
At the prompt, Cramer kicked Siva but Siva’s left arm, albeit numb, was still clad in Black Ironwood-NanoFocused armor and its weight was enough to cancel the weight of Cramer’s charge when he used it to block.
There was just a dull thud but Siva used this bit of force to turn his body, the bladed axe on his hand swept horizontally, leaving only a shadow of its movement as if it was cleaving the horizon off its mountains and hills.
It met the surging tide and another loud explosive sound rung in the arena, the writhing red magma splattering in many directions and then reforming back to it source: a charging lord clad in a bow and a fully cocked arrow just 10m away from his face.
XIU!!
A brutal attack; the arrow was aimed at the gap in between his helm. Even if they were in a neutral zone, it was still a sinister intent.
“This girl really hates you, boss!!”
“I know!”
The two argued mentally and Siva had no choice but to angle his face as fast as possible and rely on the hardness and thickness of the heavy helm to shield himself from the arrow.
All of their attacks might not kill him but they still hurt like hell.
His turning momentum brushed off Cramer who defended himself with his Mjolnir but in turn, the arrows were released and he was hit on his face.
The arrows shattered with light thuds but damage was the least of FlowerLord’s concerns as she only wanted to distract Siva to deal real damages herself.
CLAP!!
“I knew it!” Siva cursed when he heard the flash of her equipment disappearing and her hands making a clapping noise again.
He raised his head and saw a blade-like sweeping red magma. He pushed his mind to the limits and forced his body to twist and counter but then felt that there was another threat looming from above him.
Cramer was already on another smashing descent and from where Siva was planning to dodge at the attacks!
“You’ve got nowhere else to go!” Cramer yelled.
“Tsk.”
Siva clicked his tongue and instead of running, he chose to bear the brunt and braced himself for a world of pain.
BAM! BAM!
His two heavily armored feet anchored on the floor, the axe quickly positing itself above him.
BOOM!!
“Gwah!!”
BOOM!!!
“Argh!”
The first to land was Cramer’s attack and it made him shudder as the heaviness of a Legendary Weapon was still something to deal with when it is being used by a monster like Cramer.
His feet planted deeper on the ground, the next to hit him was FlowerLord’s sweep that sent him flying 20m away before landing and rolling on the marbled floor of the arena, making a long trench and skidding for another 10 more meters with his left hand becoming his third leg.
Siva felt the damage and he coughed, trying to hold his sanity in with a bit of difficulty.
“Hah… if I wasn’t wearing this armor, I would’ve been a goner.”
“The shock-absorbing ability of the Black Knight Armor Set is serving to be 13% better than your projected expectation.”
“Is it now? Are you still recording everything?”
“I’m not missing anything, sir
“Good. Then this practice will serve even better in the future when we succeed with it.”
“Leave the analysis of the data to me, sir. Just do your thing and fight the best fight you can.”
The talk happened as Siva got up to his feet and in front, 40m away, Cramer and FlowerLord were already readying on another round of assault.
Albeit in slight pain, Siva still got up to his feet and stood straight as if nothing happened. The other two knew that he received damage but they also knew that with the new things about Siva, he had also upgraded his style, abilities, and equipments.
In short, he had gotten stronger.
And he hasn’t even used anything else aside from brute power to face the two of them.
Cramer and Efel have their own prides and while the two of them were in full power against Siva, they knew that Siva was still holding back. He was just plainly fighting them with his basic abilities.
This was a testament that he had indeed gotten stronger. If Siva wanted to, he could have ended this round by summoning back his puppets and giving these two the pressure before finishing them off.
By not doing so means that Siva is planning other things in this ‘training’ slash ‘show off’.
“What’re you trying to do?” FlowerLord yelled but she didn’t stop nor slow down her pace by even just a bit.
“Training.” Siva replied blandly, taking his steps as well. “Everything you’ve seen so far is still not the final form I wanted to see and happen.”
“You’re treating us as lab rats?” she retorted while speeding her pace one step ahead of Cramer.
“Well, I don’t care what you do, man, but I want you to give the best fight you can!”
Siva smiled at Cramer’s enthusiasm, “Naturally.”
20m.
The three of them sped up. The duo launches to the air, Siva poising his 2.5m large axe on a back-handed rising swing.
FlowerLord’s magma-form transformed into a big mouth-like fist-like large object, while Cramer’s Mjolnir was again clad in a large ball of lightning that snaked and sparked in the air.
Time seemed to slow down as the three prepared for a meeting in this clash.
BOOM!
ROOOOOOOOOAAARRRRRRR!!!
It was also in that exact moment just before they actually met in a clash that the sky above the Fortress, far above even on the hovering image of Akhenaton in the cover of the clouds, a magic circle 4km large expanded without warning.
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CRAAAASSSH!!!
Following a large explosion of rippling space, the image of a large winged creature slammed on the very surface of that 4km large magic circle like a piece of mirror wall and shattered one layer of its spatial restrictions.
The Fortress is still outside Alexandria and was already preparing to depart and head to the Castle City of Jeremiah, but who would have thought that this will happen today?
Even the residents of Alexandria could see it in its entirety with the slightly blue but cloud-filled sky!
A large creature was falling towards them!
“What the hell…”
“Look to the sky!”
“A monster… a monster is falling from the sky!”
“By the Gods…!! That’s a huge monster!”
*****
DING!!
[A calamity has befallen your city]
[The Neutral Zone Effect has been lifted]
[Eradicate threat to resume neutral status]
Because he was the owner of the Fortress, Siva was the only person who could see the pop up window that had the scary notification.
He almost gasped in shock.
“My Lord!” Akhenaton’s butler double appeared above the arena, “A True Dragon is invading us!”
“““True Dragon!”””
Everyone who was awake all heard this dreadful news like it was the coming of Armageddon.
Their little bout was abruptly stopped by the coming of a winged calamity and judging from its size to its momentum, it will only take it little more than a minute before it escapes the Magic Circle and make contact with the golden idol hovering far above their cotton-littered skies.
“Akhenaton, intercept! Get us away from here!”
“My Lord, with the defenses up, it will take us an hour before we could teleport.”
Siva clicked his tongue.
True Dragon?
In his [memories], adult ‘Lesser Dragons’ already has the power to destroy an entire city the size of Alexandria in an entire night and just now, a ‘True Dragon’ —a monster that could decimate an entire country in just a few hours and is an entire realm of evolution above a Lesser Dragon, has just appeared above the skies of Akhenaton’s fortress with an unknown purpose but a very obvious aim: destruction.
“Do it.”
“Halt your advance, True Dragon! You are in my territory!”
ROOOOOOOOOOOOOAARRRR!!!
Although weak and incomplete, Akhenaton is still a true Immortal. His soul, in essence, is still far stronger than any mortal person.
With the strength of his intent and his ‘will’, he can still impose a threatening aura on the scope of his territory.
And yet, no matter how much he tried to build and establish communication with the dragon, the only replies he received were its deranged roars.
“My Lord, this True Dragon seems weird. Based on my experience, all True Dragons have metallic scaled bodies, could speak Dragon Tongue, will always be accompanied by a monster army, and will not attack an Immortal without reason… and that is removing the fact that this tiny world could actually truly nourish a Lesser Dragon into moving up on its ladder of evolution! If I’m not mistaken, this True Dragon… is a product of summon. This is a Spirit Beast, My Lord.”
“Spirit beast? Summoning?” Siva looked at the little pepper, Coralline, and thought that she could explain this thing… only to see her looking up with dread from the sight of that large magic circle that suddenly just appeared in their skies.
“There’s no time to explain My Lord. We only got at least one and a half minute until that thing fully escapes the binding of its release to the world.”
Siva pondered for a moment and although it was really abrupt and shockingly surprising, he found himself recalling something from his [memories] regarding this so called “Spirit Summoning” and it made him calm for some reason.
“Spirit Summoning… Spirit Summoning… I know I remember seeing it on the list of Unique Abilities!”
It only took that one instance to know that this is not something done by the “the world”.
“Someone’s targeting me!”
He found himself knowing how to deal with this situation. But unfortunately, he doesn’t have time for analysis at this very moment.
“I do.” Cortana interrupted his thoughts. “I already completed analysis. Boss, based on the current strength of you and your organization against this situation, you stand at a 3% certainty at winning against this creature if you choose to defeat it.”
Siva was surprised, “Even with the Killing Zone effect of 70% less defense and all of my cards?”
“That’s already my optimistic estimates, sir. That is if we assume that even with the defenses of your fortress up, the Dragon will not use any of its AOE attacks while you’re dealing damages on it.”
Siva shuddered in despair knowing this.
What was the use of him getting stronger than the he before in the first place if he can’t even defeat a dragon?
Cortana sounded bland when she was explaining this to him. Siva bit his tongue to focus on the task in front and not fall into courage depravity.
“Akhenaton. How about we focus on charging the Mana and concentrating efforts to teleport away?”
“We will need at least 10 minutes, My Lord. But it will put the Fortress at risk of destruction. Just one Dragon Roar from a True Dragon and the Fortress will be decimated.”
Siva clicked his tongue. “Cortana, you’ve read my memories and knew that my Killing Zone will be able to affect it. If I focus on attracting its attention using Killing Zone and activate the Artemis MOD along with all my cards, what is the percentage of me surviving?”
“Since you’re in your peak condition, sir, then it’s around 10% if we include the support of the full force of The Company’s assets.”
The Company supporting him and still that low?!!
Choosing to defeat it only yields 3% chance but to stall time and only distract the thing, then it’s a bit better at 10%.
But in the big picture, that’s still pitifully low!
Siva was utterly shocked. But then, at the next, moment, he heard Akhenaton cursing, “My Lord, I tried to communicate with it just now but it did not answer me with anything so I really suggest we hold out for an hour until we can get away from here.”
“That’s impossible.” Siva said, “Even if the shield is up and I distract it with the Killing Zone along with the warships, it still only has a 10% chance of succeeding, provided, that it doesn’t use Dragon Roar on me…. I’ve tasted the might of this attack before and even though it was released only by a mere fledgling, it was still enough to cause me to take half a step close to ruin. That is an adult True Dragon… it can decimate this continent in an entire night, let alone me…”
Everyone heard this and they felt despair when they calculated with their minds.
“Sixty seconds before the Dragon gets out of that Magic Circle!” Cortana warned.
“God damn it! Just when I was having fun!” Clad in blue aura, Cramer cursed as he also looked up.
Then Siva looked at FlowerLord whose lava-blade is still red and writhing continuously bend her.
A thought struck him.
“We three will distract the dragon. Akhenaton, you focus on charging Mana to teleport us away from here. I will help in the assault.”
“I shall move now.” When Siva spoke at this part, Akhenaton-butler vanished from above them then from the skies, his golden idol looked up to face the threat head on before Siva turned to Thorn who was outside the arena. “Can you take charge of the defenses? Use the warships but don’t get out of the territory of the Fortress.”
Thorn stepped forth, “Are you planning to fight that thing?!” he was utterly shocked since with a single look alone, he could tell that the thing that’s coming above their heads was even bigger than Gyoolu who attacked Alexandria. “That thing’s the largest monster ever appeared in Terroa! Are you insane? You can’t win against that thing!”
“I’m not trying to win against it. I’m just going to distract the thing.” Siva looked at FlowerLord and then to Cramer. “Your defenses are stronger than mine, until the last second before its efficiency runs out can you help me receive its aggro?”
Cramer didn’t even have to think twice. “This is a True Dragon! This is a once in a lifetime battle for me!”
Before Siva replied, he noticed a camera drone in the shape of a fist-sized ball float past them and took an angled position inconspicuous but fairly good for taking videos.
And there wasn’t just one of these guys.
There were nine such camera drones floating just around his group in many different angles and six more that focused on the group outside the arena while there are more who flew above the arena, with the last few floating around Scion’s area.
It was obviously the cat’s drones and before they could even arrange their defense strategy, she was already flying above her dependable (slave) Sky Wyvern.
“Wooohoooo…!! A scoop! A SCOOP!! This is so freaking amazing!!!”
“Krooooooaaaaa…!!!”
(translation: I don’t wanna die… I DON’T WANNA DIE!!!)
Siva could only sigh then faced FlowerLord. “If you want to join the defense, you deal damage to the Dragon’s wings.”
With a swipe in the air, Siva pulled his inventory.
His fast movements astounded every eyes that’re looking at him when he summoned four [Master Puppets] and then added in another three fully masked puppets.
“What are those three?” Fuma couldn’t help but be curious as the last three were different from the four that they had fought earlier.
First, there were the Master Puppets; Destroyer, Gunslinger, Skull Mage, and then the Smasher.
These four had different personas unique only to them but the other three… first appeared wearing the same dark blue-themed armor that Siva wore, aside from the fact that their masks, or rather, helmets, don’t have a single facial orifice on them and that where the faces should be were just an oblong empty slate.
“Faceless.” Siva shortly replied. “I call them that since they don’t have a face and that they are still unfinished, incomplete products…”
This is what he meant before when he was in the middle of discussing the development of the Black Master Armament with Cortana.
So far, the only real complete and working ‘parts’ of the Black Master Armament were the first four personas; Destroyer, Gunslinger, Skull Mage, and the Smasher.
After making sure that [Absolute Domain] had now filed their bodies with electrified Nano-Forms and an extra-coating of BlackTech ‘Suit’ as secondary armor, he then pulled out three big weapons from his Inventory Plus Ultra.
Seeing these weapons made Cramer’s and Efel’s left facial sides twitch in discomfort.
All of the weapons Siva pulled out were made of the same material as his Hammer-Axe.
Siva was really holding back against them!
These puppets don’t have a [core] unlike the main Black Master Armament he was wearing because they were just external components of the entire Black Master Armament. These equipments are still, however, made from Black Ironwood Alloy and other valuable monster materials he extracted from some of the S-Ranked equipments he plundered from Warjillis.
—and on his loot inventory, there are still a little bit over 2000 equipments left that are untouched.
In essence, these three [Faceless Puppets] and the equipment Siva gave them are all still part of what makes up the Black Master Armament.
What more, the weapons Siva gave the [Faceless] are all long-ranged energy-type cannon weapons!
The plan was simple: distract and survive.
.
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Elementis finally arrives to ruin him…
The Fortress faces its first ever siege!!!
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