With our little army created we begin the march to the Northern border.

The royal knights and the other members of the Heros part all mount up on horseback, while the entirety of us Frontiersmen march on foot. For some reason, we couldn't requisition an airship, and we ran out of horses due to, legal reasons, shall not be explained for the sanity of everyone who may hear the story. I have been reassured there is nothing I could have done, and in the end, it mostly wasn't my fault.

Anyways my little group is quite motley. The frontiersmen all have different armor and weapons equipped. This is due to the different cultural differences between us. While it looks unprofessional as shit, it allows us to all fight in the styles we are used to. Plus, despite the mismatched nature of the different equipment, we are all dripping.

The knights are content to ride along doing small talk or whatever but we march behind them absolutely belting marching songs. While each song is done in a different language, it doesn't take long for the whole group to learn the chorus parts. It seemingly annoys the knights but we really don't care. It passes the time and honestly sounds pretty good.

We pass many villages and towns during our march, the people come outside to watch as we go by, and by each fall of night, we have our encampments set up and ready to go. It should be noted it takes the Frontiersmen half the time to set up camp as it does for the knights. The long hikes and camping trips really paid off. We spent less time setting up for the night and therefore despite our tired feet from marching we are already resting and eating an hour before the knights are.

After a long march, we finally reach the Northern border and find... absolute devastation. We set up our main camp a mile away from where the destruction starts and also inside a group of trees to camouflage us some. This was done at my request, and upon seeing what lay before us, there was little in the way of pushback.

After setting up camp I gather some Frontiersmen who I could trust fully to join me on a scouting mission. Ginessa of course joins in as well but is rather upset when I deny her a horse. We equip ourselves with some survival rations just in case we get lost or otherwise trapped.

The destroyed zone looks like a badland similar to that of those found in North Dakota but without any green whatsoever. I was told the Northern border was rather lush and quite nice prior to the dragon's arrival. The ground looks almost scorched, but not at the same time. While the remains of trees are black and easily crumble at the slightest touch, there is no smell of smoke. Instead the whole area reeks of what I would describe as bleach, but off somehow...

The dirt on the ground is loose and I sink a few inches in with each step, it's also completely dry, it feels as if the grass and all the roots were evaporated somehow. There are patches of brown and crispy grass in places, not blackened like the trees somehow. The pools of water we come across are either dirty or slightly tinted green and reek of decay. The dirty and brown water usually smells like a pool, but the murky water shows that it is anything but clean.

We find skeletons of animals, of all kinds, including humans. The bones are completely white as if they had been there for years, but the dragon had only arrived a week ago at most. The position the skeletons are left in paints a picture of contorted agony and fear. We come across a few villages, the wooden parts of the homes and buildings black, but strangely the stone foundations appear to have been melted. The stone is soft to the touch, but not hot in any way whatsoever.

As we move deeper into the badlands we find pools of a strange gray fluid. It absolutely reeks of a powerful chemical smell. Coming within a few yards of these pools is enough to make your eyes burn and your lungs hurt. We avoid these pools of fluid as much as possible. Slowly I begin to piece together what this dragon does, it appears to salt the earth with its presence and probably produces the gray fluid. Eventually, we come across what appears to be the dragon's nest, or at least a place it spends lots of time in.

It is a massive earthen bowl carved out of loose dirt. Inside the bowl is a lake of the gray fluid, I am forced to put a wet rag over my nose and mouth so that I do not choke as I look into the pit below. The lake is completely still aside from a single point in the center where bubbles gurgle to the surface. For a while, I only vaguely assume that's where the dragon is, and my assumptions are confirmed when I see movement in the fluid, and for a moment an emerald green object sticks out of the water for a split second. The wake surrounding it shows the sheer mass of whatever sits below the surface.

Whatever is below the gray stuff is at least the length of a school bus, easily outsizing Silus, by a lot. Although I can't see the full size of the creature I do understand we will need some more firepower. The scouting party, upon seeing the massive wake all turns around and walks in the other direction, a little shaken by the task ahead of us. Just as carefully as before we make our way back to the main encampment. The whole way back I am brainstorming solutions to this issue.

I enter the large central tent that's working as both the command tent as well as the Princess' private quarters. I sit at the large central table and begin marking on the map rolled out across it. As I am caught in my own little world marking things down there is a strange noise from the other side of the room. I ignore it and keep going while drawing the pit where the dragon is located on the map. I also write notes on separate parchment sheets about how the gray stuff should probably be avoided at all costs.

Then the Princess breaks me from my work by asking,

"Ummm, Isa... you're back early..."

I don't look up as I am still writing and I reply,

"Yeah... found the dragon not too far from here. Things fucking huge, gonna need to do lots of planning..."

She then says,

"Well... you can take the map back to your tent for now and work on it then."

I shrug and say,

"Yeah... I might if the meeting goes too long. I'm gonna call the others soon..."

She goes quiet for a bit as I continue my writing and then she says in a defeated tone,

"Isa... can you please step out for around twenty minutes... I can't get back to the sleeping section of the tent with you here..."

This makes me look up and I see the princess with her hair still quite damp hiding behind some curtains separating the tent into sections. The gears turn in my head for a second and realize the odd sound was splashing. Quickly I stand straight up and turn on my heel and walk out of the tent like a tin soldier. Outside Ginessa is awaiting me with angry eyes. She asks,

"Let me guess... you perved on the Princess."

I sharply reply,

"NOPE!"

I then walk past the paladin and sit down on a chair someone had brought with us. I unhook the chain from my collar and take my helmet off. I let out a long breath and say to Ginessa,

"Well... I feel like shit for that. Probably startled the poor girl."

She simply laughs at me and pisses off somewhere. I am left sitting on the chair for a while a bit embarrassed I didn't even call out before entering. Not cool at all.

After a few minutes of waiting the Princess sticks her head out of the doors and looks around for a second before calling out to me,

"Come finish what you were doing, I'm decent now."

Embarrassed I nod and enter the tent again before going right back to my work. The Princess has some servants with her who buzz around the room like bees helping her get ready and making her supper separate from the rest of us. Every now and then the Princess looks over my shoulder to see what I am doing before going back to whatever it is she was doing. Finally, I have a game plan written and say,

"Well... guess it's time to call in the others and get to work..."

In three days we constructed, by we I mean entirely just the Frontiersmen as the knights refused to do physical labor, a network of earthen bunkers and battlements. Upon testing the gray fluid we found it can only dissolve about three inches of dirt before becoming diluted and incapable of melting anything but biological matter. The gray fluid keeps its toxicity no matter how much it is diluted, it just sorta erases flesh and whithers wood.

In the bunkers and various battlements, we created some rather unimpressive ballistae but, at the level of short notice, we did a good job. From my best judgment the dragon is probably around twenty yards long or bigger, and with us Frontiersmen being unable to use magic ballistae are our only options. Unlike the real deal though these fire massive spears rather than the large steel balls of the Roman ones.

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I manage to organize all magic users into groups, I plan to use them as a sort of artillery support, I don't know much about magic resistance and stuff so I make sure we have every element possible to hit this fucker. Then comes the part I really want to do. I wouldn't ask this job of anyone but myself so I saddle up on a fast horse and ride like the wind toward the lake of gray fluid. Once at the lip of the area I take the short bow I took with me and fire an arrow at the bubbles. I miss badly on my first shot, but the second lands right in the middle and the bubbles stop. I wait for a moment until the fluid begins boiling across the entire lake and a massive wake begins to form and it is rushing toward me. I bring the horse around and it doesn't complain, it just starts running. I don't look behind me as I hear an unholy sound, it's like a coyote howl mixed with a red-tail hawk scream.

I ride hard, dodging the pits of gray death and taking care not to trip the horse. I hear thunderous footsteps following me, but every now and then a horrible voice speaks to me from the dragon, I don't know the language but the dragon sounds pissed.

I blaze past the battle line and leap off of the horse into a hole. I get my weapons ready and watch the hill before us. Then the dragon crests the hill and I can feel the quiet determination of the battleline turn into horror in an instant.

Silus was terrifying, this... thing is an utter abomination. It's not twenty yards long, but instead closer to a full football field in length. It's covered in bright emerald green skin that appears smooth like the skin of a catfish rather than the scales I expected, except for the head which is covered in rough and scaly skin. The head is generally snake-shaped, but the mouth is hinged in four directions like the mouth of an Elite from Halo. The gray stuff drips from its mouth like saliva which it probably is. It has no eyes, no pits where they should be, but no place for them either, but I can tell it is looking at us. Then are the legs... imagine a centipede but the legs are like those on a lizard, and end in eight digits all tipped with eight-inch steak knives of claws. Overall this creature will haunt my nightmares, then I remember that Silus did that transformation thing when he got serious, this makes me worry some more.

I swallow my fear and shout to the fearful soldiers and knights,

"Open Fire! Aim for the chest region and head!"

The Frontiersmen do as they are told and ballista bolts go flying through the air with hellish whistles. With terrible thuds, they impact the flesh of the creature. Bright orange blood flows from the wounds and to my surprise doesn't melt the wooden shafts, that means only the gray fluid is really bad. The dragon, now doubly pissed says something before rearing its head. I watch as the neck area inflates and I order everyone to hunker down. The sound of rushing wind can be heard and the intense smell of chemicals as the dragon breathes a stream of the fluid. Luckily my bunker plans worked and no one was... overly harmed or killed.

Then the knights open up with their magic. The dragon doesn't seem to be resistant to many types of magic as it begins writhing in pain as massive gouts of flame engulf the creature along with bolts of lighting. It's almost beautiful, but the dragon centers itself and returns fire, and due to the knights still firing they are not in cover. I can't see exactly what happened but the screams told me it wasn't pretty. The Frontiersmen fire their second round of bolts at the burning dragon as the ones not manning weapons run to the inured knights hoping to save as many as possible. The Princess suddenly appears next to me and with a face of grim determination says,

"Alright... there has been enough death."

She raises he right arm and shouts,

"Solar Inferno!"

I can't see what is most likely a very cool magic circle, but the attack that comes after I see quite well. The world flashes white for a moment and I feel impossible heat as a massive beam of golden light erupts from the hand of the Princess. The dragon howls in pain as a chunk of its smooth body is ripped away by the intense flame. Before it can react the Princess holds up her other arm and moves her right in a circle and says in quick succession,

"Bladed Rondo...

Earthen Cataclysm...

Pillar of Flame...

Frozen Hell..."

I watch and feel the wind rise to a deafening roar as the dragon recoils in pain as invisible blades cut deep gashes into its flesh. The ground around the dragon shoots upward and stabs into it like massive spears before large blankets of rock come and press the dragon down onto the spears. Then a tornado of flame appears around the dragon before it closes in and creates an impressively large explosion, and finally, I watch as the blood of the dragon freezes and expands rapidly, turning into spines and erupting from the dragon's body all over like terrible orange spines.

I feel my mouth hanging open as the Princess lowers her arms and turns to me with a smug grin. She then says to me,

"Now... that's what I can do when I am not limited by my environment. They don't call me the Princess of Destruction for nothing!"

She begins to laugh and I start to join her but I notice movement. The dragon's body jerks suddenly.

I shout for everyone to get to cover when the dragon suddenly explodes. A mixture of orange blood and gray fluid sprays everywhere, almost everyone is okay, but standing where the dragon once was is a figure. A humanoid one with twelve arms.

It's easily three meters tall, made of the same emerald skin as the dragon, and has no face, but by the shape of the body and certain assets, I can tell the figure is supposed to look female.

The arms are not uniform in size, some are almost as long as the figure is tall, and they don't have hands, instead, each ends in a terrible weapon made of black bones. I don't know how to react, but as some knights rise from their bunkers the figure at impossible speed rushes them down and cuts them in half with two massive scything limbs.

I have no orders, what can I do? I didn't plan for this! I hop out of my position and ready myself for the rapid attack, and oh boy does it come. I am able to block the initial sweep with the large blades thanks to the physical enhancements from my armor, but one of the other limbs catches me in the shoulder. The large shoulder guards catch the blade but I feel just the edge slice my skin. I groan slightly and the creature rears back two of its arms with a spearhead ready to impale me from two separate directions. Thinking quickly I plant a foot onto the knee of the creature, with the enhanced strength it should easily buckle a knee, but it feels as if I just hit a solid oak tree. The creature stops its attack and cocks its head at me, and says something that sounds rather... mocking.

With my free hand, I draw a small knife and jab the creature in the ribs. It howls in pain as orange blood spurts from the wound. It backs away holding its injured sides and just as I go to step forward I fall to my knee. A burning sensation fills my body, starting at the point where I was cut slightly. I cannot feel my legs and my heart feels as if it is about to explode in my chest.

It would make sense the creature has poison on its weapons... why the fuck did I not realize that until now. Breathing is hard, it feels like I just sprinted six miles. The Princess and Blake both appear at my side. I can see Henna and Sertean ready for combat as well, with weapons raised. Blake grabs my shoulder and lifts me to my feet. I lean on him and ask through heavy breaths,

"Use some healing magic on me or something dude... poison!"

He nods and chants something and quickly I feel relief. He stares at me in horror for a moment before explaining,

"I can't get rid of it... not here... we would have to be in a church to cure you, but what I did should keep you on your feet for at least a few more minutes."

I thank him and steady myself and hold out my hand. My sword leaps up from the ground and into my waiting palm. The creature faces us down and we break surrounding the horrible thing. The Princess readies a magical attack, Blake sets up a large wall of light, while Sertean, Henna, and I all rush in toward the creature, we will defeat it here and now... as... well a party of heroes...

...I slowly manage to get to my feet, each breath painful. All I can feel is the burning sensation across my entire body. Around me is a pile of corpses from both the knights and Frontiersmen who joined in our combined attack. It meant nothing through this thing... it's too powerful. It easily parried us three attacking with our swords without even looking in our direction. Henna caught a nasty blow to the leg, Sertean got kicked in the chest. I could hear his ribs break from a yard away. My armor is in tatters, those black blades easily cut through steel and leather. I think the healing rune is the only thing keeping me alive at the moment.

The others came to help, but like a tornado of blades it cleaved through the knights and warriors with ease, the Princess and Blake tried to use magic but the creature easily busted through the shield and impaled Blake through the arm, causing him to pass out, and the Princess, just her luck, got her arm broken in a single motion. She then was cut a few times and probably passed out from the poison. All that remains is me, and I can barely hold my sword.

I stare down the creature which holds all of its arms outward in a very intimidating display, showing me how powerless I am. The wound I made earlier is now completely gone, with not even a scar remaining. I steel myself for death, there is nothing I can do here... then everything suddenly feels like I'm underwater. At first, I think I am succumbing to the poison, but then I feel hot breath on my back. I turn my head slowly to see a face I haven't seen in a while.

A large, shaggy-furred head with multiple pairs of eyes and human teeth, curled up into a horrible smile. He says to me in a flat tone,

"I think... we need to make a deal... Isa."

I nod and ask quietly, my throat trying to close up,

"What kind of deal?"

He laughs and says,

"I can help you defeat this dragon... but I need something in return."

I respond, now weaker,

"What is it you want?"

His smile widens and he then says with barely contained glee,

"I will collect when the time is right... you are in no real position to negotiate with me."

I sigh understanding that I have no potential offers... what is my life worth? Silus hasn't stated any ambitions aside from wanting to experience my life secondhand. Yet I have to agree. I solemnly say,

"I accept your deal..."

Then reality returns to normal, the pain is back as laughter fills my ears, then suddenly my body is gripped with an unseen force. My legs stand on their own and my grip tightens. Without thinking I rush forward toward the creature, I feel something break in my leg as I drive off with impossible force, as the creature goes to react to my attack my body somehow contorts mid-lunge with horrible popping sounds and I dodge the attacks and defensive parries, then in a single swing, the head of the creature goes sailing off in another direction. The body still moves through and I drop my sword without willing it and my fingers close together, using my hand as a spear I easily plunge my hand into the chest of the much taller creature and I grab... the heart. I retract my arm and in my hand is a still-beating bright orange heart.

My other hand undoes my helmet which I cast to the side, and I stand there with the heart of a dragon in my hands. Silus then speaks to me from nowhere,

"I cannot force you to eat this... that choice must be yours..."

I feel that strange feeling slowly lose its grip on me and my body begins to collapse. I decide then and devour the fist-sized object. It tastes... good... way too good. Once finished I fall to my knees and nothing happens...

Then all at once, I am seized by intense pain, every part of me feels as if it is exploding and my vision fades quickly as thunderous... female laughter fills the space between my ears....