Ta!~
As Manuvv and Greile fought, a piercing noise that sounded like hard metal colliding reverberated throughout the valley.
Although Greile had been caught off guard by Manuvv's attack and was still unsure of the circumstances, her quick instincts allowed her to react just in time.
The outcome? Greile's sharp underarm was violently struck by Manuvv's fist.
"Manuvv, are you stupid? The olden ones forbade disputes!" Greile flapped her big wings, putting some space between her and the enraged Manuvv, and yelled angrily.
The once sharp, spiky scales of her underarm now looked dented, and some had even fallen off completely, whereas Manuvv had very visible open wounds on his knuckles.
Greile was able to move away from him thanks to the assistance of her fellow southern Drakar, who counted in the tens and were more than enough to deal with the Manuvv and his backing, who totaled no more than five.
The eastern and northern Drakar just observed the altercation while grinning grotesquely.
Greile cast a sidelong glance at them and scowled; she knew from that show alone that they wouldn't be coming to her aid.
'I need to avoid fighting him, this isn't the time to be injured. Who knows what those damned northerners and easterners are planning.' Before turning to face her fellow Drakar, she paused to think.
"He's gone against the instructions passed by the olden ones! Grab him at once so he may be taken to them for punishment!" She bravely exclaimed, letting out a shout that echoed throughout most of the mountain range.
She provoked the eastern and northern Drakar to scowl at her statements. She had just used the situation against them; they could now only either help or leave to inform the olden ones of the current happenings.
"Tch! I didn't expect anything less from the cowardly Southerners, who only know how to run away and hatch plans. You want to lie now that I have discovered the truth? Despicable!" Manuvv wasn't prepared to permit such an event.
He kept nothing back and rushed forward once more because he had nothing left to lose.
Nonetheless, this time, some other Drakar were prepared to repel the assault; however, this turned out to be useless.
Boom!~
Manuvv swung his big wings with enormous vigor and sent a thunderous gust of wind.
It blew in the direction of the throng of gray-scaled Drakar, sending some soaring erratically.
The handful who could fight back countered and flew towards Manuvv's direction with the intention of attacking.
They more than made up for their diminutive size in the air with tremendous agility and speed, swiftly sneaking into Manuvv's blind areas before he could turn to react.
The swiftest approached him from behind and used the razor-sharp scales that protruded from his underarm to slice at Manuvv's wings and back.
It only lasted for a brief period, though, as a single flap from Manuvv produced another strong wind gust to blow back his attack, leaving only minor wounds.
However, even in his wrath, he could see that the injuries would only get worse if the rate of attack kept up.
So then, what could he do?
Manuvv acted solely on instinct, ignoring the powerful and flying toward the ground where the lesser Drakar were seeking refuge from the conflict or treating minor injuries.
!!
They were visibly shocked as they noticed Manuvv's large form advancing in their direction.
Fly away? Run? How could they when they had already suffered damage to their wings from the initial onslaught when they fell to the hard ground?
Manuvv moved with almost no blind spots that Greile or her Drakar might exploit.
A powerful wind would blast in all directions with each flap of his wings, preventing them from making a close-range strike.
"Safeguard the fallen!" The flying juggernaut could no longer be stopped by anyone other than Greile.
His strategy was straightforward: murder the frail and place Greile, whom he believed to be accountable for what had happened to him, in an identical position as himself.
Since her den was toward the south, this wasn't feasible, but the loss of some of her best was still preferable to nothing.
Despite the simplicity of his idea, Greile was put in a difficult situation. Fighting him head-on was the only way to protect the weak, but doing so on the ground where they couldn't move as quickly, worried her.
She had no choice but to accept it.
She motioned her fellow gray-scaled Drakar to attack with a heavy heart, hoping they could at least slow him down long enough to save a few people.
"Help us already, Galar!!" Greile yelled and scowled at the stoic-appearing Drakar with the dim red scales after sending her followers away.
Galar and the rest of the red-scaled Drakar looked amused when they heard Greile's cries.
At first impression, he appeared to be no more than an obese beast with a protruding belly.
However, Manuvv briefly displayed a troubled expression when he heard Greile ask Drakar for assistance.
"You all bore me, fine. Let's end this quickly so I can sample some more delicious Tulsa." Galar, who was nearly spherical in shape, smiled toothily while drool could be seen flowing between his teeth.
He touched his protruding abdomen after uttering those words, and the other red-scaled Drakar followed suit.
Their once-normal-looking huge bellies then started to change color, turning into what appeared to be a fierce burning amber.
As soon as this started, Manuvv frantically flailed his wings, creating another strong wind blast while also hurting himself by putting too much strain on them.
"Dammit!"
He gritted his teeth and tried to soar upward while ignoring the agony, but as he looked up, a startling meeting greeted him.
Bam!
Before he even realized what was happening, he felt a strong blow to the side of his face, which sent him tumbling to the ground violently.
Boom!
When his large body hit the earth, the dust from the rocky mountains rose up and the ground shook.
The dust quickly cleared since there were so many Drakar flapping their wings nearby, exposing Manuvv's bleeding face, which now had a sizable open wound.
"Osar, you disgusting scum." Manuvv cautiously raised his head to see who had assaulted him, but instead he saw a Drakar with dark scales that appeared to be relatively muscular and had a build similar to Manuvv's.
The hue of their scales wasn't the only thing that distinguished the creature known as Osar from Manuvv. Osar had a huge, rounded tail tip with sharp, projecting spikes that, upon closer inspection, one could perceive as virtually resembling a biological mace.
Anyone who looked at Manuvv's deplorable condition of expression could see the destructive impact it had on someone.
"Blame yourself for being weak. Finish him off, Galar." Osar cackled victoriously with his arms crossed before giving an order to the leader of the eastern Drakar.
"Osar, I'm not your errand boy! Watch your tongue!" Galar clapped back in wrath in response to this and vented his rage, but the northern Drakar shot him a terrifying gaze.
"You watch yours before I rip it out and feed it to your disgusting gluttonous self!"
Osar shouted out in a forceful voice that shook the entire region.
Galar seemed very uneasy at his comments, turned his head away, and then murmured angrily in a low voice.
"But the olden ones will need to judge him, not us…"
"Oh…" In response, Osar came close to Galar and peered into his eyes. "Do you wish to test and see wether they can save you from the consequences of angering me?"
"No, no, um, I get it, okay. Just take responsibility if they ask." Osar received a toothy grin from Galar, who grudgingly accepted out of a sense of helplessness.
"All right, I'll leave this to you. I need to inspect my new playthings, haha." With a heinous laugh and confident smirk, Osar took off higher into the air and left the scene.
Galar could only express irritation before turning to Manuvv, who had lost all motivation to continue fighting.
After a brief pause, Galar and the other eastern Drakar opened fire in powerful bursts at the stilled Manuvv.
As he burned to death, there were no screams or movements.He made the decision to keep quiet about his humiliation right up until he died and was reduced to a burned corpse.
Aron patiently observed this sight with a difficult-to-read expression before turning to look in the direction Osar had flown.
'That one will be a problem.'
Before turning around and moving on, Aron's only remaining views on the subject were those.
…
At the same time, Jin was guiding the group through the dense fog he had created. However, the sounds coming from the scene in the western mountain ranges caught their attention.
The tremendous booms, shouts, and cries that indicate a significant altercation could all be heard.
"Whatever Aron did, it seems to have gained the attention of the entire mountain range. We best pick up our pace lest we have some of that attention directed towards us." Rose advised softly as her scouter approached her.
Everyone took her advice to heart and started moving more quickly right away. She couldn't help but look back as they traveled further, a peculiar light shining in her eyes.
'A pity.'
