Chapter Five Hundred And Twenty Four – 524
Its injured, an Inquisitor pointed out, staring at his own broken sword in annoyance. Behind them, well away from the downed Dragon, their lessers surged around the impediment on their way toward the frontlines. All was wet, squelching mud and a splashy din among the clattering armor and shouted Skills. Nows our chance. Kill it now!
You kill it, another Inquisitor shot back, while blood seeped from a gash across his forehead. Ill not risk my life in jaws large enough to swallow half a city block.
Get out of my way, you cowards, said a voice like rolling shale. The Inquisitors turned to see a seven foot tall giant in platemail push through the press of Hierocratic bodies. The crest of the Paladins shone like gold upon his crimson armor, and his unsheathed greatsword glimmered in the failing light. He grunted, igniting the length of steel until it burned like a torch. Ill end the monstrosity, and then we can focus on the real enemy.
Draconic Stormfall!
The clueless Hierocratic dogs were driven into the mud as a woman in blue and white armor hit the Paladin spear-first. Water burst upward and away, blasted out by a ring of crackling lightning that swept through it and into the Inquisitors. Their screams were high and short before they ended on their backs in the shallow water, and the Paladin's own shout was a gurgling rush of blood and returning waves.
You heinous, heathen doggglhgh! he said, before Vess put all of her considerable Strength behind her partisan and twisted.
You Have Killed A Paladin Of The Pathless!XP Earned!
Eugh! You! One Inquisitor rose to his feet, swiftly followed by another. Diurnal Re!
Spear of Tribulations, she hissed, and ten silver Spears dropped from the sky onto their armored heads.
You Have Killed An Inquisitor Of The Inviolate Inquisition (x2)!
XP Earned!
Vess yanked her partisan free and whipped it to her side, wicking the blood away as the waters rushed back around her feet. Her eyes found the humongous head of the golden Dragon and went wide. Yintarion.
She leaped into the air, her legs carrying her right to the Dusk Dragons giant eye. It was closed, but a heavy rasp bubbled the waters around his lips, and her presence seemed to stir him further.
I have upheld my bargain, little Dragoon, he rumbled and the water frothed. Leave me to die.
Vess brows drew down. That is idiotic. You can help, still! Fight with me!
No. A flash of blue and white, and a status screen rolled before Vess eyes.
Health: 240/244,349,003
She paled, and felt a cold sweat spring across her back. For a creature his size, so little Health was like clinging to the edge of death itself. If those Inquisitors had managed a proper strike, they truly could have killed him.
Yintarion rumbled as if agreeing with her frantic thoughts. The Creature held me too long. It wore me, until I became so thin that little else remains. Ive not even the strength to shift my tail. I am a shell of scales, all but empty.
Vess pressed a hand to the Dragons jaw, feeling a chill that had not been evident during their wild flight. We can heal you. We have Chanters andand Felix! Felix can help, Im sure of it.
Something flickered in the Dragons Spirit, there and gone. It was too dim to be hope, and too stern to be joy. It feltlike mulish obstinance.
Little Dragoon, I
A Dragona Dusk Dragon?
Vess spun toward the new arrival, partisan lifted between them. A woman, wearing some sort of high Tier armor all in white; her face was bare, revealing a sharp chin, aquiline nose, and piercing amber eyes beneath a tight bun of raven-black hair. Her gaze did not waver from the dull golden bulk of the Dragon. You, girl. It called you Dragoon, and I see the hallmarks of apprenticeship upon you. Explain this. How is this possible?
Vess stared at the woman, her Mind still piecing together the scenario from the chaos of war that surrounded them. It took Vess too long to recognize the shape of the womans armor from her fathers old tomes on the Hierocracy. An old book she studied long ago, but one put diligently to memory; after all, it was important to know your enemy. High Guard.
I said: explain. Now. How does our greatest foe still live?The debut release of this chapter happened at Ñòv€l-B1n.
Our?
Focus is level 68!
Siege Weapon Mastery is level 13!
Alister put his stylus to work, inscribing another set of sigils beneath the stability array. The weapon was so close to finished, and yet so far. Each time theyd attempted to use it, something else had failed, and most recently the backlash of offloading so much Mana had set the entire frame swaying backward alarmingly. Theres a leak on the collection array! Stop feeding it!
On it, sir!
The mages around him hustled just as fast as Alister, each scrawling lines of smoking light onto the weapon while another mage stumbled back from the collection plate, his palm red and in clear pain.
Step back until we fix this, Alister said to the Apprentice Tier but they werent listening. Instead, the mage was staring out into the distance, mouth open and eyes wide.
How will we survive this? the mage asked, only to receive a sharp slap on the back that nearly jolted him out of his boots.
Dont worry. Didnt you hear? The Fiend is returned, Atar said, out of breath. The Apprentice Tier stuttered something but Alister didnt pay much attention, his eyes riveted on Atar. The fire mage had hollow cheeks, blood crusted to his face, and he was leaning heavily on his stave, but his Health was high enough.
Atar. Your team?
Down at the gate. The fools cant target anything with that Dragon in the way, so theyre lining up to get onto the field.
Alister paled. Its a meat grinder down there.
Theyll be fine, Atar said, gesturing beyond the crenelations. See?
Alister glanced backward in time to witness the flooded field begin to rapidly ice over. Behind that front of frost came the fifteen-stride tall Risi Warriors bearing axes and hammers taller than most Humans. The Frost Giants crashed into the Inquisitors and Paladins that had struggled closer to the city walls, smashing them flat before a slew of Sparkbolts, Ice Arrows, and Shadow Jaws followed. Atars team of mages flowed behind, led at the front by a slight woman with a whirling chain.
Evie and the Frost Giants will provide them with the cover they need, Atar continued. He smacked the weapon beside them with his stave. While they do that, Im here to help. What needs doing?
Right.
The two of them leaned in, Alister completing his work on the frame while Atar ran his Perception across the whole of the weapon. With swift, sure strokes of his stave, the fire mage corrected several unnoticed imbalances in the complicated network of arrays. Here, the crucible wasnt pulling the right amounts from the collection array. Ive patched it, but itll pull a lot all at once.
Will it work? Alister asked, sweating as explosions rocked the wall. Will it fire?
Atar grimaced. One way to find out.
The fire mage reached out to grasp the inscribed handles on the weapon, just above the standing platform, but Alister stopped him. Ive got this side. Take the other one, Glyphmaster.
Atar smirked. Fine. But you drop it the moment you feel Mana drain, right?
Right. Alister set his jaw and grasped the handle, feeling a jolt as the array initialized and began pulling on his channels. His other hand twisted in the tarp that covered the front of his creation, and he took a deep breath. Ready, my love?
let us rain fire upon our foes, and lay waste to their grandeur.
Who was? Alister began, but Atars pale face stopped his words.
Ill tell you, Atar said, teeth bared. Not at Alister, but at something else entirely. Later. For now, unveil your masterpiece.
Alister ripped the tarp away, revealing a weapon that only nominally resembled a ballista but was formed more like a massive scorpions tail. Sigils and glyphs lit up along its frame, lines that sizzled and popped as more and more power flooded through its collection array, until the curving barrel blazed with blue and orange spirals. A discordant hum shook the air, forcing the other inscriptionists back, hands over their ears.
Atar laid his hand over Alisters, lacing their fingers and shouting above the din. Together!
Together!
together! and let the world burn!
