It was a peaceful day in the capital of Ankor-Nazta. Inkoran-Tazul was as active as always, and after the Event Quest incident with Maagneil, the grand dwarven was in the process of rebuilding one of the dwarven mountain statues Fargryneill had accidentally destroyed during her first usage of [Battle Frenzy (Major)].
As shown by Hikari’s usage of [Battle Frenzy (Major)], the Kargryxmor-unique bloodline ability could substantially empower the Kargryxmor dragon’s stats and abilities, turning already devastating attacks into catastrophic city destroyers. Even a re rank B could be elevated into a threat similar to a middle-level rank A with the 45% base stat increase alone.
Fortunately, Hikari used her chance to use the stat increase in a desolate area, while Fargryneill, in her overeagerness, used it close to the dwarven hold’s lands. The destroyed statue was quickly cleaned away from the mountain pass that connected the dwarven capital to Loatryxian lands, but its destruction still led to the bellowing roar for war in the hearts of the dwarves.
Even after a year and nearly a half had passed, that spark of volatile emotions still hadn’t disappeared. To the dwarven race, who held onto grudges until it was repaid, the casus belli to attack Bole’Taria was still fresh in the minds of the bellicose. The hold kings and clans still rembered the declaration their High King had made, and the latter hadn’t forgotten about it even once for the last year and a half.
Yet, the war engine working to produce weapons and manatech machinery was simply another day in the dwarven capital. It was “peaceful,” even if the preparations were made to go to war. The sa applied to the other Shakaie-Narn Alliance mbers, with all still awaiting a signal for it to happen.
And as the gears of the city continued turning, a certain pair of runes suddenly began glowing inside a newly built room. The room wasn’t well decorated, leaving it conspicuously spacious as it was only dedicated to acting as a waiting room for those who wished to enter Hestia’s subspace. This room was reserved for politicians attending any subspace eting between the Shakaie-Narn Alliance.
As such, the room was quite well fortified with runes to protect from any intruders willing to steal the rune pair. However, the runes only activated to protect from people wishing to enter the room, not to exit it. There was no opening for line-of-sight spells, and the mana barrier protected against any mana link ones. Therefore, the only people who could enter the room from the inside were those who could access the subspace, and that required the permission of the absolute ruler of the subspace—Hestia.
Expectantly, the subspace rooms activated and ford a tear in the air, revealing the head of a crimson dragon peering into the room from an opening outside of the subspace. She glanced around the room, huffing in confusion before a black-haired demonkin explained the situation to her.
Once she understood the situation, the demonkin and everybody around the dragoness ran away as the latter activated [Aerokinesis]. Controlling herself, the crimson dragon roared with [Tyrant’s Voice], shaking the entire room without destroying it. The mont she noticed signals approaching the room, she stopped herself as multiple heavily armored dwarves—Earthshakers—rushed into the room with runic shields, creating a mana wall at the entrance.
[“I am Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor, third princess of the Empire of Kargryx, and the figurehead of the Shakaie-Narn Alliance! I have called upon the High King of Ankor-Nazta to once again fulfill his duty as a mber of the alliance!”] the dragon announced through [Telepathy], causing the dwarves to shudder as they heard the declaration in their heads. [“Hear , citizens of Ankor-Nazta! I, Princess Hestia, request an audience with the dwarven king inside my subspace!”]
When those words were relayed to the Ankoran High King and Queen, both rushed out of their respective offices. It has been nearly two years since they last saw the young dragoness. While the word of her awakening had reached them through the Kargryxmor and Nordor clan living inside Loatryx, they hadn’t been able to greet her once since her coma.
Of course, they had sent her a letter with the railroad guild representatives when they established the digital dia guild on Frozen Nest. Jadhund and the other artificers had kept their king and the railroad guild inford about what was happening in the digital dia guild, which included Hestia’s contribution and ideas that were being turned into real technology.
And now, they would finally be able to et her face-to-face. Although her entrance was quite raucous, far too informal for a foreign dignitary, the dwarves weren’t fazed by this. To et a friend and ally after so long, even a massive feast wouldn’t be enough to greet them. Formalities were re suggestions to the dwarves as long as both sides had a good relationship.
“Princess Hestia! Gahaah, it is good to see you again!” High King Fugnarus almost wanted to jump into the subspace to greet the young dragoness with a pat on the back, but held himself back as he knew her restrictions imposed on her by her father. “Ha, I had expected to et you—”
[“Not enough ti, High King! High Queen!”] Hestia interrupted him. Now this was a bit too rude for even the dwarves. [“Frozen Nest currently has issues with an elental emperor. Two in fact, so I’m here to request aid!”]
Elental emperor? What, another one is still alive?
Though even with this flabbergasting news, both Fugnarus and his queen, Tragaya, were plenty accustod to sudden information. They understood what was going on, even with minimal information. Oaths being important to dwarves made them appreciate any dragonkin who worshipped and took Kargryxmor’s tenets seriously, and as such, were fully willing to co to Hestia’s request, even against a rank A.
They had soldiers ready to send who needed a chance to fight to cool their war-hungry mindsets. Though they did worry about Hestia’s restriction on using the subspace, they believed Hestia must have found a way to solve such a problem if she had co to ask them.
Though the solution was slightly outside their expectations.
[“I don’t need your Earthshakers and samurai!”] Hestia stopped them when the dwarven pair spoke of their intentions. [“Teleporting all those people onto my side will only kill my mana reserves. I need to be efficient here since we don’t have ti, which is why I am not asking for soldiers, I am asking for a couple of artificers and boatload of mana cannons! You must have made a vault-full of them for the impending war, right? Then send them over and have so of them face the stress of war!”]
Huh? The High King and High Queen both froze in place at Hestia’s lack of explanation.
[“Oh, and one more thing. I want the Earth Elental Emperor, as well. Send them over!”]
Without a doubt, this wasn’t what the royal pair had expected from eting Hestia after so long.
[Humanize (Moderate)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]
You have chosen [Crimson Idol]. [Lightbearer] will now evolve into [Crimson Idol], resetting your level and prestige level. Prestige Points: 6, retained. Max level -> 70. Evolution bonuses given: [Mana] [Strength] [Intelligence] [Vitality] [Wisdom]
[Maestro of Red and Blue] Prestige Points: 4
[Crimson Idol] Prestige Points: 6
[Crimson Inferno Tyrant] Prestige Points: 7
You may spend your prestige points after your unique Job evolution
[Maestro of Red and Blue] prestige points: 4
Benefit Slot increaseJob Skill: [Acoustic Skills: Proficiency Lv. 1] [Solar Ice Lv. 1] [Silver Flas Lv. 1]Growth Boosts: [Mana] [Intelligence] [Wisdom]
Solar Ice Lv. 1: Decreases the mana cost of all ice-related spells and Abilities while [Gazing upon the Ruby Star] is active by 5% per level. Reduces damage received from fire attacks by 5% per level. While the owner’s elental alignnt is ice, increase defensive and buff-inflicting spell songs by 5% per level
Silver Flas: Increase fire damage done to others with an elental weakness to one of the owner’s flas by 5% per level. Reduces damage received from ice attacks by 5% per level as long as [Gazing upon the Ruby Star] is active. While the owner’s elental alignnt is fire, increase offensive and debuff-inflicting spell songs by 5% per level
[Maestro of Red and Blue] Prestige spent. [Solar Ice Lv. 1] [Silver Flas Lv. 1] gained. 2 Prestige Points spent on Benefit Slots
[Crimson Idol] prestige points: 6
Benefit Slot increaseJob Skill: [Elental Resistances: Proficiency Lv. 1] [Arcane Skills: Proficiency Lv. 1] [Magic Skills: Proficiency Lv. 1] [Light-Fire Dual Blessed]Growth Boosts: [Mana] [Intelligence] [Wisdom]
Light-Fire Dual Blessed: Healing, supportive, and offensive spells and Abilities will affect those who worship the Goddess of Light, Aurena, and the God of Fire, Danterno, by 25% as long as a blessing corresponding to each respective god is present in the owner’s soul. Increase aura effectiveness against relevant worshippers
[Lightbearer] Prestige spent. [Light-Fire Dual Blessed] gained. 1 Prestige Point spent on Benefit Slots. 1 Prestige Point to [Sacred Equilibrium Lv. 9] -> [Sacred Equilibrium Lv. 10] gained. 1 Prestige Point spent on Benefit Slots. 3 Prestige Point to [Demonsbane Lv. 1] -> [Demonsbane Lv. 4] gained
Stream’s working. I smiled as a blue screen was projected from my party bracelet, showing two different videos being fild live, right now. One was filming the current movent of the elental emperor, while another was fild within Frozen Nest near the docks.
I closed the window depicting the latter stream as I was sure the dwarves would finish their part of the deal without needing to supervise them all day. I was more interested in the forr, as I was squinting at the fact that the elental managed to rouse the monster population into going on a rampage. Well, “rousing” might be the wrong word here, as it was more like the elental was scaring them into rushing south to destroy any hamlets and villages on its way to Thalaxarus’s corpse.
The sight of the destroyed tundra as the elental was slowly turning into a titanic creature with a humanoid torso, but the bottom of a snail. It gave the elental unimpeded terrain movent as it could scale mountains and bulldoze forests. anwhile, its new long arms could split into various tentacle-like limbs, making it nearly impossible for any dragon to approach it from the skies. They would be plucked off like flies if they didn’t have the speed of Nong.
Haaaa, even after seeing the elental morph into its current form yesterday, it still irked how I was persuaded to leave it for now. After learning of the Elk’s plan on saving Tasianna, I flew over to the tundra as fast as I could, where Nong told to stay away from them. The elental was slowly gaining more of the true ice mana from Tasianna, and that allowed it to exude it like an aura around it. With their ability to control wind and water, it only exacerbated the issue for Nong.
[“Imagine having random icicles appear before your face… and those damn icicles are made from highly potent ice mana. I was thinking of using [Battle Frenzy (Major)] to fight it properly, but you did tell to simply stall it, so stall it I did. I really hope your army of ice dragonkin will do more than act like flying boulders,”] Nong told when we reunited, which led to deciding that it would be better to simply rejoin the growing army.
And that was when a plan started to be concocted in my head, further visualized when Skardvro and Fehrkatruk reported the progress of the army. While also initiating my Job evolutions and buying so Job skills, I also used the night to call for help from the Ankoran High King. Thankfully, while it was in the middle of the night for us, it was in the early morning for Ankor-Nazta. Tizones!
I did feel bad about only eting him to call in for another favor, but it wasn’t like I wouldn’t repay him. In fact, I was already doing it by sharing the current stream with him. The subspace linking faraway places with ti-space magic, allowing streams to happen even without an information tower built inside Inkoran-Tazul ant King Fugnarus could watch everything that was happening here. If he wanted to, he could even share the footage with the rest of his citizens as an afternoon show… if you liked watching our land getting destroyed by a giant elental.
Ah, well, if this were a show, it certainly would be nice to watch. Sadly, this was my ho. My ho was getting destroyed and one of my investnts was about to be sacrificed for the greater good.
“… My tower. They are coming closer.” I groaned as if my entire day was about to be ruined as I looked up to the newly constructed information tower—the first of its kind—that was just finished about a week ago.
All the money and effort that went into creating this building just so we could stream stuff to the people living in the frontier and mountains felt like such a waste. The dark dragoenewt artificers that Empress Forminaxtrass sent to us sounded so defeated when they learned the elental would soon reach this area. They would demolish everything they had created.
Thankfully, we could still salvage the most important tech. The dwarven artificers from the digital dia guild and so King Fugnarus had sent to us got to work imdiately to uninstall everything, and we were transporting everything back to Iceskale with a few wyverns. [Spatial Rend] allowing to teleport people from Ankor-Nazta to Frozen Nest due to the subspace exploit saved a huge portion of the budget that went into the information tower. Thank goodness!
Though I should also thank Skardrvo and Rhekk for supervising the rescue operation. At this point, about 80% of the citizens living outside of Iceskale were safely flying to Iceskale with the help of the wyvern wing. The rest were either waiting here with as the last passengers, or they lived on the beaches, far away from the elental’s rampage. They were less prioritized by the rescue squad; as such, though we had still told them to evacuate just in case.
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“Everything is loaded up!” I heard one of the dragonewt artificers shout as he strapped the last bit of equipnt on one of the wyverns. The rest of the engineers then hopped onto one of the remaining wyverns and prepared to depart from here, although I could see from the look on their eyes that they were saying their last goodbyes to the tower.
“It’ll be rebuilt, don’t worry about it!” I told them, waving my hand to try to soothe them, but I believed they already knew that after we survived this ordeal, most of the funds would first go into rebuilding everything. Every farm, house, and building belonged to our various clans, and it was certain that the true dragonkin would pressure the senate to send relief.
Once again, the information tower would take a while to be rebuilt, even if streaming and the recorder beca a country-wide sensation. Honestly, I didn’t mind it too much since this tower here looked more like a stone tower than a building used for modern tech. It was rushed, lacking any real polish to make it look like the stone architecture the dwarves or dragonewts of Iceskale could create. An eyesore on these beautiful hill tops, honestly.
[“Princess Hestia,”] Shay called once the last evacuation worker was sent off. I turned around, seeing him look down at in his wyvern form before he bowed, letting also see the rejuvenated Nordor dragoons. [“Your bombs have been placed. Multiple traps, as well. Everything is in place to lead the elental into the valley towards the territories of Clan Bleezark.”]
Clan Bleezark’s territory was the dragon valley just north of our family’s, so Mom’s giant diamond-ice nest. Go further south and slightly east, and you would reach the territory of Clan Thalaxarus. From the border, it would take the elental just about an hour to reach Thalaxarus’s skeletal remains.
The operation would start from the information tower, then about an hour’s march south to Clan Bleerzark’s northern border, and the second phase would begin. From there, I had to execute Elk’s plan and rescue Tasianna before the elental emperor reached Thalaxarus’s corpse and finalized their plan. As long as I got Tasianna out of the elental’s body, we would be able to wind without a doubt once we started using true ice attacks. Shay, Beth, and Tasianna, if she could fight, would be able to defeat the elental without an issue at that point.
Naturally, Fehrkatruk or Nong could probably also help a ton since their flas were hotter than mine right now. The ice dragonkin could tank the elental’s attack without an issue, and it would all resolve itself from there. We just had to seal its ability to use true ice mana as an offensive tool.
I stood up and closed the stream on my bracelet, looking at all the dragoons who had assembled before . Once Vifi ca to stand right behind , I straightened my back and deepened my voice as I released my [Royal Presence].
“Dragoons of the Nordor bloodline! Hear , for your princess now speaks to you!” I declared. “In about five bells’ worth of ti, the elental emperor of wind and water will reach this area after he finishes his carnage, destroying my mother’s lands! The cowards decided to appear before us with my mother and most elder scales gone, leaving us defenseless to major threats. Yet, unlike that elental, we will not cower before a powerful foe. No, this is our land! Our ho! Our people we swore to defend!”
“For Frozen Nest!” the dragoons shouted.
“The rest of the army will soon be here, but until then, it will be our responsibility, with my brother’s help, to delay the enemy from entering Clan Bleerzark’s territory! Every bell we can afford to save will an more ti for our reinforcent to arrive in a large armada from the sky! Our ‘wings’ will soar as we true dragonkin will show that none are allowed to threaten our territory, citizens, and life! This is our ti to remind all that the Nordor na isn’t just tied to my mother’s reputation! Nordor dragonewts, do you see the rising sun?” I asked, causing them to grunt in affirmation. “Small that I might be, I will protect these lands. I might not have been born here, and my scales might not glimr like silver like yours, but you have witnessed my resolve. Grandfather Nordoramsul’s blood flows through , and the courage to face down the threats of my family was handed down to from my mother, Sixth Empress lloxtressa! So, I ask of thee, my dragoons. Will you darken the lands with as we soar through the sky?”
“For Princess Hestia!”
“Will you show that even a primordial elental has no right to hurt our land or bring about a dragon hunt?”
“For Empress lloxtressa!”
“Then show your resolve in battle! Show this young scale what all of you have been preparing for once you took up the oath of a Nordor dragoon!”
“For Clan Nordor!”
“Take to the skies and into your formation! Prayer! Humanize!”
[Blessing of the Goddess of Light (Major)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]
Oh, Goddess Aurena, Goddess Andira, God Yeostar; watch over us. Watch over every single one of these brave dragoons. Grandfather—God Kargryxmor—let them show their power against our empire’s foes! I prayed, feeling my heart tremble as I worried I would once again lose people during an operation. Aside from Commander Estranor, I really didn’t know a single one of the dragoons. I might have heard their nas when they introduced themselves, but I haven’t seen their face as they covered them with their helts.
Essentially, no-nas and no-faces to . Strangers. Yet I wanted my prayer to co true, even if I knew as a Champion that the gods could do nothing at this point. Whether we survived or even succeeded in protecting our lands depended entirely on our actions. Not knowing most of my dragoons felt more like a blessing in this case, as I wouldn’t be able to feel as distraught as when Akasht died, but it just didn’t sit right.
I pulled out a tablet Commander Estrano had written his dragoon’s by my order. Even if I didn’t know their faces, I should at least learn their nas.
With this worry in my mind, ti passed until the monster ca into view. I could see Nong and a few wyverns fly towards us as the grim visage of the elental emperor revealed itself from behind a mountain. Climbing over it like a snail, the no-faced elental peered down into the prairie, probably ignoring the information tower as it had detected .
I pulled out [Providence’s Will] and a fairnite ball where the Earth Elental Emperor had been imprisoned inside by the dwarves. Using [Unheilige Engel], I had them orbit like a planet, dangling them in sight to the elental’s interest. If they wanted [Providence’s Will], then they should be happy to see EEE as well.
[“I can feel them,”] I heard the Earth Elental Emperor speak to .
[“Their divine mana is growing. ‘Faith’ is being gathered even at this mont. An army of smaller elentals and even lesser faefolk have gathered around the twin elental emperors,” [Providence’s Will] said. [“It doesn’t matter the size when it cos to faith. Numbers create religions. Numbers create armies. Numbers are the source of a god’s strength.”]
[“You can lecture on theology at another ti. Co on, get ready. We dive the mont an opening is created,”] I announced as I started flying towards the valley.
The elental’s lower torso started to morph, growing multiple spider legs to climb over the mountain before it grew the torso of a horse, turning it into a centaur to chase . Behind it, multiple monsters ranging from mammoths, saber tigers, monstrous bipedal reindeers, and many more types of monsters were rushing down the mountain and into the prairie. While they couldn’t keep up with their leader, their stampede would probably be frightening if I weren’t flying in the sky.
Since the elental was so fast, it quickly arrived at the information tower, triggering the trap I had there, causing the entire building to blow up like a nuclear bomb. Rooms filled with my holy and crimson fire grenades made just yesterday tore the entire area asunder as a mushroom cloud started to fly into the sky. Maybe it wasn’t the sa size as a real nuclear bomb, but all that fire mana would stop the elental in its tracks for a mont.
… Or so I thought.
What?
The elental took to the skies as it grew wings, abandoning the ground to quickly regenerate its lost mana by absorbing the ice mana in the air before landing again. [“The elental cannot fly as they require concentration to gather all the mana from Tasianna and to keep her safe. The more the emperor morphs their body from their original sli form, the weaker their hold on the Ice elental King,”] I rembered Elk explaining. That explained why the elental had been moving at a snail’s pace relative to what it could do, right now.
[“Absorbing the other elental emperor would be their attempt to gather even more divine mana,”] I also rembered Elk saying, which was why I was taunting the emperor. I needed their attention on !
[“Princess Hestia, yes?”] I heard a man’s voice enter my head. [“I have learned much about you from Tasianna’s mories, and your rather vulgar display when you took down my fellow elentals will not be sothing I can forgive. Broken out of your little sphere, defeated those I sent towards you, and now you stand before . Princess of Frozen Nest, do you wish for your friend?”]
[“… You’re an actual idiot if you’re asking for the obvious. Taunting ? Seriously?”] I replied, snappy.
[“You taunt with what I want, and you’ve been attempting to stop ever since we saw each other through that massive mana projection you created. Haha, are you the fool to think I wouldn’t do any of this?”] The elental started to laugh, bellowing with a hissing voice through its sli body. [“No. I know exactly what I must do, and you will not stop , Champion of Aurena and Scion of Kargryxmor. This mana inside is exactly like the Origin Gods. Nothing I do is taboo! The sky has not been rendered asunder yet by Plesia, or have your gods tasked you to stop ?”]
I didn’t answer and kept flying, yet no matter how far I flew, the mana connection remained stable as the elental followed after . It moved its arm around, gesturing for to attack them.
[“You flee? Is that truly the image the Princess of Frozen Nest wishes to show her followers? I can see your brother over there and those pesky wyverns next to him! I saw that weird manatech they were using. This ‘recorder’, according to Tasianna, allows you to project images it captures elsewhere. Are you people watching you? Does the mighty sunfang dragon only flee, for that is what you have always done in your life? ‘To survive is to win.’ Pah… yet, I do not share such thoughts, young dragoness.”] The image of a smile slowly ford in my head. [“I like those words. ‘To survive is to win.’ Yes, I like the way you say it in Tasianna’s mories! It cannot be understated how much pride can ruin any chance to rebound from failure. To survive is to truly receive another chance in the future, and I am the personification of such a mantra! Witness this form, Peolynca—a demigod has returned! Ready to beco the god you deserve! That every faefolk deserves!”]
A shrill cry erupted from the elental’s body as the air around them started to freeze. Icicles ford around its body as a blizzard started to set in, slowing down. The elental was trying to pull towards them.
[“I have waited long enough in that prison! My friend had shown that no rare deserves the grace we faefolk had given to this world! We were the first beings! Whether sentients or monsters, we existed at the brink of dawn! We primarchs shaped the world with the six elents, creating a world where your kind may exist and live with so much bounty. Yet, we were forgotten when the ti ca! Where are our prayers? Where is the faith we had gained from all our hard work to nurture the races of elves and humans? None of them exists any longer! We are nothing more than a footnote despite all that we have done!”] the elental yelled, prompting the storm to intensify as it completely stopped from flying forward. [“I shall free myself of this prison! I shall carry the legacy of my dear friend. Without them, we would have vanished just as much as you, Light Elental Emperor. We would have been turned into a re tool like you, Earth Elental Emperor! We would have been ground into dust like the Fire Elental Emperor or consud by the void like the Dark Elental Emperor! Co, comrades of old! My only living companions! Reach out to ! Embrace this body and beco one with us! Do not let this chance slip by for us to correct our past mistakes! Rise with against the Origin—”]
And with another explosion, the elental’s telepathic link was montarily interrupted. The elental turned around to see the area around the information tower releasing streams of purple flas from various holes, with more appearing with similar explosions.
For a mont, the elental did not react, rely curious about why there were more explosions, but quickly realized sothing was off when the fus of the purple flas started to, hopefully, cause the lesser fae and elentals around them to start falling asleep.
[“You—!”]
[“Hey, rember what the fuck I’m all about?”] I taunted as Nong ca to my rescue, sweeping out of the blizzard and back into free air. [“Crimson, white, and bloody purple flas! I’m as much of a poison dragon as a holy dragon, and one of those toxins I’ve used in the past can stymie the usage and absorption of mana. And what are faefolk created from? Mana!”]
Naturally, I wasn’t trying to cause a genocide. I already knew sobody who would shout at about the Geneva Convention even if they didn’t apply to Peolynca, so I didn’t need it from anybody else. Definitely not from my own guilty conscience.
Which was why I lied! The toxin wouldn’t cause the mana inside a person to go rampage, causing an arcane corruption-like effect that would also affect faefolk, like I used it in the past. The effects were heavily diluted, only slowing down mana flow and absorption, making it hard for the mages to cast spells as their mana wouldn’t flow out of their bodies properly. For a faefolk, though, you could say this was a type of sleeping gas.
Whether the elental understood this or not didn’t matter as they turned back to , their mind sending its frustrations, anger, and intentions into mine through the telepathic connection it created. The stream of disrupting information was being processed by Hikari, but it didn’t feel good to be exposed to it.
[“And so ask themselves why it is we faefolk are acting as such. The Ice Elental King trusted the dragons, and look what it had cost them? Thalaxarus failed even with their power, and it now holds all who live in Frozen Nest as prisoners. All but the dragonkin… Release us! We are not your prey to kill for your asly level-ups!”] the elental roared as their body ford two wings, striking forward as they chased after Nong and .
Finally distracted, the elental didn’t notice when more explosions started to destroy the prairie, only these were targeting the horde of monsters in the back. My Nordor dragoons struck at the monsters, using this chance to erase the army the elental emperor had created while earning so experience.
When the elental finally saw what was going on, their attention shifted once again, only for Vifi and Nong to attack them, drawing their attention to a third distraction. Who would they chase? Which of us was more important to their plans? Their army of faefolk followers to fuel their faith, the army of monsters to distract the dragonkin, the duo between Vifi and Nong with firepower strong enough to slow the elental down, or , who was holding onto the mana of two elental emperors? They could only choose one, as the others would proceed unhindered.
“Hey, ‘Yothmlak!’” Vifi shouted. “Enjoy the front seats to your destruction! Every plan you made will fail as you chose the wrong opponents! Godhood? You should feel lucky if you don’t end up inside a small prison like the Earth Elental Emperor!”
[“You taunt still, Stain! No more! No more prisons! I—No!”] The emperor turned away from Vifi as they saw fly away, finally choosing as I had anticipated from Elk’s explanation.
They could gain faefolk followers no matter where they went, and while the army of monsters would help them progress to Thalaxarus faster, what they couldn’t give up was the chance to absorb two more elental emperors. And as they chased , this allowed Vifi and Nong to perform sabotage to slow them down, even if it wasn’t a lot. As I said before, every bell we could buy for the rest of the army, the better, which was why I focused entirely on escaping.
“Surviving is winning,” sure was the best mantra here.
[Various Spell Buffs] [Various Potion Buffs] [Music Resonation (Major)] [Gazing upon The Ruby Star (Minor)] inflicted on [Young Sunfang Dragon, Hestia Atsuko Kargryxmor]
Blasting into the territory of Clan Bleerzark, I navigated through the mountains in an attempt to avoid the elental. anwhile, Nong and Vifi would start detonating the various bombs we had placed on the way beforehand, causing mushroom clouds smaller than the one from the information tower to erupt and disfigure the environnt.
Every blast was strong enough to montarily stun the elental, but a single night wasn’t enough for to make enough that it could last. I already went sleepless to finish my preparations, so this was all I could do with my bomb creations.
Which was why Vifi and Nong weren’t the ones to carry the elental emperors. We didn’t want to flee from the elental; we wanted them to follow us towards our preferred destination. Those with the highest firepower would stall the elental from catching , the third fastest of the group.
Red thunder and flas could deal damage to the elental, but what was better was ways to stop or block its way. Wind, water, and ice were useless against the elental, but what if we caused an avalanche or mountain collapse to trap them in the debris? Minutes gained!
Fortunately so, as the results of our plan were starting to show as the sky started to darken. I felt like I was pushing my body through a sprinting marathon. The difference between having and not having a solar core was how long I could maintain my rocket boosters. I couldn’t do it endlessly, as I needed nutrients to regenerate my used scale-dust. I had to take breaks to eat.
While eating, I started to sigh as I noticed the elental was starting to adapt to all the obstacles the duo was creating and had to resu flying, eating mid-flight.
[“Princess Hestia!”]
Unfortunately, just as I was finishing a large steak, [Foresight] activated before [Danger Perception] warned of an incoming projectile. I snapped around, trying to barrel roll out of the way, but couldn’t do it in ti as a giant ice spear tore through my entire right wing, while the rest of the spear was blocked by Beth jumping in my way just in ti.
[“Nice timing!”] I praised her while using [Miraculous Grace] to regrow my lost wing as I tried to fly with [Unheiliger Engel] and [Tailwind].
While ti was on our side, the longer the elental had to acclimate to Tasianna’s mana, the more it would start to resemble an ice elental. A monsoon was keeping Vifi and Nong occupied in the back, while one of its arms was shooting ice spears with pinpoint accuracy, using wind magic to propel them like a gunshot. They didn’t need to chase if they could shoot down.
With this adaptation, I couldn’t even make it to my clan’s territory as I was forced to dodge the barrage of projectiles. Beth’s unique skill gained after gaining [Hestia’s Imperial Guard] allowed her to fortify her true ice armor even further, allowing her to tank these large projectiles with moderate ease. Her brother, who was flying with her incognito, was still hiding sowhere, awaiting his mont.
… Though maybe the mont would co soon.
As another projectile was about to be released onto , a barrage of cannonfire drowned out the monsoon created by the elental, striking the elental from the side, breaking their focus and aim as the projectiles struck the mountains. Snapping around to see who caused this, more cannonfire struck the elental right on the face, barely fazing them.
As the cloud dissipated, though, the barrage continued as if it hadn’t just happened, bombing the area to the point that the elental started to lose ground. It took to the skies by morphing wings to escape the barrage, but was quickly shot down as the cannonfire was ceaseless.
[“What—!”]
With a heavy thud that sounded like the earth was breaking apart, the elental crashed inside the mountain range, falling deep into a nearby ravine. The monsoon trapping Vifi and Nong quickly dissipated with its master thrown off from their pedestal.
Seeing this, I let out another sigh as I looked up, seeing the sun blotted out by an armada of flying dragons, wyverns, and dragonewts, while an army of drakes scaled the nearby mountain ranges. My army had finally arrived.
“Princess Hestia!” I heard a male dragon shout at , turning my attention to one of the few fire dragonkin roaming the skies right now. “I, Fehrkatruk, have marshaled your army! Frozen Nest’s might is here to protect its princess and lands!”
Just in ti… I was already smiling to see all these dragons flapping their wings, but what I was happiest to see was that my plan worked. On the backs of so of the approaching dragons and drakes were the boat gear used by the aquatic dragons and drakes whenever they went out to fish. It was there so the dragonewts fishers could fish while on the backs of a larger dragonkin, and now they were being used as the mounting platform for dwarven and dragonewt artificers.
Why? Well, sobody had to know how to handle a dwarven warhamr mana cannon, right? Ahaha, the cannons I asked of King Fugnarus were being used right now to bombard the elental emperor!
We might not have airships just yet, but that didn’t an I couldn’t just start an armada of sky pirates, right? Arrrrrrrrrrgh!
Face over 2500 years of progress! The reverse-engineered demon cannons used to shoot down dragons during the demon war—the dwarven warhamr mana cannon!
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