Early Evening - Late Sumr : Off the Coast of the Western Sirathan Mountains
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-What is he...- Using my aura to see what exactly he was doing, my eyes shot open. "IS THAT CUBANE?!"
Glancing up at while carving one of the countless runes on the newly created artifact, he looked puzzled. "Cubane?"
"That chemical you're making! Where did you learn about that?!" It was essentially octanitrocubane, an unbelievably explosive chemical I knew from Earth and sothing I had made a modified version of in the past. -But I never taught him, let alone anyone else about it... There is no way he just..-
"I made it myself."
-WHAT?!-
"When you were talking about displacent, the first thing I thought about was an explosion, and I wondered if I could use that idea to create an explosive chemical." He spoke like he created it on a whim. "Like you've hinted at when teaching Zachari, Krystallo, and Madam Monachikós, I used carbon as the base, and in order to make it all combustible, I tacked on so nitrogen and oxygen... I'm not sure it will work, but-"
"IT WILL! Now be gentle with it, or it'll blow your hands off." Taking it with my aura, I held it just in front of him. "This chemical is insanely volatile to temperature because of how tense the carbon's bonds between each other are." Giving a small helping hand, I quickly applied a few additional runes before handing it back to him.
The artifact was simple but, in all honesty, quite vicious, taking advantage of mana's innate ability to stabilize and strengthen unstable molecules with countless mana accumulation runes on the outside of the mythril sphere to temporarily lessen the strain on the carbon atoms before detonating the cubane with so heat, and forcing the cubic atomic structures to jolt into a more relaxed state.
-And with the nitrogen and oxygen, it'll just add fuel to the fire... Literally...- But I was there for it. Although it was an odd feeling, I was pretty excited to see how it would perform.
And then, before I knew it, he finished. "Alright. This should be good."
Having slowed down significantly, I tilted my paw and dropped him so he could change to his draconic form. By then, we were essentially straight over the Mole at the center of the fleet, but with several layers of light magic and with keeping the regular mana part of my aura over a kiloter off the ground, we stayed undetected. -I'm curious how much damage this artifact will do...-
If it were sothing I had made, I would certainly call it weak since I knew it couldn't contend with antimatter, but Father was not a monster like I was. At least not then.
*fwoosh-fwoosh-fwoosh* Hovering just beneath , Father quickly made a few final adjustnts to the artifact before finally looking down.
The Mole was colossal, but from over a dozen kiloters in the air, it was quite far. "Do you want to fly a bit lower?"
But Father's serious expression didn't waver for an instant. "No, this height is fine." Finally lifting his gaze off the ship, he glanced to his left before casually tossing the artifact, using a tiny bit of aura to make a tiny adjustnt as it fell. "You see that tall knight? The one with the big hamr?" An eager look slowly crept onto his face as he spoke. "I'm gonna hit him in the head."
"Pfffft-" I almost burst out laughing instantly.
"What are you laughing for? You think I won't?" He spoke confidently.
Holding back laughter, I tried to wave him off. "No, no. It's not that I don't think you could." Looking down at his target only made want to laugh more. "I just think you could have chosen a better target."
"Huh?" Looking back down, he didn't seem to understand, but after a mont, the knight looked up and casually set his gaze on the falling artifact
"Hmph." He let out a scoff as he pulled his hamr off his back. "We have company! Everyone get to your positions!" His voice was heavy and coarse.
But even though Father couldn't hear him, he knew exactly what happened. "He saw it?!"
"PFt-Hahaha!" My laughter finally escaped seeing Father finally get flustered. "Of course he did. Any ancient would be able to feel that thing's mana signature when it entered their aura. Did you see how many mana accumulation runes you put?!" Seeing him getting a little embarrassed, I eased up my pestering a bit. "But don't worry, it'll just make it more enjoyable to watch."
He tilted his head slightly as everyone below frantically ran around, trying to prepare for enemies. "What do you an?"
My smile widened as I finally looked down. "Well, what do you think will happen when that big ole' hamr of his hits it?"
Following my gaze downward, we both fell silent.
But eventually, the artifact neared the ground.
"Captain! Be careful!" One of the human crewmates yelled out from the entrance of one of the tal structures on the mole before running inside.
But the knight didn't care. "As if an artifact like that could even singe my hair. I just want to see who. Would. DARE!-" *FWOOSH* His massive mythril hamr, easily weighing several tons, whipped around his body in an instant before slamming into the artifact.
Had the artifact survived the impact, it would have been launched over the horizon well past the speed of sound.
However, at that ti, his strength didn't work in his favor. *DING-crackle* The mont after his hamr hit it, the hollow sphere shattered, and the pressurized cubane inside simply.. popped.
*tink* *FWO-BOOOOOM* In an instantaneous flash, a massive cone of light engulfed a large section of the Mole along with several ships in the direction he swung his hamr, their wooden hulls being reduced to less than ash before anyone could even react.
*CLUNG-FWOOOSH* The knight's hamr, absorbing much of the recoil of the blast, was instantly blasted out of the knight's hand before bouncing off the smooth ocean surface and slamming into one of the other ships behind him. *CRRRRACKLEE* It bored through the ship's hull and lower decks with ease, eviscerating everything in its path before exiting the opposite side of the hull below the water level and creating a massive blast of water that showered surrounding ships like rain.
The whole ti, the ancient stage knight was too unprepared to even react, and before he knew it, he had destroyed several ships with only his helt lting to reveal his dumbfounded expression.
"HAHAHA!" His reaction, combined with the artifact's success, made Father burst out laughing instantly. "I didn't know such shaless dragons could make that expression!"
"Right?! It's so satisfying seeing their arrogance disappear like that." I wore a satisfied smile as I looked down over the fleet, each ships crewmates running around in panic. "In any case, I'll head down first, I haven't been able to properly stretch my legs since I woke up."
"Haha, alright! Go beat 'em up, but save so for !"
-Save so for him, huh...- Quickly scanning over the fleet, I almost imdiately found a section of ships that seed to be for cargo, carrying many supplies like food, gunpowder, and extra weapons for the other ships. "You see those 20 ships circled up over there? I'll leave them for you. If you need help, just holler at !"
But he simply smiled confidently before pulling out another small mythril sphere.
-Haha, why is he carrying those?- I honestly wondered, but at the sa ti, it just ant I didn't have to worry much about him.
Finally turning back to the fleet, I undid the light magic around , released control of my aura, and started falling to the ground. *VWOOOOM* My aura fell onto the fleet as if the sky was falling, and before long, I had the attention of every dragon in the fleet focused on .
It was honestly more than I initially thought, but at the sa ti, my draconic form would have been another level of overkill for them. -So, why don't I stretch the legs of my humanoid form so... I haven't even had the chance to use my sword yet...-
*flash* Changing forms on a whim, the attention of most of the humans finally turned up to , but with Father still flying above , most of them got the wrong idea.
"It's a dragon rider!" Sohow, it seed like most of the humans couldn't even sense my aura.
But that wasn't my problem.
*FWOOOOSH* Ripping through the air with ever-increasing speed, I spread out my weight distribution magic over nearly two dozen kiloters of water before finally activating it and coming to a stop, instantaneously transforming the glassy ocean into a field of ice. *FWOOOOM*
Finally landing on the edge of the Mole, I continued to spread out my weight over the water, but even still, the barge listed to the point that the side of the ship dipped below the water line. *creaaaak-splash* "How you guys doing?" I spoke casually, overlooking the expressions of fear on the crew's faces.
But among everyone, the knight Father tossed his artifact to looked surprisingly aggressive. "To not use your draconic form... You must be confident..." He seed on edge but surprisingly didn't shy away.
Though, it's not like he would know it was just arrogance fueled by naivety. "I'm just curious about so things." Glancing to the side, I watching him hastily pull his hamr out of the water like Thor before taking up a stance.
Seemingly forged out of pure high grade mythril, it survived the blast without as much of a scratch. "Were you the one that dropped that artifact?"
But I quickly waved his question away with my hand. "No, no. If I dropped one this fleet wouldn't be here."
"Tch..." He clicked his tongue as if sensing that I wasn't lying. "Then what do you want..?"
-Hoh? He has more brains than I thought.- "Well, I want to figure out what exactly you guys are planning, then I'll just-" Cutting my words short, I jerked my head to the side before sticking out my arm and catching a massive, cannonball-sized tal bullet spinning as if it was fired from a cannon with rifling.
For a mont, I was so impressed at how much they had improved the cannon that I didn't care about them interrupting .
But after a mont of awe, I casually tossed the massive shell to the side, aending it hurtling through a nearby ship before reaching for my sword.
But the knight never let grab it. *FWOOSH* Darting at at full speed, he pulled his hamr back before Slamming it forward with every fiber of muscle in his body.
He knew it was his best shot at beating , but unfortunately for him, it was far from enough.
*CLING-WHAAMMM* Catching the head of the hamr with one hand, an imnse shockwave ripped through the water behind , and my fingers sank into the mythril like it was soft clay.
"And here I thought you at least had so survival instincts."
He imdiately tried to pull back his hamr, now with a bent shaft and the imprint of a hand on its head, but it didn't budge.
"Give that." *pat* Casually ripping it from his hands, I tossed it into the air and grabbed its handle before creating a network of mana to spread the impact I would make with the hamr, over the ship that shot at . -Ignorant bastards.- "Hyup!"
Putting my weight into it, I slamd the hamr down on the network of mana with enough force to shatter the mythril. *crackle*
And in an instant, the ship simply.. disappeared... *WHAAAAMMMM* The debris-filled plu of water that followed stretched hundreds of ters into the air as if a nuke was detonated, spreading shards of tal, wood, and fragnts of bone over the surrounding ships like a scene from hell.
The Ancient I stole the hamr from instantly turned a ghastly pale, finally realizing the kind of being that stood in front of him.
I simply wasn't a being in his league.
But thankfully for him, he didn't need to be. *crackle-BOOOM* As a massive explosion erupted from the cargo ships behind us, I slowly turned around to him. "So, why don't you get to explaining what you guys are doing here."
But the mont he went to speak, I felt a tinge of a god's presence appear behind , and heard a young man's voice boom outward. "Gentlen! Fear not!" He was a young man who could have only been in his early 20s, wearing noble white and gold clothes with an extravagant white and gold sword. "As a grand priest of Lord Baldurs Church of Light, I shall-" *THWAAACK*
With a wave of my hand, I sent him flying through his ship, slamming through several deck levels before punching through the bottom. "Who is that dumbass?" -A grand priest? He's dressed like so noble brat...-
"H-He is the leader of this expedition!" The Ancient yelled out imdiately, as if trying to suck up to . "He was assigned to watch over us until we arrived at our destination!"
-Hm?- "Which is?"
"S-Siratha's western mythril mine! The one on the Grand Mythril Vein!"
-Huh? Why on earth...- "You aren't headed toward The Dungeon of the Colossus?"
He imdiately shook his head. "Another fleet was assigned to head there! They should have already arrived!"
-Huh?!- My gaze instantly turned to the southern horizon. -That.. is really bad...-
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